Last time we were together I was telling you we were on our way to The Dalles on the Oregon side of the great Columbia River gorge. We had come down Highways 25 and 30 on the east or back side of Mt. St. Helens through the Cascade Mtns. I really liked the quiet, old forest sense of this area as there were few people and evidence of little use. The Columbia River is an awesome sight the first time you see it but I can tell you it was not a river I wanted to rush over and jump right into!
Our reason for visiting The Dalles was to see an old friend of Cokie’s, Harriet Langfeldt, and her husband John. Cokie babysat Harriet’s children over 40 years ago (280 dog years in case you are interested) and all three of the children were coming to help Harriet celebrate her 70th birthday. It was a huge wingding as she had invited over 100 people many of whom were also having ‘decade birthdays’- 10, 20, 30 all the way to a friend Helen at 90. John is a retired Episcopalian minister so many church members were also present. We were actually a couple of days early so we could help prepare food, set up things and generally help. Harriet’s kids were whirlwinds at organizing, cooking, clean-up, set-up, breakdown and more clean up. I was particularly helpful entertaining their two dogs – Goldie, an old sweetie and Lindy, a very young, very BLONDE yellow Lab. (Yes, even the dog world has a few like that!)
We spent three days in The Dalles and then headed out for Baker, Oregon for the wedding of Kae’s Grand Niece, Tess. We took a sorta long, slow way around, but that seems to be our style, don’t you think?
We parked at one of the nicest RV parks yet in Boardman, OR right on the shore of the mighty Columbia. I can now add that swim to my list of great places to cool off. Strange thing though – I saw two cats on long leases tied to a tree! Now my Lab heart simply sang. “What could be better than Kitties on a string”, I thought? Well, they thought otherwise and simply wouldn’t move, beat me at ‘stare down’ and behaved better than I do on a walk with their owners. It was darn embarrassing! Nice folks, too. Shared their fresh caught fish with the gals and we had two great meals from their generosity.
We traveled east to Pendleton by the Umatilla Indian Reservation and on into Enterprise and Joseph in the Wallowa National Forest and another great spot at the Wallowa Lake State park campground, plus a terrific swim in Wallowa Lake. Gals went into Joseph to look around because it looked pretty cute and they spotted a pretty little hamburger place. (Pretty tasty I thought). Joseph was named after the Nez Perce Indian Chief Joseph and the mountain of the same name. This is one of those high mountain valleys with ranches horses and hay. Everything smells lovely. Gal in the café said she loves it best in the fall when the tamarack trees turn yellow up on the mountain and winters are pretty mild with just enough snow, 1 to 3 feet.. Sounds a little chilly for this California pup!
Next day it was on to the Hells Canyon area on the Idaho/Oregon border. Hells Canyon is classified as the deepest river canyon in the world, yes, even deeper than the Grand Canyon! The Snake River is responsible for all this grinding and cutting to over 2000’ deep but it was a rugged yet beautiful thing to see. There was a huge forest fire way over to the north west of us which turned out to be pretty nasty but more of that later.
We made it to the little town of Halfway by evening and started looking for a place to stay. (Now I thought about making some kind of joke about Halfway being half way between being fried in Hells Canyon and baked in Baker, but I stopped myself.) Cokie remembered seeing a road to a snow camp and since it was summer she figured there wouldn’t be too many folks and very little snow. Boy was she right! Few folks – ferocious bugs! The gals got the Pod right down to within 10’ of a beautiful little stream and we set up for getting our attitudes adjusted. Well mine was just fine until these huge horsefly critters started dive bombing! I swear to Dog they are mini-vampires and they are partial to Lab blood! Boy, do I love the protection of the Pod.
Off we went the next morning for Baker and the wedding events. We got our spot just outside of town, contacted the family, got the lowdown on the schedule of things, drove into town and had a few with the Bride, Groom and relatives, ran around the parking lot and came back to the campground. Next day, Saturday was the ‘big event’. Tess is Kae’s Grand Niece and a truly beautiful young woman. I mean by human standards she is really good looking, smart, very tall, smart, great coloring, smart, athletic, smart and was one of the loveliest brides imaginable! (Okay, Kae made me write that!!)
I got all ‘duded up’ for this cowboy, excuse me, buckaroo wedding in a red neckerchief and my red leash and attended the whole event right out there in the park and the sunshine with everybody else. It’s buckaroo because that is different kind of cowboying. I understand the tack, clothes and attitudes are all very different from western cowboy ways and are sorta based on the vaqueros of South America. You can see the hats are sure different, Wranglers are too long and everybody has to have these sorta Fumanchu mustachios. Way different and my neckerchief was way passé!
It was great until they left me in the Pod just when I smelled all that delicious food at the reception afterwards. These folks really know how to party and did so until pretty darn late. But the leftovers were good and we all slept in the next morning. Had breakfast and another run around the parking lot with Tess’ crazy, busy, little cattle dog. I don’t remember his name because he never stopped long enough for me to get properly acquainted.
Okay, we headed east into Idaho for the next set of adventures starting with Dog Bark Park; no kidding folks! I’ll be in touch!
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