Discovering Salem

Well we are approximately 22 hours from take-off to Korea, so it's time for the final post about our current trip home.  We left Walla Walla and arrived in Salem just in time to pick up my mom from work at the hospital (since we were borrowing their car).  The car started sparking and was deemed un-driveable upon arriving in the driveway due to a faulty clutch in the air conditioner, (talk about timing), though it was soon operational again. 

Jon saw an old stump and had to climb it

Behind the waterfall

Saturday afternoon we went to a local state park, Silver Falls, where you can see 10 waterfalls within a ten mile walking loop.  We saw the first two and were happy with that.  Despite the rain and mist and general drear that Oregon often brings, it was still a nice walk and a nice picnic, complete with burgers, potato salad, corn on the cob, baked beans, and carrot cake.  We were serious about our picnic.  That night we went and saw The Help, which I would highly recommend.

Naturally made bridge

Sunday, despite the continued rain, we hit the coast.  We decided shopping at Lincoln City's outlet mall was the first order of business, in hopes that the rain would soon die out.  It did not, but the shopping was productive and we still made a quick token dash along the beach in the rain. 

23 years old!

During the week while my parents were working, we spent most of our time reading, going through some of my boxes of stuff my parents had brought in their recent move, and giving the dogs and ourselves some exercise.  It was fun to discover their new neighborhood with its hills and somewhat eclectic houses.  My mission these past two weeks was to teach our lazy and chubby dog Mischa to jump.  It's been relatively successful.  We also went to a local gym a couple of times, which was really quite impressive.  For a $7 day pass, we had access to a rock climbing wall, free weights and circuit machines, two different pools (one for lap swim and one with a hot tub, lazy river, etc.) and many of their classes such as pilates, kick-boxing, etc.





Wednesday we saw two silent movies at a local theatre, one with Harry Lloyd and one with Charlie Chaplin, complete with a live organist playing along, pretty fun.  The next weekend was my birthday!  There were many presents to be had, and the much anticipated mint chocolate chip and chocolate cake ice cream cake.  Kenneth and Adam came down from Portland and we all went to see a play at the local theater, a murder mystery by Agatha Christie called Murder on the Nile.  Sunday we went to a Harvest Festival, which included a short walk through a very muddy corn maze.  Our favorite part was the pumpkin scone and chai latte at the end :) 

Trekking through the maze

Monday we went and saw some friends in Vancouver, they hosted us for a lovely dinner and some games, and we were all entertained by their new kitten Macie, who was enthralled by the football game taking place on the tv. 







Tuesday Kenneth and Adam came down again for dinner and game night.  Games began and 8:00PM, and did not cease until approximately 1:00AM.  But really, it's impressive we did as much as we did in that time frame.  A couple of rounds of Scribblish and Catchphrase, and finally a game of Cranium before the parents bid us goodnight.  We stayed up a bit longer for a short game of Settlers of Catan.  Kenneth got quite irritated at one point when Jon started to build a road near his...


Wednesday Jon and I headed back to Portland for some more quality brother bonding time (Adam had to work).  Kenneth took us on a fine tour of his favorite Portland sites.  We began at the new but very popular Salt and Straw Ice Cream shop, where we were amazed by their flavors, both in quality and variety.  For instance, they are the only people who have managed to make a naturally green mint chocolate chip ice cream using real mint (made for the Portland Timbers).  Next we hiked around Forest Park for a couple of hours through some awesome forestry. 

Finally we stopped at the Tao of Tea, a tea house that has an incredible menu of teas from all over the world, served in authentic hand crafted tea pots, and accompanied by the most delicious complimentary food.  Between the three of us, we enjoyed some amazing chai, lychee, and a rejuvenating two, two servings of dahl, one order of aloo parantha, and spinach rolls.  Goodness it was good. 

Thursday was spent mostly packing, which was difficult as always.  However, airlines are making it even harder on passengers.  Gone are the days where you could take as much as you could handle.  Gone are the days when you put all your heavy items in your carry on since there were weight limits just on your checked bags. Now, not only are you just allowed two checked bags weighing no more than 50 pounds on international flights, now they are even weighing your carry ons, and if they are over 10-15 pounds you have to check it.  Ridiculous.  So hard decisions were made on Thursday as we packed up.  Friday evening we had dinner with some old neighbors from Madras, who now live in Bend, and were sweet enough to drive all the way to Salem to see us.  So much amazing food at Olive Garden.  I think my stomach is still working on the last of that tasty pumpkin cheesecake.  And now here we sit on a lazy Saturday afternoon, enjoying one of our last chances to be lazy and not on a schedule and doing what we want.  The weatherman predicted sunshine for our last day here but sadly he was all too wrong, as it is another dreary day in Oregon.  We are still determined to take the dogs to the park at some point, to chase more of those pesky squirrels, and then later tonight we're going to go to the drive-in movie theatre to see Moneyball, though I'm still not exactly sure what it's about.  It will be fun though, and before you know it we'll be at the airport once more, anxiously weighing our bags as we check in, hoping for merciful airline workers.  Next time I write will be from 

Seoul, South Korea!