Almost home...it's starting to look and feel a lot more like home. There's corn...humidity....and a Hy-Vee in Lincoln, NE. Tomorrow it's the final leg of our journey, through Iowa and back home.
So, here's a bit more details about what we did over the past three days...other than driving.
Sunday we started out from Portland. One of the few photos from Portland is this, which is a floating restaurant that we ate at the first night we were there.
While driving across Oregon, we passed by the tree farm I mentioned before, here's a photo of that. In case you can't read the sign, it says Planted - 1998, Harvested - 2006, Replanted - 2007. So, in the 8 years that the trees were planted, they grew from the tiny seedlings you see here to the tall trees in the background that were ready for harvest.
Something I didn't believe the first time I saw it was this....corn in Idaho. They do actually grow it here...it takes a lot of water and smart irrigation to make it happen, but it grows.
Yesterday we started out in Twin Falls, ID...so named because of the Snake River running through a canyon just north of town, with waterfalls in it. This is Shoshone Falls, about 5 miles upstream from Twin Falls. The photo doesn't make it look all that impressive, but it's actually taller than Niagra Falls, you can click here for more info about it. Here's another photo with a rainbow in the mist. You might recognize the name Snake River from an unsuccessful jumping of the canyon by Evel Knievel in 1974.
The main bridge across the river is the Perrine Bridge (photo), which is apparently the "only manmade structure in the US where BASE jumping is allowed year round without a permit". And wouldn't you know it, a couple of guys were just heading out there to do just that when we were getting ready to leave. In case you don't know what BASE jumping is, it's like skydiving, only you jump off something that is attached to the ground, like a building, cliff, or in this case, bridge. So, I got a few shots of the second guy jumping off the bridge. In case you are wondering, yes, he got his parachute open in time.
One other thing, there is a golf course that crosses over the snake river that is entirely contained in the canyon, just west of the bridge. So, this photo's for Adam (my brother-in-law).
In southern Idaho, we passed by a wildfire that had burned some of the brush up close to the road. By the time we went by, it was pretty well contained though, this was about all that was going on with it.
After we crossed the border from Utah into Wyoming, we stopped at a state park/rest stop that had some of the local wildlife. We saw bison, baby bison taking a nap, elk, and a seagull (don't ask me, the nearest large body of water is the great salt lake, and it was a good 50 miles away, over a small range of mountains).
Other things we saw that day...pretty flower in the Utah desert...lots of long stretches of road...and frequent window cleanings. We finally got into Cheyenne, WY about 9:30 or so local time.
Today we drove from Cheyenne to Lincoln, NE. As I mentioned, this afternoon started to look a lot more like home. So, starting in one state capital (Cheyenne is the capital of Wyoming), and driving to another (Lincoln is the capital of Nebraska). I plan on getting the photo of Nebraska's capitol building tomorrow morning before we leave if possible.
Near Kearny, NE, we stopped at the Great Platte River Road Archway. It's kinda a museum/tour of the history of cross country travel starting with the Oregon/Mormon/California trails, through stagecoaches, railroads, dirt roads, paved highways, and interstates. Here's a few of my photos from it: Photo 1, Photo 2, me in front of a bison sculpture, replica covered wagon (message seemed fitting), sign from the nearby Lincoln Highway marking the point equidistant between San Francisco and Boston, window looking out onto I-80, another photo of the building from the road.
Finally, somewhere outside of Lincoln, NE, we hit 40K miles on our car (it was a bit over 33K when we bought it). Don't freak out about the speed, out here that's called keeping up with traffic (and it's not much over the speed limit either).
Well, that's where we are as of today...Lincoln, NE. As I said, tomorrow night, we'll be home...and we are ready to be home....not necessarily ready to go back to work, but definitely ready to be home. We should be back in town around 8:30 or 9....we plan on making a side trip up to Dike, IA (near Cedar Falls/Waterloo) to see Sarah's grandmother.
G'nite.
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