Road Trip! Oregon Columbia River Gorge and Toppenish Washington

 I had planned to share this trip after we got home in mid September - and then I fell. On September 24 I tripped over a driveway crack and then my shoe and came crashing down on my wrist. On October 4th I had a plate and pins and a screw installed in my wrist. It's really hard to type with one hand so I've done very little. BUT - my hand is improved enough that I can type slowly - so enough of the sob story - on with the post!

We took off after breakfast and headed to the Columbia River gorge. We drove on historic hwy 30 towards the Dalles. It's a beautiful hwy heavily ridden by bicyclists. For the most part it was pretty easy to share the road - except for one couple. They felt it was their right to ride literally in the middle of the street making it impossible to go around them. That was frustrating going under 10 MPH. So I honked. He got rude - but onward.

We stopped at Portland Women's Scenic Viewpoint 

then up to windy crown point. 

There were several gorgeous waterfalls to view. 

Our hotel had a kitchen so we stopped at Brigham Fish Market in Cascade locks and bought the most beautiful salmon fillet for dinner - and smoked salmon for a snack.

The final stop in Oregon was the Rowena Point Viewpoint, then over the bridge into Washington.

We arrived at the Ponderosa Motel in the afternoon, checked in and relaxed.

The next morning we headed to the dining room for our free breakfast buffet. It was pretty good too! Then off to Toppenish and Yakima.

On the way out of Goldendale we saw a deer in someone's front yard!

And then Toppenish. This town was my favorite part of the trip. An old railroad town with a rich history. The entire town has murals painted on most of the buildings depicting the history and the the story of the town. 

We visited the Hop Museum and saw how they grew and harvested the hops before modern machinery.

The railroad museum was being used to film a documentary so we weren't able to see it all. It was still a great experience.

From Toppenish we headed to Yakima. It was really just another big city. Found an apple place and bought some produce then headed back to our room.

On the last day of our trip, we had some breakfast buffet then loaded up the car and headed home. We stopped first at the Stonehenge Memorial. And exact replica of the original Stonehenge with a memorial to local veterans who gave their live in wars as far back as WWI. 

And then home.