Today marked
a turning point on our trip….from here on out, we are heading (roughly)
eastward.
But, before
we could start out, we needed to get the tire of the van repaired. The Jedi had
noted that it seemed to have a slow leak. He had air put in it when we first
reached Seattle, and then he put air in it our first morning in Portland,
before we launched into our Portland activities. As we left dinner at our
friends’ house, it was *really* low (15 PSI). The Jedi, always prepared, had a
small air pump that plugged into the van dash and could reinflate the wheel
enough to get back to the hotel. But we knew it needed a real fix before we
drove across plains of southern Idaho.
It was labor
day, so we were concerned there might not be anything open. The Jedi pulled
into the first tire place he saw, which happened to be Firestone. It also just
so happened that we had just purchased Firestone tires for the van. The Jedi,
being as wise as he is, always purchases road hazard insurance when he buys
tires. It turns out that the tire had a screw in it in a place where it
couldn’t be patched. But because it was a Firestone tire and he happened to
pull into Firestone and the people who sold us the tire had filled out the
online road hazard warranty, and the tire was brand new, Firestone put a new
tire on the van at no charge.
So, we got a
late start to our day, but all the details worked out as perfectly as they
could possibly be, so we were happy.
Our first
stop took us a little out of our way. I tried to argue against it (well, I made
a half-hearted effort to argue against it) because I knew we were already way
behind due to the tire. But the Jedi insisted. He said we weren’t going to be
20 minutes from the terminus of the Oregon Trail and not drive over so that I
could get a photograph next to the sign.
He loves me.
We didn’t go
in (I really only wanted a picture. I’ve now been in Independence, Missouri and
saw the swales in a field made by many wagons as they started out on the trail AND
I’ve been in Oregon City, Oregon.) But the museum had a really cool
architectural lay out.
And a cool
map of the trail.
We then
stopped at Annie’s Donuts, which the Jedi had read about on a food blog listing
top donut shops.
They were SO
good. They weren’t heavy, or greasy, or too sweet. They were light and fluffy
and tasty and just the right amount of sweet. They were perhaps the most
perfect donut I have ever eaten.
Our next
stop was supposed to be Multnamah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge. But as we
approached, there were traffic advisory signs warning that the exit was closed
because the lot was full. The Jedi offered to get off at the next exit and
circle back on the back roads, but I didn’t really want to do that. The Falls
would have been packed with people, and wouldn’t really have been that
enjoyable.
Instead, we
got off at Cascade Locks and had lunch on the outdoor, riverside patio at the
Waterfront Locks Grill.
Where
Sweetling got her picture taken next to the Bigfoot Statue.
And where we
got to watch a sternwheeler dock.
We got back
on the highway, and Tom Tom told us to take the highway for the next 350 miles
or so.
We got off
at La Grande for gas, and found this awesome little family owned fresh burger
restaurant. It was a long time still before Boise, so clearly we needed to
order homemade ice cream to hold us over.
We weren’t
going to make Boise before 9pm, when Boise Fry Company closed. We wound up
getting dinner at Panda Express in Ontario, Oregon.
We did get
to pull off at some random, unlit exit where we stopped on the side of some
state route and hung out the windows to look at the stars. (I didn’t want
anyone out of the van, because we were on the shoulder of the road in the dark.
On the one side of the van was death by a passing car, not that there were any
other cars, but still. On the other side of the van was death by rattlesnake
hiding in the sage brush. So we stayed in the van.) It was the first time
either of the kids had ever seen the Milky Way.
In the end,
what with crossing from Pacific into Mountain Time, we would up getting in to
the hotel after 11 pm.
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