A Plethora of Pointy Mountains

We saw a play on our second day in Ashland. Isn't that what you are supposed to do there? After all, Ashland is the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival offering 11 plays in 3 theaters. We have been here before and the quality of theater here is superb. We saw a matinee production of "Taming of the Shrew". The setting for this play is often varied in location and time but the play remains the same. It is one of my favorite Shakespearean plays. This version was set on a beach boardwalk. There is dispute about the meaning of this play and some think that Kate gets "tamed" at the end of the play but I disagree. I believe that Shakespeare portrays Kate as one of his strong woman characters (even though in his time all the female parts were played by men).



Pangea Meal

I have been asked to post more food photos so here goes: Before the play we found a nice little restaurant cafe called "Pangea" and had a wonderful lunch there. The food was tasty and really healthy. David and I each had a bowl of soup and we shared a sald of lettuce, artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes and other goodies. http://www.pangeaashland.com/

We ate dinner at our hotel that night and had a great meal there as well. I had a vegetarian entree which consisted of a black bean and basil croquette, carrot confit, roasted peanuts and  sesame roasted mushrooms. It was delicious. As we were eating dinner, we noticed a somewhat familiar

face at the table next to ours. David said: "That looks like Steven Seagall". We knew him when we lived in Japan the first time (1981-1984) and  he was the "sensei" (teacher) at an Aikido dojo there. We both had several lessons with him. Much later, we learned that he had gone to Hollywood and had become an actor in action films. Sitting at the table, he did not look as we remembered him, though that was many years ago. But once he and his group stood up and left the restaurant, walking right past us, we realized that it was him. http://stevenseagal.com/ 

But what of "pointy mountains"? 

The next day we began our trek from Ashland to Hood River. We did not take the direct route, but decided to go past Crater Lake and stop and see the sights there before driving onwards. Our route took us on Interstate 5 to Medford, where we got on route 62 to Crater Lake. From there, we took 138 to 97 and then 97 to 26. At Madras, we turned onto 35 and took that to Hood River.  

We started our journey at 8:30 in the morning and it was already 78 degrees outside. Route 62 took us past a row of car dealerships and on into country land with rolling hills carpeted with evergreen trees.This was where we saw our first Oregonian pointy mountain.





Unidentified Oregonian Pointy Mountain

I have no idea which one it was. We passed through Shady Grove, along the Rogue River, and into Joseph Steward State Park where we were treated to tree-lined road and cooler shade which was a nice respite from the ever increasing temperature. (Remember, we were in a convertible with the top down, driven by someone who had yet to commit to an upper limit temperature at which point the top could be raised and the air conditioner be turned on). This part of the journey was lovely as the Rogue River meandered in and out of view and we were enjoying the shade of the trees overhead while listening to The Allman Brothers' "Eat a Peach" .The music seemed oddly in tune with the metronome-like image of the dotted lines of the road racing by, keeping beat along the way, accompanied by the staccato of intense sunlight flashes through trees as we sped on through the forest. Almost abruptly, the forest came to and end and we found ourselves thrust into a sun blast of warmth accompanied by the stinging singing of hot weather cicadas.

By the time we got to Crater Lake it was hot, exposed,  and there was a distinct aroma of hot oil and rubber due to the recently re-paved road which was baking in the sun. Crater Lake is as impressive as it has been described in the tourist books. It is the deepest lake in the United States at a depth of 1932 feet.  Lake Tahoe comes in second at a depth of 1645 feet.The colors of Crater Lake are intense blues and greens. We stopped at various vantage points along the western side of the lake before continuing on our journey to Hood River. 

Crater Lake

Once we left Crater Lake, we took route 138 and then route 97 towards Bend. We stopped and ate lunch in Bend  at a little cafe, and by that time, the temperature had soared to almost 100 degrees. Our route after lunch, took us through the Warm Springs Reservation and there we saw some very interesting rock formations.

Warm Springs Rocks

We were also treated to our next views of the pointy mountains of Oregon. All in all, we saw the the Three Sisters range, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Adams in the distance and eventually a view of the magnificent Mt. Hood. Along this route, we also saw a sign that informed us that we were crossing the 45th parallel, which is halfway between the Equator and the North Pole. Mt. Hood continued to be in view for much of the rest of our journey into Hood River. We arrived at our hotel, The Columbia Gorge Hotel at 4:30 in the afternoon. Looking like the sun and wind blasted creatures we were, we checked into the hotel just in time for "Happy Hour" at the hotel bar. A drink and many glasses of water later, we were back to our old selves and ready to explore this old historical hotel. It has a reputation for being haunted which is something we would both enjoy learning more about.



Mt. Hood

But that evening, I was to dream less about ghosts and more about all the beautiful pointy mountains that Oregon has to offer.