After a quick stop at Northtown in Spokane to buy a cell phone (for emergencies of which we hope there aren't any), we went to the Elk Public House in the Browns Addition area of Spokane. There are some lovely old homes in this area, but what brought us to the Elk was Guy Fieri of Food Network fame. He lauded this place on his show "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives." Of course, Jerry had the Reuben that Guy showcased. Excellent food, and the place was packed mid-afternoon, including the outdoor patio where people were enjoying the 26 C temperatures (yes it was that warm)!
Our detour away from 395 was to visit Palouse Falls State Park. I had read about it on a photo blog and decided I wanted to see it. It is an impressive 200 ft high. In hind site, spending the extra time to find it probably wasn't a great idea, but it is quite amazing. We did have some adventures trying to find it, but in the end, the Google maps directions were right, and I was reading them wrong. As we left the park, it began to rain...and then it was a downpour...and then it was a deluge.We passed through more small towns, including Starbuck, WA (which couldn't even claim to have a Starbuck's), Dayton (with the loveliest courthouse I have ever seen), and Waitsburg where we visited the Laht Neppur Ale House. We were there 5 years ago when they first opened. It isn't much different except now they serve pizza. We got to Walla Walla, stopped a couple of places to find a room and discovered every room in town was booked solid for a balloon festival. So we continued to Pendleton, OR, in the dark and rain.
Today we followed the red line from Pendleton to Lakeview, OR. I had hoped we would get into California to shorten the day tomorrow, but after more rain, hail, heavy winds, and even swirling snow, it was time to stop. In John Day (yes, for those of you who don't know, that is the name of a town, a river, a dam, and I don't know what else), most of the town was involved in sandbagging the river which was flooding parts of the town. The discussion in line at the grocery store centered around whether or not the high school would be in session tomorrow. When we drove past the school, we could see why...the entire front lawn? or parking lot? was under water. All the creeks and rivers we have seen are high, fast, and muddy.We are enjoying seeing the varying terrain...everything from high desert to pine forest, valley to mountain, and the Abert Escarpment which an interpretive sign described as the highest basalt escarpment in the US and is next to Abert Lake (do Oregonians lack creativity in feature naming?).
Tomorrow we will continue to follow the red lines for a long day between here and El Portal...Yosemite!
A note about the photos: these are straight out of the camera. I brought my baby netbook and not sure yet if I want to do any editing before I get home.
