Anne and I went up to Oregon this weekend to visit her grandmother. We try to make this trip at least 4 times a year, and the Autumn trip is always our favorite. The changing leaves, and cool weather restore a lot of our hit points, and this year getting away from the chows in the house gave us an extra 2d4 that we didn’t even realize we needed until we had them.
We always stay in Ashland, and every time we visit, we don’t want to come back to Los Angeles. I think we have officially made it our dream to eventually retire there.
While we were there, I took this picture, which you can embiggen at flickr via the magic of clicking:
“Anne’s a hairdresser and I’m a writer, so when we saw these calaveras right next to each other in an Ashland storefront this weekend, I had to stop and take a picture.
Unfortunately, I had to choose between having a slight reflection on the glass, or only having one of them in focus, so I opted to share this one. Trust me, it’s better than the alternative.”
I’ll upload some of the other pictures I took, mostly of changing leaves and shockingly tame deer when I get some of this actual work that piled up while I was gone done.
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Falls in the Northwest, that brings back several memories. I grew up in Washington state and remember the fall colors. Here in southern Florida, it always seems to be green (expect when we are a drought, then it is dry green). Glad to hear you had a great trip. Looking forward to reading more.
You know a polarizing filter will take care of that reflection problem.
not sure what kind of camera you have, but if you can put a polarizing filter on the lens that can help with those kind of reflections.
I live in Portland, but only visited Ashland for the first time last month. Saw three plays at the Shakespeare Festival, and I’m hooked. Ashland is such a delight to just wander the streets and windowshop. I truly believe it is the best place for family.
We’re trying to convince our parents to retire there.
Have you explored the rest of Oregon? I can’t get enough of the coast.
Argh. I fail at photography. I knew that about the polarizing filter, but temporarily forgot about it.
I have a polarizing filter, but I left it in my camera bag and had the UV filter on, instead.
Oh well. Looks like I’ll have to make another trip to Ashland. Woe is me.
Reminds me slightly of Oingo Boing’s Dead Man’s Party album cover (and music video!).
“Embiggen” is a good word.
I, too, as a Portland resident, have contemplated retiring in Ashland someday. It seemed a good place for a totally directionless 20-something to be semi-homeless in, though maybe as a retiree I would find it awful. Only time will tell.
Vacations in Oregon grant you an extra healing surge for your encounter Second Wind.
I skipped a test in high school to go to the Ashland Shakespeare Festival, and have loved that town ever since. Even though I’ve never been back, I dream of it fondly. It was worth having to take calculus all over again in college.
Hey Wil,
I don’t know if you’ve done it, but the Shakespeare festival in Ashland is not to be missed. Maybe because I’m a Shakespeare fan, but I’ve made the road trip (its way more fun than flying for some reason… on that trip only) up there a few times and saw many a Shakespeare plays.
I highly suggest it.
We just moved from Southern Oregon to Portland a couple of years ago, and Autumn is always the time I actually miss it. There’s just something about fall there that will stick with me forever.
The rest of the year…eh.
Wil said:
Your life is a mystery?
Is that a cartoon of Wesley on the book 😛
*ducks*
My husband’s grandmother lived in Medford. She passed away last year. But we used to drive up for a visits every year. We love that whole area. I love it in the Autumn. But the Summer has the OSF, so it’s a tough call. On the return trip, we always drive over to the coast to take the “scenic route” home. It takes a little longer, but it is so worth it.
Wait, you’re going to tell us about the deer!?
shoot, i buy all my groceries in ashland. maybe i’ll be lucky enough to run into you at the black sheep, or something, someday. i’d just politely wave from afar. no crazy, freakish fan stuff. promise.
Spooky how those happened to be in the same window. Cool, too.
I’ve never been to Ashland but Mr. angie k is from Beaverton and in my few visits to Oregon I’ve found that I love it. It’s beautiful.
I’ve heard good things about that Shakespeare festival. Maybe I’ll go next year.
Oh, and “embiggen” is a perfectly cromulent word. Don’t let anybody tell you any different.
I lived in Ashland for a year and never wanted to leave. My husband and I were looking into moving there but the prices of homes have greatly outpaced the income. 🙁
Did you go have the Black Bean Soup??
@Jules ‘n’ Glen: You mean at Pangea? Hell’s yes we did. Un-freaking-real.
Fully agreed. My grandmother lives in Grants Pass (which is about 10-15 miles from Medford.) If I ended up with a large sum of money and decided to stop working, or got a remote job and could live anywhere, it’d be really hard to persuade me not to move to Ashland.
There’s very few places on earth I’d rather be than walking through Ashland’s public parks on a sunny spring day.
@Kirby as a medford dweller (who wishes she was in ashland) i can tell you that grants pass is considerably further than 10-15 miles from medford. well, perhaps not “considerably further”, but further (gp is about 30ish miles from medford and about 40ish miles from ashland). that said, i agree that ashland is a tremendously nice place to be. lithia park is especially nice in the spring and fall. there’s also a fair bit of mountain biking and hiking just above the town.
One of my favorite places to go is the Black Sheep Pub in Ashland. It is an overpriced authentic-style English pub. If you go on Sunday there is a group of musicians doing a jam session.
Tame deer seem to be popping up everywhere in Oregon. I live in Eugene, and just a few weeks ago while I was waiting for a bus a deer came up to me and was in my face, smelling my gum. It wouldn’t startle away until the bus came around the corner. The driver was shaking his head… “I don’t even want to know…”
Glad you enjoy our fair state!
@barefootorbust: Yeah, we love that place. Their vegetarian shepherd’s pie is insane.
I had *checks notes* a Total Dominion IPA from Ninkasi Brewing, which I think is in Eugene. Highly recommended, will drink again. A+++++!
I live in Seattle and the family and I headed east on Hwy 2 this past Sunday to see the pretty foliage. Awesomely wholesome good family time, wherein no one got hurt. :o)
Can I share? Gee, thanks!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rocketjaz/sets/72157608252815565/
Wil! It was a storefront! Were they not for sale?
When my wife (who of course is as awesome as Anne, but from my perspective, not yours) and I travel, and something like that shows up, it almost always travels home with us.
Cool picture. What a way to start celebrating Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead). I love little art crafts like that. Wil, go to wikipedia and type in Day of the Dead for more info. If you don’t know what the holiday is! Its an interesting holiday. Its big in Mexico, and its starting to get big here in the states. It has nothing to do with evil. Its really just a celebration. A strange celebration.
Never been to Ashland… maybe i need to go there one day since everybody loves it. ANYWAY, thats a coincidence. Those li’l dills look cool though..
Glad you enjoy your visits to Ashland.
Really glad you enjoyed Ninkasi Total Domination IPA. My friends make that here in Eugene, and we sell a lot of it in our bar. Hope to see you in Eugene sometime!
I feel so bad that no one else mentioned this.
Reason #1 to move to southern Oregon.
Bruce Campbell lives in Medford.
Were are your Geek Creds People!?