The Bridge of the Gods (What's in a Name, part 2)

Pacific Northwest September Travelog #12
Stevenson, WA - Mon, 5 Sep 2022, 9am

The other day I asked, "What's in a name?" as I wrote about Gifford Pinchot and the local political candidate whose slogan is Stinky 4 PUD. This morning brought another "Names that make you go huh" moments, though for the opposite reason. We drove across The Bridge of the Gods.

With a name like that you wonder how magnificent this bridge is going to be. Will the surface be an undulating rainbow like in the Thor movies? Will it be gilt in gold and gems? Will it at least be... holy?

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Well, the only thing holey about this bridge is the metal grille of its road deck. It's a fairly standard steel truss/cantilever bridge. Built originally in 1926, it was rebuilt higher and wider in 1938 after the construction of the Bonneville Dam a bit downriver.

So, how does such a standard (if slightly old for US highways) bridge get such a legendary name? The name comes from Native American history. When a huge landslide occurred hundreds of years ago it dammed the Columbia River for a time, creating a land bridge across. Much of the land from the landslide is still visible in the area, especially on the Washington side. Modern scientific methods estimate the date of the landslide at between 900-1000 years ago and the size of the lake created behind it 150 miles long before the force of the water broke the debris open.

Heels Up Before Wheels Up

Pacific Northwest September Travelog #17
PDX Airport - Mon, 5 Sep 2022, 6pm

We wrapped up the last our our three-day weekend in southern Washington today after hiking Panther Falls and hiking a few falls at Beach Rock State Park. (Update: links added.) Around 2:30 we grabbed a late lunch at a drive-in burger stand in the 'burb of Washougal, WA and then drove to PDX to begin the airport shuffle.

The security shuffle (part of the airport shuffle) took longer than usual today. It looked like the TSA only had one luggage scanner open initially that was being shared by both Pre-Check and non-Pre passengers. The queue only crawled forward. At some point more scanner crews arrived and the line started moving much faster. I timed my time in line: 21 minutes. That's the worst I've ever measured in years of having Pre-Check.

Aside from the frustration of standing in line so long there was no harm done by the slow TSA. We walked down the hall to our gate at 4:45, two hours before our scheduled 6:45 departure. While Hawk headed straight toward the gate area I made a pit stop at the bar, where I made friends with two pints of beer for the next 60+ minutes. Heels up before wheels up!

Now it's just after 6pm, and I'm with Hawk at the gate. Our aircraft is at the gate, too, and the inbound passengers have disembarked. Things look good for an on-time departure. ...Of course, that's exactly how things looked at the start of this trip, right before we were dealt a 90+ minute delay! Let's hope that doesn't happen again.