This day had a 30 degree change in temperature from the time we left Seattle after breakfast in the morning to just after our early-evening stop at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City, Oregon.
Seattle was bright and sunny, but that chill breeze off Puget Sound sure made a dent in the sun’s heat. We packed up our suite (I sure wish we had the money to sleep like that every night of our vacations!) and headed out to mail our postcards and pick up more dry ice.
Heading out of Seattle the scenery stayed pretty consistent (lush, green and lovely) until we got into the Cascade mountain range, where we saw a lot more pine trees. After we crossed over we moved right into the expected rain shield desert ecosystem – dry, brown rolling hills. A lot like west Texas (and the Coast Ranges of California).
Surprisingly, eastern Washington and western & central Oregon were VERY agricultural with massive fields of grapes, some vined plant and even a Del Monte factory.
If you are ever driving east on I-84 through Oregon you need to stop at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. Plan to spend at minimum one hour, better yet at least two hours. The center has fabulous exhibits, movies and trails. From one huge window overlooking the rolling hills you can see remnants of the original Oregon Trail. Since there’s nothing else out there to look at you can totally imagine a trail of wagons, oxen and road-weary people leading across the valley. It’s one of the better visitor’s centers that I’ve visited, and we sure have hit a lot of them. Be sure to stop if you can.
Bruneau Sand Dunes is known for its fabulous night skies; in fact, they have an observatory on site. There wasn’t anything going on, but I did get a few nice moon shots.
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