Going Home (Portland Part 1)

One of the reasons for us to take a trip to Portland was so that I could discover more of where Enoch grew up and see his old stomping grounds. He claims Oregon as home (namely Silverton which is about an hour south of Portland), but the guy hasn't been to Oregon in six years. It was high time we took a trip together since we have four siblings there between the two of us. ;)

We set out on Wednesday morning. It was an absolutely gorgeous day of sunshine, blue skies, and 70 degrees--heavenly.  Before heading into Silverton, he took me by where his Grandma Lim used to live in Hubbard. Both Hubbard and Silverton are small farming communities, so there are miles of fields. We even stopped at Dickman Farms where he used to work summers laying irrigation pipe while he was in high school. He was hoping to find some people around that he knew, but the barn/shop area was vacant of people. It was too great of a day for them not to be out planting!

When we got to the old Norton house where he grew up, Enoch insisted on knocking on the door and talking to the people who live there, so here he is waiting for someone to answer. No one did initially, but later the lady of the house came out and had a good conversation with us about changes they've made and plans they have for the home. She was not more than 30 and she and her boyfriend plan to retire there, so they have some pretty extensive plans. They've already done a lot including new siding on the house, filling in the old garage, and removing a lot of trees and other debris/junk from the property. They didn't buy the house from the Nortons, and the girl thinks the people they did buy it from had a chop shop there because they had over 28 tons of metal hauled away from the place after they took ownership.

This was Enoch's backyard growing up. The property line goes all the way to the top of the hill.

The old barm on the property. The couple plans to remove it at some point because it is getting rather worn down. Enoch's family had cows in it that they would milk while he was growing up.

The front of the house that faces the main road. The deck will soon be torn off since it's in pretty bad repair.

The back of the house.

We didn't ever go in the house, but Enoch loved seeing the changes. He remembers the house having a horrible teal siding that was hideous. He's glad that the people there now have done some nice work to it. For the record, Enoch was practically glowing the whole day. ;) He was in his element and loving every minute of it. It was also interesting for me to see how sights of things would spawn memories and stories. I knew it would be magical for him because going home always is in a way. But it's taken me 3 years to finally get him to do it. Why he would drag his feet, I don't know because he had such a great time.

Of course, this was not the end of the adventures. We then drove into town so I could see his old high school and all the sights of town. We headed into Roth's Grocery Store hoping to grab some lunch since Enoch remembered getting some great sandwiches there back in his high school days when he would cross the field behind the school during after school activities in order to get a bite to eat there. Alas, Roth's has been much remodeled and doesn't have the same deli offerings, so we settled for Subway. While there, we managed to run into someone from his graduating class who recognized him. Small world, small town.

Then we headed to Silver Falls State Park to do a little hiking and take in the beauty of the falls. There are about 10 falls along Silver Creek in this park, and it was a perfect day and time of year to be there. There was tons of water coming over the falls, the weather was gorgeous, and there weren't huge crowds. Asher loved being able to do his own walking, and so far, he is proving himself to be quite the little hiker. He went up and down switchbacks and went well over half a mile without needing to be carried. I hope this holds true. :)

The South Falls. You actually hike down and behind the falls in a big loop. Great spray on the face when you do that! :)

The entire falls.

A family photo at the bottom. Can you tell how much Asher does not want to be carried?

I definitely want to go back to Silver Falls when longer hikes are a good idea for me. The trail of 10 falls is about 7 miles, and it would be fun to see all of them.

By this point it was getting to late afternoon, and our little guy was pretty tired out. He was a trooper this trip despite the significantly less sleep than normal he was getting; he was known to pass out a time or two in the carseat for sure. 

What a fabulous day. I loved seeing Enoch back in his hometown and learning new things about him. Places and people change over time, but going home still has great benefits.