Arrived in Walla Walla, Washington and we get to visit with Bill and Gina Deweber.

Walla Walla is a nice community with friendly people. We have received several recommendations on things to do here. Key enterprises in this area are farming (mostly grain), wineries, and colleges (there are three here).

It was recommended that we visit the town of Joseph located in north east Oregon. We are only about ten miles from Oregon here in Walla Walla. The two-hour drive to Joseph was quite scenic; expansive wheat fields transitioning to rugged mountains with clear streams and rivers. During this entire trip, we have been looking for an elk. We finally saw two elk swimming across the Wallowa River. They were amazing; quite large. They crossed the swift river like it was nothing to them. Pretty cool. The town of Joseph is just six miles from Lake Wallowa, a major tourist located at the base of beautiful mountains that are referred to as "Oregon's Alps." The City of Joseph is named after Chief Joseph who was chief of the Wallowa Tribe of the Nez Perce Indian tribe. He is buried near the town. A famous bronze sculptor named Austin Barton from the area has donated many beautiful sculptures to the town and they are positioned throughout the main street areas. The lake is great for kayaking and has tremendous views. We had a nice picnic at the marina. We then rode the Tramway to the top of Mt Howard, a climb of about 3,700 feet. Views were awesome from the top land the weather was perfect for the trip; short sleeves. Lots of little critters on the peak and even a spring available for drinking water. Thee is actually a grill at the summit the prepares sandwiches and great burgers. The food was excellent and reasonably priced. On the way home, we stopped in Joseph to walk the town. We also has some great ice cream cones. We then began the drive home in the early evening. We were constantly watching for deer, elk or antelope to cross the road. A one point a fairly large deer came prancing out of the brush which caused us to hit the breaks pretty hard to avoid hitting it. Drove a little slower after that.

Lisa worked in the morning and I went for a bicycle ride on my single. Nice ride through Walla Walla. After Lisa's work, we drove to a small pond called Bennington Reservoir to ride the kayaks. This reservoir was small and filled with dirty water. We were done in an hour and very uneventful.

We met with Bill and Gina after our kayak ride. We had planned to travel to Walla Walla Airport where they were having a host of food trucks providing meals. As we arrived, a significant wind storm came up and there was some rain in the area. We aborted and went to a fun restaurant for dinner. We had a great time with great conversation and great food. Afterwards, we stopped by Bill and Gina's house. They have a beautiful home with a fantastic coy fish pond in the backyard. The pond is the size of a swimming pool and the fish are as large as two feet; pretty cool and relaxing. Tonight we get to visit with Bill's mom in a retirement home nearby. It will be great to see her again. Tomorrow we are going to a baseball game with the "Walla Walla Sweets" single A baseball team. "Sweets" refers to the Walla Walla sweet onions that are grown in this area; hey are supposed to be awesome. On July 4th, we are all going kayaking where the Palouse River flows into the Snake River about an hour north of town. More to follow on this. We are scheduled to leave on Friday the 5th, buy we may delay until Saturday. More to follow on these activities.