We bid farewell to the Ashland Springs Hotel, which had been our home for three days, and pointed our rented Camry north.

The drive from Ashland to Philomath, which is about 20 minutes from Corvallis, went well. We had tuna salad sandwiches and a cold beer when we arrived. Here is the view from the living room window (taken some time ago by sister-in-law Maire on a clear day). It’s Mary’s Peak. Wow, right?

We took a walk around Philomath. Not much of a town. This building houses a museum (free admission) that had an exhibit about water and a one-person art show.

It was formerly a women’s teachers college and was slated to be razed for something commercial but the townsfolk rose up and saved it.

Let’s all raise a can of water and toast them for their good efforts.

They had a stuffed otter and an old-timey bathing suit.

They posted the words to Jack and Jill. Did you know things got pretty ugly for Jill: Mother, vex’d, did whip her next, for causing Jack’s disaster. What? Where’d that whip come from? Ouch!

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The artist was Greg Pfarr. We liked his work.

Later we toured Corvallis, Annie Arbor’s equivalent for Oregon State. A large sign outside the baseball stadium said they were National Champs in 2007, 2008, and 2018. Very impressive. OSU players who had MLB careers include Jacoby Ellsbury, Michael Conforto, and Adley Rutschman.

OSU pitcher Glenn Elliott went on to the pros and yielded Jackie Robinson’s first MLB hit, a bunt single. Elliott received death threats because of it.

Here’s a small sign in a store window, with which Owl Chatter heartily agrees.

We picked up a 4-pack of Deep Seek ale by the local Block 15 Brewery. It’s very good. (Burp!) They are known for their Sticky Hands ale, but its high alcohol content scared me away. We cracked open a can of Deep Seek to have with the excellent salad and burgers our hosts Maire and Denise prepared for us for dinner, to cap our wonderful day.

We’ll be back in town tomorrow for dinner at Taco Vina and the OSU-‘Zona women’s basketball game. Go Beavs!