Just half an hour outside of downtown Portland you’ll find the 611-foot-tall Multnomah Falls:

This is the second part of the two-stage falls. Rainwater, an underground spring and snow melt feed the falls through all four seasons. This is the tallest waterfall in Oregon:

Here’s the top of the falls, and part of that long, first drop, which measures 542 feet. We walked 1.25 miles to get to the top:

Also, there’s a tunnel carved out of a nearby hill:

This is another waterfall that stems from the same sources. Both are restive places, but this one, much smaller, gets a lot less traffic:

We ate dinner here, just sandwiches because everything was outrageously expensive. They offered a macaroni and cheese — like Mom used to make — for $15. I don’t know about your mom, but that dish didn’t set mine back like that. The cheese must be fresh from France, and flown in first class on silken made oriental rugs.

Our waiter, who was a nice guy willing to chat since we caught them at an off time, was talking up their barbecue night to his one other customer. The Yankee said, “Yeah, bring that over. Let’s try that.”

We’ve turned her into a proper barbecue snob. I’m so proud:

We didn’t eat here, but I had to stop and take a picture of the sign:

The locals needed a road paralleling the Columbia River in the mid-19th century. Sam Hill was a railroad attorney and a big fan of good roads. In 1913 he gathered people of means, met right here at Chanticleer Point and outlined his plan for a scenic highway. The setting worked. They were conducting surveys in a matter of weeks. They called it the “king of roads” in the 1920s. But most people were paying attention to what they saw outside their windows:

The Yankee enjoys the Columbia River:

Back to Multnomah — the above pictures were from my phone. These are from my camera. This is the top of the falls once again:

Being on the top of a big waterfall, making a big long walk up a tall hill, seeing a wide river and ancient trees, they all make you realize the size of beauty and the smallness of the viewer. And so you take a look at the macros:

This is the stream supplying the falls. This goes around one bend and then into a little pool and down the cliff face. I’m not sure I’m supposed to be here:

In that pedestrian tunnel, where The Yankee did her cartwheels.

At that second, smaller waterfall. This is where I decided to shoot a lot of video of this trip. I’ll show some of that at the conclusion of our adventures.