Wednesday at Mike and Nancy's

 7-28-2021 - wednesday

today's adventure was a trip to the amish bakery in Morrison, so after Mike's biscuits and gravy breakfast, we headed out through the country over to the bakery.  I was on the lookout for horse and buggies because I always enjoy seeing them when we are in Amish country, and we came upon one, but I didn't get a very good picture.  but soon after, we saw draft horses in a field pulling a plow or something (I love draft horses).

and across the road, we saw these -- this looks like 2 draft horses and maybe 2 regular horses, or maybe a mule.

at the four corners bakery, the parking lot was pretty full,

including one horse and buggy.  Mike got some sourdough bread, and we picked up a few other items, and Joe and I sampled their ice cream.

we drove past here back past a property where they build amish furniture (they had some on the porch but we didn't get out), then we stopped at one of their produce places and bought some (wonderful) corn on the cob, excellent tomatoes, and some zucchini.  then Mike drove us on through the country, we were in the Morrison area, then on to the McMinnville area.  Here, there is a famous "birthing tree," possibly 250 years old.  It has a crown spread of 125 feet and limbs larger than most trees -- some touch the ground.  although Mike said the Indians used to come here to give birth, the sign says it was a local landmark for settlers passing through the area, a well-known meeting place for these travelers.  

the sign said no one was allowed to touch the tree, but it sure is one you would like to sit on, and kids climb on.

Another point of interest was Falcon rest Mansion and gardens, a victorian mansion built in 1896 by entrepreneur clay faulkner for his wife.  It is a 10,000 square foot, solid brick mansion with all the conveniences of the day (electric lights, plumbing, central heat, etc.)  we went into the gift shop/tea room and looked around, but tickets for the tour were $15 per person, and none of us were interested enough to want to pay that, and walk around any building in this heat so we did not actually tour it.  we caught glimpses through the trees.

McMinnville is known as the nursing (landscape) capital of the world, and we saw several nurseries, hothouses, and orchards of evergreens.  I asked Mike if there was a particular area of the nurseries, but he said they were just scattered around the community.

we got back to the house, hot and tired.  ashleigh and brooklyn were there, but they were tired too, so we all got a little nap in.  after dinner, we sat outside a little, it had actually cooled down and was comfortable.  then after ashleigh took brooklyn home, we played cards again.  we finished one game and started a second one, but quit mid-way when we got tired, to finish tomorrow.  the girls barely won the first one, so I think Mike felt like the guys had some momentum going for the second game.  we will see tomorrow!