Showing posts with label Oregon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oregon. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Utah-Montana Trip - On the Road


This rest stop in Oregon had an exercise area for horses. If I were a horse traveling across country, I'm sure I would appreciate this. According to this article, there are several others in Oregon. 

Zillah, Washington - apple crates wait to be filled (middle left of picture)
Click here to read about Zillah's connection to the Teapot Dome scandal during the Harding administration. Next time we go by, we're going to stop to see the teapot.
Washington apples on their way to you

Fall colors - the only place we saw red was in the Cascade Mountains. Yellow and golds were in Utah, Oregon, and Montana. 


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Monday, October 29, 2012

Utah-Montana Trip - Geiser Grand Hotel



Geiser Grand Hotel  -Baker City, Oregon
We discovered this wonderful old hotel several summers ago when we were making our grand western tour (before we moved to Kirkland). Originally opened in 1889, the hotel operated until the late 1960s. After it closed, it fell into disrepair and was 30 days from demolition when a group of local citizens bought the place and spent seven million dollars to restore it to its original grandeur. 
While we were eating dinner, I noticed the name of the hotel reflected on the wall of the lobby. Look closely and you can see "Geiser Grand" in the arched window over the entrance door. The shadow disappeared as the sunlight shifted. 
looking down at dining room from second floor
looking up to the second floor from the dining room
Beautiful crystal chandeliers throughout the hotel, 
including one in each of the 30 guest rooms

More about Baker City & the Geiser Grand Hotel here; from a previous trip


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Utah-Montana Trip - Gas Prices


Gas price comparisons from our October trip to see family in Utah & Montana

$4.23 in Kirkland, Washington
$3.99 in Oregon
Did you know you can't pump your own gas in Oregon? State law requires that only "trained employees of service stations are allowed to put so-called 'Class 1 Flammable Liquids' into cars." Read more here. 

$3.75 in north Salt Lake City
$3.72 in Missoula, Montana
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Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Utah Trip - More - Geiser Grand Hotel

A GRAND OLD HOTEL 

We discovered this wonderful old hotel several summers ago when we were making our grand western tour (before our move to Kirkland). Originally opened in 1889, the hotel operated until the late 1960s. After it closed, it fell into disrepair and was 30 days from demolition when a group of local citizens bought the place and spent seven million dollars to restore it to its original grandeur. 

Baker City is almost half way between Kirkland and Salt Lake City so it’s a good stopping point – 6 hours from Kirkland to Baker City and another 7 ½ hours from Baker City to Salt Lake City (plus a time zone change). 
Baker City was the center of the region’s gold mining boom back in the late 1800s. 
These photos were taken at dusk. That's why they are a bit dark. 


looking up at a beautiful store entrance overhang


seen from our hotel room
More posts about this trip: 
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Monday, May 7, 2012

Kirkland to Salt Lake City

Kirkland to Salt Lake City is about a 13 hour drive - including one time zone change - Through Washington, through a corner of Oregon, through a bit of Idaho and then into Utah. We recently made the trip to see Michael Todd and his daughters. Click here for more on the trip.
I like to look at a map to get an idea of where we're going and how to get there. Joe likes the GPS. Long ago he named our GPS Eloise. He and Eloise have had a love-hate relationship over the years. He thinks Eloise has an attitude, especially when she tells him she is "recalculating" because of a turn Joe did or didn't make. Her exasperation increased with each recalculation. You could hear it in her voice. This trip he decided to dump Eloise for "Alice." Alice is from Australia and doesn't seem to have quite the attitude that Eloise did. 

Just an hour from our house, you’re into the mountains with dense, dense forest and lush green landscapes. The end of April - there was still snow on Snoqualmie Pass, about an hour east of Kirkland. 
left - ski run at Snoqualmie Pass  
right - snow on the sides of the road is piled almost to the top of the road signs

Once you cross over the Cascade Mountains the terrain changes dramatically. These wind turbines are near Ellensburg, Washington - not quite two hours east of Kirkland. 

Central Washington, on the east side of the Cascade Mountains doesn't get much rain. Sprinklers are widely used in the fields. The valleys are filled with orchards. 


Interstate 82 crosses over this beautiful bridge near Yakima, Washington. 

Going west into the snow-covered Cascade Mountains (at the end of our trip)
On the route to Salt Lake City through the corner of Oregon, Idaho and into northern Utah, most of the mountains are treeless. 

The vistas are breathtaking - much more so than these images convey. 
You cross the Snake River a number of times. 




Monday morning we spent at few hours at the Oregon Trail Interpretative Center, about five miles outside Baker City, Oregon. The center is near the entrance to Hell’s Canyon.
The green growth on this rock looked like it might glow in the dark. 
Oregon Trail ruts
Snow-capped Blue Mountains from the Oregon Trail Center






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