WST Day 11: Haven't we been down this road before: wineries, wheat fields and trains?

Ritzville, Washington, where we spent the night, was an unexpected treat. The Memories Diner (Nancy found it on TripAdvisor) had great food, a delightful waitress/cook and a "no rush, here to help you enjoy your day" attitude. In this town that makes The Burg seem positively urban stands a real Carneige Library!  Andrew's legacy lives on.

Preston Premium Wines is a nice little store. Two very chatty women who seemed surprised when we arrived at 9:10 AM! We tasted Rieslings and bought some. Nancy checked out an interesting table.  No cherries, season is almost over for local cherries.

Gordon's Wines was a bust. Hard to find, then not open until 11:00 AM.  Canyon's Edge Wines was also a bust. Nancy speculates these are sales outlets and we need to find actual vineyards. FB opined, "If it's too hard to find, the hell with 'em!"

Badger Mountain Winery excellent. Welcoming entrance. Pleasant staffer. When I asked about the meaning of Jurupa Street (its address): she did not know, so I looked it up, telling her it means "place of sagebrush." Very appropriate for this area. I bought white blend. 

Now we are off to Idaho, heading south.  The trains here are miles long!!!! if you had to wait at a crossing, you'd need your own Porta-Potty!  Nancy and I learned about railroad maintenance when FB spotted a track maintenance engine.

Later, FB pointed and Nancy saw her first tumbleweed. How weird that it was in Washington state; not a place I associated with tumbleweed until today. After dinner, I gave her a tumbleweed piece to take home with her.

The Columbia River is almost as pretty as the St. Johns.

My first Carl's Jr. (And Nancy's). According to FB, "They make a good hamburger."

I'm looking at the Snake River!! Yippee! We're in Oregon, where you can not pump your own gas. By law!! It's no help time-wise because the pumper cannot take your money, you have to go inside to pay. Oregon is strange!

We are paralleling The Oregon Trail. I can not imagine how desperate those folks must have been to escape their lives for anything better that they would pack their families and wagon train this rolling grassland. Unlike the Dakotas, there seems to be very little standing water. 

Brief stop in Pendleton, OR at the Post Office. I discovered Pendleton is home to the Pendleton Roundup, a rodeo even I have heard about.   In Baker City, Idaho, we lunched at the Dairy Queen where we saw a seriously cool old truck and the Museum at the "Nat" which is the local county museum lodged in a 1920 natatorium (building with a swimming pool). 

At Deadman's Pass, forest fires were still burning and the viewing area closed. Never ending new experiences. FB announced that after this morning, his checkoff list of un-visited states is complete. Nancy's list and mine still have unchecked boxes.

Nancy noted we'd seen no bicyclists today, perhaps because no one could carry enough water! This area looks like Afghanistan.

Just passed exit for Mt. Emily Oregon. No one in car was fast enough to snag picture, we each gave a not-so-silent salute to Emmy.

Two items I forgot to add to previous blog entries:
(1) When the Jesuits and the Coeur d'Alene tribe celebrated the Birth of Christ, they did so by firing off guns, then singing the tribal friendship song. Go figure!
(2) Part of the World Museum of Mining included a WORKING orchestrian. My picture is not great, but I have attached a link to a YouTube video so you can see and hear it! Nancy and I danced around, giggled like kids and wished Mom was with us.

Final note: We began a new audio book today called Shadow Patrol, another terrorist-attack theme. I think Al Qaeda must be, for the world of fiction, the 21st century equivalent of the Nazis as the ubiquitous villains.