Feeling fallish

We've been enjoying beautiful dry and sunny days for weeks now as it turns from summer to fall. The pumpkins are ripe for picking, and what a wonderful crop we had this year! So much so that I've been thinking of planting the back acre all in pumpkins next year.

I do love raking up a huge pile of leaves and jumping in. It's a wonderful memory from childhood and, well, college.We rarely get the dry fall weather that is perfect for raking leaves, so we're taking full advantage of it this year. After taking a few photos, I put the camera away so I could just enjoy it. We jumped together hand in hand, buried each other in leaves, I threw him in over and over...so much fun.

Biking through the leaf pile.

Working that rake.

Watching them fall.

Perfect.

Wallowa bound

Next on the trip we hit the road toward Joseph.

We made a pit stop at Terminal Gravity Brewing in Enterprise to refuel.

Then we took a stroll up and down Main Street in Joseph. The town is known for its bronze work with many statues lining the main drag. I asked Ole to stand by the bike so I could take a picture and for THE VERY FIRST TIME EVER he did, even threw in a glance at the camera.

Oh, good morning! Our spartan motel really came through in the view department. At breakfast, I noticed people in town were a bit abuzz over the night's snowfall.

We boarded the Wallowa Lake tramway that morning for a fifteen minute gondola ride to the top of Mt Howard. Here we are getting settled at 4,450'. Ole looked so nervous and very small as we waited for the car to start its ascent.

 

But he's much happier mere seconds later as we pulled out of the terminal:

"SNOW!!!!!"

Up up up to 8,150'. I'd overheard the ticket seller say that there was a dusting of snow up top, but I did not expect to see this:

Lots and lots of beautiful snow! So we scratched our plan to hike the trails up top and instead tromped around and threw snowballs.

After a fun ride back down the mountain, we had a cozy afternoon curled up in the hotel room watching movies. O snacked on cucumbers and milk and played with his new tractor.

We were resting up for Alpenfest's biggest night. The Swiss-Bavarian festival had kicked off earlier that day with the smallest parade I've ever seen.

But everyone loves a polka band, right?!? The Polkatones were pretty great.

 I loved seeing the traditional costumes and watching the old-timers dance.

Ole had a laugh, too!

The town so nice they named it twice

Our trip started in Walla Walla, Washington. We stayed right downtown and enjoyed the luxury of walking everywhere--a real treat for us country folk! Walla Walla is a nice little college town going through a winery boom, and it's filled with beautiful old houses, cute shops and lots of restaurants. Rather than a wine tour, we hit the park circuit...starting with Pioneer Park. This park had a huge playground, a great aviary and a rose garden. Ole biked around and especially enjoyed the birds.

Showdown!

Climbed on his bike to get a better view.

Dainty rose

Me and little guy

Next up was the pioneer village at Fort Walla Walla. He was pretty impressed with the teepee.

 Lots of retired folks volunteer here, including costumed living history performances.

 We walked around and checked out the many buildings of the village Most were gated at the door so you could only peer inside, like this child's playhouse. Spying toys inside, Ole became absolutely obsessed! He rattled each window pane and lapped the building several times looking for a way in. Can you see him peeking in?

This tree! The plaque on the tree explains that it sprouted in the year 1200. Yes, very impressive. An elderly man in the crowd of senior citizens near us piped up, "Wow, a six hundred year old tree!" Oops, that's a minor math miscalculation on your part, buddy, but no need for me to correct you in front of your friends. I'll just bite my tongue and surely you'll realized your mistake soon enough. "Six hundred years," he continued, "from the year twelve hundred. Why, look at that! Six hundred years! Six...hundred...years..." Oh my god, it was killing me inside. But I managed to keep my mouth shut, so that's something.

And then it was time for a bite to eat and some refreshments. Good day.