Before leaving the Vancouver side of WA we took a morning walk again along the Waterfront Renaissance Trail and saw this beautiful sculpture, Ilchee, known as "Moon Girl" of the Chinook Tribe. The morning was overcast and cooler making it a wonderful start to our day.
Leaving Vancouver, WA, we drove I-5 to Silver Falls State Park about 30 minutes east of Salem. We drove through the rolling foothills of Oregon's Cascade Mountains to reach the park. It is Oregon's largest state park with a large forested landscape everywhere we looked, world class waterfalls and national historic buildings. I had no idea the park would be so beautiful. We got settled into our campsite and then rode bikes around to check it all out.
I always look for Farmers' Markets when we travel, Salem had theirs on Saturday, so we drove into town to enjoy the market and see some of the city sights early Saturday morning. After gathering our fruits, veggies and a gorgeous bouquet of flowers, we packed it all in the car and took a walk around the neighboring area which lead us to the state capital building. A bit hard to see in the distance from this large sculpture at this opposite end of the park.
From there we stopped at the Willamette Heritage Center at the Mill for an interesting walk through fourteen historic buildings including the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill and a bit of history of this area.
It's one of the best preserved Victorian-Age factories in the west. With great visuals and explanations on our self guided tour we could see how it was to work in what was once a leading textile factory. The legacy of this mill is carried on today by Pendleton Woolen Mills which we had toured a year ago.
It was late afternoon by the time we finished up with our little tour of Salem and we needed to get back to Foster. Not only did we have a wonderful campsite but right across from us were these darling wood cabins. It would be such fun to return to this park and have friends stay in a cabin while we camped nearby.
Saturday evening we took in the campfire and Ranger talk on birds of prey. A wonderful presentation with several amazing birds on display, flying right over the audience.
Sunday we wanted nothing more than to ride bikes and hike to one or two of the waterfalls.
We started with a moderate 4 mile hike from South Falls Lodge Trailhead.
The falls were sparse but it was still a beautiful hike.
As we say so often...we could have stayed at this park for many more days, and hope sometime to return and take more of the hikes.
Divergent thinking...Just had to add this cute family portrait of our nephew, Wesley, his wife, Alena and Baby Harvey, at one month of age... they are in Baltimore while we are enjoying the beautiful state of Oregon!
And...at this same time we learned that my brother Kurt was experiencing the enormous rains and flooding in Boulder, CO! This photo I found on line pretty much gives a sense of the magnitude of their rains.!
OK...back to our travels...Though we had planned to continue south, we had a fun surprise and our plans changed! Pink Martini (our all time favorite band) was giving a FREE CONCERT at Portland's Pioneer Square to announce the release of their newest album,
Get Happy. We really weren't that far from Portland so we turned the motorhome north and spent the next 2 days at the Beaverton Elks Lodge just west of the city. So much fun!!!!
We had stayed at the Beaverton Elks Lodge 2 years ago and knew how easy it was to catch the MAX light rail into Portland and enjoy a car-free evening. Though the rain had been falling for most of the morning, the concert was still on! I, of course, dressed in my finest pink attire. (So sorry you can't see my pink shoes though)
We were there early enough to get primo seats at Starbuck's outside patio so we had a fantastic view. But just before the concert began we were told we had to leave; that this area had been reserved for the press and families. Well, those of us that had been there for over an hour already decided to stay put. And we did!
The concert was such fun and so unexpected that I think we enjoyed it all the more. Not only did the usual band members perform, but we also saw a Portland performer named Meow Meow, touted as the "International kamikaze cabaret sensation" providing some of the concert's funniest moments. That was followed by music from 4 of the Great Grandchildren of the VonTrapp family singers...remember Sound of Music??? What a show!
It ended about 7:30 and we found a nearby French cafe with outside seating and mussels in a white wine sauce, I was so happy !!!! Caught the MAX train back to our little motorhome and popped our new CD into the player to enjoy it all once more. Well worth the little change in plans.
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