We’ve been studying our trusty maps -- those wonderful paper fold-up types that allow the voices in our heads -- and not a mechanical one -- to determine our routes. We don't leave home without them.Yes, before you tell us. . . we realize a GPS could do the thinking for us and get us there by the quickest and most direct route (and we know many of you love them). But on our road trips the journey is as important as the destination. So determining the route is half the fun of the trip for us.
We’ll head east and spend a night or two in the state’s second largest city, Spokane, the metropolitan hub of an area long known as ‘The Inland Empire’. We’ll head south on a portion of the old Inland Empire Highway as it meanders through agricultural land and the small towns like Spangle and Rosalia scattered among the fields.
Our Oregon destination is the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.
We will stay at one of our favorite Northwest places: Wallowa Lake Lodge. We celebrated our anniversary there three years ago. We’ll do the same this year.
Our return trip may include a stop in Pendleton, Oregon, where we will go underground on a history tour or to its famed woolen factory. . .or maybe to Walla Walla for a night in the heart of Central Washington’s wine country.
We’ve got little structure to this trip – we are leaving ourselves open to some new discoveries along the way. I’m sure those old paper maps have some in store for us.
Sounds like lots of fun... All the best for a great trip!
ReplyDeleteThanks Andrew. It was a great trip. Hope you'll continue reading about it as the posts are added.
ReplyDeleteI love maps! We weren't even out of town before we stopped to buy an Idaho map (none to be found in the van). We passed it between the front and back seats a number of times. Our journey went from Boise to Stanley to Salmon, Shoup and Girl Scout camp, back to Challis, on to Arco. We stayed in Hailey and drove the final 140 miles this morning.
ReplyDeleteNow that sounds like our kind of road trip!
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