Mike and Jayne's trip to Ashland

Link to ratboy.net for a full list of all pictures.

The requisite "driving shot". Mike is enjoying the SUV experience. Mention "off-road" driving, or "4WD" the next time you see him and watch the look in his eyes. And of course, a shot of us both happily driving along.(Well, at least I look happy.)

We spent five wonderful days in Ashland Oregon from March 15th through the19th. It was both a nice romantic getaway (something we haven't been able to do for some time because of work schedules) as well as an opportunity to check out Ashland real estate. We both love the area and would very much like to relocate when it becomes possible. We stayed at a B&B just outside of the town (2 minutes to the center of Ashland) and we are so glad we did. We highly recommend the Country Willows Inn. www.willowsinn.com This was the view from our window at the Inn. We couldn't get over how beautiful it was.

In our room, taking a little time to do some knittin'. Yes, that is alpaca wool.

More snow....

On the balcony just outside our room. The Inn is an old farmhouse on five acres. If we had $2 Million we would have snatched it up in a second.

And the other side of the balcony. The evening we arrived, the Inn was blanketed in snow. In the morning we had fresh snow and it was (needless to say) beautiful. During the day, however, it would warm up enough to melt it all away. Then on a couple of mornings it would be all white again.

The same view from our window/balcony without snow. Still pretty amazing.

While we were there we saw one play, Idiot's Delight. It was a great play, written in 1936 (I believe) and takes place in a hotel in Italy. While the WWII hadn't broken out just yet, it was earily profetic about what was soon to come.

After the play (since it was St. Patrick's Day) we decided to go for a pint before heading back to the inn. We went to a place called Alex's and sat by the fireplace enjoying a quiet drink. We were pleasantly surprised when a group of Irish musicians showed up and started to play. We met some great people, showed them a couple of Irish dance steps and Mike got totally locked into the Ashland Irish music scene.

One of the best St. Pat's days ever!

The Discovery

We spent all day Saturday looking at properties all over Jackson county. We got a pretty good feel for what stuff costs in the different areas. Unfortunately the only thing that really seemed interesting enough for us to get excited about was $719,000. Ha ha ha.... maybe not this trip.

We figured we'd keep looking but try focusing more on just land with the idea of building a home later.

Monday started out with a trip to the Log Home store.
We got some great ideas and discovered that they are actually quite affordable. I especially liked the part where the guy said we would be able to do "whatever we want". Wine cellar, gourmet kitchen & secret room, here we come!

	Later that day we were wondering around and we happened to pass this sign....we fully expected it to be yet another offer for 20 acres at $500,000 (give or take). Mike's exact words, as he read the flyer,  This is it". 20+ acres, $189,000. We each wondered aloud, "what's wrong with it". So we started looking around.
1.8 miles down this road to the main road and the nearest coffee shop. From there it's about two miles to the center of town.	This is "our" bridge. The property extends mostly left (down the road/stream) and "up", but also includes land on the other side of the bridge as well.  Where the truck is parked is probably where the driveway would start. ç Right below this section of trees is the waterfall.

Now....looking forward from where the truck is parked, this is the homesite area. The guesthouse would be further off to the left. :-)

Homesite area --- way back behind Jayne is where the guesthouse goes.

Looking from the guesthouse area, back towards the truck/driveway.

This is parllel to the stream...doesn’t it make nice potential pasture land...?

This is from the hill behind the homesite area, looking down. We don’t know how close we were to the edge of the property, but it was quite a climb!