First and foremost, Happy Birthday USA! I hope all you readers are having a fabulous Fourth of July. Here in Portland as I type, it’s 84F and due to reach 90 by 5pm. There is barely a cloud in the sky – and the sun feels great!

A couple of weekends ago, I took a little trip on my motorcycle. Click this link for a map of my journey. My intent was to do “the Mt. Hood loop”, approaching the area from a different direction than last time.

SO glad I did that. And, lucky you! I tucked a little point and shoot camera away in the front pocket of my leather riding jacket.

The “Rich-eye-view”:

VMax, Rich-eye-view

I started at my home and proceeded to the hill on the north side of the Rose City Golf Course in our neighborhood. This view of Mt. Hood is just a few blocks…a very nice walk indeed…from our apartment:

Mt. Hood from Rose City Golf Club

Then off to Rt. 205 north, into the lovely state of Washington, and the Columbia River Gorge. The views from the scenic two lane Hwy 14 on the Washington side of the river nearly caused me to ride off the road numerous times! After not too long, you come to “The Bridge of the Gods”. Here’s a view of the bridge from down below, on the OR side of the river:

Bridge of the Gods

Back on the bike, and off to Hood River. This is a very nice little town at the intersection of I-84 and OR-35. Immediately after passing through town on OR-35, you enter wine-country. Technically, you’re in wine country very nearly from the time you leave Portland, but here you can see it a lot more obviously:

Mt. Hood from Wine Country

And, to conclude my first half of this two-part post, another view of the mountain as I ride closer on OR-35:

Mt. Hood from OR-35

Until next time!