Pendleton, Oregon

We left Bellvue in the rain and headed up through the Cascade Mountains via the Snoqualmie Pass.  The Highways Department radio advisory was for mostly bare and wet roads with light snow.  We did see a few very fine flakes but the roads were bare and mostly dry.

Once through the mountains we entered the Columbia Plateau traveling along the Lewis and Clark trail.  This is the route that the pioneers travelled in preference to the more southern route.  They chose this route because it was shorter but it was not without its drawbacks.  This route had fresh water problems and water was often a full days travel apart.

We passed through Yacima with its sagebrush grasslands and then into the real grasslands where we could drive for kilometers without seeing a single tree.

Our stop for tonight was at the Wildhorse Casino which has a hotel and an RV park.  Storms had been passing through pretty much all day but just after we set up the RV a bit of sun highlighted the fields which were our view from our windows.

 Just at sunset another patch of open sky appeared giving us a nice set of clouds for a bit of colour.

Laura wanted to go see the casino but as we walked through the doors we were immediatly assailed by cigarette smoke and so an immediate U-turn and we were back outside.  Ah well, time for dinner anyways so back to the trailer for a beer, well, dinner too...