Cascade Locks, Oregon

Just steps from the Columbia River, Cascade Locks, Oregon, is great for an overnight stay.  After visiting Multnomah Falls, we spent the night at the Best Western there on SW WaNaPa Street, preceded by a dinner of hand-thrown pizza and a dark ale at the Cascade Locks Ale House half a block down on the same street.  The pizza was delicious, the ale refreshing, and the hotel a pleasure with its impeccable staff, meticulous maintenance and thoughtful amenities.

The city took its name from a set of locks built there in the late 1800s.  Completed in 1896, the locks improved navigation on the river past the Cascades Rapids, operating until 1938 when they were submerged by the Bonneville Lock and Dam four miles downstream.  Today a park exists on the site with a campground, restaurant and marina with a fabulous bronze statue of Sacagawea and Seaman, a native woman and dog accompanying the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Ninety years earlier, for two days beginning October 30, 1805, Lewis and Clark camped near this town and explored the route they would attempt through the "Great Shute" (Cascades Rapids) in the Columbia River.  Today, inundated by the lake formed behind the Bonneville Dam, the rapids no longer exist nor pose a threat for travelers or ships maneuvering through this portion of the Columbia River.

After a complimentary breakfast of huge proportions, like Lewis and Clark, we were on our way.  But we traveled in the opposite direction, up river, toward another adventure-Washington's Stonehenge...