Day Eight – Tea’d Off

We left Albany at 8:30 am headed for Eugene. The Zumo picked a fantastic route for us. We traveled through farm fields and orchards. We even saw a hot air balloon.

The valley went through several small towns with picturesque homes and buildings. We even saw a covered bridge.

Once we passed through the valley, we made our way up into the forested hills.

We stopped in Eugene to visit with our niece who works for the university. We haven’t seen her since her move from Austin, TX. It was great to catch up with her and hear that she is doing well. We only wish we could have seen her pup, Luna as well.

After a great visit with Maria, we got back on the road headed for Ashland. We went through four National Forests – the Willamette, the Umpqua, Deschutes and finally the Rouge River- Siskiyou.

The weather was perfect and we even got a little chilled as we went over the Willamette pass.

We were hungry by the time we got to Ashland but we knew the restaurants would be packed before the Shakespeare festival shows so we lollied about and took a walk downtown.

We were looking forward to having a glass of wine at our favorite wine bar – Liquid Assets, only to find that they were out of business and the space now occupied a tea shop!!!??? As Heraclitus of Ephesus said, “The only constant in life is change.” We were disappointed but found a creekside restaurant to enjoy a glass of wine and some dinner.

Tom called his nephew, who now lives in Ashland, to see if we could meet with him and his daughter while we’re here. We are going to see them tomorrow and have lunch together.

It was a really nice day with perfect weather, good roads and fun with the delightful Maria!

Cathy’s Barn of the Day Pic…