Start your day by grabbing a cup of locally-roasted coffee from The Governor’s Cup, Archive Coffee & Bar or Isaac’s. If you’re craving a freshly made, sweet treat to go with that cup o’ joe, pop in to Big Wig Donuts.

Next, explore Willamette Heritage Center, with fourteen historic structures on a 5-acre campus, including the 1841 Jason Lee House and Methodist Parsonage - the oldest standing wooden frame houses in the Pacific Northwest. The 1896 Thomas Kay Woolen Mill, a National Park Service-designated American Treasure, vividly tells the story of industrialization in the Mid-Willamette Valley.

While the Oregon State Capitol Building isn’t currently open to the public, The Capitol’s Willson Park offers a lovely walk of discovery, with its many statues and the World War II Memorial, a 33 ft tall pillar which lists the names of nearly 3,800 Oregonians who died in the war.

Grab lunch at one of dozens of locally-owned restaurants in downtown Salem including Taproot Café & Lounge for one of their famous bowls or Venti’s Café & Taphouse, which features a robust menu of vegan and vegetarian options. As you’re exploring downtown, be sure to look up on alley walls and all around as Salem boasts a fascinating, eclectic collection of public art.

Después de comer, dirígete al Museo de Arte Hallie Ford, situado en el campus de la Universidad de Willamette. Se trata del tercer museo de arte más grande de Oregón, con diversas colecciones de arte antiguo, europeo, nativo americano y asiático, así como destacadas exposiciones temporales que, según se dice, están a la altura de las que se pueden ver en algunos de los museos más famosos del mundo.

Finish your day of historic and cultural exploration in Salem by visiting historic Deepwood Gardens, designed by Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver, the first female-owned landscape architecture firm in the Pacific Northwest.