Spring Break Road Trip - part 1

I know, it's been months since I've blogged.  But we finally did something blog worthy.  We took a road trip up to Oregon for spring break.  My motivation was to see a Shakespeare play in Ashland.  But, of course, it turned into so much more.  

Fiona gets a little concerned when the suitcase comes out.  Jack was responsible for the animals while I was gone, so it's a valid worry.  

The drive up north was a bit rainy, and it was whooshing windy when we stopped in Weed.  

We went to the Wildlife Safari in Winston.  I got our tickets via Groupon.  This cheetah has an emotional support dog in the cage with it.  

We saw lots and lots of very cool animals, and the girls even got to ride a camel! 

After Winston, we stopped on the way back to Medford (where we stayed all week) to stretch our legs.  

We took a nice walk along the Rogue River, and I introduced the girls to miner's lettuce.  

You can take a girl out of the library, but you can't take a love of books out of the girl.  We stopped at 2 used bookstores, we pottied at 2 public libraries, and we visited at least 19 Little Free Libraries.  

We wandered around historic Jacksonville, but most things were closed, as hours are limited during the off season.  

But it was still very pretty.  Lots of daffodils and tulips.  

Deer roaming the streets in Ashland.  (We saw more of them by the science museum, but I didn't take a picture then.)

We walked around Lithia Park a bit.  It was chilly, but picturesque.  

We toured Harry & David.  

Many of the machines were not in use since most workers had the week off for spring break, but we did see some activity.

The tour guide made it sound like a great company to work for, and of course, after the tour comes the...

...gift shop!  I didn't buy a mug, but I did miss Grumman while I was gone.  We bought some dark chocolate truffles and a soup mix I'm looking forward to trying.  

So, it goes without saying that we visited a lot of public restrooms.  In fact, this morning when Eddie Murphy's Party All the Time was playing on the radio, I mentally changed the chorus to, "My kids want to potty all the time, potty all the time, potty all the tiiiiiiime..."  Anyway, I spotted a duck in one of the restaurant bathrooms we visited and it reminded me of cruising ducks, which made me smile.  

We had lunch with an old friend in Eagle Point, and afterwards we explored a bit of the historic sector.  

Another walk along a different stretch of river.  

Hannah and Katie loved the food.  Eating out all the time, picking what they wanted, was one of their favorite parts of vacation.  We had Panera, Cracker Barrel, Black Bear, pizza, a leftover night, and more.

My grandmother loved rocks.  My dad loves rocks.  I have a fondness for rocks.  Two of my children have expressed a love of rocks.  So we went to Crater Rock Museum.  Which was more impressive than I expected it to be.  

Some very big specimens.

Some scary specimens.

Hannah's favorites were the native bows & arrows, and the stone knives.

The train, fire engine, and planes are MADE OF ROCKS.

This fort, and the "painting" below, yup, MADE OF ROCKS.

And off in a back room, oh yeah, a couple dinosaurs.

I'll stop here because this is really photo heavy, but I have more to share!