Walla Walla & surrounding areas

Thursday, Sept 22

I had a very slow start to my day as I felt terrible. Turns out I also had a fever but hadn't quite figured that out yet. I met my nephew, Sean, for lunch & we had a very pleasant time catching up. I'd seen him about a year ago but when other family is involved, it is very hard to actually sit & talk one on one.

When we returned to my motor home, a friend whom I'd met online, was waiting to show me around the area. This lady loves history & was anxious to share her knowledge with me. We drove about an hour away to the location of one of Lewis & Clark's overnight encampments as they made the return trip to the east

This depiction shows all the members of the party and what they might typically do to set up camp. They are silhouettes made of iron & are identified by a signboard.

Perhaps one of the most important members of the Corps of Discovery, Sacagawea. 

Thanks to the superb notes taken, this is on the exact route the Corps followed in 1806.

The next stop was to the Whitman Mission established in 1836. This is a view from a nearby hill of the original buildings erected over the first few years of the mission's existence.

This mission site was excavated in the 1940's & my dad used to tell about how he helped to locate the building sites. He was a history student at Walla Walla College in the late 1940's. He & a friend went out to the location at dawn & with me dad on the hill top, was able to direct his friend to mark some building foundations that could be seen with the sun at such a low angle. Now, they have marked the buildings with cement markers. The Whitman's were helpful to the Native Americans & the arriving Americans until some disgruntled Native Americans killed them along with 11 others in 1947.

Burial site.

This is a replica of a typical wagon following the Oregon Trail. It is smaller than later pioneers used because they were some of the very first wagons to enter the territories. This is also part of the original Oregon Trail as many settlers had to divert to the Whitman Mission to resupply.

We then returned to Walla Walla and drove downtown & over to College Place to see the buildings of Walla Walla University. Nothing like having a local to drive me around. I experienced the same thing when I was in Vancouver when a dear friend, who knows the area very well, drove me around for three days. I could get spoiled!!