One final hoorah

For the last weekend of summer, we took a Clark family road trip to Southern Oregon.  It was the only weekend of the summer when I didn't have work commitments, and I just wanted to GET AWAY.  We splurged a little and stayed at a little house on the Rogue River in Gold Hill, Oregon.  I say splurged, but it wasn't much more than a hotel would have cost and we had the luxury of a kitchen and living area.  It was also a great central location to all of the wine tasting and other places we wanted to visit.

When we arrived in Southern Oregon, the sky was blue and the weather was great, as you can see from the picture below.  By the time we left, you couldn't see much to the left or right of you because of the forest fires that were happening across the state and polluting the atmosphere.

Our first stop was a winery right off the freeway.  We were antsy to get out of the car, stretch our legs, and taste some wine from this region of the state.

Blue sky at Del Rio Vineyards

Wine for us and peanut butter for Trey

Trey taking his first photo of us...didn't do too bad of a job, huh?

Trey beginning his love affair with selfies

Trey playing with his toys while I sat on the couch and read my book...

perfect vacation in my book!

The next day we headed out for some wine tasting.  I had a few on my list that I wanted to try after drinking their wine at a southern Oregon wine festival in Portland a few years before.  First we went to Kriselle Cellars.  The wine was okay, but not as wonderful as I remembered.

When people ask how we manage to take Trey wine tasting, we say, "Toys, snacks, and iPad."

I'm sure this view is beautiful on a clear day.

Later that day we went to a brewpub in Ashland and then went to the Scienceworks Museum in Ashland.  It was a great hands-on museum and we all had fun.  After that we went to meet Dora and her husband at Caldera Brewing for dinner.  It was a full and fun day!

Ginormous bubbles!

Human kaleidoscope!

The sky - a little different than when we arrived.

We decided to take a spontaneous roadtrip to see the Redwoods.  While I'm glad we went, it was a long drive for a short visit, and I wish we would have planned it a little better (opposite of spontaneity, I guess).  Also, some of our routes were shut down due to the fires, so that part we could not have expected.

Randy looking under rocks, as he always does when we are near a river

Back at our little house on the river...Trey and Randy did some fishing and I did some reading.  It was a glorious end to our trip, and I think we all enjoyed it.