Roseburg, OR

Oregon is very green but there is a good reason for that – it rains here.  So for 3 or 4 days it was cloudy and rainy.  Not bad rain, just dreary all the time.  Yesterday the sun came out and the day was bright and cheerful.  This is just such a gorgeous area.  Mountains, large trees, beautiful pastures full of cattle, sheep and llamas with a few goats too.  And streams and rivers all over the place.  We are really enjoying the beauty and everywhere we go, I see photos wanting to be taken.  We have been spending some time each day with Mark and Lydia, laughing and just enjoying being together.  Lydia and I even got a girl day shopping – fun!  And the guys drink Mark’s home brewed ales.  

We felt right at home sitting in Mark's garage drinking his home brew!

The park we are staying at is on the river and this is the view of the bridge.

Lunch at Tyee Landing gave us this awesome view. 

It is always nice when someone offers to take our picture.  We also enjoyed great big, fat, juicy hamburgers!

We went out of our way just so we could see the covered bridge and get my photo!

We pass this each time we go visiting Mark and Lydia.  I finally asked Kirby to please pull over so I could get a photo.  It is a classic!

Family and Wine in Roseburg

We are currently at Rising River RV Park near Roseburg and also near Kirby’s sister, Beverly and his nephew, Mark and Mark’s wife, Lydia.  Visiting with family and friends has been the highlight of this whole trek we are on.

Yesterday we visited with Beverly and then went on to have lunch at McMenamis Brew Pub.  You know we always have to check out the local ales! They have a long list of their freshly brewed ales and quite a few chandeliers! 

Mark, his mother Beverly and Kirby

Heading out to play

There seemed no way to capture all of them!

Then it was on to wine tasting!  Our favorite was Chateau Nonchalant Vineyards.  I don’t think I have ever seen such a beautiful tasting room or terrace.  Weldon and Vicki are the owners and they treated us like long lost friends.  And the wines are great!  Minor detail, right?

Weldon and Vicki Manning of Chateau Nonchalant Vineyards

Oregon!

We have made it to Oregon!  We just keep following spring and our allergies never improve but we have green trees and mountains all around us.  Oregon is beautiful.

This was the view along the bike trail

We spent 5 or 6 days in the Medford – Grants Pass area at the Valley of the Rogue State Park.  It was a lovely park with large old trees, biking trails and the Rogue River.  We rode a lot, walked Jake all over, sat in the shade of the trees and read and explored the area a bit.

Our campsite was very large!

We also made a side trip to Jacksonville, which is a small historic town founded on the Gold Rush.  They have Britt Park and amphitheater, lots of small crafty shops and antiques shops, a couple of taverns, several nice restaurants and a candy-ice cream house.  Just driving through town you can sense the pride in the condition of the old buildings and the beautiful homes.  We outdid ourselves and had a brew at the J’Ville Tavern, lunch at Las Palmas Mexican Restaurant and then ice cream at the Candy Store.  We then rolled back home!

Our friendly bartender

We always love Mexican Food!

This is the front yard of an Inn in Jacksonville.

The main street in Jacksonville, OR

When we leave a campground that has no sewer hookup, Kirby has to pull into the Dump Station and empty our holding tank.  This is a very Blue Job!

In the Shadow of Mount Shasta

We traveled yesterday from Red Bluff, CA to Valley of the Rogue State Park, Oregon.  It was a gorgeous four and a half hour drive.  It just kept getting better with each mile and when we spotted Mount Shasta my camera came out and I just kept trying to get good pictures of my favorite mountain.

I took this picture through the windshield.  Fortunately Kirby had just cleaned it!

This view was north of Mount Shasta at a rest stop.

It just happens to be one of Kirby’s favorite mountains also because he has climbed it….all the way to the tippy top!  It was about 27 years ago that he did that and loved it so much that he decided to go climb Mount Whitney five days after that!  Crazy man!

I just loved this scene of brightly colored trucks that we passed on the freeway.  As I said, my camera was out and ready so I managed to click and shoot and get this.  I have never seen such colorful trucks and it did liven up the area!

We are all settled in here at Valley of the Rogue.  We sit between the towns of Grants Pass and Medford.  Our site is huge with awesome views of the mountains.  In the meadow behind us are some nice grass-fed steaks growing.  We went to take a look and 6 or 7 young calves came over to check Jake out.  They just lined up at the fence looking at him.  One tried to get close enough to give him a friendly lick but Jake backed away.  Kirby and I each got a little sandpaper lick though!

This park has provided us with a fire ring AND some firewood so maybe tonight we will have a fire.  Today we visited Rogue Creamery and got some delicious blue cheese and a nice loaf of sour dough bread and then went wine tasting at Ledger David Cellars and purchased a bottle of white wine which is currently chilling.  Combine that with two bike rides today and we are just about ready for that bottle!