August 18-19 - Ashland

Ashland, OR is my new favorite town on the PCT.

1. Shop N' Cart: huge natural foods warehouse-type store with rows and rows of cheap bulk food and a ton of sales.
2. All of the gear stores give at least a 10% discount to PCTers.
3. I got new clothes!! No more shirt with holes in it, and now I have shorts!
4. Caldera Brewery. 'Nough said.
5. There are so many plays and shows! I wish we could be here for a month.
6. Downtown like Hood River.
7. Went to breakfast at the Wild Goose next door to the hotel and saw AMAZING art on the walls, asked who the artist was, and it was our server. Asked for a card and she gave me three real greeting cards with her art on them. Then was served tomato mint soup that was amazing.
8. First hotel room in over a month.
9. Hopefully a play today? Maybe? We're trying to leave, but we'll see.

And most importantly:

I got my new iPod. So there was this hole in my heart that I didn't know was there, but it's full now. As I was listening to my iPod, bought by Chris, filled by his brother Greg, and two friends, Niki and Kevin, I was thinking that one of my goals on this trip was to be more conscious of wants versus needs. I was really trying to figure out whether music is a want or a need, because the line wears thin there. I eventually decided, realistically, that music is a want, not a need, but that I will never, ever take it for granted again.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, you four.