Wet Weekend

Friday and Saturday of this past weekend, we were supposed to spend a relaxing evening in the Columbia River Gorge at Bonneville Hot Springs Resort. We both took Friday afternoon off as we wanted to beat the traffic out of town and get checked into our room fairly early so we could enjoy most of the evening. The idea was to spend the night there, and in the morning she was going to have a spa treatment (mineral bath, body wrap and massage) while I went shooting in the Gorge. It was a good plan, but it just didn't quite work out that way as it poured the entire weekend. Well, I mean it didn't affect her massage, but it was really much too wet to shoot in the Gorge and the wind and low clouds didn't provide for a very photogenic environment. To top it all off, the roof of my truck started leaking and totally soaked the back seat.

We did have a nice relaxing evening when we first arrived. We had a couple of drinks in the lounge, followed by a wine tasting event in the main lodge, and then dinner. We also took a dip in the pool and sat in the mineral spa for a while. That was very relaxing.

When we got up the next morning, though, it was raining harder than ever. We had breakfast (very tasty) while we discussed plans for the day, and I decided that I was at least going to attempt to get some shots. It was either that or sit around for several hours while she got her spa treatment. So I headed out with my weather-sealed (but not waterproof) camera and lens and did some shooting.

The first image is of a rain swollen stream that cascades directly into the Columbia River. This was located just inside the little town of Stevenson on the Washington side of the Gorge. It was raining quite hard as I was shooting off the bridge here, and my camera and I got quite wet. A quick wipe with the towel when I got back into the truck sufficed for both me and the camera. I then drove through the town looking for something of interest to shoot, but didn't see anything worthy enough to make me want to get out of my warm and semi-dry vehicle (the roof was still leaking onto the back seat).

I gave up on Stevenson for the day (though I might go back there on drier day), and drove up to Skamania Lodge hoping for a nice view.....no such luck. It was pretty well socked in there too. So I headed back west with hopes of getting some photos of Beacon Rock or perhaps a locomotive on the heavily trafficked rail line that parallels the river. Along the way, I noticed one of the tour boats headed west down the Gorge, and I managed to get far enough ahead of the vessel that I could stop and grab a few shots as she went by. This time the rained had slacked off enough that I didn't get too wet, though the wind was quite strong and it was pretty tough keeping my hat in place.

I did drive down to Beacon Rock, but it simply wasn't possible to get any good shots there with the rain and the wind pounding everything, so I gave it up and headed back to the lodge. On the road to the spa though, I noticed some Halloween decorations that were certainly worthy of a shot. It seems like the residents really have a thing for jack o'lanterns.