Let'er Buck!

For my birthday last month, Brad gave me a small-town trip of my choice... one that didn't involve scaling a mountain or something else exhausting. Just a nice, relaxing adventure at a place we'd never been.

Because Brad had the week off, and previous plans to backpack and climb were thwarted by very low snow levels, I decided to cash in my gift and hit the road for a short trip to Pendleton.

We left Monday afternoon and arrived in town just in time for a quick stop at the Chamber of Commerce for some brochures and such:

Cowboys everywhere!

Dinner at Thai Ploy (we first stopped at a Mexican place but left quickly when we noticed the "failed" health inspection sticker in the window!):

Then cable TV (a major vacation bonus for our off-the-air-TV-only family) and bed at the Super 8:

We got up early Tuesday and explored the town on our bikes. 

The Umatilla River:

Wagon train mural:

My favorite graffiti on the river trail:

 Little horses in the park outside the Round-Up:

And there's the famous Pendleton Round-Up!

#1 Top Cowboy Vacation Destination (Western Horseman Magazine):

Ooh... a skate park!

 "Let'er Buck" is the town/Round-Up slogan. It was EVERYWHERE! We loved the bike racks:

We stopped by the Round-Up later in the day when it was open for barrel-racing practice:

We returned to the pathway and discovered hundreds of goats fenced in along the riverbank:

They were brought in to clear brush - love it!

Then we peddled to Pendleton Woolen Mills:

We did some hobo nappin' in this grass until it was time for our tour:

Headsets so we could hear the tour guide over the intense factory noise:

Spools and spools of beautiful wool yarn:

Raw, dyed yarn:

Computerized loom:

Inspecting for flaws:

Unfortunately, we're way too cheap to actually purchase a Pendleton blanket, but it sure was interesting to see how they were made.

Dinner was a quick stop at Round-Up Char Burger:

Loved the reading material while we waited:

In all, we rode about 15 miles around town. We had a great time exploring and then returned to the hotel to check out the pool and then hit the hay early... of course we signed up for a morning 5K Fourth of July race!

:)