Two Big Feet: Heading for the Home Caves

Sunday, September 15, 2013

It was quite warm over night and we didn’t sleep well. Had the windows all open so we could also really hear all the trains going by. We were sandwiched between the tracks on the Oregon side and equally as busy, the tracks on the Washington side. Oh well, who wanted to sleep anyway.

We fueled up and turned east again. There were many RVs and horse trailers coming out of Pendleton. I think it must have been the first weekend of the Roundup. The Walmart lot and others close by were still packed with RVs. We had stayed in that lot during Roundup a few years back, and it was a zoo.

The rest stop at the top of Cabbage Hill was open. Coming the other way there was a closed sign, so we didn’t think it would be open. It would have been much cooler to stay up there overnight.

Taco Bell in La Grande drew us in for a late breakfast/early lunch, and then we went down a back country road, 203, toward Baker City rather than fight the high winds on the freeway. It was a real pretty drive. We checked out the Buffalo Peak golf course in Union. Wouldn’t want to play there in summer. We couldn’t see any trees for shade.

We drove through the parking lot to check out the historic Hot Lake hotel, and then drove through a small state park with camping. It looked inviting, and was inexpensive since there were no hookups. Maybe we’ll try it someday.

Our destination was the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City. We needed to get some stamps there, and never seem to go through at the right time of day. This time we made it. We had been there many years ago, and found it very interesting again.