hello, Carlton … remember me?

Last month I was driving through my old hometown of Carlton, Oregon and I saw two projects I worked on over a decade ago – a walking/driving map kiosk for wine country tourists and an historic fountain restoration. Both are still standing.

I wonder how many hundreds or thousands of people have stopped there to look over the years, in between pinot noir tastings, in arguably the most beautiful bucolic landscape in northwest Oregon? Have you been to Carlton?

What’s funny is that I had my teenage daughter with me, who had no idea I ever did this. She has a vague memory of living in Carlton, and the fact that I do something in architecture, but she had no idea that I came up with an idea of something that was needed (a map on a sign to show where all the wineries are and how to get there), drew it up, had it built, and that it’s still there, downtown.

And the war memorial fountain was falling apart, and I worked on a grant to get it refurbished.

I’m super happy to return to Carlton and see these things, and see the downtown thriving, and show my daughter what I did when she was a toddler. We should all tell our kids what we do, once in a while.