Wallowa Lake Hotel

Still looking for a luxury lodging option during the Joseph Oregon Car Show?  The local car show, also known as the Oregon Mountain Cruise, celebrates 25 years of classic cars on June 7 and 8, 2013.  And have we got the lodging for you!

The Mirror Lake Suite, our romantic getaway Oregon lodging right here in Joseph, is still available.  This room competes against finer regional hotels in terms of style and amenities. And better yet, it's located one block away from downtown Joseph so you can walk back and forth to the car show throughout the Show'n'Shine and to the Saturday night dance at the Joseph Oregon Community Center.

Features include:

• Private entrance leading directly to the parking area. And you can see your beauty through the suite's windows framed against the Wallowa Mountains.
• Light, airy bedroom with 14.5' vaulted ceiling with plenty of spaciousness.
• Private attached bathroom full of spa-style fixtures.  Steam shower (with its own chromatherapy lights and radio), combination Japanese-designed Toto Neorest toilet/bidet, and a very sanitary pipeless jetted Sanijet tub to melt away the hours spent strolling the car show in downtown Joseph.
• Dedicated air conditioning (need we say more?)
• Flat screen TV with attached Blu-ray DVD for watching your favorite movies (bring your own or watch ours).
• Wi-Fi access throughout the bed and breakfast.

On top of all that, all the common amenities and services we offer our guests. And, the Oregon Mountain Cruise entrants line up their cars early Saturday morning right in front of our bed and breakfast on South Main Street so you can quickly get into the proper order for the Show'n'Shine parking.

Were you looking for " Joseph Oregon hotels " or " Wallowa Lake hotel " when trying to figure out where to stay?  We've got you covered.  It's our last available room for the car show weekend.  Take advantage quickly before it's gone.  AAA members receive 10% off too!

This year the Oregon Mountain Cruise celebrates its 25th anniversary.  And here at the Bronze Antler Bed & Breakfast we've just confirmed that we still have three rooms open (lucky procrastinators--now's your chance).

If you need any persuading as to why you should choose our Joseph Oregon lodging, here are a few good reasons:

1.  Our lodging provides hotel quality accomodations walking distance to the car show (only one block from downtown Joseph Oregon).

2.  You can spiffy up your car right here in our parking area on Saturday morning right before you pull into the lineup (which takes place right in front of our bed & breakfast right here on Main Street).  Hose provided.

3.  As of today, April 21st,, you have your choice of three lovely rooms:  the Mirror Lake Suite is our luxurious alternative to a Wallowa Lake hotel or any Joseph Oregon hotels.  We've been told it's right up there with the penthouse suite at the Coeur d'Alene Resort.  The Chief Joseph Mounntain Room offers a broad view of the mountains to the south.  For the budget conscious, the Sawtooth Mountain Room  offers superb views of the Wallowa Mountains and the largest bathroom on the second floor.  All of our rooms have their own attached private bath (no sharing and no going out in the hall to find the bathroom), plus air conditioning.

4.  AAA member?  As a AAA-rated three-diamond property, we offer a 10% discount on room rates to card carrying AAA members.

5. Extra bonus:  If you stay with us in 2013, then you have first priority for the 2014 car show weekend.

Don't wait to make your reservation for the nights of June 7 & 8, 2013.  And if you're coming with a car club, tell your club members so you can all enjoy the convenience of our in town location!

One thing that separates the bed and breakfast community from many other lodging options (especially hotels) is free wireless internet. There is no additional daily charge at most bed and breakfasts for wireless internet. And certainly not here at the Bronze Antler Bed & Breakfast!

Here at our Joseph Oregon lodging we just upgraded our internet service by making some changes to our existing infrastructure.  We did this to make our wireless internet service easier to access, faster, and to specifically address an issue raised by a guest in a review on TripAdvisor about our Eastern Oregon bed and breakfast.  The guest wrote:

[T]he WI-FI is too fussy. The coverage is spotty and the need to log on for each session is annoying. Also, there is insufficient capacity to watch the news or a movie. Since there is no TV at this location, better Internet access would be appreciated.

We originally installed a very secure login process to ensure that neither guests nor innkeepers would get hacked, nor would we be vulnerable to someone pulling up in our parking area, hopping on our wireless, and downloading inappropriate information.  But times have changed.   In response, we've now changed our security settings so that the guest uses one password one time only to cover all "sessions" here at our Wallowa Lake lodging.  The internal changes made to our signal routing have increased our download speed by about a factor of four.  And we are reevaluating the position of our router to maximize performance throughout the property (which is already very good inside the Bronze Antler Bed & Breakfast building). 

One thing about living in a very rural location is that internet access isn't the quite same as it is in more populated communities.  Could we have DSL?  Not currently.  Cable modem?  Not available.  And probably won't be in the foreseeable future.  Our internet signal is entirely wireless--including how it is delivered to and leaves the property.    We met the criticism head on and look forward to this guest returning (the guest also indicated that it wouldn't be the last visit to the Bronze Antler).  We want to demonstrate that we take constructive suggestions seriously.

It always amazes me how much people rely on our little Hells Canyon lodging for information about the road between Joseph Oregon and Halfway Oregon.  Everytime I look at the Google Analytics for the Bronze Antler Bed & Breakfast blog, I can see how often blog posts about this subject are searched for and read.  Forget the "Joseph Oregon hotels" or the "Wallowa Lake hotel" search--seems like everyone wants to know if the road is open!!!

