Our One-Day Vacation

To my mind, Western Oregon is the perfect place to live. Our home is only a twenty-minute drive from Portland---a city of ideal size for someone like me, who wants access to the cultural and economic advantages of a large population center, but is totally intimidated by cities the size of New York or Los Angeles (though I grew up 20 miles outside the city of Chicago.) On the flip-side of that, we are also only an hour or two drive from some of the most beautiful country in the continental United States. To the west, Oregon’s endless stretches of sandy beaches are the stuff of legend. An hour in the other direction puts you halfway to the sky among the peaks, hills, and canyons of the Cascade Mountains—a land colored with every imaginable shade of green, set to the tune of cold, rushing water. Our one-day vacation took us east, to Silver Falls State Park. It’s the largest state park in Oregon, and its star attraction is a warren of hiking, biking, and horse trails that traverse a treasure map of 10 waterfalls along the north and south forks of Silver Creek. In ten-minute hikes from the trail head parking areas, we were able to get up close and personal with three of those falls.

Oregon’s state parks also abound in rustic architecture provided by the WPA and the CCC of the Roosevelt administration. I swear, half of Oregon was built by the CCC. Many of the bridges along Highway 101 on the coast were erected by that crew, as well as historic buildings on state and federal lands, such as Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood, Crater Lake Lodge, and the lodge, and several other buildings, at Silver Falls. The huge hewn beams and fantastic rustic woodwork that are the hallmark of these places are custom made to create an instant connection to nature, the forest, the wildlife…and the past. I can’t get enough of these buildings.

 

On our one decent day of vacation in the park, we stopped at the lodge for lattes, cookies, muffins, and a welcoming fire on a chilly, dampish day. Then, bowing to my brother-in-law’s heart issues, we took a few short, yet precipitous hikes to experience the waterfalls. And "experience" is the word. Both the South and North Falls have walking trails that lead into deep crags behind the falls, giving hikers the unique and lovely experience of watching the water cascade over the edge from "inside." The thundering water is as hypnotic as ocean waves.

 

The trails to the falls meander through low Cascade rain forests. The layers upon layers of fauna that thrive in the damp, temperate environment are a marcro photographer’s dream. Every step brings a new temptation to crouch, focus, and click. I took over 100 shots in a couple hours’ time (and I was surprised that my memory card would hold them all!) And then I had to whittle it down to the 30 best when we got back to camp and I downloaded them to my laptop.

We set ourselves a deadline of 3pm to be back at camp to shower and dress. Then we were off to town to search for the perfect place for our anniversary dinner. We started to worry a bit when the only restaurants we could identify as we cruised through town were fast food, bars, or taquerias. Dressed in my skirt and high-heeled boots, I was having flashbacks to the jolly Valentine’s Day dance back in February. But several locals pointed us in the direction of the "Rose of Sharon," a wonderful old Victorian home that has been fashioned into a dinner house. We arrived on the front porch shortly after they had opened for dinner, and we were shown to an intimate dining room at the back of the house, complete with a cozy fire dancing in the fireplace, and Victorian lace and brick-a-brack by the crateful. Our early arrival made us the only patrons in the place for almost our entire meal. We felt as if we were having a private party catered especially for us. I wish I had taken more pictures of the place, but I feel a little odd whipping out my camera on the way to be seated for dinner. (It was strange enough that my sister and I spent several minutes swapping cameras to make sure we both ended up with pictures of ourselves snuggling up to our respective husbands in our romantic, personal little dining room.) The meal was thoroughly enjoyable. It couldn’t have been more perfect if I had planned it weeks ahead of time.

That was Saturday. To make a long story (and vacation) short, Sunday dawned with rain pouring out of the sky by the bucketful. Sister and husband departed for home Sunday afternoon, and husband and I managed to entertain ourselves with the little television and DVD player we had brought along for just such an eventuality. However, when Monday morning came along with no end to the hideous weather in sight, and forecasts over the radio warning of snow above 4000 feet in the hills, and storms and high winds at the beach, we gave it up and headed for home. Ah, well, it was a nice vacation, however brief! Did I say Oregon was perfect?