View Point Above Prineville

I was trying to think how long it has been since I was upon the Prineville View Point and I am thinking a little over 15 years.  Hunter kept reminding me that he wanted to go, I had told him I would take him, blah, blah, blah.  You know how it goes, they remember only what they want to hold against you.

So, on 7/6/10 we had some time to check it out after swim lessons.  Here are the pictures I took…

This is looking south east; the City of Prineville golf course is below – Meadow Lakes.  For those not familiar with the lay of the land around here, the hill I am on and the others in the near background are called rimrocks.  Prineville reside in a valley.  Our home is up above & around to the left of the rimrock you see in the center.

As we go we scan to the east and this is the lower Crooked River coming through on the edge of the golf course and then we have the sprawling metropolis of Prineville coming into view.

If you look closely you can see the courthouse in the top third of the picture dead center; my parent’s house is just a block south of that.  Unfortunately, the air looks kind of smucky.  Either we had a fire burning or they were burning fields.   (I have enlarged the picture below to show the courthouse)And here we see the new and improved bridge over the Crooked River that allows all of us to escape Prineville and head to the big cities of Redmond & Bend.

In this picture you see the blue buildings and this is the Les Schwab production facility.  For those of you not in the know – this is a tire production facility started by one great man named Les Schwab.  He employed a lot of people in this town over the years and they make great tires.  You will see his tire stores in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah & Alaska.  The production facility is blue but the stores are white with a red band around them and the logo is red & yellow.

The facility stretches along the river and around the rimrock we are standing on.

And that is pretty much the view from the rimrock of our little town.  Facebook is building up on the rimrock we are on but it is a couple miles beyond us so I could not get pictures.

Prineville grew a bunch over the last 10 years and a lot of people commute to Bend or Redmond for their jobs.  With the price of gas going up, lost jobs and the recession the town has shrunk in population; we won’t even go into the passing of Les Schwab and the move of corporate headquarters to Bend. 

You cannot see all of the empty houses nor the businesses that seems to pop up over night and then close the next month.  It is kind of sad to see the little town shrink because of all the people that are hurting.  On the other hand, I will welcome the return of that small town feel.

We hope that our business will continue to grow even though Prineville has stopped.  If you are in town and you see me please wave or stop to say hello.  I really like meeting new people and seeing old friends and… It is quiet possible that I will have a goodie for you!

Of course I had to include the advertisement on wheels sitting up on the viewpoint so you will know me when you see me…

 And a parting shot for this post :-)

Check out the reflection in my glasses – see how long my arms are? Ha! Ha!

Have an excellent day!