Well here we go again. We drove to spend one night in Prosser en route to Joseph, OR. It was a beautiful 87 degree day. I went for a swim in the pool and later we went out for pizza at our favorite eatery in town, Pizza Stone Pub. When we got home we sat out watching a large storm 30-40 miles to the West. There was some pretty spectacular lightning. By 10:30 the storm was on us so inside to bed we went.
We left Wine Country at about 9 driving just over 200 miles to Joseph, OR. The town is about 75 miles north and east of La Grande on Hwy 82. We stayed at the Mt View Motel and RV Park. This is a nice clean park owned by a fellow named Scott. He's quite a character that takes a lot of pride in his property. One day he was out walking ever so slowly carrying a pump can looking at the grass for dandelions and clover. He did this for most of the day. We drove the mile into town and walked around checking the local businesses. Later in the Summer there is the Chief Joseph rodeo and celebration. The community is surrounded by the Wallowa Mountains.
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| Can you see the "Ed Ames" face? |
On Lake Wallowa there are rafts anchored in the lake that fishermen and other boaters use. Some even have picnic tables and upholstered benches on them.
Then back to the park. It was warm but the wind was blowing so hard it caused a chill that sent us inside for dinner and the evening. The forecast for tomorrow is for mid 70's with less wind.
June 4, 2014
We went into Joseph and explored the Wallowa Lake Lodge area. There is a beautiful state park that is one of the most popular in the state. They have stores, an amusement area and a marina. After checking all the stuff out we took the Wallowa Lake Tramway to the summit of Mt Howard. The tram took us up 3700 ft to the top making our elevation 8150 ft. There is still snow so none of the trails are open for hiking. The view of the surrounding mountains and the valley was spectacular.
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| 8150 ft elevation |
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| Looking down at Wallowa Lake |
There is a restaurant at the top that is quite nice. With food outdoors you are going to have wildlife begging for hand outs. There were High Mountain Squirrels and chipmunks and Camp Robbers, aka Clarks Nutcracker birds in abundance. The squirrels and chipmunks were very tame. This one was almost ON my shoe.
June 5, 2014
After breakfast we drove 5 miles into Enterprise to nose around the town. The library is about 100 years old and one of the last five of them this age that are still being used as libraries. We went to the basement and found the used books for sale. I bought 5 paper backs for $1. Then it was back to the park for lunch. We went for a hike of about 2.5 miles. It was over the Iwetemlaykin Trail which was about a mile but we got off the mail trail and added some distance. We were almost back to the truck when we saw these two deer feeding in a pasture across from the trail head.
June 6, 2014
This morning we hit the road driving to Baker City, about 140 miles from Joseph. Baker City is steeped in history from the 1800's. The community has done a great job establishing the historical district as a walking tour. We spent the better part of the afternoon walking and discovering the history of Baker City. This being the first Friday of the month there was a walking art tour and the merchants stay open, put out extra displays and many have bands/musicians on hand from 4-8 PM. The weather was nice but when we went to our park, Mt View RV, the wind kicked up pretty good. The RV park is real quaint. It has a western theme with some pretty cute facades on the buildings.
We cooked outdoors and after eating the wind had subsided so it was outside with our fireplace until about 9:30.
June 7, 2014
After breakfast today we went to the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. This is a great exhibit of the trek emigrants made coming from the east to settle the Oregon Territory. One thing we learned was the first to make the trek were tappers who traveled from west to east to sell their furs. The emigrants who came from the east had horrific experiences on their journey which took about 6 months to cover the almost 2000 miles. If any of you are ever in the area we suggest putting this exhibit on your list of places to visit. After this we did some shopping, went back to the park for lunch and enjoyed the sunny but windy day and evening.
June 8, 2014
We went for about a 2.5 mile walk walk on the Leo Adler Memorial Parkway after breakfast. Leo Adler was a kid of about 9 years old in the early 1900's when he started selling magazines. He was the top salesman in the country by the time he was 20. He then started setting up distribution and magazine stores. He was a pillar of the community donating to charities and giving scholarships to the local population. When he died he gave Baker City $20,000,000 of his fortune for development of parks and other public use facilities. After our walk we gassed the truck up and went back to the park for the remainder of the day.
June 9, 2014
Up bright and early to head back to Prosser for one night, then home. This was a fun trip having traveled to two towns we have never been. Home tomorrow for about a week then off we go again.
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