Columbia River area; Multnomah Falls; Astoria Oregon

Dear Friend,

On this drive from San Francisco to Seattle that I have been writing about we spent a night in Astoria, Oregon and this was the first time on this trip that we encountered the fog that I had hoped to see. As you can see it made for some beautiful landscapes.

We walked on the beach at Fort Stevens State Park at Astoria, and I believe the shipwreck on the beach was the Peter Iredale. There are other wrecked ships on the beaches in this area.

We were spending the night at Astoria in order to have some time to explore the Columbia River area. To get to Astoria we turned off the coast highway at I-85 at the border of Oregon and Washington states. We took the picture at the bottom of the page at Multnomah Falls. The site was even prettier in person than in the picture. Multnomah Falls is over 600 feet tall in two tiers and more impressive when you can hear the water. Didn’t I get a great Christmas card shot! There are signs on the highway that direct you to Multnomah Falls. It is located approximately twenty to thirty miles east of Portland on I-84 (watch for the signs - it's well marked). There is more than one way to get there from Portland. We came from the west on the Scenic Loop Drive exiting at Troutdale. This drive is along the river and supposed to be the prettiest approach. Multnomah Falls is the second tallest year-round waterfall in the United States. While at its best during winter and spring I’m told, this magnificent sight is spectacular to see any time of year. We were there in the summer.

The Columbia river is huge. It has several dams and locks on it. Back in California when we were passing through the redwood area we passed a saw mill that allows visitors and because this trip was about being spontaneous and relaxing, we stopped and went through. The lumber company was the Pacific Lumber Company in Scotia, California. My husband and son both found it interesting. It didn’t take long. Now, what the Columbia river had was a dam that could be toured – so we took the tour. The Multnomah Falls are in a National Scenic View area. There is an information center by the falls and that’s where we learned of the dam that could be toured. I think the dam was the Bonneville Dam – but really am not sure. It didn’t take more than an hour and a half by the time we drove up the river to the dam and went on the tour. My husband and son found that interesting too. By the way there are many other waterfalls in the area that aren’t difficult to get to, and had we had more time, we would have visited others. You can walk to the top of Multnomah for a gorgeous view which we didn’t have time to do either. Perhaps, we will have to go back.

I hope your health is good today, that you are blessed with sunshine or rain as you need it, and that you have things in your life you enjoy remembering.

Take care,

Maggiegladyoucame