Day 1

We left our house at 10:30 a.m. to buy snow chains at Les Schwab. We were preparing for the worst and thought that our rented Ford Escape might need chains when we hit the mountains around La Grande. Yes, we planned a December road trip to Arizona. The weather that day was sunny, cold, and clear. Mika was ready for an adventure, but as we stayed on the road driving, she would give us looks that said "are we ever going to stop?" Finally, she just plopped down in her bed and decided to sleep until we got somewhere interesting.

After leaving Portland two hours later than we wanted to (original departure time, 9 a.m.), we were moving right along on 84. We stopped at the Bonneville Dam, and took Mika for a walk. The rainbow trout were beautiful, but our pictures did not capture them well.

The high elevation roads between La Grande and Pendleton were no picnic. Once we reached the mountains, the highway had some ice and snow. Not too much, but enough to cause concern, especially on Dead Man's Pass. We saw our first parade of Fed Ex trucks.

After surviving the ice and snow, we descended into Ontario for a late dinner. We were starving. Andy texted Jojo to find the name of his favorite restaurant, El Erradero. Christi's burrito was labelled "beef and cheese burrito." We freaked out because Andy had ordered a bean and cheese burrito. Luckily, Christi checked the burrito a few minutes later, and there was no meat. The burrito was delicious.


We wanted to reach Twin Falls, Idaho that night (Thursday evening), but we were exhausted. We found a La Quinta and spent the night in Boise. If you ever travel with your dog, La Quinta hotels are pet friendly. Also, hotels = cable! After watching part of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, we caught the weather report that night: a big snow storm was going to arrive in 24 hours. We had lost an hour entering Boise, and our plan was to get up early and hit the road by 8 a.m. to avoid the snowpocalypse.

After a hotel breakfast that consisted of coffee, peanut butter and jelly toasted english muffins, and an orange, we got on the road by 9 a.m..

On the way to Twin Falls, we sang Built to Spill's "Twin Falls, Idaho" and searched for the song on our phones. After making a lane change, Andy heard Christi yelp. Andy saw the cracked glass of our windshield. We were twenty five feet behind a truck, and we were pelted by a rock. How do you handle this situation when you have a rental car?

Our moods were lifted by the sun and expansive bridge over Snake River and the canyon that Evil Knievel tried to jump in 1972. Unfortunately, his parachute deployed prematurely. The rest is history.

We crossed the border into Nevada. Andy had never been there before. The hills were sparse; a light coating of snow everywhere. We passed through Ely: we have no idea if it's pronounced "e- lee" (Andy's choice) or "e-leye" (Christi's choice). We had to make a decision: longer or shorter route to Vegas? We took the scenic route.

We took "Scenic highway 93," and it was gorgeous. And empty. The roads were empty except for a car or two. It was a winter wonderland, said Christi. An Elk crossed the road right before we arrived in Poiche (pronounced "pee-och"), an old mining town. We were approaching two mining towns from the late 1900s: Poiche and Caliente. A ghost town was said to be between the two.  We stopped at J and J's "fast food" in Caliente.