It started out as a simple Rally weekend – the ‘Alaska Gang’ of Steve, John, Mike and Pam were going to ride over to John Day on Friday, relax and spend time with friends, then maybe a nice loop ride Saturday, then home on Sunday in time for dinner and some down-time in front of the boob tube.
Well, the Friday part went as planned, we had an uneventful and fun ride over, then kicked back with John and Cindy for some refreshments and conversation.
Bill, Mike, Steve, Cindy and John
They don’t allow handguns in Canada, Mike and Steve think they’ve got the answer to our bear problems, but they’re still working on a mount for the bike.
Mike had some fun with the new graphics on the Versys – thought maybe he’d mess with a few BMW owners at the rally!
The ‘real’ Larry Lake (ask Steve), chatting with John and Steve-o
It was darned hot, and Saturday was supposed to be even hotter.
Steve came up with a great idea – why not take off Saturday morning for Wallowa Lake? Higher elevations and cooler temps sounded great to us, so that’s what we did.
After a quick breakfast and packing we were on the road by 10. Good grief! Are we ever going to be able to get our stuff together and on the road before 10am? We’re hopeless!
Wildflowers at Hells Canyon Overlook
Riding the Wallowa Lake Hwy
‘Whaddaya mean I can’t eat the camera???’ Our campsite at Wallowa Lake
We had a beautiful ride over to Wallowa Lake, and got a great campsite at the State Park there. Following John’s lead, we all got our tents up quickly – which was good because raindrops began falling just as we finished.
We walked into town in a light rain – with some seriously gusting wind as accompaniment. After checking at the Lodge for dinner prices ($32 a plate, that’ll get us ready for Alaska prices, for sure!), we ended up at a little place called Russells at the Lake. John was halfway through placing his order when the lights went out – and stayed out! Our waitress came back a few minutes later and said there was no way they’d be cooking anything more that evening, so we ordered salads – which were prepared and eaten by dwindling daylight with candlelight augmentation.
Most excellent desserts of Chocolate Cherry cake and Raspberry White Chocolate cheesecake rounded out the meal, and since the rain was still coming down, we asked the owner if we could stay and play cards until he was ready to close up – he said ‘sure’! After a few hands of Gin Rummy (the first two didn’t count – we couldn’t remember the rules!) we chatted with Steve Roundy, the owner. He told us the history of the restaurant along with lots of great information about the area, including Zumwalt Prairie - a 51 square-mile area that’s North America’s largest remaining grassland of its kind.
After hearing so much about it, how could we pass up a short detour the next morning to see it?
After rainshowers on and off all night (everything stayed dry – yea!!!) we were worried to see what weather we’d face Sunday morning – but it was blue skies and clear sailing as we packed up to leave.
Zumwalt Prairie is beautiful! Hopefully we’ll get a chance later in the year (or next spring) to spend more time here.
I admit, wide open prairie sounds about as interesting as sliced white bread without butter, but this is different. The land rolls and sweeps along as you travel a gravel road that flows along the valleys, then rolls up rises where you get a grand view of wildflowers and green grass sloping gently off into the abyss of Hells Canyon.
To give you some perspective, check out the house and barn on the far right behind the pond. That’s a lot of land!
’Hooked on Fonics’ graduate?
Only 2 weeks to go (one free weekend), and final planning for Alaska is making me crazy….
Death Valley
