Joseph to Baker City, OR

We had a leisurely start this morning, since we only had 120 miles to Baker City.  Parts of the drive were very smokey due to controlled burns.

As we neared Baker City it got flatter and browner.

We went down to the "historic" city center to walk around.  It's a sad part of town.  More store fronts are empty than not.  If you get two blocks off of Main street, it gets gritty. However, look at the width of that street.  They're incredibly wide, so you have to hustle to get across on a walk sign.

There is a pretty Catholic church, built in 1906.

This is the Geiser Grand Hotel.  They've positioned themselves as a high zoot bastion of Victorian wonderfulness with vintage decor and utter magnificence everywhere; except maybe for the people working behind the desk.

All we wanted to do was walk up 3 stairs and look at the ceiling.  No.  If you're not a registered guest or having dinner, you are forbidden to look at the ceiling.  They weren't nice about it, either.  Three older ladies started heading up the stairs and one of the desk people raised his voice and yelled at them that they weren't allowed.  On our way out I asked him if the owners cared about ratings on Yelp or Trip Advisor and he told me just go ahead and review away.  I do not understand why they want to insult and infuriate people who might have been thinking about returning for dinner. So, here is the ceiling in a photo I swiped from the web.

Here is another vintage structure in Baker City. 

Tomorrow we're off to the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, which hopefully will be better than today's time in Baker City.