Wandering To The Middle Of Nowhere And Back

Woke up to rain this morning so we decided to stay in bed and listen to its gentle sound on the roof of the bbow. Felt a bit sorry for our neighbor with three little ones huddled under their canopy.
This is a wandering day. We started with a little trip thru old Maryhill where we found this wonderful old gas station. Gary loved the pump and found that gas was 38 cents per gallon, and those purchasing were also notified of that 8 cents of that was tax.

This sad sight is an aluminum plant being disassembled and sent to China. It was built right next to the dam for power, but environmental regulations have closed it down. China will now benefit from the aluminum and the jobs.

We took I-84 on the North side of the river heading East and then inland a bit to visit the Columbia Crest Winery in Plymouth WA. I didn't even know there was a Plymouth WA. It was still raining so the picture doesn't look as beautiful as it really was.

There were an enormous amount of barrels being aged there.

After that we opted for a road less traveled for a reason I do not know. This led to an adventure where Gary busts over a hill in the bbow and right onto a gravel road...at 50 mph. The gravel was a shock to us...and we were a shock to a flock of sheep pasturing next to the gravel road. They bolted in every direction and I was shrieking about the gravel road (such a bbow no no) We could have seriously been in a scene of a Chevy Chase Vacation movie.

It really was the middle of know where. I was speechless that Gary drove the bbow on gravel by choice for nearly 10 miles.

We have become quite good at finding local dives for the very best burgers. We found this gem across the river in Umatilla OR and it did not disappoint!

This was rich...watching cattle grazing between the windmills.

Ah yes, we also found a dam for Gary to ogle. Now on to the Dalles.