Vista House Visit

I've been out and about in the Columbia River Gorge for the last two days!  On Thursday I drove along the I-84, you see below Vista House, on my way to Multnomah Falls for a day of volunteering.  My sister, Denise, and I met early for lunch in the Lodge and were joined for a visit with Rick Buck, President of the Multnomah Falls Lodge Co.  We've been friends for a long time so it was fun to chat with him.  It was a beautiful day and so we had lots of visitors in the info center.  

This is a shot of the gorge on my way home.. it's SO nice that the days are longer now and we're not going home in the dark!  It was a wonderful sunny day.  See Rooster Rock on the peninsula on the right?  And Vista House sits high on the bluff, 723 feet above the Columbia River.

Then yesterday I hurriedly made more of my pine cone jewelry, ran off an inventory sheet and drove east on the Historic Columbia River Highway to deliver them to the gallery at Vista House.  It opens for the season on the 16th so they are setting up the gallery for the season.  It closes for the winter.  The building was dedicated in 1918 and was built as an observatory and visitor's center.  It has the most wonderful view of the Columbia River Gorge!  I was the Executor Director of the Friends of Vista House for 15 years after helping to get the organization started.  I am very fond of this historic building!

The building was made of stone and recently went through a comprehensive restoration costing over 4 million dollars. The stained glass inside was matched and re-installed and the tile roof had been covered over with copper sheets and the copper was removed and new glazed tile to match the original was re-installed.  Doesn't it look nice?

The beautiful limestone interior had been painted over and during the restoration some of the panels were removed, cleaned and re-installed in a safer manner.  All the stone was re-finished and all paint removed.  The floors are made of Alaskan Tokeen marble.

The ceiling is painted with a copper color with green beams.  See the copper Indian heads at the bottom of the beams?  Their are 4 different faces and they stare across at a copy of themselves to total 8 of them... and no one knows who the Indian faces are.  It's a mystery.  I wish we knew.

Also, in between each beam there is a carved panel of limestone and each one of the 8 has a different pioneer family name and also the carvings depict things that the family was famous for, such as farm tools and they each have different carved leaves of trees.   

The light shining through the stained glass with the stairway going to the upper observation deck. 

See the marble clock?  One of the first things I did as Executive Director was to have it restored as it wasn't working and one of the numerals was missing.  I love that clock.  Interesting story.. when the interior was restored, the clock was taken down.. when the restoration was complete, the clock was not there.  It took some strong efforts, but the clock was returned and hung in it's place and all was well.

 This is the view east from the building.  You can see Beacon Rock and Bonneville Dam.

On my way back from Vista House I drove down in to Portland Women's Forum State Viewpoint and got this shot of the gorge.. then I headed directly to LA Fitness and swam for an hour!  Then I came home and got "Grandpa" and we went to meet our son Shawn and his family for Chinese dinner.  We kept the boys overnight while our son and his wife went out.  Now after a breakfast of pancakes we're watching "Hugo" the movie.  It is very interesting!  

And I am going to work on Gabriel's "mint green" Teddy Bear! :-)  Don't forget to leave a comment on the post below to be able to join in the drawing for my "Give-Away" for a free pair of earrings!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)