On August 22 it was time to make the yearly trek to Ashland for the Shakespeare Festival. Sunday we packed up and after I worked for a few hours headed out to Grandma's house.  Last year this time we did not have the cats so we needed to find someplace for them to stay while we were gone.  The drive up was painless and Ruth and Bish made a fantastic dinner and we just relaxed for the evening.  On Monday I dialed in and worked for several more hours before we decided to try and make a run for it so there would not be so much driving the next day.  For dinner we stopped at an Arby's and had beef & cheddar sandwiches.  They were having a special 3 for 5$ which is cheaper than for just two so John ordered that in addition to some cheese sticks!  At dinner we looked at the hotel paper which gives the list of hotels along the road and picked one for the night.  As we drove I worked on the new AD&D program which Steve gave me and made lots of nice NPC characters.  Eventually we found the exit we were looking for and pulled in.  The hotel was somewhere off the main drag and I was very tired and voted to stay in the "Tree House" Best Western.  I checked in while John parked and then we wandered up to our room changed and went down to the hot tub.  I had been having consistent back pain for a few days and the hot tub felt pretty good.  After soaking for a while we played around in the pool before heading back to the room.  I logged in checked my mail and worked for an hour or so before working on my adventure a little longer.   John also checked his mail and worked for a while.

In the morning we decided to drive up to Klamath Falls to see the falls.  Before leaving we went to the Ray's grocery and picked up some cheese, drinks, snacks and ice to picnic later in the afternoon.  We drove up to Klamath and decided to stop at the tourist booth to get some more information and found out there were no falls in Klamath.   The woman informed me the river had been dammed in the early 1900s.  John and I were stumped.. we wanted to see some nature so we asked her if there were other places where we could go and she suggested Fish Lake or Lake of the Woods.  We checked the map and decided to go for it.  We found the Lake of the Woods park easily enough and paid our day usage fee and found a nice spot for a picnic.  While snacking we were harassed by yellow jackets which seem to be epidemic in the area and annoyed by a jet boat on the lake.  The area was beautiful with nice pine trees and a pleasant breeze.   After lunch we walked along the beach and in the forest before heading to Ashland.   We drove down Dead Indian highway which had some very nice views but was very twisty and not very wide.  Once in Ashland we had no trouble finding Abbot's Cottages, where were were staying again this year.  The cottages are about 3/8 of a mile from downtown Ashland and the Oregon Shakespeare venues which makes it very convenient.  I worked when we arrived then we rested for a while at the cottages then went into town for dinner.  Ashland has more restaurants per capita than anywhere I have ever been!   We ended up eating at Martino's Restaurant & Bar which is not the most exciting place but the food was adequate.  After dinner we wandered about and then went to see 'The Thomas Crown Affair' with Renee Russo and Pierce Brosnan.  The movie was very good and we had a nice walk home.

On Wednesday we woke up and called Justin and Kat who happened to be staying in the Hersey House which was right across the street from the cottages.  Justin, Kat and her mother and father walked over and we all waked down to get some lunch.  We had lunch at some place down town near the creek but I don't remember the name.  We dined outside and lunch was good even though we were assaulted again by the yellow jackets, one of which carried off a piece of my bacon.  After lunch we walked around with Justin and Kat and window shopped for a while before heading back to the cottage so I could work a little bit more.  Mindy made reservations for all of us at Thai Pepper and we all walked down there around 6:15.  I did not like the dish we had and John was not all that thrilled either but other people seemed to think their meals were ok.  I guess inland Oregon is not the place to look for authentic Thai food.  After dinner we went to see the first of our plays: The Three Musketeers.  This version was closer to the 1973/1974 Michael York version of the Three Musketeers/Four Musketeers films rather than the 1983 Keifer Sutherland version.  The play was great with lots of action and plot twists and a with bittersweet ending.  One of the coolest things was how close the actors with swords came to the people in the front row.  I was very happy to sit in our second row seats where we were safe.  My favorite Ashland actor "Hal" played the King and did a great job! After the play we all walked back to the cottages.

