Travel Stage: Visiting family in Vancouver, WA – just across the Columbia River from Portland
Date Range: October 19 - 23, 2016
Summary: Visited family in Vancouver and take the opportunity to tour the Columbia River Gorge in the fall, as well as check out the city of Portland.
Date Range: October 19 - 23, 2016
Summary: Visited family in Vancouver and take the opportunity to tour the Columbia River Gorge in the fall, as well as check out the city of Portland.
The fall is an absolutely spectacular time to visit the Vancouver/Portland/Columbia River Gorge area - especially when you get a few days without any rain!
Vancouver
Vancouver, WA was very interesting to me because it sits in the shadow of the much more familiar city of Portland. It also gets confusing when people say "Vancouver" and mean Vancouver, British Columbia up in Canada on the northern border of Washington. You always have to say "Vancouver, Washington" to get people to know where you're talking about, and even then they'll probably be confused.
We checked out Fort Vancouver and the Pearson Air Museum, which have a very important history in the settling of the Columbia River Gorge and the advancement of flight.
Columbia River Gorge
This famous river gorge is where the mighty Columbia River carved a canyon up to 4,000 feet in some places. It stretches for more than 80 miles, and is formally protected as a National Scenic Area.
The fall colors were amazing, and because of the recent torrential rains, all the waterfalls were raging!
Latourell Falls - 250ft
 Latourell Falls. Doesn't look so big, does it? Look at the next image > |  That's Tom with his arms outstretched near the base of the falls! |
Bridal Veil Falls - 120ft
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Multnomah Falls - 620ft
Probably the most famous waterfall on the Columbia River Gorge, and possibly one of the most famous in the country, Multnomah Falls was magical!
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Bonneville Fish Hatchery
A little further down the road, we happened upon the Bonneville Fish Hatchery. (We were trying to go to the Bonneville Dam, but their visitor's center closed just as we arrived.) It was a great serendipitous adventure though, because we got to see sturgeon!
Portland
We took a day to explore Portland, but we honestly didn't enjoy it as much as the Columbia River Gorge. It was a big city, and it was crowded. We went down to the Saturday Market and it was very busy and cramped, and it also seemed dirty to us.
The best part of the day was the drive back to Vancouver across the Columbia River and seeing Mt. Hood in the distance. Next time we come back to this area, we're skipping the city and heading for this mountain!
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