6/20/2018

Edmonds, WA to Baker City, OR

After the usual madhouse of last minute packing, we were on our way at 10:45.  We are headed off cross country with our longtime travel companions, Cheryl’s twin sister Carol and husband of some 48 years, Jim, with whom we have been enjoying great trips around the country for many years.

Photo 4875.  Approaching Snoqualmie Pass on I-90.  Traveling in the Northwest in June is a joy — everything is still uber-green, there is still snow in the high country, lots of water in the rivers, and no smoke from forest fires obscuring the vistas.

Photo 4899.  Big construction: the eastbound lanes of I-90 are being completely reconstructed.  Maybe it’s an engineer thing — I can’t get enough of watching big equipment work!

Photo 4902.  Building a new wildlife overpass over the top of I-90 just east of Snoqualmie Pass.

Photo 4950.  Climbing Deadman Pass east of Pendleton into the Blue Mountains.  The engineers used monster cuts and fills to tame the ridges coming off the Blues.

Photo 4951.  The view from Deadman Viewpoint is gorgeous: the wheat fields of Eastern Oregon stretch out forever.  The greenery, cloud formations, and clear air didn’t hurt any.

Photo 4965.  Cheryl & Scott, back on the road again!

Photo 4977.  Interesting cloud formations over the Elkhorn Mountains near Baker City, Oregon

Had a fabulous meal at a place called Barley Brown’s Brew Pub in Baker City — had what might have been the best dish of ravioli I ever had, smothered with a rich red sauce on shrimp and crab.  After dinner, it sounded like the sky was crashing down as a big thunder and lightning storm blew through town complete with a downpour.

Us Seattle weather wimps are looking ahead with some trepidation to weather in the 90s in Utah and Colorado for the next couple of days.  It was about 90 in Pendleton coming through today, but so far the air conditioning in our trusty old Sienna is keeping up with the heat.  Knock on wood!

Later in the evening I went out I went out to check our ending mileage for the day which I had left in the van.  When I got to the car in the parking lot, I discovered that it was sitting in the middle of a pond — I had parked the van in a low spot in the parking lot whose drain was clogged, and during the earlier downpour the water and backed up enough to leave a section of the lot covered with water.   Our car was parked in the middle of that section in about 4″ to 6″ of water on all sides!  Sheesh, that was a new one!  I decided to return in the morning to see what could be done.  The good news was that the van sits high enough that no water was getting inside.

On to Ogden and its railroad museum tomorrow.