Vista House, a historical building and viewpoint overlooking the Columbia River Gorge. Interesting architecture and a small museum with historical artifacts.

Here are my Uncle Bill and Aunt Barbara standing in front of the Vista House sign, with a view toward the East along the Columbia River in the background.

On the North side of Vista House is this panorama of the Columbia River Gorge. On the far left in the distance is Portland, OR, across the river is Washington State and on the far right in the distance is the area near Bonneville Dam, one of many hydro-electric dams on the Columbia.

Along the road East from Vista House, upstream along the Columbia River, there are several scenic waterfalls where the water drops several hundred feet from the plateau above, down to their confluence with the mighty Columbia. This one is named Multnoma Falls. It drops in two stages, and as can be seen here, there is a tourist bridge above the upper pool. At any particular moment during the summer, there are hundreds of tourists visiting the falls.

Bill, Barbara and I traveled up the river far enough to get to Bonneville Dam. This view is of the spillway that allows excess water to bypass the generator house and continue downstream to the ocean. Behind us are the visitor's center, the generator house, locks that allow shipping to pass the dam and a fish ladder that allows salmon to migrate upstream to reproduce (spawn).

I remember in grade school science class learning about the fish ladders that are built into the dams in the Northwest. What I didn't know is that in the lower level of the visitor center there are windows that allow you to look into the fish ladders and see the salmon passing by. I had expected to see them from above, but not this way. It was a real surprise, and a very pleasant one.

Here's a final look at Vista House from about a mile downstream. It gives you a better perspective of the Columbia River Gorge and the location of Vista House as it sits on a protruding point several hundred feet above the river. Vista House is the small rectangle on the point in the right-center of the photo. I think it's a pretty spectacular view.

This was one of those "postcard" views I just couldn't pass up. I thought I had toted along about as much camera equipment as I could carry and was wondering if some of the items having questionable utility were worth the weight. When I saw this, I was thankful for every ounce of the 20mm w-i-d-e angle lens I had decided to take along. This photo wouldn't have been possible without it. This lake   (Henry Hagg Lake) is about 30 miles west of Portland.

Northwest of Hillsboro (a western suburb of Portland) is this historic Scottish church. It's in a very serene and picturesque setting.

This is a front view of the church, with the sign. Both of these shots were pretty hard to frame. Unfortunately, the wide angle lens used adds some distortion. When I get my darkroom built I'll use some darkroom magic to see if I can mitigate the effect.

The above are the scenic areas I was privileged to see during my short visit to the Portland area. The following are some photos of the relatives I spent time with while there. My Uncle Bill and his Wife, Barbara, live very near to where I was staying while I was on company business. I was a guest at their house each evening and helped Bill with some of his computer problems. The other relatives I have in the area are three of Bill's daughters, Cherise, Cindy and Caren, in descending order of age. I hadn't seen Caren and Cindy since 1978 or so, and I have only seen Cherise once, in 1967. That's the problem with living in the Midwest while your cousins live on the west coast. Anyway, since Portland is nicknamed The Rose City, I though I'd throw in this photo of one of Bill's roses that grow behind his house. See, Bill, I told you it'd look good with a little water sprayed on it.

Cousin Cherise and her husband, Chris, live near Vista House. This is them in their back yard along with Chris' motorcycle and their dog.

Cindy and her husband, Don, own this house in south-central Portland. It's beautiful inside and out. It ought to be. Don's an architect and designed it himself.

Cindy and Don have a nice garden area in front of the house. Here they are enjoying the bench out front in that restful garden. Their children weren't at home during my visit.

Caren and her husband, Scott (and their kids), chose to restore a historical house in southeast Portland. The older homes were built much more robustly than they are these days. Lot's of heavy beams and such. They've done a wonderful job with the restoration and the house is very interesting in its internal layout.

Uncle Bill and I had to take our turn on the bench and in front of the camera.

Uncle Bill's dog, Barney, a terrier mix. I'd call Barney gregarious and extroverted. He's also a back seat driver.

The oldest (not "old", just the one who was born first) of Uncle Bill's daughters, Coleen, shown here with her husband, Joe, lives about 40 miles north of San Diego, CA. OK, it's not Oregon, but she's one of the family, and I hadn't seen her since the late 70's. Intel sent me to San Diego to teach this fall, so I paid her a visit. Joe had a motorcycle club meeting, so Coleen and I went out to supper at a Claim Jumper restaurant. The food was good and we had a really great time getting re-acquainted.

I call this one "The Cousin Collage". L-R, T-B, Coleen, Cherise, Cindy and Caren.

Just to see what kind of facial expression I'd get from each of them for this surprise stunt, I gave the ladies a peck on the cheek. I'm surprised that the expressions are so similar, (and that none of them slapped me). One (Cherise) returned the favor. What a great bunch of ladies they've grown up to be. I had a wonderful time visiting each one and thoroughly enjoyed their hospitality. I call this photo "The Kissin' Cousin Collage".