Post Offices – Page 5 – Life of Brian

Aloha, Beaverton, Portland, Tanasbourne, What’s The Difference?

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Today I took the Mini in for some service it needed after the last visit back in October of 2024 when I had a new battery put in and an oil change. They noticed that there was a leak in a timing cover that was dripping down on a motor mount which would eventually ruin that mount. Plus the front brakes were getting pretty worn, The back brakes were changed back in April of that year and now it was time to do the fronts.

I had one of the first appointments of the day, 8:00AM, which is when they roll the doors up for service customers because it was going to take several hours for the job. I arrived at the dealer earlier than expected, 7:30AM, even though I had a 6 mile creep coming into Portland on I-84 before getting on US26 to Beaverton.

There was a post office right around the corner from the Mini place, so I backed out and went over to grab a photo. So, the dealer is in Beaverton, the post office is right there, but the Postal Service classified it as in Portland. Still with some time left on the clock I drove a couple miles south and west to get an actual Beaverton post office. Turns out just 3.5 miles further west there is a second Beaverton post office, in the census-designated place of Aloha. I’ll get that one when I get the very last post office labeled as Portland which is located in a neighborhood called Tanasbourne in Hillsboro, Oregon.

: West Slope – I would think this would be a Beaverton post office not a Portland one, but what do I know? (3/5/25)

: Beaverton – This was a quick catch this morning because I was nearby in Beaverton getting some service on the Mini. (3/5/25)

I Could Swear I’ve Been Here Before

Sunday, March 2, 2025

Went out and took several somewhat local post office photos today. I had been out in this neck of the woods gathering post offices back in November and snagged a bunch, there were still several to get. The first 3 were west of the Willamette River and the last four were east of it and on the way back home.

The first post office in Lake Oswego was easy. The second post office was a little more challenging, Google Maps couldn’t direct me to my final destination. It is on the campus of what was once Marylhurst University and I could see the roads I needed to get there, but it was kinda hard driving and following the blue dot along on the phone at the same time. Luckily it was early Sunday morning and I was the only car driving around.

The 3rd of the day in West Linn (top photo) was the weird one. As I was driving to it, the closer I got, the more familiar the roads seemed. I was having the strangest sense of Déjà vu. When I got to the Post Office, it was in a shopping center and I swore I’d been here before. I remember it because it was a very rainy day and the parking lot was mirrorlike with water. But there was a lingering feeling that maybe I hadn’t been here before, so I took a couple pictures while I was there anyway.

The last four Post Offices were easy finds in smallish rural towns and when I got home, I looked through all the post office photos looking for that West Linn image. It wasn’t there, the one I thought was it, was actually Keizer outside of Salem. I looked to see if I posted West Linn on Instagram or maybe a random post on the blog here. Nope.

Mystery #1 was solved when I started to mark off the captured Post Offices in the master spreadsheet. The address I had for the West Linn Post Office was listed as 5665 Hood St. Wait a minute the post office I found today was at 22220 Salamo Rd. I typed the 5665 Hood address into Google Maps and it dumped me into a shopping center area. When I looked at the street view, I recognized it. The memory was of me driving around looking for the post office in the parking lot was solid.

Back in November I must have realized that the Post Office used to be there and looked up on the phone to get the new address. The reason the route to the West Linn Post Office seemed so familiar is that because back in November I must have driven to the new location. Mystery #2 remains unsolved, why the heck didn’t I take any pictures of the post office back then?

: Lake Oswego – The exit for Lake Oswego off of I-5 south is the same one we would take to get to the VA Hospital. This time I kept going south to the town itself. (3/2/25)

: Marylhurst – This area was founded as St. Mary’s College in 1893 and run for many years by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. It closed its doors in 2018. (3/2/25)

: Molalla – The town was named after the Molalla River, which in turn was named for the Molala, a Native American tribe that inhabited the area. (3/2/25)

: Mulino – “Mulino” is a corruption of the Spanish word molino, or mill, and was chosen for the name when postal authorities objected that “Molino” was easily confused with nearby Molalla. (3/2/25)

: Colton – The birthplace of Stella Nickell who was convicted of murdering her husband by poisoning him with an Excedrin laced with cyanide. She is currently serving a 90-year sentence in federal prison. (3/2/25)

: Estacada – This was the last of today’s seven Post Office finds. (3/2/25)

Brownsville

Friday, February 21, 2025

Brownsville – 97327: Just a quick tuck off I-5 to capture a Post Office on my way home from Eugene with the old tires and wheels off of Bucky. (2/21/25)

Today was the first time I drove to Eugene and FTW Tuning and turned right around and came home. I just went down to pick up Bucky’s wheels and tires. The tires looked good from a distance, but 25 years can take a toll. When I was lifting them into the back of the Mini I noticed every tire had a long crack in them, one or two of them were almost around the whole circumference.

I am going to mount some Ultra High Performance All-Season tires on the stock 2001 16″ wheels to put them on the New Miata (see this mock-up.)

Maybe I can sell the 17″ wheels and tires that came on the New Miata to somebody in the local Miata club. There is one wheel that has a bit of a curb scrape, but I think a little black paint will take care of that. Now I have to go join Facebook just so I can contact folks in the Mt Hood Miata Club.

