It was cold this morning, and I so didn’t want to roll out of bed. But I did, and we were on the road at 9. We had to backtrack some to get on OR 58 to cross the Cascade Mountains. It was a pleasant drive at first with pretty lakes and fir forests. Then we crossed Willamette Pass and down we went. It was a 2-lane, winding, steep descent. It always makes me nervous when there are runaway truck ramps. There were TWO of them on this road, fairly close together. It was a long descent, but we made it. As we followed the Willamette River to I 5, we passed Lowell and a lovely covered bridge. Then it was on to I 5 to just between Covallis and Albany to our KOA campground for the night.
We arrived here at 1:30 so that Bill could go look for cigars. Good cigars are hard to find on the road, but thanks to the Internet, he had a few spots picked out. We decided to do dinner and the cigars at the same time. In one of the brochures, I found a Thai restaurant that was supposed to be good. Then Bill found a Hungarian restaurant. Both were close to the cigar store, so we decided on Hungarian.
We drove right past the cigar store and had to call the owner to find out where it was. We were right there and just couldn’t see it. It is a tiny store, but the old man running it was delightful. He had a precious cocker spaniel named Sammie who was 3 yrs old and absolutely adorable. I played with her while Bill found cigars.
Then it was another trial to find Novak’s, the Hungarian Restaurant. Neither the Droid nor the GPS was any help. So we called again, and once again we were close but not there.
Our waiter at Novak’s was delightful. I ordered an iced Magyar Hungarian coffee, and Bill was delighted to find some Arnold Palmer iced tea/lemonade. The coffee was quite unusual – lots of cinnamon. At first I didn’t like it much, but then it grew on me. Bill wanted to order the langos – a Hungarian specialty of deep fried bread served with small bowls of sliced garlic, strawberry puree, and apricot jam. It was huge and oh, so good. It should have been dessert.
I ordered pork schnitzel and Bill got chicken paprika. Both meals came with soup (Bill got goulash and I got chicken and dumplings – really spaetzle), and a garden salad. The soups were good, the salad decent but standard. My schnitzel was really good, but the ‘homemade’ mashed potatoes were under-seasoned. Bill got spaetzle which I would have preferred. Both dishes were covered with a creamy paprika sauce. It was fun to try everything, but we didn’t eat it all.
Now we are home recovering! Tomorrow is a travel day to Mt St Helens where we will be for 3 nights.
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