Once again, we have a random smattering of photos, but it will give you an idea of the nice long tree lined hill we climbed to get out of Astoria thru a pass that lead to Longview. The trees were all leaning precariously over the highway with their extra heavy coat of fresh wet snow. Ever so often, a gust of wind would bring down huge clumps of snow from the tree-tops and it would white us out as it smashed into the windshield. The road must have been treacherous earlier in the morning,as there were numerous vehicles in the ditch, including a "Medix" ambulance that was probably on its way to help someone from one of the other disabled vehicles. All in all, I was happy that a tree didn't crash down from all the extra weight of the wet snow. There was much evidence of fallen trees from a previous wind storm. In an hour and a half we completed that leg of the journey,when it should have been a smooth travelling route of around fifty minutes. Once we came down into Longview ( other bridge with smokestacks from mills), the roads improved, and we headed south, skirting around Olympia, and on down to Vancouver Washington. We crossed the Columbia one more time, back to Oregon, and followed the I 84 along the Columbia river. This was one splendid twinned highway with gorgeous scenes at every bend. Large cliffs flanked us on the right withvery interesting rock formations, such as "Rooster Rock" where the water streamed down the face in a perfect little waterfall. This was repeated many times along the way, until the mountains...some like loaves of bread half pushed out of the ground, gave way to rolling plains, not unlike Alberta. The winds picked up and we just kept on going. After Kennewick, we expected the freeway to drop off to two lane traffic, but much to our surprise, the divided highway continued ( I-395) all the way into Spokane.
The temps plummeted to -13* and by the time we were going over the Williams Lake cut-off, it was -17*. Super brrrr.
We were happy to arrive home to a toasty house,and a warm beddy bye!
Good to go away, but always good to return home to your own bed.
What we learned, is that if one wants to get to Oregon in a hurry...just zip diagonally across the country and you'll be there in 8.5 hrs from Spokane. Miles of ocean beach await you and thousands of others if it is summer...but little seaside vacation spots such as Long Beach and Canon beach, make for a beautiful holiday and great seafood eating!
Nighty Night.
"The Creator"
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