Happy Birthday Brenna! We call from roadside to send BD wishes. We moved to Ak when she was 15 months and Alaska has been in our lives ever since, over the past 40 years.
Sunny, haze obscures
distant views, 73 degrees
Miles 482,
to date 1839 miles
Travel time
7 hours. Gas prices now over $3.00-$4.00
range.
Day 5 of our
road trip to Alaska. Ogden Courtyard
Marriott, nice rooms; they added a huge addition on the front of the hotel and
our room was a good walking distance to the rooms. Had to pay for breakfast, limited menu and
just average quality. It’s Sunday and
church bells are ringing in this historic area.
Have to clean windshield that is plastered with midgees from yesterday.
We take
north 15/I84 out of Ogden. We follow the
GS Lake for a while, distant mountains are very hazy. GSL is dropping in volume
as lake shore communities escalate in growth and building. The is land is narrow band located between
foot of mountains and lake, lots of cattle, crops, fruit. There are surface mining sites above the
houses. Westward there are large sheep
ranches with miles of grazing, new lambs.
80mph. Pass through Rattle Snake
Pass, reminder they are out there. Open
ranges with spring grass and sage bushes.
But area is very arid and will dry up over summer. We pass into Idaho. We can see Sawtooth snow covered mountains in
the haze. We are still following the Oregon Trail. Utah has been fairly boring with
sightseeing. Acres of flat plains that
require irrigation; appears is it hay and potatoes. We have not had any rain since we left. The temp has risen to 92degrees.
We cross from
Idaho border crossing the Snake river into Oregon. We are cross into Pacific Time (Ohio EST 4
hours earlier) and now on same time as Alaska. The river is very high with snow melt. The change is incredible. The sky up ahead clears and we pass through a
beautiful canyon as we descend. The
smoke seems to have disappeared. The
valley below is wide and green with farming and ringed by snow covered peaks. Temp drops into high 70’s We
turn off into Baker City for gas and are surprised they have kept the
historic town intact. Mining has been in
their past and Oregon Trail comes through.
Looking at the rich soil wide valley ringed by snow covered peaks we
understand why the pioneers wanted to come.
We reach our destination of La Grand, OR. Dinner at Bob Jackson’s. Local spot with pool table. Food was okay. Rule of thumb no matter what the menu says,
it’s always safe to order wings or hamburger.
Staying at Best Western and it has a whirl pool for Chuck!
Will contact
Dory and Donn in the morning with our ETA in Astoria, OR. Looking forward to our visit with them!
Nighty
Night.
.