Idaho – Jake & Eddie’s Excellent Adventure 😎🐶

Having scaled the summit, so to speak, we start our return trip after seven weeks on the road. Our next layover will be in Idaho, where I will visit a museum that was closed on our first trip in 2021. This will take us through the Columbia River Valley, the Blue Mountains, Oregon’s high desert, and then into Idaho.

We left the Seattle area and drove south on I-5 to Portland.

For the next week, we will slowly head south and east on our way to southern Utah. The first segment will take us through the Columbia River Gorge. This would be a new experience.

I could quickly begin to understand the awe of early explorers as I started my drive through the large valley with sheer mountains on either side—a truly majestic feel.

Cascade Locks

We stopped for the night in Cascade Locks. This area features several sights, including the expansive Bonneville Dam complex.

Bonneville Dam Spillway. The two power-generating dams are on either side of the spillway and generate 1.2 GW of electricity.

The dam was built in the 1930s. A second power-generating facility was built in the 1970s. A lock on the Oregon side provides up to a 90-foot lift with a maximum length of nearly 700 feet. Awe-inspiring structures!

Cascade Locks was a much earlier set of locks located several miles upstream from the dam. They were built in the late 1800s to circumvent the Cascade Rapids. Before the construction of the locks, cargo needed to be portaged 5 miles to avoid the rapids.

Between the two sits the Bridge of the Gods. An impressive structure, it was built in the 1920s.

We did a hike near the campgrounds on the river. The trail leads us out on a peninsula, offering great views of the river and surrounding mountains—a beautiful spot.

Columbia Gorge Waterfalls

There are six waterfalls in the central part of the gorge. We saw two of them, starting with the best-known of the group Multnomah Falls.

The lighting was perfect, with no shadows—an incredibly picturesque location.

Upper Multnomah Falls

It was a moderately easy walk up to the Bridge.

A gorge being formed; Oneonta Gorge was on the old Highway 30. It was a narrow and windy road that rose for a great view of the Columbia Gorge.

Oneonta Gorge along the Columbia River Gorge

There was a tunnel leading from the parking place to the view. Jake saw the light at the end of the tunnel 😳.

Final stop at Horsetooth Falls before heading back to home base.

On the way back, we stopped for a shot of the Bridge to the Gods in the morning sun.

We broke camp late; we didn’t leave until almost 11 AM – a record for us! We enjoyed the stay at the KOA here, a charming, heavily treed campground with a great hot tub!

The drive east took us through Hood River and The Dalles. The landscape changed rapidly from forests and granite mountains before becoming a high desert. The visual change for a short three-hour drive was astonishing.

As we drove east, the landscape changed dramatically.

Pendleton

We arrived in Pendleton, and I traveled to the local dispensary. There must have been eight shops in this little town! Without a doubt, Oregon is the hippest state so far for Bud. I wanted to pick up some more fine Oregon herb before leaving the state tomorrow.

I went by a colossal rodeo arena getting there. The budtender told me that Pendelton had the third-largest rodeo in the country every year. Other than that, not much else appeared to be happening!

We left Pendleton and did a very long, steep uphill in the Blue Mountains headed southeast.

That eventually led into the Snake River valley. From there, along the Payette River to Boise.

Excellent Adventure in Northwestern Oregon

The weather was excellent, and the panorama was beautiful.

Boise

We stopped in an RV Park in Meridian, just south of Boise, for the evening.

I have a history in this area from my looney-tune wife #3. I skied here in late 2013 (her daughter’s wedding), returned home to Atlanta, and decided to divorce her. Her daughters and ex-husband all live here. Bad vibes all the way around.

No sight of anyone, however! We headed outbound for Highway 20. This would lead us along many historic parts of the Oregon Trail.

This part of the trail had two routes. The second, called Goodale’s Cutoff, would follow the road we were on. The cutoff became the predominant route after Tim Goodale led a wagon train with over 1000 people over it in 1862.

The scenery was beautiful. I could only imagine what early settlers thought when they passed this way 150 years ago. It doesn’t really seem that long ago for some reason. The only thing they had to worry about was if they would survive the journey, no matter what their pronouns were 😬,

I loved winding through the mountains, trying to guess what I would see next. Again, thanks to the winter rain, the views were stunning.

Craters of the Moon Redux

We first visited Craters of the Moon on our 2021 Excellent Adventure. Two years later, we entered the park from the west.

The landscape was even more beautiful with all the green!

Arco

That brought us to Arco. Apparently, the town has run out of Bud Light. Good thing I don’t drink, but I’ll make sure I Light up an Oregon Bud and toast another visit!

Tomorrow I visit the EBR-1 Museum. I basically came all this way to do just that.

Getting there

We left Vernal and drove through the mountains to end up outside of Salt Lake City. The drive was quite scenic – especially the high mountain lakes and the steep decent into Salt Lake. The winds were quite high on the drive and that combined with rabid Truckers driving like maniacs on I-80 (speed limit = 80mph) made for a fun ride to my stop that night.

I stayed in a KOA outside of Brigham City, UT. A very quite area – the stay was pleasant and uneventful. We headed out the next morning for Arco and the Craters.

Backstory

This stop, like the previous stop in Alamogordo, is part of my story.

Back in 1978 I was finishing a degree in Mechanical Engineering. I intended to go to graduate school to get a Masters in Nuclear Engineering but I also interviewed with the Nuclear Navy. They told me that I would be sent to Idaho to learn how to run a submarine’s nuclear reactor if I joined. Once I started graduate school I visited this area with my thesis advisor.

This area is home to Idaho National Laboratory – when I visited it was called Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL). My graduate work was funded by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and was linked to one of the labs at INEL called LOFT (Loss of Flow Transient) which studied what happened when a reactor lost it’s water coolant. My professor Dr. Albrecht and I flew in his private plane and visited the lab at one point shortly after I started my research.

At that time I distinctly remember flying into Idaho Falls. In the morning everyone who worked at the lab got on a bus for the hour trip to the various laboratories. I also remember that everyone I met was a Mormon. I remember driving for miles seeing nothing but desert and tumbleweeds until you could see some huge facility all by itself in the distance. I guess the idea was if there was an accident it would be in the middle of nowhere!

Arco Idaho

Just outside of Arco is Atomic City. It is home to the Experimental Breeder Reactor I – the first nuclear power station to generate enough electricity to power the light bulbs in the building the reactor was housed in. Arco, the town where Jake and I stayed, was the first city to new completely powered by another reactor in the area in 1955 – the year I was born.

Although the Experimental Breeder Reactor is now a museum, it is not currently open due to COVID. It was very cool to more or less stumble into this history while coming to visit the Craters!

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve

Craters of the Moon is a lava field or what is known as a flood basalt area. Although I could not hike with Jake to see some of the more unique features we drove the loop as were able to hike one paved trail. The Park Service does not allow dogs partially because of prior experiences with the lave rock damaging a dog’s paws – apparently the dog of the original explorer to the area had to be carried out!

We did get so see a lot of the features of this weird landscape and learning about it’s unique habitats.