Last Vacation Post...

Alllllrighty....I suck at this, I should have just done it all in ONE entry - so, to get this whole vacation post over with (since we've been back for almost a month now, sheesh!) We left off at us traversing around Eugene. We then left Eugene on Friday and headed back down I-5. We figured we wanted to look around the Redding area, so we decided to drive there and stay the night in a hotel. Except remember that SQUALL that we drove through? Yeah, it got worse...and worse...and worse. I did get some pretty sunset pictures during a dry spot though:

















We made it to the California border, after driving very slowly and carefully through all those mountain passes where it was pouring rain and getting colder and colder, so we were getting worried about black ice...and decided that we'd better stay in the first town we came to. Which was beautiful YREKA...hahahahaha - we stayed at a really crappy little Best Western - the worse hotel we'd stayed at yet, and decided to just get into bed and call it a night. We were both really sore...I think mainly from sitting for so long after climbing that column - our legs got all stiff and weird. Hubster started looking at a brochure and said that the next day, he'd like to stop by the Lake Shasta Caverns before we head home. Now, I thought it was a great plan...but let me repeat...it was HUBSTER'S IDEA. This will be very important later on in the story. So the next morning, we groan ourselves out of the horribly uncomfortable bed that we slept in...and decided to get the heck out of dodge. We figured we'd stop and get breakfast somewhere on the way to the Caverns. One thing that was SO BEAUTIFUL, but I didn't get pictures of because it wasn't really feasible from my side of the car....was Mount Shasta. Hardly ANY snow when we drove up...but this time, COVERED with snow! Also, the surrounding mountain tops had snow on them as well...so we really did drive through a big ole storm... Anyway, we head deeper and deeper into the trees and realize that we probably won't be able to get any breakfast because the Caverns aren't exactly in a populated area....so we finally got there about 30 minutes early, and found a bag of cookies and a bag of chex mix in the back seat of the car....yum, breakfast of champions right? So we munch, and then head over to the ticket counter...well, you see - there was a slight (VERY slight) incline to get to the ticket counter...and we were SO SORE, that we both were taking little tiny baby steps and cringing "ouch, ow, ouch" all the way down that weensy little hill. Which should have been a good indication that the whole cavern thing might not be a great idea. Especially when we saw a sign that said "if you have trouble climbing stairs, this probably wouldn't be the best tour for you" We decided to tough it out...how bad could it be right? Well...ahem....let me just repeat that this whole thing was HUBSTER'S IDEA... So they tell us that our group can go ahead and head down the stairs out back where a boat would meet us and take us across the lake to the caverns. So we head down a small set of stairs, wincing the entire time... and then we look up....and HOLY MOTHER OF GOD is that the LAKE? ALL THE WAY DOWN that CRAPLOAD of stairs we have to go down? Oh no - so we of course are the LAST ones at this point - no way we're keeping up with everyone else....so we make it down to the last of the stairs - IN PAIN...and head around a corner only to see the following...

That right there? Would be a big ass hill that we had to climb down. It might not look like anything big...but seriously, look at how tiny that person is walking...it was a big hill! And especially when our muscles were killing us already... We finally get down there and gratefully sit down on the boat to enjoy the nice, leisurely ride across the lake...picture time:

Isn't that beautiful?
Okay, so we make it almost to the other side when we realize that we're facing another hill. Only this time we have to climb UP. The tour guide said "okay folks, go ahead and go up the hill and climb onto the bus there at the top!"
We groaned - but going up seemed less painful than going down...and thank goodness we weren't the only ones heaving and panting when we got to the top. We get on the bus and drive another 800 feet up the mountain...then we get off the bus, and I steal an opportunity to take some more lovely pictures:

So we all gather in a group with the tour guide, next to a door that's right in the side of the mountain. She had to give us a little background info first...so she starts out by pointing at a rock on the mountian and asking what a scientist would call it...
Hubster shouts out "ROCK!" (whatta teachers pet)
and then she laughed and goes "yes, it is a rock...but does anyone know the scientific term for it?"
and hubster shouts out "BIG ROCK!"
I cracked up, and everyone in the group just kinda stared at us - seriously, sometimes I don't think people really "GET" us, you know?
Anyway, we get through the door and walk down a really long DARK tunnel and into our first "room"...

