Mark Velky, President of Club Lotus NW in Portland, had kindly agreed to show me around Portland for the day on Friday 6th April. I was to meet with club members that night, but this left me a full day to look around Portland, a city I had never been to before. After a quick cup of coffee with Jim, I drove into Portland to meet Mark, and we headed off to his local coffee shop for a coffee and to check emails on wifi. (Jim had no wifi at home.) First reactions were that Portland is a little like Seattle, with lots of boutique style coffee shops and restaurants, hills, and of course the Columbia River running through the middle of the area. I still had all my stuff in Elsie so although Mark had very bald rear tyres, we had no choice but to take his 2005 Elise and just take it easy. And of course I had a brief chance to see his DeLorean, which seems to have taken a back seat now the Elise is there !!!
It was still a bit overcast when we tried to go up into the International Rose Garden near Arlington Heights for a view over Portland, but it was clearing. Then we went further up the hills, and got a slightly better view as the cloud lifted. Following that we went down to meet the local Lotus dealer but unfortunately he was out - hopefully selling someone a new Elise !! We had a great lunch at a delightful British style pub (with a photo of Colin Chapman on the wall amongst the other more usual British Pub old hunting scenes etc - Once again just don't ask how it got there - Suffice it to say some Lotus people had a meeting there once many years ago and decided Colin needed to be there - And there he has stayed ever since !). And after lunch we took off up the the southern side of the Columbia Gorge to see some of the sights I had been unaware of when I drove in the day before.
First of all the stunning views up and down the gorge from the Vista House at Crown Point. Apparenty it is normally very windy there, but today it was almost flat calm, the sun had come out, and we could see for miles in every direction. From so high up above the gorge it gives one a real perepective of the size of the gorge and the Columbia river itself.
From Vista House we wandered further up the gorge to the Multnomah Falls, which with the recent rains in the area were in spectacular form. With the top section having a fall of some 542 feet, and the lower section an additional 69 feet, they are truly spectacular. In 1995, a 400 ton boulder fell over 200 feet into the upper pool, asing a 70 ft splash and soaking (and causing minor injuries to) a wedding party who were on the bridge taking photos at the time ! (Legend of the Falls here
http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/ALegendOfMultnomahFalls-Wasco.html )
After we had visited the falls, Mark and I returned to Portland, and went to the Pyramid Breweries pub where we were meeting the members of Club Lotus NW who were able to get away for a beer and a meal and a chat.
Once again a fascinating evening meeting everyone, and hearing the stories of their cars - Between Don & Gail and their many cars, John, Riccardo and Kathleen, and Don, Jerry and Dennis and their various cars, it was a lively evening, and once again I thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone. These evenings are truly making this trip very memorable for me, and a big thank you to all those who came out for the evening at such short notice. And a BIG thank you to MarkVelky for persuading me to detour down to Portland, enabling me to not only meet so many great people both in Richland and in Portland, but also to see such a beautiful part of our country that I had never visited before.
Photos for the day here :-
https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/PortlandOR?authkey=Gv1sRgCMyopNfv1Jq1Dg#
