A Day's Road Trip Down Highway 97, Oregon

If you're traveling through Oregon 

on Highway 97 

you will pass this old abandoned gas station. 

  I am sure it has been photographed 
many times.  Just a quick blink of the eye 
and you've driven past it, 
but if you stop and get out of your car 
and listen very quietly, you may 
still hear the voices of men discussing 
their wheat crops while playing checkers 
by the front door.  

 I love photos that take me back in time 

and these certainly do it for me.

 The old barn has seen better days 

and maybe even a barn dance or two.  

Remember dances and pot-luck dinners?

That's what folks did before television.

 How about a cold Orange Crush. 
 Do you remember the coolers that were cooled 

by icy cold water?  When you pulled out 

your cold bottle of pop the water would 

drip off the bottle 

and hit your hot bare foot.  

Hot summer days and a nickel in your pocket 

to buy a cold pop or an ice cream cone.  

I guess I'm really reminiscing 

of my childhood.  

The simple pleasures are the ones 

I remember most.  

I'm also giving away my age, 

because most of my readers will probably 

not have a clue to being a kid in the 50's. 

I was born in 1945, so by the time the 

fifties came around I was 5 years old.  

Most (not all) of my childhood memories 

are from 5 years and older.  

It was a great time in U.S. history.  

The war was over, every soldier was a hero,
 the economy was good, 
and the neighborhoods were so safe 
that you never locked your door.

These last three photos bring you back to the 21st century.  
that's where we are.  
I guess if we like the values and traditions
 of a time gone by, 
we need to do our best to instill 
them in our children and in our neighborhoods. 

(this photo gives the feeling of both worlds, past and present)

  We had a neighbor over the other night 
and our conversation went to how can we 
bring back our neighborhood to a safe 
and friendly place. A place you want to 
live and raise a family.  
So many folks in our neighborhoods are 
moving out to the country or to 
newer subdivisions and the houses are 
all becoming rentals.  


Some of us old timers in 
the neighborhood are retiring, 
we've put money into our homes 
through the years and we have them
just the way we've always 
wanted them to be. 

They are "HOME". 
We don't want to move, 
but we do want to feel safe
and 
comfortable in our retired years.

Anyone out there got any good ideas?

(I love driving by these 
new windmill farms, 
they are popping up all over 

the Pacific Northwest. 

   They have a beauty to them . . . 

"beauty" that's a word we never  

used to describe a power plant.)

 All of the photos in this post 

were taken by me a few years ago 

on a trip to visit our daughter.  

I digitally enhanced them 

using Photo-Shop.
I thought I would 
"ART" them up a bit.

I hope you enjoyed the little
trip down highway 97
and down memory lane.
Have a great week,
Connie