Day 2 - Hello, I Must Be Going

Friday morning I bade farewell to Bend, OR -- former home of my former roommate Julia and current home of one of my favorite internet peoples, Allie Brosh, author/artist of Hyperbole and a Half. 

And while I did not see the Goddess of Cake herself, I mentally waved in her general direction before saying farewell to the city.

My next stop was Ashland, OR. As I rolled in, I called my dad and he directed me FROM MEMORY around town. He successfully guided me to the matinee of Animal Crackers.

Hooray for Captain Spaulding!

Another of my former roommates, Carrie, was a huge Marx Brothers fan and one of our roommate activities was watching Animal Crackers the movie together. This play is definitely not that movie. 

There was a concerted effort to include the best and most famous of the Marx Brothers shticks as well as to reference their current venue. By far the biggest laughs were for the lines that mentioned other plays at the festival. 

So the actors were cast to play the Marx Brothers playing the characters from the movie. The program included all productions and all actors and staff bunched together. I was surprised that it did not list "Mark Bedard as Groucho Marx as Captain Spaulding" but instead just "Mark Bedard as Captain Spaulding." It was more difficult to look up the actor profiles, because really, who cares what the character names are? 

The actors seemed well-cast and I'm surprised to say that my favorite -- by a good margin -- was Daisuke Tsuji as Chico. He seemed the most confident and most comfortable with his character. And it can't be easy for a guy named Daisuke Tsuji to play a Jew playing a vaguely Italian fella. 

I also really enjoyed Zeppo (is that the first time that has been written?). The actor played several parts, but his recreation of Zeppo's creation of Jamison was great. This was partially due to his interactions with Groucho. I would imagine that this is one of the only Oregon Shakespeare Festival productions that encourages improvisation. At several points, Zeppo could not help but crack a smile at the antics surrounding him and Groucho could not help but goad him mercilessly and call attention to the break in character. 

Groucho had the most to live up to, but for me he fell a bit short. He had the eyebrows, cigar, and the walk, but I didn't see the swagger and nonchalance that made Groucho 1.0 so compelling. 

Harpo was there, too.  

I have been to Ashland once before, in high school with my dad and my friend Kelsey and her family. I'm sure we saw plays and it was nice, but all I really remember is that a waitress spilled milk on my head (allegedly accidentally) right after I got a new haircut! I mentioned this to my friend recently and she said it seemed like the longest, slowest pouring of milk she'd ever seen . . . right on my head. 

I did not go back to that restaurant.

But I did go to Zoey's for some post-play gelato on the recommendation of my dad and with the assurance that all milk products would remain below shoulder level. I had one scoop of ginger and one scoop of salted caramel in a cone de waffle. Should you ever find yourself in the area, I highly recommend the combination. 

The server could not recommend the ginger gelato as she'd had
a traumatic experience with ginger as a child. True story!

Next on the itinerary, Eureka, CA. I've discovered on this journey that I have even more qualifications to be a dad. I seem to have become a very time conscious traveler. I do my best to leave on time and adjust so at least I'll arrive on time (and clearly, I've planned out  times). In that spirit I knew I had a 4+ hour drive from Ashland to Eureka and even though I've heard Crater Lake is amazing, I couldn't justify pushing back my arrival in CA past my projected 8:00 PM. 

I hit the road cone in hand with the goal of staying on schedule. I passed by the House of Mystery (no deal!), I passed by the Trees of Mystery (not this time!), but there was one sight that caused me to flip a u-y. 

Can you believe it was nature and not, like, an outlet mall?

Next stop, San Francisco!


Odometer Start: 34225
Odometer End: 34633
Miles Driven Today: 408
Miles Driven Total: 813
Today In/Around: Ashland, OR and Eureka, CA
Tomorrow: San Francisco, CA
States Visited: 3 (Washington, Oregon, California)
Confederate Flag Count: 4