Thursday night I played softball at U.S. Cellular.

No, not that U.S. Cellular. (The above photo is one that I took when I was in Chicago last summer.)

Just up the road from where I live, U.S. Cellular sponsored the building of what may be the finest public sports facility in the country. It just opened a couple weeks ago, and last night was my team’s first game on the new field.

We played under the lights on the championship field which has fences 315 feet from home plate. Lucky for us we weren’t on one of the other fields, all of which have the fences 300 feet away as the other team hit about four balls that would have been over those fences. We hit only one that went more than 300 feet.

It was the closest game I’ve ever been in. We went 10 innings and finally won 7-6. That was the first time we led all night. We battled back from 2-0, 4-2, and 6-4 deficits to come out victorious and improve our record to 3-0. The game was far more exciting than what can be said in writing so I will just leave it at that.

The above picture isn’t from our actual game (nor did I take it), but it does show the surface of the field. The views around the place are actually much better than what you see in this photo. Maybe I’ll take some better ones when we play our next game.

The sports complex is easy to spot from I-5 between Medford and Phoenix, but not so easy to find if you want to drive there since it isn’t on any maps (yet), nor are there any signs pointing the way. To get there you need to be on Highway 99. Between Lowry and Stage is an unnamed road heading off to the east. That is the road you take to get to the new softball fields.

Posted on May 30th, 2008 under Oregon. Tags: baseball, Chicago, directions, jackson county, pictures, recreation, rogue valley, softball, US Cellular Community Park. Comments Off on Softball in Medford, Oregon

In yesterday’s blog entry I may have made it sound like we found the place we will be staying in Paris completely on our own. While we may have found it on our own, the truth is that it was also recommended to us by our good friends the Bestors who own a travel store in town. So it’s not just the internet photos and descriptions we based our reservation on, and we are pretty confident we will enjoy the place. 

But the question that is probably really on your mind is what does the title of this post mean? The answer is that the very same Bestors asked me to write about an experience we had on our trip to Japan last year for their travel newsletter. I subsequently posted that article to the internet here, and wanting to do more of the same ultimately led to the creation of this blog.

I was in Travel Essentials last week to pick up a few items for our trip to Denmark and Paris, including the books and maps mentioned in a prior blog entry. One item I purchased really stands out so I thought I’d share. I’ve tried book lights in the past with poor results. Bob recommended the Petzl Tikka Plus LED Headlamp & Book Light for its quality and flexibility (as you can use it not just on planes and for reading in bed but also while camping, etc.). I picked one up and have been exceedingly happy with it.

Posted on May 29th, 2008 under Japan, Oregon. Tags: accessories, travel related goods. Comments Off on What does Japanese Baseball have to do with the place we are staying in Paris and the creation of this blog?

I just got back from a glorious bike ride around Lithia Park. I didn’t have my camera with me, and it wouldn’t have done much good if I had since the weather is overcast. The weather made for great riding (not too hot), but wouldn’t have made for great picture taking. I do have an old picture or two of the park that I will insert below however.

The above (and you’ll need to click on it for a better view) is from last autumn. My kids are sitting at the upper duck pond which was green at the time. I noticed today that the pond has since been drained, and a new filtration system has been put in. The water is now too clear, as you can see the filtration pipes on the bottom of the pond. Oh well, at least it doesn’t smell anymore.

Lithia Park in Ashland, Oregon has a nice Japanese gardens section that is especially impressive in the fall.

Posted on May 25th, 2008 under Oregon. Tags: ashland oregon, japanese maple, lithia park, rogue valley, 鴨池. Comments Off on Lithia Park (Ashland, Oregon)

Friday morning we wake up (all too early with about 20 10-year olds sleeping in the same cabin/lodge) to what promises to be one of the hottest days of the year even though it is only May. After a pancake breakfast we head out to the Trail of Ten Falls. I was excited, but my expectations weren’t extremely high. I was about to have them exceeded in a big way.

The trail is something like 8+ miles long if you do the entire thing. We were going to do just a part of it (again I was with loads of 10 year olds). I think the section we ended up doing was just over 2 miles.

The first waterfall we came to is called South Falls. I was impressed. I’ve seen many waterfalls in several different states (Utah, California, Oregon, Hawaii) and this was by far the best. I figured this must be the most impressive of the ten falls at this park given that you could walk behind it, every angle of the falls was an amazing view, and the falls plunge the not-too-shabby distance of almost 200 feet.

Here is the view from behind South Falls:

If you look closely at this next picture you can get an idea of how impressive these falls were. Those little tiny things about a third of the way up behind the falls are people.

The trail, even when there weren’t falls in view, was beautiful. I highly recommend, that if you visit this state park, you do so in the morning. There was virtually no one else there, and the sun hitting everything at an angle, rather than from directly overhead, was spectacular.

As I mentioned above, I figured South Falls must be the highlight of the hike. I couldn’t believe it when Lower South Falls came into view a mile later, and I was even more impressed.

While Lower South Falls doesn’t have the vertical drop of South Falls, you still get to walk behind the falls. This waterfall had a certain elegance I have never before experienced. You will also get more wet behind this one.

The mossy trees and intense shades of green made for an awesome view.

Silver Falls State Park is a little over an hour from Portland, Oregon and about 9 hours from the San Francisco Bay Area. Needless to say, I highly recommend it. I’m looking forward to going back and visiting all 10 of the falls next time.

Remember that you can click on any of the images to see a much larger version. Enjoy!

Posted on May 18th, 2008 under Oregon. Tags: hiking, nature, Oregon, pictures, Salem, Silver Falls, waterfalls. Comments Off on Silver Falls State Park