Mt. Rainier, What more do I need to say

We took a day trip to Mt. Rainier. We came in from the NW side which is unusual, most tourists come in from the East side. This is a great way to visit, the roads are empty, the viewpoints have 1 car. After an hour or so we were wondering where everyone was. We found out. We crossed the invisible line for the tourists who come in from the east, wall to wall cars and people. We had seen Mt. Rainier in all its glory with a beautiful day. Good way to end this stop. 

Rainier is awesome, just takes over the horizon wherever you drive. We encountered frozen lakes, roads closed due to snow(6' still) but still a great day. 

We stopped at a local place for dinner and had the best chicken fried steak and fish in chips in years. We like to try the Mom and Pop restaurants. We rarely find one that isn't good. 

Mt. Rainier 

Drive from Grand Coulee Dam to Yakima, WA

 Today was a great driving day. We were at Grand Coulee Dam, largest in the US. They had a great 45 minute movie about the construction of the dam and a very interesting museum. This is a massive dam, 550' high and 30' across the top. Happy we stopped here.

Today we drove down to Yakima WA to stop at an Elks Lodge for a few nights before we move to a Corp of Engineer park on the Columbia gorge for 5 days. Looking forward to this, we had a taster a few days ago driving along the Gorge but now we are going to see the "Gorge".

Our trip today was phenomenal scenery wise. We drove from Grand Coulee along the Columbia River. We were stopping frequently for the views. Then we had to drive on I90 and I82. Interstates are not my favorite as I find them boring. Not these two. Up and down significant grades(5% for 5 miles), then came the crowning touch, we stopped at a Scenic View Point and here was Mt. Rainier in all its glory.

A few miles down the road the view was even better, both Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier came into our view. Of course no scenic area so pictures through the windshield is the best we can do. 

Took us 2 hours longer go get in than planned with all our stops.  

Drive to and Grand Coulee

Drive to Yakima, WA 

Spokane

We are now in Washington and have driven through their Palouse region. This is a unique region, only in Washington of rolling hills, mainly agricultural, just lovely to see after Oregon. We are heading for Spokane for a major food shopping before heading back onto the backroads for a month or so. 

We have friends in Colville, around 90 miles NE of Spokane and will visit with them for a few days before moving on.

Spokane 

 

East Side of Oregon

I am so far behind in my blog and pictures. I am only going to put up the links for now, some of the pictures have comments. Overall, OR was boring and the roads are empty. 

We are now going up the east side of Oregon. The east side of Oregon is so barron, very surprising to us. We are driving mostly on interstate for a few days. Going through some passes was so nice. The interstate followed a nice stream, lots of curves but a nice change. There isn't much to do going up the east side which surprised us. Nevada was so much more interesting. Not much to see or stop at.

We placed an Amazon order and will wait in Hermiston, OR for the packages to arrive.
This is near the beginning of the Columbia Gorge so we will be doing a day trip. Should be in Washington in another 3-4 days. Hope Washington is more interesting.

Three links of our trip through Easter Oregon

Jordon Hall, OR

Ontario, OR 

Hermiston, OR

Hines and Malheur NWF

We have been on the road for 3 days, time for a break especially since the roads have been mostly in poor condition. The drive was interesting. We see a lot of very old, collapsing barns as we drive. It is so sad.

The driving was challenging today. The roads don't have any shoulder and I must of met a dozen farm items on the road. They take their lane and part of mine, we had to creep past each time. It didn't seem to make a difference whether it was a back road or a main road.

I found the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, nice big lake so we should see a lot of wildlife. Checked to make sure the Visitor Center was open and off we went. I can say we had a nice drive. Saw minimal wildlife, few birds and the lake, nice and blue on the map, was dried up and the Visitor Center was closed. Oh well, you win some, lose some.

 

Hines and Malheur click here

 

 We are seeing trees! Thought we were done with desert. Not!

Lovely Iris

 We stopped near Reno for a break and to get some shopping done. Surprisingly we managed to find everything on our list and had a day trip to Pyramid Lake, this is a natural lake. The color is so blue.

Pyramid Lake click here

 

2021 05 22 Lamoille Canyon-First and Second Try

Elko, NV

We have moved all of 50 miles. There is a canyon we would like to see near Elko.

On Saturday the weather was changing every 10 minutes, sunshine, cloudy, rain, sleet. We finally decided to go to the Lamoille Canyon. I am so happy we decided to go. Even though the weather wasn’t the greatest and we had to turn around due to sleet and snow. The drive was awesome.

If the weather is better tomorrow we will do the drive again. The canyon is only about 30 minutes from town so it is fairly close.

 

We elected to do the drive again the next day. This time we made it up the road an additional 1000'. We gave up when the road was down to 2 snow ruts and 4" of snow. If you are ever in this area this is well worth the stop.

 

We knew we had snow as we approched

Beautiful,  but cold

Time to turn around

 

Lamoille Canyon First Try  click here

Lamoille Canyon Second Try click here