That one above is what they called "cave bacon" - HEH
So, as we're walking from room to room - we keep having to go up and down stairs..which aren't too bad because it's in short little spurts, plus, it was just so interesting in there, that we weren't so focused on it...UNTIL...the tour guide goes "well folks, I have some bad news...we've got a staircase of about 80 stairs to climb, and then another set of 25, and another set of 35"
Hubster looks at me and goes "who's idea was this anyway?"
and pointed my finger at him and gritted my teeth and said "YOURS! it was YOUR bright idea....ALLLLL YOURS!" - mainly because he hadn't shut up about my column climbing expedition...until now of course.
So we moaned and groaned our way through all that stair climbing...
This picture came out wierd, but I kinda liked it anyway:

and this one - is where the guy who discovered the cave in 1878 signed his name with soot...

So the cave was pretty cool - except there was ALOT of stairs, and when we got outside - we had to climb DOWN about 200 more steps to get to where the bus was parked. All told, they said the tour included about 675 steps. WOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEE - no wonder our legs hurt!

There was another tour waiting down by the dock area when we arrived back to the visitors center...and as we passed by them all hubster loudly goes "damn, those 600 stairs about KILLED me"

hahaha, the look on some of those people's faces was priceless...should have gotten a picture of THAT.

Hubster was nice enough to push me up the hill on the way back...and when we FINALLY got to the top, and I shoved my face in the nearest drinking fountain...there was a couple all decked out in leather motorcycle gear, who had missed the last tour and they were standing near the fountain looking wistfully at the boat moving across the lake. Then they took one look at my tomato-red face and my rabid panting and said "seems like that tour would have kicked our ass...maybe it's NOT such a bad thing that we missed it"

That was a proud, proud moment for me. I feel like I spared them the pain...

Into the car we went, and as we were leaving - we met up with some friends:

She came right up to the car and I was tempted to feed her something - but all I had was animal crackers and somehow that didn't seem appropriate...

Sweet little thing - and a lovely way to end our trip!

finally, sheesh - I'm the QUEEN of procrastination...

Upon Request...

I sent an email to T the other day - and I've been told that I have to post it here as to allow other people to share in the stupidity of others:

I gotta wonder how people get through their day to day lives not having a brain cell in their head?

This girl calls me up and says "yeah, is this the place that takes PG & E bills and stuff?"
and I said "nope, sorry"
and she goes "are you sure?"
and I said "uh, yeah I'm very sure"
and she goes "well, I think you might be wrong, are you new there? Because I was told there is a copier place on grand that takes bills and you're a copier place on grand"
and I said "I've worked here for 8 years and I can guarantee you that we do not take bills here. I believe the place your looking for is called Dave's Copy and Fax"
and she goes "oh...allright...and you're not a part of that company?"
and I said "nope - they make copies, we sell and repair copiers"
and she goes "well can you give me their number please?"
and I said "we are not affiliated with them...I do not have their phone number"
and she ACTUALLY SAID "you don't? oh, well...do you have a phone book?"
and I said "you know, how did you get OUR number?"
and she goes "I looked it up in the yellow pages"
and I said "well, if you look a bit further UP, you'll probably see Dave's Copy and Fax listed"
and she goes "I just closed the book, if you could look it up for me that would be great"
and I said "unfortunately, my yellow pages is in someone else's office...and I'm quite busy...I'm sorry, but you're going to have to look it up yourself"
and she goes "oh, well good job on the customer service - I won't be leaving any bills with YOUR company!"
and she slammed down the phone...

Oh girl, I laughed and laughed and laughed....hahahahahahahahahahaha!!! Holy crap, I am so amazed at some people's ability to be complete DUMBASSES!

quick thing...

