Grammy and Road trip up the Columbia Gorge

My cousin and his wife came down on Wednesday for Hubbys Grandmothers funeral. Grammy would have been 100 years old on May 10th, she was born in 1913!!  She was a classy lady to the end.  She is Hubbys Moms, Mom. She had a long wonderful life, and will be missed. This photo was from last year at her 99th birthday party.

Friday my cousin left and drove over to West Portland to see his Mom. Saturday they headed home. I had seen a small gun show in a town up the Gorge, in the local paper. So we decided to meet up with them when they headed home and go to the gun show and walk through a small antique store that is there too. We then had lunch at a local cafe. I took some pics, but it was raining so hard when we stopped at the antique store that I was more worried about getting the umbrella and forgot my camera! darn it!!

We stopped and the fishing bank, just below Bonneville Dam. The Gorge is beautiful even on a grey dreary day.

This is looking West down river. The Coho salmon are just starting to run, along with a few steel head. I will show you the fish counts in the next post.

 Looking East up river, towards the Dam.

 The fishermen are parking here and walking down to the bank to fish. You can see one guy there on the bank.

 One coming back to the parking lot and one heading out.

 The Dept. of Wildlife, or the Corp of Engineers, dont know which, put these tubes up to put your lost line into. After a backlash there is usually a lot of line left over. So instead of leaving it on the bank they want you to put it in these. A close up of the sticker on the front.

 Funny looking things huh! LOL

 Sturgeon fisherman just getting ready to cast out. The fishing pole they use is usually a one or two piece pole that is 12-15 feet long! With a large bait casting reel.

 And the cast!

 They use 8-10 ounces of lead, and a barb less hook. Smelt when they can get it, hasnt been a run in the Columbia for a few years. Role mop, sand shrimp stuff like that is also used. Tied on with stretchy thread. The cast goes out usually a third of the way across the river. Here you can also see where a large creek comes into the river on the Oregon side, and a lot of fishermen over there also.

 The boat launch on the Washington side. To anchor in the Columbia river a fishing boat needs at least 300 feet of rope! and an anchor buoy that slides on the rope. An absolute must as the current is so hard and fast!!!

 The newer fish bypass that screwed up where we used to fish from the bank, years ago.

 The fish are sent down this chute and dumped back into the river below the Dam. The sprinklers on the end are to keep the seagulls from eating any stunned fish, although it does not help keep the sea lions from doing it! Yes we get a lot of sea lions up the river this far! Dont know exactly but its over 250 miles from the ocean!

 The Gorge is one of the most beautiful places there is to me.

 Getting closer to Bonneville Dam.

 These last two pictures are for Lisa! LOL LOL We were talking about moss, well the rocks around here have several kinds each, of moss, lichen and slime! LOL LOL

More in the next post!!