In the Gorge today.

 I stopped at Chanticleer Point, the site of Women’s Forum State Scenic Viewpoint.  It’s the first good viewpoint into the Columbia Gorge, which channels the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington.

Portland Women’s Forum was a women’s group, the wives of powerful men, and they donated this point out into the Gorge as a public park to enjoy the view.  I almost always stop here when I go to the Gorge.  It’s the first good view of All of the Gorge and is always impressive.

This just about the most perfect time of year here – really, the best weather always come the week school starts.  Poor kids.

snicker

I stopped at the top of the park; usually I drive all the way in. My Dodge Caliber with it’s CVT transmission is the easiest car to drive I’ve ever had.  Turn the key and go.  It is always in the right gear and goes up and down mountain roads with no effort and no stress.  I stopped here on the way home from Larch Mountain.  It had been, as I thought about it, a long time since I last went up there. – over three years

I stop at Women’s Forum all the time.

No one went with me, so I had to take my own picture:

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I love my shiny black car

Little story:

See that white shirt?  I have had it since 1979.  It’s a Levis Panatela shirt, made in … the USA,, back when clothes were made to LAST.

It’s stained with memories, but those are invisible to anyone else.

You’ve got a good view eastwards into the Columbia Gorge here:

The next point over is Crown Point, with the Vista House on top of it.  This is the west end of the Old Columbia River Highway

I got a few good shots up on Larch Mountain, the highest point between Mt. hood and Japan, but it was hazy today – a wildfire is burning further up the Gorge on the Washington side.  On a clear day up there, you can see five of the Peaks of the Cascade Range, even Mt. Rainier in Washington, east of Seattle, 105 miles away.

A nice drive today.

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