May 30 - 2018 The Dalles, Oregon

We are staying at a nice State Park right on the Columbia River, a few miles west of The Dalles.
This stop did not include any “must see” things, so we went out to explore the area.

Since our move here was a short one, we had time Tuesday (May 29) to visit the nearby town of The Dalles. A nice city of 12000 people, with a main street that is kept in an old style (reminded a little bit of the picture you have in your mind of a town on Route 66). But it is also noticeable that it, as many other towns of that size, is having problems keeping up the standard.We also found a nice place to eat there, celebrating Mary’s birthday, which was Tuesday.

The city is full of history. From the native Americans, who used it as a trading post; to Lewis and Clark, who stopped here for the winter on their exploration of the Louisiana Territory; to the place where the pioneers had to make a big decision on their westward trip on the Oregon Trail. We found some interesting murals (vægmalerier) on several buildings.
One was about the Oregon Trail. We have been meaning to find out more about it, and here we ran into  it again (we had also crossed it in Wyoming) - this time near the end of the 2000 mile (ca. 3200 km) long trail from Missouri to Oregon. 500,000 people moved west on the Oregon trail in a 50-year period after 1840.

In The Dalles, only a 100 miles (160 km) from the goal, they had to make a very difficult decision.
Either float (flyde) down the Columbia River or walk around Mount Hood. No matter what, they were putting their life at risk, and quite a few never made it. Wednesday we drove west along the Columbia River towards Portland. We had heard that it would be a nice drive. It was. There are tall cliffs (klipper) on both sides of the river, and the road runs very close to the river a lot of the time. The Columbia is a very big river, and it is flooding now, so the current is moving very fast.

One of the places we stopped, was the Bonneville Lock and Dam. It is a large dam, used to produce electricity; and a lock (sluse), so boats can also navigate the river. In the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana) there are 30 dams producing electricity, and on a good day the whole area can get by using only hydroelectricity (vandkraft). We didn’t see the lock open, but the dam was very impressive. So much water!!!!

 

The river is a very important place for fish migration - especially salmon. The fish swim in from the Pacific Ocean to lay their eggs. To help them pass the dam, there are a series of fish ladders (fisketrapper) built. The visitor’s center had a viewing room, where we could watch the fish swimming past through windows. We saw quite a few – mostly salmon.

 

We could also go outside and view the ladders from above. We didn’t see any fish there, but it was interesting to see, how it all works.

We also saw a waterfall – Multnomah Falls. The area is called “waterfall alley”. We only stopped to see this one.

 

 When we got near Portland, we drove away from the river, to visit Oregon City. This is the official end of the Oregon Trail. We plan to find out more about the Oregon Trail, and its importance to the development of the US, later on our trip. But we decided to stop here, since we were so close.

 

 

On the way back to the campgrounds, we drove on the north side of the river – in Washington state. And near the campground, we found a small scenic road, where there were some nice views of the river and cliffs.

 

 

With all of the trees in Oregon, we are in logging country. We have seen a number of trucks. Finally got a picture of one.

In Oregon we ran into a very unusual thing at the gas stations (tankstationer). The first time we stopped for gas, there were people pumping for us. Nice service, we thought. Well, it happened again the next time, and the next time…
It turned out that it is the law in Oregon that you cannot pump your own gas!! (except for a very few places in certain counties (amter)).  We were at several gas stations with 10-12 pumps, and 2-3 people running around pumping. We also found out that New Jersey has similar laws. (Guess we didn’t get much gas in New Jersey😊)

 

Written by Mary & JJ