July 6 -- Ellensburg, WA to Portland, OR

Today saw us wending our way south towards the Columbia gorge, through more scrub followed by arid pine forest. Although we didn’t stop at Stonehenge (Mark II), we did take some time to admire some of the amazing views over the gorge via the old Columbia River Highway (much prettier and slower than the interstate), and some of the beautiful waterfalls as we neared Portland – the Multnoma falls were astounding (but crowded).

We found Tom in this amazing house in Portland. It was built in 1924 and has been beautifully restored by its current owner, Doug. There’s all sorts of cool detailing in the lamps and windowsills, and has circular kitchen cupboards. The highlight for us was the working wax cylinder player which Doug had purchased as a teen and restored using lots of WD40! (Actually it plays wax disks instead of cylinders. And its “volume control” involves moving a mute in and out of the bell-shaped speaker, much in the same way a trumpet mute works. It is so amazingly lush here – we picked raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and plums on the way to supper! I loved the arid landscape we were in before, but this also has its (yummy) advantages! Doug’s grown grapes, kiwi (our first growing kiwi plant!), strawberries, raspberries, plums, and one perfect little cherry on his cherry tree.