The Oregon Garden

Instead of blowing a bunch of money at all the clearance sales at Portland clothing stores this weekend, we decide to head south into the Willamette Valley. Bye, Portland!



This is the town of Aurora, in Marion County (where marionberries are from).



We're taking the long way to get to Silverton, home of the new Oregon Garden. We stop
and have lunch in Woodburn, an old logging town that's having a sort of Latino renaissance. The old downtown is now very Mexican.



After lunch, I ask for "una paleta de coco" and snap this photo of the Virgin of Guadaloupe chatting up the Holy Infant of Prague.



I finish my popsicle outside, where even the old town square looks like a Mexican zocalo. Nice.



I lost count of the number of nurseries (and 7/7/07 weddings) we passed.



This is Mt. Angel, an old German town.



Here's where they have the tulip festival and Oktoberfest.



We finally hit Silverton.



The Oregon Garden.



I didn't take that many photos because it's just too hot.



Even the frogs look overheated.



Cypress and basalt columns. I would like these in my backyard.



This is what every park in Oregon looks like.



The Oregon Garden is disappointing to me. I think it's too new -- just five years old. I'd like to see what it looks like 10 years from now.





Things need more time to fill in.









There's nothing here that I didn't see on the Beacon Hill Garden Tour.



And that didn't cost $10.



Unfortunately, we're too late to go inside the Gordon House down the street. This is the only Frank Lloyd Wright building in the Northwest, I think.



It looks cool inside.



They have a nice view. I love the Willamette Valley.



So verdant!



And bucolic.



I'm not exactly sure what "bucolic" means, but I think this qualifies.









It's kind of like Middle-earth out here.



Good-bye, Shire!

Duchess Clothier

The spouse is excited because while we're in Portland we're picking up a bunch of shirts from Seyta at Duchess Clothier.



Seyta's space is right next to Audio Cinema, under the Hawthorne Bridge.



It looks cool inside. I've never been to an event here, but I'm looking forward to the original rock opera that a friend will be performing in here this fall.





OK, back to the business at hand.



Nice shirt!



Seyta and her partner make custom (or "bespoke," as the kids like to say these days) shirts and suits.

She does amazing work. You can pick designs from the '30s, '40s, '50s, or '60s, and choose all the details (open collar, French cuffs, number of buttons, placket width) -- OK, please excuse me, I really don't know suiting terminology.



Plus, you get to choose from hundreds of fabrics in her swatch books.



The girl's just really into men's clothes. It's her personal mission to get the men of the Northwest to take a little more pride in their appearance. She tells about a friend of hers who's recently instituted optional "Formal Fridays" at his office. My husband, a preening fop, would love that.

I am crazy about this suit. I wish my husband's tastes were a little more Western like this.

A Deer at Dirty Little Secret

I go to Portland to get my hair cut by the owner of Dirty Little Secret on MLK Boulevard. This is the first time I've checked out the back of the recently expanded salon, which now has spa services.

Nice!



Lucynda worked really hard on this place for a long time. It's kind of thrilling to see what a great job she's done.



I continue to walk around and annoy people with my camera.



Then I settle down to get my hair washed, but someone calls out, "There's a deer outside! Get your camera."

Weird.

I walk outside, dripping soap, and snap some photos of this poor lost doe.



Animal Control's on the way.



And the deer is fine.

Rainier, Oregon

Friday night we had a couple drinks in Rainier, Oregon. Whenever I'm in a rural town, I like to look for the oldest tavern and check it out.

It looks like this might be it.



It's even part of an old hotel -- perfect.



The Alaskan tap is dry, unfortunately, so I get a Labatt's.



Ashtrays! I remember ashtrays. I wonder how long it will be before Oregon bans smoking in public.



This tavern is old.



Video poker and also karaoke in the back.



We're hungry, so we head to El Tapatio (which means Guadalajaran man, by the way) for some nachos. As we admire this mural, we catch a girl whom we'd seen at the tavern doing the exact same karaoke song at this place too. Something about being from the bookdocks and going to church on Sunday. She's followed by a man who sings "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy." Yee-haw!