Camping and Shakespeare

For the final trip in our trip-full summer we drove to Oregon. If you ever find yourself driving between Oregon and the Bay Area, there are two fantastic places to stop for picnics. First is Castle Crags State Park, about four hours north of Berkeley. If you are too hungry, stop instead at William B. Ide Adobe State Historic Park for a lovely lunch along the river.

We arrived in Ashland, home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, in time to go shopping, make dinner (when we visit Ashland, we stay at the very cute Columbia Hotel, which has a room with a kitchen), and attend the evening, outdoors performance of Merchant of Venice. The next morning we drove to the Applegate River area, south east of Jacksonville, about an hour from Ashland, where we found a beautiful campsite at Jackson Campground. Hiking and swimming ensued.

The next day, the third on our trip, we returned to Ashland for more shopping, a walk through Ashland's lovely Lithia Park, and a matinee: a cute adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. We finished our camping trip with a day hike and after a night in the hotel and three nights camping we packed up and drove to Eugene, just in time for me to attend a week-long conference while B hung out with my family.