Day 13: The Dalles OR - Astoria OR

A day off from Lewis and Clark today - almost.  You can't go anywhere in these parts without tripping over them but I wasn't actively seeking them out, no, today's pressing engagement was with the old US-30, or Historic Columbia River Highway as it calls itself.  This is what's left of the old road before I-84 obliterated the rest of it, and it climbs the side of the gorge in a pleasingly three-dimensional way.  There are two sections of it, unless I've missed one.  The first starts just west of The Dalles and leads mostly to Rowena Crest Viewpoint and I can't help but pronounce it "Row-EEEEEEEE-na" inna-Bernard-Black¹-stylee.  There is a View from here.  Oh yes.

The Mighty Columbia, Tuesday

It may look like moonlight but that's just the camera trying to compensate for being pointed more-or-less into the sun.

This segment of the old road runs out all too soon and throws you back onto I-84 for a whizz downriver to Cascade Locks and, a mile or two further down, the Bonneville Dam.  And if you're wondering whether there's any connection with the Salts Flats down in Utah the answer is yes, they were both named for Benjamin Bonneville, a French-born US Army ossifer and explorer of the West who discovered many things that Lewis and Clark had discovered already plus some other stuff.  The dam was built in ~1937 and is the furthest downstream on the Mighty Columbia.  Further proof of commercial water traffic appeared here, not just in the form of the lock next to the dam but also in the shape of an actual vessel using it:

I could have spent a lot longer strolling around the environs but there are many other cool things between here and the ocean.  One thing that is Teh Awsum here, though, is the fish ladder, coz there's a level in the Visitor Center that has underwater windows into same so you can actually see the fishies as they make their way upstream.

"I liek fish! Also, miaow!" - Marcel Kitteh, yesterday

Another short burst of Interstate leads to the second part of the Historic wossname and what could be known as Waterfall Alley.  If it isn't already.  And if it isn't, Oregon Tourist Wossname, have your people do lunch with my people and we'll see if we can't reach a mutually-acceptable agreement, OK?  Waterfalls.  Oh yes!

Horsetail Falls

Oneonta Gorge.  Not actually a waterfall...

Multnomah Falls are the most popular and hence most prone to people parking like fuds, including the dick taking up four spaces with his GBFO camper van and Mr Self-Entitled Prick-inna-Range-Rover:

Self-entitled Prick in silver Range Rover going the wrong way through the parking lot and robbing a space that the guy in the dark-coloured pickup had been queueing ten minutes for.

Multnomah Falls

Wahkeena Falls are bit buried in the trees so while I did stop there the photos ent up to much.  Bridal Veil falls require a bit of a stroll down a sometimes steep path that made me wish I'd put my Intrepid Sandals on rather than struggling with my nearly-worn-out flip-flops.

One of many Bridal Veil Fallses all over USAnia

Latourell Falls

A few miles after the end of Waterfall Alley lies Crown Point Vista House aka That Round Thing Wich Hav 0 Use at All:

View upriver from same

I'd not heard of the place until comparatively recently, when my grate frend Jeff starting posting pictures from there in Mr Zuckerberg's Walled Garden.

After pausing for the still somewhat unfamiliar wossname of having someone else fill your motor-car with petril in Troutdale it was back onto the Interstate, back across the river and thirty miles north before picking up the westbound WA-4 which doesn't really run parallel to the river but keeps dodging off inland on SEEKRIT missions of its own.  But persevere and you will find, as an alternative to the myriad bridges for CrinklyLion which infest these posts, a Bridge for Marieke Ligvoet:

Grays River Covered Bridge

A bit down the road from here there is supposed to be some sort of L&C Thingy but all I saw at the alleged site was a bulldozer.  Carry on down that road and you get to a dead-end on the river, which this close to the sea actually has Proper Ships.  On it.

Just before you reach the final bridge back into Oregon there's a rest area known as "Dismal Nitch".  Our heroes sat here cold, wet and miserable for six days while the weather prevented further travel, so they were doubtless a bit miffed when some locals rocked up by boat, sold them some fish and cleared off again, demonstrating the superiority of both their boats and their clothes of those sported by Whitey.  But yes, the Astoria-Megler Bridge:

Washington end

Oregon end taken from the open doorway of my room

There's about another 5 km of less interesting Bridge in between these bits

Just off to the left on the Oregon side lies the wonderfully kitsch Atomic Motel, which is home for the next two (2) nights.  For example:

My bedhead

Tomorrow should see the final instalment of Lewis & Clark with sites on both sides of the river, plus one or two other goodies.

1. And if you are unfamiliar with "Black Books" starring Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey and Tamsin Greig take steps to rectify this lamentable state of affairs immediately, even if it was co-created and co-written by barking transphobe Graham Linehan...