Salem, the capital city of Oregon, lies in the center of the lush Willamette Valley, surrounded by green pastures, fields of flowers, gardens, vegetables, orchards, and vineyards. It is 47 miles south of Portland and took less than an hour to drive there.
Oregon State Capitol Building – Built in 1938, much of its interior and exterior is made of marble. The Oregon Pioneer, also known as the gold man resting on top of the dome is made of bronze with gold leaf finish. On the day we went, the capitol was closed due to Covid restrictions.
Riverfront Park – Riverfront Park is Salem’s premier urban event park, located along the Willamette River and in close proximity to businesses, restaurants, entertainment, and other parks and trails. The 26-acre land was occupied by paper, flour, and woolen mills, an auto junkyard, as well as a coal gasification plant. Today, it features large grassy areas, the EcoEarth Globe, an amphitheater, and the Peter Courtney Minto Island Bridge which is a bicycle and pedestrian Bridge, connecting downtown Salem to Minto-Brown Island Park.
Eco Earth globe in Riverfront park – An outdoor sculpture and a community art project, completed in 2003, this sphere was originally a large pressurized tank used by Boise Cascade to hold acids that were used to “cook” wood chips into pulp. It was a 5-year process to transform this “acid ball” into a beautiful piece of art that includes 86,000 tiles depicting the entire globe, created by local artists and students, reflecting the diversity on land and water.
Willamette University – Founded in 1842, it is the oldest university in Western United States. It is privately owned and offers undergraduate and graduate programs in liberal arts, sciences, management, business, law, computer science, data science, and more. The campus is within walking distance of the capitol building and Riverpark in Salem.
