Going Underground in Pendelton

Location: Yakima Sportsman State Park, Washington

Our first stop today was in Pendelton, famous for the Woolen Mills. Turns out they don't give tours of the mill on Saturday, so we drove to the place where they give Underground Tours of Pendelton. Luck was with us, the tour was sold out, but two people had just cancelled. Our tour guide was named Chris, a former middle school English teacher, and she was a crack up. The tour was billed as 90 min. but it lasted 3 hours! Chris had a never ending supply of stories that kept us well entertained.

Our first destination once underground was an old bar where I sat in on a poker game with some of the regulars.

Debi got friendly with one of the cowboys.

But after he bought her a drink, things kinda went downhill from there.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, I tried to make the best of the situation by chating it up with another one of the oldtimers. (Hey Bud, do any of these guys remind you of your "friend" who used to stare at you at Charlie's?)

In another section of the Underground, the Pendelton Candy Works, I did an endorsement of a competitor's product.

Moving on, we visited the butcher shop, where meat was butchered and 100 pound blocks of ice were manufactured.

Here's our tour guide Chris, explaining about how soft the stuffed grizzly bear is. The entire town of Pendleton has blocks and blocks of tunnels underneath it and she took us through multiple sections of it.

One of the next stops was above ground at Madame Stella's bordello, which operated from 1928 to 1967, when Stella decided to finally retire. (Prostitution had been officially proclaimed illegal in Pendelton since 1953). In it's heyday, Pendelton had 14 houses of Ill repute. Here I am with Madame Stella in front of her "Cozy Rooms" which are up 32 steps through the doors behind us. Some customers referred to these as the Stairways to Heaven.

 

 

 

 

Here's Debi in front of one of the posters inside Madame Stella's.

Later I tried out the jail cell inside the Chinese section of the Underground. So sad.

Finally we finished the tour and had lunch at a local cafe. Delicious!

Soon we had driven into Washington and through Walla Walla, just as Lauie's crew had in 1929.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just as the Russell's had in 1929, we crossed the Columbia River over the bridge at Pasco, but it was no longer a toll bridge.

 

Before we got to our present campground in Yakima, we stopped to take a photo of the Teapot Dome Gas Station National Historic Site. (We thought this must be related to the Teapot Dome Scandal that we learned about in history class, but it turned out to just be a historic gas station that's shaped like a teapot.). We went for a bike ride when we got to the campground and it was 106 degrees! However, it's supposed to cool off to a chilly 77 degrees by sunrise tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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