On the road and away

dateline, Boise Idaho
Hi to all our friends and family,

Jim is trying to accomplish temperal/spacial reconciliation because we seem to have lost two hours in two weeks--first because we had daylight savings time and now because we're on mountain time.

We finally got on the road after finishing up our work and had supper with Robin in Olympia at Vic's Pizza. Vic's is earlier in the space/time continuum: Jim remarked that he felt he had gone back in time 25 years: vegetarian pizzas with whole wheat flour, wir sind studenten, etc. Alice doesn't like pizza, but Robin's favorite, spinach and tomato, which also had cheese was ok. Robin took all the tomatoes off his before eating. Vic's is ok. Robin is ok, too, and told us his new joke.
We stayed last night in Hood River and awoke to the Columbia River at breakfast, sunny and warm. [photo from Hood River looking east.]
Driving along the river, we watched the weather change to rain showers. Wind turbines appeared in southern Washington. We stopped in Pendleton (the Woollen Mill) to look for a blanket designed by Lillian Pitt, but they don't keep everything in stock all the time. We will check again on the way back.
Between Pendleton and La Grande, Oregon are the Blue Mountains. We ran into snow there, quite a lot, sticking to the road. In Baker City, residents told us we were past the worst part. Now we're in Boise. There are no laws here. Thank goodness we have chicken tortelloni and broccoli from home.

Jim: The Columbia gorge was impressive--sights similar to photos of 19th century fish weirs in the same locations, and Big River, listening to Leontyne Price in Porgy and Bess. Smooth riding until we left Pendleton, then ran into a quasi-blizzard in the Blue Mountains. This made us gunshy about further mountains coming up, so we rocketed straight through La Grange and Baker City, riders of the storm, and stopped only for gas at the sign of the sauropod, with nary a nod to the famous Haines Steakhouse (catch you on the way back?), or the restaurant with the model train going round the dining room. Once we made it over the last high pass, it was smooth again all the way across the Snake River to Idaho. We backtracked a short distance to Ontario, OR to grab a quick supper, then into the Land of Larry Craig
where speed limits hardly exist, all the way to Boise.