Baker City, Oregon

Well, having arrived in the long awaited promised land, we seem to moseying our way across Oregon, averaging about 75 miles a day, compared with the 100-200 we were covering previously. It seems that there are so many things to see here, and we have plenty of time, so we’re takin’ it easy.

Today, we spent the early part of the day at the Four Rivers Cultural Center in Ontario, Oregon, an interesting and well put together museum, quite different from anywhere we have been. The community built this museum to honor the different cultural groups that settled in the Ontario area, these being Basque, Japanese, Native American (Paiute), Hispanic, and white descendants of Oregon Trail pioneers (mostly farmers or ranchers). There was hardly anyone there, which seemed a shame, but it was amazing to be in a museum that discussed the impact of the western expansion on Indians right next to a thorough display about Japanese internment camps in World War II.

We left town and headed west, planning our first stop to be a place called Farewell Bend, about 25 miles west of Ontario. Just before we got there, we turned off onto a gravel road for a few miles, following vague Oregon Trail Historical Marker signs, and found some prounounced trail ruts again—just as moving as the last time, though in a very different landscape.


Farewell Bend itself, where the Snake River curves to the north, is where the Oregon Trail emigrants left the river behind them and struck out across dry land, not following a major river for the first time—they had to travel overland until they reached the Columbia. It is a beautiful location, with a wide expanse of the river spread out before you--


--it is now a rather lush park and campground. But that wasn’t the best part. That, Phoebe will have to tell you about:

Arriving in Farewell Bend, there was lots of shady spots with trees and we saw lots of places to camp on that ground with shade on them and a picnic bench and there was a place for a grill to go. And we also noticed there were two little girls down at the river and we noticed they were making very deep marks. We thought it was sand, but it was really deep deep mud that you could stomp in! Mommy and I went down and we stomped in the mud. It was very deep, like up to my knees, in some parts. We both went with our sandals and then I went in the mud with my sandals—they got all sticky. I went and put them on the side, near the rocks and I went in the mud with my bare feet!

It felt all squooshy and slimy, but again, it was worth it! It was wet all over the place. I felt like running into the water and swimming off to a decent land, where there was rain. And just to remind you, we’re going on the Oregon Trail, so we’re gonna end up in Oregon City—that has loads and loads of rain! If any of us could get out of school and go there in the spring, well, spring…you know, it’s the rain season for most places. Mommy got out of the mud and she watched me as I sank deeper into the mud, getting everything covered with mud, including a little bit on my face! I stomped in the mud for about 30 more minutes, throwing mud piles all over the place!

Then I got out and we both washed ourselves off. I changed my clothes, ‘cause, yet again, I got mud all over them. Then we got back in the car and drove away…but, not to mention the mosquito bites!

So on and on we kept going ‘cause you know, we had a long trip ahead of us, and then, surprisingly, we got to Baker City!

Well, as you know now, we landed in Baker City, Oregon, only to find that it was packed with Shriners as today was the East West game here in town (who knew?). Major enormous fez on a float in our hotel parking lot. It’s a charming old town, with a glorious hotel called the Geiser Grand (we’re not staying there) that was built in 1874 and is still furnished and decorated in period style. The downtown is old and charming, and EVERYONE stops for pedestrians here, even a horse-drawn carriage that was making its way down the street.

We stayed over here in order to maximize our time at what we hear is a wonderful museum called The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. We will be able to tell you more about that tomorrow, when we will report from Pendleton, Oregon (I feel warmer already).

See you then….Oh! Wait! Favorite trivia fact of the day: In this part of Oregon, in the early days, cowboys were not called cowboys. They were called…BUCKAROOS!!