A Chickahominy Dream Come True

Dear boys and girls,

Maybe you recall the very first post on this blog was about Chickahominy Reservoir in eastern Oregon and my weird unfulfilled curiosity about that place. You’ve probably been wondering if that long-standing dream was ever realized. Well, wonder no more. Here’s Bob representing our mutual enthusiasm on the day we finally turned down the road.

If you know eastern Oregon along Highway 20, this place is truly representative. It’s wide open and pretty soon as summer gears up into very little precipitation and higher temps, the primary color palette will be brown…with some sage mixed in here and there. And possibly some rattlesnake print for a pop of interest.

This is mighty green compared to what it will be a month from now.

There are a few campsites with picnic tables, a couple lovely vault toilet facilities (of which I’ve seen worse—MUCH worse 🤢—these were astonishingly nice!), and an entire building devoted to fish cleaning.

Around the other side you can see in a window
to the big sink, table, pull-down spigot, and large drains for fish guts. 😐

And then there’s the water. Not a ton of water and we truthfully didn’t look at every inch of the place, but even with the level down quite low, it was pleasant. And had pelicans here and there. Yes, high desert Oregonian pelicans. I’m not a birder so don’t ask me to explain that. But I know pelicans when I see them. ⬇️

So since I’m still not back on a computer and am coming to you via my phone and my right thumb, I’ll keep this short and leave you with a couple more photos and the thrilling video shot through our bug-encrusted windshield as we entered the Chickahominy Zone for the first time.

Honestly, I’m not sure what’s left after this in the realm of unfulfilled dreams…what to anticipate…to wonder about…to warrant taking unplanned lefts off the highway on the way to somewhere else.

Sure I do.

There’s still a list. Everybody needs one.

And lists should contain a wide range of possibilities…starting small, for example, with the desire to watch a Verdi opera from box seats performed at Teatro dell’Opera in Rome right up to the biggies like Chickahominy Reservoir where the water is like glass and the vault toilets are the stuff of dreams.

Here’s to the next sudden left turn.

Happy trails!