Stopping at Government Camp

Today my GPS got me off to a good start that I couldn't have done by myself. On my map it looked like Route 26, which I wanted, connected directly to I-84, but actually there was a small connecting road from I-84 which eventually led to Rt. 26. I could have spent a long morning looking for a Rt. 26 exit from I-84 that didn't exist, but fortunately my GPS lady knew about this and got me on the right track.

I had intended to cover a lot of miles today and end up very close to Crater Lake in Oregon.
I stopped just briefly at the Government Camp Visitors Center just to pick up a map of Oregon. Government Camp was neither government nor camp but just a small roadside town. It had been a government camp briefly a couple hundred years ago but not lately. It was here I was waylaid by the nice lady who was running the tourist office. First, she told me that I should go upstairs and see their interesting museum of the area. She made it sound really great, so what could I do? I went upstairs. In fact it was interesting. The object I found most interesting was a "mourning picture" of a not very attractive and rather grim looking lady. Seems that it was the custom "back then" to take portraits of people at funerals. This picture had apparently hung in someone's house for many years. I can't even imagine waking up every morning to this dour face. Why would anyone do this? A wedding picture? O.K. A birth-of-a-new-baby picture? OK. Even a bar mitzvah picture. But a mourning picture? Just one more piece of evidence that we human beings are a strange species.

Next the lady at the Visitors Center told me I shouldn't miss Timberline Lodge about seven miles up the mountain. It had been built in the 1930's by the WPA or CCC (I can't remember which) and did turn out to be a popular tourist site/sight for good reason. What could I do? I went driving up the mountain. Sure enough although there were too many clouds to see Mt. Hood, and even the skiing had been cancelled for the day, there was still a good view of surrounding mountains, mostly brown from being above the tree line. The lodge itself was indeed something to see, with a huge fireplace/chimney in the center, 12x12 wooden beams and handcarved oaken furniture.
I also learned some invaluable information from the Visitors Center lady. Hemlock trees have very short needles. Fir trees also have short needles but longer than hemlock trees, and cedar trees droop a little like willow trees.
In front of the building were some very pretty yellow yarrow flowers. Yarrow is very common in Pennsylvania, but I've always seen it in white and never before in yellow.

I stopped at a restaurant on the highway that ran through an Indian reservation in the midst of beautiful but barren countryside . The restaurant contained eight computers most of which were being used by their Indian customers.  In front of the restaurant was a big tepee, quite a contrast with the computers inside the restaurant!

At about 4:30, I found the LaPine State Park and set up for the night. It was still warm enough that I could prepare my dinner at the campsite, but the night turned out to be quite cold with my car thermometer eventually dropping to 36. I slept in the car and had a restless night. I'll probably need a long roadside nap tomorrow.