Crescent City, CA Roseburg, OR and Moses Lake, WA

Paso Robles to Crescent City is a long way. California is a good state to divide in half to make one of the states the 51st! We decided not to drive the entire distance to Crescent City in one day as we had a day between concerts. We drove for most of the day up highway 101 and then to hwy 1 through San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge and stopping at dinner time in Ukiah.
What a surprise to see our hometown of Sultan, WA in the headlines on the national news. When we saw our town o FOX news we knew it must be flood season. The only time Sultan is on the news is when it floods. There was a 20 pound salmon swimming up Main Street in front of the Chinese restaurant. The Chinese restaurant has excellent fresh seafood. The fish swim right to their door!
We left the gorgeous fall weather in Ukiah as we headed for the coast. By the time we hit Eureka on the coast, it started to rain. It was the first day of rain we have had for almost 2 months. We can’t complain. By the time we reached Crescent City, it was a deluge. We made up for the lack of rain for two months in one day. It was the first time we had to unload the van in the rain. We appreciated our wonderful weather.
We stayed in Crescent City at the Curly Redwood Inn. STAY THERE!! The motel is made from ONE tree. It is a charming cozy motel. The best for us in the rain was undercover parking to unpack without getting wet.
There hasn’t been a concert that we haven’t thoroughly enjoyed. All of the concerts have been grand. The Crescent City crowd was full of enthusiasm. A highlight was having Menno and Jinny May in the audience. They are the “big shots” who got us on board with community concerts. Very nice people.
We left in the morning for Roseburg, traveling through the impressive Coastal Redwoods via Grants Pass and up I-5. We stopped for Chinese food in Grants Pass. It must have been the fish in Sultan swimming in front of the Chinese restaurant that madde me crave Chinese food.
We set up at auditorium at Umpqua College in Roseburg and then had dinner at the home of John and Jennie Burpee. They have an Oak tree that is more than 200 years old in their front yard. Most everyone in the Roseburg community knows Dr. Burpee as he is Roseburg’s opthamologist. Jennie fed us a nice lunch and then also volunteered to sell CDs during intermission for us. Jennie Burpee was voted as “Roseburg’s Citizen of the Year.” She gets to ride in the lead car in the Roseburg parade this year!
Katherine and I like to stay overnight in the town that we perform as we can pack up our equipment the next day instead of bringing the harp and all of it’s entanglements into the motel room each night. But we had a long way to go for the next night’s concert in Moses Lake so we decided to drive a couple of hours north to Albany to spend the night.
We left Albany for Moses Lake via the Columbia Gorge. With all of the rain, Multnomah Falls was impressive. I always thought that Multnomah Falls was Oregon’s most visited sight. The most visited sight is actually the Tillamook Cheese Factory!
We crossed the Columbia River in Bonneville and aimed towards hwy 97 and Satus Pass. On the way up Satus Pass there is a very interesting coffee shop, owned by a Greek Monastery to earn money for the nuns. We had some Greek treats along with Greek coffee. I am sure the coffee was good but was not entirely to my “taste.” I always like trying something new once. I don’t think that I will be making an effort to acquire a taste for Greek coffee. There is something odd about chewing coffee!
We checked into the Holiday Inn Express in Moses Lake before the concert and then set up at the Wallenstein Theatre at Big bend Community College. Bruce was a huge help. Not only a huge help but a very nice person. I knew him from the Methodist Church in Moses Lake when Katherine and I gave a Christmas concert a few years ago. I was blessed to have some young harpist in the audience who came quite a distance to hear me. I got a "big head" from it as they were in "awe" of me. Katherine helped me get over my big head in a hurry!
We left for home on the 10th excited to arrive home and filled with anticipation when we can get on the road again. This is a fun time in our life. We are making terrific memories and meeting many quality people. We are very appreciative of all those that are supporting us and our music that we make. Music is a wonderful gift that we (as in all of the world) have been given. I am appreciative that we can make live music and am thankful that there are people wanting to hear our music that we make. There is nothing like LIVE music. I am thankful for the patrons of community concerts who support LIVE music. LIVE music is a once in a lifetime experience that can never be repeated. Each concert is unique. There weren’t two concerts that were exactly the same. Please come out and see us sometime!