Day 6: Oregon

Sunday began bright and early by attending Mass with Auntie at her beautiful parish. Of course, I studied almost entirely the narthex and the outdoor front steps as I walked with a rowdy 19-month-old! But glimpses into the sanctuary tell me it is a lovely church.

John found this "big boy shirt" when I was packing
and made me take it for Joseph to wear to Mass.

Auntie taking us to Mass

After Mass, we attended the most lovely garden party hosted by the R----s, friends of my aunt's whom I've visited for nearly 30 years now. For brunch, they served coffee and orange juice, toast with homemade jam, cold cuts, cheese, garden tomatoes and cucumbers, scrambled eggs, and finished with strawberry shortcake with whipped cream. We ate out in their exquisite garden, the results of three decades of work.

I was suffering Garden Envy--as I come from a line of serious gardeners on both sides--such that I had to repeatedly tell myself, "You're raising children, not plants right now! Children, not plants!"

Harvesting raspberries

Playing with bocce balls

Next on the list was to visit Lithia Park in historic Ashland of hippies and Shakespeare festival fame. Walking in toward the duck pond, what did we see but the Gruvee Volkswagon van. (If you search online for Gruvee, you will see that photos of this van have a presence on every single social media site.)

This couple perfectly embody Ashland. They tour the country with their vehicle, making money by sharing its story and by selling "love beads" necklaces. They were a warm, friendly man and woman who showed us everything about their vehicles.

The van itself is certified to have more than a million miles on it. The refurbishing job is beautiful, the paint job a dark burgundy with little sparkles in it, all the details chrome. Of course, the interior is perfect to every detail.

Behind the van, on a trailer, is a one-person race car that goes 100 mph, and is an exact replica of the Gruvee van.

This gentleman has been to 198 Grateful Dead concerts.

And that's not all . . . the couple has built a small radio-controlled Gruvee van!

The whole encounter was a hoot and added much to the color of our Ashland visit. (Of course, arriving downtown and finding a couple of hippies walking a mother-and-baby goat down the sidewalk also added color.)

We made our way to the duck pond, where one may admire the ducks but not feed them. (This is better than allowing the duck population to grow from bread crusts to an unsustainable level and then having to bring in river otters for abatement purposes.)

Margaret's thinking stump

I have no photos documenting the wonderful playground at Lithia Park. Margaret had a grand old time, but I was holding a struggling, wailing Joseph in my arms, as he was too young to be safe at this Big Kid Playground. We left rather early because the situation was so sorrowful for the little guy.

By that time, Margaret was an Unhappy Camper, being very fatigued, so we drove back to home base for a hotel picnic of Mexican take-out food.

And that wrapped up our Sunday!