Road Trip! A chance to explore, see new places, learn about new geography. We headed east in May of 2025 with a rented minivan, bicycles, and cameras. For our first stop, we crossed the Columbia River at Dallesport and stayed in The Dalles.
The Dalles is a city on the on the left (south) bank of the Columbia River in Oregon. The city has a dramatic setting as the gateway to the Columbia Gorge. The site was a historic trading center for native Americans as well as European travelers on the Oregon trail. It is still a major rail junction and center for agricultural products.
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| BNSF rail yard (135mm ƒ/3.5 Pentax-M lens) |
The city has a historic downtown with early 20th century commercial buildings. We walked around town and looked for the typical topics that interest me.
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| Alley facing Wasco County second courthouse |
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| Wall art, 1st Street |
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| Warehouse, Jefferson Street (50mm ƒ/2 Rikenon lens) |
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| Sunshine Mill, view east from 1st Street |
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| Where are the cars? Jefferson Street (50mm ƒ/2 Rikenon lens) |
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| Time for a breakfast coffee and croissant, 2nd Street (50mm ƒ/2 Rikenon lens) |
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| Where is the horse? View east from Jefferson Street |
This ends our all too short stopover in The Dalles. Nice town, and I want to return.
I tool these pictures on Kodak Portra 160 film with a Pentax MG camera and several lenses. The 50mm scenes are from my $25 Ricoh 50mm ƒ/2 Rikenon lens. This is a compact mostly plastic lens that was sold with many K-mount Ricoh SLR cameras in the 1980s. It is a light weight 6-element double Gauss design, and the optical quality is excellent. No complaints! Please click any photo above to see more details.
Tourist Notes
Restaurant: The Dalles Thai Cuisine is excellent! We were surprised considering what rotten food we have had in many Thai restaurants in the USA. We had the roasted duck.
A comfortable place to stay downtown on W. 2nd Street: The Dalles Inn
