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    September is a great time in Oregon. The salmon and steelhead are in the rivers, the trout are becoming more active, there is a crispness in the air and the food festivals are as abundant as the bounty.     The favorite fall getaway for wife and I is the Skamania Lodge Celebration of Beer, an intimate festival featuring local brewers and generous pours at the beautiful Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, Washington.    We stay at the lodge so we can enjoy ourselves at the festival and not have to worry about driving the 50 minutes back to Portland.      This is not a huge festival but instead one in which you can actually taste all the standard and seasonal brews offered the festival and then sit and enjoy a gorgeous view while drinking a glass or two of your favorite. You even get to keep the glass.     Afterwards, you can pile on more calories at the lavish dinner buffet, get some relaxing sleep and then finish the weekend with a fabulous beer-focused breakfast buffet.

A fish rises during the early hours. Wild parr from the pond. The confluence of two small streams. Wild cutthroat from the pond. Labor Day weekend was spent driving around Washington visiting friends and honoring my wife's birthday wishes. Instead of a gift, she opted to get out of town and spend time on a friend's farm outside Sedro Woolley and another friend's land outside Cle Elum. The beauty about having friends with property is that on a busy weekend we have a place to camp. Of course the kayaks went along and so did our new springer spaniel, Nik. I had wanted to visit the farm for some time and it proved to be a wonderful experience. My buddy Chuck dug a 1/4 acre pond on the farm and stocked it with some trout several years ago. The goal was to provide entertainment and fresh fish. After a couple years, the fish disappeared despite his regular feeding. Recently,  resident cutthroat trout found the pond and are now reproducing. My new kay