Small Town America in Oregon

Sunday, August 6, 2017

  

The terrible smoke is still with us but we continue with our sightseeing looking through the smoke at the beauty that this area has to offer.  Our drive takes us through golden colored mountains which begin to be interspersed with pine trees as our elevation increases along the way to almost 4,000 feet.  At one point we have a pretty river beside us.

As we travel south we come across the Oregon Trail Visitor Park and decide to stop.  Basically, it is a park set aside to recognize the hardships and courage of the people who walked and rode the Oregon Trail and to help us in this century to recognize and think about their travel and the sacrifices they made.  There is a basic trail usable by those with good legs as well as those who are disabled.  Paintings with quotes from pioneers line this trail while two other trails have markers with information about each stop. 

The first loop helps us to learn the pioneer’s history while we walk in their footsteps seeing what they saw and witnessing their struggle. 

The second loop has six markers and asks us to imagine ourselves walking this 2,286 mile trip to this point.  Quotes give us an insight into the feelings of those on the trail including complaints about their feet hurting, anxieties, the dust and bugs as they walk and a mother’s lament that her husband will not put a marker on their son’s grave because he fears the Indians will defile it.

A covered wagon rests in a clearing showing us how the pioneers traveled and with what.

We returned to our car losing altitude as we descend into the valley where La Grande is located.  The city was originally named Brownsville but was forced to change it because that name was used for a city in another county.   The name La Grande comes from an early French settler who always used the phrase “La Grande” when describing the areas beauty.

As in other small towns we visit we found numerous old buildings some dating to the early part of the last century and others in the 1920’s.  

 An old fire station still in use today, a large Union Pacific Railway Station, and several other old buildings draw our attention as we travel up and down the historic downtown streets on this quiet Sunday afternoon.   Each town is the same but different and each has a story to tell about life in yesteryear and today

We take a scenic route from La Grande to the towns of Cove and Union traveling through very flat farm countryside filled with fields under cultivation some with alfalfa, others with wheat and some with other crops we are unable to identify.  All of this area has a backdrop of golden mountains in the background shrouded by the heavy smoke. 

As we arrive in Union, Ron draws my attention to a deer in the middle of the street.  We quickly stop to take pictures as this antlered deer meanders into the yard of a home followed quickly by two other deer.  What a sight and so unexpected.  You never know when wildlife will cross your path.

Too bad the yard is so junky

In town we come across several old historic buildings including a hotel, old drug store, library (with a cornerstone dating to 1912 and a gift from Andrew Carnegie), an old high school, the Old White Church dating to 1874,  another old fire station converted to another use and this old Coca Cola sign on the side of a building..

Old Fire Station and Masonic Lodge

Old City Hall

 A few old houses capture out attention before we head out of town and 

back to Pendleton on a very windy I-84 which did not seem so going the other way.  Perhaps it wasn’t as this is a divided highway and part of it is found separated completely from the other direction through and around mountain passes.

A nice day and interesting sites in yet some more small towns.   For us, this is what our travels in the RV are all about. 

Ron and I were remembering today that two months ago in early to mid June we were in another part of this state on roads that were not completely open due to snow and here we are today with temperatures in the low to high 90’s.