Natalie from Portland? could you email me when you get a chance? I need a favor!

gobble, gobble...

I know I need to finish the vacation thing - but I had to jump in here and tell a funny story first...
I decided we needed to roast our own turkey this year, on top of what we'll have for Thanksgiving. So far, for the last several years, my brother has preferred to BBQ the turkey - which comes out good, but it's nothing like a regular ole roasted turkey. Hubster and I are more traditional when it comes to stuff like that...and my family is always trying new recipes and all. So we decided to have our own little thanksgiving meal sometime before Thanksgiving.
We purchased a 13 pound turkey, and I had it defrosting in the fridge for a couple of days, and decided yesterday that I needed to get that sucker cooked.
Now, we have one of those Ronco Set it and Forget it rotisseries that has been dubbed "The Raging Inferno". Hubster's parents bought it, but when they used it - it got so hot that they thought their cabinets were going to burst into flames. They only felt safe using it in the garage...and that just became inconvenient, so it sat in a box being unused...until I came along - and hubster and I became the perfect ones to inherit the Raging Inferno.

We've used it quite a few times, and while it does get hot - it's not enough to make me worry...and the food comes out DAMN good. So of course, I decided to rotisserie the turkey!

So yesterday, I get home...grab the turkey out of the fridge...and proceed to take out the INNARDS. That part gives me the heebies, so I did it quickly...throwing the INNARDS into a bowl to throw away later, and I rinse the turkey thoroughly and set it on a huge cutting board to start prepping. Between the time that I moved the turkey from the sink area, to the opposite side of the kitchen, all 3 cats had jumped up and grabbed the bowl of INNARDS...knocked it onto the floor...and one grabbed the liver and ran off...the other grabbed the neck bone and was trying to drag it across the kitchen floor...and the last one was trying to figure out how to bite through that little bag. I couldn't believe how FAST they grabbed all that stuff! I swear sometimes I wonder if they have super powers that I don't know about.
I wrestled it all away from them...cleaned up the floor (EW)...and put it in a bag for the trash while they sat looking at me all forlorn. I did let Hubster give them the liver later...liver later...hmm, say THAT 3 times fast.

ANYWAY, so I've got the turkey on a big board...I massaged it with garlic and salt, (the cookbook said MASSAGE, so I did...no happy ending though) crammed it full of onion and more garlic...pinned both ends closed...which is a very strange thing to consider...I pinned the NECK HOLE and BUTT HOLE closed. Yeah, anyone feel like eating turkey NOW?
Anyway, I put the turkey on the spike thing for the rotisserie, and realized that the legs and wings were going to be flailing about, and we can't have flailing wings. So I pinned them down as best I could...and put it in the rotisserie. Well, first time around, the pins fell out and the wings flailed and sizzled against the heating rods in the back. I stopped the rotisserie, and took the turkey out. I had used all the string to tie the legs together...so I was out of string...but knew that I needed to tie it all up somehow. So I went searching, and found the next best thing...KITE STRING. hehehe
I'm sure that if anyone was watching they would have cracked up at the contortions I was bending into while trying to tie up a slippery turkey with kite string ALL BY MYSELF. (and yes, I hummed that song while doing so "all byyyy myyyyyyyseeeeeeeeelllllf")
I had that sucker bound and gagged by the time I was finished...it was like a turkey straightjacket by the time I was done.
Which is funny because on the side of the machine, it says it can do a 15 pound turkey, an ours was only 13 pounds. I guess I got the wrong BODY STYLE of turkey? hahaha
So into the rotisserie it went, for about an hour...until I started hearing a sizzling noise and seeing puffs of smoke from the top. I noticed that one of the wing bones was catching on the heating rods. I messed with it a bit, but I couldn't get it to not hit the rods...my turkey was too fat. It was really HOT, and I even tried cutting the bone off completely - but to no avail. I ended up using two forks to pry the wing under another string hoping to bind it tighter against the turkey so it wouldn't hit.
I must be a genius because that actually worked...although it kept slipping out from the string, and I had to babysit it (set and forget it, my ASS) for most of the time it took to cook. The main problem with that is that I realized when I was stopping the rotation, it would seriously COOK THE CRAP out of the opposite side of the turkey, while I was futzing with the stupid wing.
I told Hubster that the turkey would either be really good, or it would spontaneously combust in the Raging Inferno and we'd be eating Taco Bell.

