On the Road Again

 For the first time in a couple of years, we're taking a road trip to somewhere other than the West Coast.  Needless to say, we're excited.  Here, we're headed east on the Oregon side of the Columbia Gorge.  This is an area we can see from the deck of our house.

 The lush vegetation you see in the previous photo continues for about 80 miles east from Portland to the crest of the Cascade Range.  From there, average annual moisture drops about an inch every couple of miles.  Note that the vegetation here is not as lush, but this only reveals a different type of beauty.

 Ten miles further east, the only trees you see are near the water.

 Water from rapidly melting snow has all of the dams on the lower Columbia open.  This is the John

Day Dam.  Mr. Day was a trapper and hunter engaged to come west with the Astor expedition.  He alledgedly went mad and wandered extensively around the Pacific Northwest in the early 1800s.  He managed to have a dam, a river, a town, and a very rich fossil bed named after him.

 We love this bridge across I-84 in The Dalles, Oregon.  Note the salmon and sturgeon on the railing and the section of a wind turbine beneath.

Ever wonder where Marischino cherries come from?  Many come from this processing facility in The Dalles. Bing and Ranier cherries are brined in these vats until they are nearly white, rinsed, then soaked in sugar water and red dye until they are saturated.

A lot of high grade wheat is raised in the hills above the Columbia Gorge.  It is hauled to elevators like this, loaded into barges, and transported to one of the ports along the lower Columbia River.  From there, seventy to ninety percent is loaded onto grain ships and sent overseas.  Note the RV park and marina in the same space.  Pacific Northwesterners do not waste space, especially if fun can be had.

 The wind is almost always blowing in the Columbia Gorge.  That makes it an excellent place for wind turbines.  These have arisen in the last 4 years.

 There is an increasing number of hybrid poplar plantations in the Umatilla, Oregon area.  Some are used for paper production, but an increasing number are grown for sawtimber.  They are used for such diverse things as molding, Venetian blind slats, wooden pallets, and travel trailer framing (they are 20% lighter than pine lumber).  This is a desert area, but these trees are trickle irrigated and take far less water than the potatoes that are also grown in the area.  An average rotation for sawtimber is twelve to fifteen years.

 This area gets only enough water to raise a wheat crop every other year.  Wheat is often planted in strips to reduce wind erosion.  The areas that appear bare are covered with stubble from wheat that was harvested in 2011 and will be planted again in 2013.

As we climbed out of Pendleton, Oregon, we felt that the scene of the grazing and wheat land below should have been accompanied by strains of God Bless America.  

One of the fun things is always seeing what else is on the road.  Here, a base section of a wind turbine climbs with us.  Many, if not most, of these parts arrive at the Port of Vancouer, Washingon and head east from there.  We see them a lot.

We continued southeast into the lovely Blue Mountains.

 Wheat, canola, and condiment mustard are among the crops grown in the valleys.  The snowcaps in the background give this area near LaGrande, Oregon a very idyllic appearance.

 During the winter, I-84 can be very diffiult as these snow fences indicate.  These are fancier than we have ever seen.

After reveling in the beauty of the Blues and Wallowas, we descended into the Ontario, Oregon/Boise, Idaho area, and began one of the more boring legs of our trek east. However, tomorrow is Mother's Day and we will be in Salt Lake City, UT where Penny (and Ted) will have 4 days to do genealogy at the Family History Library and eat at one of Ted's favorite Mexican restaurants.