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Sept 7 - 9
Sept 10 Sept 11 Sept 12 Sept 13 Sept 14 Sept 15 - 21 |
Thursday, September 7, 2017 We left home about 8:30 and had smoky skies most of the day. My leg bothered me most of the morning and early afternoon - I had done something to my ITC in the gym class yesterday and it wasn't happy at all. I got a flu shot yesterday, also, and the shot area is sore, sore, sore. I also had a headache most of the day. What a way to start a trip!!! We stopped for lunch at Burger King in Rawlins, WY. Wyoming has some really dumb road safety signs. I still haven't figured out which was dumber - "Embrace safety - wear your seatbelt" or "Buckle up, buttercup". We checked into our hotel about 5. It looks like they had a wildfire on the hill behind the hotel. The sign in front says they're open, so they may not have been earlier... And we had seen signs as we approached town that warned of a wildfire in the area and to be prepared to take an alternate route. They were left from earlier. And the room freshener they staff had used in the room was so overpowering that we opened a window! We had dinner at Roosters Brewpub. I had a BLT salad. Yum! Friday, September 8, 2017< We got up about our usual travel day time and had breakfast downstairs. This morning, we noticed that the hillside behind the hotel was really black, as was some of the ground past the hotel - freshly burned. So, I asked at the front desk as I was checking out. It turns out that Tuesday morning, a wildfire roared over the crest of the hill and rushed down the hillside. The fire trucks and the fire arrived at the hotel about the same time!!! The hotel was evacuated and was shut for about a day.... If the fire had been 48 hours later, we would have found our road closed and the hotel closed and gone scrambling for accommodations for the night. 72 hours later and we would have been among those fleeing the area.... As we left the hotel this morning, we could see signs of the fire for the next 4-5 miles. Also, between Ogden, UT, and Twin Falls, ID, we saw evidence of at least three recent grass fires. Add in the smoky skies most of the day and you'll know what we were seeing... Fortunately, as we neared Pendleton, OR, we encountered a few rain showers. Not enough to dampen fires or settle all the smoke, but it did clear the air a bit. We ate lunch at Mountain Home, ID, AJ's – interesting sandwich – turkey, tomato, lettuce, on blueberry bread with cranberry mayo which we split. Good cherry pie!!! We left Ogden about 7:45 am and arrived in Pendleton, OR, at 4 pm local (there was a one hour time change). We had dinner at Sundown Grill. Very overpriced... Dinner was okay, but my salmon was dry and his overwhelmed with sauce. Wine servings were small. Not recommended. So, we drove back to hotel for cookies and tea... Saturday, September 9, 2017 Hurricane Irma is rushing towards Florida... And dominating the news and weather channels in the breakfast room. We left the hotel about 8 am. It's still pretty smoky out there and it got heavier as we approached the Columbia River Gorge. When I was planning the route for this trip, I had planned on dawdling up the Columbia River Gorge, perhaps stopping at some of the famous waterfalls along the way. Nope. The forest fire in the area had most of the road on the Oregon side of the Gorge closed to all traffic... Trucks were shooed off the interstate at The Dalles. It was kind of nice having I-84 to just a few cars for the next twenty miles. At that point, it was closed to all traffic and we crossed the bridge to the Washington side. The toll bridge at this river crossing waived tolls for the duration of the closure. As we drove farther west, we could see the smoke actually rising on the other side of the river. At times, it was so thick that the mountains on the other side were obscured. As we passed about the point where Multnomah Falls are, the smoke started decreasing. A mile or so later, there was a solitary thick plume rising into the sky, then we were past it. The rest of today's drive was uneventful. We stopped for lunch at a Panera Bread in Woodburn – split a sandwich again. We arrived at the Newport motel a little before 3 pm and headed for the office to see if I could check in. Bill Manning, our tour leader for this photo tour, had also just arrived and was in the process of checking in. Perfect timing! It was good to see Bill again. We chatted a while, then moved our stuff into our room. The whole group got together at 4 in Bill's room and we met the other two participants. There was more chatting, then we all went out for a bite of dinner at Chalet Family Restaurant. It had some pretty decent food. Carl and I had clam chowder. Not the best, but very good. After dinner, we all piled in the tour's car and drove north to Devil's Punch Bowl and walked around in the misty rain for a while. It's much too foggy for photos, but we did spot a whale just off shore!! Eventually, we drove back to the motel (Waves) to settle in for the night. There's not much noise attenuation between floors... And the beds were very hard.... It was difficult getting to sleep and staying there... |