So, here's what's going on in 2012 for Forest Road 39 (aka Wallowa Mountain Loop Road, aka FR39, aka Hells Canyon Scenic Byway, aka the road from Joseph to Halfway).  As of this week, the road is unofficially open--this information from the USDA Forest Service Visitor Center here in Joseph Oregon.  

You might have to get out and move a few rocks, perhaps drive around a downed tree from last winter's snow--you drive it "at your own risk" since the Forest Service hasn't been able to maintain the road yet.

But it's a sign of spring!  Lots of rain moving through the area and the temperatures are warm enough for snow to melt, so be careful out there.  Not much cell service along Forest Road 39 (and definitely no gas stations) so plan accordingly!  Let people know where you go if you decide to drive this route

And we'll see ya here on the Joseph Oregon end of the road!

The Wallowa Mountains are picture perfect for backcountry skiing. One of the local outfitters running trips is Wallowa Alpine Huts.  I just couldn't resist this video from their "WAH TV" channel on YouTube.  Fantastic conditions, great skiers--you'll notice no one is skiing in anyone else's tracks.  And where are the crowds?  None.

Early Spring is still time for great skiing.  If you need one more dose of a snowy Eastern Oregon vacation, check out Wallowa Alpine Huts, or check our other blog posts for information on skiing (use the search box at the right).

Lodging options?  You're not going to find any Joseph Oregon hotels or Wallowa Lake hotels, but the Bronze Antler Bed & Breakfast is ready to host you at the beginning or end of your backcountry ski trip.

Bill & I spent St Patrick's Day this year at the Northeast Oregon Bridal Show in LaGrande, Oregon.  What a fun event--it's our second year participating.

Everyone was there.  Vendors with bridal party attire, wedding rings, DJs, wedding cakes, fine chocolates, even turtle doves!  Our booth showcased our romantic getaway Oregon style with two computer screens displaying images of our Joseph Oregon lodging.  Bill wore one of his Bronze Antler Bed & Breakfast dress shirts.  I decided to dress up for the event in some sillky PJs, fuzzy slippers, and a stylish Bronze Antler B&B spa robe.  Needless to say I was the envy of the vendors!

We talked with quite a few brides, their friends and relatives.  And some other vendors too.  We love the opportunity to showcase our property.  And bed and breakfast lodging makes great sense for wedding planning.  We've hosted quite a few couples on their wedding night or on their honeymoon, as well as relatives and wedding guests..

If you're planning a NE Oregon wedding we'd love to talk with you about how our bed and breakfast might work into your plans.  We're not a Wallowa Lake hotel or a Joseph Oregon hotel but still have plenty to offer.  

Native American performing artists this year are the top two hand drum contest winners from the 2011 Tamkaliks Celebration. Francis Dionne of Boise, Idaho, and Chris Shorty of Pendleton, Oregon, will entertain dinner guests with drumming and singing.

You don't really think about vineyards and wineries near Wallowa Lake or Joseph Oregon.  We're at 4,200 feet of elevation with a short growing season (USDA Zone 5), so there isn't much happening with grape growing up here.

But this week we hosted Tim & Lori Kennedy, owners of Don Carlo Vineyard in Milton-Freewater at our Joseph bed and breakfast.  Milton-Freewater is less than two hours drive from Joseph on the way to Walla Walla, Washington.  I'd always thought of Walla Walla as a big wine area, but it turns out that Milton-Freewater is becoming one too!  Tim explained there are currently eleven vineyards in and around Milton-Freewater producing wines and hard cider.  If this area grows like Walla Walla, undoubtedly there will be more.

Tim and Lori are sending us some maps to the wineries, fruit stands and other agritourism sites of Milton-Freewater.  We look forward to giving them to our bed and breakfast guests heading north towards Walla Walla Washington.  It could be that Bill & I need to plan a little getaway ourselves and replenish our bed & breakfast wine cellar!

How about Joseph Oregon for Thanksgiving?  Here at the Bronze Antler Bed & Breakfast we're planning a Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings on Thursday afternoon.  Featured will be heirloom turkeys from Hidden Springs Farm here in our own Wallowa County.

There are four seats left at the dinner table and two rooms available at the inn.  You have your choice of the Chief Joseph Mountain Room or the Mirror Lake Suite.  Both have stunning south-facing views towards snow-covered Chief Joseph Mountain and the Eagle Cap Wilderness.  With our recent snowfall and winter-like temperatures, you'll get a taste of winter in the Wallowas ahead of schedule.

We haven't set a price yet for dinner but it will be reasonable.  Pacific Northwest wines are available in our cellar or bring your own (and no corkage fee).

Plus, you'll be positioned for starting your holiday shopping on Friday with Jingle through Joseph events at various downtown Joseph Oregon shops and boutiques!

Skip the Joseph Oregon hotels (there aren't any anyway) and stay with us at the Bronze Antler Bed & Breakfast. 

• March 18th to May 18th, Thursday through Saturday, 10 am to 9 pm
• May 19th to September 13th, Wednesday through Sunday, 10 am to 10 pm