BIG Trees

The weather cleared a bit and it was sunny for most of the day, so we went out.  We did a few errands then had lunch at Tumbleweeds and Primroses on Main Street in downtown Hillsboro. They always have a sign out front extolling the virtues of their Hungarian Mushroom Soup, so today was the day. Its basically a wine bar with food. Food that goes well with wine.  The soup was delicious as advertised and went well with the Pesto turkey panini on olive bread we split.

Tom sipping coke in a wine bar.

But, what does all this have to do with big trees you ask? Ah yes. After lunch we went to sit on a sunny bench across the street from the Washington County Courthouse with the big Sequoias.

Sequoias in Oregon? In the land of the Douglas Fir tree, why are there Sequoias?

Many of the Sequoia, especially those in Hillsboro, Oregon are attributed to the Porter family who came west to Oregon, from Ohio, in 1847. John Porter developed an interest in trees and started a nursery on his farm.

He then heard about gold, and rushed to the California gold country. Being a tree farmer, he was taken with a Sequoia forest in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He didn't strike it rich in gold country but he did, according to the story, fill his saddle bags with Sequoia seed cones and returned to his tree farm in Oregon.

He cultivated the seeds and went around Washington County planting seedlings and sold them to those wanting unusual trees on their property.

We sat across the street from the small grove of Sequoias leading the way to the old doors to the courthouse. Five trees remain of the original eight that were planted. I love these trees and visit them often. 

View from the bench

That's Tom on the bench, lower right.

Up close and personal

I love these big trees!