Hello Everyone!
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my friends here in the United States. I hope you get to spend the day with friends and family, good food and cheer. To those of you who will be spending the holiday alone, as I will be this year, I hope you can have a quiet and peaceful day and find a good meal somewhere. I have officially left the state of Washington and returned south to Oregon. My last few days in Southeast Washington were excellent and I was sad to see it fade away in my rearview mirror. I was there for over two months, though, and saw most of what I had hoped to see and it is wonderful to be back in The Beaver State. It’s a little bit warmer and a little bit less expensive here and I’m looking forward to this coming week here before I fly back to the east coast for the holidays. I have a lot of photos left to edit and publish from Washington and I’m looking forward to catching up on those in December and starting fresh and up to date in 2026.
When I left you last week, I was in Sunnyside, Washington which was a pleasant enough little town. I wasn’t there long, though, and soon made my way just down the road to Prosser. I stopped in to do a wine tasting at one of the local wineries there which was okay. The gentleman working there was friendly and accommodating and the wine was pretty good, but these days I feel like you drop $20 (or more) on a wine tasting and they give you 4 tiny little sips of wine – not even a full glass all told. I was glad I got a taste of some of the local wines but it just seems like it’s rarely a good value for money. Oh well, I was there more for the experience than anything. It was late when I arrived and it was already getting dark when I left the tasting room, so I decided to just stay there in Prosser. I wandered around a bit and then stopped at a little bar called Bern’s Tavern. The bartender was a character and the locals were a lot of fun and I had a lovely time chatting with them about the area and about my journey through the state. Leaving Bern’s, I headed up on the hill to the Horse Heaven Vista point. It had a beautiful view over the whole valley and I was surprised by how many lights I saw as it seemed more sparsely populated at ground level. The vista point looked like the kind of place you see in the movies where local teenagers go to make out, and that’s exactly what it was. Luckily I could park in one of the corner spots and nobody bothered me. It quieted down around midnight and it was a nice enough place to spend the night.
After breakfast, I cruised back into Prosser and took a few more photos before getting back on the road. I headed east and into the Tri-Cities of Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland. My destination there was the tiny little visitor center for Manhattan Project National Historic Site. This is a National Park Site with three units: one in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, one in Los Alamos, New Mexico and this one in Richland which was the final one of the three for me to visit. I appreciate the historic significance of these sites and I think they are very important in both U.S. and world history, but they also commemorate a horrible period of time. I’ve also spent time in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki so I’ve seen the other side of the coin as well. This unit interprets the project site at Hanford, which was where they refined uranium into plutonium which was then used in the bomb that was tested at the Trinity Site and in “Fat Man” which was dropped on Nagasaki. The people working at Hanford, like those at Oak Ridge, had no idea what they were working on, just that it was supporting the U.S. war effort. They came from all over the country and formed a little community there which seemed like it was a nice enough place to live and work. Again, I think it is a fascinating place and one which should be interpreted and remembered, but not a happy place at all. I’m still glad I got to see it and put that final piece of the puzzle in place.
From there, I cut across the Tri-Cities but didn’t see anything really worth stopping for. I wanted to go to the interpretive center at Sacajawea State Park, but it was sadly closed for the winter. Looking at my watch and really needing something positive to see I made a beeline for remote Palouse Falls. This is a beautiful waterfall, the official State Waterfall of Washington as a matter of fact, but is pretty far from anything. It was a place I really wanted to see and the weather was behaving so it seemed like a great chance to check it out. I’m really glad I did as I thoroughly enjoyed the waterfall and had the whole park to myself for most of the time that I was there. I stayed until the sun was down and then shot off down the road. I wasn’t sure where I was going to stop for the night, but figured I’d know it when I saw it. I cruised through the town of Starbuck, which is one of the few towns in Washington which doesn’t have a Starbucks coffee shop in it. The next town I came to was Dayton and Dayton was an absolute gem.
When I pulled into Dayton, I saw their massive, old, county courthouse and knew this was my place for the night. Dayton is also home to Washington State’s oldest existing train station which is a real beauty. There is a lovely main street corridor and it just had a really pleasant small town feel to it. I wandered around town for a while and took some photos and then ended up in Buckwheat Brewing Company for a beer. This was an excellent little brewery with friendly bartenders and delicious brews. I especially liked their apple beer which was definitely a beer and not a cider but had enough apple flavor in it that you could taste it. It was unique and refreshing and very appropriate to the region. I enjoyed a few beers while I read my book and then retired for the night on the street next to the courthouse.
