SyneRyder - journal

USA Trip 2005 - Part 7

July 2005

Idaho / Utah / Oregon

The forests of Oregon

During the roadtrip, I didn't see enough of each state to get a good sense of any of them. I did get some general impressions though, just on the basis of their roadside rest areas. Idaho went all out to make their rest stops look really professional and modern... except for the actual bathrooms, which didn't have any toilet paper. Idaho seemed really flat and empty, and was "just as dry as Kansas" apparently. I was stunned at how unimpressed I was. Of course, we didn't actually drive into any of the cities in Idaho, so it wasn't an accurate impression.

On that basis, even Utah seemed nicer than Idaho - and Ogden (in Utah) was really run-down. We stayed at the "Days Inn" at Ogden. The hotel itself was pretty good, but there were lots of kids running around and it wasn't the nicest part of town. It was in Utah that I discovered how much of a dual-language country the US has become. Lots of things are written in both Spanish and English, including billboards.

Oregon was the prettiest state - we were literally driving through forests for most of the journey. The forests were so pretty we stopped several times to take photos of the scenery. Unfortunately the people in Oregon weren't so friendly. We had problems with the hotel there, with our free internet access not working (and that was our main reason for choosing the hotel). It took about 2 hours to debug everything, and in the end there had to be a change of hotel rooms because that entire floor was without internet access! It's a shame, because the forests had made a very positive impression.