All in all, after the HOUR it took to destring and depin the damn thing....it turned out FANTASTIC...and was worth all the trouble. The meat practically fell off the bone...and was juicy and taste...I made sweet potatoes with brown sugar and marshmallows, and stuffing. Yum-may!

Course, it was 9pm by the time we ate dinner, but oh well :)

Vacation Continued...

We left off at the Spruce Goose in McMinnville...which by the way was a really cute little town as well. My only concern there would be jobs - but it's a very quaint farming town - gotta love that.
So we left McMinneville and headed over to the coast. We kept seeing signs for the Tillamook Cheese factory that said "Free Samples", and since hubster and I not only love to eat...but hell, free samples? we're THERE...especially since it's cheese. I'd probably be skinny if I didn't love cheese so much. So of course we stopped, and they had a MEASLY sampling station. We got to taste about 3 different kinds, and that was IT. But then we headed upstairs where they had observation windows into the packaging room, and it was SO COOL. I swear, I could have stood there and watched that for hours. I always liked watching factory stuff on tv...like Mr. Rogers used to do..and now that tv show unwrapped on the food channel is one of my favorites. I'm fascinated with the process of it all...not sure why, just one of my quirks I guess. Anyway, it was really cool - but we decided we'd better leave or we'd gain ten pounds from all the cheese and ice cream and goodies they had there.
When we left, it was raining - which kinda sucked because it was Thursday morning, and it ended up raining until Saturday morning.
Anyway, we had a nice long drive over to the coast and then headed up Hwy 101 to Astoria, Oregon. Now, here's the thing about Astoria...it's a beautiful place...gorgeous historic victorian homes....very green...right on the Columbia River and next to the ocean....for those who might remember, it's where Goonies, Kidnergarten Cop, and Short Circuit were filmed....but the weather is crappy. We were actually really interested in possibly living there until we read many, many times that they average about 240 days of gray per year. Also? they get about 69 inches of rain. That's twice what we got here last winter, which was an abnormally WET winter. So for weather wimps like us coastal Californians...we'd probably end up with seasonal depression in a place like that.
I still really liked it though....and I guess we're lucky because if it had been beautiful and sunny, then we probably would have completely fallen in love with the place and moved there immediately.
Except for one thing that I found extremely annoying. What is with the street signs, but no streets?
We were looking at map, so we could find the Goonies house, and we were supposed to turn on 38th street, but we went too far, so we saw a sign that said 41st street, and I said "hey hun, you could turn around here" and we pulled into someone's DRIVEWAY that backed up against a hillside. What the hell? So we shrugged our shoulders and flipped around, only be confronted with a sign on the opposite side of the street a little further down that said 40th street. ONLY THERE WAS NO FLIPPIN STREET...it was either turn left and run into a hillside...or turn right and end up in the river. We just didn't get it....it was all very hysterically funny.

Astoria has a "Column" that is a very historical landmark - it's really beautiful and supposedly offers great views of the surrounding areas...so we drove up there to see it. Since it was raining, we were the ONLY ones up there...and it was starting to get dark, although you can't tell from this picture, I lightened it up so you can see the detailed artwork on the column...it's really beautiful:




















We thought it would be closed, but then I noticed this...





Ahem...OPEN DOOR!
So guess who had the bright idea to CLIMB the column?




Yes, that would be me...who was wearing a long skirt and flip flops, great idea K...








