Once in awhile-now and again-this is us

we have had such spectacular weather on this trip, i’m not going to complain now. but redding is just too hot so we’re not staying. we did want to go to the turtle bay museum with all it’s great mosaic pieces, but redding is just way too hot. we wanted to walk on the sundial bridge, but redding is just way too damn hot. but I won’t complain.

we’re going to lassen volcanic national park next, with a short sidetrip to vina.  it is a little out of our way though.

you probably don’t remember the trappist monastery we visited in 2010, with the new clairvaux winery. the grounds are beautiful and very peaceful. they are rebuilding a chapter house out of sacred stones brought from spain.  i’m anxious to see the progress they have made.

this is from their website.

“The Chapter House, reconstructed here at the monastery, was originally built in Spain between 1190 and 1220.  It was originally purchased, dismantled and brought to San Francisco by William Randolph Hearst in 1931.  Originally intended to be the centerpiece of a new building project that was to surpass that of San Simeon, it remained scattered about Golden Gate State Park until the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco awarded it to the Abbey”

PLEASE VISIT OUR SACRED STONES WEBSITE AT WWW.SACREDSTONES.ORG

my picture of mt. Shasta is so bad, but it’s the only one I have. I took it while driving. there have been so many fires, there is a haze everywhere.

you can see how the level of lake Shasta has fallen. again taken while driving.

heed these words

these words also

that’s what we are doing.

stay tuned

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this was such a nice little town. not cute, not charming, not romantic. just friendly. looks like a nice town to be born in and stay there the rest of your life. as the volunteers in the ‘unexpected treasure’ thrift store were. we met her and her twin sister last time we were there.

2010

it hadn’t changed any. I found some books for the girls. the twin on the left was there. the other only works on Wednesday.

the hardware store across the street was out of the past too. it had up to date stuff to sell, but a lot of old stuff was all over the place.

we had a hard time finding the ‘hedge creek falls’. this may be why. the sign was kind of sideways, not facing the street.

it wasn’t very far to reach the falls.

I guess it looks better after a rain.

we also went to the sacramento river access under the bridge.

the train tracks went along the river. Dunsmuir still has an amtrack station.

in town I couldn’t pass up a chance to take a picture of a cat.

we we’re driving out of town when we saw the familiar smoke of a barbeque. in the local grocery store parking lot, a man was out cooking what turned out to be the best baby back ribs I have ever tasted. wow!

I hope we can find some more of those somewhere.

stay tuned

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Ashland, Oregon is the home of the ‘Shakespeare festival’. it’s been going on every year since 1935. I have wanted to go to one of the plays for years. I’ve never read Shakespeare, except for quotes. haha. but I have been intrigued about the lasting love for his works. our wonderful English professor neighbors, frank and linda, went all the way to London to see his home and some special plays. that’s love.  I thought if I am ever going to see one of his plays, this should be the place to see it. I sure can’t go to London.

the play we chose was the ‘tempest’. the story seemed interesting and I  wanted jerry to stay awake. haha. it was a glorius evening. we found a parking place near the theaters and town, again what luck we’re having. we found a cute place to have a Panini and beer for dinner. we liked it so much we went back for lunch and had a wrap and a beer.

there are a lot of expensive stores in town. I don’t even go in those. but it did go in this one. check out this jewelry Martha.

the play started at 8 sharp. they said don’t come late, you won’t get in until a suitable time and you will have to sit in the back. we had sixth row seats. so we weren’t about to be late. also it was strictly forbidden to take pictures, so I didn’t even bring the camera. of course people with smart phones were snapping away. we followed the play pretty well by what we read in the program.  but we’ll still  have to talk on the porch over wine, frank and linda. at least jerry didn’t fall asleep.

our route for today was to reach redding. but we didn’t make it. we had stopped in the little town of Dunsmuir last time and thought we would stop again and see if the same stores were still there. four years is a long time for these small stores to stay in business. it was still there, but closing for the night. oh no. so we decided to spend the night in dunsmuir and go into the store the next day. jerry walked around and found the city manager by the sheriff station and talked to her. she said sure, stay in the city hall parking lot. we’re so glad you came back to visit us.

we ended up having a wonderful time the next morning. we hadn’t walked to the falls last time so we did that. we drove around town looking at how it hadn’t changed one bit. I think it’s in a time warp of the 60’s. no starbucks, no mcdonalds, just old fashioned stores with old fashioned hospitality.

we did make it to redding today. it is so hot, we found a campground just to have electricity for the air conditioner.

stay tuned

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we stopped in the little town of silverton. there was a store there that I loved and wanted to go back to.

it was this wonderful family owned store with wonderful things to look at, especially this red pyrex dish ware.  (picture is from 2010). I was hoping it was still there so I could buy it.

but it was gone. nowhere in the store. nothing like it. because now it’s just a another junk antique store, with individual spaces,  with just the same old stuff that is in all of them. what a disappointment. I didn’t buy anything. I did see this peter rabbit though.

