Salem overview
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4/17/2008
I appreciate Salem's viable downtown. If you live in any of the nice neighborhoods close-in, you can completely avoid malls & sprawl. Downtown has Nordstrom, Kohl's TJ Maxx plus several nice locally-owned shops, some good local restaurants & an excellent artisan bakery & art gallery, coffee shops, bike stores.... At least 3 new mixed-use condos are being constructed, and more downtown historic buildings are being converted to apts. or condos.
Minto-Brown & Bush Park are centrally located large parks, wonderful for walking, biking, playing.... The Art Assoc. in Bush Barn Gallery exhibits fine art & sponsors the Salem Art Festival each summer in the park. Salem Rep. Theatre & Pentacle offer high-quality theater. Music venues range from Oregon Symphony, local jazz & pops groups to visiting performances at the Elsinore & Willamette U. The Univ. & the Public Lib. host outstanding visiting lecture series.
A frustration sometimes is that Salem,dominated by State govt. & civil servants, is reluctant to vote for increased budgets. Another frustration is lack of ethnic diversity. We DO have an E. European deli, S.E. Asian groceries, excellent Vietnamese meals at Kim Huong, Lao/Thai restaurants, one Chinese dim sum restaurant,a couple of sushi places one gourmet pizza cafe--and countless Mexican restaurants.
In about about an hour or less you can be hiking at beautiful Silver Falls State Park, Opal Creek Wilderness, Baskett Slough or Ankeny Refuges. It's easy to have spur-of-the-moment day trips to the Coast or Cascade Mtns.
Abhd | Salem, OR