Day 9: Boise, Idaho

Click HERE to see the photos from Day 9.

Fun Fact #1: We eclipsed 3,200 total miles for the trip today.
Fun Fact #2: We paid a record high $4.49 for gas in Cascade Locks, Oregon. Their gas is more expensive because you can't pump it yourself, so they have to pay the full service peeps somehow. Thanks Oregon.
Fun Fact #3: The state of Oregon employs only three police officers, for that is the precise number we saw during our entire 600+ mile jaunt. Fortunately, no $389 fines were incurred as in Statesville, Georgia on our southern swing two years ago. Like 82 in a 55 is so bad.
Fun Fact #4: Since Idaho Falls is a mere four hour drive from Boise, we get to sleep in tomorrow! Woo hoo!

My niece, Keeks, who is eleven, gave me crap for the fact that we've been consistently getting up at 6:30 a.m. on this trip. The thought apparently boggles her little Camp Rock loving mind. How could her Uncle David rise and shine so early, so often? On most weekends, if I get out of bed, it's not before 5 p.m. due to my obsessive relationship with abbreviations - DVR, DVD and HD. Sue me. Who is this little bad kid to give her favorite uncle lip? She will pay and pay dearly come Christmas when I buy extra presents for her older, less-lippy, large-footed sister.

That being said, the alarm was again set for 6:30 this morning as we not only had a seven hour drive from Portland to Boise, Idaho, but we missed a couple of sights yesterday - the "Welcome to Oregon" sign and Multnomah Falls. Yesterday's Oregon sign on the way in was small and dumb and not even photo worthy, but we took a different road en route to Boise today and saw this out of control sign.
As for Multnomah Falls, we planned to visit yesterday, but it was so packed that people were parking on the other side of the highway and walking over. It was such insanity that we drove right on by and decided to stop on the way out of Portland this morning at 8:30 a.m. (We were almost thwarted again today when Karen decided to cease giving us directions between the buildings of downtown Portland, Karen being the name of our Australian GPS lady. Karen and I didn't speak for a while after that.) But I digress... What's so cool about the falls is that they (and Vista House) are located less than 30 miles outside of Portland and are easily accessible by way of a super narrow two-lane winding road of death. We didn't die though, I'm pleased to report.
Here's some quick background on the falls:
Multnomah Falls is a waterfall on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge along the Historic Columbia River Highway. At 620 feet, it is the second tallest year-round waterfall in the United States after Yosemite Falls.

The legend of the Multnomah people explains that the Native American tribe was infected with a disease that, once contracted, killed its victims in a single day. (I'm guessing it was a super strain of the dreaded Prairie Dog Plague that proved non-responsive to the medicine man.) The daughter of the chief went to the top of a cliff and prayed to the Great Spirit to stop the epidemic. She was told that she must sacrifice herself by jumping from the cliff. (I think she was hoping to be told to set many prairie dog traps and to stop licking their fur, but alas, that was not the case.) As instructed, she jumped and died. The chief found her body at the bottom of the cliff and cried out to the Great Spirit for a sign that this sacrifice was not in vain. At that moment, water began to fall from the top of the cliff forming Multnomah Falls. Legend says that under the right conditions, her face can be seen in the waterfall. Well, I didn't see her, so it must not be true.

Fast forward seven hours and a trip to Wendy's later and we arrived at the Fairfield Inn Boise and then left for the game. Indulge me by rewinding to yesterday for a moment: I failed to mention that Julia was talking to the guy next to her at the Beavers game last night and mentioned our road trip. What she didn't know was that he was the team's banker, so when the VP (Ryan Brach) of the team came over, he told him about our road trip. I guess Ryan thought that was pretty cool because he talked to us for about 1 1/2 innings until the game was over. It was not only cool of him to sit with us, but to hear him tell some "behind the scenes" stories about running a minor league franchise. He inquired about the rest of our itinerary and when he heard that we were going to Boise, told us to find Todd Rahr, the President and GM of the Hawks.

Long story short, (not really), once we got to Memorial Stadium, we found Todd and told him about meeting Ryan and about our road trip. For being the President and GM of a baseball team, he could have easily listened to our story, patted us on the head and said, "Thanks for coming." However, he took a sincere interest in us and even upgraded our seats to the front row just to the first base side of home plate! Not only did these seats absolutely rock due to their proximity to fervent joy of America's Pastime, they were accompanied by free eats and drinks. That's $30 for the seats and another $15 worth of free grub! He also gave me an official Northwest League baseball - add another $20 to the tally for that and we're up to $65 in free stuff just for talking about our trip. He also let me sample a deep fried Twinkie covered in a flour, egg and coconut batter, which was actually NOT the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten.

It was a fun game to watch and the Hawks ended up winning in the bottom of the ninth, so it was a great night of baseball in Boise even with a game time temperature of 100 degrees. There's something to be said for the "dry heat" because I, being the biggest whining baby once the mercury tops 85, was not covered in sweat nor did I need to be carried even with temps that high. Thanks to Ryan in Portland and Todd in Boise for two great nights of baseball!

Time to settle in for a lengthy night's sleep. In case you were sleeping 1,133 words ago, HERE is the link to our photos from Day 9.

Next stop: Sleeping in past 6:30 and Day 10 in Idaho Falls, Idaho.