Hello Everyone,
Spring has definitely sprung here in the beautiful Willamette Valley of Oregon. Flowers are blooming, pollen is flying and minor league baseball is just getting started. The weather has been amazing and it’s nice to be here. I’ve had a very pleasant week on the road here in the Beaver State as I made my way from Bend through the Cascade Mountains and up into the Willamette Valley. It’s been a week of mountains, lakes, waterfalls, covered bridges and adorable little towns – all things that make me happy. The days are getting longer and my spirits are high. Let me tell you all about what I’ve been getting up to lately.
After I left you last week, it was already pretty late in the day. I wandered through downtown Bend and then down to Monkless Brewery, a Belgian-style taphouse situated right along the Deschutes River. It was a sunny afternoon and the view out over the river was amazing. The bartender was friendly and the beers were excellent. I’m a big fan of Belgian beer and consider it the best beer in the world, which is only an opinion but one I’m not alone in. Many Belgian-style beers just don’t live up to the expectation set by labeling it as such, but Monkless was a real exception and it quickly became one of my favorite breweries in the region. I had a couple of beers there and then wandered down by the river for a while to soak up the last of the sunshine. I stopped into the River Pigs Saloon for one last quick beer after the sun went down before calling it a night.
I hit the road on Thursday morning and headed south towards Klamath Falls. I passed through a couple of small towns on my drive, but one made me stop and get closer look. Crescent is the sister city of the nearby company logging town of Gilchrist . That usually means it was where the saloons, gambling dens and brothels were that the logging companies didn’t allow. I couldn’t find out if that was actually the case, but it was a cool little town nonetheless. There was a giant bear statue on the tiny library, some great old signs and buildings and the Bigfoot Tavern which had wood carvings of a beer swilling Sasquatch out front. It was definitely a colorful town to get out and stretch my legs in. Not too much further along, I turned off on the 138 headed west. I had already decided not to go to Crater Lake as I have been there several times before and since the north entrance is still closed for the winter it would have meant a long drive around. With the price of gas what it is and a hazy sky overhead anyway, I decided to just keep going. There were two lakes just to the north which I was excited to see instead. I stopped at a wonderful overlook of the first of the two, Diamond Lake, and was really taken by the views I found there. Behind the lake was magnificent Mount Bailey, an old shield volcano which reaches up to 8,375’ and was still covered in snow. To the left was Mount Thielson, an older shield volcano which has eroded down and left an outstanding horn at its peak. I loved it there and didn’t want to rush off, so I pulled out my book and spent the whole afternoon in the shadows of these two gorgeous mountains. Later in the day I went down to the lakeshore to check out the scenery from that level (it was awesome), and then continued on to Lemolo Lake for the night.
It was a lovely and quiet night out there, and I woke up early on Friday morning to try and get some photos of Mount Thielson’s reflection in the lake. The whole lake was like a sheet of glass in the calm of the morning and I just sat and enjoyed it for a while. At some point I tore myself away, packed up and headed on down the highway as it was going to be a busy day. The road west from there essentially follows the North Umpqua River all the way to Roseburg. The river was high due to snowmelt, and in the sunshine it was a magical shade of blue. I was excited to get out and do some walking and take in some of the many waterfalls hidden in the Cascade Mountains along the way. It turned out to be a six waterfall day as I made my way to Clearwater, Whitehorse, Watson, Tokete, Fall Creek and Susan Creek Falls. All six of them were spectacular and I enjoyed every one of them. It was nice to get my tripod out and take some photos, as waterfalls are some of my favorite things to photograph. It was also great to be in the forest, to feel the cool mist on my face and the sunshine on my head and to smell the pine and cedar of the mountains. I do love the sagebrush of the desert, but it was nice to be out of it for a while and to smell something different. Fall Creek Falls was in a burned out area of the forest, but that meant that the wildflowers were blooming out there which was lovely to see. Lots of blues and purples and whites and pinks to see as I wandered down the trail.
