Picnic in the Columbia River Gorge

Summer means picnics and barbecues and having fun outdoors!  On Sunday we had the Friends of Multnomah Falls volunteer picnic at Talbot State Park in the tiny community called Latourell, across the Historic Columbia River Highway from Latourell Falls.  We gathered for social hour at 4 pm and BBQ hotdogs and hamburgers were served at 5 pm along with a plethora of delicious potluck dishes brought by the volunteers and board members.  How does my plate look?  Hotdog, potato salad and Dayle made "Orange Baked Beans".  YUM!!

I initiated a new plan for everyone to bring their own picnic basket, plates, utensils and fabric napkins - it was my idea for us to be "Green" and not use disposable plates and such.  Most everyone brought re-usable utensils so I was quite pleased.  This was my first picnic as President of FOMF.  I've been on the board and been to many picnics so far.  Lots of fun.

Carl and Roger - Roger did all the barbecuing and Carl helped.

Dayle made my sister's Orange Baked Bean recipe.. here it is:

ORANGE BAKED BEANS                         

1 (1 lb 15 oz) can pork and beans or baked beans     

1/4 cup catsup                                                      

1/2 small can of frozen orange juice (the secret ingredient)

1/2 cup brown sugar                                           

1 Tablesp minced onion                                          

1/2 teasp Worcestershire sauce                 

Orange slices

Stir all ingredients together in 1 1/2 qt casserole. Top with slices of orange. Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 1 hr 15 min. (We bake it longer so it thickens)   Double or triple batch if needed.

Just 2 of the desserts - there was also homemade apple pie, store-bought apple pie, fresh apple cake and more.

Here is the group photo -- it was a smaller turn-out as several people had medical issues this year.

The man from this house came out to talk to me for a while as he'd heard my name from volunteering at Vista House and wanted to chat with me.  Isn't his little Victorian house cute?  I knew people that lived 35 years ago and they bought it for $10k.. and the current owner got it for $40k and bought it 24 years ago.

His colorful chair in his garden.

Here is the front of the house.

The house next door to his is sadly been left to crumble - the saddest part of this is it's the family home of the Latourell family, which the town was named after!

We drove through the beautiful countryside of the Columbia River Gorge on our way home, this photo is taken of the view East from Vista House - that's Beacon Rock in the distance.

Vista House in the late afternoon light.  I worked here as the first Executive Director after working with others as a founder of the Friends of Vista House in the early 1980s.

We drove on to Portland Women's Forum viewpoint and Dayle took this photo of Vista House and the gorge and got some lovely wild sweet peas in the shot.  I am currently President of the Portland Women's Forum and have designed this website for the group - if you want to learn more.

Don't forget to leave a comment on the post below to be eligible for the give-away for a pair of earrings that I made, and if you don't wear earrings and win, you could choose a necklace instead.

Hugs to you all and I hope you all have *LOTS* of fun in August.. before Summer slips away.
((hugs)), Teresa :-)