Now it was time to head north again, so we opted this time for the road less travelled - highway 99 towards Oregon which, after a short stint combined with I-5, would take us to highway 97. What an excellent choice this proved to be as we drove along admiring the scenery and wildlife instead of gluing our eyes to the car in front of us. What I found amazing was the change in landscape - from orchards to golden fields of grain to rolling hills to mountains to high desert to green mountains. How wonderful it was, to glance at a golden wheatfield and spy the long white neck of a snowy egret among the stalks, or to spy the black-and-white flash of a magpie darting across the road. We drove from Oakdale to Bend, Oregon on Wednesday.

Thursday morning found us on our way just after sunrise, marvelling at the pink-tinged splendor of Mount Jefferson and the Three Sisters mountains. We just HAD to keep stopping to goggle at the mountains - the magnificent Mount Hood, the awesome Mount Adams with Mount Rainier peeking coyly just over the top. The golden fields and blue sky made quite a striking foreground.

And then we arrived at the Columbia River Gorge, a spectacular river canyon cutting through the volcanic rock of the Cascade Mountain Range. As the only sea-level river flowing through the Cascades, the Columbia is both a natural wonder and an important transportation corridor. It truly was beautiful and we enjoyed lunch at one of the lovely picnic spots along the edge of the Gorge.

From here, we headed east to Vancouver, Washington and north to Seattle.