It has been almost 4 weeks since I’ve gone post office hunting. I’m overnighting in Pendleton, OR and will head home tomorrow. Today I checked off 8 of them and have saved 5 for tomorrow’s drive home. Today’s list in order of capture went Hermiston, Stanfield, Echo, Milton-Freewater, Athena, Helix, Adams, and Weston. Almost missed Weston. Looking at the area map on the phone, the normal Google saved icon became dots, so I didn’t see it. I knew when I set out that today’s haul should have been eight, and when I had only seven photos, I zoomed in to make the icons larger and found my missing PO. Funny because I saw the town name when I passed the road to it on my way to the furthest one and wondered how come there wasn’t a post office there. Well, there was.
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- Hermiston – Its population of 20,322 makes it the largest city in Eastern Oregon, and I saw very little of it, just a quick photo and back on my way. (8/16/25)
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- Stanfield – Just as I parked that white SUV pulled in. I waited patiently until the woman was inside before clicking the shutter. I you look closely at the door, she is still not in. (8/17/25)
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- Echo – These two guys had told their wives they were going into town to check the mail. So they did, but then spent the next 30 minutes chewing the fat. (8/16/25)
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- Milton-Freewater – To dash or not to dash. I saw several signs that hyphenated the town name and just as many that did not. (8/16/25)
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- Athenea – This two-and-a-half-story-tall building was the tallest in town, and it didn’t have any competition. There were probably a half dozen buildings in town period. (8/16/25)
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- Helix – There was a big ol’ farm truck sitting right in front of this PO and I was going to wait him out but gave up. When I got out of my car to walk across the street to take my photo, they started to pull out but stopped. He asked if everything was OK. I said yes and told him I was taking a picture of every post office in the state. To which he replied, “I guess I better get out of your way.” (8/16/25)
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- Adams – It is the first post office in Oregon alphabetically. In South Carolina that distinction fell to Abbeville; there was no Adams, but Adams Run was number two in SC. (8/16/25)
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- Weston – There was something going on at a big old house next door to this PO. I think I recognized a lot of Future Farmers of America jackets though. (8/16/25)
You didn’t think I forgot a Roadside America picture, did you? Turns out there is something called Cattle Drive, and it is less than a 1/2 mile from the hotel, so I walked over and took a few photos. While I was there I noticed lights on the ground, which possibly meant it would be illuminated at night. So, I went back after dark, and sure enough, it was lit up. The low-level lights made it difficult to capture a wide shot that wasn’t burnt out by light flare.
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- Cattle Drive – Day
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- Cattle Drive – Night
