Days 19-21: Salem - How does your hair look today?

Legs Eleven (Emmie) here to give you the run-down on Salem!

After saying the long goodbye to Katie at the Portland airport on Friday morning, Parm and I headed to Salem to see her Aunt Lois and Uncle Dave. It's about an hour and a half drive south from Portland to Salem and we entertained ourselves by "funemployment dialing" several of our friends at work including Pohl (we left her a message with a soundbyte from "CarryOut" by Timbaland), the Danimal (we may or may not have left him a voicemail that included a recording of 'Friday' by Rebecca Black) and Megan “he’s tall” Canavan.

We arrived at Salem around 1PM, but Parm's aunt wasn't due to be home until around 2. So we entertained ourselves by heading into downtown Salem, stopping at Nordstrom, and grabbing some lunch at the Williamette Noodle Company. There we had the most garlicky (sp?) dip I've ever eaten, we're talking fire-breathing dragon style and we could draw on the table with crayons, which was really fun. But we were most impressed with Salem's slogan: A lot of history, a lot of fun. Gold star for whoever came up with that.

Downtown Salem. Don't get the hand coming out of a coffee cup thing, but the slogan is cool.

When we arrived at Aunt Lois and Uncle Dave's house on 21st street, we were greeted by Lois who threw her arms in the air and yelled, "Welcome to the ghetto!" Apparently she had read the blog from Seattle and was concerned that she didn't have a sailboat or an ocean view to offer. But we had an amazing time in Salem as you will see!

First Lois, Emily and I walked a few blocks to the gorgeous Williamette (pronounced Will LAM ette) campus to meet Andy, a statue of a young man on the steps that Emily and her family visit whenever they are in Salem.

Parm hearts Andy

He practically has a spot on their family tree. For example, if Lois comes to a family reunion, someone might ask, "How is Andy?" Apparently they even dress him up on holidays?...Not sure about that one, but we gave Andy some mad love, and took some awesome jumping pictures.

Lois was not only really into jumping pictures, she loved "pirate code" and asked often if we were going to pirate code her.

We also saw the star trees, which are five huge trees on campus that grow in a perfect star formation.

Gold star for the star trees. REH!

For those of you who know your state capitols (you’d be amazed how much capitol trivia questions have come up this trip), you know that Salem is the state capitol of Oregon. So we climbed 8000 steps (which I learned is called a “Stark family enhancement”) to get to the top of the capitol building. There you can lookout over Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson and Mount St. Helens.

Climbing the 8000 (really 121) steps to the roof of the capitol. Secret staircase! Just take one step at a time, Jordin Sparks style.

View from the capitol. Note the mountain in the distance (tiny white peak)

Sweet old school phone booths in the capitol. We had to kick out a businessman who left Parm a present in her booth...

We also had several discussions about one of my favorite history topics- the Oregon Trail. We did an entire unit on the Oregon Trail in fifth grade where our desks were arranged into wagon trains and it was possible to be surrounded by Indians (now called Native Americans) or die of dysentery. I am proud to report no one died of dysentery in the Subaru on our trek to Oregon. Gold star for us.

Then we visited Dave at his office at the state department where he works as the resident computer expert. We especially appreciated some of the cartoons and signs adorning his office and the fresh coffee he brews.

When we got home Dave and Lois gave us some great wine and appetizers including amazing local goat cheese, and ordered us some really delicious local pizza for dinner. But I think the best part of the night was playing Bananagrams with Lois on the back porch. She would loudly exclaim things like “Et tu is a word right? Like ‘et tu Brute’?!” We quickly adopted her playing style and would ask other players mid-game if words were really words and curse at the sight of an X or a Q. Gold star for Bananagrams.

Bananagrams AND a real banana. Bananas for Bananagrams

Day 2

We got a late start the next day, and had a leisurely brunch at home with Lois and Dave. Our favorite part was the Sin Dog (cinnamon bread) and Dave’s Killer bread. While I’m at it, there were a few other delectable items at Lois and Dave’s including the best honey we’ve ever tasted (I’m convinced it has crack in it) and amazing peanut butter with chocolate and raisins in it called Fuzzy Squirrel.

They also had an assortment of locally grown cheeses we used in several meals that, I’m going to say it, was as good or better than a lot of the Wisconsin cheese we’ve had.

