I'm in The Dalles, Oregon, about 90 miles east of Portland, by the Columbia River.
It's thunderstorming right now. From the room window, I can see the lightning over the river, and cars and trucks slowly driving on I-84.
It was sunny when I checked in. I'm glad I took some pictures of the view then.
---
My day started late because I was held up by breakfast. In this road trip, my routine has been that I grab a cup of coffee, yogurt, and a bowl of cereal from the hotel's breakfast buffet, and I put them in the car and get going.
That routine was broken this morning. The hotel I was staying at, Holiday Inn Clarkston-Lewiston, did not have a breakfast buffet. Instead, it served a full menu breakfast, which was included in the room fee.
I had Pecan French Toast with eggs and sausage.
---
With an unusually full stomach, I left Clarkston at 8AM. Very late for my usual days. I took US Route 12 to Walla Walla and then Washington State Route 14 (SR-14), crossed the bridge to the Oregon side to where I am now.
Along the way in Dixie (population 220), I saw a yellow brick building that completely looked out of place in a small town. It looked like a campus building I saw at the University of Notre Dame.
So I U-turned and took a few photos.
It turns out, the building was a historic Dixie High School, built in 1921, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The reason why it stood out was because of the architecture. It is designed in Beaux-Arts style, originated in Paris during the 19th century, later became influential in American buildings between 1880 and 1930.
Apparently, Dixie was a bustling town for wheat farming back then. Today it is used for the elementary school.
A small discovery like this is the charm of free roaming road trips.
---
I passed by the town of Walla Walla, a charming winery town. The surrounding scenery was rather shocking, though. Instead of green vineyards, what I saw was full of brown fields, no grape vines.
It turns out, they had a severe sub-freezing weather a few years ago and killed much of the vines. Combined with the weaker demands on wines, many farmers stopped growing grapes in this region.
---
The photos today include the full size replica of Stonehenge at the WWI Memorial and some art pieces at Maryhill Museum of Art, which had an extensive collection of Native American artifacts. The sad part of it is that we don't know who made those pieces, as the creators' peoples were either killed or displaced by the American government.
---
The hotel I am staying at tonight is called Celilo Inn, named after the Celilo Falls, which is now gone and submerged by the Dalles Dam. I can see the Dam from my room window. My room has an old black and white photo of the Celilo Falls.
---
Distance driven: 268 miles