Fossil

A geography lesson to start:

Population of Oregon: 3.5 million

Population of Portland Metro: 2.5 million

Size of Oregon: Big! 9th biggest state in the country

What this all means: There is a lot of space to spread out 1 million extra people. And most of those people are west of the Cascades, either south of Portland in the Willamette Valley or along the Coast.

What this really means: Fill up your gas tank before venturing too far off the interstate in eastern Oregon. And, if you like monster wind farms, this is the place for you.

Over Memorial Day weekend Mark and I headed to eastern Oregon on a dinosaur hunt, focusing our search in and around the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. The nearest town of any respectable size to John Day is Fossil, and by "respectable size" I mean it has a population of 469. The entire county in which Fossil resides has fewer people than my high school. But they have a lovely Bridge Creek Flora Inn {where we stayed}, which is located in a house built in the early 1900's, and the town just happens to be located on the 45th parallel. Aside from actually standing on the equator or one of the poles, what more exciting line of latitude could there be {well, besides the other 45th parallel of course}?

When you drive into Fossil, there is a sign listing all the things this town has to offer. As you can see it's a short list, ranging from Laundromat to Fossil Motel and Trailer Park. I was personally a huge fan of the town Mercantile, mainly because the ceiling and support beams were adorned with quilts and the heads of antlered animals. Who doesn't enjoy looking for chapstick under the watchful eye of several dead moose?

So welcome to downtown Fossil...

And the library, city hall, and fire department...very convenient should you ever need to pay your property taxes and check out the latest paperback, only to notice your shirt has caught fire...

Three things of note about Fossil:
1. Based on a flier we saw posted at the Mercantile, yesterday (June 3) was the town potluck in city park. Everyone in town was encouraged to come out and congratulate the 3 students graduating from 8th grade.
2. We saw a real live cowboy, eating a cheeseburger at RJ's Cafe.

3. And we spent our evening here standing in front of a fireplace getting warm. It was 35 degrees! On Memorial Day weekend! Oregon, it's a good thing you're pretty because your weather is infuriatingly unpredictable.