Today we set out to get lost. Well, that's not completely true; I set out to head to Aurora to a little place called Pacific Hazelnut Farms to nab a bag of their luscious marionberry chocolate creams. We'd happened upon them when perusing towns when visiting over spring break. Along the way today we took every side road, roundabout and detour we could.

The Willamette Valley is a gorgeous mesh of agriculture, ranging from sod farms to hazelnut trees to hops. Oh, and don't forget: berries galore. Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries. You pick, whether it's straight from the bush or simply picking a container from an array of like boxes on the table at one of the many roadside farm markets. Seems you can't go two miles without passing one.

For miles and miles we drove between tall strings of hops on one side of the road, and a lush grove of hazelnut trees on the other. While the temperature hit the mid 80's, the cloudless sky housed a gentle, friendly sun, and a cool breeze kept most of the day very comfortable.

Up, down, and around we went. Halfway to Portland is Aurora, then we turned west and south and ended up in Independence, a little town on the Willamette River. Lovely historic downtown that has been lovingly restored, with a bevy of old homes glowing with house pride as well. The town feels like a fighter; clearly people realized one way to preserve the small town's vitality was to take care of its historic treasures, and turn it into a destination where people could come in from surrounding areas. The downtown hosts a few little shops and antique stores, great for an afternoon of strolling. It's still a work in progress, but it has a great start including a large riverfront park with a large outdoor amphitheater.

A couple other photos on Flickr.

Throughout our travels we've been peeking at homes for sale. The difference in the price of basic real estate between here and Indiana still surprises me. A home in a nice subdivision--granted a good sized home, but in no ways a fancy home--was $360k. If it were in a mid-rent Indianapolis bedroom community, which is akin to what this was, it would go for half that, maybe 60%. There's a house or two for sale in our neighborhood and when we pick up the flyers for them I want to knock on the door and say, "You've GOT to be kidding me, right?" I knew Scot did a good job in selecting our house, given we were on a strict budget, but damn, he did VERY well.

To all who are asking of pictures, I'm working on them. Or, rather, I'm working on getting rooms somewhat straightened up before taking pictures. We still have lots of decorating to do and boxes lying around. No one wants to see pictures of that!

It's almost 11:00 PM; the sun was down around 10:00 and we had to come indoors shortly after because the breeze was too cold to just be in a t-shirt.

Gotta love it.