More Sights of the Gorge and Oregon

We started 10 September with a visit to Lost Lake, right, which sometimes has very scenic views of Mount Hood with reflections on the water. Wind and haze prevented our obtaining the post card photo we would have liked, but the drive is through beautiful pear growing country. Several orchards had pickers working.
    
After returning from Lost Lake, we toured the Luhr Jensen fishing lure factory in Hood River. They make many more lures than I knew of. No pictures allowed on the tour.
We next drove east to The Dallas and crossed into Washington and visited Schreiner Farms.  It is located west of the US 197 bridge over the Columbia River near the town of  The Dallas. There was an open gate, and no keep out sign until we were about a half mile into the place. According to their web site, they raise about 15 types of exotic animals, with most for sale.
Two double hump camels were in one large pen. I don't know if the animals are here all year or not, but I consider these to be animals of the hot, dry, desert. Across the driveway were animals that are more accustomed to cold mountains.
Yaks, normally found in the mountains of China, llamas, and some other animals were in a large area. Other areas had more llamas, or a similar animal in them.
Several zebras, and this apparent member of the antelope family were in other areas. Yaks and llamas, and several other animals we did not see are mentioned on their web site, but zebras and camels are not.

 In Washington a short distance east of the river bridge for US highway 97 is Stonehenge. Unlike the original, this one has all the stones in place. It is actually a memorial to the 13 military personnel from the county who gave their lives in WW-I. 
 
I had read of Preaching Rock in The Dallas. In town there is a mural of it, above, on the side of a building. Preaching Rock is still in The Dallas, and is now used for a worship service each Easter. It is located in a residential area in the middle of an intersection where a small street dead ends at a wide street. 

We had intended to tour the Dallas Dam the next day, but this was Tuesday, 11 September 2001. We learned of the terrorist acts shortly after we awoke, and all dams were closed to all visitors. 

After watching the news on TV all morning, we had the oil changed in the van, and then visited the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center. Somehow, it was not very entertaining after watching the Trade Centers come down. We next drove to what is advertised as a ghost town, Shaniko, Oregon. We should have realized that a true ghost town would not have an advertising budget, but that a make believe ghost town would. Shaniko is located off the main highways and is not worth a visit, in my opinion, but perhaps on another day I might have different opinion.

Continue to Petersen Rock Garden.

Return to Waterfalls, Dams, and Hatchery.

Return to Our Scenic Tour of 2001.

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