Digital Nomad Summer - Part 12

Need to read Part 11?

When last we blogged, we'd enjoyed being Harvest Host'ed and drinking delicious wine in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.

Bea leads such a stressful life

We woke up Monday morning near the blackberry bushes at Laurel Ridge Winery, where we'd stayed the night (and had a relaxing wine tasting).  Thinking fondly of the leisurely day before, we hopped into the truck and turned eastward, starting our journey by going through Portland (thankfully, we were on the later side of Monday morning rush hour traffic).  We've found that most mornings, we like to stop after about an hour of travel to use a restroom, walk the girls, maybe get second breakfast, etc.  A McDonald's just east of Portland proved to be perfect to satisfy all of these aims!

Hey, there's Mount Hood!

Chris walks the monkeys while I wait for our healthy second breakfast

Once back in the truck, we spent all but the last 20 miles of our drive to our home for the next week, Union Creek Campground near Baker City, OR, on the 84 heading east.  The 84 parallels the Columbia River, which marks the boundary between Oregon and Washington, and the river is massive (it runs for 1200 miles and its river basin covers 258,000 square miles).  To this end, we passed tons of recreation areas, fish ladders/hatcheries, campgrounds, and hydroelectric stations.

It's really pretty in this area of the state

There's a Target dog ON that truck, and there's a Target dog IN our truck!

If you look closely, you can see ours turned around in the back seat,

staring at the Target truck through the rear window.

Bea, clearly enjoying the sights

The 84 follows the same path as the original Oregon Trail.

Insert obligatory "thankfully, none of us died of dysentery" joke here.

Eventually, the 84 turned south away from the River and headed into higher elevations.  As we left the freeway and got onto the smaller road that would take us to Union Creek Campground, we drove through downtown Baker City, which was seriously adorable.  Not only was Baker City on the Oregon Trail, but the area was also a beneficiary of the gold rush during the early 1900s and the wealth that flowed from it.  While we didn't have a chance to truly experience the city's charms (other than the Safeway, a local coffee shop, the Ace Hardware, the Maverik fuel station, and the laundromat, all of which I visited one day after work), we did see some of them as we drove through, including the Geiser Grand Hotel and the world's largest Oregon Trail map!

Both of these pictures are from the interwebs, hence the blurriness when I blew them up.

I was too busy helping Chris navigate the rig through city streets to take my own shots.

By about 3pm, we pulled into the campground and found our site, number A4, on the full hookup loop (the campground had partial and full hookup options, as well as tent sites.  Having a full hookup - which adds a sewer port to electric and water access - is almost always worth the extra money to us, since we shower fairly often and do lots of dishes every day).  We set up the camper in our space and got the air running; even though we were at 4100 feet of elevation, it was in the low 90s when we arrived.

There were chipmunks EVERYWHERE in this campground.

This little bud was helping me give Chris instructions on parking the rig.

Stewie Pig the Sewie Pig made their first appearance on this trip!

We finished getting all moved in and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the shade of the pines and grilling hot dogs with corn for dinner.

That's Phillips Lake way behind the girls -

the campground had boat ramp access and swimming areas, too

Bob looking up to his taller cousins.

Pretty sure Chris is fiddling with the Starlink in this photo.

Dinner time!

While the campground was beautiful and had all sorts of great amenities, the pine forest surrounding us didn't make internet connectivity particularly robust; even our cell service was extremely spotty, which led to a frustrating work week.  Our Solis Lite WiFi hotspot provided the best service, overall, so we took turns doing our high bandwidth work tasks (Chris: videoconferences, me: VPN enabled tasks, like faculty reviews) while the other person poked along on the Starlink connection.  Chris' work phone uses Verizon (our personal carrier is AT&T, which had zero bars most of the time), and since it had the best service on the boat ramp at the lake, that's where he conducted several meetings during the week.

Mobile workstation, indeed!

While he was away (it was like a 2 minute drive; he could have walked there, if he didn't need power and a comfy place to sit for a few hours), I'd hog all the bandwidth from the Solis, working tickets and doing classroom reviews.  I'd also deal with the girls, one of who was extremely put out that her family had divided itself up in this way.

This dog has more feelings than all of the other dogs we've had, combined.

"Mother, where did Father go?!?!?!"

The Solis worked just as well both in the camper and out near the girls' play pen,

so we could all get outside during the lovely morning hours.

Zoe is staring intently in the direction of the boat ramp (where Chris had gone),

while Bea is focusing just as hard toward where she last saw her chipmunk friends.

Although it was a frustrating working environment, we were still able to enjoy Union Creek's charms, including the nearby Shoreline Trail, running for miles right along Phillips Lake.

Walking through the group day use area toward the lake

So many tall, beautiful, shady pine trees, such a pathetic Starlink signal

The weather was also pretty nice; the low's were in the low 60s, and the afternoon highs topped out most days around 85.  We ate most of our lunches and dinners outside, and the girls loved lounging in their play pen.

Bob helping with quesadilla night

The picnic table was also a great vantage point to watch the local residents, which really emerged after our kids went to bed each evening:

Drinking out of the dogs' water bowl.

Don't worry, after we saw this, we thoroughly washed the bowl

and started bringing it inside when it wasn't in use.

While I don't mind feeding/watering wildlife, I don't know what they could give our girls.

Oh, tiny woodland friend, you really don't want that.  Trust me.

Being stressed out about work access was taking a toll on my sleep patterns (not the most robust at the best of times), so by Friday morning, I was beat.  I used a sick day to rest and recuperate, and so Chris could take all the bandwidth he wanted on the good internet connection.  Other than the laundry/groceries/other errands trip on Wednesday, we hadn't seen much of the local area, which was rife with history and beauty; honestly, we'd been so exhausted from fighting for internet access that by the time work ended each day, we just sat in our camp chairs and soaked in the nice weather.  While this wasn't a crime by any means, we love exploring and seeing new things, so when I ended up with some time to do so on Friday, I grabbed it with both hands.  

Sumpter Valley Dredge State Heritage Area was just a 15 minute drive away, so leaving the girls and Chris to do work stuff, I hopped in the truck and headed over.  As mentioned a bit earlier, this area was a big one for finding gold, mainly from the nearby Powder River, and during the early 1900s, several dredges were built and employed in this quest.  While the earlier two dredges aren't around any longer, the one built in the 1930s has been turned into an Oregon state heritage area, and you can visit it and the local area whenever you'd like.

The scale of this thing is impressive - it's roughly the size of a two-story house

In this shot, I'm standing in front of the buckets the dredge would use

to grab dry soil, earth from the riverbed, and so on,

which would then move inside the dredge for sorting and sifting.

Each one is massive (I assume they're made of steel or cast iron, 

so they also probably weigh tons), and there are so many of them.

Close up bucket shot

Buckets coming out of the dredge and down into the water

Underwater buckets

Once the buckets brought the sediment into the dredge, machines inside would shake it apart, and the heavier items, like gold flakes, would fall out into the collection area.

Interior dredge workings.

It took 3 men to work the machinery and another 17 to handle everything else.

Gold ended up here

Everything that wasn't gold was shot out the back as the dredge moved further down the river.

Ptoo!

I'm glad I had a chance to visit the dredge; it was so cool and unlike anything I've really seen before.  Driving out of this area later that day, the road would run right along the Powder River, and it was crazy to think that folks living here during the mid 1900s would see this gigantic beast just floating down the small-ish river, chewing up the land as it went, leaving deposits behind to eventually be reclaimed by Mother Nature.

In the next blog, we head out of Union Creek Campground in search of new adventures and better internet connectivity!

Later!

Amy