Heppner, Oregon

Heppner Oregon is the Morrow County seat, and this lovely court house is one of the oldest continuously used court houses in the state. It was built in 1902, finished in 1903 and sits regally on the end of a street on top of a small rise.

The town of Heppner is the Morrow County seat today but served as an important trade town for regional farm products in the early 20th century. In 1903 the town was nearly destroyed by a flash flood which was considered the worst disaster in Oregon at the time. Today the Willow Creek is kept at bay by a dam just outside of time that was completed in 1983.
The downtown is quite small but quaint. Like most small towns in Oregon a tad economically depressed but making attempts at revitalization. We visited during a town wide outdoor market which was really quite fun, tons small local artisans has stalls on the sidewalk and many of the stores were running deals. I bought a couple antique pictures from the local jeweler . And we snagged some really delicious coffee at the local market.
If you find yourself in the area I highly suggest a look around. The people are terribly kind, the shops quite cute and the town itself is really lovely.

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The Drive-In – Condon, Oregon

A few weeks ago I talked about the Condon Hotel which is a darling historic hotel in Condon Oregon. While we were there we obviously needed to eat dinner. There were a couple restaurants that we wanted to eat at, one was closed and the other was out of to go boxes. Third times a charm took us to The Drive-In, which is on the south end of town across the street from the newly built city park which was also havingĀ  a farmers market that we had wandered around earlier in the day.
We chatted with the owner a bit while we waited for our burger, which we split with a large order of curly fries and a chocolate shake. He had mentioned that they had recently opened but they were busy so I didn’t get the chance to get too many details about how new or the history of the building they occupied. It was clearly built as a drive in, and was very popular with the locals.

They had an extensive menu with some really fantastically inventive burgers. We chose one that had a slice of ham as well as the burger. It was incredible! If it weren’t a 10 hour drive from my house I would go there for dinner every week.
We had a wonderful time sitting there waiting for our food, not only chatting with the owner but the locals that came and went for their dinners as well. I love getting to witness this kind of small town community and caring. They do not have a full website but a Facebook page with their hours can be found here. I would highly suggest stopping in if you find your way out there. Though as I write this in August they are currently closed as they are feeding the firefighters in the area trying to keep the wildfires from burning any more farms and historic homes. Once again, small town caring and community, it’s so wonderful to see.
Additional Information:

433 S Main St. Condon Oregon
11am to 7pm
Closed Sunday

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