Vi vågnede op efter en behagelig nat i teltet og fik nogenlunde “hurtigt” pakket det hele ned igen og fundet morgenmad frem mv... Special K, granola, mælk, brød, marmelade og hvad man nu lige har på sig ude i ødemarken... :) Derfra kørte vi til et af de mange vandfald i denne såkaldte “Silver Falls State Park”. Når man siger State Park herovre... Skal man tænke på en kæmpe skov eller område, hvor intet altså minder om hvad man normalt forbinder med en park!
Vi fik hurtigt set et af de større vandfald “South Falls” og kunne tilfredse køre videre ind mod Salem (Hovedstaden) for at se “Capitol bygningen” og diverse andre ting. Selvfølgelig var der lukket på en lørdag, men vi fik billeder af bygningen udefra, som må siges at være lidt skuffende taget Sacramento i betragtning...! De havde dog en flot cirkel med alle 50 staters flag, samt egne “Indianer-regeringer” i selve Oregon! (Vistnok 9 i alt...)
I Salem gik vi desuden igennem “Bush Pasture Park”, som i dette tilfælde kan sammenlignes med hvad der må siges at være en “normal” park, modsat alle de “State og National Parks” mv. som de har herovre :) I “Bush Pasture Park” så vi “Bush House” som desværre først åbnede nogle timer senere, end da vi var der... Ærgerligt! For der var ellers gratis fødselsdagskage lige netop den dag... Haha! Udover huset var der en flot drivhus, med mange smukke planter og dejlig inspiration for især Vicky :)
Salem er kendt som “Rosernes By” og i denne park skulle der være plantet over 4000 roser i alt... Tror nu bare vi så et lille udvalg i den enorme, men yderst flotte park! Desværre meget få i blomst...! På vej tilbage til bilen igen, gik vi gennem nogle hyggelige og historiske nabolag. Søde huse, frodige træer på begge sider af vejen og aviser liggende på fortovet... Sådan som man forventer det i Amerika :) SKØNT!!
Efter Salem var dagens endelige mål: Portland... En 60km nord for hovedstaden. Vejret var forresten strålende sol og dejligt varmt, lige fra morgenstunden af! -Tak Oregon!! Det har vi ventet længe på... :) Sol og varme = SOMMERFERIE!!! Haha...
I Portland, som må siges at være en dejlig by, gjorde vi holdt ved et af de største og bedste “Farmers Markets” i hele USA (Tror vi nok det var...?!) Lokaliseret inde på selve Portland State University’s campus, havde vi os en hyggelig stund med dejlige smagsprøver og hvad der dertil hører, når man ta’r på “Farmers Market” i USA. Derfra var det tid til lidt “nem” frokost for en gangs skyld... Take-Out fra 1 ud af måske 10, små vogne stående på rad og række et eller andet sted midt i byen! Fint så det ud og efter et hurtigt kig, bestemte vi os for et sted med BBQ Ribs, Pølser, Meatloaf og diverse tilbehør... Altsammen lydende rigtig godt og som noget vi havde brug for :) Idet vi så kommer tilbage til bilen og vi forsigtigt letter på låget til vores box med mad i, ser det MEGET mystisk ud! André opfanger så hurtigt at han netop havde set nogle servietter hvorpå der stod “Vegan Boys”... Og vi havde dermed lige spenderet en go’ sjat penge på noget der overhovedet ikke havde noget med kød at gøre whatsoever!!! Adrr... Ik’ hvad vi havde håbet på allermest :) Men en oplevelse må man kalde det haha!
