La Grande, Oregon - City Between The Mountains

"Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe." - Anatole France

all of a sudden the road slanted up
it curved out of sight valley showing below
a different journey was unfolding

I decided to visit the next "big" city east and south of Pendleton, OR so off I went down the highway towards the Blue Mountains. I was surprised to find out that I had headed up a steeper road to higher elevation than anticipated, and into some snow.

"Nestled between the Wallowa Mountains and the Blue Mountains, La Grande is located off of I-84 in the Grande Ronde Valley."

So I decided to visit the next "big" city east and south of Pendleton so off I went down the highway towards the Blue Mountains and La Grande. I was surprised to find out that I had headed up a steeper road to higher elevation (Blue Mountain Summit.
Altitude: 4193 feet) than anticipated, and into some snow. I was a little worried, and thought about turning back. But it's a nice wide highway.

Then there was the perspective from the rest areas from past travelers over these mountains.

From OTCC Interpretive Kiosk http://www.tomlaidlaw.com/otkiosks/otcc/deadmanpass.html:

Oregon Trail emigrants labored for days to cross the Blue Mountains on a road that P. V. Crawford , emigrant of 1851, described as "very sidling, rough and stony." Maria Parsons Belshaw, emigrant of 1853, exclaimed, "I never saw as crooked a road in my life." The trail through these mountains was indeed arduous, but emigrants like Samuel Dexter Francis in 1861 were not the only ones affected by climbing "the hills, up and down," the Blues also took their toll on exhausted livestock and worn-out wagons.

leaving La Grande

"Not all those who wonder are lost."  - J. R. Tolkien