Hwy 14

[LC4CARL]

Loaded the family up and headed east on 14 out of Vancouver this morning. Destination: The Dalles and, perhaps, the Maryhill Museum. You see, many years back I received a book titled “The Most Scenic Drives in America. 120 Spectacular Road Trips." Drive number four, as it turns out, begins approximately 15 miles from my house. It may take some time to work through the remaining 119 drives, but, anything worth doing is, well. It’s worth doing.



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Water.



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Grass.



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Tree.



What a difference. Highway 84 on the Oregon side is a regular expressway. In contrast, the northern route is a two-lane rural (mostly) drive. Great stuff. Water, tunnels, steam engines, lama’s; everything.



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Train tracks.



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Smashed penny.



“Beacon Rock” is neat. The 850 foot monolith “second only to Gibraltar in size - is the core of a vanished volcano”. We’ll have to save the trail to the top for another day.



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Beacon Rock.



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Use tunnel on left.



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My "EDR Hotties."



Bonneville Dam, built after Lewis and Clark visited the area, created a “48-mile-long lake on the Columbia River.”



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Kids on rocks.



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Pretty.

[LC4CARL]

Dined on pizza and peanut butter cookies in Stevenson.

Several parks along the way. Lots of motorcycles.

The Dalles Lock and Dam was a duplicate of Bonneville. The water was extremely turbulent in the vicinity of the turbine exhaust. Fish ladders and high tension wires.

Feeling good, we pressed on to the gallery. Built at the turn of the century by capitalist Sam Hill, he abandoned the idea of living in the “ranch house” when his business holdings suffered. Through donors, the concrete building was instead turned into a museum. With peacocks.



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Turkey.



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House.



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View from house.



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Pretty woman.



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Stairs.



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Small, wire, mannequins French clothes designers used to model their fashions after WWII.



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House.



200 miles round trip. The roads were terrific, but relatively heavy traffic encroached on it’s motorcycle fun rating.



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"Go long."

[shaggy1]

great pics, it's a beautiful drive and can be a lot of fun on a bike if you go on a weekday with little traffic.

[sanfret]

Got a link for that book on Amazon?

[Afterimage]

I love driving Hwy 14, and you're right, it is a beautiful drive. The view of Bonneville Dam from the top of Beacon Rock is mighty impressive. Did you hit Stonehenge while you were up there?

[LC4CARL]

I missed it. A few days later I was looking at a travel guide when I ran across it. Doh! Guess I'll have to go back. On the bike.

[LC4CARL]

I watched a documentary on Sam Hill last night. Seems he built this fantastic scenic highway along the Columbia where 84 now runs. In the film, the road looked fantastic. Bridges, tunnels, scenery. But too small for modern traffic volume. Anyway, it looks like a few parts of the original road remain. Anybody here ever retraced them?

[hayai baiku]

I ride 14 to my moms place near the Dalles. It's a beautiful ride.

LC4Carl the Historic Columbia River Scenic Highway most of it now is for non-motorized traffic.

[LC4CARL]

Hmm. May have to air up the bicycle tires...