Monday, June 30, 2008

Day 51: Smoke from California Fires Reaches Southern Oregon

We went to Table Rock Fellowship Church this morning. It was awesome. Very similar to PC3 back in Wilmington, NC. The campus is very deceiving from the road on which we came in. It looks like a store front with the sign on the top, but as you weave your way behind that building, which actually houses the children's ministry you see a gorgeous campus. I swear I have never seen flowers as beautiful as those here in Oregon.
You can see some of the roses in the window of the KOA reservation desk behind Glenn. I still have to get pics of some around here before they all die out.

We have heard for several days that the smoke is horrible coming north in California up our way
We saw the smoke from the California wild fire rolling into this area today as we went to church.
By the time we ate lunch and left for work, you could even smell it. As the evening progressed, the smoke thickened. If it is this bad here, I can't imagine what it must be like in Northern California. Some of our campers said it was taking them 5 hours to travel a typically 1 hour drive up I-5 because of the smoke and they have shut down some of the roads near Happy Camp, an Indian Reservation.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Day 47: The Ranch

As I mentioned before, we have met some interesting people here in Oregon (many of which are not from Oregon, not even from the US!) One man hit it off with Glenn instantly when he came in to register. In fact that afternoon Glenn "rented" him our car for the afternoon because all he had was the RV and he needed to run into Medford to the Office Depot for something for his computer because evidently his computer is not compatible with the US wi-fi we have at this park. He and his family are from England. Long story short, when they left our park (before I even came to work here, he had rented a ranch since they plan to be in the states for 6 months or so doing some business. Well, they moved in last week so invited us for dinner tonight.
This is Andy and his wife, Leslie in the kitchen. (She'd kill me if she knew I posted this on our Blog) I wish we would have gotten more pictures of the house, it is gorgeous, even without much furniture
And this is Ashleigh. She is a spit-fire, 6 year old, red-head or "ginger nut" as her dad calls her because of her red hair.The ranch they rented came complete with a barn, pool and pool house (which Ashleigh wants us to move into, LOL),6 chickens and horses. Well, actually, the horses belong to the landlord, all except this stallion. According to Ashleigh, he isn't broken yet.
They had to separate him from the ladies, if you know what I mean. But as most macho men will do at times, he hurt his legs trying to get out of his pen and across the ranch to the fillies which belong to the landlord. There is a couple of landmarks here in the valley that still captivate Glenn and I. One is Table Rock (which is pictured below at sunset. We saw it on the way home tonight) and the other is Mt. McLaughlin. As we were walking around the back of the ranch we saw this beautiful view of Mt. McLaughlin.
If you look closely to the mid-left, the snow forms an angel. Leslie told me that legend has it that when the angel appears on that mountain the salmon are running in the streams, when she is gone, so are the salmon.
This is Steve, who lives in the lot diagonal to ours. He and Glenn helped Andy one evening after they moved in with something. The three of them are something when they are together! Leslie and I decided that they are 3 of a kind!
.
It was a wonderful evening. She had cooked roast with potatoes, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower (all cooked separately, not together as we do in southern USA) and Yorkshire pudding, all with gravy. They poured gravy over everything. I have to admit, once I poured it over the cauliflower, it tasted much better, I do not like cauliflower. But I could not eat the Yorkshire pudding. That texture was not for me. I love quiche, but couldn't do Yorkshire pudding.
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But the company was great and the conversation a mix between riotously hilarious and historically entertaining. We learned alot about their culture and them about ours. We spent much of the afternoon comparing the meanings of various words. We all speak English but with different dialects, slang and connotations of similar words.

Table Rock at sunset on June 25, 2008. A very nice ending to a relaxing evening with new friends.

Day 45: Abby's Legendary Pizza

We ran out to Wal-Mart and stopped at Abby's Legendary Pizza. Those restaurants are everywhere around here, so we figured we'd see why it is a "legendary pizza."

I will admit, it was good. We got a medium garlic chicken pizza. The cook made a mistake and made us the largest they have, this thing was HUGE!! I should have gotten a picture. It tasted pretty good too.

Day 44: Daydreaming

Wow! I can't believe it has been one week since I started working at the registration desk here at the Medford/Gold Hill KOA.
We have met so many interesting people. I am amazed at how many people travel up this way in rented RVs that are from other countries. This is the typical RV they drive up in, not a bad way to see the country, eh?
I want to go to Europe and RV!! How cool would that be? Of course we'd have to hit the hot spots.... But once we came to the boot called Italy, I may never go home again! Rome,

;>)Venice,
Tuscany! (((sigh)))
Okay, back to the US, wonderful country that it is!

I just can't help but daydream whenever I meet someone here from Germany, or Switzerland, or England, or even Canada!

(note: all the photos and maps were found using Google images)

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Day 41: Awning Issues

The awning on our RV automatically retracts when the winds are too high, so it has been coming in each evening. Not that the weather has been bad, but the winds just pick up here in the valley in the late afternoons. Anyway, Glenn noticed that when it came in yesterday, it wound up just a bit crooked. Well, those of you who know Glenn know that would not do! LOL. So he put it back out to see what was going on. Little did we know that that was not a good idea. So Jerry, our backdoor neighbor, came by to help him and they messed with it most of the afternoon.
We had plans to go to a Mexican Restaurant here in Gold Hill with another neighbor, Steve, so they did what they could until we could get a part for it.

