Eagles Hot Lake RV Park - La Grande, OR

I bet you didn't guess this was Oregon, did you? When I was driving through it I found it a little hard to believe I was still in the U.S., it was such an exotic sight. This morning Chris got an early start from Cambridge, ID and we followed in the late morning.

Today we took the road less traveled. The GPS suggested we take the interstate to our next destination, but for once I decided it was worth an extra 45 minutes of drive time because a) The other route was in the opposite direction of Chris' route, so we wouldn't have been much support, and b) I wanted to see Hell's Canyon. Since Auggie was up bright and early (about 2 hours before normal in fact), I knew he was up for a long nap.

Hell's Canyon didn't disappoint. It is basically a large reservoir at the bottom of a very deep canyon. The mountains surrounding it are tan and mostly barren, and the road going through it was winding but not at all unpleasant. I saw lots of motorcycles, and could see why this highway was popular with them. This is also where you crossover from Idaho to Oregon. Our final state of the 10 we've visited!

We came upon Chris shortly after lunchtime, and we were all glad for a little break together. August had been practicing his independence all morning, so even a 20-minute sojourn for me was much appreciated. Afterwards we wished Chris well for the second half of his ride and moved on.

Shortly before getting to Baker City, we stopped at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center to see and learn. August had a blast, and particularly enjoyed engaging with the fake animals all around. He spent a few minutes yelling at a buffalo. Funny stuff! I couldn't take a picture because he refused to let go of my hand while this was going on.

Near the interpretive center is a place you can easily access the wheel ruts that remain of the Oregon Trail. The original trail was around 2,200 miles long, and I was surprised to learn that 300 miles of that are still visible today. I had always assumed it was long gone. August really tried to absorb the historical significance of this. I could tell based on pushing an umbrella stroller through about 10 feet of the trail that the settlers had it rough. In all seriousness though, it was a great museum and experience I would recommend to anyone passing through the area.

For those of you tracking our route mile by mile every day on the map, you'll see La Grande is not on it, and yet here we are. A small issue with the A/C in the RV came up yesterday, and we really need to have everything in good working condition for the sale, so we took a detour to La Grande to have it looked at in the morning. Ah, the joys of RV ownership.

The bright side is that we were able to get Chris the Chinese food he has been craving. A local place called Golden Harvest was pretty good, and we had a nice dinner there. We each got different types of chicken, Chris got a potsticker appetizer. A polite young Chinese gentleman who worked there was asking us all kinds of questions about babies, and it was fun to see how curious he was and realize how much you learn by necessity when you are going through the parenting phase we are in. The man guessed August to be about 7 months old. I remember when counting ages in months was a totally foreign concept for me.

The little guy got a grilled cheese. I love that it was served with an American flag in it.

Another bright side to the detour, we found a great RV park for the night that has a pool and spa that are fed by a hot spring. We all went for a post-dinner dip before tucking in for the night. Wish us luck for a quick fix in the morning so we can get on our way!

Classic Auggie bedtime moment, going nuts with his crazy hair.