Let me begin these next few blogs with an apology. If I don’t paint your home state in the best of light, people should realize I am only seeing part of that particular state, but I am sure there are plenty of beautiful areas in every state so please do not become offended. It is just my limited knowledge and opinion, however I would enjoy hearing about places to visit in each state. Some days we barely make it through a state and other days we’re just barreling through several ones. Our ‘good’ days are those that come with the pleasure of being educated or wowed by nature or human creativity or perseverance. The ‘bad’ days are the ones that have no highlights form scenery to food to human interaction. Our trip through Idaho today fell distinctly into that latter category.
We head to higher ground again to Ogden UT. I was totally ready to get out of Ontario OR, but knowing that difficult breathing is ahead of us due to higher elevation is not something I am looking forward to.
The Dalles OR elevation 108’, Ontario OR 2149’ and Ogden, Utah 4300’. Having learned the hard way on this trip, that most of this country is extremely mountainous, and that I’m physically and mentally a ‘flatlander’, I have come to accept that the word “scenic route” is just a euphemism for “scary road”. Taking the scenic route for me, means clammy hands on the steering wheel, tense neck and shoulder muscles and a flood of urban dictionary expressions for my fellow drivers on the road.
With me doing all the driving (due to my control freaky self and Han’s knee bothering him) I have asked Han to add whatever he deems interesting, or important facts I may have missed to the blog. I told him to dumb it down some.
Nah, just kidding.
Leaving Ontario, OR I realize that the only positive memory I will carry with me is that the Potato Skins in the Irish Restaurant we were last night was probably the best we’d ever had. But if this bordertown served already as an indication of what was to come, the second you cross over into Idaho you will find yourself surrounded by filth and trash, wrecked car carcasses and debris littered everywhere. The giant unexpected potholes in the road surface are no doubt the reason why the roadsides are littered with thousands of hubcaps. If you are missing a hubcap, I am almost positive you will find it in Idaho. The entire state, at least as far as our journey through it went, reminds me of Gary Indiana.
It is also one long boring ride. It is SO boring that they have signs stating areas where you can pull over if you’re sleepy and being drowsy “kills”. If that does not wake you up, nothing will. A state with very little personality, which may explain why every dotted dwelling in the prairie distance features a Fifth Wheel or full blown RV. The dream to get away.
They have plenty of those “safety corridors”, which means in nice terms that they have more than their share of wrecks and deaths on the particular strip of road. I was thankful that there was limited traffic and our flyby trip through Idaho was uneventful.
If you heed nothing else from this blog, heed this > between Eden ID and Templeton ID on I-84 is barren of everything except ranches that have their own freeway exits<. You had best be fully gassed up and I suggest carrying food and water with you too. No joke this time.
Originally we had planned to stay in the city of Logan for the night, as I remembered that my youngest brother was named after it. However, this would have inevitably lead us back into the mountains and frankly I’m so tired of mountains, that we have scratched Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore from our planned travel itinerary. Maybe another time.
So instead we arrived in Ogden Utah for the night. After grabbing something to eat at a buffet restaurant with an enormous salad bar, my go-to option on the road since returning to being a pescatarian (seafood eating vegetarian), we bought Han a walking cane as his knee pain seems to be getting worse and we checked into our amazing historic hotel Ben Lomond. Old world charm in a suite on the 8th floor. The mountains immediately outside our window is truly magical. Hope to get better sleep tonight.
Today’s Route
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