Certain expectations come with embarking on a cross-country trip. Patriotic songs conditioned us to see spacious skies, amber waves of grain, purple mountains, fruited plains, shining seas, wilderness, and alabaster cities. We even expected to see and experience the unexpected. But we…
For one moment in May 1869, the eyes of the Nation, and indeed the world, focused on Promontory Summit in the Utah Territory. For one moment in early 2015, so did the eyes of a curious 6th Grader. In the planning stages…
Just south of Yellowstone, mountains rise in surreal fashion from the valley known as Jackson Hole. Towering over the Snake River, these youthful peaks reach for the sky forming a jagged silhouette yet to be savaged by wind and rain. So…
Fifteen weeks ago we departed Georgia to tour the West. Yellowstone National Park reigned as the top “must do” attraction. Though we were within spitting distance of Yellowstone’s iconic north gate when we passed through Montana in July, we resisted…
With wind as our constant companion, we rolled across the Snake River Plain to Arco (“We’re not in the middle of nowhere, but you can see it from here”), Idaho. A bear-like dog roamed free, glistening posts and knocked over grills…
With sights set on a post-Labor Day arrival in Yellowstone National Park, we trekked through the high desert of Eastern Oregon and across the Snake River Plain of Southern Idaho. We first stopped just outside of Boise. Anticipating adventures in Yellowstone,…
A small city in Central Oregon surrounds you. You are standing in Riverbend Park with your family. The Deschutes River meanders by on its way to downtown Bend. Armed with a “River Rat” tube procured from a local big box…
A smoky haze greeted us as we moved into the Rogue River valley and set up camp at Joseph H. Stewart State Park. Wildfires raged on the northwest corner of Crater Lake National Park, closing the north entrance of the…
With no particular agenda other than seeing the Oregon coast and staying in another one of its fine state parks, we departed Astoria and headed south on US 101. A tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory (and Creamery) provided an…
Washington offered much, but it was time to say goodbye and bag our first new state in weeks. The area around Astoria, Oregon, would be our home for five days. How could you not visit a town with such a…