So I was so excited on my way back from Bend to drive through the Warms Springs Reservation, so I could report something new that I saw. But when we got to Madras and the car took a right turn, I was like 'wait! what are we doing?' So I did not get to drive though Warm Springs again, but I did get to go through the Yakima Indian Reservation.
The reservation is an interesting place. First of all it is huge. I feel asleep (I know, great reporting skills right?) soon after we entered the reservation and woke up forty minutes later and we were still on the reservation. But what I saw of the reservation was driving over the mountain and the surrounding area was rocky, snowy, cold and wet looking. When we got to Toppenish it kind of reminded me of one of those old west movies with the town where the tumbleweed blows through and there is some western music. Except with Toppenish add some small cars or trucks driving down the main road which had small houses and a school.
What else I though was interesting was that as we turned onto the freeway from Toppenish there where vineyards and orchards just out side the reservation and then looking back at the reservation there was not much visible. So I think it is interesting (but not surprising) that the reservation looks like it struggles and a lot of people outside the reservation look like they are doing very well.
It's very interesting to read your reports about Indian reservations. It seems like both reservations, one is Warm Springs and the other in Yakima, have similar geographical environment, for instance open rocky land and not many things visible on the land. In addition, it was interesting that places just outside of the reservation looked like having good agriculture.
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