Highlights of Idaho Road Trip

I did so much that I’ll have to break it into separate blog posts, but here’s the gist of it: As a retirement surprise for our old band teacher, Jeff Parnett, a bunch of us gathered in our home town in Idaho to attend his last school band concert of his 45 year career. It’s a very long drive for me, so I made it into a fun road trip.

I visited family, saw the concert, hung out with friends, marveled at sculptures in Baker City, Oregon, I hiked a new trail, made a snowball, then stopped at an amazing museum of Chinese artifacts in John Day, Oregon. I pitched a tent in a tiny city park in Mitchell, OR, and spent hours hiking in the Painted Hills the next day. On the last leg of my homeward trip, I bought fresh Indian Fry Bread, and brought a second piece home to Pedro. For just three days, it was outstandingly full of cool stuff.

I can paint more details though, for those interested: On the first night, I was lucky to be invited to stay the night with my step-sister and her two kids. While there, my former step-mom was able to come over too. It was good to see them all and catch up.

In this tiny town with a population sign that announces 533 residents, fifty former students showed up and we increased the town’s population by ten percent! Despite small towns’ famous news dissemination systems, Parnett did NOT know about our plan till he stood in front of the audience, and fifty of us lined up to congratulate him with hugs. He was in tears by the last hug, and somewhat overwhelmed. He said, “You made me cry and now I have to do a concert!” All of the alumni sat in one section of the bleachers and made an extraordinary amount of noise and probably blew all those music students’ minds. (Our old school, just so you know, hosts Kindergarten through 12th grade all under the same roof, so a music/band teacher is responsible for every single one of those music students)

A reporter from a local newspaper spent hours with us, and wrote a nice article commemorating the surprise in the Star News. I had to give my email to read the article, but if you want to do the same, click this link to read it.

Afterward, he and his wife Andrea invited us to their house to continue celebrating. Though I had not been a band student of his since 1982, he remembered that I played the French Horn back then. My interests went in other directions after that, so I was not his music student for as long as my classmates, but Parnett was one of a troop of phenomenal public high school teachers that I adored in this itty bitty town. I’m still in contact with most of them, and several showed up for the concert too. We sat with Jeff and Andrea and talked at length about what a good group we all were together back in the 1980s.

After I said goodbye to my family the next morning, I took a route home through central Oregon. The day before was 9 hours of freeway driving and I was tired. My plan was to take two days to come home on smaller highways, and enjoy myself. I definitely enjoyed myself. By the time I reached Baker City, I was hungry. I stopped for food, but got distracted by a surprisingly vibrant city center for a population of only 10 thousand.

In my last post, I talked about how McMinnville, OR was voted among the top ten main streets in the country, and remember how I was all, “meh” about the main street? It’s because there are some truly impressively appealing main streets in this country. Take Baker City, for example. 🙂

The restaurant I had chosen from Google maps was closed, but I didn’t mind because I was enjoying my walk – especially when I noticed the sculptures. I found a different place to eat.

Out of Baker City, full of food and coffee, I took highway 7 toward highway 26 toward Prairie City. The road took me up into the mountains and to some snow that had not yet melted off. I got out and played in it. I took a photo for my friend and blogger, Manja.

At the top of Dixie Summit (5280 feet), I found restrooms that were open, and I was happy to use them! No one else was there, just me alone on a highway in the mountains on a lovely day. I began wandering around the large parking area and found to my complete surprise: a walking trail with interpretive signs. Of course I set off immediately.

The trail was passable, though a little winter blowdown was evident. I began learning about the Slump Dodger, which I had never heard of. It was an 80-mile railway built between Baker City and Prairie City, mainly to serve the logging industry.

The descent from Dixie Summit was 2000 feet, and presented a challenge for the railway builders until Joseph A. West came up with a plan to have switchbacks. The train literally went back and forth on zig-zagging tracks to make the climb or the descent. A section of the zig zag was shown for us.

This railroad was never connected to major continental railroads, and eventually highways were built and the logging industry changed and the railway fell into disuse. The last train came through in 1947.

Back in the Jeep I went through a mountain pass that was SO PRETTY! It made me think of the European Alps at times.

Heading out into the valley again, on the way to Prairie City, I passed a giant fake pioneer wagon and stopped for photos of the magnificent valley.

My next stop was a museum in John Day. I’ll cover the Kam Wah Chung museum in my next post. After the museum, I drove that night till I got as far as the town of Mitchell, Oregon. Population 130 residents. I learned that I could pitch a tent in the city’s central park, beside the creek. By the size, you have already guessed that there is not much in Mitchell. But there is a brewery! And really, at the end of a long, hot day in the car, as she’s settling in for the night, what else does a woman really need? I walked over to Tiger Town Brewing Co. and had a pint before it grew too dark to do anything else but sleep to the sounds of the creek beside me.

UPDATE: My step sister just sent this link to me: