The Gorge today

 

 

It was hugely windy in the gorge today – the peak gust at Crown Point was 105 mph.  We did stop there but did not get out of the car – my 3000 pound car was rocking violently on it’s suspension and even felt as though the wind was lifting it as we sat.

Everywhere we drove in the Gorge today, there were limbs of trees scattered on the ground and the road – at some points, there was more green than black showing on the roads.  We stopped at Bridal Veil Falls and walked the cliff trail, over the railroad tracks, and I don’t know about my friends, but I stayed away from the edges because…welllll, I was worried about being blown over the railings and off the cliffs.  There’s a huge pool of COLD air in the Columbia Basin, and it’s being blown through the gorge to the ocean.  Gusts at the airport by the Columbia have been clocked at 50 miles an hour.

Yeah, I know, what a pussy… but here I am and I’m not in intensive care.

I just got home, and I am tired – I didn’t take any photos while I was driving becuase it seemed like a better idea to keep both hands on the wheel and to pay undivided attention to the driving. We parked in the lot at Bridal Veil, well away from any trees (sure.  call me paranoid.  I am) and walked the cliff trail loop, and then walked down to see Bridal Veil Falls. The air temp was in the mid 30’s, but with the wind – well, we didn’t spend a whole lot of time there, compared to my previous visits.

 

Multnomah Falls is just down the road, and so we drove there to get hot drinks, and since we were there, we walked up the trail to Benson Bridge, above the lower falls.  The falls were iced.  Not as much as I’ve seen other times I visited, but there was enough to make the trail hazardous.  Spray blows from the falls and coats the trail and bridge with ice… and perhaps I was feeling overconfident… stepping off the trail and down onto the bridge surface, my feet slipped out from under me LIKE THAT and I braced my fall with my right elbow and arm – I know they’ll HURT tomorrow.  They do now, but not too badly… yet.  I didn’t really hurt myself, but, well, tomorrow will tell.

 

In fact, the ice was so slippery that I couldn’t get up, and one of my friends had to give me a hand as I braced my feet against the railing of the bridge and pulled me up standing.  How embarrassing… but also how instructive to others – watch out!

I dropped my friends at the Gresham City Hall MAX station and called A, who had called me this morning, needing a ride to the store.  We made plans for me to go get him after my trip today, so I called him from Gresham and drove over to his house, and took him to Winco market.  In short, I drove nearly a hundred miles today and just got home.  I may or may not look at the pictures I took today – 144 – tonight.  I’m a tired cat, and am looking at going to bed early tonight.  I’ll be getting up at 5:05 tomorrow, and it’s a long day, a "1"day, which means I’ll have to clock back in at 12:45 to run a shuttle from the Skill Center to my "old" high school, after clocking out at 9:30 or so in the morning.  What that means is that from 12:45, I’ll be working until about 6:15 that night, and won’t get home until about 6:45 pm.

I will probably deal with some of the photos mid-day, and may get them uploaded to Phototbucket in time to post some of them tomorrow night, and who knows, if I’m not too tired, I may post some tomorrow afternoon.

It was a good day, a Beautiful day.  I had good company in wonderful places, and my day went by pleasantly even with the fall I took.

Tomorrow, history will be made as Barack Obama becomes the 44th President of the United States.  We are indeed living in historic times!

*****