On our last morning in Crater Lake we decided to give the lake one more try. It was still smoky but we could see a little more of the lake’s beauty. Unfortunately we were missing so much more. We vow to come back for a day during our time in Ashland–it’s just a 2 hour drive.
We head off for Ashland about 12:30. The drive is pretty (very forested with lots of signs for sights to see and trails to hike) until you reach civilization in Medford. We arrive at our new home about 1.5 hours earlier than we are scheduled but the cleaning lady is just completing her work and we are in!
Our house is a pretty, yellow, Victorian-style, 2-story place–I’d estimate it is turn of the century.
There is a bedroom on the second floor and a bedroom and 2 bathrooms on the first floor. The kitchen is very workable and whatever is lacking in kitchen items we can find in Diana–including a coffee maker and toaster which were inoperable when we arrived. The dining room has a large oak table with additional leaves but we’re not going to be doing any entertaining for a crowd. The living room would not qualify for House Beautiful but it’s comfy. There is a lovely front porch and adjacent deck. The landscaping is very pretty with lots of flowers and herbs. There is a grassy front lawn that is completely fenced. The dogs LOVE it! They especially love people watching and people barking. There is soooo much activity on our street: people biking; people walking their dogs; people with baby strollers; and people taking a stroll. We are a short walk to the historic Railroad District with great restaurants and shops. The Food Co-op is a 10 minute walk at the most. The dog park is about a 30 minute walk. It is a really homey place. Hey, maybe I’d like to live here!!
The negative is that we are on a very busy corner with commercial operations just across the street. Those truck back-up beepers can get pretty annoying. We have air conditioning so we can close our bedroom windows at night. The mornings are very chilly but after noon it gets pretty warm and we close up and turn on the A/C. But, truly, the weather is really nice. It is great to sit on the porch and read or watch the world go by…and tell Toby every 5 minutes to STOP BARKING!
The people walking or riding by are just a likely to be senior citizens in Lycra shorts riding what look like expensive bikes as they are to be kids with long dreadlocks on skate boards screaming “Hello, brother!” The vehicles seem to be long on (old) Volvos, big trucks and jeeps and short on BMWs and Mercedes.
Our sleeping experience reminds us of France: we are in a queen bed with 3 small, white bed hogs.
I’m tempted to sleep in Diana but the driveway is fairly steep and we would not be able to get her leveled. It’s equally no fun to sleep at an angle.
The washer and dryer worked over-time the first 2 days–boy, we were a dirty group. But now all the people clothes and dog bedding has been washed as well as the people and the dogs. Poor Lucien was shivering like he was snow-bound after his bath. I had to get out the hair dryer to finally get him comfortable.
About 10am today we headed off to the dog park with the 3 dogs. Howard took a reconnaissance mission with Lucien yesterday and the two of them deemed that the group was ready for the mission. We estimate that it is about a mile walk. These Ashland neighborhoods are very interesting: commercial operations next to residential homes; million dollar homes across from a shack; horses nose-to-nose with doggies through the fence. Many places have abandon cars and other detritus littering the lawns–apparently there is no code enforcement or maybe no codes to enforce.
The long walk downhill to the dog park was too much for short-legged Lucky. He’s short-legged in 2 ways: short a leg and short legs. He gets to be carried about half the distance. When we arrive the big-dog area is pretty populated and there’s no one in the little dog’s park. Toby is immediately interested in the big dogs–watching them and running along the fence as they go by. We decide to give him a chance to “run with the big dogs.” We figure it’s a 50:50 chance that he’ll try to kill one of them. But Toby steps up to the plate and scores a home run! He has a great time! He lets the big dogs sniff him and he sniffs them and he is off. We are surprised that Lucien and even Lucky seem to enjoy running around.
On our way back up-hill Lucky walked the entire way! I think his dog-park romp energized him. I think we ALL are going to be in better shape at the end of this month in Ashland.
There is a B&B across the street from us. A lady staying there has a very handsome grey miniature poodle. She left about noon and the poor dog has barked inside all day. I’m going to try to catch her and suggest she leave the dog with us. I suspect she is on business here and we know how hard it is to find good dog care. Of course she may be concerned that we are poodle-nappers but we’ll try to convince her we are good people. We are going to have a similar problem tomorrow night–our first play. We considered hiring a sitter but Howard wants to try the dogs on their own. We just met the ladies next to us. I think I’ll ask them to tell us if the dogs caterwaul the entire time we’re gone.
We are going to try to finish up some great leftovers. I made a pasta salad and Howard is going to do something special with our leftover lamb chops and filet mignon.