Road Trip - Day 3

Today we have seen the sights in the Columbia Gorge. It is beautiful. We also went up on Mt. Hood. My mother hiked Mt. Hood as a young woman. I rode up in Laurie and Gary's minivan as an older woman. There is a beautiful old lodge and ski facility above the tree line. People are still skiing and the parking lot was full of skiers either pulling on or taking off their ski clothes. Skiing is one of those hobbies where there is always lots of gear you can spend money on.

We drove around and looked at lots of waterfalls. At one of the falls, we did a one-mile round trip up to the upper portion of the falls where you can go back behind the falls. From there you can look down the ravine and out across the Columbia River. Very beautiful. Liz would like it here. Today's high was about 69 or 70 degrees. I wore my long sleeves all day and even had on my white, hiking overshirt for a while.


We also took a 3 mile loop to a small lake called Mirror Lake. It was a beautiful trail with lots of fir needles packed into the ground on the trail- so quiet to walk on. At the little lake there was a fabulous view of Mt. Hood. One of the best things on the hike was the dogs. Every few minutes we came across someone with a happy dog, out for a romp on the trail. We stopped to talk to one couple in particular who had a mixed breed dog. I looked down at the dog and used "the voice" to say hi to her. She perked up and wagged her way over to me for a meet-and-greet. A minute or two into our conversation with the couple the dog began to whine and whimper, looking up the trail, restless to get on the move but waiting for permission to move on. After a minute she was given the OK and went bounding up the trail ahead of her people. It sure did make us miss our Northgate.

Between the Lake and the waterfalls we went for a drive on the FruitLoop- a highway through an area with orchards and fruit stands. We stopped at one for some samples and got fresh cherries and apricots for the road. Then we went to the town of Hood River, where we stopped for lunch at a little pizzaria. I had one slice of the best pizza I have ever eaten- green onion, sundried tomato and feta cheese on a perfect crust. It was tender and crispy on the bottom but not heavy or bready. We split a chocolate mousse filled canolli afterwards. It was OK, but the pizza was great. If you are ever in the town of Hood River, Oregon, stop for pizza at Andrew's on Oak Street.


After lunch we crossed the street to a little shop called "Made in the Gorge." We browsed through the shop looking at arts and crafts from local artists. I found two great metal gecko sculptures, but I left them there. It's too early in the trip to settle on my souvenir. I also saw a metal sculpture that reminded me of Liz. It was cut out of a huge saw blade. Gary thought the metal teeth of the blade represented her not-so-inner rage toward birds- especially quail, the most deceitful of birds. I thought the word 'welcome' above the little quail family was poetic irony. I couldn't think of a place where we could hang it, so we left that there, too.