Ashland, OR

Yesterday afternoon, we stopped at a rest stop on I-5 and climbed back into the trailer. This is one of the best parts of trailer travel, the ability to instantly be "home" to feed the kids, change a diaper, stretch out on the couch or brew up a cup of your favorite coffee. I also took a couple minutes to find a couple state park and Corp of Engineers camping options about 40 mins up the road. At 30 minutes into the last leg of our drive, Mae fell asleep and we shifted our campground search farther north to stretch the nap out. While ending up paying the nightly rate at a private park hurt a bit, we scored a nice spot right on a pretty lawn leading down to the Sacramento River. And a well-rested baby? Well that's priceless. #Airstream #airstreamwithkids #liveriveted #peekaboo #streamscreen #hedgingourbets

Oh, hello 14,000 ft stratovolcano Mt. Shasta with your seven glaciers and last eruption in the 1700's but with a 20-30% chance of erupting again soon. Nice to see you. #hourandahalftoashland

Mae climbing Mt. Shasta...sign. #mtshasta #babyclimbers #reststopexercise - posted by advodna_ann on March 03, 2015 at 03:41PM

All set up on the point at Emigrant Lake (full hookups, $30/night) and looking forward to exploring Ashland for the week. #Airstream #liveriveted #ashland #emigrantlake

After spending all morning and afternoon in #Ashland - @noblecoffee for a strong cup and GF muffin (which was good anyway!) and @sammichashland for lunch then a short walk around the awesome Lithia Park - we returned to the trailer exhausted. I made a dry rub for a fresh leg of hyperlocal pork I'd grabbed from the chest freezer during our last stop at the house and put it in the #castiron surrounded by onions and vegetable broth at 325 in the oven. This will end up shredded in a kinda improvised tortilla soup. Wynne was all too happy to watch Finding Nemo on the iPad while the rest of us took a one hour nap as the smell of cumin, onions and pork wafted through the trailer. #lifeontheroad #childhoodpluggedbutsoworthit #Airstream #liveriveted

Lithia Park in the center of Ashland was named for water containing several minerals including Lithium, - yes, the Lithium that until 1948 was in the recipe for 7up and the stuff still used today by doctors as a mood leveler - which was piped from a nearby spring in the early 1900's as part of a push to make Ashland a health and wellness resort destination. While the park is beautiful, designed by John McLaren who served as superintendent for San Francisco's Golden Gate Park for 53 years, the sulfur and odd natural carbonation of the water bubbling from the drinking fountains in the plaza at the entrance, make it hard to drink, right @advodna_ann? Besides, you'd need to consume about 39 gallons (the entire capacity of our freshwater tank in the Airstream) each day to get the usually prescribed dose of Lithium. I guess walking around town on a pretty perfect false-Spring day and poking into shops like Paddington a Station and the Grange Co-op will have to be our mood adjustment for the day.

#tbt to the last time we were heading north through Oregon on the way to Canada in the Airstream in August of 2013. We caught this one on the Klamath River just south of the border in California, but it was too small so we had to throw it back. #playinghooky

#minimoon outside finishing the furthest point in its orbit and @advodna_ann inside finishing doing the dishes. #Airstream #liveriveted #micromoon #tinymoon #tinymoonliving

Today was "pretend we lived here day." @advodna_ann did a yoga class while I took the girls to a play/gymnastics class this morning, and this evening we went to a 5:15 dinner at a brew pub where Ann tried in vain to bounce Mae for her final nap while I downed shots from the taster tray and fought Wynne to take bites of her pizza while she complained it was too loud until we finally asked for boxes for everything and drove home in a panic while flinging toys and threats over the back seat. Yep, felt about right. We could totally live here. (No, we're not settling down 4 days into full timing, we just like to try towns on for size. 😜). #homeiswhereyouwhatever #lifeontheroad

Trying to establish a rhythm on the road can be tricky, especially finding some personal time while we're living in 200 sq ft with two kids and a dog. Lately, we've fallen into a routine where, on alternating days, one of us takes the three year old on an adventure at around 8:45 am while the 8 mo old gets her first nap and the other person gets a quiet trailer all to themselves for 45-90 minutes. I'll use my time this morning to straighten up the trailer, post a shot of my favorite coffee cup (a wide-mouth Lagunitas drinking jar) filled with #Aeropress coffee sitting on the propane tanks of the Airstream with a shimmering lake in the background and maybe even play my mandolin for the first time in about 6 months! #Airstream #liveriveted #airstreamwithkids

Gorilla does not love it when we leave the trailer without her. In fact, with National Parks not being particularly dog friendly and us feeling guilty every time we leave her behind to go on a hike or to a museum, we even considered asking a family member to dog sit while we were on the road. But she's just part of the family and we couldn't see leaving her. Now we're wondering about giving her a Kong stuffed with something to keep her busy or another way to calm her nerves when we leave. Anyone found a solution they like to set their pup at ease? #Airstream #liveriveted #airstreamwithdogs

Spinach gnocchi has made it into the rotation as a regular dinner every couple weeks. Delish. #baller #airstreamkitchen - posted by advodna_blog on March 07, 2015 at 04:58PM

Did a little quick surgery on a roller blind that wouldn't, well... roll. At some point, we heard a snap and after taking one end off, a little plastic piece fell out. After calling around to a buncha blind shops and rejecting the cheapo replacements at IKEA, I decided to just cut the clutch end off of the one in the back window that we never raise and stick it onto the broken one over the dinette. Worked like a charm! #airstream #airstreamdiy - posted by advodna_blog on March 07, 2015 at 05:06PM

Went on a nice relaxing bunny slipper hike this morning. #walkedthefarthestiveseenwithoutwhining #airstream #airstreamwithkids #airstreamwithdogs - posted by advodna_ann on March 07, 2015 at 05:07PM

Ashland has a great little science museum that we stopped by for a couple hours this afternoon. Bubbles were of course a favorite followed closely by vacuum tubes with ping pong balls and long fiberglass tube where Wynne could yell "Echo!" (echo, echo, echo) #childhoodunplugged #sciencemuseum - posted by advodna_blog on March 07, 2015 at 08:59PM

Took an afterhours (baby bedtime hours) side trip from Ashland to Talent and found some. @thelilsmokies were sounding great at the Talent Club and are heading towards SF. Bay Area BG folks check out what I am slightly buzzedly calling "The Stringdusters in Training" at The Chapel on 3/12. #bluegrass #airstreamwithmusic #pretendingwelivehere