Oregon

Taking a quick break, blogwise from Peru to insert pictures from our summer trip to Portland Oregon to visit my brother Joe.

If you look closely, behind the fence and trees is Joe's house, an old farmhouse built in 1900 that Joe has spent loads of time renovating. He hosts a critically acclaimed blog detailing his work in words and pictures at http://www.1900farmhouse.blogspot.com/. The header of his blog shows a picture much less obscured by the trees which exhibits how rapidly things grow in the Pacific Northwest. He says they are Douglas Fur trees, but I didn't see any fur on them at all.

Joe gets schooled in a game of cards with Joette, Megan and Ted.

Now Scully has some Fur!

Joette, Megan and Ted in front of the lower half of Multnomah Falls, just East of Portland.

Nearly as high as the Arch in St. Louis, the falls drop 620 feet.

What you might see if you dove off the top of the falls for the pool below.

A view from the bridge with the Columbia River in the background.

Bonneville Lock & Dam, just East of Multnomah Falls

The Dam produces loads of electricity for the area along with helping to widen and control the Columbia River which attracts various watersports such as Windsurfing and Kiteboarding.

Another feature of the Bonneville Dam is the "Fish Ladder" to help salmon and other species of fish swim upstream to spawn. It's more of a "Fish Set of Steps" than a ladder but there are windows below the surface that allow you to view the fish as they make thier way.

Ted and Megan dutifully pose under a massive turbine from the Bonneville Dam to show how big it is.