gone country.

i love packing for oregon. it's pretty simple. shorts. t-shirts. jeans. a hat. a swimsuit. don't out think it. less is more. danny caught me trying on "outfits" while packing and just stood in the bedroom looking at me like, "really?" to go fishing?" good point. here's a look inside our weekend on the applegate river. 

mom's chalkboard and welcome message.

the homestead.

mom showing us around the garden. my dad being annoying with his camera.

super cool wooden windmill.

mom's wheelbarrow succulent garden.

scrappy keeping an eye on things from upstairs.

a rose bed. get it? duh. bed of roses. duh.

fresh ollalaberries ripe on the vine and ready for pickin' and eatin'.

us cruising around the local grower's market with mom.

mom always gets our goat's milk soap from this vendor. we got to pick out our scents this time.

authentic oregon hippie tie dye & jewelry anyone?

downtown grants pass deli lunch.

fresh raspberry lemonade.

mom's finger lickin' good homemade cookin'

ribs. fresh corn on the cob. broccoli salad. strawberry surprise. potatoes. cheesy bread. yuuuum.

can't beat the view from the porch.

one of the best parts of the weekend was getting to meet scrappy for the first time. my parents recently took scrappy in. he's about five and had a rough life, but that's over. he's now scrappy schramm and we all love him. he's so good and so sweet. it was love at first sight for danny & me, and we'd totally adopt him. what i didn't catch on film is scrappy's smile. when he sees you first thing in the morning or after you've just come home, he smiles. its hard to describe, but he really pulls his lips back and grins with his teeth. makes you laugh and melts your heart all at the same time. p.s. nice hair ting.

 ting & mom with their beer in front of her garden's hops (say it like in superbad)!

 scrappy's the best fetch player. one paw up means he is ready to go.

aaaaannnddd he's off!

cruising around the front yard.

the local slice shop, dorman's pizza parlor... $2 PBR's and horseshoes. 

a river runs through it.

having a home on the water - any water - is awesome. being able to walk out your front door and see, touch and smell the water is so tranquil and convenient. we're lucky to have that in oregon. we spent last sunday relaxing on my parent's stretch of the applegate. a different kind of sunday funday, but one we both could get used to.

riverfront...

...watching the ting fish.

dad decided to join him, obviously.

 me doing what i do... takin' pics.

and d, doing what he does... playing with his technology. ipad obsessed.

mr. scrappy watching danny fish.

fishing hat. fish on his shirt. you think this man likes to fish?

the great debate... avon's skin so soft, mosquito repellent or placebo? 

me and my bubble butt (holy crap) took over ting's pole and joined my dad.

take me home country road :: an oregon film.

a little video i put together using footage from our oregon visit last weekend. 
song credit: john denver. 
enjoy.

be sure to say the pledge of allegiance today. we will.

we're playing the holiday by ear. our plans for a pool party may be squashed by some desert rain, so we'll see. 

no matter what there will be lots of red, white & brews today.

 

rockin' the rogue river.

nothing beats fresh country air and we got a whole lot of it last weekend up at my parent's place in southern oregon. the trees. the mountain air. the water. the home cookin'. the animal sounds. the 10 p.m. sunsets. the comfort of family... soothing for the soul. we love it. each time we're up there we're already planning our next trip back. 

our visit kicked off bright and early with a 4:45 a.m. wake up call to hit the rogue river for a full-day salmon fishing trip with my dad and our private guide, geoff. we had some big bites and danny fought a monster salmon for a while, but unfortunately we didn't have a salmon feast for dinner that night. our fish were a little different from the one my little brother caught with geoff and my dad a last year (here). still such a memorable day... next time.

for most of the morning we had the river to ourselves.

i love this snap. danny's looking and laughing at my dad. 

time stamp of this photo: maybe 6:30 a.m. and already into the cool ranch doritos. that's my dan! 

blurry, but i love this face. fighting a big ass salmon.

the rod totally bent and he's reeling in!

geoff and bill watching

the fisher three.

as the day went on, the sun came out and the layers came off.

me showing you how big my fish was.... it was thiiiiiiiiiiis big.

well, no. actually it was this big.

yuuuum. salmon eggs and shrimp.

dad watching danny's "one, two, threeeeeee" technique. i thought bill was going to lose it.

my dad's country girl.

thanks for an awesome day, dad. 

tons of laughs, memories and classic fish stories.
but most importantly, geoff now has a title for his book, "where do salmon eggs come from?"