Weekend Getaway
To celebrate our first year of matrimony, Bear and I took the weekend to explore the southern part of this state. Unlike Portland, the southern end of Oregon is mostly agricultural and the people tend to drive pick up trucks. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's just different. We stayed in a garden resort in a small town named Cottage Grove which is not only famous for the garden resort place we stayed, but there are a few other notables.
Their claim to fame is as the covered bridge capital of Oregon. That's right, these wise folks never tore down those covered bridges and now they're using them to draw in unsuspecting tourists. Okay, from the looks of things, Bear and I were the only tourists, but the bridges were pretty neat. You can just see the headless horseman coming at you with a jack-o-lantern:
The other claim to fame isn't so much a claim to fame, but more of an historical footnote. The downtown area was used as the backdrop for Animal House. I know this picture doesn't do it justice, but if you recall the film's end when they storm the parade, it might look more familiar. I don't think it's changed a bit since then either.
OK, so you're thinking we're boring, but it was just nice to get away for a weekend. Sometimes you just have to get out of the city and decompress a bit. The other bonus is that the fall colors were visible, making it a great way to celebrate the fall.