Day 1 - Sep 3, 2005 Last updated: 10/2/05 9:00pm PT
This year’s anniversary trip was a scenic drive around Hells Canyon, on the border between Oregon and Idaho. This is the deepest river gorge in North America, yes, even deeper than the Grand Canyon! Go here and learn something. This was a four day driving extravaganza, putting 1380 miles on the car, and quite a bit of dust too (more on that later). We stopped at a few places along the way, saw an alleged ghost town, some ancient petroglyphs, and Hells Canyon from two sides.
On the way out, we stopped in the small town of Roslyn, WA, not too far from Seattle. You might recognize this scene from the opening of the TV show Northern Exposure. The TV show was filmed here.
In Oregon, we stopped at the Oregon Trail Blue Mountain Pass Interpretive Site. It is located off I-84 around the Hilgard exit. Look for signs at exit 248. This site has a paved walking path that takes you to a location where you can see ruts in the ground from the wagon trains of the Oregon Trail. Some of the terrain was heavily wooded and there were limited paths through, leading to a “road”. Starting in the 1840’s, people left the main starting point, Independence, Missouri, on a 6 month, 2000 mile journey in covered wagons (this one is a replica). The wagons were not for riding, they were for hauling all your stuff. And by all your stuff, I mean everything; food, clothes, everything you were keeping because you weren’t going back. You walked unless you were sick and dying. These people were lucky to travel 20 miles in a day. There is a much larger Interpretive Center/Museum just outside Baker City, but this is worth the stop for quick access to the trail itself.
Dinner was at Barley Brown’s Brew Pub in Baker City. Really good halibut and chips and onion rings. They also have “finger steak”. When you see it, you’ll know why it’s not called “steak fingers” as it really looks like someone’s fingers were chopped off, breaded and deep fried. They were quite good if you didn’t look at them.