In the afternoon, Lois, Emily, Dave and I took off for Mystic Wines vineyard about 15 minutes outside of Salem. There we tasted several of their local wines and got some amazing pictures of the vineyards and had some fun with their farm equipment. We also came back with several bottles of really wonderful syrah and merlot that Dave donated for the rest of trip. Thanks Dave!

Double fisting mystic wine

Frolicking in the vineyards

She thinks his tractors sexy to quote Kenny Chesney

Another fantastic jumping pic. Lois, you really got the hang of this quick.

Then we stopped at a dairy farm and picked up some cheese samples, cheese tasting if you will. Do they do this in Wisconsin and I missed it? If not, they should. Another million-dollar idea. The cheese was not only delicious but we discovered was free of animal renin (an enzyme required to make cheese.) Upon finding out Dave was a vegetarian (which is why he asked about the reinin) the dairy farm man quipped “Vegetarian is just an Indian name for bad hunter.” Good one.

I am clearly skeptical of non-Wisconsin cheese.

Our cheese host

Our favorite cheeses were the aged gouda and the blueberry Havarti. But our favorite overall part of our dairy farm visit was meeting the cows particularly this one:

Not so much this one:

Then Lois made us some delicious stirfry and we had a heated discussion about union rights and what changes are required to the U.S. educational system. But it all ended kumbayah. And by that I mean we played more Bananagrams.

Day 3

Happy Father’s Day to all, especially our Daddies! Since we couldn’t see our own Fathers, Parm and I cooked an omelette for Dave (well the first attempt was more like a “scramble”) and we had a Father’s Day brunch.

This was our second attempt, but dang, it looks good

Then we got ready to head to the beach. One of my favorite parts of the morning was when Dave and Lois almost pirate-coded Parm, actually yelling “Pirate code!” and getting in the car. But we all made it to the car in time to drive to Pacific City on the coast of Oregon. When we got out, Parm raced to the ocean and is now contending that she was the first to touch the Pacific instead of Katie. I’m going to let them duke it out.

Supastar!

We had some fun in the sand and climbed a huge sand dune.

Big Bird Road Trip! About two seconds before...

our handiwork was destroyed by a sneak wave (see lessons learned below)

At the top of the sand dune was a gorgeous view of the ocean lapping against huge rock formations

We do what we want

AND more importantly is the site of Lois and Dave’s engagement. So we took a commemorative picture…coming up on 24 years!

The site of their engagement!

Then we stopped at the Pelican brewery to get some beer samples and some fish and chips. Dave’s soup was pretty weak sauce, but we got some really good fries instead. Last stop was a beach that shall not be named so other people don't find it (kind of like Voldemort in Harry Potter) just a few miles away where we did a whole lot of this:

And on the way home we did a whole lot of this:

Lessons we learned from Dave and Lois:

• Life is too short for bad coffee and decaf is a dirty word
• Never turn your back on the ocean. That’s not a deep spiritual metaphor, it’s just so you don’t get hit with a sneak wave.
• Keep the toilet lid down!
• The most important part of ANY picture is how your hair looks. This is apparently a Stark sister obsession and Lois is still scarred from when Parm came to see her when she was 13 and asked “What’s up with your hair?”

Thank you thank you Dave and Lois for opening your home to us! We had so much fun spending time with you.

Group Pic. Lois's hair looks particularly nice! It really does Lois :)

I should also mention that some of these pictures are copyrighted to Dave. Thank you Dave for being photographer!

The next morning we packed up and headed south to Crater Lake. More blogging to come!

In the meantime… [Katie is taking over as blogger] I was having a lovely time at Rachel and Kevin Mospan’s wedding weekend in South Bend. I met up with friends Tiffany and Greg for the festivities, and, in the spirit of the road trip, we also attempted many jumping photos (shout out to Greg for finally mastering the art of capturing jumping moments on camera). The three of us stopped to light a candle at the Grotto and made the mandatory stop at the bookstore (where I is proud to say that I did NOT purchase any gear besides a book!!!!) before heading to the wedding. Rachel and Kevin’s wedding was a beautiful celebration with their family and friends. Shout out to Kevin and Rachel – wishing you a joyous and long marriage! On my way back to Portland, I was almost foiled by delayed flights, but ended up on a direct flight from Chicago in first class (woot!). My road trip hiatus ended at 2 a.m. Sunday night, when I was greeted by the tired and smiling faces of Parm and Emmie picking me up. It’s good to be back!

See you in Crater!