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While I was watching young gymnasts cartwheel down the street and a young juggler ride a unicycle as part of the 4th of July parade I was feeling pretty good about driving 400 miles to this town in Southern Oregon for this very American holiday. Ashland knows how to hold a festival. It is best known for being the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival which produces shows for 10 months out of the year and lays claim to being the largest reparatory theatre offering in the United States. The Shakespeare festival started as a part of the 4th of July festival when a teacher, Angus Bowmer, asked permission to add a Shakespeare play to the festivities. Ashland was no stranger to culture as it used to be a stop on the Chautauqua circuit which brought speakers and artists to various small towns in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Ashland can be enjoyed any time of year but we came on this long weekend because of the particular charm of this place on the 4th. The 4th of July parade was 2 hours long. It featured some very small town aspects like the mayor and other local politicians and dignitaries from the sister city in Mexico. Floats from local businesses were sometimes lackluster but some of the local businesses rise to the occasion. One mexican restaurant, El Tapatio, had 40 dancers and a portable restaurant float. Some had very political themes in this very liberal town. I heard a local from a near by town express his outrage at a group who were protesting the treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo as they marched in Orange jumpsuits and hoods. “You sure would not see something like that in Talent” only 5 miles away the local lamented. Undoubtably there are many things in Ashland that cannot be found in nearby towns.
Among the singular pleasures of Ashland are some wonderful restaurants like Munchies (bakery restaurant, try the Marionberry pie), Thai Pepper (great red curry), and Tabu (Nuevo Latino Cuisine). On the 4th these eateries are supplemented by food booths in the park. The festivities also include craft booths, live music and a reading of the Declaration of Independence.
In the evening while the town went to watch the fireworks we attended Othello at the outdoor Elizabethan theatre. What they also don’t have in Talent is ironically enough the talent to produce some of the finest live theatre in the country. Ashland does just that, year after year.
I have been following the adventures of Brian & Brooke at their travel blog “Brian & Brooke Against The World“, a young couple off to discover the world. Their latest adventure in Guatemala is worth repeating:
Back in the hostel, we were talking to Matt, who recently did the trek, and I really couldnt believe the stories he was telling about jumping over lava streams and witnessing rock break away as lava poured down the side of the mountain. He recommended we wear good shoes so they wont melt as easy. Funny thing is, he was absolutely telling the truth!
This journal covers a cruise to Panama on Holland America through Insight / Geek Cruises. The cruise was a Shakespeare cruise done in conjunction with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and a Mac cruise done in conjunction with MacWorld.
Friday November 2, San Jose to Florida
The alarm goes off very early when you are trying to be at the airport before 6am for a 6:50am flight. A close friend Brad volunteered to take us to the airport… a very close friend indeed. Although in reality it was his wife Janice who actually woke up when their alarm went off so very early in the morning.
Our flights to Atlanta and then on to Fort Lauderdale were both happily uneventful and we used the time to sleep, read magazines ( I brought 2-3 inches of my backlog for this leg of the trip), or do homework (Joan). We took a shuttle ($15 a person) to the Westin Fort Lauderdale where I was surprised to find that I had apparently reserved a suite.
Almost immediately after our arrival we went to a party put on by the Shakespeare at Sea / Insight Cruises program that we were joining for this trip. By the time that the evening was done we had met more people on this cruise without setting foot on the boat than we had in a week at sea on our previous cruise. Most of the crowd was older than us, some by a margin. They also were more regular or more recent patrons of the Oregon Shakespeare festival than Joan and I. I had gone to Ashland, where OSF resides, in 2006 with our kids and their high school drama group but we had not been to the festival for a few years before that. Before the birth of our kids Joan and I had gone more regularly. I had gone to Ashland with a group from my high school 4 years in a row in the 1970s. The vast majority of the people at the party were from the west coast and the majority were from the San Francisco bay area. We very quickly found interesting people to talk to. We even found some Mac people who ventured in from the Mac party and some others like myself who were fans of both Mac and Shakespeare.
