Salem Sights

 

by Pa Rock

Tourist

This is the beginning of my second morning in Salem, Oregon.  I spent yesterday with Molly's family.  Willow gave me a long tutorial on "Minecraft," none of which I understood, but it was fun watching her build things on the television screen and then knock them down.    We also went to a Dollar Tree store where everything actually was priced at a dollar - and that was fun.  Oregon has no sales tax, so a dollar actually bought each item - no extra change necessary.   Later we went to an "antique" store that was actually a fancy flea market so my grandson, Sebastian, could shop for vinyl records to use on his vintage record player.  Grandson Judah was in school in the morning, but he joined us in the afternoon.

My grandchildren have spent the last two evenings swimming at the pool in my hotel.  Today I think we will be going someplace else with a pool.

I ran into an Army general in a dress uniform getting off of the hotel elevator this morning.   He had one star on each epaulet - a brigadier general - and about ten rows of service ribbons.  Having worked with the military for many years, I am no stranger to generals - and have been involved in meetings and projects with base commanders - and their wives, which is even worse - but I seldom encounter them out in the wild.  

Ten years or so ago I stopped a young Army captain at the airport in Dallas and asked if he could show me how to hookup to the airport's internet - it was harder then, and many airports even charged for internet use.  As he was helping, another guy in uniform stepped in and began offering his advice.  After a minute or two I happened to look up and noticed that he had a star on his shirt collar - another brigadier general.  I apologized and told him that I hadn't realized that I was wasting the time of a general, and he laughed in a self-deprecating mode and said, "That's alright.  We're a dime a dozen!"  Turns out he and the captain worked at the Pentagon where brigadier generals probably are about a dime a dozen!  The general and his aide, the captain, were very nice guys.

Salem is a pleasant community, fairly progressive and environmentally conscious.  We did pass a homeless encampment on the way into town, and there are some on the streets downtown who appear to have no fixed residence, but poverty is a hard virus to defeat.

It's another beautiful day in Oregon's capital city, and I am off to make the most of it!