Twisp of Fate

We returned Sunday evening from a fast-paced road trip to southern Oregon and the Washington Coast.  We had a great time, despite all the driving – and there’s nothing like a good audio book to help with that!

We stayed one night in Sisters, Oregon on the way down.  This is a pretty little town, with restaurants and art galleries, in the eastern foothills of the Oregon Cascades to the east of Eugene.  We didn’t roll in until almost 9 pm, so everything was closed, but we have been there before.  I found a nice little motel on-line before we left, the Sisters Motor Lodge, a 1930’s era motor court that is nicely updated but has the original flavor.  Their motto, “Cute as a button, neat as a pin, clean as a whistle” pretty much says it all!  Our unit had a nice kitchen, so we were able to fix our own breakfast.  I would definitely stay there again for several days, especially if we wanted to cook our own meals and not eat out.  Plus, there was a wonderful view of the Three Sisters out the kitchen windows:

We drove across the Cascades along the McKenzie River in sunshine with blue skies, then on down to Medford on I-5.

The first evening we were treated to dinner at Pasta Piatti in Ashland, where grandson Brandon is executive chef.  We had a party of fourteen, and 4 generations present.  I didn’t get a lot of pictures, but here is great-grandaughter Eva, who is two years old now, with her mom Sylvia and aunt April:

After dinner we went to Lithia Park so the kids could play in the playground and the adults could visit.

The next day was great-grandson Aidan’s fourth birthday.  The family had a lot of activities planned, so it was a jam-packed day!  We started off at a wonderful farmer’ market in Ashland, where they picked up some food for a picnic and dinner later.  Then we met at a small Ashland city park where the kids could run around and play, and we had a nice leisurely picnic lunch.  Then it was off to the the Family Fun Center in Medford, Aidan’s pick for a birthday activity.  The inside arcade was a bit much for me (lots of noise and flashing lights) but the go-kart run was fun to watch.  Rick took Aidan in his go-kart:

Then it was off to Gretchen & Duane’s house for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  Brandon and Sylvia cooked a wonderful dinner, Aidan opened his presents and we had birthday cake.  Rick even played Wii (bowling and golf) which was a first.  We didn’t get back to our friends’ house in Ashland until almost 11 pm, happy but exhausted!

The next day, our last in Medford/Ashland, started out nice and slow.  We slept in, went for a walk, and visited with our friend Denise, who is a print artist (see her website, Drawing on the Dream).  Around noon we hooked up with some of the family and headed off to a wildlife refuge north of Grants Pass called Wildlife Images Education and Rehabilitation Center.  This proved to be a fun and interesting outing not only for the little kids, but the rest of us as well.  We went on the tour, where we were able to see the animals that are permanent residents because they cannot be re-introduced to the wild for various reasons.  Many of them had sad stories, and I was glad to know they had at least wound up in a safe place with a reasonably natural living environment.

I would have more pictures of us with the family, but at this point I need to wait to get image files from Gretchen’s camera.  Here’s Rick coloring with Aidan, though – he’s a very sweet, good-natured little boy (Aidan, that is…)

Thursday we headed north to Portland, OR for the second phase of the trip.  Stay tuned

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