Tuesday, August 23, 2011

The Most Fun Weekend You Can Have Without Riding A Motorcycle!

Clearly, any weekend is pretty good if it involves riding my motorcycle, but the "Lewis & Clark" Deschutes float weekend, was an awesome good time, and because I had to drive the truck full of "stuff", it didn't allow any motorcycle riding.

On Friday, before all the other guests arrived, Billy and I took Bodean and Sheila, to explore the lava tunnel. The tunnel is about a mile long, very very dark, and constantly 42 degrees. In some places it is narrow and in others quite cavernous.

                                                              Sheila entering the tunnel

                                                          Billy and Stacie in the lava tunnel

                                                            Stacie at the end of the tunnel

The only way out of the tunnel, is the way you came in! All the way to the end and back, takes about an hour
....and yes, it's quite chilly!

After we emerged from the darkness and warmed up a little, we crossed the highway, and went to the top of Lava Butte.


                                                          Always fun to cover up the "E"!


The view from the top of Lava Butte is spectacular. On a clear day, you can see for miles. In this picture, lava flows, forests, and Mt. Bachelor is just to the left of the tall tree.


                  Billy and Bodean. Kings of all they see? By the way, that's a lip balm in Billy's hand.

On Sunday, it was my job to drive Bodean and Sheila to Portland, and drop them off at their hotel near the airport. Since their flight wasn't until Monday morning, we had all day to do some more sight seeing.Our first stop was Smith Rock.

 Such a beautiful place. You really can't take a bad picture here. Smith Rock is popular with rock climbers and I've heard that some of the old westerns were filmed here....not sure which ones. I'll have to get back to you.
                                                           Another view of Smith Rock.

We drove historic Hwy 30 out of Troutdale. A very beautiful, but narrow and windy road.

The highway goes past this building, where you can park your car and see views like...
                           ...this. The Columbia River Gorge.

A few more miles down the road is Multnomah Falls.

     Always beautiful. Looks better with less people, though!

An all around, pretty great weekend! I'm so lucky to live in Oregon!

         

2 comments:

  1. Aaaaahhhh, the falls. Makes me remember good times!

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  2. Seems we visited there together one time :-)
    "Multnomah Dan!"

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