Once Oregon City was a thriving town at the end of the Oregon Trail, the largest settlement in the Pacific Northwest. It was the first city in the U.S. west of the Rockies to be incorporated. Now it is overshadowed by Portland, which it once eclipsed in size and importance. […]
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Lake Superior, Grand Portage, and the Fur Trade
I don’t know that I will get to the ocean this year, but my husband and I recently returned from a vacation on the North Shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota. Lake Superior is so big it almost qualifies as an ocean. (My husband commented that it smelled better that […]
Continue readingAnother Sight Along the Trail: Ice Slough
I wrote last month about Ayers Natural Bridge, and its fame as a day trip for the emigrants to Oregon. Another wonder they encountered along the trail was Ice Slough, near the Sweetwater River. The Oregon Trail crossed the Sweetwater many times as the river meandered from just past Independence […]
Continue readingFourth of July Creek: Laura McPhee’s Photographs at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art
Last month I went to the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City to see the special exhibit of Laura McPhee’s photographs of the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho. I don’t like a lot of modern art, but I do like photography, and the exhibit of McPhee’s work was outstanding. The […]
Continue readingCottonwood Trees Are No Picnic
I attended a picnic last week. It was a gorgeous day, spent with good food and company. The only flaw was the cottonwood seeds floating through the park shelter and into our meal. I’d been missing the cottonwoods this year, until the picnic reminded me how messy they are. When […]
Continue readingYou Can Go Home Again, Sometimes
My father recently made a huge road trip through the Western United States. One of his stops was Pratt, Kansas, where he was born. He had last been in Pratt about fifteen years ago. On that visit, he tried to find the house where he was born and lived until […]
Continue readingAlong the Way Home, by Christi Corbett – A Novel About the Oregon Trail
Today I am hosting Christi Corbett, author of the new novel, Along the Way Home, about travelers on the Oregon Trail in 1843 (the year of Jesse Applegate’s migration). Here is my interview with Christi about her book: Theresa: Can you give us a brief synopsis of Along the Way […]
Continue readingSightseeing Along the Oregon Trail: Ayers Natural Bridge
The emigrants to Oregon found many scenic wonders along the way. One of those wonders was (and is) a natural bridge over LaPrele Creek, near what is now Douglas, Wyoming, not far past Fort Laramie. The bridge is 100 feet long and 50 feet above the water, and is one of […]
Continue readingFamily Lore and Small Town Gossip on an Interfaith Marriage in 1898
I am the latest of a long line of Catholic women who married Protestant men. The stories of our weddings show how interfaith marriages have changed over time. This post is the story of the first such marriage of my ancestresses that I know about. In Sacramento, California, in 1898, […]
Continue readingMemorial Day. Remember. Today and always.
Join the nation in a moment of silence at 3:00pm on Memorial Day to remember our fallen soldiers.
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