DAY SEVEN - Hat Rock / Tea Pot Service Station / Leavenworth

DAY SEVEN - Hat Rock / Tea Pot Service Station / Leavenworth / Home (Oct. 4, 2007)

We headed out early and made very good time on day seven. We stopped off at Hat Rock National Park and had a great hike along the Columbia River.

Hat Rock State Park, located off U.S. Highway 730 nine miles east of Umatilla, lies on the south shore of Lake Wallula behind McNary Dam on the Columbia River. Hat Rock was the first distinctive landmark passed by the Lewis and Clark Expedition on their journey down the Columbia, and is one of the few remaining sites not underwater.

Dwayne At The Rock

Not a bad shot with my cheap little camera.

The park is a desert oasis surrounded by rolling sagebrush hills and outcroppings of basalt. The park offers visitors a chance to escape the summer heat under the shelter of cottonwood and black locust ringed by acres of green grass. A boat ramp provides access to the lake, which is noted for walleye, sturgeon, and other fish. Waterskiing, jetskiing, swimming, and boating are popular here. The park has its own pond stocked with rainbow trout and provides year-round habitat for waterfowl.

April at the river with Hat Rock in the distance.


Getting back into the car, we didn’t stop until April got excited about a highway sign indicating the Teapot Dome Service Station was the next exit. Government scandal and "creative juices" were behind the creation of this 15-foot handled-and-spouted gas station. The full story can be found by clicking here. This site reports that the Teapot Dome gas station continues to operate about 15 miles southeast of Yakima on Interstate 82. It didn’t look like it has operated in some time to me but perhaps it just opens on special occassions. It is said to be one of the oldest functioning gas stations in the United States, and is listed on the National Register of Historical Places.

Very cool and then we decided to head all the way to Leavenworth Washington and perhaps all the way home to Snohomish. Leavenworth was great but we hit it just shy of closing time. A quick by quaint dinner later, we set out on our last leg home.

Beautiful drive to and from Leavenworth.

A shot of just one of the streets in Leavenworth WA.