With our intimate Sprinter van, we headed off to see the Wallowa mountains. Traveling in a van with 10 people and no toilet necessitated extra stops, but those provided opportunities to enjoy experiences that can’t be had when traveling in a full size motorcoach. In addition to a couple extra overnights to break up the driving distances, we were able to drop in for a couple impromptu adventures.

The first was lunch at the Maryhill winery. Their tasting room is perched on a hill with a panoramic view of the Columbia River Gorge and Mount Hood in the distance. Being remotely located almost 2 hours from Portland, providing food service in addition to wine tasting has been a great addition. Everything we ordered was delicious, from sandwiches to salads. The weather was agreeable and we sat beneath a grape vine covered trellis that provided protection from the strong sun of the dry side of the Gorge.

Our lunch was a nice opportunity to get to know each other. One of the things I love about tours with Oregon West Excursions is that there are many repeat clients, and each tour is a chance to reunite with travel friends and catch up on their lives since their last trip. This is also great for the new guests who can quickly see that Oregon West is more of a community than a tour agency. In fact, many of our guests get together outside of the trips.

Pendleton

From Maryhill, we headed to Pendleton. I had hoped to get there earlier, but I chose not to rush our leisurely dining experience. Three things I was hoping to visit but I will have to save for another time are Alexander’s Artisan Chocolates, Montana Peaks Hat Co, and L.L. Bevington leather manufacturer.

The latter two make sense since Pendleton is cowboy country and home to one of the largest rodeos in the United States, and I guess chocolate always makes sense. While we arrived too late to visit the shops, we were able to visit Pendelton’s signature restaurant, Hamley steakhouse. This too has its history linked to the rodeo as the restaurant was simply an addition to the original Hamley saddlery established in 1905.

Hamley & Co Western Store still operates in its original location next to the steakhouse. In fact, the steakhouse is a recent addition to the business, opening in 2006. Today both the steakhouse and the western store are owned by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla reservation. Some of the same Native American tribes that shared food with Lewis and Clark are still sharing food with us today!

Beware, though, the food served at Hamley is designed to nourish the hungry cowboy. Because we’d done nothing that day that created an appetite, we were overwhelmed by the plate size portions of meat and seafood. One of the guests asked me if she could pack some in a to-go box. I told her, “sure, but we’re going to be feeding you three meals a day for the next three days so I don’t know when you’re going to eat it.”

Large, quality meals are something that Oregon West is known for, and most struggle to keep up. I’ve had several tell me they normally eat one or two small meals a day so consuming three large ones can be overwhelming. For couples, I often recommend they split one entree. I also try to let everyone know when and what the next meal is so they can plan accordingly. On the occasion people are on their own for lunch, I find most of them prefer an ice cream cone for their mid-day meal anyway.

Wallowas

The next morning, we headed into the Wallowa mountains. The Wallowas, sometimes called the Alps of Oregon, are a horseshoe-shaped range in the northeast corner of Oregon that were once home to the Nez Perce Indians. In the middle of that horseshoe is the town of Joseph, named for Chief Joseph who fought to keep their land from being taken by American settlers coming off the Oregon trail. Some more entrepreneurial Indians figured out how to make the most of the migrants.

Just like the natives who run Hamley steak house, the Nez Perce, who found themselves right along the Oregon trail, created an enterprise to take advantage of those immigrants. Most settlers arrived at the foot of the Wallowas with emaciated livestock, having crossed the Great Basin and Rocky Mountains.

The natives offered to buy the livestock at an undervalued price or trade one of their healthy cows for two of the settlers’ skinny cows. It wasn’t a fair deal, but the settlers had no choice as their livestock wouldn’t have made the rest of the journey. Meanwhile, the Nez Perce let the newly acquired livestock roam free in the plains of the Grand Ronde valley where they could be fattened up over the winter and sold to the next wave of settlers in the spring.

Since we were already fattened up from dinner the night before and had nothing we needed to trade, we drove on over the mountains and into the glacially carved Wallowa valley. While the mountains hem in a flat valley, they also create a natural wonder to their east. Hell’s Canyon, to the surprise of many, is the deepest canyon in the United States. At 7900 feet deep, it’s almost 2000 feet deeper than the Grand Canyon.

Just outside of Joseph, we stopped for lunch at Terminal Gravity Brewery. In addition to offering a variety of craft beers, it sports a charming outdoor garden setting with a creek running through the eating area. The crab-apple trees that provided the picnic table with shade, were filled with red fruit that contrasted with its yellowing leaves. We would have mistaken the tiny red fruit for cherries had it not been September.

After lunch, we drove through Joseph and up to the foot of the Wallowa mountains. From here we boarded the Wallowa Lake Tramway for a 15 minute ride to the top. It was the most beautiful visit I’d had to the summit. The first time I made it to the top, the ground was covered in snow. The second time, the air was shrouded in fog. This visit allowed me to make the most of the 2 mile hiking trail around the tram platform while enjoying panoramic views of the mountains. Unfortunately, they were not quite as dramatic without the white dusting of snow on the peaks.

When I returned to the tram, I joined several of our guests who were enjoying a glass of wine at the Summit Grill. It would also be a great place for lunch had we not enjoyed the brewery so much.

Joseph

After our time on the mountain, we returned to Joseph to check into the remodeled Indian Lodge Motel. They had modernized the rooms including coffee tables that were in the shape of National Park signs. Several of us wondered whether a woman was involved in the remodel, however, since they had omitted a few things that we thought would be obvious, like a shelf to put your toiletries or a place to hang your clothes.

