Falling in Oregon

In the almost three weeks we have been on the road, we have had only one really serious disappointment. That was Crater Lake National Park. We changed our itinerary so that we could do the Rogue River Cruise, delaying our arrival at Crater Lake by one day. That was just one day too many. When we arrived at the Park, it was raining. Silly us, we still had hopes that we would see the caldera and the wonderful blue water that is Crater Lake.

What we, in fact, saw was NOTHING. I honestly don't think I had ever seen fog that thick. We stopped and had a cup of coffee, thinking it might clear. The Ranger told us that they forecast was for thunder and lightening and more fog. Needless to say, we high tailed it off the mountain. However, we didn't do it hurriedly. The fog made it nearly impossible to see past our noses. My reaction: One more reason to come back to Oregon.

That brings me to today and the title of this post. We have had the most delightful day in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. It began at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery where we saw beautiful rainbow trout

This is Herman the Sturgeon, over nine feet long and weighing over 400 pounds.

We also saw salmon being weighed and evaluated for spawning. There is an overabundance of salmon needed for the spawning process in the hatchery, the less usable salmon are sold to help offset the cost of running the hatchery.

We watched a wonderfully informative video on the process of artificial spawning.

Then it was on to Historic Highway 30 and the Falls of the Gorge. I was hoping to post these wonderful pictures in the order in which we saw them, but I don't have the patience to deal with Blogger tonight. So here they are.

Latourell Falls

This is the last of the falls we saw on Highway 30.

WahKenna Falls

Bridal Veil Falls

Multnomah Falls are the highest of the falls we saw on this day. I thought I'd add a couple of photos of the handsome people viewing nature.

Horse Tail Falls

The end of the day brought us to a beautiful lookout point where we could see the beauty of the Columbia River. I'd love to post the pictures from there, but Blogger is stronger than I am tonight. With that I will say good-night and....

~Hippo Hugs~