April 28th - 30th, 2024 Travel to Washington (State, not DC)

April 28th, 2024

We said our "see you laters" plus lots of hugs to Sue and headed north.  We hope to see her in a few months.

It was another beautiful day.

Over the Snake River:

Into Oregon:

We traveled this route in September 2022.  The views were still breathtaking (do I say that too much?):

We are on the interstate here - lots of hills and valleys:

And rivers too:

I am playing with my camera settings which is why you see the different overall color.

Homes in the middle of nowhere:

Abandoned homes - what is their story?:

Lone tree???:

The mountains - dramatic:

Another OMNI - can you tell I was excited to see this?:

The view - can you imagine living here:

Oh my!:

Oh-Oh... no we were ok (I checked before we traveled this way):

This is part of the Oregon Trail and yes, they did come over these mountains.  This area is on my bucket list - there are still ruts in the road from those early travelers:

They mean business!  It is a LONG downhill.  The trucks need to take lots of precautions.   I cannot imagine how our early pioneers crossed this way.

Check this out - God bless our truckers:

Here we go - Down!:

We are down!:

Kudos to my Andy - I held my breath!:

Farms on the valley floor:

OMGOSH!  What a treat!  Another OMNI!:

Large Granary - no longer used:

 

Over the Columbia River:

Past the McNary Dam:

Into Washington State:

We are camped at the Plymouth Park Campground right below this bridge.  It is an ACOE campground and we stayed here in September 2022.  

We were hoping to have a campfire but between the wind and the rain, we just set up and settled in. 

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 228 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Idaho: US-95

Oregon: US-95; I-84; I-82

Washington: I-82; WA-14; Plymouth Road

April 29th, 2024

Today was a hang out day and that is just what we did.  The weather was rainy, windy, chilly so it was a good day to do just that.  We did do a few things around the motorhome so it wasn't a total loss - LOL!

April 30th, 2024

We had a number of errands to do today so that is what we did - Recycle, UPS Store, Visitor Center and Groceries.  We also checked out where we are heading tomorrow.

When I made the reservations for this park, I never realized that we were here before.  Going back thru my pictures, I did not find any so I just had to take a few today.

I try to take pictures of every park but in the past few years I have slacked.  Need to get on the band wagon again!

We did come here to just hang out.  In 2022, we did do some exploring in this area and it is covered here:

https://thehitzels.blogspot.com/2022/10/september-26-27-2022-plymouth-mcnary.html

This is a great park to just hang out OR use it as a base.  Within 50 miles - N, S, E, W - there is a lot to see and do.  Mostly, we have used it as a place to hang out but who knows in the future.

We have a site that has water and electric.  The dump station and the sewer on some of the FHU is out of commission.  We talked to the ranger this morning and he said they are not sure where it is blocked.  They have had a 200 foot line thru but did not help.  (Hopefully someone did not dump something they should not have dumped.  SAD but we have seen this in some places.  WTH!)

So tomorrow we have a short trip north and a cool tour scheduled for Thursday.

Stay tuned and enjoy today.

April 27th, 2024 - Owyhee Glory Hole

We woke to a beautiful sunny day and so it was road trip time.  We were told that the "Glory Hole" was open at the Owyhee Dam (for only the 5th time in 30 years) so off we went to see it.

The drive took us through the Owyhee Canyon - Breathtaking Views!

There was a hot spring in this area:

Beautiful bird:

Flowers everywhere:

Isn't this just INCREDIBLE!:

Buffalo!:

The river was running high and fast:

The water has totally surrounded this tree:

How about this Ranch?!:

You can rent this on Airbnb - wouldn't that be fun!:

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/41745136?adults=3&children=0&infants=0&location=Parma%2C%20Idaho%2C%20United%20States&search_mode=regular_search&check_in=2024-05-01&check_out=2024-05-06&source_impression_id=p3_1714259171_1NsklCIGBdBA9qx%2F&previous_page_section_name=1001

The road really narrowed until we got to the top of the Owyhee Dam and parked.

The Glory Hole:

WOW!

The ring gate spillway, "glory hole",  is the first of its kind ever built, The glory hole acts like a sink as water drains straight down for 309 to 321 feet. Managers can raise or lower it using differential valves, but when the water gets to the bottom it takes a 90-degree turn and bursts out at the bottom of the dam. The diameter of the hole is 60 feet.  It only operates when Lake Owyhee is above 80 percent.

The Dam:

The Owyhee Dam was the largest dam in the world when construction finished in 1932.  It was used as a prototype to build the much larger Hoover Dam in 1936.   The dam is 417' high, 833' long, 30 wide at the crest and 265' wide at the base.  The reservoir behind the dam is 53 miles long. (Now that is a lot of water.)

It is used for irrigation and power.  More information can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owyhee_Dam

The Owyhee Reservoir:

It was AMAZING.  So glad that we were able to see this event and discover the Owyhee Canyon.

From there, we went to check out Martin's Landing.  We were told that the pelicans may be there.

We only saw one pelican flyover so we checked out the campground - Nice.  That little area is beautiful. It sits on the Snake River.

The boat landing:

Sue's dog, Annie:

We sat there for a while and enjoyed the view.  Next time thru, we are going to meet and camp here.

We headed back and found these cuties:

We finished our day with a great happy hour and great supper (steak on the grill - Yum).

What a wonderful day and so so glad that we were able to spend some time with Sue.

Tomorrow we continue our journey north so stay tuned and enjoy today.