Saturday: drove to the Columbia Gorge and into Stevenson across the Bridge of the Gods, to reach Dog Mountain.
A strenuous uphill climb for four miles yielded quite a payoff: a 360 degree view of the river and surrounding mountains. The three peaks were out: Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Adams. Hiking later (between Mother's Day and Father's Day) is supposed to be the best, with the hills carpeted with wildflowers, though it's hard to imagine it being much better than it was for us today, with temps in the 60s and not a cloud in the sky. We're still near Portland, right?? Then it was back to Stevenson in search of food and beer. We found heaven in both: smoked salmon/blue cheese/pear/hazelnut/chili oil at Walking Man (err... Sasquatch).
And I instantly developed a love for Scotch porter at our new favorite spot, the recently-opened Thunder Island brewery. The lively crowd sounded like the intro to a bad joke: a young marketer for Columbia/Mountain Hardware, a survivalist couple living off their land, a salmon hunter, two Hallmark creatives, and the proprietor and brewmaster, Dan.
We even got a tour of the facilities. Easily the most fun I've ever had hanging out at a bar, and god beer was equally good.
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