Day 9 - Eugene, Oregon

Yet another gloriously sunny day! It's a real Indian summer in the west, I'm glad to say - though cold first thing in the morning, it got as high as 72degF [22degC] by mid-afternoon.

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Heading south on US35, the road climbs away from the Columbia Gorge very rapidly, through small towns full of orchards and vineyards in this very fertile area - and then around a bend ... Mount Hood! After a wonderful drive, getting closer and closer and higher and higher, I arrived at Timberline Lodge [as recommended by Jenny in her comment yesterday!] for lunch. It was used as the location for The Shining, but in the lovely sunshine today all such associations disappeared.

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I ate a very tasty (though rather expensive) Reuben sandwich looking at this view - much nicer than microwave chilli!

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Heading south on US 26, there were signs of forest fires, either this summer or last, though the regeneration has started, with many new small trees covering the burnt ground. Slightly more worrying was the number of pine trees that were yellow rather than the very deep green that is typical of Oregon pines. Not sure what is causing this, but it can't be good.

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Just before Warm Springs, the road runs around the lip of an enormous canyon; startling to see, with the chain of the volcanic Cascade range clear across the west - Three Sisters, Mount Washington, Mount Jefferson, Mount Wilson and Mount Hood all visible at once. Further south is Mount Shasta, and the chain is completed in the north by Mount St Helen's and Mount Rainier ... just stunning. This is the view from the southern end of the canyon.

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After Redmond, I took US 126 west - this goes through about 70 miles of pine forest along the course of the McKenzie River; at this time of year it's like a canyon (and sometimes a tunnel) of autumnal colour. There are lots of holiday activities related to the river all the way along - boating, windsurfing, fishing, etc., and, incongruously, the Christmas Treasures store.

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My final stretch was through Springfield and into Eugene, listening to the local radio station - a catchy number called 'Making a Noise in this World' by Canadian Robbie Robertson.

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And now I'm staying with my folks for a while - at least until after the election! They became US citizens less than 2 weeks ago, just in time to register to vote. There might not be blog entries every day ...

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Funny sign of the day: "Curran's Custom Taxidermy" (is there any other kind?)

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