On The Way To Ashland OR

We take off from Billings at 6:00am Thursday for Seattle. That means you don't get a decent night's sleep as you must set your alarm for 4:00am. Some old people like to sleep in. It's a little crowded at the Horizon/Alaska gates at SeaTac.

Arriving at 7:20am where we wait in the terminal, walking, reading, drowsing and eating 'til 1:40pm. They have a surprising amount of retail activity going on here, almost as much as Rimrock Mall, including some excellent restaurants. Both of us have an omelette with smoked salmon: very tasty.

We get in to the new Medford OR (MFR) terminal around 3:00pm. I guess they don't believe in Central Standard Time or maybe it is Chicago they fail to acknowledge.

We shop for essentials at Harry and David's retail store on the edge of Medford OR: taste some wine from the new wineries opening every day it seems in the Rogue Valley and try their snacks: very tasty.

We have a brunch with the Mazzucas at our favorite breakfast place on Main St, just across the street from the Plaza Inn. See below. Excellent as usual. I think we have persuaded Nic and Zac that this is the place for breakfast and lunch. Many of the company at OSF think so too.

As you can see, early April is early Spring in the Rogue Valley, at least in Ashland there are many flowering trees and bushes and the grass is always green.

We take in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by W. Shakespeare, done in modern dress. We were saddened by the death of J. Caesar in this production, in contrast to most others that I have seen. That lady in the strange hat and gigantic green bag stage right is our oldest but still serviceable daughter Margaret, aka Peg.

We took the kids to a funfair where they rode Go-Karts on the edge of Central Point (see an earlier entry on blue cheese) when lo and behold we ran into some people who were intent on practically giving away some giant recreational vehicles such as the above.

We even went for a ride. More on this part of the adventure at a later time.

To keep Carol happy we went to her favorite store, where else but Paddington Station, guarded by the faithful Paddington Bear, see above.

There are lots of new places and people in Ashland since our last visit there, including this quiet Noble Coffee Shop & Roasting Establishment in the Railroad District. New friends include Mick and Anjie Reynolds, see below. They are not tourists, but entertain them regularly.

All in all, a great time was had by all. We plan on going back in the Fall, perhaps when the Traditional Jazz Festival is taking place in nearby Medford OR, usually the first weekend in October. There must be some items that my failing memory has forgotten.