2BP: Minto-Brown Island Park

February 26, 2016

Friday was the day of my mother's surgery.  Obviously, it was a very stressful day.  The surgery couldn't have gone better according to the doctors.  I'll skip ahead a little bit and say that she's back at home and recovering quite well.  As far as I know there hasn't been a hitch along the way.

Salem Health, Salem, OR

Outside the surgery room, my siblings and father and I had yet to find our rhythm.  It improved as the week went on, but the whole who-was-going-to-be-where-and-when thing could have been better.  Partially, we weren't prepared for the emotional impact and we didn't have a cohesive plan of attack.  We didn't have any big problems, but at some point each one of us got stepped on a little bit as we all tried to cope with the situation.  I learned a few lessons.  I suspect we all did.

Minto-Brown Island Park, Salem, OR

Doesn't that look like a place where a dead body would be found on an episode of X-Files?  It's a swampy area where I took Pongo for a walk in Minto-Brown Island Park while my mother slept off the anesthesia.  We didn't stumble on any dead bodies or an alien enclave on this particular excursion.  The city is doing some big renovations to the park and my brother told me two bodies actually were found by workers.  Obviously, right?

Minto-Brown Island Park, Salem, OR

Minto-Brown Island Park

There are a lot of beavers in this area.  There's a dam and a lodge at the head of this swamp.  A few years ago my brother took us canoeing back into this area and we saw or heard eight to ten individuals.  I was hoping for a glimpse or a photo but that didn't pan out.  I'm bringing my kayak on my next trip up, though.

Willamette River, Salem, OR

Pongo

Minto-Brown Island used to be an actual island on the Willamette.  This is an area where the river is doing a lot of shifting around.  The island is no longer an island.  Historically, the Willamette has wandered all over this great valley.  It's the reason the land in the Willamette Valley is so fertile.  We've boxed the river in here and there, but I've seen some minor and not so minor changes to its course in the Salem area over my lifetime.  I'd love to come back in a thousand years to see what this area looks like.

Willamette River, Salem, OR