National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center east of Baker City. A buff in an expanse of arid land, overlooking the mass migration route started in 1840s until the railroad came to the west coast. A few authentic wagons with iron wheel of 1850s.
10 minutes to the east, Route 86 follows Powder River, and gets quite scenic: oasis in desert.
Hells Canyon Dam provides the only paved road into the canyon. Water is calm, picturesque but nothing dramatic. A couple boating outfits along the road. A large parking lot and an information office at the road end (already closed at 7pm), where I picked a small yellow fruit looks like prune/apricot.Exited through Oxbow Dam. View gets wider and eventually boring. Overnight at Cambridge, Idaho.
Day 2 (Monday): ~350 mile: 95 - 13 - 12 - 93/200.
Heaven's Gate Lookout (17 miles on FR517 from south of Riggins, first ~3 miles are paved) in Hells Canyon. Abandon the car on road a mile north of the Windy Cap campground due to snow. One car ahead of us got stuck. Walked the rest half a mile, and then climbed up the fire lookout. Elevation 8400ft. Many burnt trees. 360° view over vast canyon land. No sight of the bottom.Unable to turn around, backing up the ~3/4 perilous mile seemed forever.
Between mile post 15 & 16, 
a sizable pullout on the SW side offers the best view. Flowers + open vista over Seven Devils, highest in the area. A group of horses strolled over in front of our car.Route 95 is scenic, follows Salmon River until White Bird. A roadside display commemorates the first battle of Nez Perce War, where US army lost at White Bird Battle in 1877.
Overnight at St. Ignatius in the big sky country. Construction on Route 200. Otherwise, faster roads and cheaper gas in Montana.
Day 3 (Tuesday): ~225 mile. 200 - 212 - 93 - 35 - 206 - 2 - Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park
National Bison Range Wildlife Refuge. Followed a dirt winding road
over rolling prairie and wetland by the creek for ~2 hrs, including two very short hikes. 
Beautiful view of Mission Range and the flat farm land once under the glacier lake Missoula, of which the surface level was marked on the side of the dirt road. Flowers were past prime. Saw a buffalo family of 4, a group of 7-8 pronghorn antelopes, 2-3 white tail deer. 10am is too warm for the animals.Glacier National Park (see map $25 for 3 days): Going to the Sun Road is congested but breathtaking, especially around Logan Pass. Stops from west to east: a) Lake McDonald. b) McDonald Falls, Avalanche Creek. Pleasant: roaring green water over red rocks. c)
Quite a few pullouts as elevation gains, 
and views gets better. Snow was melting, lots of small waterfalls on the road side. Slow traffic + construction. Saw 4 goats hanging out in a parking lot close to the pass. d) Logan Pass visitor center. Stunning setting, surrounded by granite peaks. 
Tried walking Hidden Lake Trail (1 mile) behind the center, but didn't finish, mostly snow covered. Fields of glacier lily, still coming out. Lots of people and cars. e) 
St Mary Falls trail. 0.8 mile one way. Small but lovely cascade of 3 layers. Saw a deer on trail. f) Lake St Mary is large and gorgeous. 
Stopped for a distant view of the Triple Divide Peak (2444 m), where Continental Divide and Laurentian Divide meet, from which the water flows in 3 directions to: Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Hudson Bay. We should have allocated more time here. It was almost 9pm, we exited the park, and went north on 89.Re-entered the park to Many Glacier area. Saw a group of elks far away. Stayed at Swift Current Inn at the road end for 2 nights.
Day 4. (Wednesday): Many Glacier area.
The best view is probably right in front of Many Glacier Lodge. Here's a day hike map in the area.
Swiftcurrent Pass trail. Turned around at Bullhead lake, ~ 3mile. Flat. Pass through 3 lakes. First short side trip to the left is Fishcap Lake. Not interesting, but is said to be a moose haunt. Well, none was seen. Trail goes right by Redrock Lake (lots of mosquitoes), before climbing up the Redrock Falls (quite nice). Flowers were blooming (especially beargrass).2pm narrated boat ride (~ 3 miles, $22), across Swiftcurrent Lake. Walked 0.2 miles, another boat across Lake Josephine. Walked 0.9 mile to the lovely Grinnell Lake.
A swing bridge on the way, next to a small waterfall.
