Drive from OK to WA

Drive to Washington

After spending three weeks in Oklahoma visiting and an anniversary vacation in Mexico, we headed out for Washington to see Elissa and Sydney on June 11.  On our way out of Oklahoma we stopped in western Oklahoma at the U7 Ranch to visit with Beth's Aunt Audine, who unfortunately lost her battle with cancer a few days after our visit.  We were so pleased to see her one last time and reminisce.  We enjoyed our drive out of Oklahoma via the western route.  On our way to Dodge City, KS we ran into a gust front and rain storm.  We skirted around the hail but nearly lost our bikes in the wind.  At one point, tumbleweeds were pounding the side of our truck.  We finally took refuge on the south side of a Walmart in Garden City, KS and while listening to the radio found out the wind was gusting to 90 mph.  No wonder the tumbleweeds were attacking.  We drove on through the night and made it to Colorado before stopping for a few hours of sleep. 

Originally when we planned the trip, we had planned on a nice leisurely drive through the northwest.  Of course, it didn't work out that way.  Jon went to sea early with a different crew and Elissa wanted us to try to arrive by Father's Day.  We buzzed on through Colorado early in the morning since we had both been there before.  We did stop in Wyoming at a very nice rest area with a beautiful museum attached.  We decided the museum would be a nice chance to walk around.  As it turned out, the gust front that went through Kansas was ushering in a cold front.  We were a bit under-dressed for the cold in Wyoming.  We finally had to dig out some pants and tennis shoes.  We were freezing in shorts and sandals.  

Dee, the largest Columbian mammoth (bigger than a wooly mammoth) found in the world was unearthed near the museum in Wyoming.  

Our drive through southern Wyoming took us by the Wyoming Territorial Prison which once housed Butch Cassidy.  It is a beautiful rock and brick building.

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We really enjoyed the scenery through Wyoming.  We saw quite a few herds of pronghorn antelopes along the way. 

The next day, we finished our drive through Wyoming and headed through northern Utah.  

 

The scenery was beautiful.  We stopped at a rest area where they had squirrel donuts (cheerios) to feed the ground squirrels.  

After leaving Utah, we entered southern Idaho and drove along the Snake River Canyon. 

 It was breathtaking.  We stopped at Shoshone Falls just outside of  Twin Falls, Idaho.

Finally, we entered Oregon.  We drove along the Oregon Trail route.  Northeastern Oregon really surprised us because it was high desert and seemed to take a long time to reach the Columbia River.  We could only imagine how the pioneers felt traversing this country.  

 

We drove the rest of the day right beside the Columbia River Gorge.  It looked very similar to the Snake River Gorge. 

We spent the night in The Dalles, Oregon. About 30 minutes west of The Dalles, we hit the lush green part of the Columbia River Gorge.  It was an immediate switch from dessert to rain forest.  We drove beside the Columbia River for hours and we couldn't believe how wide it was.  The highway is right beside the river and was considered an engineering marvel when it was made.

We stopped at some huge dam on the Columbia River (I was getting pooped and can't remember the name).  We went inside and they had a fish ladder for the salmon with viewing windows.  

Our next stop was Multnomah Falls.  It was quite spectacular.  

 

Our final stop before Vancouver, Washington was the Vista House for a nice view of the Columbia River.  Except that it started raining and we couldn't see much.  The building was pretty.  It was built in 1916 high above the river.  

 

 A quick stop and then on to the big reunion.

Elissa and Sydney met us in Vancouver, Washington at the mouth of the Columbia River.  We spent the weekend there together before driving on to Elissa's house in Silverdale.