MET OHIO FRIENDS at COLUMBIA RIVER in OREGON

West side of Mt. Hood view on Sunday when leaving Sandy to go home. Saturday was our day at a "No" Balloon Festival in Tigard near Portland. However, after getting there and paying our fourteen dollars admission, we found out that the balloons had lifted off at 6 am. There was not even one at this location for us to look at, all that was left was the carnival!!! The television ad never mentioned the times for the balloons or that they would not be there all day!! Shame on them and you can believe that we let them know!! So we left from there, after buying pulled pork sandwiches, and checked out the garage sales in the area before going home. It was a gorgeous day and we did not want to sit around home in the shade of the forest trees all day!! We can sit around home plenty on the rainy days!! Sunday was another gorgeous day, but we had not decided what to do with our time after church. We stopped for dinner at a family restaurant in Sandy and no sooner got our food ordered when we got a phone call from our Salem OH friends, Bob and Donna. They were parked along the Columbia River near John Day Dam north of Mt. Hood. So we ate part of our meals, took the rest back to the motorhome for later, changed clothes and headed out for the River!! It is always great to meet up with friends!!
So we spent the rest of the afternoon sipping tea while sharing traveling stories. Donna has been in Oregon before, so she was sharing many ideas for sights to see. The breeze off of the River was great, but the sunshine was even better!!
Wanting to get back over the curves of Rt 35 before dark, we left earlier that we really wanted to. So we look forward to meeting up with them again. They are headed into Washington so maybe we will even run into them again there!! We never know!!

Gary was watching the River traffic and was very interested in seeing the barge and tugboat enter the lock of the John Day Dam.

You are looking at the Washington side of the Columbia River in these pictures. Bob and Donna are parked just to the left of this gravel pile along the Oregon shore. You are next looking at the Oregon side beyond I 84 and the Railroad tracks.

Going home on Rt 35 we were checking out Mt. Hood from the north side.
And Pearl, yes there are quite a few orchards on Rt 35 on the north end. I must have been asleep or reading when we traveled past these on the way going north earlier.

We also pulled into a parking lot near the ski slopes and got this angle of Mt. Hood from the south. Not too much difference, but we love the beauty of it with the snow when we are now seeing upper seventies and lower eighties at the lower elevations.
We will be going to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood soon, but must have a good visibility day to get the most out of the trip.
Next we will show you the pictures of the Falls along Historic US 30 and the Columbia River. So stay tuned!!