They supplied a counter-top ironing board which I was sure even the inventor had never tried to use as half my shirt scrunched up on the counter getting new wrinkles as I tried to iron the other half. Lack of do not disturb signs meant we couldn’t tell anyone not to make over the room, but it turns out they didn’t have enough staff to provide the service anyway. So, while the new rooms looked nice, there were a few touches to functionality to be fixed.

Eagle Cap Excursion Train

The next morning we headed to Elgin to catch our fall colors train. We had a whole section reserved for us, and I’m glad we arrived early as the train took off once we were seated. It was a beautiful trip up the Grand Ronde river. In between cars, you could poke your head out the open windows though you had to be careful not to get slapped in the face by one of the trees whose changing leaves we’d come to see.

At one end of the train was a baggage car that had been converted to an observation car. Unlike the Amtrak dome car, where you sit in swivel chairs looking out the skylights that run the length of the car, the observation car on the Eagle Cap Excursion train just had the doors on either side of the baggage car flung wide open with patio style furniture set up in front of them. It reminded me of how a college kid would decorate a room if he were on a budget. It served its purpose, however, and we took turns enjoying the views and the fresh mountain air.

Apparently the train used to go to the next town upstream, but now it simply crosses the bridge at the confluence with the Wallowa river and reverses direction. One of the things I loved about the train trip is that they asked people to switch sides so that everyone got to sit on the “best” side. People often ask me the best side to sit on when they get on the motor coach and to avoid any debate over seats, I usually reply, “the inside”.

Alpenfest

We returned to Joseph and ate dinner at Embers Brewhouse. Most were ready for bed after dinner, but we still had tickets for Alpenfest. I guess it’s a little like Oktoberfest, but they wanted to make the connection to the Wallowas. The festival included crafts, dancing, and games. It was impressive that there was a big enough German community to share this heritage. The only thing I was disappointed to miss is that they planned to take the Alpenhorns to the top of the tramway the next day and blow them over the mountains.

A Blythe Breakfast

The next day we tried a new place for breakfast. Another thing lacking at our hotel was breakfast. We’d arranged to bring our group to the Cheyenne Cafe at 7am on our first morning in Joseph. It’s a good thing we showed up early because the place was packed, and people began sitting outside, even though it was 45 degrees. These are ranchers though; they’re used to toughing it out.

I find that two things make a breakfast place popular: good food or massive portions. In our case, it was the latter, and everyone was overwhelmed by the size. The thought of doing that a second day in a row made everyone grunt. Fortunately, two of our group found a cute little breakfast spot at the end of town with smaller, and healthier, portions.

The Blythe Cricket is a charming cafe with an all female staff. It showed in the attention to decoration which included a large plate collection on the wall behind the pastry case. Our hotel probably could have used some input from the ladies who designed this place. Everything served was delicious, and I made a note to replace this as our breakfast option on future trips.

Sunrise Iron Tractor Museum

On our itinerary for the morning was a visit to the Wallowa County Museum. One of our group members passed along to me the night before that she noticed a sign that read closed for the season on the museum door. Another note to make for future tours. Joseph also has a heritage center dedicated to Maxville, one of the few black timber communities in Oregon, but I had another idea.

The day before, we were supposed to visit Sunrise Iron. As we were making our way back from the train trip, I called several times, but received no answer. Since it was late afternoon, and the group was tired, I decided just to take the group back to the hotel for a break before dinner. The owner of Sunrise Iron called me later that night to apologize and see if we wanted to re-schedule. The closed museum offered a perfect opportunity to take him up on the offer.

While I was expecting an iron foundry, since the town is famous for its iron sculptures, what we arrived at was a collection of things made out of metal. This included tractors, signs, washing machines, license plates and a large collection of things that were practically unidentifiable. Figuring out what these things used to do was one of the greatest joys of our host, Erl.

In fact, his passion for the collection made this one of the best things we did on the trip. He walked us through the warehouse he’d built and then extended on more than one occasion to see cleanly laid out rows of things fabricated with metal. It turns out, he’d been interviewed on TV and by several magazines, but he was a humble and friendly guy. Everyone left with a smile and a little bit more knowledge.

Mountain top dining

On our way back over the mountains, I decided to try a different route, just to see what it had to offer. One of my guests joked about “Tom trips”, the side trips that I sometimes take on tours just to see if there might be something worthwhile. They don’t always result in something spectacular, but occasionally we’ll find a little gem, and people seem to be happy to have been part of the discovery.

Our discovery that afternoon was Tollgate Crossing Gas and Grocery, a lunch spot at the top of the mountain. From the outside, it looked like a simple gas station and convenience store, but the inside had been decorated nicely, and they had a menu that went beyond the steak and fried foods that dominated most of the menus in this part of Oregon. They even had ice cream so I knew we had a failsafe.

The Dalles

We continued over the mountain and left the Wallowas behind. In a couple hours we arrived in The Dalles for the last night of the trip. Dalles is a french phrase that refers to a rocky river bottom, something that existed on the Columbia River just in front of the hotel before they damned it up and covered the rocks.

We stayed at Cousin’s country inn which I think is an ominous name for a hotel out in the sticks, but everyone seemed to love it. I certainly loved that they had a restaurant in the hotel, which meant I could enjoy a cocktail at our last dinner. The food was simple but tasty and people were able to head back to their rooms when they felt like it.

Being close to home, we got to have a leisurely start in the morning and even threw in the Columbia Gorge Museum before leaving town. Even if you don’t enjoy one of the three exhibit halls, it’s a lovely place to sit peacefully while looking out the window at the slow moving waters of the Columbia.

From there, we headed back to Salem with a quick stop for lunch in Hood River. As I write this, I am amazed at how many things we did in just a few days. I really am a van of these small group tours, and the first thing I said to my boss when I returned to the office is, “I think you need to buy more vans”