Road Trip June 2026 - Bend to Home

Well, finally getting to the final post of our June road trip. Only because I did a backpacking trip in July and want to post about that! Sigh . . . 

Anyway, after leaving Boise, we stopped to camp at Martin's Landing near the border of Idaho and Oregon. We've stayed there before but this was the first time we saw wild turkeys and their young ones. 

We knew we'd get to Bend, Oregon, early afternoon so we looked for something to do. The High Desert Museum, just outside of Bend, looked interesting. I think because it's on a highway that we don't usually travel on, we hadn't paid attention to it on other trips through this area. It was well worth the visit. 

I loved the colours and the sun shining through this "Finding the Light" exhibit, causing colourful shadows on the ground. 

We enjoyed seeing the birds of prey and learning more about them during a couple of demonstrations. 

It was time for a hotel stay to get cleaned up after camping and we stayed at our usual place, the Riverhouse Lodge which is beautifully situated along the Deschutes River.  Great views from the dining room and lovely murals on the outside of the buildings. 

The next day we stopped for lunch and wine tasting at Andante Vineyard. Another beautiful place we've been to before. Of course, we picked up our allowed two bottles of wine each to take home across the border. 

The Astoria-Megler Bridge, stretching the 6.5 km between Oregon and Washington, is another favourite site. It's the longest continuous truss bridge in North America and second longest in the world. 

The Art Walk at the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge is a great place to stop for a short break from driving and is finally open again after being closed for a few years during and after Covid / 2020. There are several metal sculptures and sometimes lots of real birds too. 

And then there's one of our favourites -- Elixir Coffee Shop in South Bend, WA. :-) 

Road Trip June 2026 - Yellowstone to Boise

Driving through Yellowstone National Park is a combination of somewhat annoying (vehicles, people) and, at the same time, so interesting. You never know for sure what animals you're going to see. This time, we saw more bison than we ever had. In addition to quite a few close to the road, there was a very large herd (guessing about a hundred of them) off in the distance. Also in the distance were lots of elk and sandhill cranes.

Humorously, this bird was sitting on the bison's back for quite some time. I don't think the bison even noticed. 

Just west of West Yellowstone, there's a campground near the Henry's Fork River where we often stop to camp. The pelicans are a mainstay although they were a bit further from the campground this year than they've been in the past. They're also usually more active and we try to take photos of them in flight but this time, they were content to just float along. Or stand, as the water was so shallow. 

 

When in huckleberry country, we have to try out the local flavours. 

This was the sunset from our van. 

The next day we made it to Craters of the Moon National Monument which has a campground there as well. It's been a very windy trip and this, along with some rain, kept both of us awake much of the night. 

We had a short driving day so we decided to go into Boise for lunch. I excitedly told Andrew that Boise is home to 2x CrossFit Games Champion Justin Medeiros. He'd didn't seem too impressed. LOL! 

While at lunch, we realized we were close to the Zoo Boise so put that on our agenda as well. It was a bit disappointing in that there was so much wire on the cages that it was hard to see the animal and virtually impossible to take photos.  I managed to get a couple photos through glass. 

We h

Boise is so much bigger than either of us imagined and it then took us what seemed like forever to get out of the city! We were much later to our campsite for the night and a bit grumpy and tired. Speaking for myself at least! 

Road Trip June 2026 - Wyoming - Part 2

In Sheridan, we stay at the historic Sheridan Inn and enjoy going to the Sam Mavrakis fishing pond. There are always birds and other interesting creatures to see. Whether or not I get any good photos is another question! 

On the way back to Five Springs, the Burgess Junction Visitor Center has a short hiking trail nearby with great spring flowers and, with luck, a few other creatures. 

We often see moose along this stretch of road, close enough to get a few acceptable photos.  

Back at Five Springs, the wind was still not cooperating but we held out hope and, in the meantime, drove further into Big Horn Canyon. On the Rangers Delight Trail, these sheep were pretty chill as we carefully approached for photos. 

This area is well known for wild horses and the Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center is located in Lovell.  In all our trips here, we'd never seen them until now! These ones were fairly close to the road so we stopped and admired them. So beautiful! 

After finally giving up on the wind allowing Andrew to paraglide, we took one last short hike up Five Spring Canyon.

And got one last view of this colourful vista.