Un-Speak-Able

Today was Wednesday Wanderings with my parents and so many people have made comments to me about our bi-monthly adventures, that I am encouraged to continue blogging about where our travels take us. When we first started going last October, we just chose a destination for the drive and a place to have lunch. Then in January we decided it would be fun to incorporate a visit to a historical site or museum and our adventures really started to get exciting. For today, our destination was Corvallis, a college town about 40 minutes south of Salem.

We had lunch at Big River. My Mom had crab cakes and I a lovely bowl of butternut squash ravioli. My Dad had a Reuben, but it wasn't worthy of a photo!




After lunch, we walked across the street to the Corvallis Riverfront park, a delightful public space (yes, those are flowers adorning the garbage cans!).



Our Corvallis destination was The Arts Center. I'd never been before and I fell in love with the space, both inside and out.





The exhibit we wanted to see is entitled Un-Speak-Able, a national juried book arts exhibit (and it runs through April 2nd in case you are interested).





















One of my favorites was The Book of Knowledge, a great big book made out of tar paper. Tar paper, for Pete's sake!





When my parents were finished but I was still poking about, they kindly found a nice bench to relax.

Wednesday Wanderings: Mission Mill

Last Wednesday was field trip day with my parents. Twice a month we choose a destination to explore (and eat lunch). For this week, we chose to visit Salem's Willamette Heritage Center at the Mill (formerly known simply as Mission Mill Museum). There is lots to see and do: interpretive exhibits, historic homes, shops, museums, and a restaurant. We touched a little bit of everything. At first, I wasn't going to take photos or do a blog post about it, but then I realized that so much of the mill was architecturally and historically interesting, that I couldn't resist snapping at least a few photos.









We asked one of the museum docents to take our photo and I guess he wanted to be in the picture, too, because that's his finger in the upper left corner of the photo!


Did you notice the great photo at the top of this post? It's a medical kit for a nurse/MD/pharmacist. I had posted this photo on Facebook and received lots of oohs and ahhs. Well, my friend Tory saw my post and when we got together on Thursday, she handed me a gift. Yes, I now have my very own little medical kit!

Mount Angel Abbey: Right in My Backyard

I took my parents on another Wednesday Wanderings this week. Our destination was the Mount Angel Abbey, located about a dozen miles northeast of Salem. Here's a description from the Abbey's brochure:

Mount Angel Abbey is a community of Benedictine monks founded in 1882 by the Abbey of Engelberg in central Switzerland. The Abbey shares a monastic tradition that has been a vital part of the Roman Catholic Church for more than fifteen hundred years.

The Abbey adventure starts with a lovely tree-lined drive up the hill, Stations of the Cross all along the roadside walking path.




We then arrived on the campus of the Abbey and started our visit using the self-guided walking tour that was available in a brochure.


First stop, the Abbey's Museum. The museum unexpectedly turned out to be more of a natural history museum than a religious one. We discovered pig hairballs right next to a crown of thorns. And a mutant calf right next to the Class of 1953 photo op! It was eclectic and random. My kind of museum.













We continued on our walk, roaming the grounds and visiting the church (where a monk was playing the huge pipe organ on the second floor), the library, monk's cemetery, and finally a cup of coffee in the Abbey coffee shop.