Willamette Valley Farm

There's only one thing to do when you wake up in a motel room at 6:30am with an insistent dog. The good thing about being in a familiar place is that we knew exactly where to go for a good cup of coffee. By 7:30 am we were on our way to Noble Coffee Roasters in Ashland, Oregon. We sat out in front at a table on the sidewalk with Ozzie, sipped our coffee and watched the town waking up. (At least the part of the town that has sense enough to go to an excellent place for a cup of coffee to begin their day…)

Well fortified for the drive, we hit the road, driving through Southern Oregon timber country, passing logging trucks, lumber mills, and millions of acres of non-deciduous green trees. After rolling up and down over four or five little passes, we were in the Willamette Valley, the heart of Oregon's farm country. I couldn't resist the picture of one of the many tidy farms we passed, despite the fact that it was taken through a dirty window at 60 miles per hour.

At the top of the Willamette Valley is the city of Corvallis, home to Oregon State University, the best supermarket I've ever been in, many parks, the MacDonald Forest, which is overseen by Oregon State, and our friends Anne and Harold and their two dogs, Rusty and Daisy. Rusty has had an unfortunate week, and is wearing not only the "collar of humiliation" to keep him from biting his stitched up leg, but a t-shirt to keep him from scratching his stitched up back. (It would seem that he met up with an unknown adversary…)

There's nothing better than a visit to good friends….