Brother and sister reunion

Yesterday started when our propane alarm went off at 4.a.m.  In early afternoon we discovered that we’d towed our Honda 200 miles with the emergency brake on. But life did a 180 degree turnaround that evening when Jim had a reunion with his sister, Cathy.

Cathy and Jim share the same birth day (January 20) but Jim is 3 years older.  They spent most of their growing up years in Yakima, Washington, and Cathy briefly lived in Corvallis, OR, while Jim was going to Oregon State.  Then they lived in different cities in the Pacific Northwest before Jim came to Salt Lake City.  And while Jim and Cathy have been in touch, they had not seen each other for 18 years. 

Cathy moved to south-central Washington’s Kennewick several years ago, and that’s where we visited her.  We went to her beautiful home (love those hostas), Cathy served a great dinner, and she and Jim talked non stop.  

Then today we had a picnic with most of Cathy's family.  It's been a fun two days.

Jim and Cathy in her kitchen.  Cathy is a "handy woman" and recently tiled her kitchen back splash with some great small, glass tile.

From left to right in the back:  Audrey (Cathy's daughter-in-law);  Cathy's daughter Megan; Megan's husband, James; Cathy; Jim and Bev.  Front row:  Megan and James' kids:  8-year-old Gracie, 9-year-old James, and almost 5-year-old Chloe (holding puppy Gus).  It appears that Megan is much better at running and posing while the camera timer is ticking than Bev is. 

Everyone waiting while Bev and Megan set up their cameras.  Cathy also has a son, David (Audrey's husband) but he had to work and couldn't make the picnic.

Jim and Cathy at Hood River Park -- about 13 miles from Cathy's home in  Kennewick -- where we had today's picnic.  It's also the park where Jim and I are camping.

The Chief Joseph Trail

Today we did a beautiful hike on the Chief Joseph Trail near our campground at Wallowa Lake State Recreation Area.  Photos below:  

Jim and Cooper on the Chief Joseph Trail with Wallowa Lake in the background.  Our campground is at the shore of the lake.

Another photo of the boys.

Cooper is almost 13 years old but was running like a puppy on the trail.

Back at the rig, Cooper soon found his favorite napping spot:  the laundry bag

Old Chief Joseph, for whom Joseph, Oregon was named, was a leader of the Wallowa Nez Perce Indians, one of the first Nez Perce converts to Christianity, and an advocate of peace with whites.  Joseph was his Christian name; his Nez Perce name was Tuekakas.  In 1855 Joseph signed a treaty that set up a Nez Perce reservation of over 7 million acres in Oregon, Idaho and Montana in return for an assurance that whites would never intrude upon the Wallowa Valley.Eight years later and following a local gold rush, a new treaty reducing the reservation to 1/10 its size was presented.  Feeling deceived, Old Chief Joseph renounced Christianity and declined to sign the treaty or leave the Wallowa valley. 

When Old Chief Joseph died, his son became chief;  an army general threatened to attack if the Nez Perce did not move.   Young Joseph, also a peace advocate, was forced into a battle.  He eventually surrendered and, along with 400 of his followers, was sent via rail (and dismal conditions) to Forth Leavenworth, Kansas, and held as prisoners for 8 months.  Other Nez Perce were taken by rail to a reservation in Oklahoma.  Some were eventually allowed to return to the Pacific North West, but not to the Wallowa Valley.

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.

If it's raining, we must be in Oregon

The first time Jim and I traveled to Oregon together, it started to rain as we crossed the border from Idaho to Oregon.  This time the rain held off until we got to our first Oregon stop of Baker City and Jim was in the middle of hooking up the rig to the water and electricity.

Baker City was a big deal during the 1860s gold rush and by 1900, had more residents than either Spokane or Boise. But like a travel brochure we were given said “Eventually, the golden years faded and Baker City matured to a quieter, more stable community.”  

We did a walking tour and broke in our recently purchased rain gear;  our walk took us through town and pointed out nine formerly faded but now restored, elegant buildings.  Then we came back to the rig and listened to the rain.

The 240-mile drive from Jerome to the Oregon state line was mostly flat or gently rolling irrigated ranch land.  As you can see from the clouds, we were driving toward rain.

Jim hooking up the rig just moments before the rain hit.  The park we are staying at is called "Mountain View" and is on the north edge of Baker City. When we started to drive around, Jim realized it's right next door to a an Oregon State Department of Forestry office he'd been to while he was working for that group and fighting forest fires.

Mountain View RV Park Office/store. The sign outside says it has ice cream, but I haven't checked that out yet.

The building housing "Betty's Books" was on the walking our, and was part of an $18 million renovation of Baker City's historic downtown.  Betty Kuhl has owned this building since 1979; she removed the plaster facade that was added in the 1950s.  110 downtown buildings are intact from the gold rush days.

The Geiser Grand Hotel was built in 1889 for the then huge amount of $65,000.   It was closed for 30 years before being restored and reopened in 1997.  Check out the Palm Court (the dining room) and the Palm Court Balcony with the stained glass ceiling in a virtual tour by clicking here.

Jim during a rain break carrying some finds we bought at a great shop called Bellas (OK, OK. He's carrying beer). I got a double chocolate stout beer that is really chocolately, plus chocolate truffles: dinner.

On the road again

We said good bye to our red-headed grand daughter, our new grandson, our daughter and son in law.  I am really going to miss them.  But by noon we were on I-15 headed north for our summer adventure in the Pacific Northwest.  As I write, I’m sitting in the parking lot of our first stop:  the Jerome, Idaho Walmart. We have a couple more interesting stops planned along the way, but our first big event will be in Kennewick, Washington, to visit Jim’s sister. We will also spend time in Portland, the Oregon coast and Seattle.  Other than that ... we’ll know it when we get there.

Also, last night we went to a loud, fun, delicious retirement dinner with 8 friends to celebrate a 35-year career in teaching.  Congrats, Steve!  (Note to the group: we found our bear spray.)  

Grand daughter Mia in the door way of our rig, or as she calls it, "Grandma and Grandpa's school bus."

Our motor home parked in front of our home as we did the final loading.  Now that we know what we actually use while living full time in the rig, we left with fewer items than when we first took off last August.  Some of the things we left behind:  one of our lounge area’s barrel chairs, some camping equipment, a second computer, and a lot of clothes we never wore (but we did bring rain gear).   

I had a request for a Walmart photo, so here it is.  We’re not even unhooking the tow car for this one night stop in Jerome and won’t do any exploring.  But I read that Jerome has a population of about 11,000.


Grandson Marshall at ten days old.

Marshall and big sister Mia.

Shad, Marshmallow, Ashley and Mia.

Bev with her girls and grandson.