On Thursday, when the conference was over, I drove back to the Columbia Gorge.

[All the photos can be seen here on Flickr.]

I first stopped at a building that we had first seen from the highway far below. Vista House was the apparently what rest areas looked like in 1916 when it was built, along the new Highway 30 (now called the Historic Columbia River Gorge Highway). Stone, stained glass, etc. It now houses a museum and visitors center.

I then drove to Latourell Falls, a bit farther down the road. It has a gorgeous mass of yellow lichen on the side of the cliff:

Then I drove a bit farther down to the very popular Bridal Veil Falls. (I think there’s a Bridal Veil Falls in every state…)

And also photographed the stream below the falls:

Then it was back to Portland, with a last dinner at Kells Brew Pub, which was down the hill from my hotel, as I was off on another road trip the next morning.