I dropped down into Roseburg in late afternoon, hit the gym for a quick workout and a shower, and then made my way downtown. I’ve spent some time in Roseburg in the past and it’s a pleasant enough place, but not really much to write home about. I had a nice dinner at the old train station, now a McMenamins property and then popped into the Kodiak Bar for a quick beer. I ended up talking with a nice older man for a while as he seemed like he was in the mood for a chat. He was the youngest of 11 children and had moved up to Roseburg from East L.A. as a kid. He had worked on the railroad for 20 years and drove a truck for the rest of his working life. His wife had passed away a few years ago, and I think he had remarried, but he seemed particularly worried for me that I wasn’t and had never been married. I assured him, I was doing fine. I also met one of his sons who came to take him home and it was just really nice to chat with them for a while.
I had a quiet night downtown and a nice walk around the city center in the morning, but there wasn’t much keeping me there so I headed on up the road. I avoided the interstate and started north on the secondary roads and made my first stop in nearby Oakland, Oregon. It was an old Bull Durham Tobacco ghost sign that caught my eye, but the whole town was actually really cool and photogenic. Oakland was founded by settlers making their way down the Applegate Trail, a somewhat safer alternative to the final leg of the Oregon Trail which winds down the mighty Columbia River. Some of the historic buildings around Oakland are wonderful and I really enjoyed strolling around and taking it all in.
From Oakland, I continued north to Cottage Grove, another town along the Applegate Trail. It’s also the start of the Lane County Covered Bridge Trail, another subject I find enjoyable to take pictures of (although trying to find the right angle is usually trickier than it should be). In the town of Cottage Grove is the mighty Chambers Covered Railway Bridge, the last intact covered train bridge west of the Mississippi. There’s also the Centennial Bridge, a pedestrian bridge which was assembled from parts of several dismantled covered bridges in the area. Cottage Grove was the setting for the homecoming parade in Animal House, and they had a replica of the “Deathmobile” from the movie parked on one of the side streets which I found quite amusing. The weekly Saturday farmers’ market was going on downtown which was nice, and I also stopped in for a cold beer at Coast Fork Brewing to make my plan for the afternoon.
Leaving downtown, I made my way out to four covered bridges along the Row River. Two of these bridges were open to walk across, but the others were disconnected from the road entirely while more modern bridges ran alongside them to get people across the river. Next to one of these covered bridges is an old train bridge which has been converted to a bike path in recent years. It was the bridge which the boys crossed when they were on their way out of town in the classic film Stand By Me. This has been one of my favorite movies since it first came out, forty years ago this year. Most of the movie was filmed in nearby Brownsville, which I’ll write more about below, but I definitely wanted to stop and see this bridge on the way through. When I was done with my bridge quest for the day, I continued north into Eugene. I hit the gym and then found a parking spot for the night on a quiet little side street. I wandered around downtown for a while, but the nightlife was definitely aimed at the university students and nothing really struck my fancy, so I tucked into my van and called it a night. I was pretty tired from all of the waterfalls and bridges anyway and a good night’s sleep was a good idea.
On Sunday morning I went to visit my fraternity’s chapter there at the University of Oregon. Ryan, the chapter’s president, was kind enough to give me a tour of their house and catch me up on how things are going for them. It was their moms’ weekend, so the house was probably cleaner than it would be on any other weekend. I met several of the other undergraduate brothers and enjoyed chatting with them for a while. Right when I was about to leave, one of their alumni from the 1980s came in and we ended up standing around and talking for at least an hour. It was interesting to hear his perspective on things, and he pointed me to some of the must-see spots around town. I set out on foot from there, making my way through the beautiful campus. I took the footbridge across the river to the football stadium, stopped by Johnson Hall, the main administrative building, and visited their new multi-million dollar track stadium (Oregon is apparently a track and field powerhouse). I stopped for lunch at legendary Track Town Pizza and had an ice cream at the equally legendary Prince Pucklers. From there I dropped into Max’s, an old-school neighborhood/college tavern which has been around for almost a hundred years. The bartender was awesome and I enjoyed chatting with her as I whiled away the rest of the afternoon. A man was next to me at the bar and when he raised his arm, I saw he had a tattoo of Washington D.C.’s flag on his arm. It turned out he was from D.C. and had grown up not far from my house there. We ended up talking for a good long while about places we liked and things that we missed. It is extremely rare to meet someone from D.C. and it was really nice to have a little taste of home on the opposite coast.
