One of the interesting things about Oregon is that it has a lot of charming, small-ish towns. Having been jam-packed in SoCal like cattle for so long we were itching to check out towns where there was space to spread out, but also where people were comfortable enough to speak to each other and get to know each other instead of hurrying to get inside their front door for fear of having to say hello. Somewhere we could engage in the community and feel like a part of something…make it a forever home.
We picked out two of these Oregon towns, McMinnville and Silverton, to stop in on our way towards Seattle. McMinnville is home to about 30,000 people, so it isn’t a super small town, but we chose it because it is considered a foodie town and #TeamTary can get on board with that! It is indeed a quaint town with some top notch restaurants, several unique wine AVAs in the region, and the requisite downtown shops. However, it is just big enough and kitschy enough to attract a lot of tourists. Great to visit, but not the place we envision for where we want to grow roots.
Silverton is much smaller, around 9,400 people, but had a slightly dorky charm and the hometown kind of feel that was missing in McMinnville. Silverton is a “little engine that could” kind of town. By looking down the main street you would think it was just like any other small town, but once you dig in, it tugs and tugs at you (I think I can, I think I can) until you believe it is much more than it looks on the surface.
The main thoroughfare downtown, Water Street, runs parallel to a creek (obviously), so there are several restaurants where you can eat on the patio and enjoy the soothing sounds of flowing water while sipping a flight of wine (or two) from Willamette Valley.
As we strolled through downtown, we were surprised we didn’t see a ton of tourists. What we did see were kids and parents lined up 20 deep at the local café for the $1.00 ice cream cone special after school. We watched in shock as they took them to the park next door to enjoy them and actually talk and play with each other.
It isn’t just the downtown that is better than average. Silverton also offers unique things to do instead of the typical touristy activities. One of the things we did was tour the only Frank Lloyd Wright designed house in Oregon, The Gordon House. This house wasn’t even built here, it was taken apart piece by piece and was moved here…uh engine that could! The docent’s fascination with the house came through and made us love the tour. The entire house has a theme based upon the 15 degree tilt of the seat in Mr. Gordon’s truck where he was most comfortable. From couch to countertops, everything aligned with this credo. Even the tourist attractions are overachievers in this town.
Plus, Silverton is just down the road from the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival. There the mischievous, ambitious tulips even strive to make this field more than just your typical soldier rows full of flowers.
Best thing we did?
The Trail of Ten Falls at Silver Falls State Park.
Yes, more waterfall hiking. It is definitely time we called the Guinness World Record people to find out what we need to do to get in there. You are surely wondering why a basic waterfall hike is making our best thing list in a town where we also went to a tulip festival and one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s houses. Well, hold on, let me explain.
Normally a waterfall hike consists of one, maybe two if you’re lucky, waterfalls. But Silverton, Oregon, the little town that could, had a trail with ten, yes 1-0, waterfalls.
We were still all about the waterfall selfies on this hike, but given there was a waterfall about once every quarter mile the progression of our pictures got selfie silly towards the end.
Apparently I need to teach Gary the difference between a rabbit ears and a peace sign! Oh, and you are welcome for not putting all ten pictures in this post.
Best thing we ate?
While we may not want to move to McMinnville, we do not deny it is home to some great restaurants. Our dinner at Thistle was amazing. It is a small place with locally sourced ingredients (of course, so on trend). Depending on your memory skills it could be a bit of a challenge to order since they don’t have menus, just a chalkboard with their daily offerings. Luckily it is a short list and you can’t go wrong.
The best thing we ate were the Oysters from Netarts Bay, Oregon. One of the things that we really wanted to do was to get out to the coast from this area and harvest oysters, dig clams or rent a boat and go crabbing, but we just couldn’t make it happen. At least we got to have the oysters almost right out of the sea and we can book the trip for finding our own next time.
What we learned?
During this journey we are realizing that what we thought we would want and need was a city in the 50,000 – 80,000 population size. We thought we needed somewhere this big so there would be things happening downtown and enough for us to do to keep us busy. However, we are finding out that we need to go even smaller to get the community feel we want and have a bit of character. It doesn’t need to have a million things to do, but needs to have the things we want to do. Figuring out what those things are is the tricky part, but luckily we still have more journey to keep figuring that out.
Next Stop: Astoria…last call before Washington
