This Sunday proved to be a very wet day as forecast. With no need to re-test our gortex Lori and I went for an exploratory road trip. This route took us out on Hwy 99 from Portland. Our final destination was Fort Yamhill State Park but we had many places to check out on route. Our first stop that also ended up being our last stop was Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge. I thought this place would be closed with the government shut down but we found it open. However it was pouring down buckets of rain so we would pass on it for now and see if the weather was better on the way back. The next stop was old downtown Sherwood. I had pass through here on the way back from visiting Magness Tree farm a while back and found the old town very spruced up. So we did a little drive around the few blocks that make up the downtown and enjoy how it had been revitalized.
From here we head to Newberg and did a little side trip up to The Allison Inn & Spa. Lori has been here before and it is a luxury place to stay in Wine Country. Back to Newberg and drive by Herbert Hoover’s boy hood home. Then it was down through Dundee and all of it’s wine tasting Rooms to Dayton. Just outside of Dayton is another interest place to stay at a Vintage Trailer Park. They have taken a sizable number of classic vintage travel trailers, premoed them out and now rent them out for overnight accommodations. Finally in Dayton we see the first structure that was part of old Fort Yamhill, the Blockhouse. It was moved in 1911 to a park in the center of town and is there today. This blockhouse once was the center piece at Fort Yamhill from 1856 to 1861. So we proceed on our way to reach Fort Yamhill.
On our way we did a quick stop to check out Evergreen Air and Space Museum to see if the Spruce Goose was still there and it was. Then to McMinvelle for a drive around Linfield College so Lori could see her old alma mater. Then to Fort Yamhill. We met the interpreter ranger for Fort Yamhill State Heritage Area as we drove in and he recommended that on this wet of day we might want to just check out the last existing building from the fort and an info area. With it still pouring down bucket we thought that was a good plan. We were running a head of schedule so we drove down a little further to double check that Grand Ronde tribal museum, Chackalu Museum, was closed and it was. So now we were in need of a rest stop.
We stopped in at Spirit Mountain Casino to use that restrooms and take a look around. This took us from a search of the historic contact between white man and native to the current contact between the tribe and white man. After marveling at the new interaction where white man (and women) gives money back to the tribes bet at time we thought we might help by stopping in for their massive Sunday Brunch. It was massive and also very good. We did find several spots in the Casino where there was information about tribe and it’s history. So from here it was time to return to Portland but on the way back with the rain turning to a light drizzle we stop in once again at the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge. We were able to visit the information center and walk the winter trail to several view point. It was a good exploratory trip. Several of these places will work in with the Theme Tours I am developing but more exploring needs to be done.
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