Time to hit the road again! On Monday, August 27, we said goodbye to Cannon Beach and headed to Boise, Idaho with a one night stopover in Pendleton, Oregon. We will miss the beautiful beaches and forests...
On the way to Pendleton we stopped at Tillamook Creamery.
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| We learned how they make and package the cheese... |
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| ...and we sampled cheese |
We also bought some cheese and had some ice cream at 10:30 am!
That night when we went out to dinner I ordered a Stella Artois and John ordered an IPA. We were very surprised when we saw the beers. Mine was 22 oz and John's was 12 oz. This was especially funny because I usually have trouble finishing a 12 oz beer!
Same thing happened with our dinners. I ordered fried chicken which was 1/2 of a chicken with veggies, mashed potatoes with gravy, and a roll. John ordered country fried steak (looked like a hamburger patty) with all the sides. Yes, we had plenty of chicken leftover for another meal!
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| !!! |
On the road to Boise...
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| Traffic on the outskirts of Portland |
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| Drove alongside the Columbia River for quite a while |
Boise is the capital of Idaho. Boise proper has a population of 206,00 and a metropolitan population of 709,000. The home of Boise State University, it has maintained its college-town feel. Even on a Saturday afternoon there were plenty of people shopping downtown, riding bikes, or spending time in a park. We were very impressed by the lack of graffiti and litter and the well maintained buildings.
Downtown was surrounded by beautiful renovated homes.
We visited the Idaho Botanical Garden. Located next door to the Old Idaho State Penitentiary, it served as prison's farm and nursery until 1973. It was 85 degrees when we visited and there were very few trees in the garden but we enjoyed our visit.
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| They had many garden sculptures. |
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| "Tree" made of lumber, old cabinets, and other wooden items |
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| There were a few flowering plants. |
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| The Old Penitentiary |
We also visited Village at Meridian located in a Boise suburb. It is a large outdoor mall with trees and flowers lining the sidewalks. There are many shops and restaurants and they even have a dancing water fountain (similar to Bellagio's in Las Vegas) but we were too tired from the hot botanical garden to look for it.
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| Flags ready for Labor Day |
Our stay in the Boise area has come to an end and now it's time to head for Salt Lake City, Utah!
