California/Oregon (March 13-15, 2017)

Arrived home tonight after a great trip to California.

The drive is beautiful, changing from the urban Bay Area to the high desert of Northern California to our own Pacific Northwest rain forests.

Ever seen the bumper sticker: "Keep Portland Weird"? The same could be said for Ashland, OR., our first stop on the way home. We love it! This guy (and his cat) greeted us at the local Starbucks. Ashland is the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which, in the summer is booked months in advance. Not so busy this time of year, and we indulged in Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar". Ashland is located almost midway between the Bay Area and home and is quintessential Oregon, complete with old men still flaunting pony tails and young women dressing "freely".

Oh yeah, don't forget the Volkswagens!

Ashland is a beautiful town, complete with huge redwood trees in front yards. We took the time to take a walk through a beautiful city park and through neighborhoods of wonderful old Victorian houses interspersed with beautiful new homes of very modern architecture. Oregon remains eclectic, and we sensed it the minute we arrived.

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California/Oregon (March 8-12, 2017)

We spent the last weekend in California visiting Alexander, Therese, and MJ. The drive was uneventful except for a brief blizzard in Mount Vernon and intermittent rain all the way to the California border.

Mount Shasta is one of the first major landmarks to greet you in California after leaving Oregon. A few years ago there was almost no snow on the mountain and we hardly recognized it then. Not true this year! Things were green in the low elevations, and Spring was in full bloom.

Taken after dinner at a wonderful Menlo Park restaurant. Great food and wine was a big part of the agenda.

Also included was a beautiful drive out to Santa Cruz on a gorgeous day. MJ loved all of the little harbor crabs and made a special effort to point them out to her Oma and Opa.

Did I mention the flowers? The coast was blanketed with these beautiful flowers. In the background is Pigeon Point lighthouse

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