Category: Structures

Heading home: Oregon Trail Interpretive Park.

On our way home, we stopped at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Park. This was a great park with two short loops that walked you through the pioneer experience.

A succinct summation of your supplies.

It was interested to see the different “roads.” In my mind a road is a paved surface that climbs and descends slowly and steadily. This park drove home (hah!) the idea that a road was where the wagons went. At one point in the park you can see where five “roads” converge.

This was a point in the journey when the pioneers were very tired and they still had to get over the mountains before the snow came.

A view of the trail.

This tree bears the scars of the wagons rolling over its roots. How cool is that? This actual tree witnessed pioneers rolling right over its roots.

More of the actual trail.

A wagon, for your picture taking pleasure.

The first time I saw a covered wagon, I was pretty disappointed. They seemed so small. They were also much taller than I expected.

Commemorative picture.

I can’t look at the back of a wagon without thinking of Jack, Laura Ingall’s dog.

Enterprise: More sights.

I’m guessing Enterprise is cold in the winter as many houses (and businesses) had firewood stacked outside.

If you come to the VFW, you can also pick up your Avon order.

On Sunday morning I discovered the other part of the Fairgrounds. Here is the grandstand.

And here is the sign that is near the 4-H building where I bet we could have seen some good crafts.

This tiny building houses an important function.

It’s the DMV!

Imagine my delight when I peeked in the window and saw three chairs to wait in. Next to those three chairs? A “take a number” machine. I guess lines can be long even in the tiny Enterprise DMV.

Downtown Enterprise.

The library.

Our motel which was clean and nice and had a huge bathroom because we had the handicapped room.

A B&B around the corner from our motel.

Enterprise Cemetery

For the Sunday early morning walk, I visited the cemetery. You knew I couldn’t resist. This was a great cemetery, with tremendous views.

One thing I didn’t like was this columbarium’s practice of putting the wives’ maiden names in quotes, as if they were Mafia nicknames. Here we have Steve “The Rifleman” Flemmi, and over here we have Myrna “Stubblefield” Witherrite. To me, the quotes around the maiden name imply fakery, as if they women weren’t really people until they took their husband’s last name.
This cemetery provides picnic tables.

What a view!

I liked the fact that this gravestone mentioned that they were the parents of JD, Debbie, Tammy & Eddie.

It’s not often that I see statuary plopped down on a gravestone. Also, the husband’s name is Lenthal, which is an awesome name. I figured it was unique enough that I might get a hit when I Googled it and I did:

“Bollman Funeral Home”

The Bollman Funeral Home is located in the beautiful Wallowa Valley of NE Oregon with roots going back 80 years. As in the past Lee A. Bollman and Lenthal A. Bollman III strive to offer personalized service as did their parents


I was interested in the Latin phrase “Dum Tacet Clamat” on this gravestone. It turns out to be the motto of the Woodman of the World which was a fraternal insurance-benefit society which still exists today.

An excerpt from a Tennyson poem adorns this grave.

His wife has a quote that is reminiscent of Herman Melville’s “Life’s a voyage that’s homeward bound.”

There were some very old graves (for a western state) in the cemetery including this one from 1917.

This is an even older grave, from 1904. Mr. Zurcher was also a veteran of the Civil War.

1891 was the oldest grave I found.

Next to the Reverend William Owneby lies the wife of Rev. William Owneby. This is totally reflective of the times, but still makes me cringe. To be fair, her first name is carved on the top, it just is hard to read. No birth date though. Just when she died.
I enjoy coming across these survey markers.

Sights from Enterprise

During my vacation, I’ve been resetting my sleep schedule. This involves getting up at 5:00 in the morning. When one resets their sleep schedule, one still has to get up at 5:00 in the morning, even when visiting far away Eastern Oregon. My mom and I were sharing a room, so I would get up at 5:00 and go for a long walk around Enterprise. Here are some sights I saw.

What exactly is a “Homestyle” Laundromat and Car Wash? Do you bring in large piles of stinky laundry and eat a meal and watch TV while your mother cleans your clothes? Is there a hose and bucket of soapy water to wash your car with? Sometimes I wonder about people’s choices for signs.

This picture is actually from later in the day. Wallowa Lake.

A peak in my bag. My ipod, a book on apple trees, water and a honey bear I purchased in Joseph at the Farmer’s Market are all visible.

I liked the teacups on the door. It turned out that we ate here the next morning.

Back to the early morning walk. On this morning, my goal was to find as many churches as I could.

If I were Shawn and Sara, I’d know what this statue configuration outside the church was called.

The church itself.

A sign in front of the church that struck me as funny.

I walked out near the airport, where I also found the LDS church, and found this view of the mountains.

The moon was just beginning to set.

If memory serves, this was the playground for the Assembly of God Church.

Look at the amazing view they have from their swings.

Also on this day, I found the elementary school and attempted unsuccessfully to find the high school. I did find a baseball field and basketball court, as well as a skateboarding park.

