Trip to Salem

Bella and Hubby had a soccer game in Salem, and we decided to make a day of it.  As our only working car right now is Brennan's little Swift, only some of us could go, so it ended up being Hubby, Bella, Harrison, Rosalind and me. 



It was snowing earlier in the day and started up again when we arrived, so I dropped Hubby and Bella at the stadium and sought shelter with Harrison and Roz.  First gas, then Winco for road food, and then Harrison expressed the desire to see the Oregon state capitol.  I was impressed.

Happily munching on the kids' gummy worms and the snacks we bought, we drove to the capitol building (bless you, GPS). By this time the sun was out, so we took a short, cold tour of the outside of the building.

Sometime we'll have to come back during the week and tour the inside.

Once we were back in the car, I saw that we still had an hour to kill before we were needed back at the stadium. Thought about the mall or Barnes & Noble or some other indoor retail place, but I figured we could do that at home - boring. I Googled "Salem Oregon attractions" and got lucky - there's a covered bridge sixteen miles away, outside of Silverton, Oregon. Sweet!

(I have a thing for covered bridges. They're old and fun.)

It sounded weird to the kids that we were going to see an old bridge with a roof on it, but they were mostly good sports. We had a lovely drive through a very rural area, in which we viewed tiny schools, orchards, nurseries, barns, Christmas tree farms, sheep, cows, horses, and tractor attachments. Harrison served as the navigator and before too long we found our covered bridge - the Gallon House bridge.

Once they saw it, the children were not excited to drive through it, but we did, twice. We parked and got out and inspected it. Abiqua Creek looks like a fun tubing spot and the bridge would be a good place to put in.

After experiencing this "death trap," we drove back to the stadium, collected Hubby and Bella, and took off for Pietro's pizza in Salem. We had at least two Pietro's pizzerias in Tri-Cities while I was growing up and I loved their pizza, but now they are few and far between, so I was really excited to see this one and take my family there. Salem Pietro's did not disappoint - the pizza was more wonderful than I remembered, and this restaurant has laser tag. Harrison and Rosalind were in heaven!

For you soccer fans, this was not a good game to remember. Our team lost 6-1 and our friend Celeste was injured and ended up in the emergency room. Fortunately her shin wasn't broken.

After dinner, we drove home very full and tired. I started getting sleepy while I was driving, so I had Bella and Hubby read aloud the first chapter of "The Hunger Games", which I have not yet read and sounds really awesome. It worked - I stayed awake. :)

What a great day.