Trip Journal-Road Trip with Wayne Day One Columbia Gorge

Our first destination on the first day of our road trip required us to go south to Portland and then East into the Columbia Gorge on the Oregon side. From the main road we exited onto the old scenic highway, stopping first at Vista House. Wayne added the sights along the old scenic highway to his itinerary after reading about it in a book he has that highlights worthwhile places to visit. I had never heard of any of this except Multnoma Falls until just a couple of months ago when I read about Vista House in a local publication. Right away I wanted to plan a trip there to see it. I had seen some photos my kids Steve and Sara took of their family at Multnoma Falls and always wanted to go see that too. So of course I was really excited that Wayne put this on the itinerary of our trip.

Vista House, most unique rest stop ever

I wasn't sure what I was most impressed with at Vista house, the building or the view. It was completed in 1918 in a German version of Art Nouveau and is on the historic register. It was a rest stop but also designed to provide people with a place to see the stunning views of the Gorge from  a cliff that juts out over the gorge. It has a gift shop and interpretive displays also.

View to the East of Columbia Gorge from Vista House 

View to the West of Columbia Gorge from Vista House, Other direction

Vista House interior-Women's bathroom looking into the gift shop

Even the Bathroom was a photo op with marble everywhere. This window gets indirect light from the gift shop showing window decorations hanging for sale on the other side

Interior of Vista House looking up into the dome

Interior of Vista House

The windows are decorated with colored glass from the period. Wayne and I spent leisurely time taking photos and exploring the interior. I got a couple of hat pins as souvenirs as I often do at parks and historic sites.

Latourell Falls

The scenic drive continues with stops to view a number of stunning falls. A short hike took us to Latourell falls, which drops straight down from a volcanic cliff face and splashes on a gravel stream bed. The braver hikers stood in the edge of the fall to have their photos taken. We were so impressed with this falls and spent quite a bit of time here.

Bridal Veil Falls

The Bridal Veil two stage falls was also impressive. The lower trail at Bridal Veil takes the visitor downhill to the base of Bridal Veil Falls and is about a mile round trip to the falls and back. Although short, this is a steep little trail full of switchbacks, but well worth the hike. There is a viewing platform that provides a vantage point. 

Wayne enjoying Bridal Veil falls

We hiked back and went on to a roadside stop to see Wahkeena Falls. This one is right by the road so we didn't need to hike to see it. There were lots of folks there, and like every stop we made it was interesting to see how many different ethnicity groups were represented in the groups of people we saw. We were deeply in the minority and it was fun to share this very American sight with so many from other places.

Wahkeena Falls

Dinner at Multnoma Falls Lodge with a view of the falls

By the time we reached Multnoma Falls it was a good time for an early dinner before seeing the falls, so instead of lunch at the Multnoma falls lodge, Wayne treated me to dinner. He had the smoked salmon fettuccine and I had the wild Coho Salmon with lemon dill butter sauce, fresh grilled veggies and had them substitute roasted red potatoes for the wild rice. We got dessert too, Lemon Panna Cotta for Wayne and Chocolate Hazelnut tart for me. Everything was so yummy! We had a nice little view through the upper windows in the room 

Multnoma Falls

After dinner we went to the falls which is right beside the lodge. The sun was going down and highlighting the falls and the cliff face in the other direction. We also hiked up to the bridge to get photos from a different vantage point.

Sunset view away from Multnoma Falls

Upper part of  Multnoma Falls

It was getting dark as we headed to the junction that would take us back to the main road. We decided to stop at Horsetail Falls and see if there was enough light left to see it. There was a stillness to the scene as we were almost the only ones there, and I found that my phone and camera actually gathered enough light to take a decent photo that made it look like it was not as dark as it actually was.

Horsetail Falls taken at twilight with Wayne gazing at it. 

We headed for interstate 5 then and I worked on figuring out where was a reasonable place for us to stop to get a hotel. Wilsonville was the reasonable stop, putting us in by 9 pm, which would be 1 am back in North Carolina, so Wayne was ready to stop for sure. I thought we might try to stay at Motel 6 since Harry and I had really good experiences with their renovated facilities in California last year. The savings over the La Quinta was significant. However....

I checked us in while he parked the car, and check in was friendly, quick and easy. There was a woman hanging around visiting with the clerk and they told me cheerfully that she lived there. Hmm. That should have been the first clue. The second was the state of the carpets in the hall to our room. I don't know if I've ever seen carpets any dirtier, and there was a smell in the hall strongly of reheated restaurant food mixed with other smells even less savory. The room looked fine, if spare, but I don't expect any luxury or extras with this chain.

I was starting to put my things in the bathroom and closet when Wayne said, 'I'm not staying here.' I was surprised at the tone in his voice. He is usually so positive and good-natured about less than ideal situations, but then he invited me over to the far side of the bed he was going to sleep in where he showed me where he had turned back the bedding down to the mattress. Lurking along the edge of the piping was a bedbug.

We were out of there so fast I ended up having to go back to retrieve my toiletries from the bathroom where I'd hung the bag from the towel rack.  We got a quick and friendly refund and the clerk put our room on her list with a room two doors down from ours that had already been identified with bedbugs. We scooted across the street to the La Quinta where we were glad to pay an extra $40 for a nice, spacious, well appointed room with no additional room mates. Every other room we stayed in got a good inspection before we put anything on the beds or did any unpacking. Fortunately we didn't find any other infested rooms on the trip.