On the third full day of our Pacific Northwest vacation, Melissa and I joined my parents, sister, sister’s boyfriend, and my grandfather to visit Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River; the town of Dufur, Oregon; and the Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood.
The Bonneville Dam is an impressive structure that spans the Columbia River (between Oregon and Washington). It is made up of two locks, two power stations, a ‘fish ladder,’ and a spillway. The visitor center is located on Bradford Island, which we say is the ‘family island’ even though, in fact, it has nothing to do with us. Also located on the island is the Bonneville fish ladder, a mechanism that allows fish to make it up and down-stream past the dam for spawning and migration.
We then went to The Dalles, Oregon, for some lunch and a quick visit to a rock fort on the Columbia where the Lewis and Clark expedition set up camp for a night in the early 1800s before proceeding up to the small town of Dufur, Oregon (pronounced doo-fir). My grandfather spent much of his childhood in Dufur, and my great great grandparents are buried in a small cemetery on the outskirts of the town.
Finally we drove up the mountain to the Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood. Unfortunately the weather was very foggy and the supposedly-gorgeous view of the peak was entirely obscured, but it was still worth the diversion. one of Timberline Lodge’s claims to fame is that it was used for the exterior shots of the fictional Overlook Hotel in the classic Stanley Kubrick horror film The Shining, which was based (loosely) on the Stephen King novel by the same name.
A bunch of photos are included below; enjoy!
