On our drive from the Columbia River Gorge to Grand Coulee Dam we spotted what we thought was Mt. Rainer. We stopped at a lookout and it was confirmed. Mt. Rainer is 14,410 ft.

Close up look at Mt. Rainer

Panoramic view of Grand Coulee Dam in Washington

This dam generators 6,809 megawatts of electricity. Three times more than Hoover Dam. It is 550 ft. high and 5,223 ft. long. It has almost 4 times the concrete as Hoover Dam.

GRAND COULEE DAM

MULTNOMAH FALLS
Upper 542 feet
Lower 69 feet
Our time exploring NW Oregon is coming to an end. Seeing these falls just made us realize that Oregon is a must see. Thanks Mandy for telling us about these falls. The Columbia River gorge was very scenic.

HORSETAIL FALLS

Spillway at Bonneville Washington Dam and Lock

We toured the Power House. I got a pin that said " I survived a Dam Tour"

Fish ladders. The fish move from one section to another. They usually rest in between each section.

This viewing station is located inside the Army Corp of Engineering Welcome center. They count all the fish that go through.

Mt. Hood 11, 249 feet

We were lucky to see the whole mountain. Usually there is a cloud running through the middle or completely cloud covered.

Today we visited Fort Vancouver

The block house

This were the cannons were located

Chief Factor's Residence

Early visitors to the fort called the home "very handsome". Clerks and officers ate meals in the large mess hall, where parties and dances were also held.

View of Mt. Hood and to the right was the blacksmith's shop

Fort Clatsop

Lewis and Clark and Co. built Fort Clatsop in Dec. 1805. Named for the local Clatsop Indians. After 4 long rainy months they departed for St. Louis March 1806.

One of Lewis and Clarks men..

North Point lighthouse

Astoria Bridge. 4.1 miles long. Across the Columbia river between Washington and Oregon

View of the Column crossing the Astoria Bridge. The column is located in Astoria.

THE ASTORIA COLUMN



Standing125 feet high atop Coxcomb hill, the column offers panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean, Oregon and Washington coast ranges, Columbia River and the city of Astoria.

Built in 1926, the column's 25 foot long scenes represent the triumphs, conflicts and turning points of the Pacific northwest. The artwork is known as Sgraffito, an Italian art form that combines carving and painting into the concrete structure.

GOONIES

Me at the Goonie House

Can you believe this movie was made in 1985. Still funny.

Harbor Seals

CUT THE CHEESE!!

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Well half way on our trip today we stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

Watching them work

Lots of cheese

Each of these stainless steel vats holds approximately 53,500 pounds of fresh milk, on average, each vat makes 3 batches of cheese per day. It takes 10 pounds(1.16 gallon) of milk to make 1 pound of Tillomook cheese. More than 1.7 million pounds of milk arrive at the plant every day. Approximately 167,000 pounds of cheeses are made each day.

Sealing big blocks of cheese

After the tour we got to sample the product

Yes they also make ice cream. They had 38 flavors to pick from or you could have one scoop of each flavor for $25.00. Had we had more time I think we could have done it.

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It was good but not as good as Blue Bell

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We also had to buy some cheese curds. One bag for David and a bag for Marcy. Hope it makes it safely to Iowa in 3 weeks..

This is our first sighting of the Astoria bridge. It connects Oregon to Washington. I get to color in another state on the map!

It goes on and on. 4.1 miles.

Since we have been in one place for the last 5 days we have gotten lazy. Sleeping in til 8:30 and then just driving up US highway 101 to a lookout area and enjoying the view. Some mornings we have awakened to the pitter patter on the roof and that makes you even more lazy. So yesterday we drove back up to the lighthouse that we had seen on our drive in on Monday. I saw this guy with a little hand held device and asked him was he Geo Cacheing. He was surprised I knew what it was. I told him Steve (our son-in-law) likes to do it. He finally found what he was looking for.

This is what he took out. He told me it has a number on it and you can look on line and then track it.

Another picture of Heceta lighthouse.

Cool Rocks

Lots of Seals

Splash

This is another Spouting Horn

See the water from the hole

Another Spouting Horn

When there are big storms the water blows out really high

This is Yaquina Bay Bridge. There are so many fabulous bridges here. David has really enjoyed seeing them.

Next week we are going to Astoria and the bridge there is over 4 miles long!

Another beautiful sunset and we can enjoy it from our site!!

When we got up this morning we thought today was going to be nothing but rain but around 9:30 it cleared up so we walked across to the beach and got these great pics.

Big old harbor seal just lounging by himself.

Can you believe these fabulous star fish. When the tide is out they can be seen munching on mussels.

Tide pools are great. In this one you can see 5 star fish.

This family has a great view from there back porch..