#24 Farewell Bend

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October 2:

Our last night of camping was at Farewell Bend State Park, Oregon, just over the border from a long day's drive across Idaho. We had felt that if we could make it into Oregon before nightfall, we could slide the rest of the way on in to Portland the next day, and in fact, that's how it worked out.

In the days of the pioneers, wagon trains followed the Snake River through Idaho for 300 miles or more, and Farewell Bend was the last stop on the Oregon Trail beside the Snake River before the river curved north and headed for Hells Canyon.
Wagon trains would stop at Farewell Bend to rest, and water and graze their animals before the Oregon Trail headed through more rugged country to the Burnt River and then westward toward the Columbia River. It was also the point from which some travellers headed overland to Oregon City.

Though we had no stock to water, we were ready for a rest and found we were in one of the best campsites we'd come across all summer. We spent the sunset hours doing some musing over the wonderful trip we'd had. So here's our farewell to you and the end of our trip.

Thanks for traveling with us!!! And now we're back in Sydney.

The MarPhil Superlative Awards
Favourite Park: Phil - Bryce Canyon, Martha - Mesa Verde
Best campground: Phil - Olema, CA , private campground with wifi throughout the campground (It was also the most expensive
at $50/night),
Martha - Mesa Verde National Park, Farewell Bend State Park
Worst campground: Phil and Martha both - Balmorae Lake Fishing Resort, Texas
Martha - a private campground near Newman, CA
Most unusual: Phil - Obsidian Mound at Newberry Carater National Volcanic Monument
Martha - the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde and the “Aztec Ruins” near Bloomfield, New Mexico
Most serendipitous: Phil - the Lick Observatory; Martha - meeting Emanuelle and Beatrice
Most amazing plantlife: Phil - Giant redwood trees; Martha - pitcher plants, and algae in sulphur springs
Favourite plantlife: Phil - Aspen trees
Favourite animal sighted: Phil - (distant) black bear mother and cub at Yosemite
(close up) Golden tailed eagle at High Desert Museum near Bend, OR
Martha (distant) pronghorn antelope, buffalo
(close up) butterflies, wild skunk, alpacas
Biggest surprise: Phil - the two “bears” at Devil's Postpile that morphed into horses
Martha - Everything about Mesa Verde and the cliff dwellings
Biggest shock: Phil - physical exertion required at 10,000 ft elevation
Martha - waking to find a leech on my tit (Phil claims it was just a grub)
Most delightful town: Phil - Echo Lake near Ludlow, VT, and all the towns we passed through in Vermont
Martha - Jackson, Wyoming
Ugliest town: Phil - Tonopah, Nevada
Most scenic: Phil - The Grand Tetons; Martha - too much to name
Favourite geologic feature: Phil - Obsidian Mound and the Lava Beds, both at Newberry National Volcanic Monument
Martha - Obsidian Mound, the Hoodoos at Bryce Canyon and Cedar Breaks, Carlsbad Cavern, and the hot springs and geysers at Yellowstone
Toughest walk: Phil - 20 blocks uphill in San Francisco during their hottest day on record
Martha - ditto
Hardest to do: Martha - Making it through the night without a toilet
Best food: Phil - Danish pastries back in Portland
Martha ditto and a taco we had along the way
Worst food: Phil - “chicken fried steak” in Texas, and a “scone” which was deep fried bread dough in Rupert, Idaho.
Martha - a creamed chicken dish in Bend, OR
Scariest: Martha - Climbing the 32 ft cliff ladder at Balcony House in Mesa Verde
Cheapest motel: Phil - for cost, Tonopah, Nevada; Martha - for condition, Bend, Oregon
Perceived longest driving day: Phil - Tonopah, Nevada to Cedar Breaks, Utah
Martha - Balmorae, Texas to Junction, Texas; Lubbock, Texas to Raton, New Mexico
Most expensive: Phil - San Francisco
Pleasantly surprising: Phil - almost no mosquitoes or flies
Martha - no rainy days, lots of sun and warmth
Would most like to return to: Phil - Vermont; Martha - Portland, Oregon

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Photos

Farewell Bend State Park
Where the Snake River curves northward

Farewell Bend #2
Broad cool waters with plenty of fish for the wagon trains

Farewell Bend #3
A time to pause before the final push west, for Oregon Trailers and for US.

Farewell Bend State Park #4
A tranquil and lovely park, with hedges for privacy around each campsite.

Cool Moon Ice Cream
Back in the Pearl District, in Portland, a nostalgic visit to Lucien's happy job site.

Point of View shot
To get Lucien back in the feel of the scoop

Cool Moon Ice cream
Gourmet ice cream now has Tee shirts.
Seriously, if you live in Portland, Cool Moon ice cream is the BEST.

Comments

[Bobbie Dolp]

Sorry it is over!
The day when one of your blogs popped up on the screen was always a delight. Each entry was so filled with good info as well as amusing comments about the ups and downs of traveling. No doubt you are ready to settle somewhere for a while but I'm sorry your journey is over. Thanks so much for sharing it with all of us. Reads as though you are heading back to Australia. I do hope you find your way back to Portland - we miss you at Book Club. Cheers! Bobbie

[Eliza]

Okay, come on back to VT (and MA)!!!! The superlative awards is a good idea!

[Kimberella]

Would love to tour the Southwest with you!
Martha: We are very simpatico in our preferences. Seeing Mesa Verde at age 18 was transformative and a crucial reason I chose to spend 22 years in Albuquerque. Studying the Anasazi, and the mysteries of Chaco Canyon, has been a beautiful exercise in the rise and fall of human civilization. Your perspective and pictures have both piqued and allayed my homesickness. Thanks for sharing! Kim & James

[Phil The Youger]

What a wrap-up ! So where are you going to come to rest? Oz? PDX? __ ?

[Sara]

Thanks for the ride!
I have three panels on my iPod weather app: Philadelphia (where we live), Ocean City NJ (where we do what they like to call surfing here), and Coffs Harbour. For a while they looked pretty similar (on the thermometer, anyway) but just in the last few weeks the temperatures have begun to differentiate as Coffs warms and we light our woodstove to ward off the evening frost. When we need to be cheered up we close our eyes and hear the butcherbirds whistling, the bowerbirds rattling, and the wild screams of the yellow-tailed black cockatoos. Wish we were back in Oz, too!