Astoria to Cascade Locks

Left Astoria and drove along the coast - another scenic drive - We crossed over the Columbia River via another tall bridge, but not as long, into Washington and followed the Columbia River - we then came back into Oregon and ended up at the Cascade Locks.  We took a dinner cruise aboard a paddle boat steamer .  We were able to view the locks - it was amazing.  They told us about how the indians have access to the fishing on the river. on private wooden platforms.  There were board paddlers, canoes and waverunners - and a seal that was laying on one of the rocks.  We enjoyed a fresh caught baked steelhead dinner which was very good (Dick even enjoyed a lemon chutney served on the fish).
Don't know that we will get much sleep tonight - we are at a campground that backs up to the railroad.
Tomorrow we will drive back to the falls that we couldn't see on the way - our rig was just too big - we took the histortic 9 mile road but barely fit - and couldn't stop.  We also went to the Bonneville Dam which is ran by the Corps of Army Engineers - we could see the locks and how they operated along with salmon swimming upstream to spawn.  Dick was really interested in both of these.  My favorite were the falls -  We hiked 1/2 mile to see the Oneonta Falls and another 1 mile to see the The Multnomah falls which are beautiful with a bridge walkway across the falls - it was another 2 mile hike up to the top so Dick only went as far as the bridge.

 We continued on from the Cascade Locks along the Columbia River where we continued to see large barges going both up and down the river.  We didn't however get to see one pass through the locks.
We stopped at a couple of the Lewis & Clark trail markers - most of the information is getting very repeatative but still interesting.
Eastern Oregon isn't as beautiful as what we were use to seeing as we drove down the Oregon Coast and along the Columbia river.  Once we left The Dalles it looked more like desert.  We crossed over into Washington and tonight we are spending the night at a very off the road campground outside of Dayton.  We defintely will get a good nights sleep tonight.  Soon we will catch up with the Snake River - we will miss the Columbia River.  Tomorrow we are heading for Lewiston, ID and then onto Victor, Montana, where we will pick up the Bitterroot River and met up with Dick's friend that helps him train Cali.

Hopefully I can get the pictures loaded so you can see the beautiful sights we have been fortunate to see.
All the trips we have taken have been scenic but this trip has had beauty, history and good times with family and friends.