Ashland #4 on the Fourth of July

It's a beautiful summer afternoon in south central Oregon. The sun shines high through thin cirrus. The air is pleasantly warm and scented with a myriad of wildflowers. My family and I are relaxing after a few hours hiking in the forested mountains south of Ashland. It is, quite simply, another idyllic experience at one of our favorite destinations. This is our fourth annual visit to the Shakespeare festival at Ashland, but each time feels just as fresh and delightful as the first.

This time, we've come over the Independence Day holiday and were treated yesterday to an old-fashioned, small-town Fourth of July parade. The city's best and brightest, funkiest and offbeat were out in force to celebrate. I found myself caught up in a kind of patriotic enthusiasm difficult to find in metropolitan Los Angeles. The local civic dignitaries arrived in classic cars; makeshift floats celebrating an array of causes drifted by; kids of all ages riding unicycles and juggling, and a few displays demanding the end of the Iraq War and the election of Barack Obama were in attendance. Suddenly, a beautiful young nymph appeared in the crowd, wearing only a g-string, dancing and cavorting, turning heads along the way, but interestingly not raising objections from the motorcycle police detail, which was busy performing interleaving figure-eights along the parade route. The scene had all the eclectic, somewhat bohemian flair that is Ashland.

Once the last of the parade had passed, we followed the procession downtown and up into Lithia Park where everyone settled in for an afternoon of music, food and browsing of street vendors' wares. Carol and I found a perfect string of prayer flags for the new rock garden we're building in our backyard. Kieran played hacky sack with a couple of locals while I basked sleepily on the grass in the shade of the magnificent ancient trees. It was, quite simply, a perfect Fourth of July.

We had arrived, as usual, at the Ashland airport the afternoon before. Our rental car was waiting at the always-helpful Skinner Aviation FBO and we were at our now-familiar Beau Soleil Cottage by 4pm - plenty of time for a quick nap before a quick dinner at Agave and the first play on this year's playbill - August Wilson's Fences. We are huge fans of Mr. Wilson's epic series of plays portraying the Black American experience in the 20th Century. Fences certainly did not disappoint! Portraying life in Pittsburgh in the late 1950s, the tragedy and hope of Fences has been compared quite accurately I think to that of Shakespeare's King Lear. For two and one half hours, we were mesmerized by the powerful story of Troy Maxson and his family. As with all his works, I came away from the theatre in awe of Wilson's ability to transport me so powerfully and personally into a life experience so foreign to my own.

Sunday we returned to the Festival to experience Coriolanus in the intimate New Theatre. With only a few hundred seats, all wrapped around the stage, this theatre is truly intimate and immersive. This production of the tragic story of a successful warrior manipulated into politics by his own ambition and his domineering mother was set in chillingly modern times - reminiscent of Iraq, Afghanistan or any number of other conflicts presently around the world. The audience was compelled to draw uncomfortable, real-world parallels of what can happen when essentially well-meaning people fall victim to their fears and their propaganda. The performances were riveting - made all the more so by the intimate setting. I could smell the sweat of battle on the principals as they wrestled - outwardly with each other and inwardly with themselves.

During our stay, we also visited some favorite restaurants, including Pasta Piatti and Standing Stone Brewing Co.. The former offers excellent upscale Italian fare at reasonable prices in a contemporary setting. The latter is a working brewery and restaurant, always with an interesting selection of local brews and a food menu of salads, sandwiches, burgers and entrees. We visited Saturday night and happened to catch a great 5-piece swing band playing in the back room. It was fun to watch some of the locals kicking up their heels on the tiny dance floor to classics from the 1940s.

Monday, we flew home with another collection of fond memories - and anticipation of our next Ashland adventure!