Category Archives: family

family, food, history, roadtrip, travel, USA

Following (a bit of) the Oregon Trail

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Regrettably, as with a roadtrip, we had to leave Boise yesterday.  Maybe we caught it in its best light, but we really enjoyed our brief visit to Idaho & its capital. We were aiming towards Hood River – which is on the Columbia River – in central north Oregon, but didn’t want to do all the drive in one day so just pottered along.  Along the freeway we saw much more cropping, an old tumbledown cement factory at Lime, a still-operating cement factory (only one kiln though) just down the road & the return of the big trains.  We popped into Baker City, a town that had taken great delight in proclaiming from most Main St windows that some publication had voted it the most beautiful small town of America in a Best of the Road competition.

It was pretty nice & we spent a little while wandering the main street, reading plaques, looking in buildings & just enjoying the sunshine. There was also a big leafy park just down the road where we had another relaxing lunch. Further down the freeway & a bit east was the National Oregon Trail Interpretive Center – with time up our sleeves, it was well worth a look. Being the national center, it was far & away the most comprehensive display that we have seen yet on that mass-migration – we easily spent a couple of hours there reading & listening & pondering the hardship of the months endured & the landscape encountered (bits of which we’ve seen from the comfort of the car).

We’re clearly getting on in the trip as we opted for the nice easy route down I-84 instead of backroads through the hills. But there were still the Blue Mountains to get over (glad I wasn’t walking beside a wagon) before descending to the Columbia River plateau. It was clear we were back near a big river as more & more irrigation & nice looking fields popped up. Hermiston was a little off the freeway & a bit of a nothing town from what we could see (although it did have a gigantic WalMart distribution center on the outskirts – that must count for something), but it was a convenient place to rest for the evening. With a quick trip down to & across the Columbia River (quite a while since I last crossed that in Revelstoke, BC) we were in Washington – our third state for the day. The river is of course really high & we were impressed by the volume (in both senses) of the water pouring through the spillways at McNary dam.

Back in Hermiston, we struggled to find anywhere to eat dinner. But we struck a jackpot when we came across the Pheasant Cafe. Apparently more of a dance/clubbing venue later in the evening (it was a large complex), the restaurant was empty when we went in & the only guy working it was rather spookily named Brandon! He was super friendly & really interested in where we’ve come from (particularly Australia) & he cooked a mean prime rib.

family, history, roadtrip, travel, USA, vehicles

Sacramento

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Our first morning in Sacramento dawned a lot drier than it had been when we drove in to town the afternoon before. As it was Valerie’s birthday, we had a day off from driving & biking – instead we walked a short distance along the river to Old Sacramento. There’s still quite a few of the old buildings left around this part of the riverside & it was a pleasant walk around them & by the vessels docked. What was billed as North America’s best railroad museum was also in the vicinity so we popped in there to have a look.

The museum did a really good job of covering how the expansion of the railroad helped the nation to mature. There were also, of course, many big shiny old locomotives & carriages. Most of the wood-burning steam locos were quite small (4-4-0), but beautifully presented.

In this case, not so beautifully photographed

The biggest steam loco was one of the last built for Southern Pacific (in the 1940s). A cab-forward design (the locos were getting so big all the steam & so on was getting to be a problem in tunnels on cab-rear designs) it was a hulking great big thing with sixteen drive wheels (4-8-8-4). Unfortunately, it was only in service for twelve years as it was superceded by diesel. Another highlight was finally getting to go on a Pullman car – this one a sleeper.

Strolling for fifteen minutes or so after lunch in to downtown Sacramento, we reached the Capitol. With extensive gardens around it, the building itself is also impressive. We wandered around a bit looking at various displays before getting our now weary legs back to the motel.

Valerie’s birthday dinner was on the Delta King – a old paddlewheel boat moored in Old Sacramento that we’d seen earlier in the day.

I’m convinced that whoever was building that pyramid across the river got bored & gave up


It was by far the fanciest meal we’d had in a long time – it was great to have a break from over-enthusiastic & overbearing waitresses. As we were walking around the deck at the end of the meal we saw Tower Bridge lift its deck for a launch & as we got back on dry land I saw my first skunk (thankfully from a distance). But that sighting didn’t sour my impressions of Sacramento – the small part of what we saw (all downtown) was really nice, & we had two great meals to boot.

engineering, family, roadtrip, travel, USA, vehicles

Hoover Dam (again) & Route 66

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A slow start to the day had us out at Hoover Dam in the late morning. Since I was there last, the bypass highway has been completed (all the through traffic no longer has to drive down the winding road to & over the dam – quite a bottleneck). I enjoyed walking out on the large arch bridge that was still being constructed two years ago – I saw it just before they completed the arch. We did the same tour as I did last time – so nothing new to report there. Lake Mead didn’t seem much higher to me, but hopefully all the snowmelt boosts it a bit. Another warm, beautiful day – I still enjoyed seeing one of the engineering marvels of the world.

Crossing the new bridge into Arizona, we drove through the desert for quite a while before finding a late lunch. It was dry, barren, hot & windy country – not a lot to look at, but still with its own beauty. I just wouldn’t want to have to live there. At Kingman we both got on I-40 & then promptly off it to drive part of Route 66 (eighty-odd miles). We got back in the land of the massive train, with our favourite train company, BNSF, hurtling alongside us many times. Strangest sights of the day were the huge trains carrying only semi-trailers; a good way of keeping trucks off the roads I suppose. This was somewhat explained by soon passing many DHL jets on the tarmac at the local airport – although a small town in the middle of nowhere, Kingman is obviously some sort of freight hub.

This particular section of Route 66, I thought, was a bit of a disappointment. Sure, there were many derelict gas stations, stores & hotels – but it all looked a little sad. The environment did not get much more welcoming. Just before we got back on I-40, we did stop at a little town that was trying just a little bit to get into the Americana of America’s Main St. Incongruously, there was an old right-hand drive Beardmore London black cab sitting slowly going to seed amongst all the American west stuff. Back on the freeway, we climbed up to 2100m in to some beautiful forest before arriving at our motel on Route 66 in Flagstaff – I do hope the historic Route 66 is done much better here.

These two pictures are especially for Grandad