Star crossed evening

In the spirit of vacation, Jessica and I got massages on Tuesday—they were wonderful. Although I loved it, I decided that the spa atmosphere is not for me. It’s so darn quiet. Jessica says that, if I worked there, I would have to go to a loud restaurant every day for lunch. I felt smothered by the silence. I guess some people call that atmosphere relaxing. I suck at relaxing.

After our incredible massages, we headed back to our hotel for showers and rest, with plans to go to a “fancy” dinner and our evening play. The weather was nasty, but I really wanted to treat Jessica to a nice dinner before the play. (She claims that Shakespeare’s overrated, so I needed to give her some incentive to trek to the Ashland festival). We planned to dress nice, but the weather forced us to wear jeans. We both noticed a yummy looking (looks can be deceiving) Italian restaurant, and we decided that it would be a good choice for our special night out.

Our choice of restaurants was the first event in our date-gone-bad. The restaurant had a strange feel to it. We weren’t sure if we were going to be seated. Our server was wearing a tank top. The place was dingy. Despite the “strangeness”, the prices on the menu seemed to promise a “nice” dinner. We both ordered chicken parmesan. Being the "eager beaver" that I am, I was the first to cut into my chicken. It was entirely raw inside! The server acted as if it was my fault and said that she would stick it back in the oven. Yuck. Shortly after, we had an awkward confrontation with a lady who wasn’t even our server. Neither of us ate much, we were upset, and we left in a huff.

Jessica suggested another trip to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. (We were still hungry, after all.) I, of course, quickly agreed. When Jessica stepped up to the register, she realized that she left her wallet in the awful restaurant! She had to swallow her pride and retrieve her wallet. After the mission was accomplished, we began walking down the street and her toffee ended up plunging to the sidewalk. Oh, night of nights. Even the toffee had a bad ending!

Thankfully, our evening ended with a spectacular performance of The Merry Wives of Windsor. The rain even let up (the theatre is a globe-style open air theatre) for the duration of the play.
Both of the plays were extraordinary. The creative forces behind the performances are breathtaking.



We made it home alive.

Did I miss anything, Jess?

By the way, this beautiful photography was done by Jessica. She has "one of them digital cameras."

Ashland, Oregon will never be the same

This blog is a co-effort between Sherry and Jessica. On two separate laptops, on parallel beds we lie. Neither of us can see what the other is writing. Yet, the two entries will merge into one.

Road Trip
Sherry:
We rolled through Starbucks to get juice for the journey. Jessica laid down the ground rules for music—she informed me that we were going to take turns choosing CDs. I let her know that, last night, I left my CDs at my mom’s house. She seemed relieved as she exclaimed, “I guess I get to choose ALL the music!” We listened to some gangster rap, classic rock, “fun music”, and New Kids on the Block. Hmm. The right stuff, baby!

We invented some very cool dance moves and discussed mental disorders for most of the trip. Jessica assured me that the fact that I was shaking my foot was a manifestation of my anxiety disorder—I told her that I was trying to tap along with the music. She pointed out that I was off beat.

We saw some cute earthy boys with “buy organic” bumper stickers. At Jessica’s urging, I contemplated flashing them. I didn’t. The trip was actually quite uneventful. I guess the college days of guys following us to gas stations and hanging out the windows making obscene gestures are over. Alas, we are teachers.

Jessica:
Our trip began with two identical cups of Starbucks coffee: two grande non-fat with whip caramel macchiatos, two travelers, one car. The journey up was fairly uneventful, save for two events. The first occurred about four minutes into the trip, when my CD player decided to become schizophrenic and began splicing and altogether skipping songs at random. The second event could have led to tragedy. Somehow, in our caffeine-induced mania, we managed to miss the 505. We drove all the way to Davis before we realized our mistake. Fortunately, Sherry found an old map in my car and navigated us back onto the correct path. She resisted my urges to call Kevin, stating adamantly that we could solve this without “The Men”. And we did. The trees, mountains, and view of Lake Shasta were definitely a treat. If Sherry tells you that I veered off the road on several occasions while trying to find the M&Ms in my trail-mix, I am sad to say that she is telling the truth.

Making Our Presence Known
Sherry:
We checked into the hotel, did a little shopping, and strolled through the park. We had a not-so-impressive dinner at a local brewery. I tried to talk to Jessica, but she was much more interested in the flight patterns of the nearby flies. Her fly-watching got her into some trouble with the nearby cooks; they were hoping that her glances were being cast their way. Nope--she liked the flies.

Jessica:
After arriving in Ashland, we decided to take a walking tour of the area. Our first, and most logical stop, was the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. I wanted to purchase a white-chocolate covered strawberry, but the candy lady told me that they didn’t have any. She did, however, try to sell me a hunk of white chocolate with dehydrated strawberries in it, which I passed on. We wandered the streets for awhile, checking out little boutiques and lounging in a bookstore (the only store in Ashland, it seems, that is open on a Monday night past 5:30). We also had dinner at a brewery, where neither of had beer because 1. Sherry forgot to order beer and ordered a diet Pepsi, and 2. I didn’t want beer. Our waitress, First night Fran, forgot about us at the end of our meal, and we were left to watch three hover flies do a magic dance of geometric symmetry next to our table. Oh yeah, and the chefs were staring at us the entire meal, but it may have been because we were watching the hover flies, which happened to be in the same direction as the men. We were also offered pot by some deaf teenagers (we know they were deaf because they gestured to us “Want to buy pot?” in sign language) while grunting. There were also two Satan worshipers making music on a waterbowl over a vent outside of a store. We’re not sure what that was about.

Twilight Stroll
Sherry:
We got back to our room much too early. It was embarrassing. Jessica spent some time sitting in the windowsill taking pictures and commenting on the people walking on the street below. Partially out of a desire to remove her from the windowsill, and partially out of boredom, I suggested that we take a walk, as well.

Jessica schooled me in the ways of digital photography. She informed me, “If you use a digital camera, you can take pictures of all kinds of crazy shit.” The people across the pond were watching us. I told her that I felt like a monkey at a zoo, and she said, “I like it! Let ‘em look!”

Then, we decided to blog. I’m waiting for Jessica to complete her entry. She just said, “How do you spell Satan?”

Jessica:
Sherry got tired of watching me try to climb out of our hotel window to take pictures, so she made me go for a walk with her. I brought my camera, and took many fascinating photographs. The End.

Leaving on a jet plane...

If you could hop on a plane and go anywhere in the world (money not being an issue), accompanied by two people of your choosing, where would you go and who would you bring (the second question is optional)? And, Why? Jess, this is where that personal jet will come in handy- we might need to borrow it.