The National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center

Located five miles east of Baker City, Oregon, on Highway 86, Exit 302 from Interstate 84, 125 miles northwest of Boise, 95 miles southeast of Pendlelton, is The National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. Outside the building there are wagons that you can walk right up to and explore.

The inside gets even better because it's AIR CONDITIONED! haha It's a nice relief from the desert sun to be able to relax, explore, and sorta go back in time! The exhibits are very life like and informative. There are TONS of interactive exhibits as well.

One room was completely set up like a old wagon camp, complete with cricket sound effects!

There is a gift shop full of great finds (including my personal favorite: buffalo jerky and sticks). There is a fee to get into the interpretive center but it is good for 2 days and for all the trails surrounding the center. Our visit to The National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center was a wonderful addition to our Baker City vacation and a recommended stop for anyone in the area!

Brownlee Reservoir

Just off the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway, the Brownlee Reservoir is a 57 mile reservoir that runs between Idaho and Oregon. It's a popular fishing spot and the following fish species have been reported to inhabit Brownlee: Smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, bluegills, several species of bull heads, channel catfish, blue catfish, flathead catfish, black crappie, white crappie, sturgeon, red eared sunfish, pumpkinseed, rainbow trout, and more recently brown trout and walleye. There is camping there as well, although, when I was there it was incredibly full and there were people everywhere! We pulled in by the boat ramp and there seemed to be some places to fish from the bank but not many.

It seemed more like this was a place for people with boats. The day use sites seemed to fill up quickly. I was there on a Thursday and there was barely a place to park.

Brownlee Reservoir is located off of hwy 86/Hells Canyon Scenic Byway, just past the town of Richland.

The Ghost Town of Richmond, Oregon

While doing online research before our trip to eastern/central Oregon I saw a couple things about a ghost town just east off the Service Creek highway and since that was near where we intended to camp and I had never seen a ghost town before, we made a quick stop there.
While it was not exactly what I had expected, there were quite a few old remains of a town that once stood there and in fairly good condition.
The town was founded by farmers and ranchers in 1890 because of the lack of a community in the area and was later abandoned after the automobile was invented and travel to the nearest big town became less expensive.

The schoolhouse still stands but is located on private property. It once held a teacher and 40 students and included a stable for the students horses.

The church also stands still on private property but easily viewed from the gravel road.

There were ruins scattered around including a general store that I wasn't able to snap a picture of. Not far off the road and definetly a interesting site if you have a few minutes to spare!
One mile east of highway 207, south of Service Creek.

Fairview Campground in Heppner, Oregon

While camping this week in eastern Oregon for the first time, we scouted out numerous campgrounds and attractions. On our way to Bull Prairie lake we found the Fairview campground.

The campground was very private and nestled nicely in a beautiful forest. Very quite and also had fairly decent bathrooms for being porta potty!

The only downside was that there were no campfires allowed due to the fire season being in effect and the campground being surrounded by dry, very flammable grass. However the weather was so nice a fire was only desired for nostalgic reasons.
4300' - Fairview Campground is 34 miles south of Heppner, Oregon on State Highway 207.

Invasion of the giant bugs??

This is my first blog and while I hope my future blogs have a slightly less disgusting title, I found this UNBELIEVABLE!
I live in the normally rainy city of Portland, Oregon . The one perk to living in such a rainy climate is the lack of giant bugs and dangerous snakes (for the most part at least), but the other day while visiting my parents home out in the country I was amazed by two bugs I saw. Both were on their front door and both were giant!


The first one was a giant moth

This moth was about the same size as a hummingbird. I honestly had no idea there were moths this size in Oregon.

Even more freaky, in my opinion at least, was the second bug which was on the screen door just beneath the giant moth.

A GIANT beetle! I have seriously never seen a beetle this big in person!

I am 24 years old and have lived my whole life basically in Oregon and have never seen bugs this size! So I am wondering why two in one day!? Are these common? AND if they are why haven't I seen bugs this size before?? I tried to google the descriptions of these bugs but was unable to pinpoint a specific species. For now it will remain a mystery! =)