Oregon-Portland

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After spending the night in La Grand, Oregon we learned that you cannot pump your own gas in Oregon. I was surprised to be as outraged that the attendant insisted on pumping the gas and cleaning the windshield now as I was that he would no longer do just that 30 years ago. With a full tank of gas and fresh big drinks, we headed for Portland traveling through Pendleton and down the Columbia River Gorge. The first stop was at the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute. I had picked up a brochure at the hotel and as we were passing it I asked Rodney to stop. Housed in a beautiful new building the exhibits included information about Lewis and Clark, the Oregon Trail, and the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla Tribes. We then drove down the Columbia River Gorge in the Columbia River Scenic Highway. The highway was the first to be designated a scenic highway and was beautiful. The engineer built the highway to enhance the surroundings, not to diminish from them so it was a very winding road but worth the drive. Along the way we could see both Mt St. Helens and Mt Hood. Reaching Portland our first stop was at the Acura dealer to get routine service and an oil change. They loaned us a car so of course we found a really big shopping mall and walked around a couple of hours. When we picked up the car and headed to our hotel in Vancouver, Washington. The adaptive cruise control wasn't working so I guess we go back to the dealership tomorrow. The traffic was so bad driving to the hotel we decided to eat on the way. My sister told me to eat at any Mo's I came across, so when Moe's popped up on one of those signs that list restaurants at this exit we cut across several lanes of traffic to get there. It took several twists and turns, but about four miles later we finally came upon Moe's, which turned out to be a tiny deli in a bizarre trucker mall that included a chiropractor's office, a boot repair shop, a one screen movie theater, and Moe's, a small delicatessen. We opted for the Portlander Grill which turned out to be a truck stop. Interesting clientele.

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