Weekend in the Columbia River Gorge

A few weeks ago Jana and I drove down to the Columbia River Gorge for the weekend. We'd never visited the area before, but we'd heard about the amazing scenery and the waterfalls. The weekend didn't disappoint.

We stayed at the Columbia Gorge Riverside Lodge in Stevenson, WA. It is a collection of cabins sandwiched between two parks, right on the riverfront. The rooms feature outdoor hot tubs with great views. Everything about the place is perfect except that it is right on a busy train line.

I was willing to forgive the train noise, though, because the lodge is also a 30-second walk from the Walking Man Brewery. We made our way to the pub the first night for dinner and drinks. The pizza was forgettable, but the beer was exceptional. I had a sampler tray with all 10 brews that they had on tap. My favorites were High Road Scotch Ale, Homo Erectus, and the Black Cherry Stout. Some really good (and strong) stuff.

The next morning we went out for a serious hike. Because we had Lyra with us, we decided to hike up Dog Mountain. It was a steep hike, with almost 3000 feet of elevation gain and snow at the top, but we had a good time. The views of the river were exceptional, and the forest had the sort of Northwest trees that pulled me back to Washington. I've read that the hike is even better in the spring, when the mountain is covered in wild flowers, but we couldn't complain. Standing at the top of our peak, we could see Mt. Hood to our south and Mt. St. Helen's to our north. Great hike.

The next day we decided to see waterfalls on the Oregon side of the river. We drove across the Bridge of the Gods (love that name) and headed for Highway 30. There are amazing waterfalls all along the road, some that you can see from your car and some that require a couple miles of hiking. The most famous (and the biggest) of the falls are the Multnomah Falls. We saw those falls and at last a half dozen more spectacular drops. I'm particularly fond of waterfalls, so I was in heaven. This collection of falls rivals Yosemite's.

After taking in all the waterfalls, we headed back north on 5. We had good views of Mt. Rainier as we made our way north. It was a great weekend. I love traveling in this part of the country.

Bonus: For once, I actually took some pictures!

Small Seattle Stories

A bunch of disconnected little Seattle stories:

A couple weekends ago Jana and I walked to the Seattle Public Library book sale in Magnuson Park. They had a warehouse full of books at ridiculously cheap prices. I could have spent hours there, but we don't have much room for even more books. With due deference to our limited shelf space, we left after about an hour with just one grocery bag of books -- $12 worth of classics, cookbooks, and local guides. So very awesome to be within walking distance of that sale. And we've already made a few recipes out of Fields of Greens.

The head chef and manager of Cafe Flora came to the office last week to talk about the venerable vegetarian restaurant and its cookbook. They had some good stories and made me like the restaurant even more. Plus, I got myself a free copy of the cookbook. Of course that didn't stop me from eating at rival restaurant Carmelita the next night.

Last weekend Jana and I went to the Seattle Public Theater at the Bathhouse to see Halcyon Days. It is a political satire that criticizes the Bush Reagan administration's invasion of Iraq Grenada and maybe even more strongly criticizes the rise of spin and disingenuous rhetoric (lies) as political justification. It ocasscionally felt like the small play that it was, but it was very smart and well-done. Conservatives might have gotten worked up when a character tackled the cardboard Reagan cutout that loomed over some scenes, but I just took it was a cathartic commentary on our past and present government failings. Read the Seattle PI Review.

Last weekend we also hiked to the top of Mt. Si. The mountain is only about 4000 feet at the peak, but it towers over North Bend, the town where Twin Peaks was filmed. We went with some friends and brought our dog Lyra. It was a steep hike, but Lyra did well. We got to the top in time to have a great view of the area. Then the sky opened up and we walked down in the rain. Rain or no rain, it felt great to be surrounded by all those trees and all that green.