Fort Dalles Museum, and Memaloose State ParkThursday was a quiet rest day.

Thursday was a quiet rest day for us. We just hung out at the park and relaxed. Our old bodies needed some down time from hiking the falls, the travel day that followed, and the drive around to see the fruit trees blossoming.

But, Friday we were all set to be tourists again.

The Dalles is a town located about 85 miles east of Portland Oregon on the Columbia River. It grew up in the second half of the 1800s, around Fort Dalles. The fort itself was never a stockade, but it was a military outpost for protection from Indians and a stopover point for pioneers who had traveled the Oregon Trail. 

Note: The Oregon Trail is a 2,170-mile historic east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon.

This was the fort surgeon's house. It is the only building, other than a gardeners shed, that remains intact. The office and some historic collections are kept there.

This collection of arrow heads attests to the long use of these lands by Native Americans. Craig is looking at a poster that shows the locations and the original names of many of the Native American tribes.

The Anderson Homestead house and barn, also from the 1800's, have been moved from their original location to a lot across the street from the fort, and are  open to the public with paid admission ($5 for seniors) to the fort.

  
Mary was our guide, and did a wonderful job of showing us the buildings and collections.

The Anderson house had two large upstairs bedrooms. One was for their two sons, and the other for their daughters.

These handmade dolls were on display, but I doubt they were ever played with. They were far too clean.

On the fort grounds there was an open barn/shed building that housed many modes of transportation including old buggies, an electric car, a Model T, and two hearses. 

Next to the hearse were several coffins. Unused I assume. I found it interesting that they had glass windows. Perhaps that was because they did not embalm the bodies and this allowed them to be viewed.

We next went up to the War Memorial Lookout at Sorosis Park, which was not far from the fort museum.  Mary suggested it. What a fantastic view!  Thank you Mary.

We stayed at  Memaloose State Park for three nights. It seemed to be a logical place to camp since I wanted to go to both Hood River and the Dalles. It is located five miles from one and eleven miles from the other. TripAdvisor and Google gave it 4 1/2 stars. Had I looked down the listings I would have noticed the 2 star rating from Yelp. It is in close proximity to I-84, a very busy highway. Our coach was only about 100 feet from it. Some spots on the other side of the park may be somewhat buffered from the noise, but didn't have full hook ups. We had no buffer, but the road noise didn't keep us awake. On the plus side, we had great satellite, internet and Verizon signals. I choose this spot so that Craig could watch the Warriors basketball game Wednesday night, and that worked out fine.

We moved on to Vancouver, Washington on Saturday. It was not a long drive, but it was a bit windy. Always a challenge. 

Life is good!