From sea . . . the Pacific, that is! Portland, Oregon – July 7/8

Well, I made it to the Pacific!  The Oregon landscapes were different yet than anything I had seen thus far.  These scenes are as I traveled east to west.

JD and I had discussed how we’ve all seen various photos or movies set in different locations in the Rocky Mountain states; and we visualize how beautiful and big they are.  But until I stood before them, until I was able to take in their beauty with my own eyes, until I experienced the visceral reaction my entire body sensed as I drank in their magnificence and diversity, experienced the surprise, the excitement, the awe, the anticipation of what lay round the next curve, until I grasped my insignificance in the presence of their enormity, until then, I had only a thimbleful of understanding.

Recall, if you will, that you are in the car with me.  You’ve already seen so much!  You’ve been  REPEATEDLY awed!  Then at other times you’ve gotten wrapped up in your own thoughts and weren’t really paying attention. So as the car rounds yet another of the hundreds of curves in the nearly 3,000 miles we’ve journeyed to this point, you’ve become a little distracted; kind of forgotten where you are.  Then as you round that particular curve, it happens!  Oh, my gosh!!!  It takes a few moments for your brain to grasp and interpret what our optic nerve is transmitting to it!  Your body comes to full attention.  Your heart seems to skip a beat; then it quickens.  Your gut suddenly tingles.  You realize that you’re gripping the steering wheel so tightly that your palms are sweating!  From head to toe you’re in this experience!  This is like nothing you’ve ever seen before (except in pictures)!  But pictures didn’t FEEL like this.  And once you saw it, you wanted to see it again and again.  You wanted to get closer and closer.  The next curve hides it from view.  Would it appear again around the next?  Oh, please, please, at least one more time!  THAT’S the experience I’m trying to put into words.  Here’s what you saw when you rounded that curve.  Just hangin’ out there all by itself.  What a sight!

Mount Hood is a dormant volcano with its height over 11,000 feet.  The Multnomah Indian tribe’s name for Mount Hood was Wy’east. In one version of the legend, the two sons of the Great Spirit Sahale fell in love with the beautiful maiden Loowit, who could not decide which to choose. The two braves, Wy’east and Klickitat, burned forests and villages in their battle over her. Sahale became enraged and smote the three lovers. Seeing what he had done, he erected three mountain peaks to mark where each fell. He made beautiful Mount St. Helens for Loowit, proud and erect Mount Hood for Wy’east, and the somber Mount Adams for the mourning Klickitat.

Speaking of Multnomah, here are photos of the Multnomah Falls.

 

Then it was on to Portland where I visited another restaurant featured on the Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives show, Otto’s Sausage Kitchen.  It’s a great deli that happens to serve its homemade sausages and hot dogs.

This young man had ALSO been to Midpoint Cafe on Route 66 recently!

Singing “You Ain’t Nothin’ but a Hound Dog”

Elvis hung out on the shelf with other celebrities!

My accommodations for the night were the most unusual of my entire trip.  I stayed on the bottom floor of a “tree house” built atop the mast of a World War II ship’s mast from the USNS James O’Hara.  This was my most anticipated destination and it did not disappoint.  Included among the photos of the tree house is a picture of just the frame as it was being built.  The view was amazing, even including Mt. St. Helen in the distance.  (Haze created by Canadian wildfires veiled many of my views as I traveled the northern states, so there’s not a very clear pic of her.)

The frame of the tree house. Beams coming toward you became the entry shown in previous pic.

Mast is inside this cylinder.

USNS James O’Hara

Mt. St. Helen

Mt. St. Helen

My balcony

From my balcony

Barbie is a tough cookie!

Elvis loved the view!

My host was Lance, who lives on the upper floor with his 20-year-old cat Barbie, who is quite the character in and of herself.  Lance was a handsome, intelligent, funny character as well, and I enjoyed sharing an adult beverage and chatting with him upon arrival.   But he wouldn’t allow me to take his picture, claiming that now that he’s “a raisin” he doesn’t want to be photographed.

The morning I left the tree house, I captured a time lapse video of the sunrise that I thought was pretty cool.

On my departure, Lance suggested that I head to Cannon Beach, even though it was out of my way.  I’m so glad I took his advice, because it was my only chance to see the Pacific.

On the beach we met Ted and Candy who reside in Utah.  She grew up in Oregon; he in New York City.  They met in Salt Lake City practicing scuba diving in a swimming pool.  The rest is history — they’ve been married (according to Ted) “20 happy years and 6 not so happy years.”  I’m sure he’s still bruised by the elbow Candy shot to his arm with lightning speed!

They were happy to meet Elvis, and introduced him to their traveling companion, Dawson, who goes everywhere with them.

Also sharing the open road with us is Frankie the Flamingo, who is a whole other story.  This link will take you back to a previous trip for Frankie’s story.