How the West Was Built

Hubby and I celebrated our June/July events that included Father's Day, our anniversary and his birthday, at Timberline Lodge in the foothills of Mount Hood, in the Oregon Cascades, a monumental lodge built in the '30s as part of F.D.R.'s public works programs. This was our first visit to this elevation, over six thousand feet of majestic splendor. The Arts&Crafts style lodge has been renovated and modernized, with all the amenities one would expect in this age: running hot and cold water, heat, superb restaurant food, internet...

We love exploring new places whenever possible, anticipating both the good and the bad part of a new adventure. What we found was truly a remarkable place, everything hand built and furnished in just eighteen months. Eighteen months! Our little bungalow in California was built in eighteen months with plenty of big rigs and ready-made parts shipped to the site for assembly. Nothing at Timberline Lodge was pre-made. Even the furniture and drapes were constructed on site.

Ten miles south of Timbeline Lodge is Government Camp, the original site for all the encampment and organizing activities necessary to built the lodge.  Government Camp is still operating, btw. It is now a vacation village with all the modern trappings and reasonably priced accommodations for skiers and hikers.

This was a trip down memory lane for Hubby. His father worked at such camps during the recession, and it was fun for us to visit not one but many areas where the work of the WPA (Work Project Administration) left a lasting legacy.

On the way home, we stopped at Bonneville Dam and Power Plant, a remarkable place to trap the Columbia River's power and prevent destructive floods that had  destroyed towns and agriculture around the Columbia River Basin.