With fresh eyes........

It is amazing how entertaining visitors from another country can help you see the things that surround you everyday in a different light. 

Our family has had the pleasure of entertaining our 21 year old cousin from Stockholm, Sweden for the past couple of weeks.  This is her first trip to the U.S. so......every thing is new and, as she says "BIG" to her.  She's has been amazed by the huge selection of items in the grocery store.....and we haven't even been to Costco or Wal-Mart yet!  She can't believe how much we eat, let alone what we eat!

She isn't a shopper, she prefers the out doors....she has now seen the Oregon coast, played a pick up soccer game in the park and seen an American football practice game, not to mention, the coolest of cool vintage car "Cruise In". 

Today, we went to Salem, which is Oregon's capital.  We drive there all the time without taking much notice of the capital mall but today we toured it inside and out. 

You can tell Ron is just suffering through having to put his arm around the pretty girl and to have his picture taken....yeah, right!

The gold "pioneer" a top the capital building and the Oregon State flag on the right.

After our capital tour, lunch in a Greek restaurant and a walking tour of downtown Salem.  We came home for a quick dinner and were off the see a wonderful production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat presented by a local community theatre group.  It was outstanding!

Caroline, our visitor, is into theater.  She has written and produced two plays herself at the university, so she enjoyed seeing this production.  Afterward, she said she had caught herself thinking "these people sing in English really well"....oh, yeah, I'm not in Sweden, that's why.

Wow!  What a great day!  Great to see the world through the eyes of a bright young woman who has not seen any of this part of the world before.