On the shores of Wallowa Lake

Tonight we are at Wallowa Lake State Recreation Area near the tiny and funky northeastern Oregon town of Joseph.  We got here about 1 p.m., got set up in a great spot near beautiful Wallowa Lake, and had time to take a hike, drive to also tiny Enterprise, OR, so Jim could sample the beer at the Terminal Gravity Brewery, and visited a historical site.  

But to wrap up yesterday, we visited the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City where we watched the obligatory visitor center movie about the Oregon Trail.  Living in Salt Lake, I hear a lot about pioneers trekking west and once again thought “I don’t know how those people managed.”  One who did was Jim’s great grandfather, Milton Brown, who made the trip as a young boy.

Jim standing near still-existing wagon wheel ruts of the Oregon trail.  Jim’s great grandfather, Milton Brown, came west from Missouri as a young boy.  Great-grandfather Brown is the grandfather of Jim’s mom.  We think great-grandfather's future wife, Amelia Hayes, may have been born on that trail.

View from our campground at Wallowa Lake State Park, nestled between the south end of a glacial lake and the towering Wallowa Mountains.  

Wallowa Lake and the mountains as seen from the highway on the drive in to the park. Such an amazing view.  

Cooper on the trail.  At one point Jim and I heard something that sounded big, so we both grabbed sticks (I had a really good club-like one) and carried them the rest of the way.   Whatever it was, it didn’t appear.  Last time I heard what I thought was a large animal lumbering in the woods, I was in Mississippi and the lumberer turned out to be an armadillo.  No armadillos here, but they do have black bears and mountain lions; being a reader of state park brochures, I learned that if attacked by a black bear “it is suggested” you fight back.

The hummus plate I got at Terminal Gravity Brewery.  Looks pretty -- but Ashley and I make better hummus.  Jim, however, liked his beer.

Jim offered to pose for this photo; usually I have to beg him.