Day 8 (Idaho, Oregon, Washington)
We arrived at Lewiston, Idaho for the night. We had to change hotel rooms because our first room had a very bad odor. The gentleman at the front desk had explained that this smell was due to the hotel being in the middle of a paper mill and a fertilizer plant. We accepted the second room, posted and edited pictures and went to bed.
We awoke this morning to find an overwhelming stench in the room. It was so bad that it was difficult to get back to sleep. Without much complaint from either of us, we started our day at 4:30 am. We didn't even stay for breakfast. We just wanted to get out of town and away from the smell.
The smog from the factories covered the town like a thick black cloud and made travel difficult in the early morning. We went in circles looking for our 12W exit and even with our GPS enabled still had a hard time finding it. We ended up on the wrong side of town with many one way streets and in that instance my partner brought up the old Eagles song Hotel California, "You can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave!" It was very fitting that about that time we came across Hell's Gate (State Park).
The stench from this town smelled like burning, rotting flesh. It was unfortunate because the downtown area was very pretty and had some nice picture opportunities. But it took a good 30 miles driving with the windows down to escape that awful smell. It seemed that it permeated everything in the car because I swear every time I get back in I get a faint whiff.
You can see in this picture the factories in the background and the smog just rising up over the town. Even though they had issues, it wasn't all bad. The photo opportunities were just endless.
We could only stand taking a few pictures in town and some of the beautiful murals on the walls had caught our eye. These four chairs were cleverly placed outside this building and bolted to the ground.
This western themed mural was just stunning against this wall.
This bridge was in the Colombia River. The view that you see here is of the Washington side of the river. We rode on the Oregon side because we were on our way to Mount St. Helen's. Loved the reflection in the water with this.
Finally out of Lewiston, ID we came across Pomeroy, ID where we had some breakfast at Tonia's Cafe and found some little treasures in town as well. This old Dodge was sitting down a side road and we stopped to take some pictures. Of course!!
We also found some gorgeous railroad tracks and had to stop there as well.
Finally leaving Oregon and arriving in Washington, I was told to visit the town of Walla, Walla because it was wine country. I was slightly disappointed that when we got into town, the wineries were closed. We arrived in town quite early due to leaving Lewiston and 6am. So, unfortunately, I did not get any Walla Walla wine in Washington. But damn it, Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett told me it's always, "5 o'clock somewhere!!"
Our last stop of the day was at Mount St. Helens. This was another beautiful place to stop and I wished we had more time to spend going through the trails, but we were losing light quickly and the mountain was rough. We took a few pictures of the volcano and a few in the park and got outta dodge. We headed up route five and found a hotel in Longview, Washington. Tomorrow we hope to hit Cathlamet and up the Pacific coast into Seattle. There we will meet up with my cousins and maybe take a day off from traveling and see the sights of Seattle.
We awoke this morning to find an overwhelming stench in the room. It was so bad that it was difficult to get back to sleep. Without much complaint from either of us, we started our day at 4:30 am. We didn't even stay for breakfast. We just wanted to get out of town and away from the smell.
The smog from the factories covered the town like a thick black cloud and made travel difficult in the early morning. We went in circles looking for our 12W exit and even with our GPS enabled still had a hard time finding it. We ended up on the wrong side of town with many one way streets and in that instance my partner brought up the old Eagles song Hotel California, "You can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave!" It was very fitting that about that time we came across Hell's Gate (State Park).
The stench from this town smelled like burning, rotting flesh. It was unfortunate because the downtown area was very pretty and had some nice picture opportunities. But it took a good 30 miles driving with the windows down to escape that awful smell. It seemed that it permeated everything in the car because I swear every time I get back in I get a faint whiff.
You can see in this picture the factories in the background and the smog just rising up over the town. Even though they had issues, it wasn't all bad. The photo opportunities were just endless.
We could only stand taking a few pictures in town and some of the beautiful murals on the walls had caught our eye. These four chairs were cleverly placed outside this building and bolted to the ground.
This western themed mural was just stunning against this wall.
This bridge was in the Colombia River. The view that you see here is of the Washington side of the river. We rode on the Oregon side because we were on our way to Mount St. Helen's. Loved the reflection in the water with this.
Finally out of Lewiston, ID we came across Pomeroy, ID where we had some breakfast at Tonia's Cafe and found some little treasures in town as well. This old Dodge was sitting down a side road and we stopped to take some pictures. Of course!!
We also found some gorgeous railroad tracks and had to stop there as well.
Finally leaving Oregon and arriving in Washington, I was told to visit the town of Walla, Walla because it was wine country. I was slightly disappointed that when we got into town, the wineries were closed. We arrived in town quite early due to leaving Lewiston and 6am. So, unfortunately, I did not get any Walla Walla wine in Washington. But damn it, Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett told me it's always, "5 o'clock somewhere!!"
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