I just returned from the most fantastic trip to Oregon. This is going to be a long blog so go get a cup of tea or coffee. I first taught for the Mountain Stars Quilt Guild. You can find out more about this guild at http://www.msquilters.com/ My guild contact was Gerri. Gerri picked me up at the airport in Medford, about 1/2 hour outside of Grant’s Pass. The guild actually meets close to Grants Pass in a cute Grange building in Rogue River. Day one I presented a new workshop to the guild on hand applique. Day two I presented a lecture. Prior to the lecture the guild had an amazing show and tell and I had some wonderful surprises. First, the guild from Jacksonville, OR had asked for my permission several years ago to use my pattern, “Midnight Floral Fantasy”, as its fund raiser. They said they pulled the quilt off the wall from the winner’s house just so they could bring it to show me. It looked fantastic! Well done ladies.
And then one of the guild members, Sue Pharis, who had emailed me in advance, brought her “Japanese Garden” quilt using my pattern. This is the first one of these that I have seen finished. I am in awwwww. The quilt is amazing. I am so happy Sue shared her quilt. I know how much work it took to make this quilt. Great job Sue.
After the lecture Gerri reserved seats for her, me and her sister-in-law, Jean, for a ride on the Rogue River. It is called the Hellgate Jetboat Excursions, www.hellgate.com. These jetboats ride across the water and the drivers like to have some fun. They jam on the brakes, turn quickly and try hard to get their passengers wet. Now, Gerri has been on this ride before and said that if we sat in the second row we would not get wet. This is the last time I take Gerri’s advice on where to sit. We were soaked. And I mean soaked. The water was dripping off us. But, it was fun. Here are what the boats look like.
Here are some views along the way. The Rogue River is absolutely breathtaking…especially when the cold water smacks you in the face! It does take your breath away.
Getting wet was well worth it to see these views. See the eagle in the tree, on the left? We saw eagles and osprey. We had a great view of the osprey nets. They are very, very big.
The ride takes 4 hours, including dinner, and covers 36 miles of this gorgeous river.
After teaching a 3 hour workshop on Sunday Gerri took me to the airport to pick-up a rental car. I drove to the coast to the Gold Beach Quilters guild. I drove back to Grants Pass and took route 199 to Route 101 into California and up the coast. This has to be the most beautiful drive ever. I cannot believe there are not lots and lots of car accidents as drivers are gawking around looking at the amazing views. If Joe had been with me we would have had to stop about a million times so he could get out and fish. The roads are twisting and turning, so it’s a nice slow drive. And all along the way you follow the rivers.
The road dips down into California and into the redwoods. This photo will not do it justice. You really need to see these to get the perspective on how large they are.
This drive took a lot longer than normal because I kept stopping to take photos. It was just one amazing view after another.
Once I got to the coast I turned right and headed North. Again, I had to keep pulling the car off the road so I could enjoy the view. Mr. Seagull was just hanging out.
While it was in the triple digits in Pennsylvania I was enjoying weather in the mid 60’s. Nice.
Connie from the Gold Beach Quilters took care of me while I visited her guild. We had some lovely walks on the beach with her dog, Butch. I love dogs and of course Butch knew I was a dog lover. Connie made the most incredible fish stew. She is going to share the recipe with me and I’ll share it with you in a later blog. One of the things I found to be interesting was that there were no broken sea shells on the beach but lots and lots and lots of smooth rocks. Since the Rogue River empties into the Pacific Ocean in Gold Beach I will assume the stones come from the river. I collected a few to bring home with me.
I decided rather than rushing back to the airport I would take an extra day to do some sightseeing. Chris and Elaine from the guild volunteered to show be around their area, Port Orford.
Every corner you turned there was another incredible view.
View from inside the lighthouse.
Do you see all of the oval type shapes on the rocks? They are seals. After you notice the white area you will start to see grey seals all over the rocks also.
And then the icing on the cake. The town of Port Orford has a fantastic quilt shop called the “Quilters Corner”. Lovely shop and lovely shop owner. You can find out more about the shop by going to their website www.homebythesea.com/Quilterscorner.html
And you wonder why my stash of fabric is so large. I always like to visit the local quilt shops. For a town with a population of just over 1,000 I was pleasing surprised at this quilt shop. The quilt on the top of the photo below, to the right, was made by my host Elaine and she won first place in their challenge contest. Sorry I cut off the one of the left as it was made by my other host, Chris. Sorry Chris. Both Elaine and Chris were excellent hostesses. They took me for a dungeness crab cake at lunch that was too die for.
You know so many trips that I have taken over the years to teach for guilds I pretty much went in, taught and then left. I never took the time to really see the area. Sometimes there really is not enough time based on my schedule but boy am I happy when I have a little time to spare. Think of all the incredible things I would have missed if I had not taken the time to smell the flowers.