It's just one long spiral staircase...hubby and I keep looking up to see if we were almost to the top, and I swear, it grew taller the farther we climbed. Regular stairs wouldn't have been SO bad, but walking in a spiral? yeah, that SUCKS. It was almost 200 stairs that we climbed...yowza
Anyway, here's the view - across the river is Washington...



It was super windy and cold, and um....WET...up there, so we didn't stay long...











But look at our tiny little lonely car from way up there!
















So we get back down to the bottom...and I swear to you, going down was MUCH harder than going up. My legs are shaking uncontrollably, and my knees felt like they were going to collapse - I got to giggling because it was the kind of shaking you couldn't do anything about, you know? Partly adrenaline, and partly my muscles screaming "what the hell! Who's idea what THAT??"

So we went to get dinner, and headed back to our hotel...with the JACUZZI TUB. Yes, our room had not only a fireplace, but a big triangle jacuzzi tub right next to the bed, and perfectly angled to see the television. Hubster's DREAM hotel room, I'm telling you. Also, it was just below the Columbia Bridge and we had a nice view... despite the GRAY

















How cool is it that we both sat in that tub with a fire going, jets bubbling to soothe our sore muscles, and watched SURVIVOR all at the same time?

The next morning we headed to some breakfast place..can't remember the name...but I had CRAB BENEDICT...yes, I'll say it again - I had CRAB BENEDICT. That would be CRAB meat on an english muffin with Hollandaise covering it or otherwise known as "Heaven on a plate" because hubster and I didn't really say much during breakfast, we were too busy stuffing our pieholes.

We headed out of Astoria, saying goodbye to all the lovely homes, and continued on hwy 101 until we came to a bridge that would take us over to Washington where we needed to catch the I-5. We were only in Washington briefly and then before we knew it, we were in Portland. Looks like a very pretty city, with the river running through it, kinda reminded us of a smaller version of San Franscisco for some reason, but we didn't stop for any long periods of time. We both had already decided that Portland was pretty much out of the running based on how much rain they get, and how big the town is. Hubster has no desire to live in a big city again...and I've never lived anywhere but here, and I'm more of a small town kinda person anyway. Perhaps sometime we might go back and look at some outerlying areas - but for now, I think the weather of Northern Oregon has us scared off...hee!
The strange thing we noticed as we were heading out of Portland, and other cities as well...was the large amount of hitchhikers. Alot of them were young kids, and we kinda wondered if they were hitchiking south to warmer weather? We had no idea, it was just a guess....but we've never SEEN so many people walking on a freeway like that....and it wasn't just Portland, but all over the middle and northern Oregon places we visited.

As I was driving back down I-5 toward Eugene, hubster was taking sky pictures...

















Still raining...and we drove through some major downpours. Hubster was extremely nervous that I was in the driver seat...especially when I would shout out "damn honey, this is a SQUALL!" over the pounding of the rain against our windshield.

Anyway, by the time we got to Eugene, things had kind of let up a bit - and we decided to drive around and check things out because we really liked the area. Again...




Tree covered streets, people!

Love it...







Oregon State University is there, so we definately wouldn't want to live on THAT side of town, strictly based on the huge masses of college students walking everywhere, but it really is a pretty place. We stopped and got a paper, so we could check out house prices...and although we still haven't looked at it, we both have a feeling that it's gotta be pretty pricey to live there. Probably more so then Medford even...we really don't know, but it's a guess. Very nice town though, big...but has a small town feel to it.

Still more to be continued....

New Toy

I will be posting the rest of our vacation sometime today - but in the meantime, I had to point out my new toy!
Look over at the sidebar, right above "currently reading" and you'll see a little box that says Where Are We...

If you click on that, and enter some basic information - I'll be able to see where everyone is reading from! Kinda cool :)

See? I TOLD you I would continue...

