Skamania Lodge and great desserts, June 2023

 Our last lodge

Bigfoot is the unofficial mascot in the area, even when you  have to make him cute.

The Skamania lodge has a gorgeous, giant lobby

Fun artwork

View from just out the back door

Fireplace with tons of detail

Aerial course-get your safety harness hooked in and run around for 2 hours

Every plank is wobbly and takes concentration to cross.

The view from the top of the aerial course.  Our hands were tired for a day, totally worth it.

All of the food was excellent, but I felt they really pulled out all the stops on the desserts everywhere we went

Citrus bomb

Huckleberry ice cream

S'mores in a mug dessert

Apple crumble

Hazelnut dacquoise

Final cocktails at our hotel bar.

Biking along Columbia Gorge, May 2023

Day 4

We were within sight of the river almost the whole day.

First, a bike up to Panorama Point.  The house had a bunch of sculptures on their driveway.

MLK poetry sculpture

Wild lilac is a neat mix of the very tiny ones in California and the oversized midwestern version

Pear trees

Looks like a homemade mailbox!

Biking along the walking/bike path is amazing.

Downriver

over the edge

upriver

Scenic in every direction

Lunch at the local discovery center 

We got to see rehabilitated eagles 

The center combines natural history with art exhibits and an auditorium space.

Day in Hood River, May 2023

 Hood River, Oregon

Most hilarious photo of us white water rafting.

A morning of white water rafting.  After a record snowfall the water level is high, covers a lot of rocks, is fast and cold.  While we did have some calm moments like this,

Enough rapids meant we were a little sore at the end of the day.

We stayed at a hotel right along the river-you can see it from the hot tub!

It is a short walk to downtown.

All the Tofurky in the world is made here!

The town is full of micro brews, cider, good food

and local art.

The breakfast place had the best wall mural.