Sunday 7/26 WAAAM, Maryhill

Sunny and HOT today! One hundred at times! Our primary goal today was to visit the Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum (WAAAM) at the Hood River airport. What an amazing collection! Over 350 airplanes and autos. Some have been restored, many are originals. They say that they ALL run or fly! The second Saturday of the month, they bring a few out to prove it! We watched a fascinating documentary about 19 women pilots racing from San Diego to Cleveland in 1929! 

From the museum we headed back to The Dalles, exploring a section of the old Rt 30 from Mosier to Rowena which we had never been on. Great views! That's a great historic road ultimately replaced by I-84.

At The Dalles, we crossed back over to the Washington side and continued east to a favorite spot, the Maryhill Winery. We have been there many times, mostly as a stop on the way from Bend to Spokane. We were surprised to find that they now serve food so we had a nice plate of crackers dipped in spinach and artichoke.

We crossed the river at Biggs Junction and took I-84 back to the Dalles where we had a nice dinner at Cousins Steakhouse and Saloon.

Tomorrow we drive the "Fruit Loop".

Monday 7/26 Old Rt 30, Fruit Loop

Wow, it was a hot one! It hit 104 by mid afternoon! Today was a mixed bag of successes. We headed west on I-84 to Corbett where our plan was pick up old Rt 30 and head back east to visit the waterfalls on the "Old Columbia River Highway". We first came to Latourelle Falls which offers a nice little hike to a very high waterfall.  The next waterfall would be the famous Multnomah Falls. It was closed! Not just the falls, but the road itself! We're sure it was due to Covid-19 since that area draws huge crowds. We had seen indications on the highway signs that it was closed but we chose not to believe it. Vista House was also closed. So, we had to get back on I-84 and continue east.

We continued to Cascade Locks where we enjoyed our lunch in a very nice city park near the marina and the dock where the cruise ship departs (we did the dinner cruise on that boat once). After our lunch break we crossed the river on the famous Bridge of the Gods and continued east on Rt 14 on the Washington side. We crossed back over when we got to Hood River and started our other goal of the day, the "Fruit Loop".

The "Loop" is a route of about 30 miles which runs south on Rt 35 to Parkdale and then turns north on Rt 281 back to Hood River. According to the tourism bureau map there are some 29 orchards, wineries and fruit stands that one might visit. The map wasn't very good so we couldn't find some places. Other places were not open, for various reasons, others were pretty crappy looking and probably shouldn't have been on the list. The nicest place was the first one we came to, the White House. Beautiful flower gardens. We bought a few peaches. 

Another nice stop was the Hood River Lavender Farm and Winery. A not so nice place was the Mountain View Orchards. Nevertheless, we got some beautiful cherries.

An interesting aside - one can get disoriented with Mount Hood to the south and Mt Adams to the north. They look the same, cinder cones with snow on the upper reaches. At some points along our drive you could see both at the same time!

We returned to Hood River, stopped for ice cream (well, it was 104!), got back on I-84 to Rowena, where we once again found old Rt 30 which took us into The Dalles.

After a cool-off in our motel room, we had nice Mexican dinner at Casa el Miradore.

Tomorrow we look for a "scenic route"to Pendleton, which isn't very far. They say it will be cooler!

 

Tuesday 7/27 Scenic Route to Pendleton

My walk this morning took me around a new subdivision which had view lots overlooking the mighty Columbia. Very appealing!

Fairly short miles today so we decided to take the "scenic route" over hill and dale to Pendleton. The weather is clear but still very hot. We have a reservation for the Pendleton Underground Tour tomorrow morning. 

Today's ride really breaks into thirds. The significant feature of the area around Wasco and on toward Condon is the hundreds, maybe thousands, of wind turbines! The road courses down into a canyon of the John Day River which is winding its way to the Columbia. At the river we came across the Cottonwood Canyon Recreation area. It was a nice, new looking park with camping and a variety of activity areas but there was NOBODY there! This where we saw the picnic table with the built in solar charging station for your phone! And this place is many, many miles from any population center so we wondered why it was even here. Pork Barrel?

Condon seems like a nice enough little town, but, boy, is it far away! 

The section from Condon to Heppner is quite different. Rolling hills, an occasional canyon, no water, no trees. Its desolate! What we found most interesting was vast fields of unharvested wheat and many more acres that looked like they had not been planted this year. And no farmers around, either! Heppner is the county seat of Morrow County. The courthouse is an impressive building! Just before we got into Heppner we came across the Willow Creek Park which featured a small lake behind a dam where we stopped for lunch. The Heppner United Methodist church sign says Jim Monroe is the pastor - can that be the same Jim Monroe we knew from years ago?

The section from Heppner to Pendleton is different yet. More rolling hills and canyons, with some fairly high altitudes (3800'). There seems to be a bit more water here as we passed by some small alfalfa fields being cut and bailed. No more wheat fields.

We arrived at our Best Western free night in Pendleton at about 4:30. The temperature is 103! Time to enjoy their swimming pool before dinner at Shari's across the street.

Watching the M's lose again!