Just Another Rainy Post Office Day

Wednesday, February 19, 2025

On the way back from Eugene I thought I might catch a couple more Post Offices, but I got ambitious and took a half dozen. Stumbled on a covered bridge along the way. Of course it took 4-1/2 hours to get home instead of a little over 2 hours, but hey, got no reason to go in a straight line.

: Marcola – For some reason I didn’t have this town on my list of Post Offices around here. Luckily I passed right by it on my route to Sweet Home. (2/19/25)

: Crawfordsville – I took a picture of the Earnest Covered bridge that is between Marcola and Crawfordsville. Little did I know Crawfordsville had a covered bridge of its own. Maybe I’ll seek it out next time I’m this way. (2/19/25)

: Foster – When I entered the address for this PO into Google Maps it said it was in the town of Sweet Home, but then again, what do you expect from a company that calls the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. (2/19/25)

: Sweet Home – The 2018 Capitol Christmas Tree, which comes from a different national forest every year, was acquired by the Sweet Home Ranger District for that year. (2/19/25)

: Lebanon – On today’s Main Street, Jeremiah and Jemima Ralston built a store. It soon became a stop for gold seekers on their way to California. A village grew up around the store, and in 1855 the couple filed a plat for the town, naming it for Jeremiah’s birthplace of Lebanon, Tennessee.

: Crabtree – The Postmaster and his human assistant place some new stuff on the community bulletin board. (2/19/25)

It’s Postal Photoin’ Time Again

Thursday, February 6, 2025

I thought maybe an early drive and a caramel latte would be nice. I had picked out a route home so as to be able to grab some post offices parallel to I-5, but there were three not on that path, so I went looking for them. The hotel breakfast looked awful, but I went with my old standby, cereal with a banana with some OJ.

: Springfield Gateway Postal – This was tricky one to get into the parking lot. Its early Sunday morning and the cars to the left must be private contract delivery folks for Amazon. (2/6/25)

: Coburg – Is an actual city on its own, but the Post Office officially calls it Eugene. I think if you addressed it to Coburg and used the zip code of 97401-2970. (2/6/25)

: River Road – This is the first stop on my return back to Fairview from Eugene after a crappy free hotel breakfast. (2/6/25)

After breakfast I was really ready to go, packed up all my stuff, threw it in the trunk and started back north.

: Alvadore – My second post office of the day where it is located in a store. The one in Coburg had a separate entrance, but to get to the Post Office in Alvadore you have to go through the front door of this store. (2/6/25)

: Cheshire – This town was a station on the Southern Pacific Railroad line platted in 1913 and originally named Hubert. Both “Hubert” and “Cheshire” were names chosen to honor James Hubert Cheshire, a favorite child of the people in the area. (2/6/25)

: Junction City – Sorry I wasn’t around a couple of decades ago because from 2003 to 2005, a group of local farmers posed for nude calendars to raise money for the Junction City School District. Sales in over 63 countries raised more than $650,000. (2/6/25)

: Harrisburg – As of the census of 2010, there were 3,567 people living in Harrisburg, Also according to the United States Census Bureau 0.1% or 36 people are of Pacific Islander descent. (2/6/25)

: Halsey – In 2022, the most powerful handgun cartridge in the world, the .500 Bushwhacker, was developed and introduced by Halsey residents James Tow and Keith Tow. (2/6/25)

: Shedd – A small town of a couple hundred souls that is home to the Boston Flour Mill, Oregon’s oldest continuously operating water-powered mill. (2/6/25)

: Tangent – This was the site of a railway station on the Southern Pacific line south of Albany. Its name referred to a straight stretch of the line with no curves for more than 20 miles. (2/6/25)

Bucky or #6 Needs A Bath

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Couldn’t stand it any longer, I drove down to Eugene to see my new purchase. They have it scheduled to start working on it this Friday, but until then it is tucked away all dirty and forlorn. I dropped off some of the parts I purchased, for them to install, so I don’t have to do it in my driveway in the cold.

After that, instead of going back to the hotel and relaxing, I headed out on the town. First up was dinner at the Snack Shack. Blue Cheese & Bacon burger with crinkle fries, not bad, but not Burgerland wonderful. Afterwards I drove around the dark and rainy streets photographing Post Offices.

: Springfield DCU – They left me a nice little parking spot right up front. (2/5/25)

: Springfield – The main post office right downtown. (2/5/25)

: Eugene – Their main post office and it too is in the heart of downtown. (2/5/25)

: Westside – I drove right past the turn for this one and had to go a mile or so past it before I could make a U-turn and get back to it. (2/5/25)

2000 Cars In A Minute

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

On Sunday I drove up to Granite Falls, WA to visit the other family that makes up the Pacific North West Chapter of the Morrison/Bogardus Club. On the way up I noticed a very interesting town name and filed it away for the drive back.

Vader, WA – 98593

“Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy.”

This morning, while returning home along I-405 going south, if I could have pulled over and counted cars going by every second, I would have tallied 33-1/3, or 2,000 a minute. The New Miata rolled by 2,000 miles just after crossing back into Oregon.