LaGrande, Oregon

 Good morning, my friends. Well, here we are! Let the fun begin!

We got off in good time yesterday morning. We loaded the kitties into the RV with no bloodshed, and then we hitched up and we were off. But before we get too far down the road, let's just catch up on a couple of things from before we left.

As you know, I was without anything new to stitch. It seemed like a good time to start on the "book spines." I finished two of them, and then in another session, three more were finished.

There are still four more to do before I'll start work on the first "Kittens" block.

Also, I tried one more recipe using corn from our garden. This is a Corn Souffle. It was my first time ever making a souffle of any kind. It didn't rise up as much as I thought it would, but it was very tasty. The recipe suggests making this in individual ramekins, but there was also a note saying I could do it in a 4-cup dish. That's what I did. It took almost twice as long to bake this way. 

It's a recipe from the Washington Post. I'm no longer a subscriber, and so I'm going to give you the recipe right here if you'd like to give it a try. It was super simple to put it together, and then it was just a matter of time waiting for it to bake.

Our packing finished, we had just one sleep before we took off in the morning. The squirrels let me know they'd finish off the plums we left behind. Thank you.

And then...we were off. And, my friends, we've made this drive so many times, and I've written about it so many times, that I decided to just link to a previous trip. Nothing much has changed from one year to the next. And we make this drive just about once every year. One change was this burned out section on the Washington side of the Columbia River. This is what was left behind from the White Salmon Fire earlier this summer. You can barely see some of the orange-ish areas in amongst the green.

If you want to read more about the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area, you can click here on this post from an earlier trip.

Once you're through the Gorge, there isn't much more than miles and miles of amber waves of grain.

We're at the southern end of The Palouse here, and so there aren't even many barns to speak of. When we were very near our destination, I captured this one abandoned structure. There's a railroad track there. Something about this structure makes me wonder if it was a railroad station at one time.

The kitties are such good travelers. They were cool as cucumbers when we arrived. The just needed some windows and doors opened, their catio installed, and their "greet and treats" dispensed. Smitty was completely offended when the first life forms he saw consisted of a man and his stupid woofie. And the woofie was doing his doody right there in the grass!!! Smitty might like to eat some grass here, but now that he knows woofies engage in this revolting behavior, his appetite has been ruined. RUINED, I tell you!!! A cat would never do something like this. Hmph.

Well. We removed ourselves from this disgusting scene and went to the other side of the RV where Mike was busy installing the catio. Fortunately, I brought him some wheatgrass, so he can have his grass and eat it too.

When they were settled, Smitty sat in the catio snoopervising our next-door neighbors.

Sadie snuggled down in her quilt, and everything was Jake.

It was a long drive yesterday, and so we took a walk around this lovely park, just to stretch our legs. We're at Grande Hot Springs resort. This is a place with a history. You can read more details about it at this old post. This is a hot springs area, and so the water you see here is hot. Neverthless, lily pads thrive.

Their hot tubs are hot spring fed.

And I'm afraid this is a sign of the times. We actually purchased a new Blackstone Grill for this trip. It runs on propane. Most campgrounds no longer allow fires of any kind, including charcoal barbecues. We have a small Traeger grill, but we aren't able to use it because it burns pellets. Anything that can spark of send out embers is no longer allowed in most campgrounds during wildfire season.

There isn't much blooming at this time of year, but we saw some wild asters.

And these little yellow jobs growing close to the ground.

Our shadow selves were just happy to be on the road and on our way.

Smitty joined us for cocktail hour. Margaritas are our traditional cocktail for the first day of a trip. We toasted Jimmy Buffet. 

There was one last recipe I'd started while still at home for last night's dinner. This is Tortellini with Snap Peas and Pesto. It was super simple and very tasty.

There was some basil left over from when I canned pasta sauce, and I wanted to use it. It also had an equal amount of mint from our culinary herb garden. I made the pesto before we left home, and then I just boiled the tortellini and sugar snap peas together and voila! Dinner was served with a minimum of effort. We had some halved cherry tomatoes with Ranch dressing as a side salad. Mmm, mmm, mmm. It was a nice way to finish off the day.

So, today's drive will be long at 329 miles. We're heading to Heyburn, Idaho, on our way to Vernal, Utah. Tomorrow's drive will be slightly longer, but then we'll stick for three days while we visit Dinosaur National Monument. Just a few more days of driving, and then we'll do some sightseeing. You might want to get your hiking boots ready to go. 

And now...breakfast. Frozen breakfast burritos are on this morning's menu...not frozen, of course. But quick. And then we'll be on our way.