Damn, there are LOTS of waterfalls in Oregon

Oh man, if you like waterfalls, this is the place. It's just spectacular. I think by 4 o'clock I only drove about 10 miles. I may have hiked that far. There are a bunch of waterfalls right on the old US 30, a scenic highway. (Vista house is on this road, which is also very curvey and fun to drive.) The area is mostly run by the forest service and is a National Scenic Area right along the Columbia River in Oregon. You can hike to get to more falls and just beautiful areas. (Some of the names that I recall were Horsetail Falls, Multnomah Falls, Latourel Falls, Del something.) The Oneaton Gorge was really cool. There was an enormous salamander (10+ inches and fat) eating a dead bird in the water at a log jam. I took a picutre, but I don't think it will show up with the sun and shadows. I wanted to take a bunch of pictures, but the phone has too few left. The only other picture I took was from under some unnamed waterfall along the path.

I finally left the area around 8pm to go towards Portland. I couldn't find any decent places to stay. I was in Portland around 9pm. The drive reminded me a bit of Phoenix how all the towns merge into one. That wasn't good. I walked around the city center for a while. It seemed very bland. I guess it's like DC where all the interesting stuff is going on in other places (like Adams Morgan), not the city center. Of course I managed to find the titty bars without even looking.

So after walking around and finding the only action was in the titty bards, I decided to continue west towards the coast. I thought US 30 would be a nice drive, but there were a ton of factories (at least that's what they looked like). The road is a ways from the Columbia River. I made it to one town that I thought about staying at. I figured finding a skunk was an omen that the town was stinky and decided to move on.

I found some small town (Skalkamie?) that was far enough away from Stinkyville that I decided to stay. There were 2 hotels at the edge of town, but I decided to drive through the town center. That took about a minute and I came to crossroads. I was about to turn around when I saw a sign to a Zen Monastary. I just had to go there. I got there at 12.10am Sunday morning (just after midnight). The sign said closed until Sunday. The smart ass part of me was about to demand that they open up, but decided it best to stay at a hotel. Good thing too, the residents are supposed to wake up at 3.50 am. I don't think they would have been happy with my sorry butt on their doorsteps at midnight.