A Beautiful Day In Someone Else's Neighborhood

Last weekend my friend H. and I visited Oregon City. I mean, really visited. I've passed through O.C. (population 37,400) hundreds of times in my life. I've run a monthly kids' program there for nearly 2 years. But I've never dedicated an entire afternoon to just exploring the town. 

The day we chose to visit turned out to be beautiful, and I came bearing a list of places we could potentially check out.

Our first stop was the Straight Pioneer Cemetery (13014 Clackamas River Drive). Google maps took us in circles (and other shapes) before we finally found it. It's tiny, rustic, and tucked away off the beaten path. 

I'm assuming the Straights died after trying to caulk their wagon and float it.

Rest in what? We'll never know.

We found these cool bulbous things stuck to some oak leaves...

Next stop: Oregon City Antiques (1702 Washington St). We'd never been there, despite having visited about 20 other antique shops in the area. We've even passed through Oregon City to get to other antique shops (hello, Aurora!), but somehow managed to not realize this one even existed.

It was huge. And it had a basement, which was also huge.

Some highlights...

Mac Tonight, baby!

After spending at least an hour poking around the place (and buying a couple of things, let's be honest) we headed to Coin Corner & Hobbies (215 7th Street), which had been recommended by @BooneBuilds on Instagram. 

This place was also amazing. I'd never been in a store that had such a distinct devotion to toys from the 70s-00s. Barbies, LEGO, Micro Machines, Playskool, trains, Matchbox cars, Little People... and on and on...

I'd forgotten these existed...

Yeahhhh... those were seriously weird.

Next we took a little walk around the downtown area, grabbing a drink at Black Ink Coffee (503 Main St.), which shares a location with White Rabbit Books & Gifts, a cute little shop that I'd like to revisit.

Then we got back in the car and took a drive up the hill to about 4th and Madison. We proceeded to walk around this neighborhood. Lots of houses/yards were decorated for Halloween. Some yards were still works-in-progress.

We also checked out some of the historic homes...

And of course we admired some neighborhood cats....

Alas, we soon had to call it a day, but we definitely want to make a return visit! We have a shortlist of places we'd like to go on a future trip, including the Oregon City Municipal Elevator, St. John the Apostle Cemetery, and SuperThrift.

We'd also like to revisit the historic neighborhoods closer to Christmastime to see what kind of decor the residents will put up for that holiday.

So... maybe we'll be back soon!