Seattle to Very Northern California in One Day

Yo. We're at a Super 8 in Yreka, California (which I had only heard of due to a Sublime song). We woke up in Seattle, got in the car, and drove down to Portland, having no idea what we would do. But before we did, I took a few giant sprigs of fresh rosemary and put them on the center dashboard console. It's like a pinetree air freshener, just a little larger... 

(The funny part is that when we crossed into Cali at 1am just now, there was a guy stopping every car at the border asking if we had any fresh fruits or vegetables with us, to which I responded, "No", and it is only now dawning on me as I write this caption that there was a massive amount of fresh rosemary just sitting on my dashboard console, which neither he nor I picked up on at the time.)

Luckily, once in Portland, we found two street festivals, including one called the "Bite of Oregon", which was very similar to the "Bite of Bozeman". Highlights included solid ribs, free pork samples, seeing my first "wine cozy", getting up on stage in front of a crowd to guess spices blindfolded, etc.

(Apparently I have a talent for finding festivals that start with the term "Bite of" and end with the names of municipalities.)

(Standing on stage guessing spices while blindfolded. When I was presented with my mystery spice, I guessed mint. The wannabe Billy Mays guy made me look like an idiot in front of the crowd by announcing into his microphone, "Sorry sir, but it's actually Chocolate Mint." He then told me to crush up some of the mint in between my hands, and asked if I could now smell the undertones of chocolate on my fingers, so I made him look like an idiot in front of the crowd by announcing into his microphone, "Sorry sir, but the only thing I can smell on my fingers are the ribs I just ate." The crowd loved it.)

(At the Bite of Oregon festival.)

(Best dude ever.)

(Solid spot. See below.)

(This was not a bad deal for $6. Ribs were large, tender and meaty.)

(The wine cozy. Genius. Look ma, no hands.)

(The Skewer Master.)

(One of his masterpieces.)

(The Portland Saturday Market. Lots of stuff to not buy.)

We then got back in the car and headed to Eugene, Oregon to see the University of Oregon campus, as well as the main local bar, Taylor's. Here are some pics from the drive.

The Oregon campus was beautiful, and Taylor's proved to be a pretty well-equipped space. Pics below:

(An oldie but a goodie.)

(Center of campus.)

(Just a couple of the many sculptures on campus - one in the right foreground and the other in the left background.)

(Where Ducks go for a drink.)

(Solid college bar.)

(Incredibly bitter, but not in an unpleasantly way. This was as much as I was willing to drink, given the 200 mile drive ahead of me.)

After that, we got a recommendation to go to Ashland, Oregon, as the bartender at Taylor's, Garth, told us it would be fun. Perhaps we didn't hear him mutter the word "not" under his breath after he said this. Ashland is not that much fun. Plus, when you order chicken at the local restaurant, they bring you fish. And, there are no hotel or motel rooms, just really fancy looking hotels with locked doors.

(This is the most fun thing to do in Ashland, Oregon on a Saturday night. I wish I were kidding. Don't say I didn't warn you.)

(The nicest hotel in town. No vacancy. Give me a Super 8 any day - especially given I've stayed at three within the past week.)

So, we said goodbye to Ashland, drove another 30 miles South, crossed into California, and now we are crashing at the local Super 8. We are taking a detour into Sonoma tomorrow on the way into San Francisco, as we know a couple of folks who have their folks' place for the weekend, so we're going to hit them up for lunch. 

15 States down. About a dozen to go. Feeling good. Time to sleep.