My friends, give your fingers and your brain a little rest. Because WE are going on a field trip today! Yay!WE will be touring Ashland, Oregon, where I've lived (off and on--another story) for sixteen glorious years. Dave and I looked all over the nation for somewhere to move from California. I liked Boston; he liked Montana. Because we couldn't find the place we both loved, we decided to stay one more year in Sacramento, and we headed to Oregon for a plain old vacation.
When we hit Ashland, a town 14 miles north of the California border, we loved it! Nestled in below the Cascade Mountains and consistently at the tops of "Best Places to Live" lists, Ashland hosts the internationally acclaimed Shakespeare Festival--and is home to cattle farms.
It was culture for me, and cows for Dave. Perfect!
But, since this is my field trip, we'll be skipping the pastures.
Instead, we'll grab a mocha at Noble Coffee. Anjie will save us a spot at the Big Table. We'll browse Bloomsbury Books and stroll the Bear Creek bike path and have Pangea's Ipanama Wrap as a grill (best secret ever, it's not even on the menu).
Next, a play. For three hours, we'll feast our eyes on the rich set and lavish costumes of Hamlet, directed by OSF artistic director Bill Rauch, whose hand I held two weeks ago at our kids' school.
"Grease" is playing at Ashland High; it's choreographed and engineered by OSF directors in their off-season.
Then there's the Oregon Cabaret, my fave. We've missed "Men on Ice," "Alter Boyz," and "The Pageant." But there is the knee-slapping "Red, White, and Tuna."
We can hike Pilot Rock or the White Rabbit Trail. Many acclaimed artists and actors have homes here; we have a good chance of bumping into a serious somebody!
We can stroll the SOU campus, check out the bubble room at ScienceWorks, watch the flame throwers in Lithia Park.
Are you tired?
For $30, we can have an hour massage, courtesy of The Ashland Institute of Massage.
Dinner? Kobe's tasty dragon roll. And because you were so much field-trip fun, a lemon tart from Mix.
