Tour Oregon
Postcard 4: Weasku Inn
We arrived in Grants Pass early enough to enjoy the wine and cheese happy hour at the Weasku (We-ask-you) Inn. It's a rustic log cabin lodge on Highway 99 outside of Grants Pass headed south, or up-stream on the Rogue River. It is, historically, on one of the best fishing holes on the entire river so well-renowned, Clark Gable made it one of his vacations spots of choice.
For Grants Pass, summer meets fall this week. After days of temperatures near 100 degrees, a summery heat that fuels the countless forest fires in the area, temperatures in the 70s are considered cool, and the evenings dipping into the low-50s are downright nippy. It is nothing more than a teasing as more is sure to come.
As the sun dipped behind the coast range tonight, we sat on the deck behind the Weasku Inn. The Rogue River just a straight man's stone throw away, yet close enough to the highway, we hear an occasional truck to satisfy our urban desires. The hill opposite the river is covered in a golden yellow grass, the trees a vibrant green. As the light deepens, the entire hillside is cast in an orange glow, which slowly blends to pink as each moment ticks towards darkness. Shadows cast from the crests of hillsides deepen the hue to purple.
We, despite the fact we have a full-service grocery within five minutes, are in the country, where rattlesnakes descend from the hills at night into the Valley. As a child, I was horrified swimming meets in the outdoor pools of this area, hearing tales of how they fished rattlesnake carcasses, who had been looking for warmth in the cool evening mountain air, out of the pool water ever morning.
The setting sun distracts me from such memories, as the sky turns from a pastel blue. As the chardonnay flows, the sky moves to rose, to burgundy, to deep purple, and eventually a midnight blue. It's then the stars come to life one-by-one as they dance amongst the ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, cedar, oaks and maple trees floating above our heads.
The dry, hot summer has prompted the broad-leafed elements of the forest into an early fall. Had we been a week later, we'd be wrapped up in a fall color tour. While the leaves are still green, the tips of the trees have crisped brown, as the edges turn to a golden yellow.
The beauty around us is astounding, and it's obvious we have
simply succumb to the same requests which have been made of guests
on this same deck overlooking the Rogue River since the roaring
'20s: "We ask you in."
Postcards
Continue on to the next postcard.
- Tour Oregon 2: All About the Pleasure
- Tour Oregon 3: Slowing Down
- Tour Oregon 4: Weasku Inn
- Tour Oregon 5: Wandering Prospect with Jack London
- Tour Oregon 6: The Levels of Rustic
- Tour Oregon 7: Deliverence