Ashland, Oregon and Crater Lake

Ashland, Oregon is so close to California that people drive up from San Francisco for the weekend. It is an attractive town with a very active year round art scene, including a very popular Shakespeare Festival. We usually take another route into Oregon through Grant's Pass for the whitewater rafting but this time we spent the night in Ashland. 

There was an outdoor free show before the play. Apparently it changes every night. This night it was Morris dancing backed up with musicians. After an hour I was wishing they had more acts mixed together like they do at the Cedar City Shakespeare pre-show. BTW that is Franklin in the far right watching the show from the back. 

The Shakespeare play that evening was the same one we had seen in California last week so instead we saw the Stephen Sondheim musical, Into The Woods. The outdoor theater was very attractive, sort of like the Globe theater where Shakespeare's plays were produced in Stratford-on Avon. The play but was good too. The walk to and from the theater was very nice from our hotel, particularly in the dark after the play. 

We had an excellent Asian fusion meal at Sesame, a restaurant with outdoor seating along a canal and enjoyed the Sunday arts and crafts on the street.

We liked Ashland and plan to return. However, to keep to our schedule we left and drove on to Crater Lake National Park. Crater Lake, as you can see in these photos, is very attractive and frankly much nicer than I had expected.  Crater Lake is almost 2000 feet deep and, as you can see in the photos it is extremely clear and blue. There is a road around the lake so you can enjoy it from every angle. There is also some snow along the road in July and cross country skiing. I saw some folks taking out their skis and getting ready to ski. 

 

From Crater Lake we cruised on into Portland. Which brings us to the end of the sightseeing portion of our summer vacation. 

We enjoyed taking this three week road trip. I hope you enjoyed reading about it. 

Bye for now. 
Amy