Appekuni Falls. 700ft gain, 1 mile. Tall, but nothing spectacular. Flowers in the first part of the trail were nice. Saw 2 daisies as large as sunflowers.Ranger talk at 8pm: visiting Glacier National Park in 1915. He did a wonderful job making history alive. Listed the difference between now and then: horseback rides for about 3 weeks, evening entertainments, wealthy clientele, scrap food for wild animals, killing of "undesirable animals", many more glaciers, ...
Day 5 (Thursday): ~ 160 mile. Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada. (CAD7.8/pp/day)
Waterton park is well worth the drive. More open and grassy. Waterton village is a live community in a majestic setting. Very much like a resort. More services than the American counterpart. Less wild. Camping site was full when we arrived (~11am). Allow 1+ hr from Babb to Waterton village. Allow 1.5 hr from St Mary to East Glacier for curving road.
Red Rock Canyon (~30 min drive). Big meadow along the way. Flowers were coming. Parking lot next to the canyon. 3 goats in the parking lot. Wheelchair accessible loop. Fun to jump around the red river bed.1pm narrated boat ride (~7 miles, CAD34, also 11am, 4pm, 7pm) south to US. A narrow clear cut along the 49° in the forest to mark the border: a new addition after 9.11.
Hiking is allowed after US passport control. Kootenai Lake trail was rewarding. 2.8 mile one way, flat. Lots of beargrass. Saw 2 moose at the lake edge. Eventually our noise chased them back into the bushes. A couple behind us saw two on the trail. Hiked to Rainbow Falls, 1 mile, but didn't finish in order to catch the returning boat at 5:25pm (the next and last one is at 8pm). 2 deer on trail. The US custom office was closed and the officers took the same boat back to the village with us.
Cameron Lake (~30 min drive). Beautiful. Parking lot next to the lake, so is canoe rental, ice cream shop, ... The 0.5 mile hike to another little lake is a total waste of time.On the way out, saw more white tailed deer.
Once exited the park, 
we turned north for the Bison Padlock. View over the surrounding area is outstanding. A one way loop dirt road ~ 30 minutes. Saw ~ dozen buffaloes.Arrived at the town of East Glacier very late.
Route 89 between Babb & St Mary is picturesque. The drive (route 17) around Maskinonge Lake is breathtaking, just east of the Waterton Lakes park gate. Open vista, massive mountain range, mirrored in lakes.Day 6 (Friday): ~ 235 mile. 49 - 2
Two Medicine area of Glacier National Park.
Similar scenery, less dramatic than Many Glacier and St Mary. Less crowd too. Can be skipped if short of time. We stopped for:-
Running Eagle falls. 0.3 mile, flat. 2nd layer of falls seems to come out of a hidden cave. - Appistoki Falls on the scenic point trail. (Not worth the short hike.)
- Aster Park trail, ending at a rock crop for 360° view over the valley. 1.9 mile. 670 ft. A waterfall and a piece of meadow are two nice spots along the way. Fork to Paradise Point is a waste unless for fishing.
Leaving via route 2, hugging the south end of the park. Stopped at Goat Lick overlook. Saw 2 goats perilously standing on a low cliff.
Kootenai Falls county park. Falls is wide, quite impressive. The swing bridge is so so.
Overnight at Troy. Bad choice: a dump. Should have gone farther to Bonners Ferry.
Day 7 (Saturday) 7/4: ~ 520 miles.
Moyie Falls. A waste of time. Hard to find.
Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge. Large wetland and grassland. Despite the mid-day heat, we saw one moose, 4 deer, and numerous birds. Mytle falls is a nice little side trip cross the road from the office (closed). One visitor told me mid June is the best time to see baby deer emerging, and December for elks.Grand Coulee Dam - the largest electrical power producer and the largest concrete structure in US. 100° F. Tour available. Lots of people, waiting for the laser show at night.
Dry Falls State Park. Once the most powerful waterfall during the glacier flooding from Lake Missoula, now sun patched. Cliff marks and plunge pools still tell the story A large camping ground in the bottom around the lakes. My tire went flat. A Korean man stopped to help us put the spare one in. Drove 30 miles to Ephrata's WalMart to get the tired replaced. The drive from Coulee Dam to south of Dry Falls is scenic.
Back to Seattle ~10:10pm. Caught part of the fireworks on Lake Union from Capital Hill.
