Oregon Trail

After 1976 miles, logging 30.5 hours on the road, we have made it to Portland! And guess what ... it was raining again!

After waking up in Boise, ID, we continued heading NW. An interesting side note for those who played Oregon Trail in grade school, a good part of the I-84 corridor follows the historic Oregon Trail. Fortunately, Max did not have to go hunting for food, Sara didn't get cholera, and we didn't have to ford the Snake River. But I digress. It took an hour to get to Oregon from Boise. Nothing different from yesterday's trek through ID, more Snake River valley with irrigated crops and occasional rolling terrain.

An official state map of Oregon says, "things look different here." I must say I agree. We saw a wide variety of landscape throughout the 6 hour drive. Rolling terrain, arid areas, beautiful pine forests... and the Columbia River! (which is cooler than the Cimarron; although the Columbia might not reach the "raging" level as often as the Cimarron)





Prior to getting to Portland, we had our first view of Mt. Hood (more pictures to come once we get a clear day in Portland). If you need to see Mt. Hood, go here. We then had to go through the Columbia River Gorge. "Had" is not a good word here... I-84 parallels the Columbia River for a good 120 miles, half of which is through "The Gorge". It is a breathtaking area, and even if I-84 hadn't gone through this region, it would have been worth while for the detour. Needless to say, we had plenty to look at as we neared Portland. It was a shock to see people, cars, houses, and civilization once we got to the outskirts of Portland. We had been in isolation for over 2 days... then... metropolitan area. I almost forgot what traffic lights were.

Now that we have opened the official Portland branch of okctopdx. Let see, other random thoughts to close out the trip. We used 62.5 gallons of gas, averaging 31.6 mph. Our best performance in gas mileage was from Home, ID to The Dalles, OR - 34 mph mainly because the speed limit was only 65 in OR and not 75 like CO through ID. Finally, we would like your opinion. Which word makes an area sound cooler - gorge or canyon? For example, does the "gorge" modifier in rattlesnake gorge make it sound cooler than rattlesnake canyon. Let us know.