Road Trip The Columbia River Gorge

Sunday , missing church ...and our Church family. we have had some
correspondence with Jim and Becky .Lori's parents who have graciously shared
their home with us for most of our 12 years in Nashville . And they plan to
call us today , looking forward to that .

Our stay here in St Paul is winding down , Wednesday we pick up the rental
car , and head to the Beach. I suspect the nature and substance of this travel
Journal will change a little bit then .

Initially I had planned to use this as a template for a " visit Oregon in
winter " travel endorsement . IT seems to have moved in the direction of self
introspection and nostalgic reminiscing . I have Lee part 2 to finish, and
perhaps some final observations on how so much of what and who I am has been
forged by the place I lived most of my life in . But that will be tempered by
the realization that who I am seems to be more affected by who I grew up with
much more than where I grew up. Much more about who I met along the way , than
the way I journeyed .

Yesterday Lee , Corrine , Lori and I took a short drive. We headed North
then turned East at the Columbia River. We traveled on the Columbia River Scenic
Highway , http://byways.org/explore/byways/2141
.

Crossed over to Washington at Cascade Locks on the Bridge of the Gods ,
then headed west back to Portland on the Washington side of the Columbia river . Past Washougal, and the Paper Mill town of Camas Washington then into Vancouver .

ON the way back we stopped at one of our favorite Thai Resturant's in
Vancouver called : Arawan Thai Cuisine. Along the way we stopped for some
photos at our favorite waterfalls .

It wasn't a very long trip , the Columbia river Gorge scenic area is only
a few miles from Portland . Oregon is really blessed to have such a diversity of
Beauty with in a few hours drive from its major population areas . We filled up
the car on the way out and probably did not use more than a half a tank of gas
for our day trip.

Oregon has one peculiar trait when it comes to " filling up " In Oregon
you cannot pump your own gas ..all service stations have employees who pump the
gas for you ...Just a heads up if you are traveling in Oregon , don't reach for
the Nozzle .

We were tired by the end of the day , for me the hikes down to the
waterfalls and up to the " perfect" vantage points wore me out .
Photo Credits : Lateroul Falls Lori Stilger

Kenn and Lori Corrine Arehart