Another GP diary update

Friday 4th October

Jo and I decided to take a walk to downtown Grants Pass but first we drove down to Tussing Park, cutting off the more boring part of the journey. We crossed the pedestrian bridge over the Rogue river, stopping first of all for the obligatory photo:

Along the river path then through the suburbs - now time for ice cream. The Soda Fountain did the job.

Saturday 5th October

I decided it was time to get out on the bike again and so I went for another wander round GP, stopping at Riverside park for a quick selfie:

Then it was downtown again - it was Saturday Grower's Market day:

It was a busy day downtown because it was also the annual Art on the Rogue day when streets are cordoned off and artists are invited to use the tarmac as a backdrop for their chalk - and occasionally, paint - work. Scott, Lucy and Jo hadn't seen this so we all went back in the afternoon to walk round the ever-expanding exhibits, after which we drove out to Applegate bridge and had dinner at a beautiful spot on the patio at the Lindsay Lodge, overlooking the river and the steel box bridge:

Sunday 6th October

The day of the annual Wine Walk in aid of breast cancer charities at Del Rio winery. Lucy's pal, Shari, had to pull out so Jo was the super-sub. We dropped them off and Scott and I went for a few holes of golf nearby:

A little surprisingly the girls finished before we did and by the time we got back to Del Rio to pick them up at least one of them was a little squiffy - and chuffed that she'd managed to complete the 3 mile hike round the winery and not (quite) be last!

Monday 7th October

Quiet day. Jo and I went to the 11:30 am showing of the latest Joker movie. When we arrived we thought the cinema must be closed - there were no cars in the car park and little sign of life until we entered the building. We bought our tickets and a Diet Coke to share. Jo had made up a couple of sandwiches for us as the food there is pretty gross, and she had put them in the bottom of her back pack with her jumper on top. Jo must have been feeling a little guilty as she then asked for a small carton of popcorn. Sure enough, one of the staff asked to look in to her bag - company policy she said - but Jo bluffed her way through it and the two of us then skulked in to a completely empty movie theater - the first time either of us had watched a full film at the cinema with nobody else present.

We decided to drive down to Medford after the movie to get a gift for Audrey's birthday next week - and one for little Kendall too.

Tuesday 8th October

Back to Table Rock again but this time Jo and I took on Lower Table Rock, which sits almost adjacent to Upper Table Rock which Barry, Helen and I had hiked. The names are a little confusing - they don't refer to the height of the plateaus, but rather to their location along the Rogue river. Both are just over 2,000 feet above sea level - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_and_Lower_Table_Rock - but the actual height climbed, according to my Strava stats, shows the Lower one had 242 m of climbing while the Upper one had just 228 m. Certainly, the Lower one is a bit harder as there are more straight uphill stretches whilst the Upper one is virtually all gentle zig-zags.

Anyway, with the promise of a visit to Dairy Queen, Jo successfully made it to the top:

We did a drive-through at Dairy Queen and each had a medium "Blizzard" - Jo's being the seasonal Pumpkin Pie flavour. We never learn - they were very nice at the time but we really should have just shared a small one as we suffered a bit afterwards.

Wednesday 9th October

We await the arrival of Cade today - he's coming down to Grants Pass for an eye test etc and while he's here, Scott's going to do some maintenance on his car - bleeding the brakes etc. Cade goes back to work tomorrow and Audrey arrives here for a few days, including a birthday party for her on Saturday, with Scott's family joining too.

Grants Pass update

Monday 23rd September

Quietish day - Scott and Lucy back at work while, apart from me doing a short growler fill cycle, Jo and I spent most of our time at Delsie Drive.

Tuesday 24th September

Lucy was off work today but Scott did a few hours in the morning, after which we all jumped in the truck and drove across to Medford to meet Barry and Helen. We picked them up at the airport then nipped over to nearby Kaleidoscope (https://kaleidoscopepizza.com/) for pizzas and beer.

Barry and Helen did the reconnaissance tour back at Scott and Lucy's, unpacked a little and settled in for the evening, looking forward to 5 clear days in Southern Oregon.

Wednesday 25th September

After breakfast all 6 of us plus the dogs - Philly and Buster - set off for a short hike at the local Cathedral Hilla trails:

Now the decision was - which outlet shall we go to for drinks and pies - nearby in Grants Pass at Powderhorn Cafe or out in the Applegate Valley to Pennington Farm (https://www.pennington.farm/)? The latter won and we had lunch there, each couple sharing a savoury and a sweet pie - and, naturally, we took home a large strawberry rhubarb pie for us all to enjoy that evening.

