Sep 15, 2012 - Ashland, OR

Didn’t eat dinner until 8:00 last night because we got so caught up in work, phone calls etc. We had delicious wild Coho salmon that was BBQd with a butter/white wine/mustard/brown sugar glaze. This was accompanied by heirloom tomatoes with pesto and balsamic dripped over the top finished with crumbled goat cheese. Boiled fingerling potatoes. 2009 BV cabernet. After breakfast we biked the Greenway towards Ashland, about 10 miles. Lovely morning ride through the woods and along Bear Creek for most of the way. The path is well maintained and...

Sep 13, 2012 - Ashland, OR

We met some folks in camp last night from Olympia National Park who have a Roadtrek Airstream. Spent time swapping Roadtrek minutia of course! Bob and I concluded that Mt. Shasta can be described in five words: crystals, yoga, health food, spiritual healing center (with attached tattoo parlor), organic food. Transcendental never left this area! I forget to mention in last night’s journal ( and I butched the picture) of the tattoo parlor in Redding: Lethal Injection!!! Road our bikes into town and stopped for breakfast at Yaks, a...

Jul 10, 2012 - Day 12

You'll have to wait awhile for the good pics from today- we couldn't take them because we were busy hanging on for dear life in the Class IV rapids. We got up and headed out to be picked up by Noah's River Adventures bus and went up to a point on the Rogue River. There were 3 guide boats and 15-16 rafters and 3 guides. We went with the guide who didn't have a seat and oars- only paddles like us so we had to work pretty hard- it was just the 5 of us. Actually, for the flat parts we just floated and didn't work very hard at all- Garrett and...

May 31, 2012 - Oregon Beginning

We left Davis by 1 pm, drove 300 miles, arriving in Ashland by 8:30 pm. A deer ran across I 5 right in front of us at 8 pm! We were so lucky not to hit it. The next morning we saw two deer munching flowers 2 blocks from downtown Ashland! The Lithia Park is bursting with rhododendrons in bloom. We stayed in a Good Sam campground outside of town. We noticed that there were a lot more people living in the park than when we stayed here 2 years ago. An old trailer was parked next to us and I watched a young boy leave for school the next morning....

Apr 17, 2012 - Last day...feeling sad

Today we were eventually going to go to explore the caves but I felt that I just didn't have the time even thought that would have been so much fun! Instead I spent the morning packing and repacking our suitcases. Not an easy task I must say! But finally it was done and we drove to Medford to see Trudy. We decided to take the kids to the little carnival by the mall. It didn't open until three so we went into the mall for awhile. There were quite a few cute shops and if I hadn't already packed I'm sure I would have found a few things to take...

Apr 16, 2012 - Joey's birthday

What a busy day we've had! Since we will be leaving in two days we wanted to try to get a lot done today. We started our day with a trip to Dairy Queen. Not to eat this time but to do some "work", fun work that is =) The kids were able to go in back and decorate their very own Dairy Queen ice cream cake. It was so much fun! The got to try out all the professional tools and there was lot's of frosting's, gels and sprinkles to choose from. The kids practiced on paper first before they transferred their artistic talents to the cake itself. It...

Apr 15, 2012 - Almost time to leave Oregon....

We had a nice day hanging out with Trudy, Tanisha and little Adrianna at the park today, oh and I must not forget Oscar Joey's cute little puppy. It's nice to just hang out. The kids all played and ran around with the doggy. Julia of course loved playing and taking care of Adrianna and Patric and I took a little time to do some reading. The weather was pretty good. When we got back home we ate, played some cards and then it was time for Trudy and her gang to go since Trudy had to get to work. The kids then did some homework and Uncle Ivan...

Apr 14, 2012 - House of Vortex....spooky!

Ok, what I'm about to tell you all is the honest truth.... I promise! Uncle Ivan and Auntie Vickie took us to the coolest place today. It is called The Oregon Vortex - house of mystery When we got there we were met by this really entertaining tour guide. He was really informative but at the same time just really funny and he used us (the people on the tour) to help demonstrate the remarkable phenomenon that is the Oregon vortex. You all are probably wondering what is this vortex thing, well I'll tell you... The word "vortex" just means a...

Apr 13, 2012 - Science museum and other stuff

What a fun and playful day we have had today. After breakfast we loaded the kids into the van and drove down to the Science Works hands on museum. We spent close to three hours playing and exploring the wonderful world of science. We did lot's of fun experiments and learned about optical illusions, the laws of motion and other things too! We all had fun, Patric especially liked looking at the honey bee's and how they were hard at work in their hive. Afterwards we had lunch and then went to downtown Ashland. We went to look at the world...

Apr 12, 2012 - Home movies

After being gone for two days we really needed some at home time. The kids played and were a little bored at times but that's actually a good thing so they don't get overstimulated. I enjoyed watching some home movies of us last time we were here in Oregon 12 years ago. My Patric was so adorable! Watching him just brought tears to my eyes. It was fun to see Maddy's personality shining through and to see my precious girls Johanna and Sophie. Nicklas and Joakim made me giggle they were so funny! A little later the kids did some homework and...

Apr 9, 2012 - hanging out in Ashland

Not much happened today but it was a much needed day of rest. The kids and I all stayed home and we just did homework, watched a movie and fooled around. I got some packing for our little trip done and then we waited for Trudy to come pick us up since we were going over to her house to spend the night. At around 5 pm Trudy came and we drove off to her house in Medford. Joe had made some yummy spaghetti and the whole house smelled heavenly of garlic. While we were eating Trudy and Joe's son Joey came over with his girlfriend Jamie and her...

Apr 8, 2012 - Easter

We, or actually just me woke up early on this glorious morning. Trudy and I joined her husband Joe and his family at Applegate church for Easter service. What a place! The service was outside in a beautiful amphitheater. The sermon was great and the topic was HE IS RISEN! The pastor was fantastic and I would love hearing him again. There was also lot's of music and singing. After church we hurried back to Ashland to pick the kids up to take them to Lithia park for the big Easter egg hunt. I was a little worried at first that we weren't...