Spring in the Columbia River Gorge: Pt 2

This part of the Gorge is very special to me,

not just because of the incredible beauty one finds there, but because my mother and I shared a train trip through it in the early 80's --on our way to the Rocky Mts!!

that was before Amtrak discontinued this route (boo!)

The views from the train, were absolutely breathtaking--

we saw many waterfalls and lots of beautiful green! And of course, mountains and the Columbia River.

Now we took that special train trip in winter, and that's when the Gorge roads can be very hazardous because of the way storm systems work in the PNW, but I don't remember any snow through this area then--there was plenty of snow later though:)

Speaking of snow, a great time to visit the Gorge is in the early spring when there is snow in the mountains and higher areas of the Gorge, and seasonal runoff from melting snow

(and this year our abundant non-stop rain).

This waterfall, on the right side of Multnomah Falls, appears to be a result of that runoff-

I thought it very pretty because of all the GREEN!

And this beautiful building? This is the Multnomah Falls Lodge--listed in the historic register for Multnomah county. You can eat there--but we arrived before they were open! You can get to the lodge and the falls by either the Historic Columbia River highway or I-84.

A view along I-84--I think one of the reasons I like the Gorge is that it kind of makes me think, in areas, that I am in driving along one of Norway's fjords. Of course, I have never been to Norway, and of course, the Gorge is not a fjord (although we do have a fjord in Washington state)but since I have an incredible imagination it is always easy for me to pretend!

Not sure what this tree/shrub was, but I loved the color and shaped against the hotel behind it...and of course the lovely blue sky!

Last but not least, the goal of our trip was up here--well one of our goals was up here.

We were going to take this wonderful road UP the Hood River Valley to Parkdale or maybe even do the whole Hood River/Mt Hood loop to view all the fruit trees in bloom--but things changed...so maybe next year we will do that:) It is something I look forward to doing!

~

The incredible, breathtaking and very beautiful Columbia River Gorge--

I will LOVE it always, just as my mom did!

Blessings, Aimee

Photos: spring 2011