bobanddenisewanderlust

We drove east to Salem. The trip took a little over an hour, as our ride east was through dense forest along the Little Nestucca river. The first part of our travel was on Rt. 18, a two lane road with four single lane bridges. There wasn’t any traffic, so a single lane bridge was not a problem. Rt. 18 came to a T intersection and we took Rt. 22 all the way into Salem.  When we turned onto Rt. 22 we were in the Willamett Valley. The weather had changed to sunny with clouds, and the temperature rose all day, into the high 70’s. It felt so good! We have really missed the sunshine. Our drive was now through farms, not just ranches. On  the coast, there are only ranches, as there is not enough sun to support farms.

Our first stop was at the Homewood Winery to taste and buy some more wines. We ended up buying a case, since I  love this wine!

Our second stop was at E-Z Farm Market, which was supposed to be a Cidery. They had bottled cider, but no tasting. Actually, the market seemed to be more of a small organic market. We bought a ½ dozen fresh strawberry doughnuts (they only came by the dozen or half-dozen)! They were delicious.

We continued east to the Gallon House Covered Bridge.

The bridge is 84 ft. long and was built in 1917. The name Gallon House was due to the bridge’s use as a “pigeon drop” for liquor at the north entrance. Operators at a liquor dispensary nearby sold “white lightening” whiskey by the gallon to Silverton residents. At the time, Silverton was “dry,” not allowing liquor to be sold in town, while Mt. Angel was “wet.” We drove through the bridge, over the wooden beams, and on the north side there was a pick your own strawberry field, which was very busy!

Our next stop was the small town of Mt. Angel. We had seen an ad for the Glockenspiel Restaurant, so we went on the hunt for some German food. This little town, has moved to a Bavarian theme, even having a large Oktoberfest, late each September. They
actually have two permanent, fair size beer halls just for their yearly Oktoberfest. We had a great lunch, with Bob having a ‘worst’ plate and I had Wiener schnitzel, both came with spatzel. Bob also had a Dunkle beer.  We walked over to the Mt. Angel Sausage Co. and Bob bought some Oktoberfest sausage. We hurried through the sausage purchase so that we could be back at the Glockenspiel for the 1PM performance of the Glockenspiel. Their clock ran a little late, but it was cute when it started. On the top level were the two children in the swing, which came out and was swinging the children to the music. Then the bottom part opened. The first figures were of Native Americans (go figure!) and the music was of Native American drums, the figures then moved to the Pilgrims, then the Abbot, then the Mother Superior, then finally a German figure with a tuba, and the music was definitely Um Pa Pa at that point!

The Mother Superior’s music was Edelweiss. It was cute, but not as good as the real thing in Germany! There was an Abby and a Monastery in town, up on the hill. We went to a strawberry  stand and bought some fresh, just picked, strawberries. On our return trip into town, we stopped to look at Mt. Hood in the distance.

We returned to Salem, cruised through the town, which was pretty much like any other small city. We drove back over the same route.  As soon as we started driving through the mountain, the temperature dropped. When we returned to the motor home,

the temp was 62 and it was cloudy.

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