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| Our view at the Port of Arlington campsite. |
When we get ready for our trips, we always set a departure schedule and are almost always on the road within ten minutes of that time. For this trip we did the exact same thing, we developed a departure time of 11:00 AM and actually were on the road by 11:09 AM. It makes me smile that we are so punctual, then again I am married to Linda Bennett, the schedule Queen.
This trip could be divided into three parts. The first part is an exploratory adventure down into central Oregon to visit the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. The second part of our trip is to visit Linda's sister and her family in Eugene. The last part will be a visit to Sunriver, Oregon to connect with Don and Caroline Samuelson again before winter sets in.
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| Getting some reading done. |
On the first day, we drove into the Columbia River Gorge following I-90 to HWY 395 and then to US 84. We spent the night at our usual spot in Arlington. We were excited to find that as we drove down, the wind was at our back and our diesel mileage was great. Normal driving gives us about 12.5 miles to the gallon, but with the tailwind, we got 17.5 MPG! I was so excited I almost could not sleep. Well, actually I didn't sleep well due to the train noise, but who cares with that MPG!
We got on the road and traveled HWY 19 up out of the gorge through Condon to Fossil, OR. In Fossil, we stopped and looked at a very old large building that is used as the County Seat of this community. From there we drove out HWY 218 to Clarno, where we found the Clarno Unit of the
John Day Fossil Beds.Visiting the fossil beds was my idea. I have heard many people talk about the area and everyone felt that it was worth visiting. We opted to visit the Clarno Unit first. The main area, the Sheep Rock Unit, is located near Dayville. This area holds the main visitor center, but the center was closed so we decided to forego a visit. At the Clarno Unit, we read all the posted information and hiked all the marked trails. We saw some fossils, we think. Both Linda and I had a hard time picking out the fossils that were described on the info signs. We really didn't know what we were looking for. Past fossil viewing always presented large leaves or tree branches that were easily distinguished from surrounding rocks, but these fossils were a bit different. A rock enthusiast would enjoy the area, but Linda and I came away a bit perplexed. We were a bit disappointed. Maybe you have to be smarter...
After the Clarno Unit, we drove to the Painted Hills Unit which was well worth the visit. The colors in the soil were amazing. We hiked the area and took a ton of photos.
If we were to recommend anything, we would probably say you should visit all three areas. Start at Sheep Rock and visit the visitor center then drive out to Clarno and end in the Painted Hills. This route will give insight into the beds and how they were formed. It also would give you a good idea of just what to look at when you go searching for fossils.
After viewing the Painted Hills we drove up HWY 26 to the top of Ochoco Pass, elevation 4720. We pulled into Ochoco Divide Campground and spent our second night.
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| Info from the board at Clarno. |
In the morning we packed up and drove to the town of Sisters. We decided to stay at
Cold Spring Campground four miles out of town. We drove to the campground, set up some chairs, and registered, then we went into Sisters and spent the afternoon shopping and eating. Everything was great, a bit expensive, but very good. We munched down on two Bear Claw pastries from the Sisters Bakery and bought two other items for breakfast. That cost $20, then we had street tacos. Four tacos were $20 but very good. So Sister's economy got a $40 boost while we were there. The afternoon was enjoyable and relaxing.
The next morning, we drove down HWY 20 along the McKenzie River into Eugene and to Linda's sister's family's driveway.
We visited them for two nights. During the day on Saturday, we all loaded up and drove to the
Oregon Garden at Silverton. There are over 80 acres of botanical gardens in this special area. We were able to make it to about 76 acres during our visit.
Back at the Sollinger's homestead, we played Left, Right, Center and ate some very delicious meals. It is always fun to get together with the family.
On Sunday we drove to Sunriver. To make this happen, we drove back up to Sisters and turned south through Bend to the resort. This was a bit longer of a drive, but if we had followed HWY 58 out of Eugene, we may have been stopped by the Cedar Creek fire which had been causing problems the past few weeks. The drive was very busy. There had been a folk music festival in Sisters and all the attendees were heading back from the weekend. In Sisters, we stopped briefly and again bought a couple of pastries from the Sisters Bakery.
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| Leaf? |
We arrived in Sunriver and settled into the condo with Caroline and Don. The next few days were filled with walks, bike rides, crawfish trapping, and food. To make things clear, no crawdads were harmed in the trapping portion of this visit. I caught one little guy and we immediately set it free.
Each evening after dinner we watched a movie. The first night was "Top Gun, Maverick" a very entertaining flick.
Monday we loaded up and went sightseeing. Caroline drove us to an unexplored section of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument, where we visited two lakes Pauline and East Lake (we had previously visited and explored the area just north of Sunriver). We hiked to the base of Pauline Falls. We cooked dinner - enchilada bake - this evening. Our movie of the evening was called Dog.
Tuesday was spent relaxing and enjoying the sunshine and beauty of this area. More great food and time with wonderful friends. Evening's movie - Abandoned.
On Wednesday we headed home. We traveled north through Bend and Madras, dropping down to the Columbia River at Biggs Junction. At that point, we drove upriver to our stopping spot at Arlington, and then in the morning, we drove home.
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