the columbia hotel . ashland, or . canon 5d mk II

the columbia hotel . ashland, or . canon 5d mk II

the columbia hotel . ashland, or . canon 5d mk II

stumptown coffee at mix & breadboard restaurant . ashland, or . canon 5d mk II

stumptown at mix cafe . ashland, or . polaroid sx-70

lithia park . ashland, or . canon 5d mk II

lithia park . ashland, or . canon 5d mk II

lithia park . ashland, or . canon 5d mk II

lithia park . ashland, or . canon 5d mk II

deer at lithia park . ashland, or . polaroid sx-70

deer at lithia park . ashland, or . canon 5d mk II

breadboard restaurant . ashland, or . polaroid sx-70

ashland hills . ashland, or . canon 5d mk II

on the way to medford . ashland, or . canon 5d mk II

the road there . medford, or . canon 5d mk II

self portrait . medford, or . canon 5d mk II

the most amazing person . medford, or . canon 5d mk II

sammy & julie & richard . medford, or . canon 5d mk II

bear & sammy . medford, or . canon 5d mk II

hands . medford, or . canon 5d mk II

a letter from kim’s . medford, or . canon 5d mk II

kim’s chinese and american foods . medford, or . canon 5d mk II

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Well, here I am, finally blogging the second half of Ashland. It took a really long time to blog this portion of the trip because it was the most personal to me, and I learned a great deal about myself from it. I’m still not sure what to say, but I will tell you what I did love about it.

+ the most charming hotel I stayed in — The Columbia Hotel, which is a European style hotel had real keys and such charm. Hotels like this don’t fit everyone, but I really loved it.

+ mix cafe — where I discovered Stumptown coffee. I was in heaven after that.

+ lithia park — I had to make another stop at this lovely park in the morning after going there the evening before. Which brought me to the best part of the park — the little deer family I stumbled upon! And they must be so very familiar and comfortable with humans because they allowed me to get very, very close! Of course, that one deer kept eyeing me as I was taking photos.

+ breadboard restaurant  – um. yum.

+ family friends — one of the largest reasons I wanted to come to this area was see old family friends that I have not seen in about 18 years. It was amazing catching up with them, hearing stories about my family, and my parents when they first immigrated to the US. I learned more about myself in this section of the trip than I have in a long time. At least, about my history. I read letters my dad “wrote” & got to see places where they had been before me. Before I came into this world. It was amazing.

+ josh ritter — And, it was our family friends who introduced me to Josh Ritter & his wife Dawne Landes, who I listened to the majority of my trip back home. It turns out that Josh is a part of the family that I went to visit. So a part of my roadtrip music collection grows. I pretty much listened to the music I collected during this trip for months after coming back from it.

Learning about my history, about my family’s past makes me feel like a part of something larger, something more important. I almost felt, rooted. I don’t know how to describe it, really. I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I was going on this entire trip — what I would learn & see & do. But I have gained so much and I am so grateful for it. This made me want to go back to China someday because when I went many years ago, I wasn’t into photography just yet, so I don’t have good documentation of all the things I saw and learned. So that is definitely something I will have to do in the future. :)

Now, it is time to drive home.

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Previous road trip posts:
the beginning. | day one. | day two. | day three. | day four. | portland . the home. | portland . the city. | patrick’s point . film. |seattle . part one. | seattle . part two. | the man in the alley. | the road to ashland. | ashland . part one. |