Why We Drive Across the State

I have mentioned several times about driving from east to west in Oregon...because our youngest son, his wife, and our only grandchild live on the west side.  Ava Maeve is now one year old, and we just don't see her enough.  😊

Another Round Trip Across Oregon

Our only granddaughter turned 1 on April 10, so we made the trek to the "west side" again.  On the way back, we drove a portion of the Historic Columbia River Highway, always my favorite. Before we took that old highway at Mosier, we sailed past Multnomah Falls, but it was packed on a Monday, so I didn't want to stop.  Beautiful drive both ways...we just wish Hillsboro could be closer.

The ubiquitous wind towers lining the Washington horizon above the Columbia River

 Bighorn rams photographed at 70 mph from the car

 Portland has beautiful flowering trees, many of which line the streets.

 Magnolias were starting to bloom in Hillsboro

 Fascinating variety of growth on a tree limb

 Metal creature on Main Street in Hillsboro

 A most interesting combination of tenants

 Multnomah Falls, plunging from a mountain charred by the devastating Eagle Creek Fire of 2017

 View of Columbia upriver and I-84 East from Rowena Crest Overlook

 The famed Rowena Crest horseshoe highway

 Bighorn rams bedded down in the afternoon; we actually backed up on the freeway for this shot!

 Bighorn ewes look really rough this time of year.

The Boardman tree farm, now in small sections since the land was sold for other agricultural use.

Living in the Country

There are many times that I complain about living so far from "anything" here in NE Oregon, but when I'm on a drive into the country any direction from my house, I admit that I love being able to access this part of Oregon.  Narrow dirt and gravel roads turn into narrower single lanes bordered by a variety of evergreen trees and wire fencing.  Spring is late this year...because winter was late, so the countryside is just now starting to green up.  This post features photos I took on a short drive this week, traveling just 16 miles round-trip from our back door.

That Sky!

I really don't have a series of photos for a blog post yet, but this image is one I took on our way back up the Columbia Gorge last weekend (after another trip to do some "grandbaby duty" in Hillsboro while baby's daddy/our son was in NYC for work and mama could use some back-up). The weather was "iffy" but the clouds were spectacular.  This was taken through the windshield from the passenger side of the car...wind towers on the Washington side of the Columbia River, dwarfed by that immense cloud-filled sky.

Winter Arrived...the last weeks of February

Snow at Christmas and that was it.  Temperatures in early February reached 50 degrees a couple of days. Then the cold moved in.  And then the snow came: the first day, we got 10 inches of the white stuff; the second day, the wind brought more snow.  It's good for the mountains, because that's our water during the summer months.  And I had to see what it looked like because a snow landscape has become my favorite.  I don't enjoy being out in the snow, but I love looking at all the scenes.  All of the following photographs were taken no more than 6 feet from the car, and many were taken from the car.  (Hwy 204 is known as the Tollgate Highway over the Blue Mountains from Elgin to Spout Springs...and on to Weston and Pendleton or to Walla Walla.)

Winter Clouds

There has been a serious lack of snow in this area this winter.  We had about 6 inches at Christmas time here in the valley, with more in the mountains. But that was it. Then rain came and recently caused a serious snow melt in the mountains, as well.  70 inches of snow soon became 40 on the summit.  But this week, we had snow again, only  3 inches or so down low.  The skies then cleared and the clouds were glorious, all of them crowning the surrounding mountains of the Grande Ronde Valley. 

 7000 ft. Mount Fanny (SE end of valley)

 6000 ft Mount Emily (west side) 

 5000 ft. Mount Harris (NE end) 

 Mount Fanny 

                                                                        Mount Harris

From the Passenger Side

Driving the length of the Columbia Gorge is a necessity for getting from NE Oregon to the west side, Hillsboro in particular.  Last week, my husband and I did just that, in order to provide some baby care for our young granddaughter, who was ill.  Both parents work, so retired grandparents love to step in when they can.  The weather was dreary, but I always try to find subjects to photograph on the 5-hour trip. There were two stops for photos: one at Cascade Locks to photograph Bridge of the Gods, which crosses the Columbia into Washington state, and one on the way home at the remaining stands of trees at Boardman Tree Farm.

Heading west

On the way back east