A nice day for a drive.

As today is the first of several days during this week in which it is sunny on a day I don't work, I decided to go for a Sunny-day Drive. In eastern Oregon, I suppose a Sunday Drive can be done just about every week of the year, but here in the western 1/3 of Oregon, we have to time our outings with the weather. At any rate, I have been trying to find the best backroad trips of the Willamette Valley, and so far am working on a section of the first trip. This trip winds its way through Aumsville, Stayton, Sublimity, and goes north towards Silverton using the country roads with the best scenery, mountain views, and Century Farms. My plan is to create a book that showcases these backroad trips along with places to stop along the way, such as small town Cafes, County Parks, Covered Bridges, and so on.

So, around noon today, I set out for the first run of the trip, going through Aumsville and stopping at Aumsville Ponds County Park. If this place is nice in Spring, then Fall makes it great:

 The Canadian Geese all lined up for me.

I wonder if the resident geese are still there?

Setting off from there, I went to Stayton to get something to eat at the Covered Bridge Cafe. You can read my article about it in November on the Mid-Willamette Explorer blog. FYI, the Stayton Burger is the Best...Burger...Ever. After that, I checked out the Stayton-Jordan Bridge, which may also get featured on the M-WE in  November. until then, here are a few pictures:

I had to stoop on a branch in the muddy bank for this shot.

After all that fun, I headed back home on some of the scenic backroads - note the gravel road in some of the pictures. What can be a finer backroad than one that is unpaved?

 Looking back at a farmer and his field.

A wind mill rises above the trees east of Salem.