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| Here we go again, on a shorter trip
this year (1205 miles). Thanks, gas prices! It's the journey that matters,
not the destination, and we rate this trip as Outstanding. |
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| That's the tip of Mount Rainier peeping
over the hill. We're on The Other Side of the Cascades, where it's hot,
hot, hot. The farmland here is really gorgeous. |
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| The terrain is very different from
the Western slopes. The hills and mountains look parched and arid, and
beautiful sage grows all over the place. |
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| By lunchtime it was really hot, so
we stopped at Cottonwood Campground to eat our sandwiches and have a bit
of a rest. This was our lunch view. |
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| Taking the advice of a friend to
use lots of sunblock, I feel as if I have finally joined the Old Fogeys'
Club, thanks to my straw hat. I must admit it is a lot cooler (temperature-wise,
not 'cool, dude!' wise) than my baseball cap. |
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| Tim's all sunblocked too, and trades
his usual baseball cap for one with a little more coverage. |
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| Arriving at our motel in Condon
(pop. - less than 800) we found a note on the door to say the owners were
out and would be back later. We headed for one of the three main areas
of the John Day Fossil Beds, the Clarno
Unit. |
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| I was quite surprised to find later
on that I had taken a picture of a little dragonfly. I'd been photographing
one of the plants. |
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| 'The cliffs of the Palisades are
the most prominent landform in the Clarno Unit. The Palisades were formed
44 million years ago by a series of volcanic mudflows called lahars'. |
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| Tim and I hiked along the trail,
looking at the exhibits and trying to find some fossils in the rock. We
couldn't see any, but we weren't quite sure what we were looking for. |
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| Early the next day, after a good
breakfast in Condon's Country Cafe, where we were waited on by a cute
Prom Princess, we followed the lovely John Day river, heading for the
Sheep
Rock Unit area. |
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