I have several family members who have resided in the northern state for years, and recently a good number of our friends moved up there to take seasonal summer jobs at a resort called Lake of the Woods. Brian and I were on summer break from school, and eventually Brian had a break from work, so we decided to take a trip to visit our friends and family. We wanted to drive to Lake of the Woods (exactly in between Ashland and Klamath Falls), see the guys (Sam and Henry Bonifas, Ben Blair, and Eric Peterson), then drive to Portland to visit my cousin Gary, his wife Adina, their daughter Brigit, and my Uncle Bill, and maybe see the guys again on our way back.
When we took out the calender and the map, we realized that, first of all, I couldn't be away from San Jose for more than four days because of a summer school swimming class I was taking (2 units of P.E. are required to graduate from SJSU. I know, it's ridiculous!). And second of all, Portland is pretty far from Lake of the Woods, almost five hours! Coming from California, we tend to think that Oregon is teeny tiny, turns out it's not.
So we decided just to visit the guys. They'd moved up there recently, wouldn't be there longer than the summer, and we were worried those city kids (especially Sam) would be having trouble adapting to the great outdoors.
We got to the guys' place late Thursday night, June 25th (after wandering around Klamath Falls by order of Tom Tom). We slept on the fold-out couch the first night, and the rest of the time we stayed in our tent. I know what you're thinking, "the guys have a fold out couch?" When I heard that Sam and Ben would be staying in a mobile home, I imagined a fifth wheel with barely enough room for two twin beds and a mini fridge. But they're living in an actual home: living room/kitchen, bathroom, and two surprisingly large bedrooms. Their oven is as big as ours! I mean, that's not saying much, but it's great for them.
We had so much fun! We hiked through the paradise they call home/work. We dined at the restaurant where the guys work. We zoomed around the Lake of the Woods in a little motorboat. One day we even took a trip to the lovely little town of Ashland (hippies + Shakespeare Festival + liberal arts college + nice parks = our kind of place).
To our great surprise and delight, the guys ran into Peter Stewart one night on a trip to Ashland (he's been living and working there), and Peter was able to come to Lake of the Woods while we were visiting. Brian and Peter have been great friends for many years, and this serendipitous visit was oh so very Peter. (;
I'm really frustrated that I don't have any photos of Ben. But, I guess, even more frustrated that he wasn't on the boat. I think he had to work.
So we got back to San Jose and I updated my Facebook status to, "Christina Asdel just got back from Oregon. Wonderful to see the guys!"
And of course I got some "light" grief from Adina about not visiting she, Gary, and Brigit. I explained our situation and she fully understood, but intending to visit them before got me so determined to accomplish the goal of seeing them that, when Brian had more time off and I was no longer in swimming, we decided to go up again (August 8th through 13th).
The first time, we took I-5 both ways. Boring!! So this time I insisted we drive the 101, and it was worth it! Yes, it took longer, and the Oregon coast looks a lot like the coast of northern California, but there's a bit of variation.
We decided to split the drive up and camp overnight in Newport, Oregon. That was a long drive, over 11 hours. We left San Jose super early and got to Newport before sunset. We wanted to be spontaneous and find a camping spot when we got there, not realizing that it's popular to camp on the Oregon coast on a Saturday in the summer. But the folks at South Beach State Park were lovely and let us camp on a grassy field near the group site (the closest possible spot next to the beach!).
After we set up the tent, we drove to the wharf and ate at a delightful little place called Local Ocean. We then bought a bottle of wine, drove back to the camp site, walked to the beach (warm and calm, no wind), and sipped wine while watching our fellow campers light things on fire and shoot things into the air.
The next day we set out for Portland. On the way we stopped at Shari's, home of the cheese and sour cream stuffed hashbrown and bold Arösta coffee (go bold!).
We got to Gary and Adina's just as Gary and Brigit were returning from visiting Adina at the Sock Summit (a very exciting thing for knitters).
We so enjoyed our stay with the North-Franz gang.We share a sense of humor and many interests with Gary and Adina, and we delighted in playing with three-and-a-half-year-old Brigit. Turns out, Brian and I like playing with toys probably more than most adults. Puzzles and dolls and markers etc. etc. etc. We also loved speaking with her and listening to her play with and learn language. She was really a joy to spend time with, and she was excited for us to be there the entire time. That was cool!
One day we were there, we got to wander around Portland on our own. We went downtown and spend way too much time and money at Powell's, the awesome bookstore. We then stumbled upon the Deschutes Brewery and had a pint. Later we met Gary at his place of work, got a tour, and went out to lunch: pizza and natural fruit soda, yum!
We ate a lot of delicious, local, seasonal food with Gary and Adina. Oregonians, and especially Portlanders, are really big on seasonal, sustainable food--which we love!
Our last night in Portland, we all got together for dinner with our uncle Bill. Brian and I hadn't seen Bill since our cross country trip in 2003, and it was great to see him again. We always love seeing Bill because the conversations seem to just pick up where they left off. He's very honest and enjoyable to converse with.
We left the next morning. Gary went to work a little late so we could eat breakfast together before we headed down to Lake of the Woods.Our second visit to Lake of the Woods was similar to the fist, with fewer mosquitoes and more games. And I mean games! Disc golf, Scrabble, Boggle, horse shoes, multiple Wii games, poker, etc.
I don't have any pictures from our second visit, but if I get any, I'll add them.
Hooray for Oregon!!
Ok. Here's a picture of Brian and me from our second stay at Lake of the Woods:
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