Southern Oregon is Shakespeare Country

Last summer for my husband's birthday, I presented him with tickets to two plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. He was really not excited about it. I was patient with him because he had never been to the OSF, and therefore had no precedent upon which to base his silly emotional response.

Of the two plays in question, only one was Shakespeare: "Coriolanus". The other was Thornton Wilder's classic, "Our Town".

Since it was his birthday, it was his choice on how we spent our time when not otherwise engaged in culturally bettering ourselves. For my husband, that usually means going to unpopulated places for physical exercise. The more competitive, the better.

What else would you want to do in Southern Oregon in August, when the temperature tops 102 degrees??? We also had only a few extra hours.

Right. A hike it is! (was?)

View from the top, back to Ashland:

Can you feel the heat? Look at that sky! It was toasty.

We found a hike of reasonable distance and drove to the trailhead. It turned out to have been the location of a recent forest fire. I can imagine how quickly the fire swept over the top of the hill, pushed by winds. The clearing offered great views of Ashland, which is beautiful any time of year.

Does this man look 30???

It was a beautiful hike, through cool forests and open, grassy meadows until it reached the peak here, at (I forget the name of) this hill. It was open (as you can plainly see) and offered beautiful views of the valley below.

Here's the man...

"Do something funny! Strike a pose!" I requested, always looking to add interest to benign photographic situations. He complied, offering up a very 'Lewis & Clark discover the Pacific' kind of thing:


Might I add, if you haven't been to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, you are quite simply missing out on an amazing experience. It isn't hard to understand the language. Besides, you will be mesmerized by the set and costumes and acting that pulls you into the story without needing to be an English major.

Trust a man who, though skeptical at first, thoroughly enjoyed himself.