Trip Report

What a beautiful, relaxing day in the country this turned out to be. We were a small, but cheerful group of eighteen Obsidians, one non-member and a very pleasant bus driver. It was nice not to be on a time schedule, so we could take the time to really enjoy each of our stops. Our route took us over the Willamette River, up the back road to Junction City and on up Hwy 99W to Corvallis. Along the way we did some reminiscing about all the places we had visited along this route on previous bus trips. Our first stop was Avery Park in Corvallis where we enjoyed our coffee break, including Paula’s birthday cake, using the 85 foot long Douglas fir picnic table. This impressive slab was one of six table tops cut from one log by Hull Oakes Lumber Company back in 1986. We already knew the location of two more picnic table tops, Harrisburg Museum and Bellfountain County Park, Mary Lee shared that two more of the table tops originally went to a private residence east of Monroe. It would be interesting to learn where the sixth table top went. The rhododendrons and azaleas at Avery Park are beautiful and most of the group enjoyed a short nature walk around the park and along the Mary’s River. Oh yes, everyone saw the dinosaur bones too. Garland’s Nursery was the next stop; this 4th generation family run nursery is full of all types of landscaping plants, unique and lovely garden art, gardening supplies and a large area of bonsai plants and pots. Very colorful! On down the road a bit to the Children’s Farm Home, where we enjoyed a lovely, elegant lunch; learned about the history of the Children’s Farm Home and the current services provided by Trillium Family Services (both residential and outpatient) for troubled youth. The bright sunny weather was perfect for our travel on back roads to Brownsville, along the way Mary Ellen and Mary Lee shared interesting information about their family’s connections with the land. We visited the Linn County Historical Museum, where we learned about the Museum, enjoyed a short Laurel and Hardy movie in the Boxcar Theater and a nice tour of the beautifully restored Moyer House. More back roads brought us back to Shopko just before 5:00.