In one cherry orchard the farmer utilized a blow-up "person" with waving arms such as we see at some car dealers these days to attract potential customers. It seemed to be working to keep the birds away, at least this year. You have to stay one step ahead of the birds or they will win.
The carrots grown by our son-in-law's father are about 3"+ in diameter and about a foot long. He called them dicing carrots and are sold for soups and prepared dishes. Most of the alfalfa and timothy hay grown here goes to Japan. Perhaps they don't have enough land to grow their own hay so they need it to feed their cattle and dairy stock. The farmers here get top dollar for it but it has to be top quality. When mint is being harvested you can smell it everywhere. In order to extract the oil, the mint is steamed in vans.
Saturday the annual Bike-a-thon/walk-a-thon was held to raise money for a local child with a rare cancer. Last year our daughter said they raised about $45K. Most of the proceeds came from corporations and large farms in the area. Our granddaughter did 8 one mile laps on her bicycle and she is 8 years old! Pretty good for such a young girl. The rest did some of the walk-a-thon. We took pictures, bought raffle tickets and made a donation. The highlight of the day for our 6 year old grandson was winning a fresh and very yummy cherry pie. He was on cloud nine.
Sadie is ready for a grownup's location. She loves children but three and four at a time petting and hugging her were a little much even for her.
We arrived Monday afternoon and had the brakes adjusted on the trailer then checked into Eagle Hot Lake RV Park where the rally is being held starting Tuesday. We joined the early arriving members for dinner at a local restaurant; Mamacita's International Grill. Most assumed it was a Mexican resturant. It turned out to be more Italian but they serve a little of everything. What we ordered was excellent and the others said the same. There were 50 of us.
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Tuesday morning we had breakfast with some friends who wanted to check out the local truck stop. They all did fine but I succumbed to a chicken fried steak with sausage gravy, hash browns, eggs, and toast. It turned out to be huge and as a result we had a late dinner with no lunch as no one was hungry, especially me.
The RV Park really started to fill up by noon.
The Oregon Trail passes right behind the RV Park but if they hadn't shown it on their map you wouldn't have known it.
That evening after chatting with people we met last year or through the NROA Forum, we gathered for a campfire where the activities for the week were reviewed and everyone introduced themselves. There are people from Pennsylvania, Kansas, South Dakota, Alberta and British Columbia in addition to most of the western states. I think there were 72 RV's registered for the rally so the group was right at 150 people including a few children. We think we used up all our good weather luck as it was in the very low 50s with a strong wind. We don't know what the wind chill was but it was COLD!
Today, Wednesday, was the Pendleton Underground Tour and Woolen Mills. Pendleton is located about 55 miles north of La Grande over the Blue Mountains. Again it is cold and raining so the ride on the buses and indoor tours were good timing. Pendleton was a big cowboy town in the late 1800's and is reported to have up to 18 brothels and 32 saloons to entertain the traveling cowboys and people moving west on the Oregon Trail. The Underground was pretty interesting. It is a "city beneath a city", used to transport goods between businesses and receive deliveries. The area covers several city blocks, but not as many as in years past. The tour included a basement saloon, ice cream parlor, Hop Sing's Laundry and Bathhouse, among other things. After emerging from the underground we went on to visit the Cozy Rooms of Miss Stella. We walked up 31 steps to a chapel, which seems a bit out of place in this establishment, but reportedly shows how Miss Stella took care of her girls. We toured waiting rooms, living areas, working rooms and a secret closet used as an escape route for prominent people during police raids. Miss Stella's Cozy Rooms lasted into the 1950's.
Next we were bussed to the Pendleton Woolen Mills. We were told of the process of cleaning and carding the previously dyed wool, which was dyed in a location in Washington state. Next it is spun into yarn and wound onto bobbins. We were then shown the process of weaving the yarn into beautiful blankets. After the tour we browsed through the gift shop. We didn't make any purchases today.
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