Before going to bed I recorded a new introduction to an old episode of the Amateur Traveler podcast for publication on November 10th.
The Union Oyster House is the oldest restaurant in continuous service in the United States. It is the earliest standing brick building in Boston. For more then 250 years it has stood sturdily on Union Street as a major local landmark. In 1742 the building housed importer Hopestill Capen ’s fancy dress goods business, known colorfully as “At the Sign of the Cornfields.” In 1771, from this site the painter Isaiah Thomas published his newspaper “The Massachusetts Spy,” long known as the oldest newspaper in the United States. In 1775 Capesn ’s silk and dry Goods store became headquarters fro Ebenezer Handcock, and Federal Troops received their “War Wages” in this official pay station. In 1796 the future King of France, Louis Philippe, lived on the second floor. Exiled from his country, he earned his living by teaching French to many of Boston ’s fashionable young ladies. 1862 marked the end of Capesn ’s silk and dry Goods store and the beginning of Atwood and Bacon’s establishment. The new owners installed the now world renowned semi-circular Oyster Bar where Daniel Webster was a constant customer. Another first for the Union Oyster House is it has the honor of being the first place in the United States that a tooth pick was used. Enterprising Charles Foster of Maine imported the picks from South America. To promote his new business, he hired Harvard boys to dine at the Oyster House and ask for toothpicks. President Kennedy and other members of his family have dined at the Oyster house for years. J.F.K. favorite spot was a booth in the upstairs dinning room. This booth has been dedicated in his honor. In 2003 the Union Oyster House was designated a National Historic landmark. This is a double designation. Not only is it the oldest continually operated restaurant in the United States, it is also the earliest standing brick building in Boston’s Georgian architecture. Read the rest of this entry »
Saturday, July 8th
Time to say hello to Vieques again after a nine year absence. We drove from San Juan to the Fajardo ferry terminal and parked in the long term parking ($40 for a week). We bought our tickets ($2 each) and waited for the ferry to arrive. Prior to boarding everyone lines up in a fairly disorganized queue at a metal gate. When the gate opens it’s everyone for themselves and a rush to board. However, I’d expected this and told my kids this short term discomfort would soon be forgotten. If you expect the ferry to be like this you’ll deal with it OK. If you like airport style comfort, just pay the extra and fly. Once on the ferry everything is fine, it’s fairly new and well air-conditioned to the point of being actually quite cold. The ferry ride takes around an hour and then you disembark much the way you embarked. After the ferry docked Penny from the Seagate picked us up at the harbor & took us to the hotel. We stayed at the Seagate (787 741 4661) on our last trip and had a fabulous time and when we decided to return to Vieques the Seagate was our only option. It’s a nice perk that they’ll pick you up from the terminal so that you don’t have to deal with renting a taxi for what is only a pretty short ride to the hotel in Isabel Segunda. It’s set high up on the hill behind the Fort (El Fortin Conde de Mirasol) and offers 6 apartment style accommodations plus some additional houses & properties on the ground. It’s very down to earth and you feel at home the moment you arrive. The grounds are lush with tropical vegetation and you almost feel like you’re in El Yunque. Note - this is not your 5 star bells & whistle sterile casino style spa resort. If you like that try the Martineau and good luck to you. If you are less pretentious, like discovering the real island feel and like more down to earth surroundings the Seagate is for you. We love it and will not stay anywhere else. Read the rest of this entry »
While I was watching young gymnasts cartwheel down the street and a young juggler ride a unicycle as part of the 4th of July parade I was feeling pretty good about driving 400 miles to this town in Southern Oregon for this very American holiday. Ashland knows how to hold a festival. It is best known for being the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival which produces shows for 10 months out of the year and lays claim to being the largest reparatory theatre offering in the United States. The Shakespeare festival started as a part of the 4th of July festival when a teacher, Angus Bowmer, asked permission to add a Shakespeare play to the festivities. Ashland was no stranger to culture as it used to be a stop on the Chautauqua circuit which brought speakers and artists to various small towns in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
