Oregon Shakespeare Festival

playbill

Jonathan and I have regularly attended the fundraising auction for Helping Hands. It is a local Christian charity and the development director is the mom of one of Christopher's friends. At the last auction, I bid on many items in the silent auction. I was the winning bidder for tickets to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Jonathan isn't really interested in Shakespeare but I love it. 

My friend Jill also likes Shakespeare. I asked her if she would be interested in going to Oregon with me and she agreed. There were several plays to choose from and we chose Macbeth in early August.

It is a long drive to Ashland, Oregon where the festival is located. Many years ago, Jonathan and I stopped in Ashland while on a trip to either Oregon or California. Ashland is in the southern end of Oregon and an 8 1/2 hour drive away. 

We left on Tuesday August 6th. We stayed two nights at the Best Western in Ashland. It was just fine. They had a free breakfast in the morning and an outdoor pool and hot tub that we used. 

It was quite hot when we visited. We explored the town the day of the play. We had lunch at Pony Espresso Coffee House and Café. Some stores that we liked:

    Paddington Station is a large gift store. Jill and I had fun exploring it. 

    Sew Creative. A sewing and quilting store

    Prize (French). Interesting gifts

    Bloomsbury Books

    Paddington Jewel Box - ladies clothing

I love buildings built in the Art Deco style and was pleased to find Ashland Springs Hotel. 

This is a stained glass window

On the outside of the building there are eagles.

If I went back to Ashland, I might like to stay in this hotel. We had dinner at  the first night at Greenleaf restaurant. We sat outside by the river and the second night we ate at Brick Room. Both were good.

On Thursday the performance started at 8 pm. Our seats were really good! 

I think it was the 4th row. The actors seemed very close. The acting was top rate. Photos aren't allowed during performances. I got this photo from the festival's website.

We came back in time for me to go to a dinner with Christopher's friends' parents and some of the boys. Some  had already left for college but their parents came anyway. 

Jill shared the driving with me. I was happy that her driving did not make me nervous. I'm not a very good passenger. We had a very pleasant time together. I'm thankful for good friends.

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Lovely Time in Lake Chelan

In July, J and I were offered a week's free stay at a condo in Lake Chelan by a former colleague of J's.

After rescheduling some of my appointments, we left on Monday July 15th. C was welcome to join us but he would have been bored without bringing a friend along. Maybe next summer we can convince A to come up here for a vacation. 

Chelan is about 3 1/2 hours away. We stopped at Stevens ski area for a bathroom break.

We had lunch in Leavenworth. It was a challenge finding parking and a place to eat. We ending up eating at Baren Haus and splitting a Rueben sandwich. The flowers along the main street of Leavenworth are beautiful.

We stayed three nights in Chelan at Spader Bay, a collection of condos and houses, a private community. There is a private beach, a pool, and a hot tub. We made our own breakfast but ate out for lunch and dinner. 

This was the view from the condo.

There is a pool which was nice to use to cool down after being in the sun. The temperature was around 95 most days. The condo has central air and almost every store and restaurant does as well. Jonathan took out a kayak for a short ride. I floated around the bay on an inflatable lounger. There was a pickle ball court that we could have used but it was too hot for something that strenuous.

One day we had lunch at a place that we had visited back in 2007. Blueberry Hills. They have a restaurant and a blueberry farm.

I had hoped to take a day long boat ride to the town of Stehekin at the top of Lake Chelan, however, there was too much smoke in the air (from nearby fires) for that to be enjoyable. That's on my list for next year. It is a very interesting place that is only accessible by hiking in or by boat. 

Here is what the smoke looks like.

We ate dinner the first night at Campbell's and the second night at Andante's. Campbell's was very busy and I found it annoying having waitresses and customers constantly going by our table. The food was good. The second night we ate at Andante's, a quiet Italian restaurant and we were pleasantly surprised at the prices and they had excellent service.

Some shops that we enjoyed in Chelan.

1. Bear Foods. Such a fun store. Interesting food items, coffee, teas, gifts. I wanted to buy some gifts but I couldn't decide since there were so many choices. 

2. Frenchie's - designer clothes and jewelry. I bought a necklace here.

3. The Variety Store - a good place for t shirts, towels, and all kinds of things for enjoying life on the water. 

4. Woody's Classic Man. Men's clothes.

5. Woven Threads (quilt shop). I stopped in and bought a 1/4 yard of fabric. 

6. Re Runs Thrift Store. I found a dust ruffle that I cut up to use in a quilt.

We visited two wineries. Tipsy Canyon Winery and Tsillan Cellars. Both were welcoming and great places to spend some time indoors enjoying some A/C and views of the lake. 

In town we posed by this sign. 

We had a family photo taken here in 2007. Wow, we've changed!

I'd love to get back to Chelan next summer.

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