Our neighborhood is quiet, and there is a large park with a playground within easy walking distance. There is a school nearby and you may hear ballgame cheering from our deck. A large grocery store is only about 5 minutes away by car, as are pharmacies, restaurants, Trader Joe's and Walmart.

Salem is a wonderful city of approximately 140,000, Oregon's capitol. We are about 1 hour from the Oregon Coast, 1 hour south of Portland, and 1 1/2 hours from the Bend area and snowy mountains. Our home is situated less than 10 minutes from I-5 freeway going North and South. Salem offers a lovely historic area downtown with shopping, restaurants, a Willamette Riverfront park with a carousel and New Orleans-style riverboat. Bush Park near downtown Salem is home to an Art Festival every July, with artists from around the country, and various other festivals occur in Salem throughout summer. Salem is surrounded by vineyards growing our famous Oregon wines. http://www.travelsalem.com

http://www.salemhistory.net is also a wonderful website by our local public library with tons of information about Salem and its historic roots.

We are Viv and Ed. We have two adult kids in the area, and two doggy kids that live with us (however, they won't be in the home during an exchange). Viv is a health care professional and Ed is self-employed in the auto industry. We've thought about trying home exchange for a long time, and after taking a lovely trip to Europe for the first time in 2010, we'd like to make traveling a regular part of our lives. We're adventurous and ready to see the world! We think home exchange would be the ideal way to really get to know a country and its culture, and make new friends too. Note: We're pretty well booked for travel in 2013, now looking for swaps in 2014. Non-simultaneous exchanges are possible. See listing #59678 on the Oregon Coast. Happy travels!