Victoria to Boise

Left Victoria, B.C. on Wednesday, Aug. 14, on the ferry back to Washington.  The woman we had met on the ferry coming over had given us a tip about a different ferry line that put us back in Port Angeles, rather than Anacortes, which made it possible for us to miss the Seattle traffic on our way to Oregon, which was nice.  Really did love Vancouver Island, especially Victoria, but would like to come back there for some more time.  The ferry ride was fun, we sat across from a Victoria native who was very interesting and we enjoyed meeting him.

Once off the ferry, we pretty much spent the rest of the day driving through Washington, and just crossed into Oregon late in the day.  When it was getting close to supper time we started looking for a place to park for the night and, after finding several campgrounds full, we happily found a place that had one spot left.  Once again, our luck was running well, as this has happened so often on this trip, that we’ve been able to snag the last spot available.  It was in a lovely state park, and, with the geezer discount, only cost us $5.00--such a deal!!

The next day was a lovely drive through the Oregon countryside--so much agriculture, just acres and acres of lush fields of vegetables and fruit orchards.  When we were along the Columbia River Gorge, we stopped at a wonderful farm called Pearl’s and got the most delicious peaches, pears of several varieties, nectarines, peaches, blueberries and cherries--some of the sweetest fruit we’ve had on our trip, just magnificent!!  Later we stopped at another place that had upick fruit and flowers, and wow, were the flowers just absolutely gorgeous!!  It was so much fun seeing all these lovely blooms. 

The drive along the Columbia River is really a beautiful drive, and we followed the river for quite a ways.  We spent that night in La Grande, Idaho, where there is a hot springs that provides geothermal heat for all the buildings in this hotel and the campground buildings as well.  There was an osprey nest on a tall pole, right near our campsite and we had fun watching the mama bird standing guard over her nest, and then catching glimpses of her two young ones, who were fairly good size.  They appeared to be close to being able to fly, as they would come up out of the nest, stand on the edge and spread their wings--really a cool sight.  Then Friday we made it to Boise!

Bye bye, Victoria--some last looks, here Parliament

The flowers

Parliament

Victoria Clipper, boarding passengers for Seattle

The Empress

 

 The Blue Bridge

 Some really big yachts!

 The seaplane windsock on the little island

The pop sculpture along the walking path

 The float houses

 The RV park

 The seaplane

Some shots of the lovely flowers in Port Angeles, as we got off the ferry

Across the highway side view, Columbia River on the other side

 The Columbia River

Fruit at Pearl's Farm

Some shots of the beautiful orchards from a vantage point along the Columbia River Gorge

 Mt. St. Helens

Gorgeous house at the upick farm

 Some of the flowers outside the tasting room for their wines

 Upick flowers!

Look at these sunflowers!

 Strawberries!!

 Kite surfing park along the Columbia River Gorge where we stopped for lunch--not much wind, so we missed the kites

 A jump the kite surfers use

 Beautiful scenes along the Gorge drive

 Windmill farm--saw a lot of these

 A unique, sustainable forest project in Oregon, these trees are a hybrid of alders and other types, and they process it right in the middle of the forest, to minimize travel costs/pollution, etc

Lush fields in Oregon

 Sunset at our campground in La Grande, Oregon

Mama osprey, protecting her nest

 You can begin to see one of the baby's head here, better in the second shot

Lovely lush fields as we're leaving Oregon