Oregon - May 18, 2004 going up the Columbia River.

A good place to get out and stretch after a 1-hour ride from Portland, just because of the view of a dormant volcano that eluded me a few days ago.  No, it was not Mount St. Helens, but Mount Adams on the Washington side of the Columbia River.   And a good place to get that picture was from this city park.  The camera set the exposure for the foreground and the greenery of the park.  This exposure setting completely washed out the details of the volcanic peak which is in this picture, but only shows up in the picture below this one.

This photo is taken from the same spot as the one above, but the difference is that I pushed the zoom lens to maximum and got this picture of Mount Adams across the river in Washington.  At this point along the Columbia River, things are very lush and green from the Pacific moisture and the prevailing winds.  Wind surfing and sail boating on the river here is a great pastime.

The Hood River Bridge to the Washington side of the river is clearly visible from much of the town.  This viewpoint is overlooking the local newspaper office.   The town is named for the Hood River coming from the south, which empties into the Columbia River at this location.

It doesn't take very long until the land starts to become more of a desert domain as seen in this photo taken on I-84 further east along the river.

I came upon this river tug boat pushing some barges upstream on the river and had to stop the car long enough to take this picture.  It also shows the desert-like conditions that are becoming more a part of the landscape.

I stopped about a mile further up the road and found a good vantage point near the intersection of Oregon state route 74 and Interstate 84 to take the following pictures.  From this vantage point, I am standing beside a frontage road that is between the railroad and the interstate highway right-of-way about 17 miles west of Boardman, Oregon.

I was not the only one to stop at this location to check out the sights.   This is Wayne Swartzendruber of Hesston, Kansas.  He had been spending a few days in the Portland area visiting some relatives and had just started driving back to Kansas today.  He had recently broken his 35mm film camera and was interested in my digital camera and where I got it, etc.

It wasn't long until I turned northward away from the river into the middle of Washington.  I stopped for lunch at Jack in the Box in Kennewick, Washington.  I really stopped to take a picture of this VW RV conversion.  Some people will build the craziest things.  This is definitely a one-of-a-kind vehicle.  I know there is a guy in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida who has a VW stretched limousine.  It was too bad I did not have a camera with me on that day.

That was Tuesday, and I moved on after lunch to Moses Lake, Washington for a business meeting.  The next page shows what I found there and on the way back to Seattle to complete my Washington/Oregon road trip.  CLICK HERE for that page.