We wanted to take an overnight tour through some of Eastern Oregon, and I found the Fish House Inn on the web. The pictures looked cute enough, so we thought we'd give it a try.

The property is one of those that's struggling on that fine line between "quaint" and just plain "run down", and it appears to be sliding down toward the latter. It's right on the main street, but that's okay - Dayville is so small (160 people) that noise is not an issue. Big sprawling lot, with a main house, a two-room cabin, a separate loft building, several RV pads, a laundry, and various outbuildings. The grounds were nicely kept, well mowed, with a large gravel parking area. There are lots of benches, chairs, and tables scattered about for relaxing, and it's all very peaceful and quiet.

The rooms are all named instead of numbered - we stayed in the
"salmon". It's one of two rooms located in a detached cabin behind the main house. The room is quite old, and while there were a few nice touches, all in all it was pretty run down. The mattress on the queen bed was horrible, with a HUGE sag in the middle. Neither my wife or I got much of night's sleep. The room also housed a clock that didn't work, two old lamps, a hodgepodge of beat up chairs, a small TV with a VCR, and an ancient coffee pot, microwave, and a small refrigerator with no shelves that I don't think worked. Cooling on the 100 degree day we were there came from a loud and overworked window A/C.

When you visualize the furnishings, think "whatever we could find at the garage sale", as opposed to "eclectic mix of antiques".

All the towels, washclothes, etc. are old, mismatched hand-me-downs. There was only one bath towel, so we had to go and ask for another one. There is a clawfoot tub with a shower that was nice. No bath amenities except for wo pump bottles of liquid soap. The bath window was an old double hung that had to be propped up with the piece of branch provided for that purpose, and the window was coated with cobwebs.

We met the owner and his daughter, who were both nice enough but kind
of just going through the motions. The property is up for sale, and the owner said he's moving to Arizona as soon as it sells. Their entire attitude says "I'm tired of running a hotel and can't wait to go".

Granted, accommodations are not exactly a dime a dozen in this region, but all in all both my wife and I would recommend that our fellow travelers find another place to stay.

One more thing - as the hotel's website makes clear, this is NOT a bed and breakfast. The only place to eat in town was the cafe, which is closed Monday and Tuesday in case that's when you plan to visit. We ate breakfast there - we typcially love the homemade breakfasts you get in small cafes - but this one was marginal at best. Look for your eats in one of the other small towns in the area, like Mount Vernon.