Charis: Our next stop was Ashland, a lovely little artsy town in Southern Oregon.
We spent the first morning wandering around Lithia Park – a large park with Ashland Creek running though it and lots of shade which was nice for such a hot day!
We stopped in at the very cute Dobra Teahouse for a cold boba tea (and later popped back for dinner!)
Derek: I had the Taste of Kashmir tea which is a blend of green, black, and oolong teas with dried apples, orange peel, and cloves. It was truly delicious and made me want to start blending teas at home! The entire experience reminded me of the Tchai Ovna teahouse in Glasgow, sadly now online and pop-up only, and their excellent Crofter’s Chai which is smokey and spicy.
Charis: We also had a wander through some of the local shops, including a quilting shop and yarn shop – I did manage to leave the quilting shop without any fabric, but another few balls of yarn made it into my collection! One of the quilts was particularly impressive, with Japanese Sashiko embroidery and applique also used on it. The shop (Sew Creative) offered a ‘Block of the Month’ – sending out the materials for people to make a block a month of a large quilt project, with several projects lasting up to 26 months! I’m very keen to order one of these quilts when I’m back home, this little shop was so inspiring.
With my wedding/engagement rings being too precious and/or small to bring on this trip, I also stopped in to a lovely little store and picked up a comfortable and pretty ring for about 30 dollars. I’ve joked many times before with Derek that he’s married and I’m not when we’re out together but only he’s got his ring on, so its nice that we can match again.
And we had plenty to do in the evenings! We caught two ‘Green Shows‘ – an hour of free music in the centre of the town with the first evening showcasing Auston Henderson, a singer from Tennessee, and the second Hopfinger, a very funky/jazzy instrumental band. Both were fabulous and thoroughly enjoyed, particularly with some takeout Indonesian food. Gado Gado, Nasi Goreng, and Black Rice Pudding… Indonesia can’t come soon enough.
And the entertainment didn’t stop there! Ashland is also famous for its Shakespeare performances, and we saw an open-air Much Ado About Nothing – having not returned to Shakespeare since dry English lessons in high school I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
From Ashland, as we’d returned a bit south anyway, we decided to nip back into California to catch Crescent City and the coastal redwoods before continuing our trip northwards.
Derek: We arrived into Crescent City in the late afternoon and found ourselves wandering out to the nearby lighthouse at Battery Point with a takeout burrito. I’m still learning a lot about the camera I bought for the trip, but small things like catching the flash of the lighthouse in the shot is really pleasing.
Charis: Over the next couple of days we drove a little out of town to bury ourselves in the redwood forests, which remain awe-inspiring no matter how long you wander around in them. We went on some fantastic trails (Trillium Falls, Prairie Creek Trail, Stout Memorial Grove, and Grove of the Titans), saw some absolutely enormous trees and put the top down in the convertible through all the scenic byways. Most excellent. We also saw some elk!
And last but not least, crochet chronicles 3 presents a crocheted summer top! -slightly modified from StringsTooStitches’ design – she’s also great to follow on Instagram if you need inspiration! This one I’ll actually keep in my travel bag as its fairly lightweight and very comfortable. I’ve also made a second for a friend which will get sent off shortly!
And now, onward up the coast, back into Oregon!