Miles driven today: 76
Total miles driven: 1301
# of times I got lost today: 3
Started my day early in the morning, to explore the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, driving along the Historic Columbia River Highway (US 30). The highway has some stunning scenic points that overlook the river, but the best part is that it passes along a number of easily accessible waterfalls. I couldn't believe how easy it was to get to them, some just steps from the road, and others a very short walk away. People often have to hike miles to see a waterfall, and here these are, just right off the highway. I'm also amazed that there were so many waterfalls in such a close area. It was awesome, I visited five waterfalls today: Latourell Falls, Shepperd's Dell Falls, Bridal Veil Falls (my second favorite of the five), Wahkeena Falls, and the most beautiful & most popular (and my favorite), Multnomah Falls. It drops 620 ft, and is the second highest continuously running waterfall in the country. It was truly stunning. (Multnomah Falls also happens to be another site that the Twilight movie filmed at, hehe.)
After spending the first half of my day on the scenic drive, I spent the second half at Powell's City of Books & in the Pearl District of Portland. Getting there was quite a frustrating adventure--oh those bridges and one-way streets can be so confusing!
Powell's is a monster of a bookstore. One can get lost in the huge place, roaming aisle after aisle and room after room, which suited my book-loving self just fine. I'm trying to cut back on my book-buying problem (need to save money! must read the unread books on my shelf! just got a library card last month!), so I was only looking to buy a few books that I wanted, rather than picking up anything and everything that looked interesting. Got two good deals today: found a paperback version of our current book club read The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry for $8, and a copy of The Mists of Avalon (which I've been wanting but not wanting to pay $14 for) for $6....After Powell's, I had a very late lunch at a vietnamese restaurant called Silk. It was very tasty!
Off to Washington's Olympic Peninsula tomorrow, so excited!
Don't forget to check out my pictures! Link is to your right.
Hi. I came here from Camera Critters and your lizard pictures.
ReplyDeleteThe falls are so very beautiful!
I envy you your book store. The only one around here just closed its doors, and I know others have done so as well. To be fair - there really are others nearby, but they are in Cape May City, and I don't go there until AFTER the tourist season.