A few surprises for what became the final day of this little trip to Portland. At a rest stop on the way south from Eugene, I checked the road conditions one last time, and realized that the I-5 was clear of any snow hazards. So we were able to visit Ashland and head down the middle of the state, after all. Ashland is famous for its Shakespeare Festival, of course. Since we were there off season, I didn’t expect it to be tremendously lively. But we did manage to…

Left Portland today to get a slight jump on our big journey back to San Francisco. Having only spent two days in the city, I can nevertheless say that we got a clear feel for the place, and the reaction was very much positive. Not a bad meal the whole time we were there. Managed to stumble upon a coffee tasting, in which the proprietor offered an amazing amount of knowledge about the process of selecting as well as trading and auctioning coffee worldwide. Got to see a film at…

[](http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/jcieplinski/HuunqrkrIDfbbfwlzGJrvmDJnEbpnDefEJanjwvapCtGphFgzercaigtbwwp/p557.jpg.scaled1000.jpg) [](http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/jcieplinski/utdCnDGoDhimkpvuHIBsGzICxxhtazoDjkncqszreDAoCagmbDwGpJdgiloC/p559.jpg.scaled1000.jpg)[See the full gallery on Posterous](http://www.blog.joecieplinski.com/end-of-2010-road-trip-day-one)Driving up the coast to Portland on a much needed winter vacation. Made it as far as Crescent City, CA tonight. (Highly recommend Cazadores…

**Update**: An old friend called me out on Facebook for my harsh words below. I’m going to leave them there, so everyone can read what I now believe was an overly harsh initial reaction to the article I’m quoting here from SFGate. I still believe my original conclusion, but I am not happy about how I explained my reasoning. My updated, more thought out reasoning, was posted as a comment on Facebook, as well. I will add that to the end of this article, for your convenience, or…