A Jaunt in the Gorge and Flowers on the Farm

Hello!  Are you up for a drive in the gorge with us?  Last week when I drove to Multnomah Falls to volunteer I noted almost 200 Tundra swans were in Mirror Lake (between Rooster Rock and Crown Point) but of course I didn't have time to stop and get a photo.  Every day since I had hoped for a sunny day so I could go try to get some images to share with you.  So, yesterday was the first bright day so my long-suffering husband agreed to go with me.  :-)  The swans were gathered further east so where I pulled over on the shoulder of the freeway to see them, they were behind a lot of leafless trees - but they were right in front of the waterfall over the cliffs.  

In this photo you can see the Union Pacific train heading west towards Portland.

My zoomed in shot of these swans shows one of them with it's wings stretching and fluttering.. they are so pretty!  

It's interesting that each time I see them there are differing amounts of the swans there.  Last week there were twice as many as this week.  I wonder where they go?  Hmmm.

We then drove on to Cascade Locks.. one of my favorite places.  We decided to have lunch at the East Wind Drive-In.  Dayle walked up to the outside order window and I waited in the warm car.  :-)  This was my view from the car of the snowy forest across the street.

I love to photograph the neon sign here.  The sky was quite bright with the sun backlighting the clouds so it's not the best image.. :-)

While I waited I heard a lot of honking and looked up to see a flock of Canada geese flying low over my car to  land in the field across the street.  I hoped that none of them would feel the "need" while over my car.  LOL!

When we drove back through town I pulled over and stopped at the Indian owned fish shop to check it out and saw this gorgeous craggy tor across the street.  *SNAP*

I've wanted to go into this shop since it opened 2 years ago and this was the first time.. it won't be the last!  They even serve hot chowders inside, next time we go it will be for lunch!  Brigham Fish.  It's owned by two sisters and most of the fish sold here is locally caught by friends and family members.  Oh.. that's my dear husband there.

Here is some of the delicious looking fish for sale.   

They had smoked smelt which we bought six of and smoked salmon of many varieties of which we bought three of -- Chinook, Sockeye and Steelhead.  We will test these out later on some crackers and will let you know the results.  :-)  Hey, someone has to do the hard work here.. right?

I swung in to our favorite little park to snap a photo of the Columbia River, the Bonneville Dam is just behind the bluff on the right.  This park is right under the Bridge of the Gods.  

The bridge which takes one from Oregon to Washington and back for a fee of $1.  :-)

Back home and I saw the big patch of Snowdrops under the Pear tree - so I walked up to get a few photos.  Oh how I love these darling harbingers of Spring.

They are so aptly named.. don't they look like drops of snow?

I waked past the chicken pen and said hello to the hens.  Then I saw 3 more open blooms of the pretty Camellia we planted in front of the big maple stump in front of the chicken house.  I so look forward to seeing this bush grow, it's only 2 feet tall right now.  The flower looks rather like a tulip, doesn't it?

And look!  The Daphne flowers are budded out!  Ohhh.. can't wait until they bloom.  The most fragrant of flowers.

I'd been looking for something to hang my heart collection on and after swimming on Monday Gracie and I visited Craft Warehouse and found these fun branches with little lights on the tips!

Here is a night photo of it lit up.. I'm enjoying this immensely!  I also got some "firefly" lights to lay along the table - that room is so dark during the short days that the lights brighten up our long evenings.  

I plan to make another few of those crocheted puffed hearts like the one on top of Periwinkle my purple sheep.  When I do it I will share the pattern.  I'm off to swim with Gracie soon!  It's so fun to be able to chat with her while we swim back and forth doing our laps for an hour.  Have a great day!!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)