This is our site at Viento State Park.....next to the shop! Not Jeni's dream site but at least we don't deal with the campers in the evening.I tried a new thing this year,being maintenance and repair hosts instead of camp hosts,I mow,weed whack, and run the blower for the trails and day use areas. The only thing,there's not much for Jeni. Oh,she goes out with me in the morning to work but she misses inter acting with the campers giving info and just visiting with them. The only good thing is we have access to the laundry room in the shop so Jeni can do laundry any time,and its free!
There is a little 12 site campground just outside the shop yard.It has a little creek that runs through it. Jeni and I like to picnic by the creek on our lunch hour.Its peaceful and beautiful,except for the traffic! Oh yea I forgot to mention our site is 1oo yards from hwy #84......yea,we hear traffic 24 hours a day! Another drawback, on the other side of #84 is the main campground and day use area and also the main east west route of........the trains......one an hour.......blowing their train whistles as they go by the park. Strike 3!
There are a lot of negatives but there are a lot of positives too. Just the shear beauty of the Columbia Gorge offsets most of the negatives.One of the neat things Jeni and I do each morning is take our "Gator" and drive one mile on the hike/bike trail to another little State Park "Starvation Creek." to check the restrooms,take some readings for various plant facilities,and make sure the area is clean.The little park has a spectacular waterfall some 150 feet tall and spills in to this raging little creek that flows right into the Columbia river.
It reminds me of a rest stop,it has trails besides the paved trail we take over to it,and the parking lot is always half full with hikers.The other half of the parking lot is used by people pulling off Hwy#84 to use the facilities and view the waterfall.
Here is a picture of the waterfall,the pic doesn't do it justice though. There are 2 picnic tables next to the creek and with a nice view of the waterfall. A very nice place to lunch and,no noise from Hwy#84! We love it.
Here is a picture of "Starvation Creek".The waterfall falls into the creek some 40ft. up the mountain where the creek winds down the rest of the way obscured until it emerges at the base of the mountain and rushes right by you as you are lunching at the picnic table.Another plus for the park!....life is good! All in All, we can handle 2 months here.We have been playing tourist on our days off.
Our first excursion was "Cascade Locks"which is about 20 miles west of the park on the #84.Bonneville Dam is there with the locks that raise or lower the ships and barges through the dam.Also they have a nice cafe and gift shop where they sell cruises on the"Sternwheeler"a 18th century riverboat.We booked one for Jeni's birthday.A nice sunset cruise that will actually travel through the locks down stream.The cruise lasts 4 hours.Jeni and I enjoyed sipping coffee,setting along the river and just enjoying the area.There is also a nice park and little RV park next to the cafe.
We are 6 miles from the town of Hood River so we always head in for shopping and dining.Hood River has some great eatery's.When we just want coffee we stop at this little coffee house that is decorated with tons of salt and pepper shakers.Jeni is showing off a lil bear salt shaker while enjoying her coffee. Humm...she hasn't touched her chocolate scone yet.
Not me,that "sucker" is half gone!
Another place we visited was the majestic Mount Hood. At over 11000ft elevation,it dwarfs the surrounding area. At the top is the historic Timberline lodge.On the drive up we passed some of the most spectacular scenery we have ever seen.The route, Hwy#30, travels past small farm communities and wineries,and national forest as we ascended the mountain.
We made it to the top and arrived at Timberline lodge.We enjoyed lunch and then checked out the lodge.The big draw is Skiing and there was still plenty of snow here for the avid skier.The lodge also has a nice Ski museum,and the lodge is reminiscent of a German lodge in the Alps,old world style. Notice the snow line on the lodge! That's how much snow is still up here.And cold! Holy Mackerel!
And Jeni being Jeni, she had to assault me with a lethal snowball! If it wasn,t so cold I would of retaliated. On our way back,we stopped in Hood River to check out the "Hood River" railroad.It runs trips along the Hood River.We booked a 4 hour trip in June.Pictures to follow the boat trip and train trip.Back to the pros's and con's of the park,do you know what Viento means in Spanish?.....wind. and yes it is very windy almost every day especially along the Columbia.But at our site next to the shop,we a shielded from the wind.Another plus,I guess. Well, adding up the pro's and con's of our situation, we are glad we took this stint.Hey its only 2 months! Last Wednesday our friends Stan and Diane stopped over and we went to Hood River for lunch.They are staying at their daughters place in Trout Lake Washington which is only about 30 minutes from our place.We will be seeing them again soon.I feel a game of hand and foot is in the cards! It has been rainy and cool for the most part here but the Rangers say the weather will warm up soon.Well,despite the rainy weather,the wind,the traffic,the trains,our site location,and duties we shall trudge on hosting and sightseeing in Oregon.
