Oregon Vacation - Day 2 - Scoping It Out

After a good night's sleep, we are ready for a road trip.  We are going to scope out some areas east of Madras as the news keeps saying how terrible the traffic is.  At this point, we have not experienced any traffic, but we are fairly north of the "totality path."

Last night while getting dinner in Lyle, we spotted a cafe that looked good for this morning.  The Country Cafe absolutely fits it's name and although a bit slow on service, certainly delivers one's money's worth.  Goodness, we won't need to eat the rest of the day.

Crossing over the Columbia River and back into Oregon at The Dalles, we then take Hwy 206 off into the boonies.  Yep, we are looking for the road less traveled today.  The first town we come to is Wasco and stop for a bottle of water.  No, we didn't plan well.  Yes, I'm thirsty.  It's a cute little town with a market on Main Street and barn quilts on the buildings.

As we are leaving, a cherry orchard is spotted alongside the road and these trees are just plain loaded with cherries.  Fortunately, we still have some from the stand we stopped at yesterday.  Yum.

Off in the distance, you can see just how large the orchards in this area really are.  So unexpected to see as I don't see this as cherry country at all.  Remember, I am from the Flathead Valley in Montana - where there are hundreds of cherry orchards.

A little further down the road we come to a wind farm.  We have these in Texas, as well, and some of them extend for miles and miles.  This one fascinated me due to the colors and how close they are to each other.  This landowner really packed them in.

Condon is the next town and where we make a road split.  In an effort to pass a truck that has been poking along, Mister turns into a side street where some children have a lemonade stand.  Ah, the heck with the truck -- we stop for treats.

With one of each flavor safely nested in the car and a tip given for great service, we are soon on our way again.  Luckily, the truck stayed on the same road, thus, we are free and clear.  Lucky us.

The terrain in this area has fascinated us for miles.  It is certainly not what we thought of when the word, Oregon, comes to mind.  The hills look as though they have been layered intentionally and the grasses are so very high.

Being from Montana, I know that there are different terrains throughout a state and they are not all what it is remembered for, but this is indeed unique.

We can't help but stop and grab a few pictures.

Ah, we have arrived at our destination.  The small town of Fossil.  As we look for a place to park, we discover that they are having a street fair and some of the roads are closed.  Fun -- let's go see what's up.

This could be today's choice, unplanned moment.  As we walk down the street, Mister and I spot a banner that says "Quilt Show."  It is over a door that looks like it hasn't opened in years but the sign looks new.  Hmmm.  More investigation required.

It turns out that the show is next door in the Mercantile.  Oh this place is wonderful and reminds me of the stores my parents operated when I was a child.  (Yes, I did a whole write-up about the place and the quilts which can be accessed by clicking on this Fossil Mercantile LINK.)

Upon leaving the mercantile, I spot a LulaRoe truck and disappear into it's wonderfulness.  SCORE!!!  I find a solid white top AND am lucky customer number 21 so receive a free item as well.  Yay me.  I'm one happy girl.

Back into the street we go and find music at the end.  This is just such a great atmosphere.  Stopping to talk with a couple of ladies in the street (who turn out to be quilters), we discover that we are in the smallest (population wise) county in the state.  There are 1,450 people in this county and most reside in three towns.  Fossil is one of them and has 350 souls who call it home.  For such a small community, they really know how to do things up.  Oh, and this won't be happening tomorrow at all so it's not to draw people in for the eclipse, but rather to let them feel the small town happiness as they pass through.  Awesome and good timing on our part.  I do think we will come back here tomorrow.  It's in the zone and not at all crowded.

Now, what do we do with the rest of the day?  At an information booth in Fossil, Mister discovered that he is only a couple hours away from the Painted Hills.  Is it too late in the day?  I don't think so and off we go.  South.  As we do, we come across a farm where people are starting to set up for tomorrow.  Anything to avoid the craziness that is supposed to be Madras.

Ah, here come the beginnings of hill color.

Due to the number of extra people in the area, the park service has closed the road up to the overlook, but you can still walk in.  Well, let's get to it.

Yes, there are people here but no more than I would expect at any popular State Park.  It's certainly not backed up traffic or anything like that.  A large parking lot accommodates everyone easily and soon we are on our way up the road.

Oooohhhhhh - so pretty.

My sweet man doing his thing.  (yes, two cameras at work here)

My favorite

And, of course, he always manages to capture me enjoying the blessings of nature.

The Painted Hills are down by Mitchell, Oregon - which now means we are slightly south of the direct the center of the path of totality.  Hmmm.  Do we want to come down here?  Decisions, decisions.

At this time, another quandary faces us.  Do we backtrack over the same road to return north or do we brave Madras?  Since we have not seen a singe indicator of this "horrible traffic" the news is talking about, we decide to risk it.  The cameras get put away and off we go.  It's just as we thought.  We get backed up a wee bit going directly through downtown Madras as it is dinner time.  That's it and we are back up at The Dalles by 8 p.m.  Time for a beer and some dinner at Freebridge Brewing.  Our route took us further south than we had planned and we won't make it back to the cabin before dark to enjoy the river again tonight.  Bummer.

We we finally get back to the cabin, we have been moved (with our permission and we packed up this morning before leaving as we knew about it) to a smaller cabin as they had a large group coming in and needed the space.  Must to our dismay the new group drank our bottle of wine that was in the refrigerator.  Oh we are so sad.  However, it cost us $30 and the paid us $60.00 as they fell over themselves apologizing AND we got a bottle of beer to boot.  Perhaps we can order the chardonnay online.

I didn't take any pictures of the inside of the cabin yesterday but here's a peek at tonight's lodging.  We are going straight to bed - no beer for us - as we have a very early morning to try and get back down to the viewing area we have chosen.  See ya tomorrow.