October 13 – 24

Soon after our return from North Carolina, we ventured north to Oakland to celebrate Jessica’s birthday and use the time to visit Kamp Angst in Oregon.  This would be our second visit to the house Jessica and Kris had purchased at the beginning of September, and we were looking forward to getting used to the new digs as well as the surrounding area. 

As we needed to make a wine pickup at Andrew Murray Vineyards outside of Los Olivos, we’d be taking Highway 101, which would add close to an hour of drive time to the trip, not including stopping at the winery and also in Los Olivos to have lunch at the Country Market there.  We eagerly split a large turkey avocado sandwich, which would last us the rest of the day until dinner. 

As Kim and Marty had joined us we ate out on Friday, heading up to McArthur Boulevard and Ghost Town Brewing, where we’d enjoyed their beers (an IPA heavy selection) before ordering a corn and grain salad for Joanna and the chicken sandwich for me.  The sandwich looked good but became impossible to manage as the hard roll it was served on meant that every time one took a bite, the contents shifted in the opposite direction, ultimately creating a messy situation. 

The rest of the weekend consisted of cooking at home and enjoying each other’s company until Sunday when we took off for Oregon and our previously mentioned trek to Kamp Angst.  It’s a little over a six hour drive out the I-80 and then up the I-5, a journey we have made quite a few times from Oakland, and many, many more from our home in Los Angeles.  As faithful readers of the blog can attest, this familiarity provided us with our planned lunch stop at, drum roll please, Bartels Giant Burger just off the interstate in Corning. 

During our last stop here a year or so ago they still had pandemic seating requirements, which meant eating outside but restrictions had since loosened, and we cued up to peruse the brand-new video-based menu boards.  We each ordered a burger, split an order of fries and a couple of sodas and soon found ourselves tucked into these always so very good sandwiches. 

Our time at Kamp Angst, a place of so many memories (going there for thanksgiving in 1981 was the first trip Joanna and I took together as a couple), is now compromised by circumstances out of our control, the complications of ageing taking a toll on our hosts, Kathy and Tom.  Instead of the multiple days we would have spent in the past, we would stay just two nights there and then two more in Grants Pass.  We’ve long enjoyed the side trips we’d make to town while staying at the Kamp, and spending time there gives us a chance to appreciate its qualities more fully. 

Grants Pass is the country seat for Josephine County and true to its motto, “It’s the climate!”, it has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate where those days are sunny, dry, and hot, with dramatic cooling at night; the average August high temperature is 90.6° and the low is 54.9°.  Winters are cool and fairly rainy, with only occasional snow; the average January high temperature is 47.6° and the low is 35.3°.

As for its history, early Hudson’s Bay Company hunters and trappers, following the Siskiyou Trail, passed through the site beginning in the 1820 and in the late 1840s, settlers (mostly American) following the Applegate Trail began traveling through the area on their way to the Willamette Valley.  The city states that the name was selected to honor General Ulysses S. Grant’s success at Vicksburg and the city was incorporated in 1887.  A sad fact about much of Oregon in its earlier years, Grants Pass, along with Medford and Ashland was an unofficial “sundown town”, which actively warned Black and other non-white people to leave town before sunset or face violence and harassment.  Although there was no documented law of the racist policy, it was enforced locally via residents and signage. 

Our one full day with Kathy and Tom passed quickly, running some errands in the morning that took us down to Cave Junction where we indulged in the oft repeated ritual of stopping in at Taylors Sausage for lunch.  Along with a beer apiece, Joanna enjoyed a brat with sauerkraut while I made easy work of my Taylor dog with mustard, relish, and onion.  We’ve visited this establishment since our earliest trips and it has been gratifying to see how much they have grown, a testament to the quality products they produce. 

The next day we drove up to Grants Pass and checked into the Knights Inn, where we had stayed for a night during one of our last visits to the area.  It’s a clean, well-kept establishment in the heart of town with rates well under $100 a night.  Before checking in, I dropped Joanna off at the Glass Forge Gallery & Studio where she would take a class the result of which would be her own hand-blown work of art. 

I killed time in our room and late in the afternoon walked from the motel to the Bohemian Bar and Bistro where we would join Tom after he had run some errands in town.  This joint is a favorite of ours, I’ve covered it several times in the blog, and we look forward to returning whenever the opportunity arises.  I got there first and ordered a beer, the pale ale and sipped on it as I waited for the other two to arrive. 

They both appeared around the same time, and we ordered a round of cocktails, for Tom the Willows Fizz (Gin, fresh grapefruit, lime, and lavender syrup), Joanna the Benedict Cucumberbatch, and for me, the House Barrel Aged Manhattan (Old Overholt Rye, sweet vermouth, angostura bitters, and orange peel).  We sipped on our drinks before ordering, enjoying each other’s company, as this was a shortened visit and we wanted to maximize our time together. 

Soon it was time to order, for Joanna the Ahi sandwich (Seared Ahi tuna, avocado, sprouts, won ton crisps, wasabi aioli, on an onion roll) and for me the Cobb Salad (Greens, chicken, bacon, Gorgonzola, tomatoes, avocado, egg & red onion with Bleu Cheese dressing).  As is always the case at the Bohemian, the food was excellent, and we each polished off our respective meals easily.  And so, we bade farewell to Tom and returned to the Knights Inn for a quiet evening.  We will cover Joanna’s class at the gallery and our last day in Grants Pass in our next post. 

Links

Andrew Murray Vineyards: https://www.andrewmurrayvineyards.com/

Country Market: https://www.yelp.com/biz/r-country-market-los-olivos

Ghost Town Brewing: https://www.ghosttownbrewing.com/taproom

Bartels Giant Burger: https://www.bartelsgiantburger.com/

Grants Pass: https://www.grantspassoregon.gov/

Taylor’s Sausage: https://taylorsausage.com/

Knights Inn: https://www.redlion.com/locations/us/oregon/grants-pass

Glass Forge Gallery & Studio: https://glassforge.com/

The Bohemian: https://bohemianbarandbistro.com/