From Washington to Utah

10-12 March, 1983

The passage of time has blurred the details of many past events and adventures. I so wish that I had gotten into journaling much earlier than I did. As it is, I’ll have to rely on pictures to tell the story as I count through the years.

Mui returned from basic training with orders to report to Hill AFB in Utah. We packed our belongings, turned some of our stuff over to the Air Force for transport, rented a car-top carrier to take the must-haves with us, and got on the road.

From Washington to Utah via Oregon and Idaho

If the dates on the back of the few photos I have are anything to go by, we took three days to make the trip, stopping in Oregon and Idaho to do some sightseeing along the way. We spent one of the nights on the road at the Indian Hills Red Lion Inn in Pendleton, Oregon. I only know that from a note scribbled on the back of a photo. Mui tells me we stayed the second night at Mountain Home AFB in Idaho; I'll have to take his word for that as I have no recollection of it myself.

Columbia River Gorge from Crown State Park — Oregon

Latourell Falls — Columbia River Gorge, Oregon
Unique among the best-known Columbia Gorge waterfalls
in that it drops straight down from an overhanging basalt cliff.

Multnomah Falls — Columbia River Gorge, Oregon
The fourth highest falls in the us.
(upper falls: 549 ft [167 m]; lower falls: 69 ft [21 m])

There is an Indian legend associated with Multnomah Falls. This is how I recorded it in my photo album:

When the Multnomah people were stricken with sickness and many were dying, the Medicine Man told the Chief that a virgin maiden had to throw herself from the cliff overlooking the “Big River.” The Chief, however, was reluctant to ask any of the maidens for such a sacrifice. The decision was taken out of his hands when his daughter decided to sacrifice herself so that her lover, overtaken by this sickness, might live. As a token of the maiden’s welcome by the “Great Spirit,” a stream of water started to cascade from the point where she threw herself down. And thus the falls were born.

Bonneville Dam Spillway — Columbia River Gorge, Oregon
Named for Army Captain Benjamin Bonneville, an early explorer
credited with charting much of the Oregon Trail.

Shoshone Falls — Twin Falls, Idaho
At 212 ft (64 M), they are higher than Niagara Falls.

And so our eight-year stint in Utah began.