11/2/19

Well, now that we’ve been back at Thompson’s Mills in Oregon for over a month and a half it’s about time I post something about the end of our summer trip. Sorry for the delay but we’ve been quite busy here at the mill.

From Dickinson North Dakota we drove to central Montana and stayed two nights. While there, we drove to Pompey’s Pillar August 23. There’s a small National Monument there where William Clark carved his name on the side of a rock outcropping he had climbed to survey the Yellowstone River valley in that area on his journey back from the Oregon coast.

 

Over the next couple of days we made our way to Missoula, Montana, then to Ronan, Montana. We stayed a little over a week so we wouldn’t have any trouble finding a place to stay over the Labor Day weekend. Where we were was about half way between the National Bison Reserve and Glacier National Park, so we spent some time going to both.

We didn’t see too many bison at the Bison Reserve but we did see a few black bear, close up.

 

 

That last guy was up in the top of a tree alongside the road, eating berries, about 15 feet from our truck.

Glacier National Park is always an amazing place. The first day we were there, we took the free shuttle to Logan’s Pass. School had started by that time and being that the tram drivers are usually school bus drivers working during the summer, most of them had gone back to work for the schools, so there was only one tram running, when there would normally be three, making for longer waits than usual. The second day we drove from West Glacier to St, Mary and back, in our truck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Labor Day we drove into Idaho and stayed at Farragut State Park with a host friend of ours. From there we drove to Hells Gate State Park on the Snake River. While there we drove into Hell’s Canyon for some sightseeing. There is a pullout along the road where you can take a short hike on Buffalo Eddy trail to some rocks where there are petroglyphs.

 

After a few days at Hell’s Canyon we headed to Oregon and stayed at Farewell Bend State Park for two days, then we made our way west to Clyde Holiday State Park in Mt. Vernon, Oregon. While we were there we toured the Kam Wah Chung State Heritage Site in Junction City. It’s an old trading post that was bought by two Chinese gentlemen. One was a grocer the other was an herbal doctor. They moved out/died in the 1940’s and 50’s and they gave it to the city of John Day and was promptly ignored for decades. Finally, the city figured out that they owned it and began restoring it. After a period of time, the property was turned over to the state and became a state historical site. When the Chinese owners moved out, they didn’t pack up or take anything with them and all the items in the store were left where they sat the day they went out of business. It’s a great way to look back into history.

 

 

 

Finally it was on to Thompson’s Mills. When we left in July, they were just finishing up the restoration of the rooves of the silos and had started repainting the historical logos on the face of the silos. We made a couple of spot lights to show them off at night. They look really good all lit up.

 

Now it’s back to work.