Potatoes!

We covered the rest of Idaho and finally saw some potato fields. I can't believe that most of the Idaho potatoes grow in the western part of Idaho. I know it's long, but it doesn't seem long enough to produce all of the potatoes labeled Idaho potatoes...

When we crossed into Oregon we were jubilant! We made it! Route 84 travels along the Columbia River, the border between Washington and Oregon on the Oregon side. What a beautiful ride. Out in the distance I could see a snow covered mountain and figured it must be Mt. Hood. By the time we found a place to pull over, it didn't look as impressive, but the picture in my mind was incredible. I don't know if Mt. Hood is like its sister mountains: Mt. St. Helens, Mt.Rainer, Mt. Baker and still farther north Denali, which are often occluded by clouds. I got to see Denali from the air, but never from the land. People talk about the mountain being out like we do the sun up in Alaska. It's a big deal to see Mt. Rainier in Seattle, too. She wasn't out when we were there a few years ago.

Route 84 goes into the Columbia River Gorge, a Scenic Route. The views were beautiful with coniferous forest and hills on one side, the river on the other. Wild sweetpeas grew on the roadside. We saw kestrel, osprey, eagles and pelicans along the river.

We were able to stop at Multnomah Falls, a waterfall so high that I couldn't get it into my photo in one shot. Perhaps if I were standing on Route 84 I could have captured it all before I got smushed by a semi. We took time to hike midway up the falls trail. Took some photos and finally asked someone to take one of us! The whole trip and no photos of the two of us together! How silly.

I was practically giddy driving across Oregon,we made it! We were headed for the Pacific Coast, PACIFIC COAST!!!

We drove to Salem to pick up a car at the airport there was some difficulty. The airport was very small even though it is the capital of Oregon. There was one gate and two car rental places, neither of them was Avis, where ours was reserved. We drove around and around and finally returned to the municipal airport to the two rental counters and noticed the lady at the Budget counter was wearing an AVIS Shirt...Trying to trick me, I said. No, the sign hadn't come in yet, but they rented for both Budget and Avis.

The drive to Waldport to our next KOA reservation was beautiful. Across a mountain on a road that followed the Alsea River. I enjoyed driving, but it was hard on Skip in the RV, very winding and a lot of ups and downs. The river emptied into a bay which empties into the Pacific. After finding our campsite we took a walk across the bridge from the campground to the town. We saw seals swimming in the water and some diving loon-like bird. No white necklace so I didn't know if it was indeed a loon or not. A long drive that ended with a nice site and sight.