Heather and I thought we would share a bit of our Christmas vacation with all of you. We are spending the first week in Dallas, Oregon (where I grew up and my family still lives).
Today, Heather and I went to the Polk County Musuem, located on the grounds of the Polk County Fairgrounds. By the way, the county motto is, “A County Where Good Things Happen…”
As you can see, we are currently experiencing a normal winter in the Willamette Valley, rain with more rain in the forecast. It seems dreary now, but next week we will be confronted with bone-chilling temperatures in the Hoosier State.
We must admit that the our first attempt to visit the museum was thwarted when we drove all the way there (about four miles) to find out the place was closed on Tuesdays. Luckily, we got there today before the throngs of people (note the number of empty spaces in the parking lot).
Once we got inside, we got a personal tour and even got to meet Polk County’s living encyclopedia, a very nice man named Arlie.
For those of you unfamiliar with Polk County, Oregon, it was named after President James K. Polk, and my hometown was named after his Vice President George Mifflin Dallas. It is the birthplace of former Sen. Mark Hatfield and the hometown of 50s singer Johnny Ray.
That’s Heather to the left in her fancy new jacket. It may not look like it, but she loves visiting museums and she is the reason I find myself frequenting random places like this all across the country.
Every summer, Dallas hosts a festival now called SummerFest. But growing up it was called Crazy Dayz (ask Stacy P. why they had to change the name). Today, I learned that the festival was originally called the Dallas Smileroo! That sounds like a word Pastor Mark would make up.
Stay tuned for more gripping updates from the Gonzales Family Cross-Country Funfest!
We’re eagerly looking forward to our own trip to rain-drenched Oregon on the 28th (we’re going via Alabama). While my family technically lives in Rogue River, our portion used to be its own town, named Wimer. We have an annual summer festival with it’s own fun name — the Wimer Bang!
Ryan Z
December 21st, 2005
Nathan and Heather- thanks for checking in! It’s good to hear about your adventures. Keep us updated on all of your museum visits!
Heather Z
December 21st, 2005
Cool new jacket Heather
Leslie
December 21st, 2005
Don’t worry, Nathan (and Heather)! It is actually warming up here in the “bone-chilling” Hoosier state! Maybe I will get lucky and run into you all at Pizza King some time!
Sarah O.
December 22nd, 2005