Okay, so from Crater Lake...we headed through the opposite end of the park and after driving many, many, many miles - we ended up in Roseburg, which is where our friend Kathy and her mom live.
We settled in for the night, watched an old movie (The Egg and I) and ate Abby's Legendary Pizza and fell asleep in the most soft and wonderful bed EVER. Kathy gave us her room and slept in the guest room because her bed is a king...and oh my LORD was it the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in. Hubster and I woke up in the morning at about the same time, and I heard his muffled voice say "you're gonna have to drag me kicking and screaming from this bed". hee!
After we FINALLY got up and dressed, we decided to go to a drive-thru wild animal safari that was about 10 minutes away. Only problem was, we wanted Kathy's mom to go too, since she'd never been...and she was at Walmart. So we piled into the car and stalked the Walmart parking lot until we caught a glimpse of her backing out of a space. We whipped around and followed her out of the lot and down the street to an intersection. We joked about how she had NO CLUE that we were behind her...and then somehow...I talked Kathy into getting out of our car and jumping into the passengers side of her mom's car. You know, to scare the poor woman to death.
So of course, Kathy gets out of our car, and the light immediately turns green...her mom takes off STILL not knowing that we're behind her...and Kathy hauls ass running into the MIDDLE OF THE INTERSECTION pounding on her mom's window to stop....
Meanwhile, Hubster and I are laughing so hard, we're about to pee ourselves.
Her mom stops, Kathy gets in, and we proceed back to Kathy's house....where I am prompty told that I am a BAD INFLUENCE because Kathy would NEVER have done anything like that before - especially at a busy intersection with tons of people watching.
I was still laughing about it and told Kathy it was a very proud moment for me.

ANYWAY - onward to the wildlife safari!

At first glance, this might LOOK like a giraffe in the middle of the road in front of our car:
















and it is...they were so close, it was amazing!






























As you can tell, I love me some giraffe's...and lions...love them kitty toes!
















and THESE guys? It took every OUNCE of common sense not to just run out of the car and try to snuggle with them...I can't even explain how cute they were... check out the one that's face down in the water. He actually blew bubbles and did the motorboat thing, but I didn't catch a picture of it - I was to busy screaming "awwwwww! Hubby can I have one! I want a bear!"
















We also saw Cheetah's and Tigers and Emu's and Camels and Monkey's and Snakes and all kinds of Deer and Elk and Zebra's and a Bald Eagle and Buffalo, etc, etc.

The one thing that was hiding was the HIPPO - I so badly wanted to see the hippo
Anyway, I would post all those pictures, but that would take FOREVER - so if you really want to see them, email me and I'll send them to you. Otherwise, use your imagination! hehe

From Roseburg, we then headed up I-5 through all kinds of towns...and once we got to Salem, we went East over to McMinneville. Which is a tiny little farming community that we fell in love with. But our sole purpose for going there was to see this:

You can't really tell from this picture, but this is the Evergreen Aviation Museum that contains the SPRUCE GOOSE...


It basically fills the ENTIRE museum, with smaller planes placed around underneath the wings. It's positively HUGE...






This is the Tail - which is actually 8 stories tall!






















This is INSIDE - the cargo area of the Spruce Goose - pretty darn cool lookin:

















I wandered around taking pictures of various planes, and then I realized that hubster wasn't behind me...guess where I found him?





IN THE KIDS SECTION PLAYING...



























More to come later...

I give in

I've been telling myself for the last week that I needed to post an entry...but I've been so swamped with work, and trying to get laundry done, and oh yeah - sitting on my ASS reading and catching up on my "shows", that I've been putting it off.
The problem with me these days is that I ordered a bunch of books off Amazon, and they arrived the DAY before we left for vacation..which led to me devouring my first book, thus causing a mad last minute packing frenzy and half assed cleaning of our house before we left for our trip. Hubster walked into the house on Friday, and saw me snuggled on the couch with my stack of "goods"...groaned and said "you know, I HOPE I'm gonna get to talk to my wife on this trip instead of watching her have an affair with her lastest novel"
And yet who do you think is the one who ended up with his nose in a book while I was DRIVING??? yeah, that would be him...
I don't know how he does that without getting sick...especially with ME driving!

