sojourner photography

The Columbia River, Richland, Washington

I just really like this shot. Not sure why. But it just pleases me for some reason. I took it on a walk this fall with friends. A good day. Earlier in the day, I took the shot below, of Wade rock climbing. It is pleasing to me too, but for entirely different reasons. Newlyweds. What can I say.

Wade Rock Climbing

A few more shots from the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge.

Columbia River

See those fluffy white clouds in the middle? If they weren’t there….you’d be looking at Mt. Hood. Right there is where it is supposed to be. Yeah. I definitely have to go back on a clear day.

Rainbow on Washington side, Columbia River.

But seeing quite a few of these was almost worth missing Hood.

Beacon Rock

In the upper left hand corner is Beacon Rock and some power towers from Bonneville Dam. The 848 feet tall Beacon Rock was named by Lewis and Clark in 1805. They noted that the rock marked the eastern extent of the tidal influence in the Columbia.

Continuing down the Columbia Gorge on the Washington side, we came across this…stonehenge? In Washington?

Stonehenge War Memorial, Maryhill, Washington

“Stonehenge War Memorial can be seen from a great vantage point on the Washington hillsides above the Columbia River Gorge. This full size replica of Stonehenge was built by a pacifist Quaker from 1912 - 1930 at the site of the original Maryhill community, which since burned to the ground. He was mistakenly informed that the original Stonehenge was a place for human sacrifices, so his goal with this concrete replica was to remind people that “humanity is still being sacrificed to the god of war” and a memorial to soldiers who died in World War I was also included. Since then, memorials have been added to the site for the wars of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.”

Inside the Stonehenge War Memorial

Have to include a shot of the guy that finds all these cool places…

Wade

And the view of the river from the memorial.

The Columbia River & Bridge

Windmill farm, Columbia River Gorge, from the Washington side.

Barge on the Columbia River, Eastern Washington.

One of the many cool Bridges, Columbia River Gorge, Eastern Washington.

We drove down the Washington State side of the Columbia River Gorge, from Plymouth to Vancouver. Then crossed over to the Oregon side at Portland and drove back. What a great day trip for a photographer. It was so beautiful, but a bit hard to photograph. The scale is just so huge, although I’m not sure I really managed to capture that. But it was at the height of the fall color, and just such a gorgeous, wonderful day. These are just a couple of shots from the beginning of the day, the eastern Washington side.