Baker City, OR

Entering Baker City in the late afternoon I wondered why it was a city* at all. The few stores on Main Street were slowing shutting off their lights. One restaurant was drawing a small crowd for happy hour, or an early dinner. The latter being more likely. Paused at a red light, I suddenly felt like I was in an Edward Hopper painting. The sole car on a downtown street pinned by the heavy autumn sun. Sun blind, I couldn't tell if the light had changed to green. But another light went off, the one in my head. I remembered that Baker City began during the Eastern Oregon gold rush and it once was the largest city between Portland, OR and Salt Lake City, UT. These guys keep it from smelling like either city nowadays.

One recent article mentioned that the dredges during the rush only captured 40% of the gold in the tailings, but I didn't come here to mine the remaining 60% (maybe I should have). I needed a place to rest in between my drive from Bellingham, WA to Salt Lake City, UT. And when I read about the Chinese Memorial and the Oregon Trail Interpretative Center, my itinerary was set. (What can I say, I had an awesome high school history teacher.)

So often we see memorials for individuals, rare to find one commemorating a minority population. When most struggling cities would've let their past disintegrate with time, the residents of Baker City decided to highlight and preserve it. In my opinion, that says a lot.

There wasn't much to do after my history tour. I could've joined some locals at a restaurant suggested by the front desk, but I was ready to call it a day. Strangely because I knew I would be back to try it. Places like Baker City have a special allure for me; that restaurant will be around much longer than most things, including this blog.

* A little tidbit I learned while writing this post, even though Baker City felt like a town it's technically a city because it has a mayor. Population doesn't determine town/city classification. Blogging just might make me smarter. (That's a mighty might.)

Length of Stay

One day

Docking Index

     

Six anchors.  I think everyone has fantasies of living in a small sleepy town at some point in their life, and Baker City wouldn't be a bad choice. This coming from a friend who lived there once. I trust his opinion since his wanderlust is at par with mine, but in a town that gathers for dinner around 5? That's supper -- I'm not that old.

Side note: Cities in Oregon can't be below 5 anchors because all gas stations are full-service gas stations by law. I'm one of those people AAA needs to rescue because I let my gas tank get precariously low in the dead of winter :/ I'll happily clean the snow off my car and your car before freezing to pump gas.