Cruising on Friday: Pendleton

 There was much to learn and a lot to like about our excursion to Pendleton. And a few things that were just "eh" as well.

On arrival, the first thing we did was get ourselves acquainted with the local underground scene. Back in the day, this area was home to a diverse array of folk. Along with the admiration for how the town thrived and dealt with challenges in creative ways, we learned it's dark history also involved human trafficking. 

Chinese laborers lured with money, one-way transportation and promises for a better life, found themselves living underground, working outrageously long days for little money and no chance to find their way home to families waiting eagerly. Living underground and working themselves to the bone meant most people lived incredibly short lives too.

We visited the underground dwellings; Complete with ventilation grates to the street above, tiny rooms, crowded situations. No square foot was left unused. 

During prohibition, this is also where elicit drinking and hilarious hiding places were to be found. The local butcher had real estate down here too. His family's side business? Hiding drunk people and their alcohol during a raid and charging them for the privilege of getting out in the morning or reselling them their own liquor the next day! (Diabolical genius!)

The laundry man/tailor had a "work from home" lifestyle too.

Imagine this: You had to bathe before visiting one of the "ladies of Pendleton" upstairs and the cost of the bath was rather dependent on the order in which you got to use the bath water. The germaphobe in me was 100% grossed out at the thought of these hard labor workers swimming in each others filth. People soup! The end.

Since the dawn of time, people have been skipping the real news in favor of the funnies!

Lunch was had a the town's famous Hamley Steak House - connected to Hamley's overpriced department store. Don't be fooled, as we were. Steak was not an option and after a so-so sandwich we continued to peruse the local stores before heading out to the cultural center with a native American guide who was fabulous.

This area was once millions of acres of hunting and fishing grounds for the tribes (Walla Walla, Umatilla, Cayuse) that occupied the land. In a treaty struck with the white settlers, the native American people found themselves settling for a fraction of the land they used to have rights to and then, as time went by, they realized non-Indians owned more of the 172,000 acre reservation than Indians did.

Thirty-two years ago the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation forged a plan to buy back land over the following 50 years and since then they have managed to buy for fee, or in trust, 77,000+ acres.

You might think that all this history causes nothing but resentment and an inability to cohabitate or collaborate... until you start learning about the Pendleton Round-up. This festival/celebration/rodeo is one of the big three around the States/Canada. The town goes all out and there has ALWAYS, but always, been a strong native American presence at the Round-up. It is here that they host a grand tribal village of 300+ teepees. Visiting with friends and relatives is crucial, but there are also things like taking part in the Happy Canyon Pageant, American Indian beauty contests, the Pow Wow dance competition and an array of Native American venders set up to sell arts, crafts, food and jewelry too.

Then it was back to the American Song for an evening of cruising while drinking and dining and ... scroll down.... 

Scallops!  Please Sir, may I have some more?

The highlight for me was Matt and Hannah doing show tunes. Matt's great, don't get me wrong, but Hannah?  OMG! She has the voice of an angel and when she hit every note from Evita and Phantom's "Music of the Night" I was mesmerized. We all were.