A stop in Albany
On my trip back to Portland from Eugene today, I made a pit stop in Albany, Oregon. A nice, honest little lumber town, I think.
There I feasted on a fine Diestel turkeyburger at Burgerville. What a great burger chain, where even a guy who's pretty much off the red meat can act like he indulged a little. I laid off the Walla Walla onion rings, but I did get the sauteed Walla Wallas on the turkey puck. They even threw in a free sample of raspberry lemonade. The high school girls who were taking care of business behind the front counter were straight out of Norman Rockwell. We love you, kids!
Before heading back onto I-5, I had a life-changing experience. I bought a tankful of Fred Meyer gasoline. Yep, the Freddy's down that way done got itself a gas station out front. Ten cents a gallon cheaper than the name brands at freeway-side, plus another 3 cents a gallon off if you flash your Freddy's frequent shopper thingie, which of course I did. It's the coming thing, I guess.
| Posted at 8:01 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (14)
A nice, honest little lumber town, I think.
Seems you don't get out much Jack.
Lumber? You enviro-wackos killed those places, and as matter of fact, the tolerant nature of the "Can't we all just get along crowd!" proved again today..we better not drop this fight and run, or you will fight here...."PORTLAND SEVEN", ONE ON THE MAYORS STAFF, TRAINING CAMP ALMOST LOCATED IN BLY OREGON, and the list goe's on.
Albany and that close area is a world leader in grass seed, ( no, that kind of grass)...so, get to know Oregon a bit more Mr. "B", and drop the tax books for a while and get up on what you don't want too know.
Posted by JACK PEEK | July 7, 2005 8:25 PM
Jack, I see someone got you off your meds while I was gone. Bye bye.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 7, 2005 9:22 PM
I'm just curious. What part of the turkey does the puck come from???
Posted by geno | July 7, 2005 9:24 PM
I'm not sure. But it's Diestel, so it's got less artificial stuff in it, I think.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 7, 2005 9:25 PM
Next time you make the trip, please stop by in Lebanon.
Posted by Joel | July 7, 2005 9:47 PM
Joel, which side of the freeway are you guys on? Is your place visible from the freeway?
Posted by Jack Bog | July 7, 2005 10:01 PM
Lebanon is about 8 miles east of the freeway on Rt. 34.
Posted by Joel | July 7, 2005 10:32 PM
Next time you're on the itinerary.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 7, 2005 10:41 PM
Even cheaper gas can be found at the Costco in Albany -- or I should write, usually cheaper. I haven't hit Fred's in a while because I go right to Costco.
Posted by Chris B. | July 8, 2005 8:27 AM
Never had the turkeyburger at Burgerville, but their turkey sandwiches are amazingly good, almost better than their burgers, which are good (tillamook cheese, what's not to love?). Shoulda leapt at the onion rings. Personally, I will not be on my deathbed saying, "Boy, I'm sure glad I restrained myself from glomping down those annual onion rings." Ditto the seasonal shakes such as blackberry. Do have one sometime, or dose your kids.
Burgerville gives (small, regionally based) chains a good name. Though in college we used to ride bikes over from Corvallis to King Kone for .... yep, the soft-serve cones.
Posted by Sally | July 8, 2005 8:39 AM
The best part about Burgerville is the civic pride aspect. They are always boasting and boosting Northwest ingredients, and, like any Portland institution, is far more organic-based than any of its national counterparts.
There was a story in the Tribune about how awesome BV is: click on my name for the link.
Posted by Tom Powers | July 8, 2005 9:25 AM
There's a lot to see/do in the Albany area once you get away from I5.
Albany is a relatively old town for Oregon and was quite prosperous by the 1870's and now has one of the finest inventories of late 19th century houses in the state. Lots of good opportunties for anyone looking for a historic fixer upper. Next time you're through there Jack head for the old downtown area (which is steadily being revitalized after much of the retail commerce moved out to the business strips in the '70's and '80's) and you'll find several good restaurants along with a nice historical museum.
Posted by Roger M | July 8, 2005 12:26 PM
Jack, I see someone got you off your meds while I was gone. Bye bye.
Bye bye....Hope you never meet a USMC male or female for your Quagmire comment Jack, it's a shame some people learn that words really can kill.
Posted by jack peek | July 8, 2005 7:55 PM
Damn Jack, if you'd let me know you were going to be in town I would have sent you to someplace decent. Not that Burgerville doesn't have good food, but you can't beat a King Kone gutbomb. It's owned by a Cambodian couple now but the menu hasn't changed. I worked 6 AM to 6 PM on Thursday, so I probably couldn't have gone with you.
I have been to Burgerville a couple of times but while their food is good their service sucks rocks.
Jack Peek's right. Not a lumber town anymore. The mills are closed and gone and the log trucks are no more common than delivery vans. There used to be farms all over the valley growing strawberrys, raspberrys and pole beans. But that was ended when our betters decided that it was somehow cruel to have children working in the fields all summer instead of "being children." With the kids gone there wasn't enough migrants and adults to do the harvest so the farmers turned to crops that were less labor intensive, like the grass seed fields that so offend your nostrils when they are burned. "The children" now have to have expensive programs to occupy their time while they're not breaking into your car or smashing your mailbox.
Posted by John Dunshee | July 10, 2005 11:01 AM