From Oregon to California

Vera Smirnova 0 Comments

         Oregon road trip, day 7


While we were enjoying green Oregon, there were peculiar for this time of year thunderstorms near the Bay Area and along the interstate I-5 which sparked many fires. We did not expect the fire season until September, but...

For the last day of fresh air and blue skies we’d be seeing for a while, we were in Ashland, Oregon. The south horizon was already hazy with distant smoke... We went to search for a good coffee place and found a couple. First, we stopped in Boulevard Coffee located inside the Stratford Inn. We spent the night in this hotel, and since they did not provide breakfast due to the pandemic situation, they gave us vouchers for 5 dollars a person that we could use in this cafe. The place was nice, and the barista was welcoming and friendly. Since we had only one morning yet wanted to check two places, we spent our vouchers for pastries and went to Hither cafe,  attracted by its outdoor seating and avocado toast in its menu.  We are the coffee and also an avocado toast lovers, remember? I’m glad we did, too!

Nice place, friendly service and awesome, very generous avocado toast! It definitely made our day.

California welcomed us back with thick smoke and high temperatures.

As we drove along I-5 we passed two wildfires bellowing in the distance, and as we approached the fire in the Vacaville area we weren't sure about the situation with road closures, so we decided to take a detour through Davis and stop by at Temple Coffee. We got a coffee there but we had to be creative about where to drink it. The inside seating was closed due to the pandemic, and the outside seating was closed due to bad air quality... Interesting times!

We made it home safely. It's been a week since we returned: the smoke is still here, keeping us inside the house. We look at the pictures we took and dream of more adventures, planning another trip to Oregon in the fall.

Update: little we knew that in two weeks Oregon will be burning even more violently than California... We can only hope that wild fires will calm down soon.

Read previous articles:   Day 1   Day 2    Days 3-4    Day 5    Day 6