Maden tog vi med til en lille hyggelig park, efter et forgæves forsøg på at få en plads ved noget kaldet “Waterfront Park”. Vi blev ledt på en D-tour og endte op på en bro, førende over på den anden side af Portland! Dermed blev det til en park der i stedet, som var ganske hyggelig og dejligt befolket! Vi havde tæppet med og “nød” vores vegetar-mad blandt andre unge mennesker, som syntes at være yderst akrobatiske :) Atter tilbage i Portland gik vi lidt rundt i downtown, og besøgte bl.a. en berømt 3 etagers boghandel ved navn Powells, samt en lidt “ynkelig” chinatown, sammenligner man med den i San Francisco :)
Aftenen / natten blev atter tilbragt på et motel, denne gang i noget kaldet Wood Village, OR udenfor Portland. Flot udsyn til Mount Hood på vej dertil og helt udemærket sted, ovenikøbet med køkken, sofa og hele molevitten på værelset! Aftenerne går hurtigt med alt hvad der nu skal ordnes... Videoer (André optager hele køreturen), billeder, blog osv...osv... :) Så det bli’r ik’ til så meget afslapning, som man måske kunne ønske sig i ny og næ :)
We woke up after a rather comfortable night in the tent and got everything packed up somewhat “fast”, getting some breakfast out at the same time... Special K, granola, milk, jam and whatnot one carries around in the middle of nowhere :) From thereon we drove to one of the park’s many waterfalls, in this case called “South Falls”... One of the bigger ones. We had a nice view of it and got a few pics for the album :)
We then headed into Salem, the capital of Oregon. Saw the Capitol State Building of course, which unfortunately was closed on a Saturday...! Did get some nice pics from the outside and parking was free that day... So not all bad :) Apart from the Capitol Building itself, they also had this nice area where all the flags of the 50 US states were placed in the shape of a circle, as well as the flags of Oregon’s own tribal governments (9 in total, if we remember correctly...)
In Salem we went to “Bush Pasture Park” as well... Very nice indeed and with lots of flowers in bloom. Didn’t see many of the 4000 roses that were said to be in this specific park, but nice for sure. There was a beautiful historic house “Bush House” which unfortunately didn’t open until another few hours... But looking at it from the outside was good enough for us, though we did miss out on the free birthday cake later on... :) The conservatory there was beautiful and indeed some great inspiration for some future one of our own... (Or so did Vicky think at least) Strolling around a nearby historic neighborhood, we saw cute houses, nice looking streets with trees on both sides as well as newspapers lying on the pavement... Just like America and how we see it in the movies :D
After Salem, our final goal for the day was Portland. The weather in Oregon was very very nice btw... Sun shining all day and very warm! Finally...!! :) In Portland we started out with a stop by their big Farmers Market, located at the State University campus. We had some lovely samples as to be expected :) and simply enjoyed a stroll around in the nice weather! If remembering correctly, Portland’s Farmers Market should be one of the country’s biggest and nicest of them all... :)
We decided to have an “easy” lunch that day and went to this street, where perhaps 10 little “food trailers” were parked side by side, each selling their own type of food... Indian, American, Koran, Chinese etc... After having a quick look around, we decided on some BBQ ribs, sausages, meatloaf etc. incl. different sides... All sounding like something we could really use at that point. Getting back to the car and carefully opening the lid to one of the boxes in order to see what was in store for us, everything did suddenly not look as good as hoped...!! André quickly caught on to a memory of having seen some napkins saying: “Vegan Boys”! Well... What do you know... No meat for us this time haha :)
We drove to a cozy little park on the other side of town, after a failed try to get to “Waterfront Park”. We were led on a D-tour and ended up on some bridge, leading to the opposite side! We decided to just stay there and eat instead... :) There seemed to be many young people there, having a good time and drinking beer out in the open... Guess we’re not in California anymore! Many seemed to be talented in many different ways, balancing on a line, doing different acrobatic stuff etc...
We had the blanket with us and “enjoyed” our vegan food + relaxed for a while in the sun, before heading back to downtown. A parade was gonna start later on in the evening, so roads were closed here and there and people were staring to set up chairs along the streets and such. We took a quick look around the enormous Powell’s Books store, as well as Chinatown, which was kind of a poor version, would you compare it to the one in San Francisco :)
The evening and night were yet again spent at a motel... This time in a place called Wood Village outside of Portland. We had a great view of Mount Hood driving there and the place itself was nice too... Even incl. a kitchen, sofa and the whole deal in our room. The evenings are passing by really fast, with everything that has to get done after a day out and about... Videos (André is recording the entire trip), pictures, blog etc...etc... :) Not much time leftover for as much relaxation as one might wish for from time to time :)
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