Stir Crazy: A Trip to Roseburg

Grants Pass has been a good place for us this winter, but it wasn't our original destination, and while there is a great deal to see around here, much of it is not at its best in winter. So, our outings have been few the last couple months and I'm eager to get going again. It was time we went somewhere.

We've been meaning to go to Roseburg, 61 miles north of Grants Pass, for some time, and today was the day. We filled up the tank (Can someone explain to us why diesel prices didn't go down hardly at all when gasoline did? The difference between the two has really increased!), loaded up our canine companions, and
drove away into the mist, hoping it would turn out blue-sky sunny. A lot of days here start out overcast and later improve, but today?  Not the case. It went from mist to drizzle to sprinkle to rain, and even bouts of downpour, but still we pressed on.

Our main objective was the Douglas County Museum of History and Natural History, directly adjacent to the fairgrounds and just off I-5. Directly adjacent to the museum is the fairgrounds campground, apparently open all year. All the spaces have electric and water, and a handful have sewer; the rest have dump priveleges. Rates, according to the sign on the host trailer, are $20.20 per night.

This would be a great stop for roadschool families, as the museum is very child friendly, with a handful of hands-on activities. Nature and history are both well represented in the exhibits.

Covered wagon settlers had an much harder time than we full-time RVers in deciding what to what was worth the weight and space, and many "precious" belongings were jettisoned as priorities changed. The typical covered wagon was about 4' by 10'--makes our travel trailer absolutely palatial by comparison.

Here's a list of suggested provisions for the journey, per person.

I'm sure the settlers were ecstatic when they found berries or greens, or their men bagged fresh meat, to supplement this very basic diet.

Roseburg was right along one branch of the Oregon Trail, so there is a great deal of history here.

The museum's largest artifact is this train station, which is used to tell the story of the influence of the railroad in Oregon history.

One exhibit tells about a famous big game hunter who filmed his African exploits in the early 1930s. His adventures had a tragic end, as he later died from his encounter with this lion.

There are also extensive natural history exhibits.

We had lunch at a Sonic drive in, which we have never experienced before. The food is brought to your car by a server on roller skates!

You can take a downtown walking tour and learn about the history of "the blast," a tragic 1959 explosion of a truck loaded with dynamite. About a dozen people were killed and many more injured as many city blocks were flattened. The area was promptly rebuilt, and many of the businesses downtown even now have a certain, hard-to-describe, early 1960s look. Maybe it's the business signage; I wish I had some pictures to show you what I mean, but we were busy managing our two dogs and our umbrellas. Tasha and Claire enjoyed the trek around the downtown area, and their presence led to several pleasant encounters with local people, as almost everyone we met had nice things to say about our dogs. I think I would recommend this method as a good way to meet some locals, most of whom were happy for a brief chat about the town and area. The dogs were wonderful "icebreakers." Roseburg, incidentally, has a population of approximately 21,000.

We drove out to Glide, several miles east of Roseburg, intending to see the "colliding rivers" and a nearby covered bridge, but by then the skies had reached downpour status; we got a glimpse of the colliding rivers, but decided to save the bridge, still several miles distant, for another day.

On the way back to Grants Pass, we stopped at Seven Feathers Casino in Canyonville.

We stopped there merely as sightseers, as Jan and I are absolutely uninterested in gambling away even a dollar of our limited funds, and we never go to bars, and our idea of eating out is usually the value menu at a fast food restaurant, and that not too often. (Or just call us cheap!)

It was very nice inside and seemed fairly busy for a Friday afternoon in February. Strolling around, we remarked to each other that it felt much like the casinos we'd strolled through while on a conference trip to Reno. The Seven Feathers crowd was probably considerably bolstered by the Red Hat gathering that was going on. We saw quite a few red hats. The casino is run by the Cow Creek band of the Umpqua Tribe. There is a very nice RV park in Canyonville that is associated with the casino, should this be a destination you would like to visit.