Thursday, September 11, 2025 John Day Fossil Beds

 

Thursday, September 11, 2025 John Day Fossil Beds

There is lots of grass for me here.  But my humans won’t let me roam, so I stay near.  It smells good until a dog comes by.  Why do they have to ruin everything?

Kathy joined me on my morning walk.  We walked the streets, exploring.  There was an old Victorian house that I dared to walk into to check out.  I am surprised I didn’t fall through the floor!  We walked past the city hall (about the size of dollhouse), then we found a street that let took us past Aspen’s house.  Aspen puts out fresh eggs, and she bakes daily.  The baking won’t be done till later, so we have to wait for that, but we did buy some eggs before we left the area. 

It is rural, and there are a whole lot of fruit trees.  Mini pears are littered on the ground, as are apples and peaches.  We scavenge a few because we just can’t help ourselves.  The entire town is old, but this back street has a bit of charm.  There are so many gardens in people’s yards.  It was fun to look.  I will do more here tomorrow.

When we got back, we gathered Brian and Spouse and walked to the local café for breakfast.  It is a cute place with home cooking and a very funny server.  I asked his name, he said I forgot… Therefore, that is what we called him: I Forgot.  We all had fun with it.

We decided to go to the John Day Fossil beds, about 8 miles up the road.  The area, at one time was tropical.  But volcanoes and floods, then more volcanoes and more floods changed the topography and wiped out the critter population.  But they still find fossils and have them on display.  Plants, insects, eggs, and mammal like critters are there for the viewing.  I don’t know how they can tell a rat skull from a rock, but somehow, they do.  Or they are yanking our chains!

We did a hike back on one of the interpretive trails.  Here the mountain is green claystone.  It is soft and I can’t believe these mountains stand up to the weather.  When it rains, the water runs off carrying some of the claystone, and the creeks are a pretty shade of green.  You can chip away using your fingernail.  But, these mountains have been here a gazillion years, and probably will be here another gazillion year.  You are not supposed to take anything from the area, so Kathy and I made sure we didn’t take any rocks…

While I could go into the ‘Doug Diesel Dance Dilemma’ here, I think I will do a post strictly on what it is like fueling up the truck.

We checked out the town of John Day.  It is odd.  John Day was a trapper in the area way back when, up the river from here.  He was robbed, including his clothes.  So people always referred to the area as the John Day river, citing the incident.  He never did come to the actual area of John Day though.   The town of John Day actually has people and activity.  It even has a real nice grocery store (Chesters). 

On our way back, we stopped by to see if Aspen had any baked goods… they were all gone.  Darn it!

Rummikube:  I won 2 games, Spouse 1, Kathy 1.  Brian was on the outside looking in.  Tomorrow we go our separate ways.