October 2015 FEATURES The Southwest Portland Post • 7 Fall is the perfect time for a visit to the Columbia River Gorge Caribbean culture) and features a small kitchen, even smaller bathroom, and outdoor hot tubs. The upside is the river location and By KC Cowan price. The downside is they only had The Southwest Portland Post double beds and the cabins are right by the railroad crossing and the train If you’re looking for a quick horns are extremely loud. Earplugs getaway this fall, consider a trip up are provided. the Columbia River Gorge. With There are many good hiking trails lots of good restaurants, lodging around Stevenson, but if you want a and activities, it’s the perfect place less strenuous walk, tour downtown to head for two to three days of fun Stevenson and enjoy the historic exploration. placards on many buildings. My husband and I just spent three Then, head west and stroll around days in the Gorge, making Stevenson, the cove. You might see geese or a blue Wash. our base. Skamania Lodge and heron, and the trail takes you to the golf course is a great resort with fine Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center dining and beautiful rooms, but we Museum – well worth a visit. opted to stay at the Riverside Lodge Taking a leisurely drive up Highway right in downtown Stevenson. 14 is a fun way to explore Skamania At $89 a night, we saved enough to County. One day, we “followed our pay for most of our other activities and noses” to the old Carson Hot Springs one lovely meal at Skamania Lodge. hotel and spa. The Riverside Lodge offers cozy They’re building a brand new spa knotty-pine log cabins at the edge of pool, so we’ll make a note to return the Columbia River. next year to try it out. From there, Each cabin has a theme (ours was we headed to White Salmon for lunch. No trip to the Gorge is complete without a stop at the Maryhill Museum, one of my personal favorites. It has a world- class collection of Native American artifacts and baskets, Rodin sculpture, and KC Cowan, artist Sally Reichmuth, and Glenn Micallef at Columbia items donated Center for the Arts in Hood River. (Photo courtesy of Laurel Bushman) by Queen Marie POST CARD of Romania to her friend, Sam Hill. The views of the Gorge are stunning and we happily spent three hours enjoying all they have to offer. Crossing over to the O re g o n s i d e o f t h e Columbia River, the town of Hood River is another good day trip from Stevenson, and it offers lots of shopping and culture. We always stop in at the community art gallery at the Columbia Center for the Arts and our visit coincided with a brand new show with the theme: Farm to Fork – Art of the Harvest. Riverside Lodge in Stevenson is affordable and charming. We fell in love with (Post photo by KC Cowan) a painting of figs and you how to identify wild salmon from pears by Sally Reichmuth and so we hatchery born, and there’s an excellent bought it. We were even able to pose display of the history of salmon in the with the artist, who was volunteering Gorge. at the gallery that day! If you have time, take a tour of the Our trip to Hood River included Bonneville Dam. I was amazed that we a well-earned stop at the Full Sail were allowed to actually walk on one brewery and pub. It was warm enough of the turbines! to sit outside to enjoy our ales, and After all that touring, you might need their hamburgers are simply the best! a break. We did, so we scheduled two September and October are great massages and a swim at the Bonneville months to view salmon swimming up Hot Springs. It was a wonderful way the Columbia River to their spawning to wind up our getaway trip. The grounds. Gorge offers so much and is such an You can watch Native Americans easy drive from Portland. We’ll be fishing in the river, but the Visitor back! Center at the Bonneville Dam lets you Traveling somewhere? Send us a post get up close just west of the Bridge of card! Email stories up to 500 words the Gods. to news@multnomahpost.com. Photos The fish viewing room has enormous should be 5 x 7 @ 300 dpi. Deadline is windows in which you will see salmon, generally the 20th of the month prior to shad, lampreys and steelhead swim by. publication. Helpful forest rangers will teach POST A-Z BUSINESS CARD DIRECTORY 503-244-6933 PRECISION HOME REPAIR & DRYWALL JON A. GOSCH The IDEA Today … The SIGN Tomorrow! Phone: 503-643-3517 •SIGNS •BANNERS •GRAPHICS E-mail: precision17@frontier.com Quality work at affordable rates! 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