It took me almost a month to finish the blog posts about our road trip partly because I interspersed other stories into those posts. I'm still catching up on the things I wanted to share. One of those is  another adventure on the road, this time involving sheep. Just after I came home from Black Sheep Gathering I found out about a ram for sale in northern California. I had just purchased a ram lamb at BSG but, after selling rams this summer, I would still have only two rams here for breeding in October  (except for whatever of my own ram lambs I might keep). The new one was small and I wasn't sure that he'd be up for the job on October 1. The one for sale was an adult so he would definitely be ready for breeding.

I planned a day trip to the Klamath River area west of Yreka, but in the meantime my friend, Jackie, had purchased a couple of sheep that were to be delivered to Selma, Oregon that same week. We decided to combine the two sheep pick-ups, but that turned the trip into a two-day Sheep Adventure.

The drive north on I-5 gets more interesting once you leave the valley and get into the mountains.

Mt. Shasta, at 14,179', is in view for many miles. I had never stopped at this vista point. I made Jackie take a photo with me.

I love this mountain and, although I have never climbed it, I spent a couple of summers working in the Klamath National Forest where it was always a presence. My husband has been at the top, but that is another story.

There were bear tracks in the cement walkways.

It turns out that bears became the theme for the day. We planned to spent the night in Grants Pass, Oregon and pick up the sheep the next day. It just happened that Grants Pass was celebrating Bear Fest, "a hands-on touchable art event, proving that art doesn’t have to be “serious” to be great. Local artists decorated, embellished, bejeweled and painted larger than life size bears" which were on display through the summer.

Our motel had bear themed furniture...

...and bear art over the fireplace in the lobby.

This bear was outside the motel. We drove downtown and parked. We took our Bearfest Map and found some of the fifty bears that were displayed around town.

Marge and Rockabilly Bear (with Jackie photographing from another view).

Pierre Bear the Arteest and La Petite Monique.

Not a bear, but keeping (loosely) in the theme of our trip, it seemed that we should eat at this restaurant.

Old Time Beartender.

Boss Henry the Logger Bear.

Vincent Barbera Merlot

Carmen Bearanda

Also seen on the streets of Grants Pass. We had skipped dessert at the restaurant...

...but didn't stop here...

...because these wern't edible!

More in the next post...