Meet up with Friends - Caldwell, ID, La Grande, OR and Wallowa Lake, OR

On Friday, May 4 we arrived into Caldwell, ID in one of our favorite RV parks, Ambassador.  Our Oregon friends met us there to welcome us home and help finalize our 8 month trip south and coming back to the Northwest.  We had a great visit on Sunday after church with the oldest son of our friends in Dallas, OR.  So nice to catch up.

On Monday, we drove to LaGrande, OR and stayed at Grande Hot Springs RV, very spacious sites.  We enjoyed the hot spring water that they used to heat the pool, (no actual spring water was fed into the pool), temperature ranged from the 90-102 degrees.  On Tuesday we went out for a barbecue at the home of friends of our friends.  We met our neighbors that we will have in the Paradise RV Park in Sun City next fall - such a small world. We also visited friends from the Sun City park we stay in, who live in Wallowa, OR.

We spent one of our days in Baker City, going to a winery and then to a museum.  On our way to Haines, OR to the steakhouse we saw a beautiful rainbow.

Geiser Grand Hotel - 1889

Baker Heritage Museum

Haines Steakhouse

We also toured the Hot Springs Hotel, right next to the RV park.  This is the home of David Manuel and his bronze statue collection.  The original structure was built in 1864 and known as the Mayo clinic of the West and was referred to as a Holy Ground by Native Americans.  The spring is the largest spring of its kind in the world.

We also did the historic home tour in LaGrande and went to a really fun Wine Bar downtown, Wine Down, who carries many of the local wines from the area.

Steam from Hot Springs - water averages 208 degrees

Home on the Historic Home tour
in LaGrande

Over the weekend, our good friends middle daughter and her husband joined us in LaGrande and spent their vacation with us in Wallowa Lake.  Next time in LaGrande we would like to travel to Pendleton and consider going through the historic Underground tour.

Finished another lap throw to donate.

On Monday, May 14, we traveled to Wallowa Lake State Park.  A little tight getting through the park, but luckily we had a site that accommodated the MH, trailer and car.  

Breakfast one morning, caught by Gaylen
and Becca.  

We had one really warm day so we spent that day kayaking on the lake.  It started to rain just as we were heading back to the dock.  Overall we had more rain that week then we had the entire 8 1/2 months we were gone, but we still had a fabulous time and saw lots in the area.  

The town of Joseph was beautiful and we spent a couple of days enjoying the statues and shops.

We drove to Imnaha, about 20 miles outside of Joseph and the countryside was beautiful.

We also made reservations for the Railriders in Joseph, traveling six miles to Enterprise which was all down hill and then returning back to Joseph.  So much fun that next time we would love to do the longer ride from Minam to Wallowa, 26 miles.  

We also had a good afternoon of weather so 5 of us took the tram up Mt. Howard.  All the trails were closed due to the snow, but what a beautiful view from on top of the mountain.

So on Monday, May 21, we travelled to Rufus, OR and then we were onto Eugene, OR by 12:30 pm on Tuesday to get a couple of things fixed on the Motorhome.  We arrived back into our leased site in Chehalis, WA on Thursday, May 24.  We so love our site so spent the first couple of days getting it weeded and trimmed and getting all the bird feeders filled.  They so love it when we get back - they keep Craig busy filling the feeders at least once daily.  

Baker, Ely and Wells Nevada - Great Basin Natl Park

We arrived into Baker, NV at the Whispering Elms RV park on April 27.  Baker is in the middle of nowhere, except it is the closest town to the Great Basin National Park.  We had full hookup site and the park was very quiet.  The park and motel was used more as a pass through location, then anyone staying for longer periods of time.

On Saturday, we had a beautiful day, so we went up into the park hoping to take a hike into the Bristlecone Pine Grove, but since there was still snow in the higher elevations of the park, we could only travel to about 8500' elevation to the Osceola Ditch Trail.  We also drove a couple of the gravel roads within the park to include the Baker Creek and walked around at the Grey Cliffs camping area and also the Baker Creek Loop Trail.  We then drove to another entrance to the park, and drove along the Snake Creek.

At the ranger station we inquired about the Bristlecone Pine and since they grow best in the harshest climates, around 9500 - 11,000 elevation.  The grove has trees that are 2 - 7 thousand years old, which are the oldest trees in the world.  They have one planted by the lodge that was about 500 years old, but as the ranger said, this one looks very different than those up in the higher elevations and most likely will not last as long.  We took a picture of the trunk that was displayed (estimated to be about 4900 years old) in the Visitor Center and also a picture of one of the trees in their video.

Since the weather was so nice (rain and mixed snow showers being predicted) we drove about 60 miles to Ely, NV to tour the Nevada Northern Railway.  We walked through the museum and then took a tour of the Machine Shop for the trains - of course, Craig loved that part.

This is a National Historic Landmark and is America's best preserved short line and complete rail facility to include paperwork, office equipment and supplies and all the buildings and much of the equipment that was there when the East Ely Yard was operational.  The site was constructed in 1905 - 06 and closed in 1983.  The museum is dedicated to the preservation of the trains, building and equipment used at the Northern Railway.  They currently have a couple of steam engine trains operational for train rides and are in the process of restoring additional engines.

Snow Blower to clear tracks.  

Caboose that will be restored.

Shop Cat for 10 years - "Dirt"

Lehman Cave tour on Monday - We took the 1 1/2 hour tour through the caves.  There are actually 42 caves in the park, but this one is the only one open to the public.  In the early 1900s, the boy scouts and Elks lodge used the lodge room to hold meetings.  In 1920 the lodge room was used as a Speak Easy as part of the prohibition.  In 1960 the movie "Wizard of Mars" was filmed in the lodge room.

Shield formatons - only 70 caves in the US
have these formations.

On Wednesday, May 2 we travelled to Wells, NV and stayed two nights.  On Thursday, we drove to West Wendover, NV and then to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.  In West Wendover they have a neon sign of Wendover Will in the middle of the road.  It was built in 1952 and stands 1,184 feet tall. It signifies "Where the West begins".

We drove first out to the Speedway on the Bonneville salt flats, but most of the racing takes place from July - September.  Records in excess of 600 mph have been set during the World of Speed events.

The tree of Utah sometimes called the Tree of Life, is an 87 foot sculpture that was created by a Swedish artist in the 1980s and dedicated in 1986.  There is no legal pull of of I80 to stop and take pictures, so anyone doing so could get a ticket?!  We heard the cost of this sculpture was about 2.5 million and now they are trying to raise additional money to get an Interpretive Center and rest stop put in.

Next time through the Baker area we hope to check out the Cathedral Gorge State Park which is south of Baker and about 60 miles towards Ely, we would like to visit Cave Lake State Park.

From Wells we drove to Caldwell, ID to meet up with friends.