I would have liked to have this, but not at that price.

silverton is the town that had the norman Rockwell four freedom murals. I put them in the blog last time, but I think they are worthy of another showing.

I think these are great and what a great thing to have in their town. what is the status of our freedoms today?

we got back on the road and headed toward Ashland. I sat in the back for awhile to stretch, something else you can do in a motorhome, and took a few pictures.

mooooooooooo

stay tuned

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our trips cost a lot of money in one way or another, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. if you have not traveled in a motorhome, you haven’t traveled first class. I know you think you have, but in my opinion, this is the best way to go.

the benefits of having your room with you wherever you go is amazing. we don’t worry about where the bathroom is. we don’t worry about eating crappy meals, we have our kitchen with us. if traffic is bad we can pull over and play cards. a nights stay is an average of 25 dollars. we have some of the best views you can get.

we see some unusual things

this isn’t a fire, it’s a sunset

it’s an inspiration every day

you have your cake and eat it too

Christmas is only 129 days away

stay tuned

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after our evening at the resort, we went into the gardens.

I always take too many pictures, so i’ll just put in a few of my  favorites.

thanks for bringing me to another garden, yummy face.

but one more thing

we go to Ashland for the shakespeare festival

so stay tuned for more

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this time the ooops didn’t publish. I looked at all my wonderful comments and wondered why nobody commented on the zoo. there and behold it was still a draft. so i’ll publish this and if you want to see that you’ll have to check it out.

we had a great day. I found lots of treasures. while I was shopping jerry went out to the coach and made reservations at the Oregon garden to stay in the honeymoon suite that night. what a surprise. we stayed here in 2010 and I loved it. we had a nice dinner included in the room package. we are having breakfast now. wifi didn’t work in the room, so I brought sam, the computer, with us.

I have to tell you I loved all the comments. I laughed out loud at the comments from tony and chris. you made my day, thank you.  I love it when all of you take the time to let me know what you think and when you see something you didn’t know existed. it makes the trips so special. and I know every post won’t be for everyone. boring to tony is exciting to Martha.  boring to Martha is exciting to ray, so on and so forth.

so make my day and……

stay tuned

and read on

it looks like I put a post in the page section. so if you want to see the funny zoo pictures you will have to look at the top or right side of the home page to see the pages tab. sorry about that. I thought the setup looked different and thought wordpress had changed again.  I couldn’t figure out how to get the page to go to a post.

I just got through eating bacon and eggs for breakfast. now,  jerry is going to do the laundry, do the dishes, clean the coach, change the sheets, and make me another cup of coffee………..not.

we’re on our way to that goodwill outlet.

love you all

stay tuned

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unlike seattle we have found parking very easily and close to all our stops in Portland. but, the traffic is horrendous. after a crash it took us a half hour to go 5 miles.

we parked this close to the museum

we came to see this exhibit

this was my favorite painting and I forgot to get the info

I don’t know what I expected, since I didn’t know about these gardens. I knew I would never see them so this would be a good way. it was. I learned a lot.

we don’t know where we will go next. since it’s my birthday, it will be wherever I want. but it won’t be in one of these.

there is a gooodwill outlet nearby

stay tuned

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when we were here in 2010 to see the roses,  it was before the festival and the roses had been pruned to be in bloom for that. so we didn’t see many roses.  this year they were in full bloom.

thanks for bringing me here honey poo.

I didn’t take any

but it was hard

we went to the zoo next

stay tuned

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as I put this post in I just want to say, how sad it was to hear of robin William’s passing. we are not watching any television or reading papers. we don’t listen to radio, only books on tape. the only news we get is what is on the msn home page. I saw it yesterday and felt great sadness that a human being can’t think of any other way to be happy. I have enjoyed his humor over the years and will miss seeing him grow old. not watching tv we have not been bombarded with countless overdone coverage. thank goodness.  I see lauren bacall passed also. is everybody wondering who the third celebrity will be?

we see countless barns and old houses on the road, but pictures from the coach just don’t work. jerry had to stop to call a campground and it was right by this barn. eureka. my moment to take a few pictures.

farewell

while we were still in Canada, this object, a bird flew in front of the coach.  it looked like a stealth bomber.  is that an eagle?

yes it is. a free spirit of hope.

we also see a lot of bridges

stay tuned

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