Photoessay #864 - Don Quixote and a Wayside

Last evening we went out to dinner at a very nice restaurant right in the Ashland Springs Hotel. Dennis' Aunt Eliza (about the same age) attended, featured the wine from their own vineyards and declared it Thanksgiving which meant that she and her husband would pick up the tab. One of those restaurants with gourmet items with all kinds of fancy stuff that you can't really remember and not sure that you know what they are anyway. But the ling cod I had was delicious and had quite a few sweet and salty parts to the dish including little tiny grapes and some fruit in some rice and some salty 'frizzie' (cooked greens). Then for dessert, Eliza decided to get one of each dessert on the meny 'for the table' (10 people). So we each had a little taste of everything. Fun! Loved it! Thanks for the lovely dinner, Eliza and Jim.

Then put on all the heavy warm stuff and off to the outside Globe Elizabethean theatre to watch a production of "Don Quixote". Great stage affects and acting. We will see "As You Like it" this evening.

The rest of the group are off to see "Paradise Lost" by Clifford Odets. Dennis and I decided to take a ride. Went on the Applegate highway between Medford and Grants Pass. Rural and pretty, hills with lots of vineyards and other agriculture. We both marvel how much the landscape reminds us of Central California. Dennis' parents talked about how much they liked Grants Pass but we didn't see anything exceptional but we did unknowingly purchase the world's largest sandwiches from the local grocery. We both remembered positive things about Valley of the Rogue State Park but it turned out to be scruffy and ugly and no access to the river.

I pick out a another scenic sidetrip and we bumble onto the best spot of the day. Gold Nugget Wayside near Gold Hill. BLM site. Go there! Short little walk to the beautiful shores of the Rogue River. The river runs strong even in October, look a bit upstream to some rapids and small waterfalls. Several small sites on the river with sand and rocky beaches. Beautiful, I want to go back already!