Yesterday was mainly a drive-all-day day. We left Salem at about 10:30a.m., stopped in Mill City (about 15 miles east of Salem) at Rosie's Coffee House for lattes, scones and muffins (all delish), noted the shocking effects of drought on the water level of Detroit Lake and the absence of snow on Mt. Washington, got gas in Sisters, picnic lunched at Ochoco Lake Park, east of Prineville, and otherwise just went along, Ellen driving all the way, me dozing some (can't help it), reading aloud from Wilder's
Pioneer Girl, David Hildebrand's
Dewey, or Arthur Ransome's Great Northern, listening to Teaching Company lectures on the rhetoric of Jefferson and Lincoln and the relation of language to American identity in Whitman and Melville, or just going along in silence taking in the incredible scenery. We followed the John Day River quite a while and learned that it is 268 miles long and is the third-longest unimpeded river in the lower 48. The Yellowstone is the longest such river. (Don't know what river is #2). We got to Boise at 10p.m., and because Boise is near the western edge of the mountain time zone, the last colors of a spectacular sunset were still glowing. Susan and Christian greeted us (Christian playing the mandolin), and we fell into bed.
The scone and muffin case
Detroit Lake - normally, this is all under water. You can see the stumps of trees that were flooded when the dam was built 60 years ago.
Mt. Washington - normally snow-covered in July. There was no snow last winter. Many Oregon ski areas closed.
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| This is what Mt. Washington looked like last year in July |
Picnic at Ochoco Lake (a bit of lake is visible through the trees).
Eastern Oregon scene along the John Day River Canyon
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