Ashland

Wow. Theater in Ashland is exciting and challenging. We have completed our-five-plays-in-three-days experience. As always, we enjoyed plays ranging from comedy to tragedy, classic to contemporary. We told of the first play in our previous entry. The presentation of Hamlet, taking place in modern times, was outstanding. Even though the play is so familiar, we discovered dialogue we had not been aware of previously. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof included the raw dialogue of Williams earlier versions and was emotionally engaging. Pride and Prejudice was a delight. Darcy was dark and brooding and the teenagers in the audience fell in love with him (but he is no Colin Firth). Our last play, Well, would take pages to describe as the actors were themselves as well as their characters repeatedly in this play about being ill and being well. We will leave Ashland satisfied with all that we saw and ready to return for more later this year.


One reason for our trip to Southern Oregon is to explore new places (the main reason is always the plays). Seeking a photo op of a covered bridge

we found one of those serendipitous bonuses, the Butte Creek Mill.


It is the only operating water-powered mill west of the Mississippi. Owner Bob Russell gave us a thorough tour of the mill. He and his wife rescued the structure and its jumbled contents from decay. It is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Next to the mill is a general store with shelves filled with products ground at the mill, such as pancake mix.

A lifelong collector, Bob now has shelves to display his antique containers. Next door, he can continue collecting antiques for his antique store.