Silverton 29 August 2019

We awoke this morning in our lamentably 1950s motel room with the magnificent view up Moolack Beach. Incredible white sugar sand extending forever ...or at least from Hecata Head to whatever the next rocky point is called.

Eager to leave. Through the indignity of Newport morning rush traffic. Our map lady, instructed to take us to an address in downtown Salem, took us instead on an apparently random and completely wrongheaded westward tour of Newport's finer homes – we knew she was confused, but wanted to see how far off course she'd take us. Turned out, it was a loop! So we opted out and headed eastward past the sign at the western terminus of US Highway 20.

Not three miles later, we're engulfed by deep forest that goes on for two hours while we climb up and over the Coast Range.

And then we were in Salem, Oregon's capitol, and a repository of tasty architecture.

After a short walk, we found Wild Pear Restaurant where we were welcomed like brother and sister, and fed a delicious grass-fed local burger, salad, and Key Lime Tart.  

I wrote a bit here about how hundred-year old authenticity loses something when it's updated with 'modern' iconography. Somehow, just here in the core of Salem, this is acutely evident.

Later, in a conversation with niece Vanessa, we heard her say she wouldn't live in Salem. I'm thinking it has the 'Oakland Problem': no 'there' there. I can relate. When honorable old buildings get de/re-faced, they appeal, I suppose, to folks looking for branded familiarity, but they lose their history. If on the other hand they are 'preserved,' they become artifacts, and somehow untouchable.

Let's see how some of the other small cities along our route manage this confound. Victoria, for example, and Port Townsend.

Felix  --  photo: Mona Elkan