Over Hill, Over Dale

Greetings from Corvallis, Oregon. Home of the Oregon State Beavers and, hopefully, me, at some future date at least.

Before anything else - a million thanks to Pat Williams for the hospitality in Boise. We covered a lot of ground in three days - and she is still the amusing and delightful person I remember from what seems like a million years ago - when we both worked for the Division of Legislative Finance.

I left Boise about 8:30 AM and was not sure I would want to drive all the way to Corvallis in one day. But I got to Bend about 1 PM (there's a one hour time difference between Boise and Bend), still felt quite chipper, so decided to push-on.

It was about 89 degrees when I arrived in Corvallis and the forecast for the whole Northwest looks encouraging for at least the next week or so. I had a decent supper at my regular haunt, Michael's Landing, and just got back to the room. I got some exciting news while I was at the restaurant - but I'm not sure if it's public or not so it will have to wait. I wanted to dance a jig.

No pics today so you'll have to settle for a written description of my trip. From Boise, I headed northwest on a state highway and then on I-84 to Ontario Oregon. This was all through Treasure Valley in which Boise is located and it is dry, dry, dry. Then west on Highway 20 through Vale, Oregon and continuing west through the desert gradually gaining altitude to Burns. Still desert and still pretty bleak with sagebrush and bloody little else.

Once you get through Burns you gain a little more altitude and then are on a plateau for most of the way to Bend. Pretty grim. About 30 miles east of Bend you pick-up the first views of the Sisters and Mt. Jefferson in the Cascades and start to get into pine forest (although still pretty damn desert like).

I really like the Bend area - it's fairly heavily wooded - and it's close enough to the Cascades that you feel you can beat a hasty retreat to the west side of the mountains if you get into trouble with the desert people (like tell them what you REALLY think about Sarah Palin). I had to be pretty coy as to my feelings in this regard in Idaho - the locals in McCall were particularly smitten by her comparison of herself to a vicious, yet pious, pitbull.

The drive down to Corvallis took me through Sweet Home and Lebanon which I was somewhat curious about since I get some listings for homes in those communities and homes there are much less expensive than in Corvallis. But they are pretty rural. I feel much more comfortable on the west side of the valley in Corvallis.

Tomorrow morning I will go have a workout, stop by my realtor's digs, and then go play a round of golf. And in the evening I will check-out the new eateries which the bar person at Michael's Landing told me have sprung-up in the last year and have reportedly added a new and much needed sophistication to the local dining scene. I will report in detail.

Hasta luego.