Ashland, Oregon

For the fourth of July weekend, my husband and I went to Ashland Oregon with the Santa Monica Luskey's.  When they got married two years ago (the same weekend as Kelley so I didn't get to go).  As a wedding gift, a dear family friend of Brian's gave the two of them a weekend at their Talent, Oregon summer home.  Then, for our wedding gift, the Luskey's shared their Oregon weekend with us!  So generous!   We had been looking forward to the trip for such a long time when it arrived.  I think that it is our first time traveling with another couple.  I knew we were off to a good start when I met Jermajesty - their Garmin that they'd named after Jermaine Jackson's kid.

Talent was a particularly attractive location because it is only about 10 minutes from Ashland, OR. Ashland is the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.  Dave and Brian had gone to the Shakespeare Festival several times in high school and college and have seen lots of plays, both Shakespeare and other.  They had been trying to get back for years, and this year the stars aligned.

On Friday night we drove up to this adorable log cabin style house in Talent (only about 10 minutes from Ashland).

This is what the house looked like from the backyard.  Insane right?  Can I dream of a second home before we even have a first home?

They had a tree swing...

and a horseshoe pit.

They also had the coolest chicken coop (not currently in use).  The coop was built around a tree and looked really cool.  I wonder how it impacts the health of the tree (if it does at all) - more fertilizer, but probably less water.

On Saturday we started the day with a behind the scenes tour of the three theaters used by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) - including one outdoor Elizabethan theater.  I am a sucker for tours with guides, so I loved hearing all about the costumes, lights, set design, wigs, makeup, etc.  It was really fun!  Then Saturday night we saw Twelfth Night in the Elizabethan theater.   It was the 75th anniversary of the OSF so it was a very special weekend to be there (same play,  same theater site, same day 75 years later).

There was this cute coffee in shop in Ashland that served baby sized ice cream cones for $1 and they were perfect summer treats!

On Sunday we caught the matinee of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.  Not all of the plays put on by the OSF are Shakespeare - which was news to me!   We saw their last performance of the season, so it was also very special. 

Sunday night (the 4th) we had a BBQ on the back porch.  We ate a lot of queso (let's just say that an entire brick of oddly shelf stable Velveeta disappeared over the course of the night).   Here is Kim after we ran out of the first batch. 

Lots of smiles after the second batch was ready.

We made chicken skewers - which of course I dipped in queso.

With no wine opener - and no screw top - at one point we had to dig out a cork with various knives.

No party would be complete without 2am Bananagrams!  We introduced the Luskey's to our favorite game.

On Monday we packed up the house to go home.  This house was too cute not to document, so I took a few pictures of my favorite spaces.  The guest bathroom had a cool clawfoot tub and nice wainscoting.

The upstairs bathroom had all kinds of guest supplies in ball jars in baskets.  It was really cute.  I am going to steal this idea one day.

 Their kitchen had some exposed shelving with more labeled jars.  I loved the way it looked.

Many thanks to the Luskey's for including us in such an awesome trip!  It was the perfect weekend and so fun to travel with two great friends.   Is it too early to start planning next year's trip?!  Ashland 2011 here we come!

[Update Sunday, July 18]: Check out these shelves from Design Sponge!   Kim just sent me the photo. They are a very chic version of the photo above.  Turns out this photo is from the kitchen of a woman that I have blogged about before - Emersonmade.  Small world. She has great taste (and an amazing pantry)!