I spent most of the next morning in Dayton as well. I loved how seemingly every business had a sign or a painted window supporting their local high school team mascot, the Bulldogs. If the Bulldogs had been playing that night, I would have stuck around to see the game, but sadly they were not. There were some lovely murals around town and some cute churches, too. I got a coffee and a pastry at the Moose Creek Café and sat in the window watching the world go by. As the day was wearing on, I decided it was time to go so I cruised on down the highway to my final stop in Washington: Walla Walla (“A Town So Nice, They Named It Twice”). My first stop was Fort Walla Walla – a sprawling museum complex just outside of town. There were two massive buildings dedicated to explaining the local wheat harvest. One of them had a full-sized replica of a 33 mule team thresher with 33 life-sized mule mannequins pulling it. The little pioneer town at the museum was all closed up for the winter, but it was a nice place to wander through and check out the historic buildings. There was a helpful audio tour that went along with the museum which was an excellent supplement to the written signs.
There was still plenty of daylight left when I finished at the fort, so I headed on down to the old Whitman Mission National Historic Site. I had been there before but it’s been a while so I decided it would be good to see it again. This is another difficult place as it commemorates the massacre of Dr. Marcus Whitman, his wife Narcissa, and 11 other people by the local Cayuse Indians. The Whitmans moved to the area as missionaries to try and convert the Cayuse to Christianity with, I will assume, the best of intentions. They had some early success but the Cayuse soon lost interest, especially since the Whitmans tried to “teach” them about farming and housework by making them do the farming and housework. It was during this time that huge emigrant parties started making their way down the Oregon Trail and many stopped in to visit the Whitmans along the way. With them, they brought European diseases and the measles ended up killing almost half of the local Cayuse population, mostly children. Dr. Whitman tried to care for all of those who were sick, but his white patients mostly recovered while almost all of the Cayuse who got sick ended up dying. It’s not hard to imagine what came next as the Cayuse came and killed the doctor, his wife, and many other adults who were there at the time. It’s a difficult place and situation because you can see both sides so easily looking back from 178 years in the future. I’m glad that both sides of the story are told at this site so you can get that balanced view. I walked the grounds of the old mission grounds and visited the mass grave of those killed there and the monument to their memory up on the hill. I was refreshed by a magnificent sunset which helped to lift my spirits up a bit. I hit the gym and then went downtown for a few drinks and a quiet night.
The next morning was super foggy in Walla Walla, so I spent the a couple of hours reading in a café and waiting for the fog to lift. I strolled around downtown and had a lovely conversation with Janice at the little visitor center there. Then I headed over to the Kirkman House museum to check that out. As soon as I walked in, I was warmly welcomed by Pam who was working there that day. She was about the friendliest person I’ve met in a long time and we chatted for several hours about the house, the Kirkmans, her life and mine. The house is a beautiful old Italianate mansion and the Kirkman family has donated many original artworks and furniture pieces to the museum. I especially loved an angel lamp on the banister which had been stolen at some point and then discovered years later at an antique store very far from Walla Walla. I think Pam’s favorite part was the room dedicated to Walla Walla local Adam West, TV’s original Batman. She answered a red blinking phone, flipped the head of a statue open and turned a dial which caused one of the bookshelves to slide out of the way and reveal poles leading to the Bat Cave. It was really amusing. From there I went out to Pioneer Park which is home to Walla Walla’s famous aviary. Built in 1982, this is a serious aviary with many different species of birds including peacocks and other exotics. It was very strange and also wonderful to find such a place in this quiet corner of the state. After I finished at the Aviary I headed down to Plumb Vineyards’ tasting room for some live music, excellent wine and a great conversation with a couple who had moved to Walla Walla last year and were very enthusiastic about all it had to offer. I really enjoyed the wine and the company and it was a lovely way to wind up my time in Walla Walla and in Washington.
On Sunday, I turned my headlights south and shot down to Pendleton, Oregon. Pendleton is the county seat of Umatilla County, and the biggest city in the region with a population of about 17,000. It’s also home to one of the state’s biggest rodeos and the Pendleton Woolen Mill which has been in business for over 100 years. It was quiet in Pendleton on a Sunday afternoon, so I wandered around and took a few photos and then tucked into the Starbucks to get some work done for a few hours. I went back downtown after dark and enjoyed a lovely dinner at the Hamley Steakhouse and Saloon which has been around since 1883. I had a delicious steak and a couple of beers and enjoyed the old-west atmosphere of the place and its fine old wood bar. The price was very reasonable compared to what I’ve experienced in Washington for the last couple of months, and no state sales tax made it even more affordable. I enjoyed my dinner very much and then called it another early night.