Back in GP, I decided I needed a growler refill and Barry joined me in a short cycle downtown. While I was in PNW getting it filled, Barry stayed outside looking after the bikes. He chatted to a passing stranger who then jumped in to his car, then stopped again to engage Barry in further conversation about the monarchy. He was pretty opinionated and sounded off about Charles and Camilla and enquired about the Stone of Destiny. His next move alarmed Barry a little as he picked up his gun from the front passenger seat in a demonstration of what law-abiding Americans required.

Thursday 26th September

It was decided to take a longer drive today and go up Mount Ashland. The first part of the journey on the I-5 was easy but then we began to climb the winding mountain road. Finally, we arrived at the ski centre, some 7,500 feet above sea level where we had spectacular views across to still snow-topped Mount Shasta (14,000 feet) in neighbouring California:

The Pacific Crest trail - like the I-5 - goes all the way from Mexico to Canada - some 2,300 miles. Well, we managed 0.1% of that before jumping back in the truck and headed back down to the lovely town of Ashland for a spot of lunch and a stroll round the town.

Friday 27th September

A much shorter drive today over to historic Jacksonville, but without Jo who had a bad night with a rasping cough and aching limbs. The rest of us took the historic trolley ride round the town then had lunch on the balcony at La Fiesta (https://www.lafiestamexicanor.com/), a place that Jo and I had been to last year. On the drive back, we took the more scenic route through the Applegate Valley, stopping to sample one of the many wineries - https://redlilyvineyards.com/. We took our samplers - in test tubes - down to the riverside:

The drive from there took us past Pennington Farms again - we couldn't resist a quick pit stop to pick up another family strawberry rhubarb pie.

Saturday 28th September

Just 3 of us on today's adventure. Scott and Lucy had other matters to attend to and Jo still hadn't recovered sufficiently. Table Rock was the plan but we stopped on the way to take in the Ti'lomikh Falls:

We got a bit confused between the 2 Table Rocks but eventually made it to the trailhead at the Upper one. Very nice path - new stones and an easy zig-zag to the top where we took a walk around the lava-covered plateau with turkey vultures riding the thermals above us and with terrific views of the pointy Mount McLoughlin (9,500 feet):

One penance that had to be paid - it was Barry and Helen's first visit to USA after all - was a visit to the Oregon Vortex/House of Mystery (https://www.oregonvortex.com/). It's a bit weird - Helen likened it to a school physics experiment.

For our penultimate meal as a group, we decided to eat out back:

Sunday 29th September

Still without Jo, who was a bit better but opted for another recovery day - a wise decision in hindsight - 5 of us headed out to Hellgate Canyon and beyond Galice for a hike out to Rainie Falls. We had hoped to take Barry and Helen on the jetboats (https://hellgate.com/) down the Rogue River to Hellgate Canyon but the rides had stopped earlier than usual this year. We were able to stop at a spot en route overlooking the narrow canyon where films and TV shows had been made:

Next stop was Rainie Falls:

The walk to the Falls was 2 miles out and 2 miles back along a fairly narrow, dusty and eventually rocky, path. I had ditched the old sports shoes I had brought on holiday, thinking I could get one more year out of them, and was today wearing a pair of Scott's trainers - they definitely helped but my poor old knees struggled. I managed in the end - just:

Back in Grants Pass, Barry and Helen had insisted they wanted to take us all out for a meal - mostly to thank Scott and Lucy for their hospitality. We'd had a number of excellent meals at Delsie Drive, with Scott, as ever, the barbecue king, and Lucy on full support with salads, sides, wines etc. Now we were all dining out. After one false start we ended up at the Horny Goat (https://hornygoatgp.com/), which describes itself as a gastropub - and it pretty much lived up to that.

Monday 30th September

Scott and Lucy had a full day at work so they said their goodbyes to Barry and Helen, while Jo and I drove them to Medford airport and saw them get checked in and through security safely before we headed off on a shopping expedition to get me a new pair of shoes:

Tuesday 1st October

Barry had kept in touch and by the time we had breakfasted they were back home again. Jo and I had an easy day at Delsie Drive while Scott and Lucy were on catch-up hours at work.

Wednesday 2nd October

It was laundry day - including bed linen - but we had enough time in the afternoon to take the fairly short walk down to Schroeder Park and the Rogue river:

We used to do this walk regularly but didn't do it last year, nor in the 3 previous Covid years, so were amazed how much housing had been completed in our absence - it threw us off course briefly.

Thursday 3rd October (today)

Jo, feeling a little better, agreed to go for a walk this morning. We returned to the trails at Waters Creek - another place we hadn't been to for a few years. The start wasn't very promising:

We took heed but carried on, making sure we made enough noise to warn animals of our imminent arrival:

There may be a slight look of relief on my face at the end:

So that's it - a mammoth post, but we're back up to date again.

