Jacqueline’s Jaunts

Our Camp Site in Gorge Base Camp RV Park Woke up to great weather today and no wind. Gotta love that! Today is our last day at the Gorge.  We visited the  Bonneville Dam Power Generator # 2 on the Washington side. There is no visitor center, but there is a store where you can get passport stamps and stickers. That always makes me happy. We were able to join one of the turbine tours at 1:30 PM, so we had a few hours to walk around. We also had lunch outside and we enjoyed the sunshine. The turbine area was also featured as the  evil   laboratory in the 1980s film   Short Circuit .   We started the tour on the top level. Our Ranger was very informative and fun. Six of the eight turbines were shut down, and we learned that during fish migration times, they do not run them. Shad and Lamprey are working their way up the ladders this time of year. We did get to observe the crane moving above the turbines, which was cool. Our group then moved down to the leve...

We are up and off to 1) check out the tunnel for the ride home. 2) Head down to the Dalles Visitor Center on the Oregon side.  The tunnel was an alternate way to leave other than taking the crazy bridge. The tunnel is narrow and only 12.5 inches high where it curves up. This would mean we would have to go straight down the middle. Something for us to think about. We are aware that logging trucks take this tunnel, but we will have to think about this.  Well, the Visitor Center was closed. It’s only open Friday-Sunday. The information site was not updated. But we were able to see a life-size eagle's nest outside.  Instead, we headed West to the Bonneville Locks & Dam and the visitor center on the Dalles side.   A huge facility on the Columbia River, in addition to a dam, is a fish conservation site, hydroelectric generation, and locks for ships to navigate.   Life-Size Eagle's Nest It was an interesting place to explore. They actually count the fish ...