So anyway - I'm currently on my FOURTH book in 2 weeks - and I still have laundry and unpacking to do.
If there's one thing I'm good at, it's being lazy!

I must say that hubster and I DID NOT end up renting an RV like we wanted to. Partly because the cost of gas would have been outrageous for all the miles we were driving...and partly because hubster is easily seduced by a hotel jacuzzi tub. I also am easily seduced by those little tiny bottles of shampoo and lotion...you KNOW I throw all those suckers into my suitcase before leaving. I also take all the coffee, tea, cotton balls, earplugs, and shower caps. YES I TAKE THE SHOWER CAPS....not that I ever use them, but I PAID for them so they're coming with me.
Those hotels are just lucky that I don't take the toilet paper and kleenex too...

Hubster's parents didn't like the idea of us driving our own car, and insisted that they rent us a car instead. So we got to drive a cute little cranberry red Mazda 6 on our trip - which was cool.


Some of the things we did on vacation:







Take ALOT of pictures from the car window. This is us crossing the Bay Bridge on our way out of San Francisco on Monday morning...







This is hubster trying to protest my picture-taking and yet burp at the same time...he's a sexy beast isn't he?






as you can see, his protesting didn't prevent me from posting this picture on the INTERNET...








The drive from San Francisco to Redding was incredibly boring - surprisingly boring actually. We amused ourselves by discussing who gets to name towns, and why someone would think it's a good idea to call a place WEED, California. The only conclusion we could come up with was either some unimaginative hippies who got some good stuff there...OR, that maybe the explorers who found the place weren't very impressed.

And here is where we started heading into the "TREES glorious TREES!"
















That up there on the right is Mount Shasta....still in California at that point.

Our first stop was Ashland, Oregon - which was a BEAUTIFUL place. But it's very expensive to live there. We stopped and had some lunch, and spoke with a realtor who gave us information about surrounding areas, including Medford - which is where we were really interested in.
We then drove to Medford and proceeded to search for some of the houses for sale...not that we could buy anything just yet, but we were curious to see what prices were like, and what KIND of houses money could buy.
We drove by some really cute houses in really crappy areas...and then started finding more and more places we liked. I then found my "dream street" - "Queen Anne Place" (I'm SO not kidding about the name)


We're talking TREE-CANOPIED streets here people!
And those older victorian style homes...that I LOVE. We actually saw little kids jumping into piles of leaves in their front yard, and people walking their dogs on this street.
We drove 2 blocks down and found an brick elementary school - I swear, it was unreal how picturesque this place was.
I even accidentally captured a weird artsy kind of picture...check out the rays of sun...

















After driving around Medford for quite a while - we headed up to Grants Pass to see if we could find a place to sleep for the night. We ended up getting there after dark, and found a place by the Rogue River. We could HEAR the River, but we couldn't actually see it until morning. When I woke up and walked out onto our balcony, this is what I saw:

















Pretty huh?

We then headed into a historic little place called Jacksonville...which is currently my dream town. I'm a dumbass because I didn't get ANY pictures of it. I was so enthralled with the trees, and the houses, and the LAND, and the sweet little town, and trying to figure out how we could possibly afford to live there...that I just plain forgot that I had a camera in my hand. Yes, it was THAT CUTE.

From there, we headed out of town, and into MORE TREES...on our way to Crater Lake, we were surrounded by State Park the entire way there. This is pretty much what it looked like the entire way:



COWS!!! (just hangin out in a FOREST...am I the only one who thinks that's wierd?)

And finally, Crater Lake...yay!

For those of you who don't know - Crater Lake is actually the inside of a volcano. The inside of it just collapsed, and after centuries it collected enough rain water and run-off to become a lake. The water is so crystal blue, there is no way to capture it on a camera.

Another fact about Crater Lake? It gets COLD up there...as demonstrated:

To be continued....I PROMISE