If you drew a map of Oregon, and placed a dot just a little north of the exact center of the state, you'd find that dot in Mitchell, Oregon. It's a tiny town right off of highway 26, but it has some of the nicest people and scenery you could wish for! About a week ago we were in Bully Creek Campground, and we were planning some stops we wanted to make as we traveled across Oregon. We talked to some very friendly camping neighbors, and they were surprised that we were thinking of stopping in Mitchell. That's where they live, and they even seemed excited that we might be coming to their town. We meet some of the nicest people in our travels, and Alice and Ray are some of the best! They gave us good advice on camping in Mitchell, and assured us that the first-come-first-served city campground never fills up. They gave us several other camping options just in case, but they were right. We were the only ones camped there our first night when we pulled in. Well, we did have a doe camping near our motor home, and she was checking out the electrical connection for us.
Mitchell is a tiny town, with a block-long Main Street of old store fronts that hold a mercantile, a feed store, and a couple cafes. Ray recommended the Tiger Town Cafe, and he was right. They were busy and the food was very good.
From our campground, we saw a number of bicycles roll by after taking a break in Mitchell.
There used to be two churches in town, but now one of them has been turned into a hostel for those bikers wanting to spend the night in Mitchell. It's called the Spoken' Hostel, and the sign in the window says, "Two Wheels Spoken Here."
The other church in town was built in 1898, and Alice invited us to come to church with her. Many places in the Pacific Northwest don't have central air-conditioning, and a structure built in the 1800s certainly doesn't have that kind of duct work. It was a little warm this Sunday morning at 11:00. Alice pointed out the home-made quilts on the back of the pews used by parishioners to keep warm in the winter because they don't have heat in the building either. It was a great place to worship with new friends, and the preacher even let us ring the bell in the belfry when it was time to start church.
It has a tiny parking lot, but with only about 20 in the congregation, we were a little surprised to see reserved parking spots. We saw that Shirley ("Our Chicken Lady") and Norma ("Our Quilt Lady") have reserved parking places, as do the preacher and his wife.
The reason that we planned to stop at Mitchell, was to see another unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument--The Painted Hills. Just eleven miles west of town, we started seeing hills that were painted even before we got into the park.
Randomly rising up above the dry pasture land, were beautiful hills with red and white stripes.
Once inside the park, the hills get longer and the views bigger. Alice says she remembers walking all over these hills as a young girl--something that is strictly forbidden now. "Don't Hurt the Dirt!" signs around the park remind visitors to stay on the trails.
The National Monument does provide hiking trails on the more durable surfaces beside the Painted Hills. So of course, we started making all the hikes that were allowed. The Overlook Trail brought us closer to these beautifully unique "paintings" that only God could create.
We have wandered into more of God's wonders today!
One of our favorite stops was at the Painted Cove Trail. We first started in a section that showcased the pink to rusty red colors that are found here.
Then we could walk on boardwalks that allowed us to see the surface of these painted hills without hurting the dirt.
We drove to the far reaches of the park to see the Red Scar Knoll Trail, as the temperatures rose into the 90's.
We should have gotten up very early to see the Painted Hills before going to church this morning. Because seeing them on a Sunday afternoon after church means we are sweating in the Central Oregon heat.
With all that heat, we're not sure how we decided it would be a good idea to do the longest, hottest trail in the park. But before we knew it, we were headed up the steady incline in the direct sun on the Carroll Rim Trail.
From the top of that ridge we could look down on the painted basin far below us.
We are seeing some smoke from the distant forest fires today, so the view isn't as stunning as it might be some days. Or perhaps Denisa is suffering from a touch of heat exhaustion from that climb in this heat that is now settled in at 98 degrees. In our quest to travel to where it is a constant 70 degrees, we are not doing so well this summer!
Denisa looks for flowers on hikes, but all of the blooms in the Painted Hills have dried up by this time of the summer.
We headed back into the town of Mitchell, where she found some lovely purple flowers blooming near the motor home. We got some well-deserved showers and headed to Ray and Alice's house again. They invited us for Sunday evening dinner, and the spaghetti was awesome! They told us more stories of their little town. We learned that they have a dormitory at the high school for foreign students to live and go to school here. It keeps their enrollment numbers up to keep the local school open, provides a little tuition money, and gives the local students a chance to learn about foreign cultures from new classmates.
When walking around town, we couldn't help but notice that the apricot trees were loaded with fruit that was falling to the ground. At this old house on Main Street, the apricots were covering the sidewalk, the yard, and the street. Alice had a friend with a loaded tree, and we headed over there to pick apricots after dinner. Alice and Ray also have a vegetable garden, and she sent zucchini and summer squash home with us--plus a loaf of chocolate walnut zucchini bread.
We meet some of the nicest people in our travels, and Ray and Alice are up there with the nicest of all. We're sorry that we never took a picture of our new friends! We enjoyed our time in Mitchell and getting to see our planned stop at the Painted Hills. But the things we enjoy the most are the unplanned stops with new friends.
Great post! How cool that a friendly local couple took you under their wing. The Painted Cove trail looks amazing! We’ll be in that area the first of October. Hope things have cooled off by then!
ReplyDeleteIt was a great stop! I'm sure it will be cooler by October. But if not, you can be smarter, like a family we met in our campground. They went for sunset that same day and said it was delightful.
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