Salem Saturday Market

I'm very behind on posting lately - spring cleaning and life has kept me away, but I definitely want to make sure that I keep the posting up!

This last Saturday, we decided to make a quick trip to the Salem Saturday Market. I am not as familiar with the Salem market as the Eugene one, because for years we have taken road trips down to Eugene for their farmer's market (as well as a quick stop into Ben and Jerry's!). It's probably been 2-3 years since I've been back to Salem's Saturday Market.

What is really nice about the Salem market is their parking. I really appreciate easy parking in the gravel lot just across the street that provides easy in and out.

We got going much later on Saturday morning than expected so by the time we made it to the market there was just a little over an hour until it closed so I'm sure we missed out on the early morning bounty. I had a list in mind of things I wanted to get: basil (and lots of it to make some homemade pesto!), maybe some carrots, peas and beans. Unfortunately though, I wasn't able to find any of those things (could only find basil plants and only 1 stand had some peas).

One huge advantage that Salem has over Eugene is wide walking areas making it easier to maneuver through the crowds.

Organization is a bit lacking - I would much prefer to have the farmer's market stands in one area, hot food in another and homemade goods in another so I wouldn't have to walk the entire market if I only wanted to go to the farmer stands.

I didn't spot any restrooms while we were walking, but I'm sure that they were around somewhere.

There is a Friends of Salem Saturday Market site that lists some upcoming free events, but none specific geared towards kids. It'd be great to see some activities maybe like how the Ag Fest provides!

The Original Roadhouse Grill

This weekend we were running late getting going with dinner. It was so hot outside that we decided to just go for a drive and pick up some take out.

We decided to head to the Original Roadhouse Grill on Lancaster because we like their salads and dinner rolls and we can usually split an appetizer as our main meal and then add salads and it isn't too expensive.

We didn't have a menu with us or their number so dh ran inside to place the order and Bug and I stayed out in the car to wait. Dh placed the order and came back outside.

About 20 minutes later, Bug said she needed to go potty so dh took her inside. Dh said that the bathrooms seemed clean but were pretty dark. On their way back out to the car the hostess noticed him and said that she'd gotten so busy she'd forgotten to put his order in but she'd try to push a rush on it. By that time, Bug was distracted by the peanuts they have to snack on so they decided to stay inside and wait for the food.

It was extremely busy even for a Saturday night, as there must have been a prom going on. While inside, dh said there was a waiter who was messing around acting silly who started swearing like crazy in front of people in line plenty loud enough for everyone, including my 2-year-old, to hear. Not so great.

They finally got our food and we headed home, only to be disappointed once we got back that they'd forgotten a few things in our order. I made sure to send off a comment via their website, though I haven't heard a response back yet.

Since we only got take out I wasn't able to rate their overall family friendliness - has anyone else dined there recently that could shed some light?