The Real Oregon

Joseph, Oregon, is an intentionally quaint town (though not as dreadful as Sisters) in the far northeast corner of Oregon, near Wallowa Lake and the Eagle Cap Wilderness, for which it serves as a gateway. Some years ago it became a center for bronze casting and has billed itself ever since as an art town, which it is if you squint hard enough.

Valley Bronze, the foundry that started it all, is essentially the art business in Joseph. The work they do is not bad so long as you’re fond of heroic cowboys-Indians-wildlife bronzes.

The best places to stay are the Best Western (in Enterprise, five miles away), which has a wonderful view of the mountains and is right next door to the Forest Service visitor center, or perhaps the Indian Lodge Motel, a ’50s vintage highway-side motel whose main claim to stardom is that it once was owned by Walter Brennan. Restaurants on the whole are determinedly mediocre in both Joseph and Enterprise (”You’re welcome to some in and sit down but you’re going to have to wait a long time to eat,” was the kind of cheery greeting we got in one), except that we had good food and friendly service in the Mexican family restaurants called La Laguna, with incarnations in both towns.

The countryside around Joseph is drop-dead gorgeous, though, and Eagle Cap is Oregon’s largest wilderness area. If you visit, be sure and take the tram that goes up Mount Howard, and then treat yourself to an insanely huge ice cream cone at the Matterhorn Village shop across the street.

It’s been a while since we tried Amtrak, so — feeling optimistic — we took the train back up to Eugene from our recent trip to Klamath Falls.

The bad news: We arrived home two and a half hours late. That’s on a four-hour trip. The Coast Starlight is so perpetually late on its northward run that, rumor has it, Amtrak no longer sells tickets to board the train from Eugene north. That’s probably because passengers were dying of boredom in the train stations.

The good news: The run from K Falls to Eugene is utterly spectacular. We sat transfixed in the observation car for hours as the train made its way over the Cascades, through high desert Ponderosa pine on the east side and dense, wet Douglas fir forest on the west. That’s one huge forest, with practically nothing in it except the scars of the Forest Service’s industrial tree farming.

The train track clings to high cliffs, causing passengers to gasp in delight. It goes through an abundance of tunnels and avalanche sheds.

This would make a lovely fall trip; the colors are only just beginning to show at higher elevations this year.

And we would love to go back in winter and see the mountains under snow.

If you don’t mind being late, the fare’s a bargain: $27 one way.