national-parks | Temporary Sanity ...

We left John Day at the stroke of noonish and made the “grueling” drive to Paradise City where we will spend just one night. The drive was 13 miles, but it was on our list, so we stopped. It’s a really nice facility but right off hand I cannot remember much about it. My mind doesn’t seem to retain anything for a useful amount of time. It’s there, then it’s gone.

So, I’m just going to share what’s in my head right now.

First, we mad it to Farewell Bend State Recreation camp ground located a few miles from where Cliff’s Grandpa used to live. It’s a small town of 450 residents and has no gas stations. While he and Susie toured the town, Diane drove us to Nampa for a visit with Jim, Donna, Steffani, and Bob. Diane was excited about the drive because once you cross the border into Idaho, the speed limit rises to 80 MPH. It gave her an opportunity to burn out the carbon she’s been accumulating in the engine.

It was a nice visit. Short, but nice, and we got lunch!

Before leaving Nampa for our return trip “home”, we stopped at Costco to fuel up. The last time we didn’t do that and ran over 125 miles on an empty tank in the motor home. True story. We drove all the way to La Grande. The next morning was our checkout day so I had the pleasure of emptying our holding tanks on that way out of the park. It took a while and I’m happy to report that I didn’t spill even one little drop, then we went up the side road to Huntington to visit a museum.

There was a lot of interesting things inside, most interesting the curator who grew up in Huntington and knew where Cliff’s Grandpa lived (2 blocks from the museum). I think she remembered the color of the house, too. She knows the history of Huntington.

The railroad was something that touched everyone’s lives in some way, as did river traffic on the Snake River. There’s information about the time a steamboat captain sails his way through Hell’s Canyon.

The rest of the items are typical for a small town, except for this guy.

It’s not often that you run across a gun-toting preacher.

The next stop was at the “A Frame RV Park” in Baker City. It was a fairly easy drive. Actually, it was very easy for me because Diane is doing all of the driving. The only thing I do is park the truck and trailer on arrival, and hook it all back up when it’s time to leave. Easy peasy, right?

We checked in for a 2-day stay so relaxed after getting things connected then the next morning we took a trip to the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center that resides on a hill just outside of Baker City. Actually, it was just 4-5 miles from our current residence.

This was an excellent stop. The displays and stories are awesome. We stayed long enough to be the last wagon remaining in the parking lot. If you’re ever in Baker City, this is a must to visit.

On the way back to the ‘ranch’, we were assaulted with a rock hitting the windshield thrown by a little car going the other way, The glass chipped and cracked and will require replacement. We decided to celebrate this assault by eating dinner out at the Latitude Forty Five restaurant. Great people, excellent food.

Bsck at the A Frame Park, I took Max for a walk in the 9-acre dog park they have. He really liked the freedom and he met many congenial dogs.

I got the TV working by searching local channels. It’s almost as good as Dish TV but there are only 66 channels. We did, however, get to watch AGT for the first time on this trip.

This day, our last one here in BC, we spent looking around town for thrift stores and cheap places to shop.

Tomorrow we leave for Elgin hoping they can accommodate the two of us for a couple of days. From there we’ll be going to Hell’s Canyon.

We left the bus not long before noon, and we only made it about 10 feet before Diane stopped and told me to get my keys.

I’ve done this before. So far, no harm has befallen us because of my mismanagement of the keys.

The park is about 55 miles away, a bit south of Green Valley, so we had to traverse familiar territory to get there. That was OK, because it’s actually a nice drive. It’s even better because I don’t have to drive. More accurately, I’m not allowed to drive. Max and I just sat there enjoying the ride.

Getting there was simple but when we approached the park there were cars parked all along both sides of the road. At first glance it was apparent that getting to the park itself could involve a long walk. Not knowing exactly where the entrance was, Diane kept driving until she spied a handicap spot and took it. As it turned out, that spot was directly in front of the entrance door into the park. Amazing, right? It gets better.

The entrance sign was very specific that no pets were allowed so I went inside to see if Max would be allowed to enter as a Support Animal. I made it clear that Max was a work in progress to be a Service Animal. To our benefit, the guy sitting behind the desk was a retired Command Master Chief with over 40 years of service so wearing my navy hat paid off. He only gave me a little grief about only making Senior Chief and for quitting the Navy after only 26.5 years. We chatted a bit and It was a good talk. He handed us off to a fellow ranger gave me the drill for service animals to ensure I understood the importance of not letting him desecrate the buildings or grounds. We understood. That actually isn’t a problem with Max because he’s the best little dog in the world.

There was a fiesta going on, the reason for our trip, and we could hear the music and singing in the distance. It was very pleasant.

We followed the fiesta signs that led deep into the park, behind the old church in the photo. Since it was on the way to the music, we had to stop and to see it before finding the source of the music.

Work on the church began in 1800 and the church was dedicated in 1822.

This is a rendition of what the interior looked like when it was in use.

This is what’s left

This is a rendition of what the altar area looked like

Here’s what’s left.

Now that you’ve seen my photos, you need to check out the park’s web site for better ones. I’m sure you will enjoy it.

The festival was a venue for many church, youth groups, and individual artists who sold items they made to support their groups. Scattered amongst the crafty people were many opportunities to by an incredible array of food. I bought Diane a bottle of water and a small Christmas tree ornament made out of string. Here are a couple of photos of the festivities. It was a busy place.

On the way out of the park we stopped for a while in a shady spot.

Here’s where we parked – the car on the right. That dark spot to the left of the car is the entrance door.

We drove back to Green Valley before hunger struck so we stopped at Arby’s for a fill-up. Max wasn’t offered anything to eat so he was a little bummed.

He stood like that the entire time I was eating my sandwich, so he got his way and wound up with quite a few bits of roast beef. It was only fair.

As soon as we got home, I took Max for a walk. We wound up talking to Chuck Berry, a fellow who drives an older RV with Oregon plates. I’ve been waiting to meet him, but he was never there when we went by, until this time.

I introduced myself and asked him which part of Oregon he had escaped from. He looked me right in the eye and said, “have you ever heard of St. Helens?” That was a true shocker. He and his wife live in St. Helens less than a mile from where we live.

Small world, right?

Needless to say, we had a nice visit and plan to have another before they leave this week.

Imagine that.