Into Oregon

Wow. I'm actually in Oregon. The road just keeps getting prettier and prettier. Which is great, but there isn't much to actually write about. Let me try anyway. I drove from Boise to Baker City Oregon, which has a Oregon Trail Interpretive Center run by the Bureau of Land Management. The best part of this center was the four mile trail I took, but I will get to that in a minute. The museum area was great for kids, but most of the exhibits were replicas of things like wagons with mannequins posing as pioneers and that didn't do much for me. They did have excerpts from diaries and letters, which are always interesting, and their interpretative panels were overall of solid quality. There was a large family also visiting the center and they did not stop to read a single item. I can gripe all I want about over simplification at museums, but if people don't even bother to read it...oh well.

The trail was really nice however. It provided nice views of the Blue Mountains and some trail ruts.

Mountains:




And many really cute chipmunk/prairie dog like things. They were all over, but this one actually posed for me:





This is what happens when you travel alone to fairly isolated areas and you want to get yourself in a picture:





After my hike, I went into Baker City for lunch, then headed west on 1-84 to the Dalles, my destination for the night. The drive went through some beautiful mountains, and ended up driving by the Columbia River for the last leg.



I found a riverside restaurant here in the Dalles called the Windseeker. The meal was very nice, scampi with grilled vegetables and baby red potatoes, and a Black Butte Porter from Deschutes Brewery in Bend Oregon. Better than the meal though was the view:



And me:



And a seagull that sat here for my entire meal:



Tomorrow I'm driving the Mt. Hood Scenic Byway. Which reminds me, I could see Mt. Hood today, and it is spectacular.