Surprise Portland Trip

I surprised David with a trip to Salem Oregon this weekend. We went from Salem to Portland. Here are a couple of highlights from our trip:

I loved this quote. It is something that David and I have tried to do. It is really hard to read. It says:

"Remember, always, the greatest gift you can give your children is parents who love each other."

Both of these were at the Catholic church in Portland. There is a statue of Mary, the mother of Jesus that has been there since the 30s. They call it The Grotto. I saw a real live nun, and a priest/monk guy. They were wearing exactly what you would expect them to wear. I was pretty excited because the only experience I have with nuns and priests is what I saw on Sister Act.

This is a fiberglass statue that looks so real - you really think this lady is alive. It is better than any wax statue I have ever seen.

We stopped at the Portland temple to get a few pictures:




We also went to Pittock Mansion. It was a house that was lived in from 1914 until 1958. It was absolutely amazing. The house had electricity and gas, an elevator, a refrigerator room - not just an ice box, a central vacuum system, showers and toilets, and many more amenities that were not widely available in the turn of the century. I was blown away at what rich people could afford back then.





The real surprise of the vacation came with this museum. There is an automobile museum in Salem Oregon that is amazing. They made this building to be an old Texaco station. With grants and donations, they have built an fine facility. They are only open 6 months out of the year, but one of the docents agreed to give us a private showing. They have a shop in the back where they build 20s roadsters. The kids that take the class get automotive credit through their high school. They are doing a great service to the community by mentoring these kids.

I didn't get a ton of pictures of anything you all would be interested in. David took a bunch of pictures of old cars and projects that the kids were working on. However, if you are ever in Salem in the spring, I highly recommend stopping through. From what I am told, their website is getting a little revamping soon. - watch for that.

http://www.nwcarandcycle.org/



The museum is on about 64 acres of land it shares with other museums. The last weekend in July & the first weekend in August, they have a huge "Steam Up". It is basically a car show that involves many breeds of automobiles - from steam tractors to motorcycles. I am excited to possibly be able to go this year. Another museum on the grounds that we passed was the Caterpillar museum. They had some HUGE cats on display.



The docent that gave us the tour - Doug - took us over to his shop to see his personal projects. He had some pretty cool stuff. We were there for quite a while. His son CJ remodels old video & pinball machines. We got to play around with them for a little while too.



Here are a couple random shots I got from this weekend:

I saw this bench and thought it was absolutely hilarious!!



This was somebody's entry gate on their home:



This house is completely supported by stilts. There is not a square foot that we could find that was actually on the dirt. They wanted a view of Portland, and their lot was vertical. They made lemonade with the lemons they were given. I don't know how comfortable I would be in the house, but I'm sure it is structurally sound right?