Silverton, OR

We left the Seven Feathers RV Resort after an enjoyable stay, and continued heading North on I-5.  Today we didn’t get stuck in any parking lots, so we arrived a the Silver Spur RV Park in the afternoon.  It’s not as nice as Seven Feathers, but it works for us.  It’s another Passport America park which allows us half-price camping.  It’s a good location East of Salem, North of Albany, and South of Portland.  We’re planning on staying here a few days and visiting friends and old haunts in the area.

On Wednesday we drove NW of the park to Woodburn, OR, where there’s a huge outlet mall.  One of the advantages of Oregon is that there’s no sales tax, so we receive a 8.75% reduction on everything we buy here compared to California!  After exploring the stores and buying one shirt, we headed up to the Tigard area for linner.  Linner is a combination of a late lunch and an early dinner.

There a fairly new Whole Foods store in the Bridgeport shopping area.  Whole Foods is a market, health store and restaurant all rolled into one.  About 1/3 of the store is prepared foods.  I saw what I wanted right away, hazelnut encrusted salmon.  I added a little salad from the huge salad bar and I was set.  Linda had a harder time deciding, but got the chicken marsala and some salad.  We paid for our food, about $14, and then went outside and ate on the patio.  Did I mention that the rain disappeared and it is sunny and in the mid 60s? Spring has finally come to OR.

Bridgeport Village is a new to us shopping area right across from Whole Foods.  It’s setup as a small town with pedestrian streets and upscale shops.  Above some of the shops are professional offices such as dentists & doctors.  It creates a very attractive area.  Click on the link to find some of the shops and pictures of the village.

From there we headed back to the rv park.  We stopped in Mt. Angel, which is near Silverton.  It’s famous for it’s Oktoberfest, and it Abbey which is over a century old.  In town I found a nice old railroad station.

Very appropriate for the history of the station, part of it contains a model railroad from the local club.

The town also has a building with a Glockenspiel which performs 4 times a day and contains a restaurant and office.  Mt. Angel was founded by Swiss immigrates, not German, but it celebrates both heritages.

Tomorrow we’ll continue to explore the area and meet up with some of our old friends.