We had a decent evening in Mount Shasta. John went to the nearby Round Table Pizza – Siskiyou County is not exactly foodie heaven – and we had our supper outside the hotel room while the dogs chomped on pigs ears. They possibly may have had the better meal….
In the morning we packed the car and headed north. Our first stop was Weed. John and I stayed near hear about 25 years ago when it was still a lumber town and a pretty wild place. Only a few traces of this era remain. In fact, the town is pretty much either dead or dying as far as we could see. But we did have a pleasant chat with the lady at the chamber of commerce office.
We had thought of heading up Mt Shasta into the snow, but we learned that they did not allow dogs. So we decided to just continue on into Oregon.
After driving a couple hours, it seemed like the dogs deserved a little break. So we went to our favorite dog park in southern Oregon, the one just off Helman Street on the north side of Ashland. The dogs stood alert as we started to come close to it, and we could tell that they remembered this place well.
In fact, they remember that they favorite part of this park is Bear Creek which runs behind the far portion of the park. They ran towards the the gate there and waited for us to let them out to play in the water.
We let them dry off a bit and headed north on Interstate 5. It always surprises me how long it takes to get from one end of Oregon to another. We thought about stopping along the way at the Oregon Garden, but decided that they really was not enough time. We did stop briefly in Eugene to go to Starbucks and we let the dogs play in a dog park near the university stadium there.
We came into Portland about five o’clock. We had been here only a couple weeks ago for our Six Traits of Writing workshop, so it felt sort of like coming home. Mike, my brother-in-law, was a gracious host as he always is.
My sister Ellen had just returned from East Africa where she had been leading a group of American students in a study abroad class. She was watering her fabulous vegetable garden when Eli had to play in the spray. He loves to bite at the water as it come out of the hose. It is even more fun than a tennis ball!
Tomorrow we will be on to Washington.
