I love the 4th of July in America.  It almost always means great weather, good food outdoors, and happy people celebrating the good things about being an American – freedom, opportunity and a beautiful land.  Fireworks and hot dogs, lemonade and picnics, beaches and flags waving, for me it i s a holiday of laughter, sunshine and delicious treats.

This year R and I drove up to Crater Lake, Oregon, with some of our friends who live in our building in San Francisco.  We have a strange/amazing Melrose Place-thing going on in our building – we have become very close friends with several of our neighbor couples, which makes socializing with awesome friends as easy as strolling down the hallway.  So, 3 of these couply-friends joined us in Crater Lake for the 4th.  We drove up Thursday night after work and stayed in Ashland, Oregon, a quick pit stop to break up the long drive to the national park.  Unbeknownst to me, Ashland is quite the destination – a quaint, all American little town (perfect for the 4th holiday!) known for its Shakespeare performances in the summertime.  We didn’t have enough time for Richard the Third, but we were able to pop into a couple of the little books shops on Main Street and of course the Ashland Fly Shop.  R loves fishing and I love books, so it had to be done.

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