Chapter VIII Multnomah Falls and Portland

 Multnomah Falls and Portland

Around mile 138 we made a short stop at the beguiling Multnomah Falls. It is now owned by the Forest Service and according to one of our guides it was the most often visited site in Oregon until the opening of an Indian Casino a few years ago. 

There is path up to the bridge in this picture and another even steeper one that can take the most hearty visitors all the way to the top of precipice. 

Native Lore says that it created to win the heart of a young princess who wanted a pleasant secluded place to bathe. The lower pool certainly fills the bill. 

The favorite activity of couples is to pose with the falls in the background. 

There is no evidence that the Lewis and Clark party ever saw the falls even though they are quite close to the river bank.

 

Just a reminder that our cruise did actually start and end in Portland, but I have re-arranged the parts of this report to follow the first journey of the Corps of Discovery down the Snake and the Columbia to the sea.  Our stay in Portland was short.  We arrived on the afternoon of Oct. 3rd. and had an introductory get acquainted dinner that night.

The following morning we had a major orientation meeting with the Road Scholar Leader/representative Roger Dammarell. 

Lunch was high in the sky at a rooftop restaurant

This is the Willamette River not the Columbia.

                                                                                

I tried not to look down but it was compelling.

 Although neither of them had any Lewis and Clark connection, the rest of the afternoon was taken up by visits to the acclaimed Portland Japanese Garden and a Rose Garden.

You can't have a Japanese garden without a Koi  Pond





Or a bridge over untroubled waters.

                                                                                Or a display of  Bonzai trees.

The roses were not at their peak in October, but some blooms were still going.
                                                                                      

                                                                               

 Later in the afternoon we were transported to our ship.  If you need some reminders on the nature of the vessel,  you can click back to Part I.

We set sail for the upper reaches of the Columbia just as the sun was going down

                                                                                   


That takes care of Portland. We returned to Portland on a long overnight cruise from Astoria on Oct. 11th.  Luggage was out before breakfast and shortly after we were on our way to the airport and back to Chicago.

Lewis and Clark camped in four different locations as they passed through what would be the Portland area in 1805, but to my knowledge nothing exciting broke the drive downstream.

And so on to Part IX and X that deal with the final leg of the journey and a cold damp winter by the sea.