The Oregon Caves

Last weekend Connor and I went up to Oregon to visit my family. Part of the trip was spent making recordings of my Oma's stories of growing up in WWII Germany, but we also were able to visit with a number of other relatives too. I also was able to share the Oregon Caves with Connor. I hadn't been in a number of years. They aren't open year round, so we took advantage while we were in the area.

Oregon Caves National Monument set aside by President Taft on July 12, 1909

My aunt, uncle, and their grandkids joined us. We've been to a number of caves, but it is interesting how different each one is. We were told that the Oregon Caves are made of marble, which is rather unusual. I noticed that these caves were much colder than any of the other ones I'd been in before, although I'm not sure why that was.

The Paradise Lost formation

Part way through, one of the kiddos wasn't feeling so well, so my aunt left with him through a rather handy door that was available to exit by at the 40% mark of the tour. After going through the caves, Connor and I opted to do the extra nature hike that looped down to the visitor center. My uncle took the remaining kiddos directly down.

After doing the short hike, Connor and I had a look at the visitor center. They have this neat model that shows you the route you walk on the tour.

We also picked up a magnet and patch while we were there.

I'm glad I got to share a childhood memory with Connor and make some new ones with my family.

Oma Approved

January's adventure involved a road trip to see my Oma. After meeting all of Connor's family, we felt it was important that he meet more of mine. Plus, he needed to be Oma-approved. 

We drove up our usual route with the traditional pit-stop in Weed for ice cream and french fries. Mount Shasta had a good dousing of snow since I'd last been by. 

We had a great time driving up. I had hoped that Christopher would be the driver when we reached the Oregon state sign because I knew he would be willing to pull over on the highway. Mum allowed us one take before we all ran back to the car. Thank goodness we got it on the first go.

I had a feeling Oma would like Connor, but I didn't realize that she would be an enthusiastic supporter. They hit it off. Yay!

Also note that Oma is wearing the sweater I made her. She didn't know we were coming. She wears it because she loves it. I think it suits her quite well.

After a few days of visiting we drove back down, although this time we took the coastal route. I knew that this would all be new to Connor. What I didn't realize was that Christopher hadn't seen much of the coast either. We stopped to see the cobra plants. Of course at this point Christopher had to imitate the "Purple Cobra" thing from the Dodgeball movie.

As it turns out, not only do Connor and Christopher get on well, they egg each other on. Their bromance went to 11 on this trip. I almost felt like the third wheel.

 Just look at these guys.

We continued on and stopped by the Trees of Mystery. This time around we realized two things that no one in the family had noticed before:

1. Paul Bunyan is not wearing a black shirt. It is his chest hair. 

2. You won't see it in this picture because Connor is in front, but Babe is definitely a male ox. 

Shenanigans continued as we stopped for dinner in Eureka.

And they didn't end the whole trip. We weren't sure anyone was going to get any sleep that night in the hotel. There was far too much laughter.

Crater Lake

I have been all over the place in the last two weeks and it doesn't look like it will let up any time soon. I was in Davis saying goodbye to friends and helping one pack up her house for moving day. Next week I'll be volunteering my time at a youth camp. But in between I went up to Oregon to visit my Oma. She's not been well, so I wanted to be sure to say goodbye before leaving for New Zealand. We had good, long visits. 

One of the days we were up there, we went out to Crater Lake. On the way we stopped by a natural bridge. The Rogue River briefly disappears as it shoots through a lava tube! It's pretty neat to see, but hard to capture in a photo. Below you can see the river entering the lava tube.

As we continued our way to Crater Lake we stopped again to see the Rogue Gorge, which is where the canyon narrows and water rushes by at a tremendous speed.

The power of the water is amazing to watch. This log had gotten jammed near the entrance to the gorge and water was spraying up into the air as it pressed into the wood.

After doing the two little hikes, we stopped at the lodge at Crater Lake for lunch. Afterwards, my aunt told us to go enjoy the view while she paid the bill. A fellow knitter stopped me and asked about my Pente sweater. (Id' finished weaving in the ends that morning, but hadn't blocked it yet.) It's always a good day when you get to talk about knitting.

I made sure to get my jumping photo in. Once again, I remembered to tuck my shirt in first.

It was cool and crisp up there, but that made it better sweater weather. Just before we left, Mum wanted to do a selfie. (Mum is not the most tech-literate, so I can't help but giggle when she says something like "selfie") She did a pretty good job getting us all in the frame. 

Middleford Yarn Co.

Last week I went up to visit my Oma. On the way, Mum and I visited some yarn shops. I got a warm reception at Middleford Yarn Co. in Medford Oregon. We popped in and found out that it was one of their knit nights, so of course I had to stay and knit. (I only managed to knit one round of the Dad sweater... what can I say, I'm chatty.) I also managed to not take one photo the entire trip. Luckily for me Heather took one of Tami and I. And now you can find copies of Lit Knits at Middleford.
I will definitely be back, the shop is beautiful. And next time I'll remember to bring my camera.

In other news for anyone who will be in the Bay Area this weekend, I'll be at the Piedmont Avenue Craft Fair on November 23rd from 10-4 with copies of Lit Knits for sale. It’s located at the Piedmont Elementary School Auditorium, 4314 Piedmont Ave. Hope to see you guys there!

Bug Glasses

I just got back from my trip where Mum and I were moving nonstop the entire time. I was able to see a bunch of my relatives and visit some of my favorite stores. While Mum and I were at Picos, I spotted these silly bug glasses. I slipped them on and tapped Mum on the shoulder. She spent the next 5-10 minutes laughing. Other customers also laughed as she tried to stifle herself. (A few days later she expressed interest in ordering coffee while wearing the glasses. I expressed the same amount of interest in pretending not to know her if she did that.)

