Elgin to La Grande, OR

17 September 2011
We left early for the little town of Elgin to take the Eagle Cap Excursion Train ride beside the scenic Grande Ronde and Wallowa Rivers. They served a nice lunch on the train. We then drove to the Eagles Hot Lake RV Park near La Grande where we had Happy Hour and another potluck dinner. Kirk gave us more information about the Exson-Valdez investigation with pictures.

18 September 2011
After coffee and donuts we drove a short distance to the Manual Museum at Hot Lake. This is the hottest hot springs in the U. S. David Manual, a renowned bronze sculptor and Indian Historian and his wife, Lee, told us about how they have been restoring the historic buildings at Hot Lake which included a hospital, to include a museum, B & B, restaurant, studio, and store. The museum includes displays of military history and Indian history. We had a good Italian chicken lunch at the museum. Lee enacted the story of Marie Dorian with much enthusiasm and David demonstrated some sculpting techniques. We admired the beautiful bronze work and wished we could aford it. There is a lot more at this museum than I can write about here. It was almost 2 o'clock when we started the 185 mile drive to Memaloose State Park west of The Dalles, OR. We are camped on the Columbia River with lots of sunshine and trees. Beautiful scenery and weather!