Sunday, September 16, 2007

Day 5 - Redding to Medford

(Actually we are back home in Colorado now as I write this. We did not post anything during the trip after Day 4 since we didn't have time or could find a internet cafe. )

The weather was overcast and we were not able to see Mt Shasta or the tops of any peaks along the way back to Oregon. Breakfast was at a Denny's. We stopped in the town of Yreka, CA for lunch and looked for an internet cafe with computer for rent. While there was at least a couple of WiFi spots they did not have computers for customer use. We did find limited access at the city Library so we could check email.

Yreka (pronounced "Y"-reek-ah) was an interesting small town built for the gold found in the surface ground in the mid 1800's (not creeks and no mine shafts). Karla had a desire to find local fiber for spinning yarn and we got a tip for a store in the next town on our way, Ashland, OR.
Ashland is a College town and has a weavers shop in the old shopping section of town. Some interesting art and gift shops were there as well. These shopping sections of old town areas seem to typically have an eclectic variety of businesses. Ashlands' was smaller than expected, but had some good ones.
Medford was our destination for the night and we only really had time to find a good place to eat. We chose Kaleidoscope Pizza and it was very good, but a little pricey. Breakfast the next morning was at Spicers Restaurant & Dessertery as you leave Medford near the Costco on Crater Lake Hwy. It was kind of like a Village Inn and more economical. I only found it because it was in the Nuvi, we could not see it from the highway.
We stopped to view a small narrow gorge of the Rouge River near the intersection to go to Crater Lake. A good place to stop with a short path from the parking lot to a few nice overlooks. Crater Lake is a "Wow!" when you get your first view and that's exactly what the brochure said. We had time to walk around a few minutes and then the clouds started to flow into the crater and obstruct the view. As we rode north on the rim road we found little to see of the lake from the view points because of the clouds and it was becoming rather cold so we headed out of the Park towards Bend.
It was around 12:30 and lunch was on our minds and the trusty Nuvi only knew of one place on our way within range of our hunger. The Mohawk Restaurant & Lounge which proudly proclaims "Taxidermy and Bottle Collection" on the sign as well. Quite a display and the food was quite good also. Another worthy place to stop at if in the area.
In Bend we needed gas and Karla found a Weavers shop, but no fiber. However she was told about a great shop in Sisters which we decided we could just get there after we returned the Harley and got the rental car (this time a Chevy Cobalt). Hopefully they stayed open until 5pm. With just the name "Wild and Wooly" we stopped in Sisters at a convenience store for directions and they did not know the name, but knew of a weavers store. We got there just at 5 o'clock. Although the "Closed" sign was out the owner let us in and Karla was very happy with the store. She bought some different bundles of llama and sheep wool and may even mail order more. Baabaara's Wild and Wooly is the actual name, but
Our plans to head back to Portland via a different route through Salem was changed when we realized we had left our empty luggage at the Eagle Rider shop. I decided we should just go back and continue to Portland the same way we had come the week before after retrieving our bags. It was about a 25min backtrack, but still shorter overall.

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