Oregon so far

We've now spent our 2nd weekend in Grants Pass and the weather has been lovely - not too hot for too long each day. In midsummer it's very hot all day long but now in Fall, it can be cool overnight and first thing in the morning with the peak temperature arriving mid-afternoon before cooling down again.

First light is about 6:30 am and sundown roughly 7:30 pm. I'm writing this on Monday morning just before noon and the temperature is currently 77 F (25 C), rising to 89 F (32 C) at 4 pm. When Barry and Helen arrive here tomorrow it's going to be 94 F (35 C) but it drops by about 20 F on Wednesday befor rising again.

Enough of the weather report - what have we been up to? Not a lot for the first few days - our first activity beyond Delsie Drive was a trail walk last Wednesday at nearby Cathedral Hills - one that we plan to repeat with Barry and Helen this week. Then, on Thursday we took the long-ish drive (c. 3.5 hours) up to Salem to see Cade, Audrey and little Kendall. We stayed overnight - Scott and Lucy in their new, smaller trailer and Jo and I at the Holiday Inn. Here's the trailer parked on the driveway of Cade & Audrey's home:

The one on the left is where they're staying

Kendall loves her remote controlled car:

On Friday morning we all went to breakfast at the French Press (https://frenchpressroasters.com/) then back to their house where Cade got ready for his 12.5 hour shift at the hospital. Jo was in her natural habitat:

as was Lucy:

Kendall had her morning nap after which we went shopping to a couple of different malls. We grabbed a fairly quick bite at Chipotle (https://www.chipotle.com/). Back at the house, forward planning for Christmas was in place as both Scott and Lucy modelled their Xmas jammies - to preserve their modesty, no photos were taken. We then hit the road south again to Grants Pass.

On Saturday, I took Scott's bike out for a short ride, crossing the river over the bridge in the park:

Hallowe'en is a big thing over here - many of the houses are decorated already. Here's one I passed on my ride:

I walked round the Saturday market and the downtown shops then headed back to Delsie Drive. It was Scott's nephew's 15th birthday and Laramie and Rick had arranged to go to the motor racing in Medford that evening - but first, dinner at Kaleidoscope (https://kaleidoscopepizza.com/) for 9 of us - the boys (Lincoln and Davis) plus Scott's Dad, Bill.

On Sunday, we walked round to the Toasted Barrel (https://www.thetoastedbarreloregon.com/) for lunch then Scott and I headed to Dutcher Creek (https://dutchercreekgolfcourse.com/) for a few holes of golf. Scott did pretty well but I had a wretched time - another bad day at the office.

2024 USA Holiday so far

We're now having some down time at Lucy's in Grants Pass after our fairly hectic road trip - Chicago - Detroit - Cleveland - Niagara - Toronto. Five US states and 2 countries in 12 days.

The music part involved visits to the historic Chess Studios and to Buddy Guy's Legends club in Chicago; Motown in Detroit and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland - all excellent. We stayed in 4 lovely hotels and a nice apartment (Niagara) - the best of them was the first one, the Blackstone in Chicago.

We were impressed with the US cities - Chicago and Cleveland both looking very smart and tidy, and even Detroit was looking good on the waterfront. Less favourable was Toronto which was full of high rise buildings, having apparently demolished many of their classic old buildings. Niagara-on-the-Lake was very pretty and the Falls themselves are special but the surroundings make Blackpool look classy. Tacky is not a strong enough word.

We almost crossed with Barry and Helen who were in Toronto and Niagara just a few days beforehand. We'll catch up with them again next week when they arrive in Oregon. We also weren't all that far from Dawn and Meghan and family when we passed through New York state - they were on vacation north of the Big Apple.

Apart from one fairly cool day in Detroit, the weather has been great - warm and sunny but not too hot.

Now, some photographs from our trip so far - hopefully mostly ones that haven't been posted on Facebook or WhatsApp:

The Blackstone - our historic hotel in Chicago

Lunch at a pizza restaurant on the Chicago river

Selfie on our boat trip on Lake Michigan

A classic US city scene - overhead rail and external fire escape in Chicago

Inside the legendary Studio A at Motown where all the magic happened

Rehydrating at Southern Tier brewpub after our visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland

Looking over at America from the Skylon Tower, Niagara

One of the boats approcahing the Horseshoe falls

Another silly Niagara photo

Selfie above the Horseshoe falls

Our rental car and the house we stayed in at Niagara - our appartment was accessed through the car port

That's about all for now - Toronto was so uninteresting that I don't have any more photos that haven't already been published - I didn't even take any from our bus sightseeing tour, but we did enjoy the wonderful St. Lawrence market so I've pinched this external view from the web: