We don't know how history will record this time, but we are in the middle of the "Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020". We're pretty sure it will be a damning study of the Federal Government's inept response. As of today, 101,000 Americans have died of the virus since January and more will be added. We'd been "locked down" since mid-March; couldn't go anywhere or do anything; all activities and travel canceled. Now, at the of May, most states opening up a bit so we decided on a three day road trip just to "get outa town".
We left home mid afternoon on Tuesday, May 26, and took the scenic route up to Baker City, via Emmett, Weiser and Huntington. We've got two nights booked at the Geiser Grand Hotel, a wonderfully restored hotel that was said to be, back in the day, the most elegant hotel between Salt Lake City and Seattle! Due to the virus they've had to scale back some services but its basically business as usual except that few people are travelling these days.
Our dinner tonight was at the Chinese restaurant down the street. Excellent! Our hotel room is a corner room on the third floor with great views! It features a four poster bed, which is about 4 feet off the floor making entry a real challenge!
Wednesday morning we ate breakfast from the cooler and headed out early toward Hell's Canyon. The weather is clear and sunny. We went through the little towns of Richland and Halfway. From Copperfield you drive about 40 miles along the Snake River, heading north, to the Hell's Canyon Dam. What a great ride! Lunch from the cooler at a place called the Big Bar. The Dam's visitor center was closed due to the virus, but we got good views nevertheless. The road ends at the dam so you turn around and head back to Copperfield.
County road 39 runs north from there, up to the Hell's Canyon Overlook, at an elevation of about 5200 feet. Spectacular views but more interestingly, the wide range of spring wildflowers in the meadow! From the overlook, we continue north along the ridge, heading toward the town of Joseph at times reaching elevations in excess of 6000 feet. Windy road, lost of twists and turns, no traffic and no views for the trees....its quite a slog!
We come down the mountain into Joseph and Wallowa Lake. An interesting little town and a spectacular lake with great mountains beyond. It strikes us a possible place to spend a week some summer!
From Joseph we head west through beautiful, lush green farm lands into the city of LaGrande, then onto the interstate and back to Baker City. We arrive just ten minutes before our dinner reservation. Perfect planning! Dinner in the hotel dining room was prime rib with the fixins. Excellent.
Thursday we have breakfast in the hotel then head west to Sumpter, the home of the historic Sumpter Gold Dredge. Amazing piece of engineering! Then continuing west on Rt 7 then turned south on Rt 26 and headed to Vale, OR and then home. The weather today was hot, reaching 90 at one point!
Total distance was 625 miles. Another "reason" for trip was to test out our new VW Tiguan. Because of the virus we hadn't been able to drive it much since we bought it. Well, it passed the road trip test with flying colors! Its comfortable and roomy. Maybe a bit lethargic going up mountains. Best thing was fuel economy! We went 510 miles on one tank of gas at an average of 35 mpg!!