Discovery while errand running

Today I went to the Whole 9 Yards to pick up the material for the curtains in the bedroom.

The bus route is not it’s normal route and so I ended up taking a short detour. This was a great detour because I tripped across this space:

Some depaving becomes stairs.

A sign asking for appropriate behavior.

A shady place to rest.

A not-good picture of a tire swing.

A lovely garden.
This little paradise was carved out of a boring empty lot. Thanks unknown person who did that.

A few surprises

I had errands to run after work today. I hate running errands after work. At the end of the day, even a short three hour workday like today, I only want to quickly get myself from work to home. But this day’s errands brought some fun surprises.

I had to stop by Kaiser to pick up a prescription. On the way to the pharmacy I was waylaid by this display case. It was filled with the wood turning work of Mr. Agne Pearson.
The sign with the works explains that Mr. Pearson was born in 1922 in Sweden and brought to the US by his parents when he was an infant. He has lived in his house, where he has a wood shop, for 57 years. He likes to cut down the trees and cure them himself and then creates things.

His work was beautiful and I loved his handmade sign.
Buoyed by the beauty of unexpected art, I picked up my prescription and continued on my way. I took a winding route to my next stop, the Goodwill, and ended up crossing over my favorite pedestrian overpass in Portland.
I love how secret this overpass feels. Today though, I happened to glance up.
Locks! Many locks! They were in various stages of rust, and so many styles. This was almost as much fun as Mr. Pearson’s works.
Goodwill didn’t have what I needed, but my two surprises on the way home were good enough finds.

Respite.

Friday night activities are hard on me. I’m usually tired from the work week and want nothing more than to collapse on the couch and read. Also, I’m done with work at the super early hour of 4:30 pm and this makes it inconvenient for me to attend gatherings which usually start at six or seven pm. Do I go home and come back? Do I hang out downtown for a few hours? It seems to much to figure. Every once in awhile, I do venture out on Friday night. Here is how one such adventure of filling time turned out.

Today, we were meeting at 7 pm. It is the end of the school year (yet school goes on and on!) and I was exhausted. I headed to the library to pick up some holds, read there until close to six and then wandered down to Pioneer Square to hang out on the steps until seven.

I had no idea what an amazing pick-me-up this would be. Each year Pioneer Courthouse Square is decorated during the Rose Festival for a Festival of Flowers. The display has a theme each year, this year’s was “Parterre.” After the event is over the general public can purchase the flowers and shrubbery at greatly discounted prices. The displays are usually visually striking, but this year I was in love with the Adirondack chairs. As were many other people. I sat and read and people watched and drank in the city until I felt much, much better.
I eventually switched chairs so I could have a footrest and had this view. The clouds didn’t even deter me. When it started to sprinkle, I got out my umbrella and kept reading.


The view from my second seat.

As a bonus, on the way to the restaurant, I came across this great old-timey band.

Ahh. Much better.

Grand Floral Parade

My mother and my Aunt Pat joined me for the Grand Floral Parade. We had great seats right at the beginning and enjoyed not being rained on, despite the ominous look of the clouds. We did not enjoy the many, many delays even though we were about 300 yards from the beginning of the parade. The picture theme for this parade was “find the girl drummers” and there weren’t very many. So there are other pictures too.

I loved these Mummers. Reading about them on Wikipedia, it seems that “String Band” is one of the four categories for the Mummer’s Parade.

Not only are their costumes fabulous, they also have accordions marching with them.

Sunset High School!

Look! A girl drummer!

Westview. Will it have a girl drummer?

One of our favorite games to play is “spot the band director.” This gentleman makes it easy by sporting a tux. Sometimes they are a bit more stealthy.

Westview does have girl drummers, but they are bass drummers which don’t count because the girl drummers are often relegated to bass drums.

Civil War reenactors.

And a Civil War fellow who managed to time travel to a period where 4X4s exist.

As I say during every parade, “Back when I was in marching band, we had no parents toting water for us to drink. We just sucked it up and marched!” Also, I miss the flared cheerleader skirts. The whole fun part of the cheerleader costume is that flaired skirt. Kids today!

Lincoln has girl drummers, but once again they are relegated to the bass drums.

The Marine Band did not have girl drummers, but they sounded fabulous!

I love the Royal Rosarians and their simultaneous hat tipping. Their cream wool suits and capes are nifty too. I hope to someday be a Royal Rosarian.

The really old ones get to ride in old cars.

When this school from Japan walked by I finally hit the girl drummer jackpot. EVERY drummer was a girl. How could this be? Because it is a girls school!
I love their uniforms, even though purple isn’t my favorite color. They have flippy skirts AND knee socks.

How about the Canadians? Has their socialized medicine led to more girl drummers?

Indeed! There is one right there.

And the pipers. They need drummers. Do they have girl drummers?

They do! And not a few!

Pictures of the Grand Floral Parade wouldn’t be complete without some rodeo queens.