On the way to Baker City

We headed out of Portland on I-84 along the Columbia River. Once we passed the end of the Columbia Gorge at the Dalles, the scenery transformed from imposing rock walls and conifers into rolling hills, dotted with graceful wind farms, and covered by dried yellow grassland and grey-green sage brush. Bare, wrinkled foothills framed the scene. The cloistered feeling of the lushly forested Willamette Valley was gone, replaced by open, unrestrained landscape. The trip was underway. We’ve planned 4 nights along the route: the Bridgeview Inn in Baker City, Oregon, The Avon House (airbnb.com) in Avon Utah, and 2 nights at the Kokopelli Inn in Moab, Utah where, depending on how well the cats are doing, we may stay over a day.