Gorge Tour #2 & New Goodies!

Yesterday I led my 2nd tour of the Gorge this month - for the Friends of Multnomah Falls volunteer group.  I'm the president of the FOMF and they hadn't had a bus tour for several years, so I wanted to bring it back.  It's a wonderful way to add personal experience training to those of us who staff the information counter at the Falls.  We boarded the bus at 9 am and headed into the gorge.  Our first stop was the Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center at Stevenson, Washington.  We crossed the Columbia River at Cascade Locks on the "Bridge of the Gods". Below we're being greeted by the Executive Director, who also led the tour.  

Below is one of the museum displays of the "First People", our Native American Indians, this beadwork was produced by our local tribes.

Here is a beaded dress.

Below is a magnificent hand hooked wool rug depicting Lewis & Clark, the native peoples, Multnomah Falls, the river and mountains - it's amazingly beautiful.

After an hour in the museum, we boarded the bus and headed up the Washington side of the river on Hwy 14 to Hood River and crossed the Columbia again, and headed to the Historic Columbia Gorge Hotel (where we lunched last time).  Here is a photo of our group being served a wonderful lunch in the lovely dining room.  Simon Benson, a successful lumber baron, built the hotel beside the fabulous cascading waterfall in the 1921.

After a delicious lunch and some time for relaxing and visiting with each other, we headed out the back of the hotel for a tour of the grounds.  I showed this waterfall week before last, but it was a cloudy day, I hope you enjoy the photos this time as it was a sunny day.

Below I coordinated a group photo and the hotel staffer took this photo with my camera. :-)  36 of us were on the tour.

Here is a shot looking down over the waterfall as it cascades down 208 feet - do you see the train tracks at the bottom?  A train went by while we were there, that was fun.

Below is a shot from the wooden bridge over the falls, showing the river (which is brown with all the run-off from the recent heavy rains) and you can see Washington State across the river.

We enjoyed a lovely stroll around the path on the grounds along the creek and then we headed back to the front of the hotel where our tour bus awaited us.

We headed to Panorama Point, driving through the historic downtown Hood River.  The town went through a boom after the windsurfers discovered the constant winds that blow through the gorge.  Now it's a destination for tourists, windsurfers and locals who enjoy the new shops, restaurants and galleries - and brew pubs!  Sorry to say, we did not get a good view of Mt. Hood as the clouds were NOT cooperating and obscured the top portion.  Here is the bottom.. LOL and the beautiful Hood River Valley dotted with old farms and pear and apple orchards.

I turned and shot this photo looking west over the pear orchards below.

When we got home, there were THREE packages sitting by the back door.. below is my order from KnitPicks.. one skein of Chroma one-ply rainbow colored wool blend, and a dozen skeins of "Dishie" cotton.  It's beautiful yarn!

And I got 3 books from Ree Drummond, the "Pioneer Women".  If you haven't visited her blog, you must go there and read her, she's a *HOOT*.  (after you finish reading mine, of course. LOL)

Last and certainly not least... I ordered a Kath Kidston bag and I just LOVE it.  It's going to be so nice for Spring and Summer!  (right now it's stuffed with my new yarn)

Thanks for stopping by to visit.  I must tell you - blogging has really been a wonderful thing for me - as making new friends all over the world has really enriched my life.  For those of you who almost always comment on my posts, **LOVE YOU**, Joanna, Helen, Shanti, Hookin' it, Lily, Melissa, Anne, Julie, Lucy, Betsy, Laura Jane, Meredith, Jane, Regula, Suz, Stitchy, Yael, Denise, Kate, Dorothy, Pammy Sue, Vikki, Erica and MORE.. thank you for taking the time to leave a sweet note.  ((hugs)) Teresa