Activities
Become a Junior Ranger!
The John Day Fossil Beds National Monument
Early cousins of camels, rhinoceroses and elephants once lived in Eastern Oregon. Today, scientists study the area’s 50 million years of plant and animal evolution at the Thomas Condon Paleontology (pey-lee-uhn-TOL-uh-jee) Center Museum at John Day Fossil Beds.
You can take guided tours, investigate fossil specimens through microscopes and sign up to earn your very own Junior Ranger badge. Open year-round!
John Day Fossil Beds, Sheep Rock Unit, 541.987.2333, www.nps.gov/joda
Watch Your Two Step
Head ‘em up and move ‘em out for the Pendleton Round-up. Here, the world’s best pro-rodeo brawn meets some of the toughest bulls and horses. Visit the Native American tepee village. Wear your hat and boots to the Happy Canyon Night Show, the Westward Ho! parade, and the main street carnival. Then two-step around town to free music and performances. When your yee haw fades, find fuel at cowboy barbecues and pancake breakfasts. Let ‘er Buck!
The Pendleton Round Up, September 10-13, 2008, 800.45.RODEO (7.6336),
www.PendletonRoundUp.com
Tepees on the Range
Sure, anyone can camp out under the stars. But inside a real tepee? With only four tepees in Oregon (and they’re all in Eastern Oregon), it’ll be an extra-special sleepover under the stars. Two tepees border the lake at Lake Owyhee State Park (canoes included), and two more are located at the river’s edge of Clyde Holliday. Though you’ll need extra bedding to keep your wig “wam,” how cool to camp like Oregon’s earliest Native Americans!
Oregon State Parks, 800.551.6949, www.oregon.gov/OPRD/PARKS/tepees_wagons.shtml
