Let's see...where were we?

After Shoshone Falls, we turned back to the west and went to explore the dairy country around Jerome, ID. It took a little bit of wandering for us to find the dairies, but when we did, it became apparent why this is considered dairy country!

LOTS of cows...

Great big milk tanks...

And a half a mile of locking stanchions at this place! It's a bad picture, I know, but we could not believe how long this line of stanchions was...Most of the farms just have roofs for the cows to go under, not walled barns. I am curious how they do when the weather gets cold here. They may not have the rain, but it does get cold...Wonder how much production is affected by winter weather.

 

I won't know the answer to this because we never talked to anyone...just enjoyed looking from the road. Dairying is so different than what we grew up with -- but regardless, seeing this made me miss cows. It did not affect Randy that way at all, but he felt reaffirmed in his choice of being a dirt farmer so it's all good...Except I still want a cow...or two...

 

Another poor picture, but where you see the conveyor and the trucks -- well that pile is not dirt or gravel, it is a mondo pile of sugar beets. In the Twin Falls area, there are fields and fields of sugar beets. We met many trucks hauling the beets, which are big ole white lumpy things, to be piled and then, I suppose, processed. Wish we could have learned more about that industry too.

 

But we were starting to get tired of driving every day, and the we were about to head into rainy weather, and so Randy decided that he was ready to put the pedal to the metal and get home the next day.

 

I want it to be noted that HE made the first mention of going home. I am almost always ready to go home, if I ever get away from home in the first place. But it was not I who decided this -- and frankly when I realized that meant 9 hours of driving the next day, I almost lobbied for an extra one...but then I thought of my bed, and my dog, and the 3 bathrooms available to me at any time of the night or day, and I supported the plan.

 

So we enjoyed the scenery through the rest of Idaho, and then hit rain on our way to Baker City where we stayed for the night. The next day we headed out first thing for our long day...

 

We motored through Eastern Oregon: La Grande, Pendleton, Hermiston...

 

and then crossed the Mighty Columbia into Umatilla.

 

 

I love the Mighty Columbia...

 

Then we headed up 17 through Eltopia -- love that name!-- and I think that is where we saw this:

 

At Ephrata, we caught 28, which brought us through Quincy and Wenatchee, and then it was on to 2 and Stevens Pass...where we ran into this!

...which I considered THRILLING!!! until we began to slip around a little bit. But still, harbinger of winter! Reminder of Christmas! It was exciting -- and not bad driving, just had to take it slow.

 

Then we were back to familiar territory, and it was just a matter of putting in the time to get to where we most wanted to be:

HOME! 

 

It gladdens my heart, every time!

 

As usual, a vacation is a wonderful change of pace, and fun, learning of new places, and then again, it makes you so happy at home again...

 

{contented sigh}

 

And that's where I am now, enjoying my favorite season of the year...