Well, Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog weather icon, saw his shadow when he was plucked from his warm burrow and thrust out into the frigid air on Monday morning. 
According to Phil, that means six more weeks of winter are ahead.

Which actually, duhh, is nothing new, since the start of Spring is on the 21st of March which is ... you guessed it, about six weeks from now!
Unless of course, he means the winter-weather is going to stay 'wintery' for six more months but who knows? He's only right 37% of the time so we'll see ..

                            

But, since the week started sunny and warm (62F!), we decided to take a day off and do some sightseeing. 
We chose to drive to the town of Falls City, about 45 minutes from us, where we hadn't been yet and which sounded interesting, being in the middle of a forest and having a nice waterfall and all.

On the way down we made a short stop at the Basket Slough to see if we could spot any interesting birds.
There so happened to be a huge flock of Canadian Geese right in front of the viewing pavilion:

 

 

 

 

Not the most unique or special species of birds of course but their sheer number, and noise(!), made them fun to watch for a while.

A little further down in the field I spotted a Bald Eagle. There's quite a lot of them that call this slough home and there used to being 'spotted'.
I forgot to bring my 'big' camera so I had nothing but my phone .. oh well ..

       

 

Since we passed Dallas on the way we'd planned to have coffee in our favorite coffee place (New Morning) there and so we did. 



We split an outrageous expensive slice of Cheesecake, at least, that's what I think .. $5,95! .. but prices are this high these days I guess.
We must be getting old ... 

It was a windy but scenic drive to Falls City through rolling hills, picturesque meadows and dense forests.

This picture shows pretty much all there is of this very small town.
It started life as a mill town. Today visitors can delve into the forest with a hike through old growth at Valley of the Giants (too far in for us to hike to) or with a ride on the Blackrock Mountain Bike Association’s trails.

It turned out that the forest park I'd red about, the Gerlinger Park, was closed more than five years ago because of vandalism and has recently been turned into a 'mountain-bike only' park.
Apparently it has gained some fame already as one of the best free-ride mountain biking areas in the world!
But alas, no hiking .. well, darn!

Little Luckiamute River in the summer

Fortunately, there was a waterfall .. and quite a decent one!
The Little Luckiamute Falls or Falls City Falls (duhh) is a nice display of crashing cascades, fed by the , and gets its name from the Indigenous inhabitants of the area, the Luckiamute people.
It can be viewed from both sides:

                           


Some steep rocky cliffs form the borders of the fall on one side ...

And the other side slopes down more gradually and forms a grassy hill ..

 

 

 

The spray brought out a little rainbow:  

 

 

 

I noticed several of these butterflies (California Tortoiseshells) warming themselves in the sun on the rough bark of this tree ... it seems early for butterflies but it has been unusually warm lately. 
Nature must be a little confused  ...

 

                                            

 

We drove several miles up into the surrounding forest to see if there was any cance of going for a hike somewhere but we didn't find any trails and the Gerlinger park turned out to be closed for hikers indeed, so we decided to leave and go for a drive around the countryside while slowly heading home.

We ate our lunch, homemade sandwiches, in a city park in Monmouth after which we drove to the nearby town of Independence to check out a park we'd driven by on a previous visit but didn't have time to visit. 

                        

Riverview Park is a 20 acre park located in downtown Independence on the Willamette River. 
The park includes a playground, performing arts amphitheater, river access, and is the starting point for a riverfront path.



We took a little walk along the river and followed the hiking path for a mile or so after which we had to retrace our steps since it unfortunately doesn't make a loop, and got back to the car.

                            

All in all not a very spectacular day but it was nice enough and it felt good to see and do something different than our normal routine.

This Sunday we went to see our first theater show of the year, 'Almost Main' at the local theater in Mcminnville.
This is a popular play often staged for Valentine's Day because it beautifully explores love, heartbreak and connection and this all under the magical Northern Lights. 

                                                                              

Almost, Maine is a place that’s so far north, it’s almost not in the United States. It’s almost in Canada. And it’s not quite a town, because its residents never got around to getting organized. So it almost doesn’t exist:
One cold, clear, winter night, as the northern lights hover in the star-filled sky above, the residents of Almost, Maine, find themselves falling in and out of love in unexpected and hilarious ways. 
Knees are bruised. Hearts are broken. But the bruises heal, and the hearts mend—almost—in this delightful midwinter night’s dream.

           

There were 8 different scenes and most actors played in 2 different stories, that varied from lovely and tender to very funny and sometimes just quietly heartbreaking. 
It was a great show and (as usual) we had a great time.

We went for Sushi afterwards. Perfect!