Travels with Twinkles: Grants Pass

September 7-9, 2014:

It's another cool, foggy morning at Gold Beach when we depart at 9:30 AM heading south on route 101. Most of the beautiful vistas were hidden by the fog, but I did get a few photos at a pull off near Samuel Boardman State Park.

Oregon beaches are great

Great surf

We pass briefly over into California, take route 197 to route 199 north, re-enter Oregon along a very narrow section of road with sharp curves and hills in the Jedediah Smith National Forest area. The fog is gone, at least I have a clear view of the road ahead but it's still a handful keeping the Hawk between the lines. It was nice to see the big trees again, even in passing. We arrive at the Griffen County Park about 2 PM, happy to see available campsites. It's a nice campground in a forested area adjacent to the Rouge River about 10 miles outside of Grants Pass. This is the same Rouge River on which we did the Jet Boat ride on while in Gold Beach last Saturday, only further up stream. The Rouge is a protected wild and scenic river that originates in the mountains near Crater Lake and flows to the Pacific Ocean at Gold Beach, Oregon.

The main reason to camp here is to see our friends from Desert Trails in Tucson, Jack and Carole Cornell who live a few miles away. We go over to their house for dinner and catch up on each others lives since we last saw them in early March. They have added an addition to their house which looks great.

On Monday, Jack and Carole take us on a ride to Ashland, Oregon, home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, for a tour of the downtown, the shops, quilt stores, a music store and then a great lunch at the "Standing Stone Brewing Company". Ashland is a really nice interesting town to visit and especially to see a Shakespeare play in their beautiful theater. We then visit the "Harry and David" store to pick up on a few yummy treats.

Odd Fellows Hall in Ashland

Shakespeare Theater in Ashland

Twinkles, Carole and Jack

Tuesday was a day to pick up a mail delivery in Grants Pass, get groceries, a pedicure for twinkles while I take a few photos and wrestle with posting a new blog at a downtown coffee shop. Oh, almost forgot, a quick stop at a Franz bread outlet store. After dropping the groceries off at the RV, we take a ride to the town of Kerby to look at "It's a Burl". The place is amazing, with buildings built using supports posts, beams and wall studs all hand carved out of burled tree trunks and branches. The buildings are filled with all kinds of interesting and sometimes weird wooden chairs, lamps, cabinets and tables and much more, all constructed out of twisted Manzanita wood and assorted burled wood pieces. Outside there are several tree houses and assorted sculpture pieces all highly artistic.

The Rogue Theater in Grants Pass

A great mural on side of building in Grants Pass

Another street scene mural in Grants Pass

Classic bar sign in Grants Pass

"It's a burl" Dodge tow truck

That's an extreme rocking chair !

One of a kind Bicycle

One of a kind Tree House

Then back to Jack and Carole's to go out for Pizza at a local favorite in Grants Pass. It was great to get together with them for a break from our solitary RV wanderings of the past 6 months.

Back at the campground, the deer are again out in meadow in front of our RV, quietly chomping away on the grass and acorns by the light of a full moon. They don't even run when I come out to sit in a chair not more than 60 feet away. We also have a pair of Ospreys nesting on the top of a spar across the river.