things to see/do/eat/etc in Dallas and Salem on a day trip from Portland? (Eugene: house)

[khyron]

Greetings fellow Oregonians! I'm a recent transplant from the midwest, we've lived in Portland since last summer. We've just begun to explore this amazing state and every week we seem to keep finding new things to love about being here. So far we've been on road trips to Tillamook, Cape Lookout, Seaside, Newport, and Eugene (as well as plenty up into Washington). We even stopped through Salem once for about an hour...grabbed a tasty breakfast at the "Dairy Lunch" and took some pretty photos of the Capitol building, but that was it because we were in a hurry.

Starting next week, my wife is going to be picking up some shifts at the hospital over in Dallas. I'd like to drive down with her and start exploring the area to become more familiar with it. I was going to start with the public library, which is usually my first stop when seeing a new town, but it looks like they're closed on Monday. This forum seemed like a good place to start asking some questions, so here goes...

We're going to be arriving crazy early, as my wife's shift goes from 5:00am to 5:00pm. I might just hang out at the hospital reading a book or something until a more reasonable hour, but does anyone know of any 24-hour diners or restaurants or early morning coffeeshops in Dallas or nearby, perhaps in Salem? Someplace not too crowded where they might not mind someone sitting around with a notebook/phone and some coffee would be awesome.

During the rest of the day, what are some places/activities/experiences/food that folks feel are essential to Dallas? I realize it's a small town, but I figure someone's got to have some favorites that they'd like to share, even if it's something like "I love to get ice cream at the DQ and then go hang out at this pretty park" or something. I'd especially be interested in any non-chain, nifty eateries that locals love...but I'm open to anything folks feel is unique and interesting about Dallas. Is there a little walkable downtown? What are some neat neighborhoods or areas to check out, and are there any you'd avoid?

I'd also like to start learning about Salem, so all the same kinds of suggestions from there would be great to have as well. I imagine you "run out" of stuff to do in Dallas relatively quickly and that a lot of folks there spend time in the capital as well (it looks like the drive is pretty short). What stuff around Salem would be of interest to someone from Portland, or more specifically someone entirely new to Oregon? For example, can you tour that amazing looking capital building at all? Watch a session of the legislature from a gallery or anything like that? What other kinds of stuff do people recommend doing/seeing around town? Got any great museums or artsy/nifty movie theaters?

I'm open to all kinds of suggestions, let 'em rip...and thanks for your time!

[Silverfall]

I'm not familiar enough with Dallas restaurants to help you out there.

In Salem, Busick Court opens at 6:30 for breakfast and Word of Mouth opens at 7:00. If you like french toast the Creme Brulee French Toast at WOM is seriously yummy.

Yes you can tour the Capitol building. You can walk up to the top where the gold man is aka Pioneer, and there is a great view of the city from there.

If you like old buildings Mission Mill is pretty cool as is Deepwood Estate. Walk along Riverfront Park to the pedestrian bridge that walks you to Wallace Marine. You can do a nice loop if you want. Bush Park is really nice and Minto Brown is a natural wetlands park that has great paths through it.

We have loads of vineyards in the area as well.

Places to eat:
I already mentioned Busick and WOM but other good places are
La Capitale
Andaluz
Da Vinci's
Venti's
Crooked House Bistro
Broken Bread

Grab some dessert at Konditorei. The Tuxedo Mousse Cake is my favorite.

If you like coffee the Ike Box is an old house that has a neat atmosphere to it. If you like Chai, their pumpkin chai is delicious. Clockworks is funky in an artsy kind of way. Broadway coffee house is new and we have French Press down south. Broadway Coffee is across the street from Salem Cinema which is a nice indie theater. You can eat pizza before or after a movie at Christo's which is right there as well.

Salem really isn't a tourist destination so it isn't geared that way. There are a lot of things to do here, but not in a touristy kind of way.

[khyron]

Originally Posted by Silverfall

In Salem, Busick Court opens at 6:30 for breakfast and Word of Mouth opens at 7:00. If you like french toast the Creme Brulee French Toast at WOM is seriously yummy.

Thanks for all that great information! Also, I just realized my wife blocked off travel time on our calendar and the shift doesn't actually start until 7:00am...so whew that'll be significantly less crazy.

[hamellr]

The Mission Mill museum in Salem is pretty interesting.

I've never spent much time in Dallas so I can't comment much on anything there. I can't even think of any historically significant events that happened there either, although Rickreall has the Polk County Museum which is pretty cool also.

The Riverfront City Park in Salem is nice to stroll through. If you park nearby you can walk the mall and explore the downtown area too. I second La Capitale as a decent place to eat.

[Larry Caldwell]

This is all about Salem. I knew Dallas as a small farming community where the big party was the annual spaghetti feed at the high school.

Is the A. C. Gilbert museum still open? The guy who invented the Erector Set was from Salem.

Stop for a brew at Boon's Treasury, a tavern that started life as Boon's General Store and State Treasury. It has been a tavern for a long time. I remember it as Carr's Tavern in the '60s. It looked much different, with painted walls, the bar was along one long wall and a huge collection of cigarettes graced the other wall. I often wondered what happened to that cigarette collection. They came from all over the world, and some of them dated back to the 19th century. In about 1973 a Scot named Ian bought it and remodeled it to about the current looks. He built it into a popular watering hole, then sold out and went back to Scotland with a pile of money. McMenamins owns it now.

One of the cultural high points of West Salem is the Pentacle Theater, a semi-pro repertory group with a very nice theater in the round facility that was built about 50 years ago. It's actually about halfway between Dallas and Salem, on the north side of the highway. The historic Elsinore Theater in downtown Salem has also been restored and hosts stage presentations.

[Silverfall]

Yes the Gilbert House is still open but if you don't have kids I don't see it being that interesting to see.

[babblingbrooke]

I live in Independence (15-ish minutes West of Dallas) and there is a great little restaurant here called the Pink House Cafe. Their items are home made, local when possible and they serve Stump Town coffee

There is also a cute little library, used bookstore downtown that I like to walk through from time to time and a riverfront (Willamette) park.

Dallas is a small town but Independence is even smaller. Between Monmouth and Independence there are 18k people.

In Monmouth, which is a bit closer to Dalla, there is a library as well. There is also a little coffee shop called Rick's Place (which I do not personally like. The service is less than mediocre and the coffe is not awesome) that it would be a great spot to kick back with some self serve coffee and people watch. It is very close to the Western Oregon University campus so the clientelle has some personality.

I don't know much about Dallas itself, sorry. They have a great Aquatic Center!

[hamellr]

Several wineries are in the area too:

BeckenRidge Vineyard

Chateau Bianca - Homepage

Namaste Vineyards - Home

Illahe Vineyards

Van Duzer Vineyards

There are a dozen more within ten miles of Dallas.

[Griffis]

I'm curious if anyone else has anything to say about Dallas. I just put in for a job there. Don't know what kind of chance I have at it, but I'd be interested to know more about the town.