Spring 2012
The Gorge. For more than half my life, those words have evoked in me intense emotions. The first time I ever saw the Gorge was during college when I drove up I-84 from Portland with a friend. I remember being thankful I wasn’t behind the wheel because I couldn’t take my eyes off the towering basalt walls, the tumbling waterfalls, the wide Columbia on its drift toward the sea. The trees blowing in the wind seemed to wave in greeting. All of it took my breath away. We pulled off the freeway in Hood River to check it out. Back then, the town was in the throes of economic distress, with boarded up storefronts downtown and the homes fronting Oak Street ramshackle, in need of care. As we drove through town, I fell instantly and totally in love. A few years later, I moved to the Gorge for a summer to learn to windsurf. It turned into two summers, then three. The rest, as they say, is history. By now, I’ve marked many of life’s milestones here in the Gorge, including my wedding and the birth of my two children—Gorge natives, the lucky ducks. I’ve even persuaded my parents to move here. My feelings for this place run deep.
Which is why I’m happy to introduce the first issue of The Gorge Magazine, a quarterly lifestyle publication dedicated to discovering the people, places and things that make the Gorge so special. In this issue, Matt Werbach gets to know the talented craft brewers in the Gorge—a growing lot, with eight breweries now calling the Gorge home. (A ninth will open later this year in Washougal.) Don Campbell stumbles upon the Mosier Survival Garden, and explores its roots and growing role in the community. Ruth Berkowitz learns the art and science of making cheese at Trout Lake’s Cascadia Creamery. Adam Lapierre explores the vagaries of the Columbia River as springtime brings the “wetsuit warriors” back out on the water in droves. And there’s a lot more in here. Come explore with us. And welcome to The Gorge!
JANET COOK, Editor
