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Thousands participate in the afternoon parade that descends on the downtown plaza area of town. The merchants give out candy to trick or treaters. If you want a break from the masses of people just follow the sign to the right and you’ll be in Lithia Park which looks really good this time of year.
This is the aforementioned house at night. I don’t think they quite made it up to one jack-o-lantern a day this year. Perhaps they also counted the bats hanging on the porch to get to the correct number of days.
On a map, Ashland doesn’t look far from the Oregon coast. Birds can probably make the trip in fairly short order. Unfortunately for those species forced to take cars, there are two mountain ranges in the way so it takes a couple of hours on a roundabout course which first takes you quite north of your destination (Grants Pass) and then quite south of your destination into California. The drive is beautiful though–especially this time of year. For part of the drive you are along the Smith River with incredible views of the fall colors lining the banks. Unfortunately, we didn’t stop to take pictures this time.
Once we got to Brookings, Oregon we headed up the Chetco River for a cabin in Alfred A. Loeb State Park. A 30-second walk from the cabin afforded the above view.
The little ripple in the water is from a fish hitting the surface to get a bug. It was dinnertime for the many fish in this little part of the Chetco River.
I am a big fan of cemeteries. I find them extremely beautiful. Ashland has one of the older ones in the west with graves dating back to 1860 and many of the gravestones coming before 1900. There is no better time of year to check out a graveyard than autumn.
“Famous” people in this graveyard include the Wagners, J. C. Tolman, Lindsay Applegate, and Abel Helman. You probably haven’t heard of any of them unless you are from Southern Oregon though. Much in the area is named after the above people.
I haven’t made it down to Lithia Park this October, which is a shame since I’m sure it is gorgeous right now. I took the above photograph last October (on the 14th to be exact) in the Japanese Gardens. You can see some more pictures from that day here.
We have a couple of Japanese Maples in our backyard that turn colors later than all other Japanese Maples in town. One of our Japanese Maples goes the last week of October and the other doesn’t give up its green until about November 10th.
While the upcoming election has taken over the front yards of most houses in town, Halloween is winning the battle in this home’s front yard on Siskiyou Boulevard.
This is the final installment from my daughter’s first photography class. She found some fallen apples in a forgotten garden. I like how she centered in on the one that wasn’t rotten but didn’t leave out the others. The colors are very rich. Organic produce gone crazy…
You need no calendar in my neighborhood when October rolls around. Just drive by the above house and count the jack-o’-lanterns. If it isn’t evening yet, add one to the number and you’ve got the current date. You see, each night they carve a pumpkin and put it out front. Every night they are all lit up. My kids love going by the place daily in October to see the new carving of the day. On Halloween, 31 jack-o’-lanterns are all glowing for the trick or treaters. However, our street never gets more than just a few (because it’s up a steep hill) so not many know of this house in town.
