Day 1 Saturday, May 9, 2009 Portland, OR - Spokane, WA 358 miles (6.5 hours)
The first day of our road trip involved a lot of driving but it was really enjoyable, with lovely weather, light traffic, and several interesting things to see.
Not long after lunch, we stopped at a place I'd been wanting to visit for some time. Like Charburger, it was right on the way: the Temani Pesh-Wa Trail in Columbia Hills State Park. It's located near the Dalles Dam on the Washington side of the Gorge, about an hour and a half east of Portland.
The trail was set up in 2004 to display a few dozen ancient petroglyphs saved from the rising waters of the dam over 50 years ago. They sat in a storage shed under bird droppings until their recent restoration and display. The trail was sponsored in part by local native tribes, who now conduct religious rituals here. The dates of the carvings are unknown; the only estimate I could find anywhere was 1000-1500 AD.
Other assorted snapshots from the rest of the journey:
Peacocks in the parking lot of Maryhill Museum, Washington
It was after 8pm when we finally arrived in Spokane. I had a particular hotel in mind, but to our surprise it was booked up. In fact, the nice parking attendant there told us, most hotel rooms in the city were booked up because it was graduation day and prom night! Oh dear. But he thought the DoubleTree had some rooms and showed us how to get there on a map. Thankfully, there were some rooms free and we really liked the hotel. Upon check-in we were given two warm chocolate chip cookies each! That seems like a genius idea for keeping customers happy.
After settling in, we took a walk along the river with our tripod and had a good time trying to photograph Spokane Falls in the dark. We saw kids in formalwear everywhere!
Wish you could hear the sound of the rushing falls?? You can! Just press the play button:
The footage isn't thrilling, I realize, but it was a good way to get to know the video function on my new camera.
Another video taken higher up the river.
By the time we got around to dinner, it was well after 10pm. We didn't find anything on the way back to the hotel, rejected both hotel restaurants on the grounds of being a little too fancy and time-consuming, and ended up ordering a club sandwich from room service. It was delicious and just perfect for a light late dinner.