Thursday morning I woke up and my tail bone was killing me.  Just another in a series of painful woes on this trip.  I worked for a little while and then called around to get a dentist apt since my back most molar was killing me.  I finally got an appointment and we went out to lunch with Nicole and Satch at the Breadboard.  I started feeling unwell after lunch and decided that driving around was about my speed so we drove up to the Lithia Park Reservoir and wandered around there for a while before shopping a bit.  While shopping we misplaced Nicole and Satch and then wandered back to the cottages.  After confirming my dentist apt I curled up and took a nap.   After my nap I felt much better although my tail bone and toothache were keeping me on pain medication.  We paged Nicole and Satch to let them know we were heading down for dinner and that we would look for them.  We found the rest of the gang hanging out waiting to all go somewhere together but we decided to go to the Black Sheep (English pub).  This is by far my favorite eating establishment in Ashland.  John ordered the classic Shepard's Pie, Satch had the Bangers n Mash, Nicole had a tasty chicken dish and I had potato and leek soup and a salad.  For dessert we munched on a English Cheese platter which is what I was waiting for all dinner.  John and Satch ordered and drank and Scotch Ale (non-export) which they purred over. That night's play was Went to Much Ado about Nothing which I enjoyed a great deal even though our seats were not as good as usual.  John let me use his fuzzy sweatshirt to sit on to protect my tail bone from the hard seats.

Friday morning Nicole and I went down to the French Quarter to have pedicures while John went to look at real estate.  Nicole went first and had a nice long soak in hot water, calluses buffing, nail clipping, salt and sugar massage, cuticle trimming and then finally the paint job.  Nicole's toes were painted bright fire engine red while I received chocolate toes.  Afterwards we paged John and Satch to meet us at the Plaza Cafe for lunch.  Satch was waiting for us when we walked over so we sat down and looked at the menus hoping John would be along soon.  John arrived before we ordered and we actually waited for the waitress to come over.  Over all we were not impressed - Steve and Nicole's French onion soup was cold even after they had it nuked and the French fries were cold. After lunch we toddled around until the play which was Othello.   Before the play the people who played Othello and Desdemona posed for a long time knelling on the stage with eerie drum based music playing in the background.  I had to leave after the first act to head over to Medford to the dentist.  I took route 99 since I had a long time to get there and it was not that far away.  The drive there was depressing with lots of cheap trailer parks and a general appearance of decay.  I found the office with minor difficulty since Medford has this thing for one way streets.   The dentist was nice and they said I had infected gums and they proscribed some amoxicylin and mouth rinse and recommended I have a deep cleaning some time in the future.  When I got back I caught up with Nicole, Satch and John and we went to dinner at the Macaroni Restaurant.  Dinner was very good and we had some excellent bread and appetizers.   That night's play was Henry IV, Part II, with the same Hal and Henry IV as the previous year, although John liked the Falstaff from last year.  I thought the play was excellent but Mindy, Nicole and Satch were not all that impressed.  It rained a little during the last 5 minutes of the play but stopped shortly there after.

At this point we were all done with our plays so we could just relax.  On Saturday morning we went up to Hyatt Lake and walked around with Jonathan, Mindy, Satch, and Nicole. It was a beautiful day and even though there were no trails per se we walked around the lake and had a nice time.  We all decided to have lunch at the Hyatt Lake Diner which was my second favorite meal of the vacation they had excellent fries and burgers. Jonathan had a play at 2:00 and we had to book to get back on time.  It was a very close thing but he managed to make his play in the nick of time.  That night we went to dinner at Ken & Carol's who are friends of John's from college.   Dinner was very good and we enjoyed ourselves a great deal.  We made our way back to the cottage and watched a dog show, much to Steve's disgust, and then went to bed.   In the morning John went to the bricks to sell our Sunday tickets and I packed.   I forgot that John had put all his cloths in the dresser but luckily he double checked before we drove away.  The gang was heading to the Green Leaf for breakfast but we decided to skip it since we had to pick up the kittens at Grandma's.  I drove for the first 200 miles and we stopped in Mt. Shasta on the way back for lunch.   During the drive both John and I worked on AD&D stuff which was fun.  We whisked into Grandma's then back home to do laundry and get ready for the work week.  

Since I was stressed and ill for much of this vacation it did cut into the enjoyment a bit.  I would say that I had more fun last year but the plays were equally good this year and I am looking forward to going back next year.