We had our choice to drive an Interstate or take a less traveled and longer road. Those of you have followed our travels know which one we chose. It was a beautiful drive.

This pic is especially for Selah and Duke, who take riding lessons but notice the gorge in the background:

Lake Wenatchee, just a short walk from our campsite:

I have more pics from our day today but I’m too tired to do more. Maybe tomorrow.  And one more thing. Heidi Mood, we didn’t go through the town of Wenatchee but from what we’ve seen, you grew up in a beautiful place!

it was a beautiful drive from our camp along the Snake River to Coeur D’Alene. Our original plans did not include going to CDA but we were so close, we decided to go over the border and check it out since so many people seem to retire there.

Oops!:

Lake Coeur D’Alene:

The best part was having steamed mussels for lunch with a view of the lake. Basically, we were underwhelmed by CDA.

That’s a gravel road.  It’s not a good thing when you run out of pavement.  Especially hauling a trailer. Thanks Google maps. And no cell service. Fortunately, we found a place to turn around and a lady on a tractor who told us we weren’t the first ones to be led astray by Google. It was a good lesson for us. If we had looked more closely at the directions, we would have seen it wasn’t taking us to the campground we were going to.  Instead it was taking us on a road that dead ended at the Snake River.

So we had headed east into Washington because I had read about the beauty of the area.  In particular, we wanted to visit Palouse Falls State Park and drive the Palouse Scenic Highway.  When we got to the turnoff for the state park we were told it was closed indefinitely because a young man had fallen from the top of the falls a few days before and died. The body was stuck in the vortex of the falls and they didn’t want people there when it finally surfaced. So, so sad!  It was disappointing that we could see this spectacular place but in the scheme of things…….

But the drive was beautiful, although very different from the western part of the state.  A cemetery:

Camped right on the Snake River.

There’s not much to do around here which is good for us to have a little down time. But at the advice of the campground host, we drove a couple miles down the road to a dam run by the US Army Corp of Engineers. We were given a two hour private tour that took us to see the inter workings of the dam including everything they do to keep fish traveling up and down the river. It was great!

We weren’t allowed to take pics on the tour but I was able to take this one in the visitor center.  This is a window into the fish ladder.  That Chinook salmon  is at least 24″ long. Thought the grandkids might like this.

And us in hard hats.

Tomorrow is Saturday. We wish we were home on Saturdays. We will miss watching Selah and Duke play indoor soccer. We will miss watching Slater and Cruise play their Little League games and hanging with Maverick on the sidelines. We will miss hanging at the beach with Stone and Hux.

We’ve had fabulous weather the last few days!  Here’s a few pics from our travels along the Historic Columbia River Highway.

Some of the historic road is closed due to a fire last fall that was started by a 15 year old boy shooting off fireworks. We got to see most of the things we wanted to see which we are very thankful for.

Latourell Falls:

Bridal Veil Falls:

Multnomah Falls. The trail to the upper part of the falls was closed due to the fire but still a beautiful view.

Mt. Hood is visible from many places in the Portland area. From afar it is the only mountain with snow on it.

We drove up to the ski area at Timberline Lodge. It was so windy and cold but so beautiful. There were some disappointed skiers and snowboarders there since the wind was too strong to operate the chair lifts.

We drove on to Hood River which is a beautiful farming area. These pictures all have the other side of Mt. Hood off in the distance.

As we leave Oregon tomorrow here are some of my reflections on the state.

1.  It is a beautiful state and we have loved seeing the diversity in God’s creation.
2. It’s wet. Which is why it is so beautiful..
3. There are wild blackberry bushes everywhere!  I wish we were going to be here in August.
4. Apparently, Oregonians don’t like to make their own coffee. There are tiny drive through coffee places with long lines everywhere.
5. They pump your gas for you. I think you aren’t even allowed to pump your own.
6. No sales tax!
7. They have roundabouts everywhere. I think we could learn something from them. They seem like a really efficient way to manage traffic.
8. The locals have been very friendly.
9. If you haven’t been there, I highly recommend it!

Back to the coast. One of the joys of not being too committed to a plan is to change it!  We had planned to stay at Nehalem Bay State Park for a few days but on the way there we passed a marina with rv camping. It looked like the kind of place that we love so we turned around (not easy pulling a trailer) to see if they had availability. We loved it!  They had a communal fire pit and you could purchase fresh LIVE crab and they would steam it for you. It was fabulous. And we had our first few days of sunshine after leaving home.

Just a reminder. I do not enhance my pics in any way other than cropping when necessary. What you see is what we saw. I also don’t remove my wrinkles. 😂

North to Ecola State Park. That’s Ecola, not Ecoli.

And then north to Fort Stevens State Park which is at the northernmost point of western Oregon. John liked being able to drive on the beach.

Astoria is on the Oregon side at the mouth of the Columbia River.

This is Astoria’s version of the food truck. This place sells fish and chips made with fresh tuna. It was delicious. During the summer crowds line up down the block. People often ask how we find out about the places and things we visit.  The Bowpicker is a good example.  Whether in a campground, restaurant or wherever, people ask about where we are from and where we are going.  (If we go into a restaurant with a bar, we try to eat there instead of at a table.  It’s the best way to get tips from the bartender or locals sitting next to you.)  Someone in a campground told us about the Bowpicker.  But it was also mentioned in TripAdvisor under “Things to Do” in Astoria.  I always check TripAdvisor when we are headed to a town or city for ideas of things we should see.

We took a day trip across the river to Cape Disappointment in Washington. So named because it was so difficult, and often impossible, to go from the Pacific up the river due to the strong currents. We went on a hike to a lighthouse while there. I particularly liked the sign on the trail. These words are so true!

These few days were awesome with the weather getting better and better.  We are off to Portland, the Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Hood. The weather is suppose to be in the 80’s!