03-06-22 Oregon Coast Trip – Day Trip to Albany, Oregon

03-06-22 Sunday

Day trip to Albany, OR

Albany/Corvallis KOA Journey

Jeeps in Parking Lot: 3

Drive Time: 0

Miles: 0

Arrived: 0

ALBANY, OREGON

Beautiful weather today. We are spending two nights here and didn’t have to get up and worry about driving to our next destination. We got to relax a bit this morning. The KOA brochure we received when we checked in has an ad for a historic carousel and museum in Albany, so we decided to check it. Albany was only about a 15-minute drive from our campground. We had breakfast and headed out. 

During our drive I noticed daffodils blooming in clumps off the sides of the road, in open fields and home gardens. What a beautiful surprise. In addition, rye grass fields everywhere. Surprisingly Oregon is the world’s largest producer of cool-season grass seed. The fields seemed to reach as far as the horizon. All the trees were covered with moss or lichen. It was a striking site. 

We weaved through Albany following iMap’s directions to the carousel. We saw a Burger Queen and a Hasty Freeze, we thought the names were funny!!! We parked and walked across the street to the building. Upon entering the building, I was impressed by the door pulls. I have never seen anything like them. Solid brass carvings in the carousel motif, so beautiful. Inside the building I was immediately drawn to the carousel. The animals are carved and painted in such intricate detail it is hard to describe. Each animal is so whimsical. The gentleman that greeted us at the door explained all the animals are carved in real wood and painted by volunteers and the carousel is run by all volunteers. The process for an animal may take up to two years from start to finish before it’s mounted on the carousel. Individuals who donated the money for the animals had specific guidelines they had to adhere too. 

Each animal has to have some sort of whimsey to them. What does that mean? An example is in the photos ABOVE. The horse’s main is hiding a frog on top and a mouse in the horse’s mane on the side. BELOW shows a zebra has a vine of ivy in his mouth and a monkey is holding onto the vine. The Seahorse has a tail like a mermaid, and you can see the carving of a small mermaid and colorful fish as part of the tail. The elephant has a mouse reading a book standing on his trunk. You will have to zoom in on the photos to see. Each animal is given a name by the person(s) who donated to have an animal made. When all is done, 50 hand carved animals will circle around the carousel. In addition, there will be special animals for Christmas and a few other holidays. Oh, I almost forgot to mention if you grab the brass ring you get a coupon for a free ride. 

Inside are two food booths to purchase carnival type food, popcorn, ice cream and burgers. It was hard to walk past the popcorn. The building has two party rooms that were active today, even though it was a Sunday. We wondered into the museum area and stopped to read about the old building that was demolished many years ago where the carousel sits today. A glass case with artifacts found when it was torn down was interesting. A small alcove had photos of some of the animals along with a video capturing the building of the carousel. From here we entered the gift shop. I bought a hand carved, hand painted ornament that was designed after the frog on the carousel. 

Off to the side was another room called the painting room. It’s an open room and you could see a few of the animals being painted, a fox named Foxy, a griffin, and a Chinese dragon. Foxy's detail is incredible as you can see by the photo above. He will be welcomed with a party on June 4th this year. He is the 41st animal. 

I have to say I was so captivated by the artistry of each animal I stood and stared so I could imprint each into my brain. It’s nothing like I have ever seen before. Just breathtaking. This experience will stick with me for a while. If you ever have the chance to visit this, please do so. It really is unbelievable. 

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From the carousel we headed downtown to take a walk and see the buildings. Most of the buildings are in great shape and all filled with businesses. The two things we noticed the most, no litter or graffiti...amazing. We headed back to the jeep by way of walking along the riverfront. Great paths and views of the river.

We walked back to the jeep and headed to a brewery we saw when we drove in, Calapooia Brewing. Great little place. The inside was about the size of our kitchen and family room area of our house. Outside was a huge area called the atrium with tables and chairs, heaters, picnic tables and beer kegs planted with plants. I thought that was a great idea. We ordered food and Barry had an IPA and I had a cider. Drinks were tasty and food was hot and yummy. 

    

            

After lunch we decided to drive through one of the historical districts. It took us a few minutes to find it on a map but once we did all was good. Most of the houses were refurbished on the outside and beautiful. The city has a tour once a year that would be fun. We headed back to our RV since it was late in the afternoon. 

  

              

Barry built a fire and we sat and recapped our day and talked about all kinds of things. It was cold but the fire was nice. After about an hour I couldn’t stand the cold any longer and went inside. I put my fleece pjs on and sat on top of one of the heater vents to thaw out. The warm air felt so good. Well, that’s about it for today. Tomorrow is a travel day to the Oregon coast. Thanks again for reading....may your dreams be of a whimsical carousel. 

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