Planes, trains, automobiles, trolleys, rafts & bikes...Oh, my!

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Day 12 (Monday) Boise, ID-Salt Lake City, UT

Another unplanned stop turns into a surprisingly cool time! There’s not a whole lot between these two cities. I didn’t even find it picturesque as I had the other drives we had under our belt at this point. But, after stopping at Wendy’s, the gas station and a much-needed car wash, we decided it might be well-worth driving the 20+ miles out of the way to see the Golden Spike National Monument (www.nps.gov/gosp/index)

Our timing was impeccable once again as we arrived just in time to see a short video regarding the railroads and then watch them put the engines away for the evening. Who knew the east-west railroads met in such an odd place? Now, that was historical, and worth the designation. We also drove past some missile or rocket-testing area and were hoping to see some action, but it was not to be that day.

Once we arrived in Salt Lake City, we headed downtown to Temple Square and had dinner on the tenth floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building overlooking the Mormon temple and a lovely sunset (templesquarehospitality.com/restaurants/garden). Dave and I have decided to start our own religion since it seems like that’s where the big money is to be made! Our religion is going to be okay with alcohol consumption though, as dinner without a beer or glass of wine seems somehow incomplete. My stomach was a little upset that night.

But I muddled through and we took an after-dinner stroll through Mormon-town. It was a perfect night for it, even smelled good with all the flowers in bloom.

Day 11: Pix!

Seaside, OR

My toesies in the cold water

Seaside, OR

Dave frolicking in the ocean

Amy in the ocean

I meant to do that

Writing my name in the sand

Lewis & Clark monument

Seaside, OR

Oregon coast

Oregon Coast

Oregon coast

Don't get too close!

Oregon cliff

Sparky!

Vista House overlooking Columbia River

View of Columbia River from Vista House

Hiking up to Bridal Falls

Bridal Falls

Dave by Bridal Falls

Bridal Falls

Mossy tree

Bridal Falls

Horsetail Falls

Day 11 (Sunday-Mother’s Day) Astoria OR-Boise ID

We took a drive down the Oregon coast for the first part of the day. We stopped in Seaside to stick our toes in the Pacific. Brrr! And that crazy tide snuck up on me - I kept walking out to the water not realizing the sand was wet for some time - and all of a sudden a wave kept coming and coming... I was almost up to my knees but didn’t want to run screaming like a little girl and scare the other beachcombers so I just acted like I meant to do it. LOL.

We turned through the Tillamook State Forest. I just like saying it - “Tillamook”. Since we spent an additional day in Seattle, we decided to skip Portland. An adventure for another day, perhaps. Maybe a wine trip!

Some of the best parts of the trip were completely unplanned. I was feeling a little peckish and saw a sign for some historic something-er-other - it seems everything along our route was ‘historic’ or at least ‘scenic’. Every town had a historic downtown, no matter how tiny and out-of-the-way. Anyway, I diverted off the main highway onto what used to be the highway - back around the 30’s, one of the first transcontinental highways - U.S. Route 30. Well, we found this place called Vista House (built 1918) with a stunning view of the Columbia. Wow! They really knew how to do things back then. The building is small, but perfect. I went up to ask the information desk about a place to eat and they gave me a map that pointed out a bunch of waterfalls along our new route! “Neat-o”, I said! Off we went down yet another skinny, curvy, wooded road...

Oregonians must have been showing their love for their Mothers or for the absolutely perfect day in May, because it was packed with hikers and picnickers. We did stop and make the short hike to Bridal Falls. Wow! But we could not even park close to the restaurant. I believe the entire population of Western Oregon was there.

In Oregon, you can not pump your own gas. I kinda wish that was the case everywhere except for the fact it was $4.40/gallon. After filling up at least once or twice a day, it got a little old. We paid as little as $3.37 in Nebraska, but the average was $3.78. Glad we took ole Sparky and got about 45 mpg. I bet we would have done a lot better but with speed limits of 70-75 and no po-po in sight, we were running a tad bit over optimal gas mileage speeds!

The rest of the day was spent driving through Oregon into Idaho to spend the night in Boise.