I woke to a warm and sunny Sunday in Pendleton and started the day with a nice, long walk around town. Then I headed out to Pendleton Woolen Mills for an 11am tour. Pendleton blankets are so interwoven (pun intended) with American Indian history and our National Parks, and I was intrigued to visit their factory and learn more about the story. The company traces its roots to Thomas Kay, an English-born weaver who had spent many years working in mills on the U.S. east coast before relocating to Oregon in 1863, where he opened his first woolen mill in Salem. It was Thomas’ three grandsons who came to Pendleton in 1909 and reopened a failed mill in the town with the backing of the local population. There were plentiful sheep in the area and a rail line to help bring their products to market. The family wanted to sell to the local Umatilla, Cayuse, Nez Perce and Walla Walla tribes, so they consulted with these people on design and color preferences and soon the first Pendleton trade blankets were coming off of their looms. Later, they would bring their blankets to the tribes of the Desert Southwest and today many Indian groups will mark a new birth or a marriage with the gift of a Pendleton blanket. Glacier National Park introduced Pendleton blankets into their lodges in 1916 and today several of our most beloved parks have their own unique Pendleton design. In 1923, President Harding and his wife came to Oregon to commemorate a portion of the Old Oregon Trail and were presented with a custom Pendleton blanket by the local Cayuse and Umatilla tribes. The Harding blanket has been in production ever since, which made me smile as that is also my last name (although we are not related). In a fun side-note, when Pendleton started making other clothing items, their shirts were worn and loved by California’s surfer community. A band called The Pendletones took their name from these shirts and would later be renamed The Beach Boys. It was fascinating to hear these stories, wander through the factory and see the quality of the finished product. After much deliberation I decided that a Pendleton blanket was something I really wanted, so I chose a beautiful orange Chief Joseph blanket for my van and even got 20% off having taken a tour of the mill.
Leaving the mill with my new blanket, I went back downtown to have a quick beer at The Rainbow Café. This little bar was founded in 1883, the same year as the Pioneer Saloon in Porcelain, Oregon and the two battle it out over which is actually the oldest bar in the state. It’s not for me to judge, but it would be a tragedy not to stop and have a beer at this storied site. After a quick one and a nice look around at their old photos, I hit the road east towards the Wallowa Valley. The Wallowa Valley was the historic home of the Joseph Band of Nez Perce Indians. Chief Joseph’s story is a long and fascinating one. After many years of friendship with the new settlers who came west, his people were being forced to move from their beloved Wallowa Valley onto a reservation. At one point, violence erupted and Joseph knew he had to go so he lead his people on a tremendous journey north and east towards the Canadian border, all the time being pursued by the U.S. Army. He was stopped just short of the border, arrested and sent to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. Later he was allowed to rejoin his people in Washington State. His tenacity and leadership would gain Chief Joseph tremendous praise and he became one of the most well-known Indians in the country. He rode with Buffalo Bill in a parade to honor Ulysses S. Grant and met with Presidents Hayes and Teddy Roosevelt. He once visited Seattle and was photographed by Edward Curtis, the Shadow Catcher, after whom my van is named. In all of those meetings, his focus was on only one thing – being allowed to return to the Wallowa Valley. He never did and died and was buried on the Coleville Indian Reservation outside the town of Nespelem, where I was just 2 weeks ago. One of the places I knew I must visit in Oregon was the Wallowa Valley. I had to see what so inspired the great Chief for whom I have the utmost respect.
The ride from Pendleton was beautiful, especially when I left the interstate at La Grande to follow the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway along the Wallowa River. As I made my way into the valley, I saw the beautiful snow-capped mountains and I immediately knew the beauty that Chief Joseph spoke so longingly about. It is definitely a special and magical place. I cruised into the little town of Enterprise with enough time to go for a walk and take some photos. I had climbed several thousand feet to get here and it was noticeably colder out. I had to break out my hat and gloves and would be very glad for my new Pendleton wool blanket over night. It’s a pretty little town with a nice Old West feel to it, but it’s the mountains that kept pulling my eyes upward that struck me the most. There was a lovely sunset last night and I enjoyed a simple meal at The Range Rider Tavern before tucking into my van for a cold but cozy night behind the courthouse.
This morning was below freezing but sunny and nice out. I enjoyed a morning stroll and a stop for a cup of coffee before tucking into the little library here to finish this week’s post. I’m going to go ahead and publish it today, Tuesday, because I’m not sure if I will have internet access tomorrow and I wanted to be sure I got it out.
It’s going to be cold this week, and the sun is setting right around 4pm this far east. It’s that time of year and while it has its challenges it also makes me feel very alive as I make my way around the region. I’m going to stay here in the Wallowa Valley tonight and then try and head out via the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway to the south and complete the circuit out to Baker City, a notable stop on the Oregon Trail. I’m going to see what comes this weekend, but I hope to cover some more ground this week here in Eastern Oregon before heading towards Boise for my flight home next week. I will definitely be in Boise when I write to you next week, and probably ready to be home for a while in a nice warm house. I’m definitely looking forward to the holidays and to spending time with my family and friends. Have a great week out there. Stay warm and find some time for a hot drink and a good book if you can. Thank you, as always, for reading.
-Mike