back from a delightful interlude

but first, this

We drove to Ashland last Thursday, checked into our wonderful B&B, went for a short stroll in Lithia Park, grabbed some dinner, then headed off for our first play. It was superb - great writing, acting, etc. Our local theater company in Portland will be doing it next year.

Friday morning, we headed off for a wildflower hike, along Grizzly Peak. It was 5.4 miles of quiet forests, great views, and a zillion colorful flowers. We got back into town around 3, in time to rest a bit before a great dinner here (I had a wonderful vegetarian chili rellano), and then another play, a break-neck, silly farce, with wild puns and costumes. Pure fluff.

Saturday morning, we were picked up at 8:15 at the B&B, and driven to the put-in for a raft-trip down the Upper Klamath, organized by this company. The water was wild and white. I had done part of this run several years ago, but we did a much longer stretch. Karen had never done this river and was apprehensive, but the guide was amazingly cool and competent, and the thrills were many and the lunch was embarrasingly abundant. Due to the inaccessibility of this river, the shuttle driver had to drive over 200 miles from the put-in to the take-out.

We got back to Ashland around 5, just long enough to shower and get cleaned up, before the arrival of one of Karen's distant relatives, who is currently on contract with the Shakespeare Festival this year, as a 'dramaturg'. We went out to dinner at the classy Ashland Springs Hotel. The food was exquisite and astonishingly expensive - our splurge meal of the trip.

After dinner, we walked a bit thru Lithia Park, then, after some ice cream, said our good-byes and headed back to our room.

Sunday, we headed back to Portland, via Jacksonville, stopping in Albany to have lunch with Karen's cousin Rion, who lives in Corvallis. Arriving home at 4 pm, we found the house, Dylan, and the animals all in good shape. I was exhausted, but then a phone call came thru from another good Portland friend, who invited us to dinner at her new house, so it was off again.

By 9, I was ready to collapse, and did. How's that for 4 days?