Portland Jun 21-30

Well, just so you guys don't think we never have any problems with our RV; we left Eugene after having our hydraulic filter changed at Cummins Engine (among other things). As we were tooling up I-5 someone motioned us to pull over. We had hydraulic fluid pouring out of our back end, covering our car (being towed) and the rear of our RV. The filter had not been seated correctly (the hydraulic fluid expands significantly when it warms to operating temp). We called for some help, re-seated the filter and had to wash the car and back end of the RV a couple of times. Oh yes, I had to add 9 gallons of hydraulic fluid (actually transmission fluid). Fortunately, time was not a problem for us and Cummins (red faced) apologized and reimbursed us for our costs. But it was exciting for a while.



Portland and the Columbia River Gorge. More magnificent scenery, more wonderful waterfalls. Portland is very pedestrian and bike friendly; bike paths everywhere; lots of organic everything; excellent produce most of the year; very green.



Below is a shot at the Portland Japanese Garden (very peaceful) in Washington Park; also home to an elaborate International Test Rose Garden, with lots of different types of roses being experimented.

Part of the test rose garden.

So many roses they use them for windscreens on the tennis courts.

Spent time going to McMinnville, home of Evergreen Aviation museum and the famous Spruce Goose (largest wingspan flyable airplane ever built). "The Goose" was built by Howard Hughes during WWII, body made of wood, designed to take off/land on water, finished ahead of schedule and tested successfully in 1947. Not needed by the US, Hughes stored it for 33 years just in case at a yearly storage cost of $1 million/year. It has since been a tourist attraction in Long Beach, for Disney and now at Evergreen. Couldn't get a good picture (its too big). This museum is the "vision quest" for Capt. Michael King Smith, ex fighter pilot (now deceased, died in a car accident in '95) and his dad, Delford Smith, entrepreneur and founder of Evergreen Aviation . Museum has an aviation section and a space section and an IMAX theatre. Some great planes and a good tour. Below is the famous SR-71 "Blackbird", mach 3+ spy plane.

Picture of the main building.

The place is in good shape, but I think they are having financial difficulties. Below their next building, with a 747 atop it; it will house a .....................water park. Whatever will bring in the bucks.

The Columbia River Gorge, one of the scenic wonders of the world, is a 4,000 ft deep canyon that runs for approx 80 miles eastward from Portland area. Beautiful drives, great trees, reportedly over 90 waterfalls. There are three videos at the end of this entry for three different waterfalls. A must see if you ever get out this way. Below a view from the elevated visitor center and the beginning of our drive.

Lots of huge trees; below another (ho hum) 200+ ft. beauty (you can imagine the size comparing the size of this couple).

One of the first falls we stopped at; Latourell Falls; video at end of this section; wow.

Bridal Veil Falls below; don't know the guys in the photo.

Multnomah Falls, one of the highest vertical drops in the US (over 600 ft); tough to take picture with the sun; even the video doesn't do justice to it. Two sections, there is a bridge, filled with tourists, overlooking the bottom section. Double click to enlarge this and see the bridge.

Another shot of Multnomah; wow, I guess I am hooked on waterfalls.

Drove up Mt. Hood, pictured below; one of the volatile Cascade Mountains; still plenty of snow up there, as you can see.

Had a chance to play some tennis w/Mike Manglitz, used to live in Hilton Head not so long ago. Marlene and I had a great dinner at Mike and Janet's (the reason he left Hilton Head) home. Oh, a bonus, Janet's brother is a noted Napa Valley winemaker; his wines are served at The White House; we got to try several of them, wonderful.

Videos of Portland State's Saturday farmer's market and three of the Columbia River's waterfalls; addictive!