RonnieAdventure #0173 - Pacific Northwest, 2015 Part V

On our way back to the Portland airport, we stopped by the Gray's River Covered Bridge, which was constructed in 1905 and is the oldest covered bridge in use in Washington State. 

You have to be careful when driving in the rural areas of Washington because you never know about some of the drivers. At one  point, we saw a buck deer driving an old pickup truck with a human skeleton hanging out of the passenger-side window.   

We stopped at the Washington State Mount St. Helens Visitor Center but decided not drive out to Johnson Ridge because there was a storm front moving in and we could see on a closed-circuit monitor in the visitor center that the mountain was completely encased in a cloud.

Photographer Unknown

Photographer Unknown

Photographer Unknown

The Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens in Woodland were open; unfortunately, we were there at the wrong time of year to see any blooming lilacs. 

When I found out that there was a retail outlet at the Lamiglas fishing rod factory, I decided to stop and look for a bargain. After seeing the prices of their fishing rods, I concluded that they probably did not carry the Lamiglas brand at the Wal-Mart where I shop. 

The Cedar Creek Grist Mill is located on the Lewis River about nine miles east of Woodland. The mill is only open on weekends, but during the week you can still walk around the grounds and take pictures.  

The Pacific Northwest's first hospital, school, orchard, library, grist mill, saw mill, shipyard, and dairy were all established at the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Vancouver (Washington). After the United States obtained the land, Columbia Barracks (aka Vancouver Barracks) was established on the same site and then the name was later changed back to Fort Vancouver. Over the years, the Fort has been expanded numerous times.  

A partial replica of the Hudson Bay Company's Fort Vancouver has been reconstructed on the original site. The entire area encompassing Fort Vancouver and is now operated and maintained by the U.S. National Park Service. 

Pearson Field is located at Fort Vancouver and is the oldest continuously operating airfield in the Pacific Northwest and one of the two oldest continuously operating airfields in the United States. There is a free air museum that is located in a historic building adjacent to the airfield that was built for the U.S. Army Signal Corps' Spruce Production Corporation in 1921. Admission is free. 

The Grant House located on Officers Row has been converted into a restaurant that is a favorite among local and visiting diners. Tours of the house are available after your dinner.  

We had a few extra hours before our plane left, so we stopped by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). My favorite exhibit was a Rolls-Royce replica that was constructed from 1,016,711 matchsticks. Some people have way too much spare time!