The bend at the end of Coldwater Lake...

Hello Autumn!

Goodbye Summer, see you next year!

Mysterious...

Duck!

Turn turn turn...

There is still a flower or two, but mostly the water lilies are beginning their slow return to the darkness beneath the surface of the water until the Spring wakes them again.

Back to the forest-- after the rain showers...

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One last memory from the dry side of the mountains--- this old house is one of my favorite subjects...

The Gorge, looking east: Crown Point and out to the dry side...

Horsetail Falls in the Columbia River Gorge

The Gorge cuts through the Cascade Mountain Range--- and it's spectacular!

Windsurfing in the Columbia River Gorge, near Hood River...

Busy in the Gorge-- two trains and a barge...

Across the river you can see a Burlington Northern Santa Fe Feight going west.  On this side (at the bottom of the picture) a Union Pacific container train is going east.  And in the middle of the Columbia River, a barge is being pushed west.

Heading west through the Columbia River Gorge, back towards the wet side of the mountains...

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The Dalles Mountain Ranch in the hills high above the Columbia River-- looking towards Mt. Hood...

With a tiny tip of the hat to Thomas Hart Benton...

Welcome to the Goodnoe Hills Hotel...

...and post office, once upon a time.

Closed for repairs...

Even in the hot, dry high plains, this little flower reminds us that there's always something beautiful!

A home by the river...

A very, very long train...

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The water wagon...

Stonehenge, high above the Columbia River...

This is a full-size replica of Stonehenge, built starting in 1918, about 100 miles east of Portland.  It was America's first monument to the dead of WWI

The 1912 railroad bridge and the switchyard at Wishram.

The old red barn in the canyon...

Just a quiet little picture-- nothing much has changed for over a hundred years...

Still a good place to get out of the sun...

Heading west!

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The 8 Mile Cemetery-- In a peaceful light...

The River is life...

The pews are gone, the windows are gone, and the congregation is gone-- but it's still there...

The Locust Grove Church

Still proud, a 1949 Studebaker flatbed truck...

And 80 years earlier, most of the covered wagons were Studebakers too...

The wind, a hint of people laughing...

Was it really so long ago...?

A lot of wheat, headed west...

Nobody's home except the cow...

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The Dalles Dam at night-- Each spillway with different lights...

See yesterday's post for the dam at sunset...

The Dalles Dam at sunset...

More than 1250 feet above the Columbia River, from the Goodnoe Hills, looking west-southwest over the John Day Dam towards Mt. Hood...

Big, powerful, fast-- but never frightening...

The ranch in Tygh Valley

Non-stop along the cliffs...

The rugged basalt cliffs along the Columbia River--- on the dry side of the mountains...

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Goodnoe Hills Homestead

One is leaning to the left. The other is leaning to the right...

And the cows don't care one little bit!

The elevator at Boyd...

This wooden giant was used for storing wheat.  Trains stopped where the dirt road is now.  A water driven grist mill was on the other side.  A normal person would stand only as tall as the top of the lower window on the left side.  And once again the old schoolhouse is peeking from the top right.