The Gorgeous Gorge

This week Alex and I found ourselves overwhelmed by the pile of things we needed to do. Even more overwhelming was the thought of trying to attack those piles of work inside our house--surrounded by reminders of things-left-undone (dirty dishes, underplayed guitars, un-filed mail, unpacked camping gear, unfolded laundry...).

So, we decided to run away. We took all of our portable work (lesson plans, homework, reading for work), packed our toothbrushes, a change of shoes, pillows, and jackets--and filled the car with gas.

The fall foliage is just beautiful right now. In the Northwest, there is a very narrow window of time when the leaves are changing colors--and still on the trees. When the heavy fall/winter rains begin, the leaves turn into soggy brown piles that clog the gutters and flood low-lying intersections. But--this weekend the leaves were crunchy and colorful. We hopped in the car after work and headed to the Columbia George.



We drove through a little town on the Washington side called White Salmon. It was 8:30 at night and everything appeared to be closed--until we drove past a Glassblowing gallery where they had "Friday Family nights." We ducked out of the cool crisp air and into an almost sweltering showcase with colorful art with white-hot ovens burning. We had entered some magical place where a glassblower bibbity-bobbity-boo'd a glass pumpkin right before our eyes. It was really amazing.

We stayed the night in a hotel where we whittled down our piles of work--slept in a bit--and then got back on the road for more adventures. We stopped by the Ice Caves, but didn't stay long without a flashlight. But we did spend quite a bit of time at the Natural Bridge--collapsed lava tubes and piles of lava rocks crowned with flame-colored leaves. So Beautiful!






Then we headed back home via the Bonneville Dam where we visited the returning salmon at the fish ladders and hatcheries.

It was really cool! We got to watch 20-pounder salmon (at $18.99 / pound!) working their way up the ladders. Then on the Oregon side, we watched the adult salmon in the "crowder" as they jumped out of the water and smashed against the concrete sides of the tank. (Where did they think they were going?!)

All-in-all it was a great way to escape the constant reminders of buried-under-responsibility, and enjoy the moment (while getting some of the more important work-stuff done along the way). I highly recommend such an escape for anyone with portable tasks and cabin fever. I feel refreshed and ready to tackle another busy week.