Olympic Dreams - Pilgrimage to the Pacific Northwest

To complete the east to west leg of our trip, we needed to make our way from the Yellowstone/Grand Tetons area to the Pacific Ocean. Our aim was to hit the coast at Olympic National Park in Washington State. You would think that this would not be a particularly arduous drive, but due to some navigational errors it took us almost 3 full days.

Budweiser Store in Idaho

 Jackson, Wyoming to Boise, Idaho

As mentioned in our previous blog entry, Jackson is a delightful little town. It's the kind of town we'd all like to live in – country charm with city conveniences. You can get a latte and watch you favourite local cowboy stroll down the road at the same time. It's very close to Jackson Hole Ski Area, so it's very likely that we will make a repeat visit here in the near future. However, I am a little concerned about the elevation. The vertical drop on this ski field is 4,139 feet.

Having never been to Idaho or having never met anyone who had, I always considered it a bit of a “boondogs” type place. Not true, it turns out. Not only can you get a latte and watch a cowboy, but you can also purchase delicious bagels. We highly recommend both the “Scramble” and the “Greek” from Alia's Coffee House in downtown Boise, Idaho. The98th largest city in America, Boise has the casual hip feel of a west coast town with a mix of cowboy cosmopolitan. Interestingly, Boise has the highest concentration of Basque peoples outside of the Basque area in Spain (approximately 15,000 Basqui). Uninterestingly, Wikipedia provides the following list of notable resident from Boise (I defy you to recognize one name on this list):

• Robert Adler, inventor
• William Agee, businessman
• Joe Albertson, businessman
• Kristin Armstrong, cycling gold medalist
• James Jesus Angleton,former chief of the CIA counter-intelligence staff
• Bill Buckner, former Major League Baseball player
• John Sanford Cole, Navy Cross recipient
• Heather Cox, sportscaster
• Frank Church, U.S. senator
• John M. Haines, mayor and governor
• Mark Gregory Hambley, ambassador
• Gene Harris, jazz musician
• Michael Hoffman, movie director
• Howard W. Hunter, religious leader
• Dirk Kempthorne, mayor, governor, senator, and secretary of the interior
• George Kennedy, actor
• Mark Levine, jazz musician and educator
• Bonnie McCarroll, rodeo performer
• Doug Martsch, musician and songwriter
• Brett Nelson, musician and songwriter
• Reginald Owen, character actor
• William Petersen, television actor
• Thom Pace, musician and songwriter
• Jake Plummer, football quarterback
• Paul Revere, musician
• Frank Shrontz, businessman
• J.R. Simplot, businessman
• Robert Smylie, governor
• Gary Stevens, jockey
• Curtis Stigers, musician and songwriter
• Kristine Sutherland, television actress
• Wayne Walker, football linebacker and broadcaster
• Viola S. Wendt, poet
• Torrie Wilson, model, entertainer and professional wrestler

Incredible, 'ey? You never heard of one person on this list, have you?

Missing Montana and feeling a little out of place in the semi wild west environment, we also stopped in a Hap Tallman Stockman Store (http://www.haptallman.com/) to pick up some western wear. Alex is now the proud owner of a pair of awesome cowboy boots, and Ellisha picked up a couple of cute little cowgirl tops.

Boise, Idaho to The Dalles, Oregon

We went in search of the mythical Hells Canyon, alas never to be found. This canyon is apparently the deepest in the world, and thousands of feet deeper that the Grand Canyon. We did about a four hour detour to find the lookout for the canyon, only to be told when we later stopped for fuel, that the road washed away in 2006. It seems odd that this natural wonder would not be exploited for commercial gain by some enterprising American, but it seems that it is not. The canyon does have a river and several dams along its path, boat fishing seems to be the main interest in this area.

Arriving in East Oregon we were greeted with a dramatic sunset. Photograph, thousands words, etc.

By nightfall we had arrived at the Cousins Country Inn in The Dalles, Oregon (State Motto: “She Flies With Her Own Wings”) a charming little town on the Columbian River, best known as the location of the first and only biochemical terrorist attack in America. Yes, you did read correctly – there has been a biochemical terrorist attack in America. The perpetrators were the Rajneeshee Cult and the attack occurred in 1984 when cult members purposely infused local salad bars with salmonella. 751 people contracted salmonella from this attack, 45 were seriously ill, but there were no fatalities. The Rajneeshee perpetrated this attack in an attempt to take over the local government of The Dalles in an upcoming election. Their reasoning being that if all the towns people were too sick to vote, all the Rajneeshee candidates would win.

Anyway, we had a very nice non-salmonella infused meal at the Cousins Country Inn – Meatloaf for Alex and Chicken fried steak for me. Hmmm delicious.

It was free DVD rental night at the Inn, so we ordered a dose of “Into the Wild,” [SPOILER ALERT] a depressingly sad movie about a guy who goes on a road trip (not too dissimilar to ours) and eventually starves to death. Neither of us felt great about going to sleep that night.



Sage bush in Oregon

 The Dalles, Oregon to Portland, Oregon

We drove through the Columbia Gorge in a rain fog. It could have been spectacular. There were hints of scenery that suggested that it was incredibly beautiful. But unfortunately it rained a heavy downpour our entire drive. We saw the Columbian River through a foggy maze, glimpses of waterfalls and glints of sun on patches of the gorge face, but not enough to say we really saw it.

A little disheartened, we decide to visit a microbrewery in Portland, a regional specialty. We were not disappointed – Bridge Port Brewery (http://www.bridgeportbrew.com/). Big lunch and a sampler tray, we were back in good spirits, and off to our next mecca – Olympic National Park in Washington State (State Motto: “Alki”, a Chinook Indian word for “bye-bye” or “hope for the future”).

Columbia River Gorge