In May, David and I took a three-week road trip from our home in Portland to Minnesota, to visit some of my relatives and tour the Great American West along the way. This post is part of a series on the highlights of our trip.

Idaho Mission

After driving through some lovely scenery in northern Idaho after Coeur d'Alene, we came upon a nice surprise - a state heritage sign indicating the presence of an "Old Mission." It was a really interesting place. Part of a state park that looks like a nice place for a picnic, the mission was founded by Belgian Jesuit missionaries and is owned by the local Native American tribe. The simple wooden church was built 1850-53 with the help of converted Native Americans and is the oldest building in Idaho.







Next to the church is the pale blue Parish House (below), which was rebuilt in 1887 after a fire destroyed the original. This is where the missionaries lived, and it includes a small chapel as well. Most of the original furnishings have been preserved and it was quite interesting to look around.





Missoula

We arrived in Missoula around 5pm and asked about a room at Goldsmith's Inn, a historic B&B recommended by my guidebook. They had a room but needed some time to get it ready, so David went next door for some ice then worked on organizing the truck while I went for a wander along the river. It was a beautiful evening and I really enjoyed my walk, which took me along the university grounds and across a bridge leading into the old downtown.


Pedestrian bridge near the B&B leading to the university side.


View from across the river - our B&B is the reddish house in the center. Nice location on the river and a good place to stay all around.







My walking loop ended up taking nearly an hour, but it was nice to get some exercise after the hours in the car. It was also an interesting test of my lungs at altitude, since Missoula sits at 3,200 feet above sea level. Fortunately I didn't notice any issues, but I was unusually thirsty by the time I got back.

Upon my return we hauled our stuff into our room, which was at the top of several creaky flights of stairs (built 1911) on the attic floor. The room was really big, with river views on one side and a balcony on the other. Then we walked downtown to look for dinner.


Downtown Missoula. The city is pleasant enough, but there isn't much to it!

There weren't many restaurant choices, but we did find a place that had some of the most delicious frozen yogurt we've ever had. It's called Moxiberry and its frozen yogurt really tastes like yogurt, with that nice sour zing. It comes in two flavors: vanilla and green tea. David had a vanilla sundae with mangoes and I had a vanilla smoothie made with mangoes and pomegranate juice. Very virtuous and delicious. Then we had a couple tacos at Taco Bell to balance out the universe.

Labels: church, idaho, mission, missoula, montana, usa

In May, David and I took a three-week road trip from our home in Portland to Minnesota, to visit some of my relatives and tour the Great American West along the way. This post is part of a series on the highlights of our trip.

The first day we drove from Portland, Oregon to Spokane, Washington. It was a long day of driving but quite enjoyable, with lovely weather, light traffic, and several interesting things to see.


Since we left fairly late in the morning, the first item of business after an hour or so of driving was lunch. Happily, Charburger was conveniently located for this. I love this place and have visited many times. It has good hot food served cafeteria-style in a western-themed interior, with beautiful river views.


My Hawaiian burger (above) was delicious. David had a patty melt, which was very nice too. Check out the size of that maple bar! I would like to state for the record that between the two of us we ate less than half - but we had to try it. And actually it was quite good, although very chewy.


After lunch we took a short stroll down to the Bridge of the Gods and the Columbia River.

Not long after lunch, we stopped at a place I'd been wanting to visit for some time. Like Charburger, it was right on the way: the Temani Pesh-Wa Trail in Columbia Hills State Park. It's located near the Dalles Dam on the Washington side of the Gorge, about an hour and a half east of Portland.


The Temani Pesh-Wa Trail, with petroglyphs displayed on left.

The trail was set up in 2004 to display a few dozen ancient petroglyphs saved from the rising waters of the dam over 50 years ago. They sat in a storage shed under bird droppings until their recent restoration and display. The trail was sponsored in part by local native tribes, who now conduct religious rituals here. The dates of the carvings are unknown, but are estimated at 1000-1500 AD.


Elk or similar


River spirit


Maybe a bug; an owl; various animals to have for dinner


Bird


Spirit figure

For more information, see my new article, "Columbia Hills Petroglyphs," at Sacred Destinations.

Other assorted snapshots from the rest of the journey:


A colorful train crosses Horsethief Lake near the petroglyphs


Rolling hills along Highway 14 in Washington, near the Columbia River


Detail of the "Stonehenge Memorial," a lame replica of the real thing but a creative idea with a good purpose: it commemorates local soldiers who died in World War I. It was built in 1918 and is said to be the nation's first memorial of that war.


The sponsor of the monument was Sam Hill, a Quaker pacifist and wealthy entrepreneur. He believed the original Stonehenge to be a place of sacrifice, and therefore built this replica as a reminder that "humanity is still being sacrificed to the god of war."


Peacocks in the parking lot of Maryhill Museum, Washington


Some unusual church architecture in Kennewick (one of the Tri-Cities), Washington. I liked the Tri-Cities - looks like a pleasant place to live.

It was after 8pm when we finally arrived in Spokane. I had a particular hotel in mind, but to our surprise it was booked up. In fact, the nice parking attendant there told us, most hotel rooms in the city were booked up because it was graduation day and prom night! Oh dear. But he thought the DoubleTree had some rooms and showed us how to get there on a map. Thankfully, there were some rooms free and we really liked the hotel. Upon check-in we were given two warm chocolate chip cookies each! That seems like a genius idea for keeping customers happy.


The DoubleTree in Spokane. Our room was on the 14th floor.


Lovely view of the city from our window


The modern convention center, which is attached to the hotel

After settling in, we took a walk along the river with our tripod and had a good time trying to photograph Spokane Falls in the dark. We saw kids in formalwear everywhere!






Wish you could hear the sound of the rushing falls?? You can! Just press the play button:


The footage isn't thrilling, I realize, but it was a good way to get to know the video function on my new camera.


Another video taken higher up the river.

By the time we got around to dinner, it was well after 10pm. We didn't find anything on the way back to the hotel, rejected both hotel restaurants on the grounds of being a little too fancy and time-consuming, and ended up ordering a club sandwich from room service. It was delicious and just perfect for a light late dinner.

Labels: food, oregon, petroglyphs, spokane, washington

Despite its relatively short history, my home state of Oregon does have some notable and historic sacred places. Below are two that my husband and I visited recently.

Old Scotch Church



The Old Scotch Church in Hillsboro (west of Portland) was built in 1878 by 12 settlers from Aberdeenshire in Scotland. Its style is called Carpenter Gothic, which is a modest, North American form of Gothic Revival architecture using wood. It's very beautiful and has a lovely setting among fir trees in the countryside. My husband and I were married in this church in 2004.



More photos and a history of the church here.

Crater Lake

When it comes to Native American sacred sites, the most famous in Oregon is Crater Lake. Still used for vision quests by the Klamath tribe, this sacred lake was formed around 4680 BC by a volcanic eruption.



Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States. It is filled entirely by melted snow, giving it the dazzling blue color for which it is famous. Shown above is a view from the south rim.

I'm ashamed to say this was my first visit despite having lived in Oregon all my life! We stopped by on our way home from San Francisco in late April, when there was still plenty of snow on the ground. (The road around the crater doesn't open until July!) It was midday and the sky was hazy so our pictures aren't as good as we'd hoped, but it was still a spectacular sight. We will certainly return another day for more photos!

More about Crater Lake and its sacred significance here.

And the Beach


And finally, it is not a sacred destination (as far as I know), but here is a view of the Oregon coast taken during our visit to Lincoln City yesterday.

Labels: church, native american site, oregon, usa