Central Oregon
October 23rd, 2008
Wow!! It’s been awhile since we posted. Where has the time gone? We wanted to write about our Central Oregon trip, but we just got too busy. Well, actually, Julie wrote about the trip on paper awhile back and I never had the chance to type it up because I lost it somehow between the many trips from home to work and back. Going through a stash of old papers today though, I found some of the papers Julie had written.
Anyway, about our trip to Central Oregon, we decided to go to John Day Fossil Beds over a weekend. I had never explored Central Oregon and driving through it for the first time was just beautiful. Julie and I snapped away on the camera, taking in the beauty and feeling small and insignificant in comparison to the mountains and valleys around us. We went to go see the Painted Hills Unit of John Day first, where the hills were just layers of yellows, golds, blacks and reds. We then went on to the Clarno Unit, which reminded us of Bryce Canyon a little bit when we took our road trip back in 2007, but instead of orange and white pillars of Bryce, Clarno had pillars of brown and red and it was a lot smaller.
We took a few more shots and then decided it was time to search for a campsite. We asked one of the locals from the small town of Fossil where the nearest campsite was and she said, “just a little ways down the road before you get to Shanko.” It was just past 7pm and we were sure we’d be by a warm fire by 8.
We got on the road and started driving, and that’s when we caught up to a car going VERY slow on the highway. As part of our entertainment for the evening, we named the driver of the car “Harold” and the passenger “Esther.” While I was driving, Julie mimicked the conversation they were having in a twangy voice, “slow down Harold, this a downhill curve!” On came the break lights and down to 25mph Harold went although the curve was probably safe at 50mph. When a straight-away came, we were sure they’d speed up,” Hurry Harold, there are some maniacs behind us! They’re going to get us!” After awhile, we pulled off at one point, thinking we’d found a place to camp, but it wasn’t a campsite afterall; it was a day-use area. We got back on the highway and, before long, we had caught up with our source of entertainment with Esther saying, “Harold, they’re back, I’m scared!!” Harold responds as saying,” Hold on Esther, I’m gonna take this thing up to 40!” Julie and I were sure they’d take flight at that speed. We were a little sad when they put on their signal and turned off the highway.
By 8:30, we had passed through two towns, never seeing the campsite the local directed us to. We decided to just park somewhere and sleep in the back of the 4Runner. By morning, it became very clear that if we had slept in a tent we would have been cold, miserable and possibly sick. It dipped below 30 degree with a moist air. We had prepared for cold, but not freezing tempatures in August.
It was Sunday morning and we decided to drive the 25 miles back to Fossil and eat at the local restaurant, get gas, and then head on back home. After all, we saw everything we came for. During the drive, we were stunned by the miles and miles of valleys and the rolling hills. It almost felt impossible that a road could exist within this landscape. On a straight-way, we spotted and drove by a barn that screamed to be photographed. Julie bugged me until I finally turned around and snapped some photos. I tell you, if I didn’t turn around, I would have regretted it because I ended up taking some REALLY NICE shots that I turned into HDR photos. It was just too amazing and I thank Julie for bugging me about it.
Breakfast in Fossil was amazing!! Nice and full, we went to the town’s only gas station, which had opened just 30 minutes prior. In the window of the station was a sign saying, “Be back in a few minutes.” How funny!! We laughed at the small town atmosphere. While we were waiting for the attendent to return, we looked at “my” nicely restored corvettes and at all the thunder eggs on display in the gas station window. Soon a man came back, filled our tank, washed our window and described how we could spot a thunder egg. When he was done, he handed Julie half of an egg and told her to keep it and to tell her friends all about how nice the people in Fossil are. We then introduced ourselves and thanked Everett for his generosity. On a buzz from what just happened, we drove on, stopping when we felt like it, taking pictures.
We stopped in Hood River, OR and had a drink at a nice coffee shop and did some window shopping. We headed home to Portland to check out the annual Art in the Pearl, which was an art show in a park in a downtown Portland neighborhood called the Pearl District. We were in shorts, t-shirts and sandals when Portland greeted us with a down pour. It was much warmer than the hills of Central Oregon though. We walked along the art booths getting soaked as we saw everyone ducking and taking cover. We love the smell of rain. By 4pm Sunday afternoon, we were back home, amazed of what we did over the last two days.
On Monday morning, before heading out for the day, I noticed something on the office chair. Our tent poles were safe and sound in our apartment, the whole time we were in Central Oregon!! Oops!!
