Little Bighorn National Monument

    


We began our journey on Memorial Day 2018. We are driving a 24 foot Forest River Forester motorhome, rented from RV Northwest, in a big loop that includes Mount Rushmore National Monument and Grand Teton National Park. This is the longest road trip we have ever taken and our first in an RV. The initial few days were spent driving through areas we had previously visited with overnight stops in Spokane, WA and Missoula, MT to visit with cherished friends and their families. The most noteworthy aspect of these travel days were the swollen rivers throughout Montana and Western Wyoming due to a quick spring thaw. I-90 westbound was even closed at one point, but we were headed east.


Our first "official" sightseeing stop was in Garryowen, MT where we paused to take in Little Bighorn National Monument, the sight of the Battle of the Little Bighorn aka Custer's Last Stand. The photo on the right was taken at the top of the hill where Custer's Last Stand occurred. The white tombstones indicate a soldier's final resting place. Despite an animated presentation by a park ranger on the covered porch of the visitor center, I had a hard time envisioning the action as the visitor center is surrounded by many green, rolling hills. We took an optional 4 mile drive out to the site of another related battle. It was hard to imagine that the troops at the various battle sites had no method of communicating and thus could not assist each other.


The sunset photo was taken from our campsite at 7th Ranch campground just down the road from Little Bighorn. This was a lovely campground located on the side of a hill overlooking the valley. Not for the last time, we wished we could stay for an extra night.

Straight to the top

We arrived in Wallowa Lake on Sunday afternoon. Our first excursion was riding the Wallowa Lake Tramway on Labor Day. The tram takes about 15 minutes to transport riders 4000 vertical feet to the top of Mount Howard.

There is a restaurant on the top reputed to be of dubious quality and about 3 miles worth of hiking trails. We walked the whole circuit and it was interesting how arid it was on one side (top photo) compared to the other (middle photo). There were many adorable chipmunks and squirrels begging for food.


The lake in the last two photos is Wallowa Lake. Although the tram is spendy, the views are well worth the cost for those of us who don't savor the idea of a hike with a 4000 foot elevation gain.
Although the area was quite busy when we arrived on Sunday, by the time we finished up at the tram, things had really quieted down.

Couple of stops along the way

Our ultimate destination is Wallowa Lake in the northeast corner of Oregon. It's about a 6.5 hour drive from Portland so we made a couple of stops along the way and spent the night in beautiful Boardman.

Our first stop was at the Mary Hill Museum just over the river in Washington state. We have driven by the museum on many previous trips but finally decided to stop this year. About 30 minutes prior to arriving at the museum we were caught in a torrential downpour which is unusual for this part of the state. We were grateful to pull off the road at the museum and let the weather clear. The contents of the museum were more eclectic than we expected. My favorite exhibits were the chess set collection and the view from the balcony.

After spending the night in Boardman we visited the recently opened SAGE (Sustainable AGriculture and Energy) Center. It was essentially a public relations outlet for the agriculture and industry of Morrow County but it was quite well done. Mr. Snootypurse is driving a tractor simulator at the Center trying to apply fertilizer more accurately than a GPS guided system. They also offer a simulated hot air balloon ride, numerous interactive exhibits, and a free scoop of Tillamook ice cream!

Nehalem Bay crabbing

For readers not in the Pacific Northwest, this has been one of the most spectacular fall seasons in recent memory. Until today we hadn't had rain for approximately eighty days. We decided to take advantage of the good weather and sneak in a trip to the Oregon coast before the fall rains began.

Crabs live in the coastal estuaries and they like it when the salinity in the water is high. Because of the dry fall, the bay waters were perfect for crabs. We recruited some co-workers and left home about 4:30a to be ready to go at dawn. It was cold but clear and we were successful rustling eight yummy crabs!

We cooked our catch and took it to a nearby park to enjoy a crabby lunch and a walk on the beach. All of us agreed it was worth getting up at such an early hour!