The Whole Gamut

Sights today ran the gamut!  What a variety of vistas across Oregon and Idaho:

Tan, brown, barren hills and mountains
A national forest of evergreens
A farm of wind turbines (we saw over 1000 of those yesterday, atop mountain ranges)
A lush green town surrounded on all sides by brown desert (it was all irrigated)

Near Devil's Canyon

Lots of desert
The Snake River
Sagebrush as far as the eye could see

We intend our days to include some sights along the way, so we were looking for some.  The 'gold nougat' of the day was a stop at the Oregon Trail Educational Center.

There we got to experience sights and sounds and a wonderful movie about the pioneers immigration west.  And what an amazing story.  I am just awestruck by the obstacles they were able to overcome on this treacherous trip!

There were many details about that journey that I had not heard.  For example, in the movies, they rode in wagons, but in reality they walked 2200 miles.  (These details came from the diaries of those who made that trek).  It took six months to get to Oregon from points east.  Eventually 'Oregon fever' gave way to 'gold fever'.   Over a span of approximately 40 years, 600,000 Americans pushed westward overland.  It was the largest immigration of people in America's history.  By the late 1860's the railroad replaced the Oregon Trail.
Now the interstates have replaced the railroads.

Gerry and I made an interesting observation about our own journey west.  We cannot even remember when we spent so much time together in the same space 24 hours a day, day after.

The nice thing is, we really enjoy each other's company.

On a day like today, with 104 degree temperature, thank goodness for air conditioning, both in the car and in the hotel room.