June 24, 2014 - Salem, OR

We found the convention center where today's walk started and tried to follow the directions for parking that appeared on the website. I probably miscopied the directions and wrote down that parking was "on left just past Trade Street." We tried several approaches: 1) Driving past Trade St and looking for parking on the left - fail, 2) Turning left on Trade St. and looking for nearby parking - fail, and 3) trying to follow signs to "overflow parking for convention center" - fail. After about 20 minutes of circling the Convention Center and trying to figure out where we were supposed to park we just parked in a nearby parking garage. We weren't sure if it was ok to park there, but there was no one there to ask. Hicks from the sticks again. Dazzled by the big city.

The beginning of our walk took us past some restaurants and department stores on Liberty Street. Salem, with a population of 155,000 has a Macy's. Why can't Anchorage, with double the population, have a Macy's? Do Anchorageites come across as such slobs that Macy's thinks a store would not do well in Anchorage? 

We turned onto Center Street and followed it until we reached the State Capitol State Park. As we had come to expect in Oregon, there were lots of roses here. There was also a huge variety of trees, from Giant Sequoia to the cartoonish Camperdown Elm. There is a "Moon Tree" - a Douglas fir grown from a seed that was carried to the moon in 1971 (just north of the flag circle). Among the many monuments and statues, my favorite was the Sprague Fountain, donated by Governor Charles Sprague in honor of water. 

At the far end of the park we could see the gleaming white state capitol building topped by the golden Oregon Pioneer.

Before entering the capitol we walked around to the side to see the Walk of Flags and the flags of all 50 states. Then we entered (without having to go through security) and took some time to explore the building, peek into various rooms, view the interactive displays, and visit the gift shop (which was quite nice). This is the third state capitol building. The first was destroyed by fire in 1855 and the second was destroyed by fire in 1935. Unlike most state capitols, which seem to be copies of the U.S. Capitol with its familiar dome, this building was built in the Modern Greek style.

Upon entering you immediately notice four impressive murals illustrating Oregon history. 

And then you look up and see the rotunda ceiling, with 33 stars symbolizing Oregon's position as the 33rd state in the union. The dome is 106 feet above the state seal located on the floor in the center of the space.

The House and Senate Chambers showcased Oregon history and industry. No detail was overlooked, even the carpet.

Willamette University is literally across the street from the Capitol. It is a lovely campus with a creek running through it. Our tour of the campus included the Rose Garden, a cedar grove, the clock tower, the Hatfield Fountain, and a botanical garden.

After Willamette, we visited Mission Mill Village. The Mission Mill Museum grounds include the1898 Thomas Kay Woolen Mill which is the anchor attraction.
Of equal interest are the historically important 1841 Jason Lee House, 1847 John D. Boon House, 1841 Methodist Parsonage and PGE Water Power Interpretive Exhibit.
If you are interested in textiles, water power, fabric milling and finishing, pioneer structures, 19th century furnishings and artifacts, or Salem history in a park-like setting, visit Mission Mill Museum and walk in the footsteps of Oregon pioneers. 

 

Finally, we followed the Pringle Creek Path on the last leg of our walk back to the Convention Center. It was a lovely shady refuge hidden in the middle of the city.

It took us over 2 hours to complete our 5k walk because there were so many things to stop and look at. At the end we had the option to do a 7k loop that included the waterfront. We heard it was very nice, but we decided to rest our legs at the Woodburn Outlet Mall. And that turned out to be time well spent!

Walk Route: A

Walk Instructions: C+ (Trail was very well marked, but  . . .  so many interesting pieces of information could have been included. I would love to have seen the Moon Tree, but I didn't know about it until after I finished the walk. We also walked by a rock that was a marker on the Oregon Trail - without knowing it.