We woke up in Boise and prepped for the last stage of our journey, which coincedently was also America's Independence Day, July 4. Luckily for us, Boise is not a popular place to celebrate the nation's birthday, so avoiding parades and such was not a problem. We also chose Boise as a stop for DJ, so he could check out Boise State's famous blue football stadium.
From Boise we headed to our final state of Sturt-a-squad goes cross country, part 1: Oregon. Fortunately for us, Oregon is where my sister and her family live (minus one nephew in California), so we had a place to stay. Unfortunately, Oregon is a large rectangular state and they live near Portland, around 350 miles from the Oregon/Idaho border. It was a long, long drive with very few towns and cities on the way. It's easy to imagine the pioneers, after all their hardships, finally reaching Oregon territory and seeing deserts with high mountains in the distance and wondering what on earth they got themselves into. O Pioneers!
A quick lunch at a travel plaza and a few hours later had us approaching Mt. Hood, where we opted for the more rural route. If we could fly, this part of the trip would have taken mere minutes, alas, we cannot fly, so we had to circumnavigate Mt. Hood from the back. The Columbia River gorge is very beautiful and a welcome relief from the monotony of the desert. I'm sure those same aforementioned pioneers had mixed reactions to the river, seeing as both the end point but a treacherous one at that.
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| Columbia River and Washington state |
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| Mt. Hood in the distance |
Mt. Hood itself is pretty spectacular, and the view never gets old, despite the amount of times that I have seen it. Alex was super surprised to see how big it was and all the snow on it, and driving the scenic back way allowed us to see some very awesome looking vineyards and alpaca farms. One of my favorite parts of my visits to Oregon is the drive from Mt. Hood to Sandy, where my sister and family reside. Highway 26, which includes part of the Barlow Toll Road, offers up some incredible town names that can't be beat. First, you have Government Camp, followed by ZigZag, Rhododendron and Welches. (You have to travel through Sandy to get to Boring, Estacada and Molalla). For the history buffs, there are 2 sections of the road of particular interest. First is Lolo Pass, which I refused to take, though I've been on it. It's windy, sharp and utterly frightening in a car, let alone a prairie schooner or conastoga wagon. The other is Laurel Hill, where wagons were lowered down by chains and gouge marks can still be seen.
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| Peacocks! |
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| Buddha, our new friend. |
We finally arrived to the house, and Alex thought that the barn was the house. Getting into the house, we met Buddha the cat, then met the 5 peacocks who live outside. The rest of the evening was spent organizing, doing laundry and investigating the peacocks.
The next day found us at a new point on our adventure-no place to go! We all explored the yard, checking out the various plants, finding yet another cat (Beaver) and discovering the horse next door. Later in the day we checked out a local park, did some letterboxing, went to a scenic vista, found dinner, and headed home. I should add that no one was with us for these 2 days,
as my sister's family was ironically, in CT and NY, visiting my parents. A total fluke of events that had us on opposite sides of the country at the same time. Such is life!
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| Beautiful view |
We woke up in Boise and prepped for the last stage of our journey, which coincedently was also America's Independence Day, July 4. Luckily for us, Boise is not a popular place to celebrate the nation's birthday, so avoiding parades and such was not a problem. We also chose Boise as a stop for DJ, so he could check out Boise State's famous blue football stadium. 
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