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| Driving the Oregon Trail or 'Will Ya Look at those Historic Wheel Ruts!' | |
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08/12/07 - Boise, ID Taking a break from the scenery, as we travel the path of the pioneers from Portland to Boise, ID |
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Purely by coincidence, our route out of Oregon and into southern
Idaho had us traveling a large section of the historic Oregon
Trail today, as it pretty much follows U.S. 84. The
gorgeous, lush greenery and rushing waterfalls of the Columbia
River Gorge turned into miles and miles of golden-brown fields as
the highway (and Trail) veered away from the river towards the
southeast. But that was okay with us, since we'd been on
scenery overload for a while now, especially since hitting
the Oregon Coast.
Being mildly curious about the advertised 'historic wagon wheel ruts' still visible from the mid- to late 1800s, when hundreds of thousands of pioneers came this way looking for a better life, we stopped off at one of the numerous-yet-not-easy-to-find-or-plainly-marked interpretive sites. It was pretty deserted; apparently, all the other tourists were still at the beaches on the coast during these rare warm sunny days we'd been having. It was a pleasant little shaded trail, complete with those advertised wheel ruts and a display out in the open right on the trail with a covered wagon and some large bones, presumably (illustrative of) those of an oxen that had perished along the way during the long trip west. Caroline was impressed that they had not been stolen by previous visitors/collectors. Then she wondered if a park ranger goes out to the trail every morning with a big bag of bones and refreshes the display...hmmmm. The surprise of the day was our visit to the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, administered by the National Parks Service (free admittance with our annual pass - cha-ching!). Although our guide book touted it as the must-see stop along the trail, we were unprepared for the high-quality museum we encountered. Throughout the museum, the story of the pioneers who traveled the Oregon Trail was told with a life-size, diorama-type exhibit including real (taxidermied) animals, such as oxen, horses, coyotes and a beaver (historically dressed mannequins were used for the people - darn!). The text was interesting and the entire display was quite thought-provoking, making it easy to imagine the travails the pioneers must have faced along their journey. We definitely recommend a visit the next time you find yourself passing through Baker City, Oregon! After a couple more hours of driving, we found ourselves in the pleasantly lush, green (lots of sprinkler-action!) and neatly-kept, small city of Boise, ID, our stop for the night. We scored yet another great Priceline deal at the local Doubletree Hotel ($53! - at least Boise has affordable hotels, the first we've had in a while) and after some candle-lit patio dining (with some of the slowest service ever) at the Bittercreek Ale House downtown, we hit the clean, soft, white sheets in preparation for another day on the road.
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