Background:

Well sometimes the best laid plans….

Our plan was not to spend the night in Arlington, Oregon on this particular trip or any trip for that matter. I have passed by Arlington a million times it seems like on trips from Spokane to Portland when I was still living in the Spokane area.

On this trip we where traveling from Salt Lake City to Astoria. We left Salt Lake in the evening and spent the night in Bliss, Idaho. The next day we planned to travel to the Portland area and spend the night depending on what time we got there somewhere between Troutdale, Oregon and Longview, Washington.

However…

My wife and I had lunch at a Taco Time in Baker, Oregon. My wife starting feeling ill about the time we passed Pendleton then after we stopped at a rest area near Hermiston I started feeling really sick and had to pull off the freeway at a remote exit. I continued to have bad stomach pains so I decided if I wasn’t better by the time we reached Arlington which is the next sign of civilization in these parts, we would stop and try to find a motel.

Well, my wife was feeling better but I was still in bad shape when we reached Arlington so we decided to go ahead and spend the night here instead of trying to make it any farther.

Arlington:

If you are traveling westbound on Interstate 84, once you pass the Interstate 82 interchange, you hit the small town of Boardman then it is 27 miles of largely high desert until just a couple of miles before Arlington where you go downhill steeply and bottom out at Arlington. After seeing very little for 27 miles you come upon a huge grain facility on the north side of the freeway between the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and the Columbia River and a lovely park on the south side of the freeway.

The Motel:

Village Inn Motel
410 Beach Street
Arlington, Oregon
(541) 454-2646

The motel is located on Beach Street with is the first cross street after you exit Interstate 84 and head southbound. The street is only a couple of blocks long and is easily accessible from either westbound or eastbound direction on the freeway.

As you enter the motel the office is on the left and the restaurant is to the right. The rooms are straight ahead. The motel is pretty standard two-story affair in an “L” configuration with parking in front of the lower level rooms.

The motel also has a pool but I did not have the opportunity to check it out.

Check In:

My wife and I checked into the motel. Maybe it was because it felt like an alien was going to pop out of my stomach at any second but the check in seemed to take forever. However, the gentleman who was running the counter was extremely friendly and tried to hurry. In actuality it only took about five minutes to check and we where on our way to our room.

The Room:

Our room was on the bottom floor just at the corner of the “L”.

As you entered the room there was a table and chairs against the window to the right, then along the wall to the right of the window was a nightstand with lamp, a queen sized bed, and another nightstand with a lamp. To the left of the doorway was a knee-high cabinet that was about 4 feet long with the telephone on top of it. In the corner toward the bathroom is an armoire with a 25” television in and two drawers below it.

From there you enter the bathroom area of the room. On the left was a standard vanity sink, followed by a rack for hanging clothes and below it a metal luggage rack. To the right was the door to the toilet and the full size bathtub. The flooring in the bathroom was cheap two-tone beige linoleum with patterns.

The room was clean but just screamed Motel 6. All of the fixtures, carpeting, and furniture are standard Motel 6 issue.

The television had about 35 channels, which is probably the extent of cable coverage out in this area. Also the insulation in the room was not the best as we could here our neighbors a little too much.

Restaurant:

The motel has a restaurant and while we did not try dinner we did have breakfast there once I was feeling better the next morning. I had my normal restaurant breakfast of bacon and eggs while my wife had steak and eggs. The cost for the bacon one was about $6.00 and the steak was only $8.00. Both meals included the standard fare of hash browns and toast. The food was good and waitress was great.

Nearby:

There is a Grocery Store, a couple of gas stations/convenience stores, Happy Canyon Pizza and the Pheasant Grill fast food restaurant all located within a block of the motel and is pretty much the extent of Arlington.

Earl Snell Park is right across the street from the motel and includes basketball courts, a lagoon, gazebo, and playground equipment, plenty of trees to have a nice picnic under and for railfans a display of a Union Pacific caboose.

Also China Creek runs along the side of the motel just across Cottonwood Street.

Check Out:

All we had to do at check out was give them the key and we were off and running (with me feeling much better and ready for the excitement of the day).

Overall:

-While it does provide clean accommodations, the rooms scream Motel 6 in every way shape and form so at more than $55.00 a night even with a AAA discount the price was high.

-There is just not much to do in the area.

-Overall, I was leaning more toward 2 stars but the restaurant and the clean rooms moved it up to 3 stars.

While I was in no position to complain when we checked in, there are better values for the dollar. You can save $10 to $15 by staying at a real Motel 6 in The Dallas, Pendleton or the Tri-Cities (Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland). If you are tired it provides a clean room, but if you can make it to the next town, you will get more for your dollar.


Recommended: Yes