We've also added more pics to our photo album for this trip.
Leaving Walla Walla we did a monstrous 45 minute drive to Pendleton Oregon where we stayed a couple of nights.
Pendleton is home of the Pendleton Woollen Mills. Of course we had to stop and shop for a new blanket. One of the sales ladies asked if we have ever been in the store before? Kris replied "I know exactly how many times I have been in the store... I have a blanket for each visit". After this visit we now have 3 beautiful Pendleton blankets, although this one was bought specifically to beautify the little trailer. They also offer a tour of the mill facilities. This short 1/2 hour tour is very interesting and well worth the time. The high speed computerized carding, spinning and weaving machines they now have are mind boggling. They now weave full size blankets in the 16 minute range.
While in Pendleton we also did the Pendleton Underground Tour which, like the woollen mill tour, is well worth the time. The tour guides do a great job as they lead you through the underground tunnels, the old Chinese jails, gambling parlors, then back up to the street and into a well preserved historic brothel building overlooking Main Street.
Luckily (we think) we arrived in Pendleton a week before the annual "roundup and rodeo". This year marks the 100th anniversary and it is billed as "party time". The town normally has a population in the 17,000 range but they were expecting an influx of 80,000-100,000 visitors for roundup. We asked some folks where all those people would stay. One guy said that if "we saw a crack in the sidewalk that wasn't occupied then grab it". Actually schools close so their parking lots become RV parks as well as local farmers' fields and any other spot that can be rented out. The rodeo motto is "let'r buck" which seems to apply to all activities including the invitation to an open bar and karaoke at 7 AM. Really.
For our evening entertainment, in Pendleton, we retired to the Hamley Historic Saloon, a beautifully restored old building downtown. Very cool atmosphere. Not many folks this week but our server told us that you would not be able to move in there from morning until late night once round-up started. The place made us wonder why we don't see this type of restored building in Calgary as part of it's western heritage. Newer bars just don't cut it in the same way.
From Pendleton we headed south into eastern Oregon. The drive from Pendleton to Burns then onto Lakeview Oregon, just north of the California border, was just fabulous. The scenery varies from high plains desert to a variety of thick forests including fir, pine, and juniper. Between Pendleton and Burns we commented that this would be a great place to train for the Tour d'France Bicycle race. It is up and down like a yoyo with quite high summits. Most of the summits are in the 4500 to 5000 foot level. North of Lakeview there are monstrous lava mountains (the Abert Rim is the offical name of the geological feature) with the diffent layers of lava flow easily counted. One of the tourist info spots we stopped at indicated that the layers have been counted up to 42 deep with the mountains thrust over 2500 above the valley floors. Really neat to see.
Just north of Lakeview is the "old perpetual Lakeview Geyser" which we were told "shoots plumes, of 200 degree water, 60 feet into the air every 90 seconds. We had to see this... but it was not so perpetual as they would like to think... no geyser... apparently the geyser went dry this summer, something it decides to do every once in a while. So no geyser viewing for us! The water table is so low that even huge Goose Lake just south of town is apparently on the verge of being totally dry.
Anyway, we arrived in Burns to a bit of a thunderstorm so we went off to find some dinner at one of the local eateries. Small country town but we found the "Meat Hook" restaurant. From the outside it looks like a divey little place but inside is a typical family restaurant with the typical combination of tables and booths. The difference in this family run place is the fantastic collection of agricultural show ribbons, they have won for their cattle, at shows all over the US as well as some from Canada, Mexico and Argentina. The food was great. Kris had a perfectly cooked steak and Brian had an excellent "philly cheese double chuck patty burger". The food was great with the total bill being $33 of which $22 was for a couple of glasses of very fine wine. We retired to a rainy night in the wee trailer and watched a couple of episodes of Battlestar Galactica (the series we are watching on this trip).
We woke to a chilly but sunny morning in Burns and headed off to Lakeview. In Lakeview we stayed at the Junipers Reservoir RV Park. This park, at first glance, makes one wonder where you are going. Turning off the main road onto a gravel farm road it seems that you are headed for some farmer's back 40. However after a mile or so, you go over a rise and see this park nestled up against a beautiful juniper forest. The sky was brilliant blue and as the sun set the different colors on the distant mountains was really cool to see. The night sky was perfectly clear and the stars were out in abundance and the smell of the junipers in the cool night air (the temp dropped a couple of degrees below freezing) was very pleasant. Lakeview is also known as the "tallest town in Oregon". It sits at 4800 feet.
So, all in all, the eastern side of Oregon is pretty cool. Very little traffic this time of year making the drive very pleasant with just fabulous scenery and great small towns. This route is definitely a fine alternative to always going up and down the coast highway which, in and of itself, is darn hard to beat. No jackaplopes thus far, however.
On to California, where the weather continued to be clear and warm (damn warm)...
Our first night in California was just outside of McArthur and Fall River, a couple of towns only 4 miles apart and totalling only about 3,000 folks. We drove up to the McArthur-Burney State Park to see the water falls. You can see the water pouring out of the different lava layers. They say it pours over a million gallons a day. Neat sight to see.
In Fall River there is a Shell station which gave us a good laugh...
... get your gas, bullets and booze here... always a classic and all in one easy stop.
The next day was a short trip distance wise. Only about 100 miles south to Chester but what a drive. We went through the Lassen Volcano National Park which takes a windy road up past the old volcano to the 8600 foot summit. The views along the way are spectacular with lots of photo opportunities. Great visitor centres at each end of the park road.
Arriving in Chester we found that we just happen to hit town on the day of the 25th annual Chester antique car show. WOW. After ditching the wee trailer we headed back into town and spent a good part of the late afternoon viewing these fabulously restored cars from as far back as the 1930's. There were about 150 beautiful old cars to ogle.
Our last travel day for this week was around the east side of Lake Almanor (Chester is on the north end) then south on the scenic highway 70, also known as the Feather River Scenic Biway, to end the week at Oroville and it's 34 C temperature. Although no where near as dramatic as the drive through Lassen Park, this is a very pretty drive through heavily forested areas and on into the deep canyons as the route follows the Feather River.
Once we signed in at the Oroville KOA the first order of business was to hit the pool. Later, after a drive around the small town we went back to the KOA and decided to wander over to the nearby Feather River Casino since the KOA had given us some $2.00 off coupons for the "fine buffet". Figuring it was going to be a bit cheesy we decided, what the heck, let's give it a try. After a couple of glasses of wine and some video poker in one of the casino lounge/bar areas, where we managed to win $100, we headed to the buffet and for all of $18 between the two of us we had what turned out to be a pretty good buffet dinner.
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