Candi L. Swinscoe: Rascal's Roadshow: Pendleton, Oregon

Rascal’s Roadshow 🚐🐾

After settling in at the Pendleton KOA, we headed out for dinner at Roosters Country Kitchen—and wow, do we recommend it! It was clean, had a super cute interior, a fun and friendly waitress (shoutout to Megan J!), and the food was delicious! 🍽️ Bonus: the tables were covered with drawing paper and came with a cup full of crayons—yes, we doodled like kids and loved every second! 🎨🖍️

👉 Roosters Country Kitchen

Todd had the Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo, while I had the Yankee Pot Roast and WOW!
Both were so delicious!....and while there are two spoons in that dessert I didn't
actually have any! That's way beyond what my Weight Watcher points allows!
Todd did make it last for three desserts though.

We passed through Pendleton about a year ago, and two weeks before that visit I discovered you can actually take a tour of the Pendleton Woolen Mills plant! You do need to fill out an online request and wait to see if there's availability. That time, I requested two different days and both were full 😕. Lesson learned! This time, I planned ahead—way ahead—and submitted the request a couple of months early. Success! We got in! 🙌

👉 Request a tour here

When we entered the store area of the brick building, a friendly staff member welcomed us and pointed out the different areas of the shop, including the sale section—don’t skip it, there are treasures in there! 🛍️ The shop is bursting with vibrant Pendleton patterns on everything from king-sized blankets to coasters and bookmarks. It’s a feast for the eyes!

Todd is fish obsessed so, of course, the blanket on the left was a favorite for him.

Soon an announcement came over the speaker, calling us to gather near the back wall for the tour. That’s where we met Kristy, our awesome guide, who handed out headsets 🎧. Since the mill is pretty noisy, the headsets made it easy to hear her, and we could adjust the volume as needed—very helpful as we passed by the louder machines!

So many beautiful colors!

Kristy was a fantastic guide—knowledgeable, engaging, and super thorough. The machines were loud, so we couldn’t ask questions during the tour, but Kristy gave us all the info we needed as we walked past rows of amazing (and massive!) equipment. While we had to stay behind the yellow caution lines, we still got a great close-up view.

I won’t spoil all the details—plus I couldn't possibly remember it all—but the tour lasted about 30 minutes and was so interesting! One highlight? We got to touch the wool before it was fully processed, which was especially fun for me because, as Todd always says, I’m very tactile and have to touch everything! 😂 Oh, and here’s a fun fact: the company is named after the town, not the other way around!

This was fun to touch and believe it or not
all those colors are blended together to make the final heather color
you see on the spool on the table.

So if you know you’ll be heading through Pendleton and want to do the tour—request it early! 🗓️

This was our second stay at the Pendleton KOA and once again, it didn’t disappoint. It’s clean, quiet, and our back-in space has a lovely view of the valleys and rolling hills below, with snow-capped mountains in the distance. 🏔️ But we also have a clear view of the BRIGHT yellow school nearby. And when I say bright—I mean blindingly yellow. Who chose that color?! It’s not just the walls… it’s the roof too. Maybe it’s so the school is visible from the International Space Station. 👩‍🚀🛰️

SO. MUCH. YELLOW.

Speaking of the ISS—WELCOME HOME to astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams! Like the crew of the U.S.S. Minnow who went out for a 5-hour tour and got stranded for years, Butch and Sunita left Earth for an 8-day mission and ended up stuck in space for over 9 months! 😲 Wishing them some well-earned Earth time.

With just two short days in Pendleton—and Todd spending one of them fishing at McKay Reservoir 🎣—our second full day was packed with the mill tour and a scenic drive through Pendleton’s charming old downtown. It’s filled with beautiful brick buildings and has that warm, nostalgic feel of yesteryear.

We also stopped for lunch at Hamley Steakhouse & Saloon, right next door to the legendary Hamley & Company, makers of fine Western saddles since 1883. 🤠

👉 Hamley’s Website

I had the BBQ salad and Todd had a tuna melt.
We would definitely visit again.

The steakhouse is gorgeous inside—classy with an upscale Old West vibe. Another clean and memorable stop! We had two lovely waitresses, and though I didn’t catch their names, their stories stuck with me. One used to run a paddleboard and kayak business but chose a quieter life in the country with her husband and kids (great choice!). The other is living the traveling life with her boyfriend and seemed to be loving every minute. We’ve noticed a lot of fellow full-time travelers take seasonal jobs along the way—many of them work at RV parks or spots like this before heading to their next adventure. 🌍✌️

Pendleton, with a population of just 17,289 (as of 2023), is filled with quaint downtown shops, historic homes, and surrounded by scenic ranch and farmland. Its motto, “The Real West,” feels just right. It’s definitely worth a visit!

The Pendleton Roundup!
Oregon's largest rodeo arena has been hosting rodeos since 1910.

🎉 Next stop on Rascal’s Roadshow: Lake Chelan, Washington! Be sure to follow along! 🐶🚐💨

Additional photos below: 👇

Roosters:

The master artist hard at work.

Even when Rascal can't be with us I'm still thinking about him.

They had booths in the cute little "barns".

I liked the weather vane's shadow on the ceiling.

Pendleton Woolen Mills:

A small museum you can visit without taking the tour.

Several Pendleton patterns.

This is the inspection station to check for any
flaws to the material or pattern.

Nothing is wasted at the mill. The plastic bags on the second level
are filled with the cut off edges of the woven fabric. It is sold in bulk
and many local residents use it to make braided rugs.

Hamley's Steakhouse & Saloon: