Goodbye Washington - Hello Ore-Ida

August 31-September 1

As we head toward Oregon, we head into a different Washington.  The Northern Cascades seem to divide the state into the Pacific Northwest and the Northwest.  Here in the Northwest, we are again seeing some mountains, but more giant rolling hills beneath the ever-growing sky.  There are some ranches and, increasingly, more farms and orchards.  The hills are tawny and dry, and the valleys are rich and green.  Because of the prehistoric floods, this area is known for its excellent soil, but it seems to be very dependent upon irrigation from the rivers.  I doubt that much agriculture, except perhaps ranching could survive without it.  As we cross the Snake River, joining the Columbia, we see more grain facilities.  Some have great pyramids of wheat.  Fertile country indeed—as long as you have water.

But the Pacific Northwest has been our favorite part of this great state. How we enjoyed lounging beside large windows in "Vaughan Lodge" (built on a hill and surrounded by forest) loving the tall trees, the wide variety of birds, and watching for the Douglas Squirrel, who has the coloration of a robin.  Charlie and Robin are great hosts.  Then there is the beauty all around Seattle:  the sea, Puget Sound, ridge after ridge of mountains, some covered with evergreen forest, others above timberline, all presided over by the magnificent Mount rainier.  Even the city skyline is beautiful. We have tremendously enjoyed being here.

The deeper we go (at least on this route!) into Oregon, and then Idaho, the more desert appears.  We see rolling hills of nothing but sage brush, framed by rather high, barren cliffs.  

There is little traffic, and the towns range from small to über small.  I notice that all seem to have storage facilities, beauty shops, flower shops, and hardware stores.  If one of those is missing, it is really small—like under 1000 people.  Ace Hardware is faithfully present, even when the town is lucky enough to be small enough not to have a Walmart!

We slept in Pendleton, Oregon the first night, and our first stop that morning was the Pendleton Mill.  It was Labor day, so there were no tours, but the store was open.  Lovely shopping for both of us!  I now have a winter suit that doesn't shout, "Talbots!" and Don found some things he wanted as well.  A very satisfying stop for both of us.

In the late afternoon we came to a place called Craters of the Moon. It's a National Monument.  It is essentially the remains of volcanic action.  Cinder cones can be seen here and there, but most impressive is that most of it is covered in a black lava flow, and there are great amounts of volcanic ash (pumice). The moon isn't black, and this place is, but is other-worldly.  Huge chunks of ash lie everywhere.  It is like being in a giant bed of ashes after the fire has gone out.  It is a veritable wasteland of black matter, but we see life in the forms of plants like Sage Brush, Limber Pines, and a surprisingly large number of wildflowers.

As we approach the east, I am happy to report that we have won the long-distance license plate award.  We have seen one car from Boston and one from Florida, and that was in Yellowstone. So we claim the prize!

One oddity: As we drove through rural Oregon, nothing but a few farms around, we realized we were on a marked evacuation route.  Evacuate from what?  Volcanos? Blizzards? Earthquakes? Tornados?  

In deepest Idaho (truly the empty quarter) we learned that in this area was developed the technology for the development of nuclear submarines.  They had the first electric power from nuclear energy—in 1949!  Perhaps the Oregonians were prepared to escape nuclear waste?

And in rural Idaho, we passed a large area of brush fire on the prairie.  Many trucks and firemen were out in force putting it out.  We saw no flames, but the ground was smoking and the air smelled of fire.

It's late tonight (we're in Pocatello), but maybe I'll add a picture later.