It’s easy, driving along in your car, to completely miss the Western experience that is Pendleton.
If you don’t visit during the Pendleton Round-Up, it’s easy to visit the museums, visitor centers and businesses and totally miss the old western vibe the community offers.
That is, if you don’t visit Hamley’s.
Many times when I visit a historic site, I go into it with an attitude that is almost like an academic. I have an interest in learning what happened at the place I am visiting, but rarely do I get an emotional reaction.
As I wandered around the dark Bumble Bee canning facility, I notice they had hats and other personal items from the people who used to work there, but don’t any longer. If you stand next to some of the old equipment, you can almost hear what it sounded like back in the 1970s when the plant was operating and it was Astoria’s largest employers.
Experimentation: if there was one word that would describe the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport that would be it.
From trying to figure out how plate tectonics work, to seeing how you compare to the wingspan of an albatross, expect to learn volumes while you walk through the many exhibits – several of which change regularly.
But Bill Hanshumaker, who is responsible for many of the exhibits in the Visitor Center, says it is more than just a place to see an octopus and touch things in simulated tide pools.
A few headlands over from the Sea Lion Caves lies one of Oregon’s most photographed lighthouses, the Heceta Head Lighthouse.
Surrounded by a state campground to the north, and a state park to the south, the lighthouse can be seen from Highway 101, or up close and personal if you are willing to take a bit of a hike.
Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the United States, once said, "In no other land could a boy from a country village, without inheritance or influential friends look forward with unbounded hope." The country village he had in mind was probably West Branch, Iowa, where he was born in 1874 and lived until the age of 11. Or, it might have been Newberg, Oregon, where he lived from 1885 to 1889.
This tree is notable for its size, age and that it is not native to Oregon. Its location was a probable Indian camping and fishing ground where migrating salmon were abundant and accessible. It predates the arrival of settlers and may have sprouted from a cast-off nut.
It is located 12 miles northwest of present day Sutherlin, OR on State Highway 138 (milepost 12.36) adjacent to the southwest corner of Yellow Creek bridge.
In the days of strip malls and big box stores, there is a place within the heart of Oregon wine country where the 1800s meets the 21st Century.
While in communities around Oregon historic downtowns are struggling, along East 3rd Street in McMinnville, the downtown isn’t just surviving, but flourishing.
I will admit it, I am addicted to technology.
If I’m not nose down in my smart phone, I am staring at a computer screen reading the latest news, blogs or Facebook status update. Don’t even get me started about my addition to football on TV.
So as you might imagine, I went into my stay at the Historic Union Hotel with some trepidation.
This division was organized for World War I in 1917 at Camp Greene, North Carolina and was demobilized at Camp Die, New Jersey in 1919. It was reorganized and Federally recognized at Portland, Oregon in 1930.
America's First Transcontinental Automobile Race
On June 23, 1909, a Ford automobile arrives in Seattle from New York City in 23 days flat, completing the first transcontinental automobile race across North America. This Model T Ford arrives first but is disqualified because the drivers changed the engine during the race. The winner (the second to arrive) is a Shawmut. The race is part of Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (A-Y-P).
