On our flight to Portland, we sat next to a very nice lady who had previously lived in Portland. She was headed home to visit with her family. She had recommended a breakfast restaurant called Gravy. We followed her advice. We had a great breakfast. The servings were so large, we were glad we only ordered one meal instead of two.
After breakfast, we headed to Salem Oregon to see the capitol. On the way, we saw the highways of Portland. There were lots of freeways.
We also discovered why Portland is called the city of bridges. It is not the freeways. It is all the bridges over rivers and creeks. Here are an older style and newer style sample of the numerous bridges.
It was a short drive to Salem, Oregon from Portland. We found the capitol very quickly. The bright gold statue on the top of the Capitol was like a beacon drawing us in.
We found a beautiful building. Different in style from many other capitols we have visited.
We knew that we had the right building when it was labeled “State of Oregon.”
They even have a very nice fountain in front of the building.
However, pictures can be deceiving. It had been over a year since we had planned our trip. The government lived up to the state title of the Beaver State. They had been very busy on a major project.
The project is a total rehab of the inside and outside of the Capitol Building. This was the true picture of what we found when we arrived in Salem. A lesson to the reader, be very careful what conclusions you draw from pictures and stories. A lesson for trip planners, review your plan details before you actually leave, especially if the plans are over a year old.
We found the entrance to the legislative office where we got our Capitol tour book stamped for Oregon. They politely told us we could not tour inside the building, but we were free to tour the grounds. So that is what we did.
There are many large trees on the grounds.
And a few with some unusual shapes.
There are also monuments and memorials to various people that explain some of the history of Oregon and its people. We enjoyed our short tour of the Capitol grounds.
Our afternoon was spent driving south toward Crater Lake. Our drive took us through the Willamette National Forest, as well as two other National Forests.
We saw beautiful mountains and lakes.
We also saw more trees then 1000 people could count.
There was a lot of amazing scenery to see along the way to Crater Lake. Below is a photo of the beautiful Odell Lake. The more gorgeous scenery there is, it seems the less people you see. We spent the night in a wonderful town called Chemult, Oregon. We had a great dinner from the Mexican food truck that was across the street from our hotel.
Just like you need to be careful about what you see in pictures and stories, you need to be careful about the fine print in cell phone advertising. Covering 95 to 99 percent of the people in the US is a lot different than covering 95 to 99 percent of the land in the US. Some towns, while very nice, may not have the greatest cell phone coverage or internet. In spite of the lack of phone and internet service, we had a great time in Chemult, OR. Life is more than phones and internet, even in the 21st century.