On the Road Again

I am on the road again for a fun weekend in Seattle to celebrate Lauren's birthday, visit with family and friends and take in a couple Mariner baseball games (first games to see without Ichiro…so sad.)  You can see from above that the drive is a long one from Boise to Seattle.  We've made the drive many times in the 14 years we've live in Idaho, I know this drive well.

After the first hour, I'm crossing the Snake River

Yeah!!  I'm in Oregon now. I've made progress.

But it's still more of the same for awhile unfortunately.

After about 30 minutes more I see civilization ahead and an oasis.  It's Farewell Bend State Park and campground on the Snake River.

We would stop here with our dog when we traveled.  It's a good place to let her run around and play in the water.   I've camped here twice actually.  The first time was in 1964 with my family when we took a car trip to Park City, Utah from Seattle to visit my Grandpa and my parents' friends and relatives.  They were from Park City and knew lots of people.  There were no trees at this campground then.  I just remember it was really windy and barren.   Then we camped here again in 1992 when we drove to Iowa from Seattle with our kids who were  5 years old and 3 years old.  That was a really fun car trip to and from Iowa.  Fun memories.

But I'm not stopping here now.   I'm on an 8 hour mission.  I see my first train.

Seeing trains was a big deal when we'd go on car trips with our kids.  "A train, a train!!"  I still sort of do it.  Then I pass the weird cement factory.

  

I always wondered why a cement factory was here in the middle of nowhere…

I hate this when this happens. Two trucks passing.  I have to slow down. You don't want any interruptions when you're on this mission.

I see my second train.  Can you tell I'm bored?

Two hours in now.  I'm approaching Baker City, Oregon but I'm not stopping here, either.  It's a cute, little, old historic town but I'm on a mission today.

Also, near here is the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center which we've been to a few times.  It's a great museum and you can actually see the original Oregon Trail.  

But I'm not stopping to see the wagon wheel grooves in the dirt.  I'm on a mission and I'm heading west.

I spot a familiar sight ahead. I must stop. It's been 2-1/2 hours now into my 8 hour trip.  I'm in La Grande, Oregon.

I am so happy.  Starbucks!

This will hold me over now until Prosser.  Perfect.

Then I hit the curves over the Blues.   You always have to be careful what you order at Starbucks in La Grande because things can be tricky to eat when you have all these curves to deal with.

I saw my third train.  Wow.  Lot's of trains today.

Oh no.  Road construction.  This happens every trip so the slow-down is just factored into the 8 hours.  Oregon has had road construction going on for 14 years.  I must slow down to 50 mph.  Not bad.

The Blues are beautiful mountains.  You can see why they call them "the Blues".

Now I'm at Pendleton where they have their big Round Up every year but I'm not stopping… keep going.

I'm finally at the half-way point.  Only 4 more hours to go.   

The halfway point is the Mighty Columbia.  (river, that is)

And now I'm finally in Washington state.  Getting closer.

Now I'm really getting excited.  My favorite part of the trip is coming up.  After I gas-up in Prosser, Washington, I enter the beautiful and lush Yakima Valley.

So much growing around here and wineries, too.  Just beautiful.

As I leave Yakima and get closer to Ellensburg, the sky welcomes me to Western Washington.  I think it's a sign.

Now the scenery is so gorgeous, I just feel happy to almost be in Seattle again.  The Cascade mountains…

As my dad use to say about the Pacific Northwest, "this is truly God's country."

As I enter into Seattle, the sunset is beautiful.  I love it here.  And now my mission is over.  I made it.