54 F

A long drive for me
but I've left the snow country
behind - thank goodness!

~carliewired

I left Baker City, Oregon just after breakfast. It was clear, sunny and just below freezing. I stopped just a few miles west of the city to take a look across the valley to the snow-capped mountain ridge to the south. 

My biggest worry was getting off the top of the escarpment before Pendleton, Oregon. There is a couple of summits on the I-84 (Blue Mountain Summit, (ele.4.193 Ft.) and Deadman's Pass, (ele.3.615 ft.) One cannot be too careful here. I got through easily today (before the expected snow storm tonight) with a bare and dry road and light traffic. 
I stopped at the bottom to look back at the hillside and took a shot of the traffic coming off it. 

I have taken so many secondary and tertiary routes today, I cannot keep them all straight. WIthout my GPS, I'm sure I would not have been able to find my way into Wenatchee, Washington today. 

I stopped for a shot on a little used highway. I felt like I was in the middle of nowhere.

I was held up briefly near the Vernita rest stop on SR 24. There was work being done on the bridge beside it. Just a couple of miles past the rest stop I spotted a herd of elk in an open meadow. I was able to get a couple of shots. 

My next stop was above the Vantage Bridge over the Columbia RIver. I could look down to the bridge and up to the Wild Horse Monument on the highest point on the hill above. The monument was a gift of the artist David Govedare to the state in honour of its 100th birthday in 1986. The hale and hearty will scramble up the steep slope to touch the metal horses. Not I!!

I got into my room to discover that the wifi was not functioning, so after an early dinner I was sitting in the lobby to get my laptop to work. The front desk is willing to sort this lack of wifi for me. We'll see!

I'm in the last stretch tomorrow. I will be crossing the border and running for home.