Days 9 and 10: Halfway, Hells Canyon and H&M

We continued along the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway from Halfway to Joseph. Continuing my streak of bad luck with weather, when we finally made it to the Hells Canyon Scenic Overlook, there was too much haze to see much. It was bloody cold too, and soon after we arrived, it started raining. I wasn’t driving this time, but literally every time I have driven, it’s started raining. I am the rainmaker, and Matt seems to deal with all other hazards (wheelie bins, cows, roadworks, cliffs).

Eventually we arrived in Joseph, which is on Wallowa Lake:





The weather had improved slightly, but not enough to warrant going up in the cable car to the top of Mt Howard, overlooking the lake. So we had a leisurely lunch, looked at the little boutiques in town, and stopped in at a milkbar for more refreshments:



Eventually, we were able to check into our room at another B&B. Not as nice as the last one, but we did get a free upgrade and the place was empty yet again. We spent the arvo just chilling out, surfing the net and planning the rest of the trip (well, I did – Matt played Bejewelled).

The next morning, we started the long drive to Portland. We followed a ute with a coupla dogs in it for quite awhile. The little one ran back and forth from side to side, trying to get a better view. We thought for sure he’d get tired but he kept going for ages! Then he smiled at us as we passed him:



Not much else happened on the way to Portland, apart from that we drove alongside a giant scenic lake for ages:



Once we arrived, we went shopping downtown – the highlight of this was H&M, where I bought a hoodie to replace the one I lost somewhere in Utah, and Matt bought an ultra-discounted blazer. We didn’t see a hell of a lot of Portland, but it seemed to be an uglier, more 1980s-stlye construction version of Brisbane, but without Southbank adding any colour. And with a stack more freeways like our riverside expressway – freeway on freeway on freeway. Even with the GPS, we got stuck a few times because of the weird roads and roadworks. We watched more Law and Order at the hotel though, to finish the day on a high.