We began our day driving past Great Salt Lake and seeing the white deposits of salt left behind as water levels receded after the spring run-off. Apparently, Jim Bridger (see my 'Day Ten' post) was one of the first Europeans to see the lake and thought it was an arm of the Pacific Ocean.
At our first rest stop on the I-84 North, we realized we followed the same route the pioneers took as they traveled through Oregon Territory on their way to the west coast. This land would eventually become the states of Washington, Idaho, and Oregon. We soon crossed into Idaho and saw the potato farms for which the state is famous. Most were irrigated and the surrounding land was still sagebrush country.
After our picnic lunch of Roosters' leftovers, we began seeing signs for Ontario, Oregon. We didn't see the Zinnia flowers that are their claim to fame but the land was fertile and well farmed. The area was first explored by Peter Skene Ogden, a Hudson's Bay Company trader born in Quebec and the person for whom Ogden, Utah (where we had spent the previous night) was named. He also explored the Snake River which the highway followed as it meandered through the three states.
Glen had hoped to stay in Yakima, Washington because Geoff had bought a Yakima to store his camping gear and when we travelled with him, we knew his SUV by its Yakima. We took to calling him 'Yakima Boy'. However, it was late afternoon when we reached Pendleton, Oregon and decided to call it a day there instead.
The main road through the town was chewed up in preparation for paving so it was a bumpy ride trying to find a hotel. I finally spotted an America's Best Value Inn with a AAA recommendation so we pulled in there. Originally built in 1968, it was an old style motel and even smelled like the motel rooms of my youth. It had Internet service but that didn't work so for one brief moment we were out of contact with the outside world. The room rate was $73 which included a hot breakfast so was indeed the best value we had encountered on our trip.
The friendly desk clerk gave us a list of local restaurants and we chose a bar call Crabbys Underground Saloon. Little did we know this was a cowboy town and during their Round-Up, many cowboys from Alberta compete for local prize money. We met the cook at the door and he recommended his French Dip. After quaffing a couple of glasses of a local beer called Mirror Pond Pale Ale, we indulged in his excellent French Dip sandwich. I had it with a salad that was a meal in itself with lots of veggies and cheese. Later, the cook came over to see how we liked it (the place was not busy but apparently it's standing room only during September's Round-Up). He told us he made it with prime rib shaved thin that was leftover from their prime rib special nights.
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