August 27

We spent the night in downtown Pendleton, OR. We walked around and found a small cafe for dinner then found a place where they had live music outside. This morning we started with a tour of the Pendleton Woolen Mills which was begun here in 1903. They had a regular retail store and an outlet store. We decided we couldn't afford either of them. Much of their stuff is made in China.

We went into a downtown store called Hamley & Co. which sells all things cowboy - clothes, saddles, whips, boots, ropes and even cowboy bronze sculpture. They had this saddle which has been appraised at $150,000 but they will sell for $110,000. It is sterling silver and 24 karat gold. It was made in 1950 and is one of only 4 that were made.

This is the tin ceiling at Hamley's and note the antique ceiling fans. The blades are very small and there were 3 of them run with pulleys by one motor. It reminds me of Stout's Shoe store on Massachusetts Ave. in downtown Indianapolis with the shoe carriers on the ceiling.

This was our first good look at the Columbia River. All sources tell of how large it was and how strong the currents were but neither of us really realized how wide it is. It no longer runs so fast because it has been dammed in several places.

Just on this side of the bridge at The Dalles, OR is where the Celilo Falls were. The Native Americans caught much Salmon there and Lewis and Clark and many others talked about the huge falls. With a dam that was put in the river in 1957, the falls are covered with water.

Is the river beautiful or what!

This is across from our motel tonight in Stevenson, WA. We are now in the Cascade Mountains and as you can see there are now forests on the mountains. The humidity is back because when we walked downtown tonight it was 75 degrees and it felt chilly. You can also see the haze that covered the area.

 You don't see barges loaded with logs going down the Ohio River! We drove by several tree farms today.

Sarah, we saw a lot of sweat peas blooming around downtown this evening.











We couldn't follow the trail today because no roads have been built when they went. Around Blalock, OR there were signs on the interstate reminding semi trucks that, by law, they must carry chains on their trucks from November 1 until April 1.

Another store that I stumbled upon this morning before we left was the quilt store, Pendleton Quilt Works. They had a quilt hanging that I really would like to make and I asked if they had a pattern for it. She said yes and that the pattern was on the Fall/Winter 2012 issue of Better Homes and Gardens, "Quilt Sampler." They are listed as a Top 10 quilt shop in the US. I was pretty impressed!