Quick Catch-Up from Medford, Oregon

What day is this, Tuesday? Yeah, I think so. So, this must be Medford. Yup. Nice, posh hotel room w/ fluffy king-sized bed; full-time strong internet connection; large shower w/ a shower head that towers over me; hot & cold running food at the breakfast bar downstairs; Mother waiting for me at the top of the hill; no mice… LOL

We arrived in Medford late Saturday night (11:00) after cleaning our little cabin by the Lake & taking the “scenic” route home. All b/c I wanted to stop by the ranger station & get that cute Desolation Wilderness water bottle I didn’t buy there earlier. Instead of returning the way we came, thru the desert of Carson City & Reno, we went up the west side of the Lake & took Hwy 89 all the way until it hit I-5 at Mt. Shasta. Much better way. Longer, but better.

Hwy 89 takes us thru Mt. Lassen Nat’l Park. What a little gem that is! Well worth the $10/wk entry fee, even if we were just passing thru. It took us 2.5 hrs to travel 22 miles on what turns out to be the highest hwy in the Cascades (we topped out at 8500,’ or something like that), right to the base of the southernmost active volcano in the Cascade Range (the northernmost, interestingly enough, is Mt Girabaldi. Hmmm…)

We took lotsa pix at Lassen, of course, but these are just a few.

We leave Medford tomorrow & head over to Cannon Beach for a couple of nights & then on to Redmond for a couple more nights. This trip has really had it all: High Sierras, Big Blue Lake; Cascade peaks; drive-by desert (that’s enough desert for me!); two mothers, a brother & a long-time friend; Pacific Ocean beach; snow (above); sun; a drop or two of rain; & hopefully 30+ miles in our hiking boots before it’s all said & done. I really do hate to see it end, but we have many more adventures this summer!

I finally put together some pix of our Cabin by the Lake:

Be it ever so humble, it was home!

Another little side-note… while here in Medford I just started to search the job boards on-line just to see what was out there, even tho I’m not gonna really look ‘til Fall. The Guide Dogs are looking for an asst. trainer. I have no experience w/ dogs & no experience w/ the blind, except for my volunteer gigs in high school, but what the heck? The job’s open ‘til mid-August & starts in September. And it’s w/in walking distance from home! A lady I used to work w/ on staff was saying that she was praying for something totally different for my next job. Well, this is totally different…