Portland to Park City

I've driven from Portland to Park City before. Long drive - it's under 12 hours if you push it. It takes you through the Columbia River Gorge, through eastern Oregon's Blue Mountains, past the Snake River, Boise Idaho, and then into some pretty remote areas in southeastern Idaho and northern Utah.

You've got to shove off early and stay focused to make this drive work. I left Portland, OR at 6:15 a.m. This day, dawn broke not too long after I departed. Passing Hood River and The Dalles, I left Mount Hood behind.

This morning's weather was fog which would burn off. As I passed east of The Dalles, bands of fog wrapped around the cliffs of the gorge. It was a Saturday, and some fishermen were out on the river. Freight trains sped along both river banks. Some filled with grain, others with containers bound for distant markets. Plying the river were tugboats pushing fully laden barges.

Highway 84 winds through the Columbia Gorge, and eventually tops out in the eastern dry scrub lands. In my rear view mirror, I saw the highway cut through a small hill with Mount Hood perfectly framed!

Not long afterward I spied a very long Union Pacific freight train on the opposite shore - speeding along probably at 65 mph. I found it captivating how this mile-plus long train was moving so fast. But all along this way, the fog shrouded the hill tops, with sun occasionally peeking through.

Then, magic happened. Above the fog, like something out of a science fiction movie, gigantic wind turbine generators floated, spinning above the clouds. With no bases visible. I'd never seen anything like it before. Hundreds of them. There was nowhere to stop to capture the image, but later on I found a bridge with an exit. I managed a video...but now the fog was below the summit of the rim of the gorge. Still, a beautiful image!





Later I passed through eastern Oregon's Blue Mountains and into Idaho. From then on, the speed limit is 75 mph, which means traffic moves at 85 mph - and in some regions - significantly faster. I removed my VW Jetta Wagon's roof rack/gear box specifically to improve my mileage for these conditions!

In Portland, Oregon, a liberal enclave in an otherwise red state, a Toyota Prius is a status symbol for some. They're as ubiquitous as the VW Bug once was, well almost. In pickup truck-driving Idaho, though, they're a target for scorn. This is the only Prius I saw in Idaho!