A vacation from retirement

All this touring and visiting exciting places is great, according to the Wagon Master, but sometimes you need to take a vacation from retirement. So, he found us the perfect place.


Catherine Creek State Park is along hwy. 203, near Union, Oregon. The campsites are laid out along Catherine Creek, and there's a nice day-use area just a half mile up the road. There are no services, but there is water available. It's a beautiful area, with camp sites that vary from small, suitable for tents, to several that will accommodate larger rigs. Only a few are right on the creek, and we were lucky enough to arrive early in the day, early in the week, and snag one of the very best.

Catherine Creek isn't very deep - great for kids to wade in as there are several little sandy beach areas. Though we did see people fishing in it, I can't say I saw anyone catching a fish!

There are also a couple of nice trails, one to the day use area - it's a one mile round trip, and another up to the top of the hill where there are a few nice viewpoints. It's a two mile round trip, and does have a few steep areas. Molly and I took that one on our third day there - not too bad for an old lady and an old dog!

We took one afternoon to go into the nearby town of Union where we visited the Union County Museum and picked up a few items at the little grocery store.

MC Ranch branding iron

The museum is really nice, and the loving attention lavished on the collections by all the volunteers really shows. The displays are really well done, and include an unusually wide range of topical material. One whole room is devoted to a "Cowboys Then and Now" collection.

Small "rooms" display items as they would have been used in days gone by. The whole town is a well-preserved turn-of the century treat. The grocery store, situated right on the creek, is well stocked with a bit of everything. The proprietor is a friendly fellow who will happily visit and fill you in on local events.

Four days is long enough to really get settled in to an area, and by the time we left we'd become well acquainted with our host and hostess and two of the other couples camping there. We spent the afternoons trading travel tips, favorite campsites, and learning about the surrounding area from the couples who were familiar with it.

There's no cell service in the park, but you can catch a signal a couple of miles back toward town. We never bothered to set up the TV, opting to take a vacation from everything! All things considered, while the rest of the world was focused on the stock market melting down, world politics, and all the talking heads on TV, this was an excellent place to get away from it all! A few more photos here.

Our next stop will be far more "civilized". We've an appointment with the Arctic Fox factory in LaGrande for a repair, so we'll be staying at a private park nearby.