It was cool and overcast when I got up Monday morning and I made my way just out of town to explore the last item on my list of must-sees in Eugene that my fraternity brothers had given me. This was to hike up Spencer Butte, a butte which may or may not have been named after the father of one of our fraternity’s founders (who had served as the U.S. Secretary of War). The loop trail from the parking lot to the top and back was just under two miles but there was a decent climb involved. I enjoyed the exercise and the view from the top was excellent, even under cloudy skies. You could look out over Eugene and see many miles of the beautiful, green, lush Willamette Valley. I hung out up there for a while, taking in the views and enjoying the fresh air. Then I made my way down and headed back into town, hit the gym, had some lunch and tucked into the library for a while. In the afternoon I went for a stroll around neighboring Springfield, hometown of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest author Ken Kesey. I dropped in for a quick mai tai at Monkey’s Paw, Springfield’s cute little tiki bar. Then I had a beer at the nearby Public House, a brewery inside of a converted old church. And then it was time for some baseball as the Eugene Emeralds minor league team was taking on the Vancouver Canadians. My ticket to the game was only $12, but concessions were way more expensive than I’m used to paying at a minor league game. I’m guessing it was because they played in the university’s baseball stadium, but it was still disappointing. I had a beer and a hot dog anyway and cheered on the hometown Emeralds to a win. The highlight was definitely meeting Sluggo, the team mascot. After the game I wandered back downtown and hit the sack.
Yesterday I bid goodbye to Eugene after a wonderful visit and made my way up the road to Junction City. An old railroad town, J.C. is also home to the Oregon Scandinavian Festival. There were some cool buildings around town including the Scandinavian Hall and the old railroad station which has been converted into a bar. Finland had sent a train to be used in a Portland transportation museum which had never materialized so Junction City snapped it up and built a nice park around it. From Junction City I continued on to Harrisburg which had some cool ghost signs and a lovely gazebo down by the river. And then I headed on to Brownsville. As I mentioned above, Brownsville became the fictional town of Castle Rock for the movie Stand By Me, and it felt instantly familiar and comfortable when I pulled into town. I have seen this movie dozens of times in my life and every street felt like I had walked it before. The library had a walking map to the parts of town featured in the film, and the librarian told me that Brownsville hosts an annual Stand By Me Festival which still draws plenty of fans four decades after the movie premiered. Brownsville is a tiny little town, but I just walked up and down the streets, smiling like a little kid. I had a nice sandwich for lunch at Randy’s Main Street Coffee and then went down to Pioneer Park to watch the little kids play baseball for a while. Since it was both Cinco de Mayo and Taco Tuesday, I stopped in for some tacos at the Brownsville Saloon which was another friendly little watering hole. Then headed back to my van to re-watch Stand By Me for the umpteenth time. It was still excellent. It still made me nostalgic and emotional. It’s held up well over the years, and since I was parked on the main street of the town in the movie, it made me very happy.
I took one last stroll around Brownsville/Castle Rock this morning and then cruised on down to the wonderfully named town of Sweet Home. There’s a really neat old covered bridge in Sweet Home and a lovely park beside it. I had a few things I wanted to work on in my van and it was a nice, cool, shady, uncrowded spot to do just that. When I finished, I headed just outside of town to McDowell Creek Falls Park. What an amazing little find that was as a two mile walk brought me past several really stunning waterfalls. It was super quiet out in the park and the walk itself was lovely as well. Feeling energized from my hike, I had some lunch and then continued on to the small town of Lebanon, where I am writing you from today.
When I finish up here, I’ll go and check out the town and report back what I find here next week. Judging from the library, it’s probably a nice place. From here I will head up the road to Albany and Corvallis and probably hit up some of the famous Willamette Valley wineries while I’m there. Then I’ll be off to the state capital of Salem which is always something I look forward to visiting in every state. There will likely be more waterfalls and covered bridges in the coming week and hopefully some great small towns as well. By this time next week I will probably be in or closing in on Portland, where I hope to catch up with my Portland crew before turning my headlights east and beating feet back to Idaho before it gets too hot out here. This coming week will probably be my last full week in Oregon, but I’m not opposed to hanging around a little longer if I find enough to keep me busy. It sure is a wonderful state and I’m glad I decided to come back and see this last little stretch of it I missed in 2025. It’s likely to be a colorful and photogenic week, so definitely check back in so you can read all about what I get into. I hope you’re all enjoying some beautiful spring weather (or autumn weather for all my friends in the southern hemisphere), and I hope you are all able to get outside this week and enjoy it. Until next week then, thank you, as always, for reading.
-Mike