On the knitting front, did I:
A) Finish the vest
B) Knit up to the arm holes
C) Knit 5 rows
If you guessed C, you would be correct. The only time I had to knit was when I was waiting for my turn in the bathroom. I spent all the car rides enjoying the view.

We were so busy the entire trip that I only took five pictures... at a cemetery. Mum and I visited the Oddfellows/ Masonic cemetery in Grants Pass that we have passed by on the freeway many times. For years I have wanted to visit. I found this pair of markers rather interesting. It was in a family plot. These two individuals died a week apart. I was curious if there was some sort of illness going around at the time.

Over all it was a good trip. I did, however, spend the car ride home with a sore jaw. It's been two weeks since I've had my wisdom teeth removed and I have moved backwards in regards to recovery. The sore jaw during the car ride got swollen by the end. It was like the Godfather Part 2 and the right side of my face was playing the part of Brando. It wasn't any better this morning, so I made a quick appointment and had it looked at. I'll spare you all the gory details, but I am on antibiotics again and have this rather bitter tasting dressing in my mouth. (Turns out I am one of the lucky 10%-15% that this secondary infection happens to. Lucky me.) Even though I would rather be completely healed by now, I'm just happy that this happened at the very end of our trip, I was able to get an appointment today, and that I have a few days to recover before going back to work. Thank goodness for modern medicine.

Yarn Is The Solution

On my return trip home, Mum and I stopped by Ashland to visit a buddy of mine. I had knit Aja a little something. When I bought Lorna's Laces Zombie BBQ, I knew it had to go to Aja. No question about it. When I handed the knit to her and told her the color name, she laughed and showed me that she was wearing her zombie shirt.

This hood is a prototype to a design idea I have. The prototype's name is My Body's A Zombie For You. A million points if you get the reference without looking on google. 

As promised, I didn't post the picture that made you look like Pacman.

And while we were in Ashland I had to visit the yarn shop. I give The Websters an A+. Everyone was friendly, the selection was great, and the prices were reasonable. I could give it a more thorough review, but I think you should just visit the shop yourself.

I bought a skein of Tosh Light in the Cousteau colorway for a design idea and three skeins of Spindrift in the Ivy colorway as a backup to my Druid mittens. I've encountered some sever gauge difficulty with those mittens, so I panicked and bought the three skeins. I challenge anyone to admit that they haven't thought that buying more yarn was a good solution.

After the yarn shop Mum and I asked Aja about a good lunch spot that was unique to Ashland. We settled on The Black Sheep. Could this day not get any more perfect? Not only was the place named after my favorite fiber-producing animal, but it's a British Pub. I love pub food.

I had the bangers and mash. It was excellent. Everything that we ordered was great! Mum had shepherds pie and Aja had Irish stew. I can't wait to go there again. I think it is my new favorite eatery.

A Favorite Detour

Whenever I go up to visit my grandparents, I usually try to also visit Jacksonville as well. One of my favorite cemeteries is there, a bunch of the walls around the town have old painted advertisements, and there are lots of fun little shops and places to explore. 

Unfortunately the yarn shop closed a few months ago, but my aunt introduced me to some fun new places. The first place we went to is called Jacksonville Barn Co. I predictably found some old suitcases I couldn't live without. The interiors were perfect. And although the bottom one is pretty large, it follows the "has to fit under my bed" rule.

I also saw a cute little book that I couldn't leave behind. I tried to, but it followed me to the register.

We all got hungry after scouring the Jacksonville Barn Co., so we went to our favorite restaurant, the Bella Union. Pictured is the Chocolate Decadence. It's like having a fudgy brownie. Yum! Not pictured (because it was awesome and I ate it so quickly) is the California Street Calamari Sandwich. Mum had one as well, but requested sourdough bread. 

After lunch my aunt took us to a little store I hadn't been to before. Pickety Place is one of the most fun little shops I'd been to in a long time. It was filled with all sorts of old knick knacks, but nothing really junky. And all the things I was interested in were priced well.

My aunt treated me to a little plate that had all the animals from the Chinese Zodiac around the edge. I bought myself a set of scrimshaw salt and pepper shakers. Don't ask me why, but I've been wanting a little scrimshawed something for awhile. I just think it's really neat.

Before we had left, I helped my uncle make a loaf of beer bread. So when we got home, there was a really yummy loaf of bread to be eaten. 

Mission Accomplished

Whew! I've been gone for a whole week from this blog. But I assure you it was for the best reason. Remember the cardigan I made for my Oma? Well, instead of mailing it, I decided that I would travel up to Oregon and hand deliver it. It was a surprise delivery. Guess who loves her new cardigan.

And it fits my Oma so well! The neck is the right fit, the sleeves end in the right spot. She can layer another sweater under the cardigan if she wants. I'm just so happy to see her in it. Oma told me that it will be her Thursday sweater. On Thursdays she goes out to the shops with my Aunt. She'd been a little sad to not have  something nice to wear outside of the house. But now she has a cute little cardi.

The trip up was pretty uneventful. Mum and I did stop at a rest stop that we don't normally stop at. I'm not sure I'd like to stop there again. I'm pretty impressed with the snake drawing though. The signs were all over. I wonder how many people were bitten before they were posted.

There was a really neat map sculpture at the rest stop. This stop is a little south of Redding.

Normally we don't go up to Oregon in winter. The pass near Ashland is frequently icy and we don't have chains. But it was pretty mild last week. I did enjoy seeing the winter light by Mt. Shasta. This picture was taken at the rest stops just north of Weed. We stop at a lot of rest stops...

I plan on posting a few more bits and pieces of the trip this week. Then back to knitting!