Painted Hills Cottage

When we decided to spend almost a week in the John Day area, I began looking online for vacation homes to rent as it's my favorite way to travel. I have stayed in John Day motels several times and camped in the hills, but this time I wanted a house and found one for three of the days that provided the kind of energy I love as well as a base from which to drive out.

It was on the hills above the small town of Mitchell and off a narrow alley if you can call gravel roads like that alleys. Once parked, you open a gate and enter into a magical garden created by the owner of the home.
There were colorful flowers, fruit trees, lawns, gardens, flagstone steps leading to the door. The house itself is one of two, both for rent, with a combined room between to use for playing games or just enjoying. Everything was set up for intellectual and emotional refreshment.
We had the opportunity to visit with the owner of the home and her daughter who has been helping manage the rentals. The family originally came to the John Day country from Seattle where they saw what they considered for years to be the perfect vacation retreat for the husband who is a painter and the wife who is a writer and master gardener. Eventually they moved to the area.

The vacation rental came into being when they found another home farther out from town. Frankly that home today is way beyond where where you'd expect an older person to want to live unless you met the older person and saw her total love of nature and the rugged landscape of the John Day. The view out there goes beyond words.


The two bedroom rental cottage is very homey, full of the husband's paintings but also books and videos to watch, a reading porch-- no cable which was fine with us as we aren't much for TV. It did have wireless internet which we both enjoy. From the location, we could easily drive out to the Painted Hills National Monument, which is the kind of place you could be for years and never feel or see it all.

Although we only had three days at the cottage, I have every intention of going back for more time in other seasons. For further information on the cottage and renting it:

Painted Hills Vacation Rentals