Family Reunion in Ashland, Oregon

We are on the road again, headed north this time to Oregon for a family reunion. My Dad along with my Uncle and Aunt are all getting together with their cousins which they haven't seen in 20 years. I have the weekend off from work so I am taking Michael up to crash their party. Above is the view of Mount Shasta, a sleeping volcano, in Northern California on highway 5. Mount Shasta is not connected to any mountain range and rises abruptly from the flat land around it making it a dramatic view.

I got off work a little late Friday night so we didn't get on the road until after 6pm. This means major traffic jams around the Bay Area as everyone tries to leave the area for the weekend. We made it to Redding, CA around 9pm and decided to find a hotel and stay over for the night. The next 30 miles to the Oregon border are very mountainous with no street lights, which is best to drive in the daylight.

We went looking for breakfast Saturday morning and got a recommendation to check out this place, Lumberjacks "Where the Big Boys Eat!" The food was really good, and only made better by flat screens scattered around the restaurant playing the ESPN Collegiate Lumberjack Challenge. The most alarming category being the "underhand chop" where they stand on a log and swing the axe between their feet to cut a wedge in the log. Some of them DO NOT wear protective gear on their feet.

After breakfast we headed north and crossed into Oregon.

We quickly arrived in Ashland, OR and started looking for my Aunt's house. On the way we passed this little place. For those of you who know Michael's Mom, this might make you smile like it did for us. There is another Patricia Sprague and she is selling Real Estate in Ashland! One of the agents was sitting at her desk in the window and was having a good laugh at us as we jumped out of the car to take this picture.

Ashland is a cute little town at the southern border of Oregon and is home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The town is nestled in the side of a mountain so seeing deer strolling through the neighborhood is pretty common. This one was was eating out of flower beds nearby.

We met up with my Dad and family at a park in town. It was a nice location to relax with the sounds of the creek while we ate and talked.

Trying to get everyone together to take a picture was comical.

We spent the night in Ashland, met up with everyone for breakfast and then got back on the road towards home.

This was a really quick trip. We hope to get back to Oregon soon.