15/5 - You're Living in your own Private ... Oregon?

Our 2nd of three days on the drive to the Brown's, this day took us from Utah, clean across Idaho, and into Oregon.

At the hotel in the morning I asked around about where to buy a "Polygamy Porter" t-shirt (had seen one in Zion but foolishly not picked it up). I think I may have offended a few locals talking about polygamy -its still a touchy and active (as in still known to be "practiced") topic in Utah. To my disappointment no-one knew what I was talking about.

Then off we set for our longest day of driving yet. We saw little of Idaho except what was visible from the car, gas stations (with a pump attendant that looked like the classic California surfer - most gas stations are self-serve these days; though as opposed to oz you need to pay before you put the fuel in), and rest stops. I can't say I was impressed with what I saw (lots of rolling hills),and thecapital (?) Boise had an unpleasant smell (factories?) and was also where a truck threw up a stone that chipped/cracked our windscreen (called a windshield here in the US).

Entering Oregon we gained an hour (returning to Pacific time from Mountain time) and encountered a more interesting landscape (soon we saw our first forests and mountains). We stopped on the outskirts of at a place called Pendelton in what I like to think of as a "hotel enclave" - in the middle of no-where except for about 6 hotels, a couple of gas stations, and a few food places.

In the pool the kids' extroverted(?) natures led them to make friends with a 50+-year old woman named Vicki travelling by herself. After an hour's discussion I'm sure she knew us better than most.

For dinner it was a franchise known as Sari's (spelling might be wrong). There we tried that American institution "pie"-purchasing a whole "Chocolate Cream Pie" and consuming half of it in the hotel room. One word - rich!