Stonehenge?!?

I was going to call this entry The Road Less Travelled but the Stonehenge thing blew that title away. I'll start with the road part. Google maps and the gps told us to go the shorter way from The Dalles to Missoula but it involved a secondary highway. We talked to a couple of locals who said we should just take the main freeway. And, we took the secondary road because when we're on these trips, it isn't just about getting to the next place. It's about seeing what's in between. The road we took was only 2 lanes but it followed the Columbia River very closely, hugging the cliffs to one side and the drop off to the river on the other. We saw things that just weren't on the main highway.
We stopped for gas at an old rest stop with a new gas station. 

The hills all through this area look bald but are just parched and the grasses covering them are dormant. We saw a number of places that had been burned as well. It's quite windy along the river valley and there are many wind farm installations. 

As we drove along through an area that is basically a desert, we were surprised to see many vineyards and fruit tree orchards. We stopped at a winery that was closed but found someone to talk to and he said that everything is irrigated with river water. That way they can control the stressing of the vines which helps make better wine. 

Ok, now we come to Stonehenge. We were driving along our pretty much private highway when we saw a sign indicating that Stonehenge was a mile ahead. And, we could see it off in the distance. At first, we weren't going to go because it would have to be some hokey faked up thing that would cost $10 and you'd feel stupid afterwards. But then we thought, when will we ever be in this spot again and what if it isn't completely hokey? So, we turned off the highway at this little dirt road that wound through some fields with cows in them. Then we went past a rickety looking cabin with the front door open. I started hearing the banjo song from Deliverance in my head and expected some old guy to confront us with a shotgun! But, no one came out and the site itself was deserted. It turned out that a man from the area was in England during World War One and saw the real Stonehenge. On returning home, he decided to build a replica in honour of 13 young men from his county that had been killed in the war. It was really an amazing feat. The model is the same size and orientation as the original. Now, we need to see the real one in England! You can see from the first photo that the design has been stylized but the effect is still very interesting.

I've seen a number of real Stonehenge pictures where the sun is just peaking around the stones and I tried to recreate the effect in the next two shots.

Here another shot from the highway. I really thought it would be more effective if I was lying on the road but the idea didn't fly. I could see forever in both directions but still, no. Try to imagine this with a lower perspective.

Next we visited a winery called Columbia Crest and it was on the crest of a big hill by the Columbia River! We had tried some of their wine with friends and thought it was neat to be able to check out the winery. It reminded us of some of the large Niagara wineries with the manicured grounds and fancy buildings.

Of course we bought some wine to sample. But, the best part was that Marilyn bought, on my encouragement, a wine sippy cup that I had seen online. I had intended to get her to drink some wine from it tonight so I would have a photo but I forgot. So, will try to get that done after we get to Billings, Montana tomorrow. 

The next part of our trip was an all too brief jaunt through the northern panhandle of Idaho. Due to our routing, we weren't able to spend a night in that state. The land started to change to trees, mountains, rivers and lakes as we headed east into Montana.

The roads through the mountains were, once again, very enjoyable to drive. And, to add to the fun, the speed limit was 75 mph! The next photo is a highlight for us as it was taken at the 10 000 kilometre mark. There was nowhere to safely pull over so Marilyn took this great shot through the windshield which is sort of fitting given that we're on a road trip. It shows the road, the forests, the mountains, and the big sky of Montana.

The sky really does look bigger!

The gas was getting a bit low so we pulled off and went into a little village called Albertville or something like that. It was quite interesting. The homes were mostly beaten up trailers and there were tractors parked in the street. There was only the one gas station and it was a serve yourself type. The only other guy at the station didn't respond when I said hi so we filled up and left. 

We finally arrived at our hotel in Missoula. You never know what to expect in new towns but we found Missoula to be a great place. The downtown area was clean and there were lots of people walking around which hasn't been the case in some places. There's a river running through the town and all sorts of people were swimming, boating and tubing in it. 

Here's a cool old but redone hotel on the main street.

I think we could have spent a whole day here wandering through the stores that were mostly closed tonight. We ended up having a great dinner at Tamarack Brewery. The pictures  I took with my phone won't download due to a slow connection and I'm too tired to wait!