Dam!

Did that get your attention? :-)  This morning began EARLY at 6:30 am when hubby and I arose to have our coffee and then head off to Bonneville Dam for the Interpretive Volunteer Training Workshop for the Friends of Multnomah Falls (FOMF). We held the meeting in a wonderful historic Auditorium Building at the Dam.  Here is a photo I took of the spillway of the dam following the meeting.

The project's first powerhouse, spillway and navigation lock were completed in 1938 to provide hydropower to the Pacific NW.  A Public Works Administration project of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. 

Here is the volunteer group listening intently to the information presented by the US Forest Service personnel and the Friends volunteers.. and me, the President of FOMF.

Here is the auditorium, a very nice building! 

Below is Tanner Creek, all salmon return to the same waters they were born in to lay their eggs and spawn.  The hatchery uses water from the creek to raise the fish in until they are big enough to release for their journey to the ocean, where they remain for a few years and then return to where they were born to spawn.

Beacon Rock is right below the dam and is very picturesque.  Here is some historical information on the rock. 

Beacon Rock.

When we volunteer at Multnomah Falls, we send many visitors on to the dam and tell them to see the Sturgeon pond where Herman the Sturgeon lives, an 8 foot specimen - there used to be a 12 foot sturgeon here until someone stole him from the pond!

Some sturgeon info - how about that one! 

Not so attractive up close, huh? :-) 

Here are some huge Rainbow Trout at the Fish Hatchery there at Bonneville Dam. 

Aren't they pretty?  These are about 2 feet long! 

Hubby and I drove all around the dam after the workshop, here are the huge gates of the locks at the dam.  We have gone through the locks here in our sailboat!  The barges that ply the river go through here regularly. 

Here is a photo of the electrical towers that transmit the electricity far and wide after it is generated by the giant turbines in the dam.  Note, the blue sky!   

After we left the Bonneville Dam complex, we headed to Cascade Locks for a look-about.. and.. there just so happens to be an ice cream shop there.  We each got one and then headed to the Cascade Locks Marine Park and parked our car near this marina and enjoyed the peaceful river while we licked our soft ice cream cones.  This is where we had our sailboat Stargazer moored for a few summers when we first got her many years ago.

Here is a relatively new sculpture of Sacajewea and Seaman, the dog on Lewis & Clarks Expedition.  Lewis & Clark's safe passage through many Indian territories can be attributed to this woman. The native people figured that if a woman and baby were with the explorers that they must be okay, she was actually related to some of the tribe members whose lands they passed through. 

Wild Rhododendrons were in bloom in the park! 

Ice cream! 

A shot of the Bridge of the Gods in Cascake Locks.  In September 1927, Charles Lindbergh flew up the gorge from Portland in his famous "Spirit of St. Louis", passing low over the bridge of the Gods, banked his plane and in a dramatic show, flew under the bridge and headed back to Portland.

This is a photo from under the bridge looking downriver towards Bonneville Dam which is right around the bend in the river.

The "Bridge of the Gods" legend has it that the sons of Old Coyote, "Wy'east" (Mt. Hood) and "Pahto" (Mt. Adams) were powerful braves both in love with a maiden (Mt. St. Helens). Because they crossed the "Bridge of the Gods" to fight over their love for her, Old Coyote collapsed the land bridge to keep his sons from fighting. 


Below is one of the barges that bring wheat and other commodities down the river to Portland.

On our way home, we passed by this pastoral farm with the magnificent cliffs of the Columbia River Gorge as it's backdrop. 

How would you like this scenery as your daily surroundings?  And now.. we are collapsed in our easy chairs recuperating from all this adventure.  :-)  I hope your weekend is bringing you joy.  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)