We went to McMinnville yesterday to drop off a couple of boxes of papers to be shredded.

The bank we use has a yearly shredding-day, when they have a couple of trucks of a shredding company come to their parking lot and you can have things shredded free of charge.
When the trucks are full it ends so we made sure to be there early, which paid off since it wasn't very busy and we got it quickly taken care of.

We'd planned to have coffee in town and although a little early we went there right away.
This time to a coffee place we hadn't been to before, a little bit away from 3d street, the center of town, where we usually end up.
The sign on the building says 'MacMkt' .. (for Mac Market).

                                                                                     

                                                   

This is a collaborative and community-driven eating, drinking, shopping and gathering place housed in a renovated historic warehouse. 
Locally known as the “ol’ shoe grease building,” this 10,000 sqft building began as a manufacturing hub for Huberd’s Shoe Grease in 1929.

Now a part of McMinnville’s developing Granary District along Alpine Ave, the space has been lovingly restored to support adventurous small businesses.

It claims to be: "a place where a James Beard “Best New Restaurant” finalist, your favorite NY-style pizza joint, a drag show, and a weekly knitting circle can co-exist".
From your morning coffee and WiFi session to a post-meal drink with friends, it’s easy to make Mac Market your home away from home.

 
We enjoyed a good cup of coffee and relaxed and fun atmosphere. We even 'met' that 'weekly knitting circle' who was sitting next to us.  
Only complaint: 2 cups of coffee and 2 pastries cost us a whopping $17! But I guess that's quite the standard these days, especially if it is made with any of the popular 'green' ingredients .. I think it's quite crazy though .. $5 for a little pastry?

                      

Anywho ... to burn of the calories of the pastries we decided to check out the Joe Dancer park just south of town.
We'd never been there either and were impressed by the huge seize of it. 
The 100 acre sports field complex and community park features a dozen baseball/softball fields of various sizes and the same number of soccer fields. 
It also features both hard surface pathways (1 mile) and soft forested trails (1.2 miles) and a wetland for viewing nature as well as a skate park and playground equipment.

We hiked the loop that leads you all around the periphery of the park .. it's a nice path bordered by huge oaks and maples.

  

                                    

                                 

The Yamhill River runs along the park’s south and east boundaries making a couple of big loops.  Unfortunately you can't see much of it. 
In the next picture you can just see a glimpse of the river in the foreground:

It was a nice little hike, I'm glad we finally checked it out.

Wildlife is elusive these days, hardly anything crossed my path this week although I suddenly see a lot of California Sister butterflies ..      
              

                                        

They hardly ever land anywhere, I was lucky to get a few shots ..

         

The Turkey Vultures seem to be gathering, I come across some small 'flocks' every now and than, more so than before.
I guess they will be migrating to the south real soon. 
Turkey vultures migrating from Oregon in the winter primarily go to California and Mexico, but some individuals can travel as far south as Central and South America. 

                                                                                                      

(FYI, a group of turkey vultures is called a kettle when in flight, a wake when feeding at a carcass and a committee, venue or volt when at rest or roosting). 

                                                                       

Ugly and somewhat scary looking, especially up close, like this one was posing at the end of our road, they nevertheless do a good job of keeping the roads and fields clean of dead animals in the Summer. 
There's something to love about all creatures isn't there? Except spiders of course ..

Temperatures have been going up and down this week and last night we even had some rain again, mother nature is getting ready to make a change!

Tomorrow the Pacific time zone (that's us) can expect the fall equinox to arrive at 11:19 a.m.
(but who's counting? ... me, me, me!) 

Yes! Time to decorate!