This nice statue of bronze geese greets you as you enter Tualatin, about one block from the library. Here's a better image taken by someone with a nicer camera. It is award winning, and really quite a nice way to welcome visitors.
Pausing to look at the mural at the entrance to the Tualatin Library, I headed out to ride on the dreaded Tualatin-Sherwood Road; aptly named, as it joins the two towns within the 6 mile span.
Why do I call it dreaded? Well, mainly because I have renamed it "road of 1000 trucks" which rumble by as you pedal away. Then there's the industrial-strength company names located along it: Chem-Dry, Plasti-Fab, etc...
A welcome sight is the sign for Sherwood Old Town, where I turned off to a much quieter, and soon very country-ish road, albeit quite steep.
After much peddling and huffing and puffing, I was rewarded with some very nice landscape views, before I paused to realize I'd overshot the turnoff to the library and had to double back, thus lengthening my ride by a few hundred feet in elevation and about 2 miles in distance. Oh well, all good exercise!
Near the library, I passed a park with a soccer field, adorned by a freakishly large ball...
...and soon arrived at the library, noticing immediately that a Sesame Donut shop was right next to it. Happy day! And unlike the Tigard Library, this one was open for business. Did I get a donut? No I did not. But I did get a little ice cream. Hey, a guy's gotta cool down, right?
Stepping inside, I quickly located the CD section, and appreciated the stool left thoughtfully there for browsers like me.
I made my selections: For something new, The Vivian Girls' Share The Joy, which Allmusic gave a much better review than I would've. The playing's okay, I guess, but the singing...well, it's a challenging listen to these ears. For something familiar, Canada's New Pornographers' Challengers, one of their most excellent offerings. This, friends, is pop music at its most sublime. Hooks you can chew on for hours, quirky but beautiful lyrics and melodic twists that keep things interesting. Give 'em a listen!
Time for the ride back to the car, this time taking a side route off the main thoroughfare, called Herman Road. The highlight here, aside from mercifully lighter traffic for several miles, was this interesting collection of rusty cars and trucks. One might say "white trash" but if you do it right, in the right location (which this is), it becomes a form of folk art. Well done!
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