Everyone should try and get to the Vista House sometime in their life as it is a beautiful place and is in the National Historic Register. It has been important to our area way before white men ever entered the area as it is a great lookout. You should google it and find out all about it. It was built in 1016 through 1918 and remodeled in 2000. It was designed by the architect Edgar M Lazarus. It has stained glass windows and marble floors. It was not a popular thing to spend money on due to it being during world war II.
It was built as a rest area for the Columbia Highway and was said to have 20 bathrooms. It is now a museum but is not open now due to COVID 19 but you can still walk around it outside and the views of the Columbia River area is beautiful.
It has so much history with natives, English and the French. It is a 55 ft tall building and the entrance to the gorge. If you are coming to Vista House from the west it is the gateway to 8 waterfalls.
If you have any interest in Oregon History this museum is a must see and plan on spending some time reading the columns Take time to go into the basement which now has an elevator to use and where the 20 bathrooms were located.
It is noted for the winds that hit it and are some of the highest in Oregon. I am sure you have seen on the news people getting blown all around including news people and camera men. They put up a wind gauge once but as you can guess it got blown down.
During winter it is closed except on weekends and almost impossible to get to when there is snow or black ice. The road I took up was like 10% grade. I can't even imagine trying to get up and down it in snow or black ice but you will find many houses built in the area.
Be sure and stop just before you get to it at the woman's Forum state park for some great views also and some walking trails.
Take the time to do some research on this if you like history because this place has a lot of it. I can't wait to go back when it is open. I have not been there since the 60's and I wasn't interested in history at that time, just enjoyed the view and off I went. I plan on spending a whole day up there as soon as possible.
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