We begin my Birthday trip with a Lewis & Clark sign ...just like I ended it. Feel this is appropriate for being in Washington and/or Oregon. I had a super, wonderful, great, fabulous

tremendous birthday and I am glad to share it with you.

Please check our blog after the Thanksgiving weekend to check out our Amtrak trip to Seattle. We will spend the night in Everett and Thanksgiving day at Al's niece's home outside Lynnwood Washington.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday and check back into my blog ~ you never know what you might find.

I have to admit that I unfortunately posted my birthday pictures Backwards.

In other words this picture is the last picture I took and you will see Hood River now before you see our breakfast at Multnomah Falls... So, since it took 2 days to post this I am not going to re-do it.. Sorry ~ try to use your wonderful imagination!! Sorry I will do better when posting our Amtrak trip and Thanksgiving in Seattle.

Beacon Rock State Park is a monolith and people climb it on a regular basis. It is not as bad of a climb as it looks, according to Ol' Allan who climbed it many years ago!

Skamania Lodge is an upscale Lodge outside Stevenson, Washington. Please check out their web. http://www.skamanialodge.com This web page was listed earlier in my blog.

Check out their web page and see what they are all about.

Skamania Lodge Golf Course.

On the way home, we passed a train museum with an old SP&S engine and Al's grandfather worked for SP&S his whole life. He started out as an oiler in the round house when he was a kid and worked his way up to a brakeman, a fireman, and an engineer retiring as such. Al got to walk up these steps and check out one of the trains that his Grandfather had engineered. Pretty cool for him. There is also a huge Railroad museum at the same location but it was closed.

Walking Man Brewing is within 'walking' distance to the Columbia Gorge Riverside Lodge and this is why I thought it might be a fun overnight trip... Allan especially loves fine crafted beer and really enjoys trying new beers. Since we have not tried any of the Walking Man Beer (hear they have quite a big list of different beers). So, could be on our list one day soon.

One of the places I found for my birthday was this group of little log cabins that sit on the banks of the Columbia River at Stevenson, Washington. Check it out http://www.cgriversidelodge.com and also I considered Bonneville Hot Springs Resort at http://www.bonnevilleresort.com and also a place where we have stayed in the past, I also considered

http://carsonridgecabins.com and of course the gorgeous Skamania Lodge which is gorgeous.

http://www.skamanialodge.com I also thought about the old and famous Columbia Gorge Hotel

http://www.columbiagorgehotel.com but Al and I really prefer the more casual and quaint places where we can just kick back and relax...

First sign of mountain snow... Look way up at the top of this mountain. SNOW!!

After leaving Hood River, we crossed over the Hood River Toll Bridge ($.75) and re-entered Washington State to follow the Columbia River back home. We had to go through 5 tunnels which parellel the SP&S (Seattle, Portland, Spokane)

Railroad tracks and is a gorgeous drive.

My Birthday Dinner at Sushi Okalani in Hood River, Oregon. The man in the red is the owner and both men are making sushi dinners. Some customers just left those 2 chairs in front of the sushi so I could get this picture....good timing on my part! The sushi was fabulous and the hot saki was terrific.... I definitely would recommend this restaurant.. ***** 5 stars.

Executive Chef and our waitress when we enjoyed our breakfast before we started to head home. I should have gotten their names but didn't think about it at the time.

The table next to the window in the middle picture is where we had our breakfast. I know that our friend, Jerre, will wonder where the food pictures are as he chuckles about me taking lasting memory pictures of all our meals..(;~/

The huge fireplace is part of the lovely lobby. It was a very nice Hotel to stay in and one great thing is that the Sushi Restaurant where we had our dinner is right across the street.

We checked in and headed up to our 3rd floor room by using the old fashioned elevator with an inside accordian door... brought back some memories for sure. Upon entering our room we were quite pleased with the gorgeous hardwood floors, the antiques and the view (which I forgot to take a picture of). There was a t.v., nice chair and a cozy private bathroom with a potty, and a shower which were expertly added in the closet space. The sink and medicine cabinet were in the wall in the bedroom.

We booked a 3rd floor, river view room in the old remodeled Hood River Hotel which is on the Historic Register. With our very comfortable room we also received a $10.00 coupon for breakfast at their restaurant in the morning and the room prices are quite reasonable. They have an inside spa, workout room and very comfortable beds. Each room has it's own full bath which is always nice in the older hotels.

Double Mountain Brewery and Taproom was started by 2 ex-Full Sail Brewing employees who decided to open up their own! The beer at both Breweries were awfully hoppy and too hoppy for us. When we were in California a few years ago we noticed how hoppy the beer is down south of us so it must have now traveled north to Oregon.

We didn't get to Brian's Pour House Brewing but will save that for next trip.

We arrived in Hood River and immediately went to Horse Feathers Brew Pub ~ Big Horse Ales ~ just a walk-up 2 flights to the Pub where they serve the beer.

The view of Hood River and the river is very nice but the beer was way too hoppy for us... It is too bad because it is just a waste of good, expensive hops. But we always like to try new places and it was still lots of fun.

This picture represents perfectly my dear husband Allan's interests, and his love of the 'old seaman' and the sea they sail in!!' He would love to have an old wooden sail boat and set sail for some secluded tropical island.

We were driving through a town and I saw the sign "PACIFIC CREST PUB & HOSTEL"

and decided we needed to stop and check it out. Apparently, there is no Hostel (yet), and the pub only had 2 beers..... Bud and Bud light...Definitely not our favorite! Al played $5.oo on the slots and lost it in less than 5 minutes....

One of the many gorgeous waterfalls. It truly does look like a horse's tail but it is too tall to get the whole waterfall in one picture.

Multnomah Falls Lodge and the falls. Also the dining room and if you look at the middle picture you might see the falls at the top of the window. Then look at the top picture to see more of the falls.. this is all from the dining room..

Great views and tremendously wonderful food.

Multnomah Falls was our destination for my Birthday Breakfast. They serve wonderful "Smoked Salmon Omelette" which Allan always orders and I either order the Hangtown Fry which is made with oysters...yum, or their daily breakfast special, which is what I ordered. A Frittata with Artichoke Hearts, Spinach, and a wonderful cheese melted on top. It was all that I remembered that Multnomah Falls was....

EXCELLENT!!!

There are numerous waterfalls along the drive and so sad that it was still pouring down rain so I just snapped the picture out the window. These 2 people in their blue rain jackets were not going to move over so I just took the picture with them in it. All these falls are gorgeous.

As we meandered down mile after mile of the fabulous Scenic Drive, I noticed the some stone walls that were built when the road was built were still there...but certain parts now are white fences.

One never knows when Wild Bill Hickock might come around the corner on his trusted steed.....

Down we went to the Vista House.

I quickly took this picture ~~ right in the middle of a down-pour!! Yikes.. This is why Oregon and Washington are so green.

Three more pic's from the Women's Forum site. The top one is a picture of some "sorry person's" home that is across the street from the Women's Forum ~~ so they enjoy the same view. Can you imagine? I sure can't!!!