So, today we looked for the part. One RV place quoted us over $200, but that was for a complete arm replacement. Another quoted $80, but that was also for much more than the small piece we needed. We opted for neither and came back to the camp. I went to the pool (no pictures of that!) while Glenn and the neighbor worked on it. It is now working, but still needs something.???

Monday, June 23, 2008

Day 40: Jacksonville, OR

We took a drive to historic Jacksonville, Oregon on Wednesday. The scenery was gorgeous. As we drew closer to town we passed a couple of Bed and Breakfasts that were as they were originally built in the mid-1800's as grand mansions. Unfortunately we did not stop to snap pictures because we thought we would travel back the same road on which we came into town, but we didn't. Here is one of the homes with a lovely garden in Jacksonville!
We actually started our adventure a few miles on the other side of town at a beautiful winery, the Valley View Winery. This is the vineyard. Don't you love all the roses? Roses are everywhere here in Oregon! (I'll have to get some great pics and post them here for you to see!)
Valley View Winery claims to be one of Oregon's oldest wineries, established in 1976.
We liked both of their dessert wines, Port 2006 and Viognier Late Harvest 2006. They are a bit pricier than what we are used to in North Carolina - at least more than our favorite the Duplin Wines, so we didn't purchase any. I'm standing in front of the wine tasting building which was absolutely gorgeous both inside and out!
Then we went back to Jacksonville, by-passing 4 other wineries or tasting rooms on the Applegate Trail, but they basically looked like someone's home, no where near as nice as the Valley View.
From the information we picked up in town, we learned that Jacksonville was started in 1851 with the discovery of gold, but unlike many other gold rush towns this little hub did not become a ghost town when the gold ran out, it became a "well-known trade center." The buildings still have an old west flavor to them. We strolled down the sidewalk and saw some pretty interesting window fronts.

Oregon strongly advocates recycling and we were impressed by this flip-flop mat. It is made of cut up flip flops wired together to form a mat/rug. It was pretty cool!Here is another gorgeous garden.

Here are some facts as listed in the historic landmark walking map:

  • Jacksonville sits at the foothills of the Siskiyou Mountains
  • Peter Britt, Oregon's first photographer arrived in Jacksonville in 1852. The Britt name is on several buildings in town and there is a festival there in the park called the Britt Music Festival
  • Other historic names (and houses) that helped create Jacksonville are Nunan, Beekman, Dowell, Booker, Cameron, Keegan, Vrooman, Jacobs, Loran, Hayes, Kubli, Karewski, Kahler, Mueller, Kennedy, Moore, Reames, and Wilson.
  • Jacksonville was bypassed as the location for the railroad to go through so Medford, the town about 30 minutes away, was born in 1886.
  • During the depression, folks in Jacksonville dug tunnels under the city and mined the gold was still there.
  • In the 1960's the US Bank restored the US Hotel in town which revitalized the town
  • Jacksonville is now a National Historic District

This well was on the side walk on the corner. It was there for the public to use as they strolled the streets back in the 1800's, a 19th century water fountain! And for a more common "watering hole" from the 1800's:


Table Rock Billiard Saloon originally built in 1859!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Days 37-39: Kamp Workers

Here we are, both working in the KOA office in Gold Hill, Oregon.
June 15th was my first day, but Glenn has been working since May. This is a really nice park and the people that own it are awesome. This is so much easier and more relaxed than our last camp working job last summer!

Friday, June 13, 2008

Day 34: Eagle Point to Gold Hill

Today we just took a scenic drive from Medford down Highway 62. We stopped in Eagle Point. It is a quaint little town. In fact a couple people from the park who have jobs in Medford or Grants Pass told us that if their jobs became permanent they would move to Eagle Point. I can see why. We stopped at the Post Office to mail some things and it seems the young mail clerk knew everyone by first name, and asked about their job or the family or whatever. Nice small town feel.
We went to Eagle Point because I'd gotten a flier about the Butte Creek Mill. (Pronounced byoot and according to dictionary.com means, "an isolated hill or mountain rising abruptly above the surrounding land.")
This is the Butte Creek Mill and Country Store. Signing the guest registry.We learned that the mill was built in 1872 so farmers could bring their grain to be ground. The miller kept one bag as payment. The Klamath Indians brought berries and leather goods to trade for the flour. It is still a mill and a store that sells grains and other local food products such as pastas, wines and candies.
Downstairs you could hear the river under the building but could not get to the actual wheel in the water, just this one hanging on the wall of what looked like a dining room.
The downstairs is also where they stored alot of other items.
Outside you could walk down near the water.
They also had part of a covered wagon.
Down the street was the Antelope Creek covered bridge. You can walk across it now, not drive.We took Highway 234 into Gold Hill. Along the way there were a couple of picnic & river access areas, so we pulled into one to walk down to the Rogue River.
Glenn went to the little boys room while I walked on down to the river. I jumped out of my skin and almost dropped the camera in the river when I heard something fall from the tree. After the second time I realized it was Glenn throwing rocks to scare me.
Great picture of Glenn, huh?
Then we came back to Gold Hill.

Another wild west gold rush town and where we have been staying for the past month.