Trip from Seattle to Donnelly, Idaho August 2001       In July of 2001, Tom and I took our half-ton yellow-orange clunker van (we nicknamed the "one ton canary") on our yearly pilgramage to see his family for the "common weekend" in Donnelly, Idaho.  We made these trips every year and it always cost us a week from the 2 weeks vacation that we were allowed from work.  To make it more like a real vacation, Tom and I would try to take different and long meandering routes somewhere along the way in order to see beautiful natural views and wildlife. We were very fond of that old yellow-orange van.  Tom bought it used and it was the same color and size as the old Seattle Light utility trucks and other Seattle utility trucks in the late 1980s and early 1990s.  We joked that we could park anywhere if we carried a couple of orange traffic cones with us and placed them on the street.  We also thought about buying a circular magnetic sign for the sides of the van.  The sign would be similar to the City Light logo sign, but instead it would read "Department of Exploratory Recreation" or "Department of Wildlife Observation". We started the trip from our home in Crown Hill, Ballard, Seattle, Washington.  Friday, July 27, 2001.  Tom and I spent the entire day packing and preparing until 5:30 PM.  We had wanted to leave earlier, but, as usual, there was a lot to put in order in the house, and there were items to find and buy, and figuring out how to get it all to fit in our travel bags, decisions to be made about what to take, and lists to check. We had enlisted the help of Joe, Bonnie, and Marshall to check in on the cats during our trip.  Today Bonnie is not feeling well. This was the worst time of day for us to leave because we are running into the traffic associated with people returning home from work.  We used to call it "rush hour" but it is more like 3 hours beginning at 3:30 PM and ending at 6:30 PM.  We drive till 7:00 PM and stop at North Bend for dinner at the Yum Yang Restaurant.  Then we continue on the road.  We traveled on I90 to Vantage and then turned off to 243 heading South.  At 10:30 PM we park the van on a windy cliff overlooking the Columbia River.  That is where we sleep, in the van. Saturday, July 28, 2001.  We get up early and drive, still heading South on 243.  At about 8:30 near Mattawa we saw white pelicans on a rock in the river.  We continue driving on route 243.  I'm not feeling well, so we take a long rest at Sacajawea Historical State Park.nbsp; We make a note to ourselves that we should canoe the Walla Walla River because it is 15 feet wide and 2 feet deep!  That is our ideal canoeing experience because it is the best for ducks and wildlife viewing. At 4:45 PM, I'm feeling well enough to continue traveling.  Now we take route 12 West to Walla Walla, Washington.  We arrive in Walla Walla at 5:30 PM and eat at the Depot Restaurant and vow never to return as both the food and the service are bad. The route we take is 12 West to Walla Walla, Washington; 11 South to Weston, Oregon; 204 Southeast (aka Weston to Elgin Highway) to Elgin, Oregon.  We continue past Elgin on 204 to Minam State Recreation Area and we camp there for the night.  Sunday, July 29, 2001.  The charge for a camping spot there is $10, which is not bad because we have access to flush toilets in addition to the gorgeous views and wildlife.  We see a bald eagle and kingfishers crossing the Minam River, Grand Road River.  It is a beautiful morning.  We continue on Route 82 passing the tiny towns of Wallowa and Evans Lostine.  At 9:00 AM we arrive in Joseph, Oregon.  Shopping and sight-seeing in Joseph is fun.  We could have happily stayed more hours there, but they are expecting a rodeo to start at 2:00 PM and we don't want to get stuck in traffic, so we stay till noon and then head out. From Joseph we take route 350 and thought we were heading towards Hells Canyon but found ourselves instead in Imnaha Oregon, 21 miles off our route.  We double-back 21 miles.  We had missed a turn off to the right (heading South) on a little road that didn't look like it went anywhere, named National Forest Development Road.  It follows the meandering Little Sheep Creek and there are no landmarks nor signs.  It wasn't until we reached Imnaha that we knew we had missed our turn.  Note from 2023:  In 2001, GPS maps were rare and inadequate.  At that time we travelled mostly by paper maps, and Tom's memory. As our journey continued, we passed pretty mountain sites, basalt rock formations, flocks of sheep.  Tom stopped along the way so we could pick cattails and teasel.  At 8:00 PM we arrived at the Blue House in Donnelly, Idaho.             Created:  December 27, 2022 Updated:  January 1, 2023