The Oregon Trail: A Thanksgiving Journey

Like the early settlers, James and I decided it was time for us to leave our densely populated metropolis and head (north) West to seek some peace and quiet in the lush green state of Oregon. James’ Uncle Gerry and Aunt Maureen live up in Corvallis and they graciously allowed us to invite ourselves to their Thanksgiving festivities. Unlike the settlers dealing with typhoid, “Indian attacks” and river crossings, we were faced only with the perils of night-driving through mountainous terrain, the occasional rain shower and a rogue GPS. We set out on Wednesday night around 5pm and fought some T-day traffic through Sacramento to get onto I-5. Interstate 5 stretches from the top to the bottom of California and is the main North/South artery in the state so we thought we were in for a long, New Jersey Turnpike-like drive to our resting place near Mt. Shasta in Weed, CA (yes, we chose to stay there because of the name alone). But other than the triple-tractor-trailers, I-5 is really quite remote in northern California and there was blissfully little traffic on Thanksgiving Eve. We wound up and down through the mountains in the dark, and I kept occasionally glimpsing this white blob in the distance. I asked James- “is that a mountain or a cloud?” because it was white and quite high. We finally realized that it was indeed the very majestic Mt. Shasta and our motel was right at the bottom! Someone told us it is considered a “holy” place by the local Native American people and there weren’t any ski lifts or commercial things that we could see- but we didn’t get very close.

We stayed overnight in Central Weed and took a tour in the morning of the little town proper- see the photo tour at right. My favorite is the Weed Chiropractic Clinic- got back pain? they have a cure for what’s ailing you!….

Strangely, as soon as you cross the border into Oregon- everything turns green. It really is a bucolic state- complete with cows and villages and rainy hillsides. We were a bit mesmerized after coming out of the California dry season. November is really when the California rainy season begins, but we still haven’t seen much- maybe 3 days of rain (not anything like the East Coast in the Fall). Corvallis is in a nice valley and home to Oregon State University’s main campus. We did a little Wikipedia search on the crackberry and found out that Corvallis is our kind of town…for several reasons:
1- A survey by the National Science Foundation found Corvallis ranks second in the nation for the number of scientists as a percentage of total employment (12.7 percent) as of 2006.
2- A 2003 study, released once every 10 years, listed Benton County (of which Corvallis makes up the majority of the population) as the least religious county per capita in the United States. Only 1 in 4 people indicated that they were affiliated with one of the 149 religious groups the study identified. The study indicated that some of the disparity, however, may be attributed to the popularity of less traditional religions (ones not included as an option in the study) in the Pacific Northwest.
3- According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency report on its “green power communities,” Corvallis buys more power from renewable resources than any other city in the nation. Corvallis purchases more than 100 million kilowatt-hours of green power annually, which amounts to 13 percent of the city’s total purchased electricity.
4-Corvallis, Oregon was ranked #48[27] on the 100 best places in the USA to live and launch a business by Fortune Small Business 2008[28]. This places Corvallis as the second best place in Oregon to launch a business (behind Portland#6).
5-In a 2007 report, Farmer's Insurance Group ranked Corvallis as the "most secure" small city in America, based on (as reported by Insurance Journal magazine) crime statistics, extreme weather, risk of natural disasters, environmental hazards, terrorism threats, air quality, life expectancy and job loss numbers.
6-On February 18, 2008, Corvallis was named the fifth smartest city in America by Forbes Online magazine.[54]
7-A September 2008 report revealed that Benton County, of which Corvallis makes up the majority of the population, is ranked 5th for longest life expectancy at birth of all counties in the United States, at 80.93 years.
So in other words, this place rocks. It’s a little rainy and a little chilly, but it is one awesome town. We really liked it there. We got in around 1pm on Thanksgiving and Gerry packed up the yams and we went to have a delicious all-you-can-eat buffet Thanksgiving dinner at Uncle Gerry’s Club. We met some great people and stuffed ourselves silly. On Friday, we did some Christmas shopping at the art galleries and fair trade stores. It has a lot of little shops where people sell home-made or hand-made goods. It makes you feel like how America should be (and used to be)- with no mall or Wal-Mart or chain stores really. We had a great black Friday going through all of the places, starting at the Southwestern-style café for breakfast and the music store where James played drums up in the loft, then heading to all of the art galleries (Maureen and Gerry knew where all these places are- Maureen is an accomplished and successful artist), stopping for coffee at their favorite place;

I got some gloves made out of alpaca wool and a cool hat made out of recycled cotton and PET at the fair trade store, and wandering in and out of all of their non-Barnes and Noble used and new bookstores.

We finished off the day with the annual Christmas parade, complete with Santa on top of the fire truck. It was like taking a step back in time. My favorite parts of the parade were the “Sheriff’s Posse” on horseback and the Corgi dog club. The SPCA walked all the dogs around and people threw candy at the kids. It was great! PS- there is no sales tax in Oregon and they pay you for your recycled bottles and cans- this is me getting my first .05 cents back!


On Saturday we ventured out on Highway 101 South- the Pacific Coast highway route home to Oakland. Gerry took us as far as the Oregon Coast at Newport with the pups (Seti and Sky-their two rescued greyhounds- real cuties!) and we took a great walk on the beach there- what a magnificent view! We ran into a Rhodesian ridgeback puppy (HUGE!) and two Great Danes and I totally want one or the other!! Although the greyhounds aren’t nearly as oily and smelly (in fact they smelled quite lovely) and they don’t jump like the Rhodesians or drool like the Danes do. In any case- I think we are getting into the yard, babies, dogs portion of our lives.




We had an absolutely fabulous drive down the coast- stopping and taking pictures of the rocks and dunes and TREES!!! And then we got to the Redwoods…….. There is just absolutely nothing like it in the world.

The smell, the temperature, the sounds, the light-- the awe-inspiring feeling of an ancient forest is just amazing. I tried to video-tape driving through the Avenue of Giants, but it is really hard to reproduce even on video.



We learned that a number of parts of Jurassic Park were filmed here and it is easy to believe- it is positively primeval. We can’t wait to take people here. The Pacific Coast Highway inspired us also- we are thinking of riding bikes there in the summer. All of the seaside towns are perfectly spaced for biking- about 20-25 miles apart, with motels hanging over the water and ice cream stores, little general/tourist stores, and restaurants that would break up the trip really well. The road has wide emergency lanes and signs for biking, the road keeps a level grade along the side of the mountains/hills and is only gently rolling in some places. Oddly enough, we were thinking that the only real issue on the roads is the moss! It would slow you down/be a little slippery for a road bike! We stayed at a nice bed and breakfast in Klamath, CA and explored the redwoods all day on Sunday and then made a beeline for home. We will definitely be venturing there again soon!!!