Djurdjevic - Personal Photos - Oregon, May 2007

23 Jan 2011

Updated May 27 - Memorial Day 2007

On the Oregon Trail

Portland, Interior, Medford...

ROSEBURG, Oregon, May 27, 2007 - The first thing I did this morning is go the opposite way from what I had planned. I headed north, before turning around and driving south of Portland. The reason? I met a friend of mine and his wife for "breakfast" at a restaurant in Vancouver, WA, the city in which they have lived for the last 28 years.

But first, I had to pass through downtown Portland again (the two left thumbnails), before crossing the Columbia River into the State of Washington where this Vancouver lies (as opposed to the much bigger city that bears the same name - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada).

As you can see, it was a pretty gloomy morning. No rain, just a constant threat of it. What the pictures do not show is a cold blustery wind that made the mid-50s feel like freezing temperatures. Still, for this "desert rat," it was a pleasant change from the 100s back home in Arizona.

My first stop on the way south of Portland was in Salem, Oregon's capital city. And here is the State Capitol.

The grounds around the Capitol are beautifully manicured, a part of a design that's shaped like The Mall (in the nation's capital).

Embedded in the paved ground of The Oregon Mall, were marble plaques that told the story of the State of Oregon, through various historical events. Such as in 1859, when Oregon

became the 33rd state to join the Union (second from left). Or in 1811, when Astoria was founded at the confluence of the Columbia River into the Pacific. The city was named after John Jacob Astor, a businessman and fur trader who was then believed to be the America's richest man, and the country's first millionaire (right photo). Or the sorry ending of the Lewis & Clark expedition who first blazed the Oregon Trail that so few later followed (rightmost thumbnail).

I said earlier that it was a gloomy morning in Portland and Vancouver. The early afternoon wasn't much better farther south in the interior of the state. The preceding shot of the Cascade Mountains was taken from my car in the vicinity of Eugene.

Every state in the Union seems to have a Springfield, and Oregon is no exception. Here's the road sign for Springfield, Oregon, that is located roughly in the center of the state, close to Eugene (see above map).

As coincidence would have it, the next rest area on the I-5 at which I stopped featured the following memorial to the WW II soldiers:

It certainly seemed auspicious that I should happen upon such a memorial on Memorial Day 2007.

Since it was getting later in the afternoon, and it did not look as if the weather would clear any time soon, I gave up on my plan to drive deep into the Cascade Mountains and see Diamond Lake and Crater Lake, two of the "must see"-sights in the state, I've been told. The town of Roseburg, population, 21,000, where the road to the mountains breaks from the Interstate, seemed like a good spot to spend the night.

As it turns out, Roseburg is a charming town. And I was lucky enough to get a room with a

view of the river that runs through it. It's the South Umpqua River that is created by the glaciers and lakes of the Cascade Mountains (see the map). The above photos were taken from my hotel balcony... the first two from the left, around 4PM when I checked in; the two on the right about an hour and a half later. What a difference sunshine makes, huh?

Sunshine or not, it was an idyllic scene, isn't it? It reminded me of Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare in England, and of Christchurch, New Zealand, which copied Stratford's "look and feel."

As I drove around town, I saw some other charming scenes, such as this pink Victorian beauty that's showing some signs of age, but is still looking great. Elsewhere in Roseburg, however, there were signs of dilapidation and decay, the way so many American small towns are looking these days. There were also homeless people in the streets. And that's something up until now has generally been visible only in big cities. It is not the kind of memory I wanted to take from this Memorial Day in Roseburg.

As if trying to wash off the bad taste, I headed the opposite way, toward the newer part of Roseburg in the west, where I found this lovely-looking art museum.

I spent about half an hour there, honoring the unknown (to me) fallen soldiers in my thoughts and prayers on this day of memories. Cpl Linnie Bennett's plaque, for example, who served in the Spanish-American War (April to August 1898), was the oldest memorial I saw (right thumbnail).

I asked the hotel front desk clerk what a good place in town is to have dinner. Quick as a flash, he replied "MacMinimums."

"I don't know. I just know they have good burgers and stuff. It's sort of a pub and a restaurant. They turned the old railroad station into it."

A few hours later, I easily found the old railroad station. The pub's name is McMenimans, not MacMimimums, the way the name sounded when the hotel clerk spoke this evening. The owners are two Irish brothers. The place has lots of old charm on the inside, including a huge antique wood-burning stove (see above thumbnail). Alas, the charm was better than the food. Guess you can't have everything in small town America.

And now, here's an aerial preview of my next destination... the Crater Lake National Park in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. At an elevation of about 8,000, it is on one of the snowiest areas in the entire Northwest. On average, it gets 44 feet of snow per year! I am told that even now in late May, there may be snow on the ground there. We'll see...