2 – Blue Mountains to Snake River

Since we have made a number of trips to Boise, we decided that for this one we would go from Walla Walla, WA, up and over the Blue Mountains of NW Oregon to La Grande before rejoining I-84 there.

Route 204 from Weston wound up the NW side of the mountains to a viewpoint from which we could see over the continuous evergreen forest towards the dryer rolling hills in the (forest fire smoke hazy) distance.

A bit further on a less hazy view gave a better sense of the idyllic landscape. The area near the top of the mountains has only a scattering of residences, but we stopped at the Woodward Campground on Langdon Lake to see what that was like.

Langdon Lake

A number of cabins could be seen on the far side of the lake; but this public campground has decided to provide only limited access to the water and keep most of the landscape undisturbed. This means that many of the campsites have views over wetlands through the trees to the water.

The areas of the campground away from the lake get to enjoy the pines.

campground pines

By necessity, an access road serves the various campsites and provides the occasional view corridor through the trees, perfect for scouting out any birds.

Jane – Birding

From here it was steadily down hill to Elgin where we emerged into the Grande Ronde valley and a spectacular view of Mt Harris, which at nearly 5400 feet, emerges dramatically from the surrounding farmland.

Mt Harris, Oregon

We followed route 82 to La Grande where we got back on I-84, continued southeast through Baker City until taking a break at Farewell Bend State Recreation Center along the Snake River south of Huntington.

Idaho Power Company Recognition

Farewell Bend Information

There’s a definite story behind the name “Farewell Bend”. It has to do with the fact that a few miles north of this bend in the river the Snake enters Hell’s Canyon, a sheer, impassible, rocky slice through the mountains that is as inaccessible today as it was then. At this point in their journey, Oregon Trail settlers had to leave the river valley and make their way over the Blue Mountains between La Grande and Pendleton, a tough challenge, but possible. It must have been hard to leave this beautiful part of the Snake River behind.

Snake River – Farewell Bend

The park itself had modest but nice facilities for our lunch break.

Farewell Bend Park Information Kiosk

Since we’ve been this way before, I’ll leave you with this photo of the river from a previous trip. It’s a view looking north towards the bend at about the same time of year.

Snake River looking north toward Farewell Bend

Next Stop – Boise

1 – Seattle to Walla Walla

Each year we take a couple of road trips to Boise, ID to visit Jane’s daughter, Ellen. It’s a fair amount of driving, so we usually break the trips somewhere in the middle, often trying locations at which we haven’t stopped before. Our first pause was for coffee (what else) in Cle Elum, WA, a small town a couple hours east of Seattle. The Pioneer Coffee Roasting Company is a social hub where they also know their coffee.

After that, we took a break from the freeway, using the “old road” to Ellensburg and then switched to the Yakima River Canyon road, a favorite route from a number of other trips. Here are some views – enjoy.

It’s a relatively, but not completely, undeveloped waterway, with a dam at the Yakima end.

The river provides for road traffic, water recreation, camping, fishing, some residential use, and if you look carefully on the left of the picture below, a railroad freight line.

Railroad / River / Road

It’s been a very dry summer in the Northwest, so the greenery is what clings to the river; and the rest of the landscape has turned gold / brown.

Twists and turns provide constantly changing juxtapositions

In some locations the upthrust hills from many years ago add weight and drama

It’s also hard to ignore inserted infrastructure – traffic safety necessities like guardrails are a bane for photographing nature.

Light and dark enrich colors

I really like the way the light from the sky and water bring out the rich colors of the river and riverbank against the dry hills.

Nearing the south end of the canyon

After this idyllic side trip we put our noses to the steering wheel on I-84 and headed for our first real stop, Walla Walla, Washington, the County Seat of Walla Walla County, with a population of about 35,000 people. Walla Walla’s “American” history starts in 1806when the Lewis and Clark expedition encountered the Walawalałáma (Walla Walla people) near the mouth of Walla Walla River on the Columbia.

The course of white settlement in the area mirrors that of other areas of the country, promises made in exchange for land, deals reneged, natives forced on to reservations, the whole sad story. Here’s an overview, finally commemorated in a plaza.

This is Peopeomoxmox (yellow bird), chief of the Walla Walla tribe.

Yellow Bird, Chief of the Walla Walla Tribe

The city grew rapidly, functioned as state capitol for a while, and developed into a major agriculture and wine center. Whitman College added an important educational component in the 1960’s. Since we were there just for the night, we stayed at a Marriott Courtyard, about 6 blocks from the center of town. Nothing too exciting, but convenient and comfortable.

Marriot Courtyard – Walla Walla

Travertine Tile Wall Treatment at the ground level

We walked into the center of town and took in a bit of the local history. The County Courthouse was a particularly critical building in the city’s history.

Walla Walla County Courthouse

There’s a combination Farmers’ Market and transit and parking hub nearby,

Multi-function market / parking

joined by a public art wind vane shelter that adds some needed enlivenment.

Wind Vane

Nearby downtown has a collection of pretty sturdy late 19th and early 20th century buildings, most along Main Street, the thoroughfare that leads to nearby Whitman College.

In response to Covid, the city adopted the “streatery” approach to dining, still in use.

Another gives a sense of what it’s like to walk through this new “environment”

We found it to be quite congenial and came back to a French Restaurant on another part of the street for dinner later that evening. In another area a block had been set up as completely pedestrianized.

Pedestrian Street

This area was not that busy at dinner time; but we discovered the next morning, when we returned to the coffee shop there, that it was well used. Walla Walla is well known for its winery tasting rooms and congenial Whitman College culture; so we suspect those elements make this experiment in urban living the success that it is.