10-20-17

Today is the last day of this trip.  We left this morning to explore a little west of Umatilla.  We drove to Boardman OR and visited the city park.  There was a covered area with rocks inside carved with old native American petroglyphs.

It was a windy day, which is typical for the Columbia Gorge.  Below is a picture of whitecaps on the river from the window of the restaurant where we had lunch.

In the park outside the restaurant was an old tugboat.

After lunch we visited the Sage Center, which is an agricultural museum we had passed on the highway many times.  It was actually very well done.  They  had a kinetic reproduction of the processing of potatoes from harvest to curly fries.  There were exhibits on irrigation, different crops, dairy production, barge and train transportation of foods and several other interesting topics.  We were glad we saw it.

Tomorrow morning we will head for home.

10-19-17

This is a very quiet and restful vacation.  Above are the hundreds of seagulls resting in the parking lot of the marina.  

Yesterday we decided to drive east along the Columbia River to find some lunch in Wallula, WA.  It was not more than a half hour from our campground and there was some beautiful desert scenery along the way.

Wallula, itself however, was nothing to write home about.  It consisted of about 35 small homes, an apple orchard and an historic marker commemorating Fort Walla Walla.  No lunch anywhere in sight.

The campground in Umatilla is right next to a bridge.  At night the 18 wheelers use their air brakes to negotiate the downgrade.  Very noisy!  Otherwise, the campground is great. 

Nearby is McNary Dam but we have not opted for a visit.  We have been to the Grand Coulee Dam, Hoover Dam and Bonnieville Dam, so there is probably nothing new for us here.

Gary played golf today and shot an 87.  He was delighted.  This was probably going to be his last chance to play before the rain started.  After golf we went into Hermiston and found a little gem of a restaurant, Walker's Farm Kitchen.  The name does not tell the story at all, it is a gourmet restaurant in a town full of chain restaurants and small sports bars.  (This is not surprising as the area is heavily military and farm workers.)  If the restaurant were mine, I would probably have opted to leave the word "farm" out of the name and would have chosen a different logo instead of the dead pig.

In any case, this restaurant is special.  If it were in Lake Oswego it would be highly successful.  I had a grilled cheese sandwich for adults, which included avocado and bacon and the side dish was shredded Brussels sprouts salad with cranberries and nuts.  Delicious.  Gary had a fresh Cobb salad.  The meal was so good that we returned for dinner.  Appetizer was fried Brussels sprouts.  Very special.  We also enjoyed the art decorating the dining room.

Just outside the pretty Umatilla RV Park and Marina are three monuments commemorating the building of the Umatilla Bridge which was completed in 1955.  You can see the old metal bridge in front of the new highway bridge over the Columbia River, which links Oregon and Washington.

We went exploring in nearby Hermiston.  Who knew that Hermiston is a watermelon hot spot? There are watermelon logos everywhere.  Unfortunately, this is not the high season so we didn't get to sample the local fare.

Hermiston is fairly small, but not as small as Umatilla.  There is not too much to see here.  We did find a Cowboy Church, though.

And two metal men on top of an electrical repair shop.  More adventures later.

10-15-17

We left Lake Oswego today headed for Umatilla, OR.  Umatilla is located on the Columbia River just east of the Columbia Gorge Scenic area which had fierce wildfires a few weeks ago.  In fact, some of the fires are still burning, but out of sight of I-84, which is the main highway running parallel to the river. 

We saw lots of burned areas but were surprised that most of the devastation was out of view, particularly when I-84 had been closed in both directions for over three weeks.  The fire jumped the river and burned significant areas on the Washington side, too.  Multnomah Falls and the road that runs by the waterfalls are still closed as are many hiking trails.  There is real danger from falling trees and rocks in the area.  Above are a couple of the burnt areas we saw.

This is one of the tunnels under a mountain along the Columbia Gorge.

We arrived at Umatilla RV Park and Marina about 2:00 PM and hooked up to the water supply.  We immediately had a sizeable leak inside the Airstream, which Gary was able to fix but all the carpet
pieces are now outside hopefully drying.

The view from our door is lovely.  We thought we would share.