April-May 2024 Trip to Maryhill Art Museum

 

Trip to Maryhill Art Museum April 29 to May 2, 2024

 Judy has always wanted to go to the Maryhill museum in south Washington across the Columbia river from Biggs Junction, Oregon. The time was right and the weather looked fine so off we went.

 Day 1 Monday April 29

We left home a little after nine in the morning with our Gulfstream Cruiser and Goldie in tow. From I-5 we decided to take highway 14 along the Washington side of the Columbia river. We ate lunch in Washougal at a park along the river. From my earlier trip many years ago I did not remember that much of the road is twisty windy and up and down. Beautiful trip though. Our destination was Peach Beach RV park right off highway 97 and along the river. I think we will take I-84 in Oregon when we leave on Thursday. We got space 2 with a clear view of the river and all the boat traffic and trains.

Quite windy most of the day with just a few sprinkles. We had sheet pan dinner which we brought from home. Tomorrow Maryhill museum.

 

Day 2 Tuesday April 30

We got to the Maryhill Art Museum about 10:30 (open from 10 to 5). Sam Hill builder of the place had friends all over because of his railroad and road building business. He built the Peace Arch between the US and Canada at Blaine, WA as well as a lot the the road along the Columbia River.

Sam Hill

Judy and I on the ramp to the main entrance which was built for guests to drive.

Part of the museum has items from the royalty of Romania.  They had things from Queen Elizabeth who was related to many of the European rulers. The Rodin exhibit was especially interesting as they had original bronzes and plaster and terracotta models he had made as well as some of his original drawings

Rodin

Small plaster model for the "Thinker"

Plaster image of Rodin's girlfriend.

We took a break at had lunch at the Maryhill winery which was close the the museum. Judy had tacos which she said were good and I had a chicken schnitzel sandwich, also good.

View from the winery looking west.

Entrance to restaurant and store.

At lunch.  Typical wines were $30 and up.

Then back to the museum where we went to the native American section. Lots of baskets old and new, old tools, clothes, bead work etc.

One of the basket exhibits.

Judy remembers native ladies wearing these at the pow-pows in Browning, MT

Very nice exhibit. The third floor had some art work old and new. There were wire manikins made in France after WW2 to highlight the new fashion industry.

We decided to quit for the day and head back to the motorhome.  On the way out it started to rain.

 Day 3 Wednesday May 1

We went to Stonehedge which is near the Maryhill Art Museum and was built by Sam Hill who built Maryhill. It is a memorial to all the Kickatat soldiers who died in WW1. It is suppose to be the first WWI memorial to be built in the US. It is built out of concrete in the same dimensions as the original. However, it is not solarly aligned like the one in England.

Me on the "altar".  They have since determined this stone was not an altar

View to the Columbia River.

This Stonehedge was made of concrete. Sam Hill's favorite building material.

 Off we went another 18 miles west to Columbia Hills State Park to look at the pictographs. Some of the ones there were removed from along the river when the Dalles dam was built. After we got there a man drove up and said he was a guide and ended up telling us about each of the stone pictographs and other stories about the area. He had grown up a ways down the road in Lyle, WA and saw the water rise covering some of the pictographs which were not removed and witnessed the covering of Celilo Falls. He pointed to a small road across the river on the Oregon side and said that is part of the original Oregon trail which came down to the river and continued on to the Dalles.

"Welcoming stone" which was originally upright.

"Warning stone" put at one end of the village.

Lizard, a food source.

The line across the middle was made by backhoe when the stone was removed from it's original place.

It is believed that this is a star chart.

Two mountain sheep, one lower left and one upper right.

This is a stone used to sharpen spears.  I saw similar stones in Australia.

This stone with scary face was to warn people to stay away.

The guide's native friends say this is a condor (which were here before the settlers came who wiped them out to protect their livestock) which you can tell because it holds the food in it's mouth and not it's claws.

Elk

Game stone.  Notice owl in upper left.

The trail to the left is an original native trail along the river.  It was also used by Lewis and Clark on their journey.  The trail leads to more pictographs accessible by tour only on Friday and Saturday.  The pictographs are in their original position as opposed to the above stones removed to preserve them when the Dalles dam was built.

 

After a fun time at the pictographs we headed west again to a small town called Bingen where we had lunch is a nice little restaurant. Next door was an “antique ” store which we browsed thoroughly. Judy bought a picture for a friend and some sewing items. Back home we had stir fry for dinner. I went down to the river and found a few rocks to bring home. Lots of quartzite there.

 Day 4 Thursday May 2

Got up to rain. After breakfast we got the motorhome ready. Hooked up Goldie and headed out. Crossed the Columbia river into Oregon and filled up with gas. It stopped raining and we had a tailwind. Took I-84 back west and then onto I-205. Judy wanted to go to the Pendelton mill in Washougal so we went back east the twelve miles on hwy 14. Spent an hour or so browsing the racks. We had lunch at the Bigfoot Bar (sports bar, tavern) called across from the Pendelton store. Nice drive home. Fun trip.