Cross-Country Vacation 2023

  If you like flowers you will like today's photos. (Click on any photo to enlarge) Today's plan is to drive 329 miles in 6 hours and 15 minutes We started our day at the Yellow Brick Cafe  in Twin Falls, ID. Then, headed to Perrine Coulee Falls. It was one that we missed yesterday. You can also see the Perrine Bridge which we crossed. Now, on our way to Boise and the Idaho Botanical Garden , 2 hours and 15 minutes away. This was another special place that deserves a separate page. Lots of flower photos!   https://travelingvtjs.blogspot.com/p/idaho-botanical-gardens.html After the gardens we ate lunch at the Wylder . I had a local beer and a kale salad.   Then we drove 3 1/2 hours to  Best Western Rory & Ryan Inns in  Hines, Oregon. Eastern Oregon Today's route:

Today's plan is to drive 271 miles in 7 hours to our final destination for a couple weeks. We plan to visit a geological site and a couple covered bridges along the way. (Click on any photo to enlarge) We started with a standard hotel breakfast, I chose the waffles, though there wasn't any Vermont Maple Syrup. We followed Route 20 for 2 hours through dry land with nothing but Sage Brush. We stopped at a Geological Historic Site. Then continued to Bend, Oregon for lunch at Deschute Brewery & Public House . After we let Google Maps lead us on a logging road into the middle of nowhere searching for a covered bridge. When the road was bad enough that I wouldn't take my truck on it we turned back. Continuing on familiar roads from a previous visit, we went through some mountains with big snowbanks. Anxious to get to where we were going, we skipped the covered bridges. Our final destination for the next couple weeks was Brownsville, Ore...

The tent is pitched. We are with family and we are happy to be here. (Click on any photo to enlarge)   Day 1 - Woke up in the tent this drizzly morning, temperature 46F degrees. Slept pretty good last night. Could hear the neighbors wind chimes on and off during the night. Made a couple batches of coffee in our French press.  It was nice to be with family and not have to go anywhere. We did go to Schmizza Public House for Dinner. Day 2 - We found a place to eat breakfast at Kevin's Cafe .   After we headed to Waterloo County Park . We found a nice 1.2 mile walking path on Alltrails , full of wildflowers and birds. We spent nearly 2 hours here.  This was a special place that we will create another page for. Lots of wildflower and bird photos! https://travelingvtjs.blogspot.com/p/waterloo-county-park.html . Day 3 - 49 degrees and raining this morning. We found Randy's Main Street Coffee in Brownsville, the food was delicious....

  Week 2, Day 1 - 41 Degrees this morning. It's a bit chilly to be camping in Oregon in May. (Click on any photo to enlarge) We started the day at a restaurant in Albany, Oregon named Roger's Restaurant . It was a busy place, but the people were all friendly. I recognized our waitress that had waited on us from a restaurant in Sweet Home 5 years ago; she said she remembered us too. We searched out Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge in Jefferson, Oregon using AllTrails . This was a beautiful place with boardwalks and hiking trails. Taking a 1.4 mile walk we were able to identify several birds species using Merlin and some wildflowers using PictureThis . Though not as many photos as other places, this was another special place that deserves its own page. https://travelingvtjs.blogspot.com/p/ankeny-national-wildlife-refuge.html Day 2 - There's no written record of what we did today, it looks like we had a very busy day. Looking at the DayOne journal and Google Ma...