Girlfriend Field Trip! Relax…Refresh…RoadTrip!
Mt. Shasta Lavender Farm and Living Memorial Sculpture Garden
A good friend posted on Facebook that she and another friend were going to the Mt Shasta Lavender Farm the following Wednesday and anyone who wanted to join them was welcome! I was free that day so decided to come along. It was a fun day and reminded me that there are interesting things to see in our own regions and sometimes we just need a good ol’ fashioned field trip!!
The Mt. Shasta Lavender Farm is located outside of Montague, CA about an hour and a half drive from Medford, Oregon where we all live. There were four of us, so we piled into one car but not before enjoying some homemade lavender scones made by good friend Janice Cox of Natural Beauty at Home. For Sweet Lavender Scone Recipe click here.
The Mt. Shasta Lavender Farm is in a beautiful setting with spectacular views of Mt. Shasta!
There is a stylish building that definitely reminded me of being in Provence which houses a small boutique where they sell all kinds of lavender goods and free cups of lavender lemonade – delicious!
There is a section that is French lavender and one that is English lavender. They provide nice baskets and scissors for you to collect the lavender.
In the middle is a lavender labyrinth which is nice to walk through and meditate or pray.
There are nice tables and chairs with an arbor or umbrellas, a nice place to eat if you bring a picnic lunch.
Also suggest bringing a hat and sunscreen as it can get quite hot and there is no shade in the fields.
Another friend had mentioned that since we were going out that way we should stop at the Living Memorial Sculpture Garden in Weed, CA. It was just a 10-15 minute drive from the Lavender Farm.
The sculpture garden was founded by veterans in 1988 to pay tribute to those who have sacrificed their lives in war. The sculpture garden has 11 beautiful and thought provoking sculptures made by artist Dennis Smith. They are spread out around a forest of trees planted by hundreds of volunteers.
We had not brought a picnic lunch to eat at the Lavender Farm so by this time we were starving. We were close to Weed, CA and had heard that the Hi-Lo Cafe was good place to get a bite to eat so we stopped there for a late lunch. We absolutely loved the retro sign and vintage decor inside.
It was a large menu with choices from breakfast all-day to hamburgers, salads, fried chicken and more. Our waitress was extremely nice and friendly and made our molten volcano dessert extra special for us!
All of us have lived in the Rogue Valley for almost 20 years and had never been to these great gems just a 1.5 hour drive away! Loving the Girlfriend Fieldtrips – Relax, Refresh, Roadtrip!!
Welcome to From Home to Roam! My name is Judy Gambee. After many years of family trips to Walt Disney World, Arizona and Hawaii I decided it was time for us to see the world! Seven years, five continents and fourteen countries later here I am writing a blog about our adventures along with all kinds of tips and advice on how to dream, plan and go – all on your own! (
I’m a tourism student at my local University and I’ve got to tell you that our English teacher couldn’t shut up about Morocco all year long. Now i see why! Too bad she hadn’t showed us such lovely photos as you have here:) thanks for making it clear for me why this place is so amazing!
We leave for Morocco in 4 weeks and are still to confirm our internal route. Your trip has given us many ideas and confirmed some others. We hope our trip is as much fun as yours sounded and we can have similar experiences.
Glad the blog was helpful. Have a fabulous trip!!
Hi Judy. In addition to planning Jordan/Israel, I am also planning Spain or Spain/Morocco which is why I’m writing. In August 2014, we are joining several families on a week long Disney Cruise (yes the kids talked me into this!) departing out of Barcelona. It goes to France and Italy also, before returning back to Barcelona. We will spend 3 nights in Barcelona for sure after the cruise but need to decide on the rest. The majority of the group only have an additional week after the cruise. I may have a few more days but for the purpose of joint trip planning, I’m dealing with 8 nights. After the first 3 nights in Barcelona and 1 last night before departing, we are talking about 4 nights for somewhere else. So far the choices are:
3 nights Sevilla and 1 night Granada
3 nights Marrakech and 1 night somewhere else in Morocco
I know you loved Morocco and want your opinion if 4 nights is enough time. If so, where else should we go besides Marrakech? Can we do overnight in the desert with just 1 night? I think the group is leaning towards Morocco since we will have docked in Rome, Florence, Monte Carlo, Pompeii with trips to Pisa and a few other places as well. As you know, I’m well traveled in West, East and Southern Africa but gave never been yo Northern Africa and am very keen.
Let me know your thoughts. With much appreciation,
Malaak
Malaak – Sorry for the delay, we were out of town for the Thanksgiving holiday. With only 4 nights you could do Marrakech and a night one other place, but you would definitely not have time for the desert. From Marrakech it is a two day drive to the Sahara. I would consider an overnight in either Essouria (coast) or the HIgh Atlas Mtns. We have not been to Essouria but I have heard such amazing things about it. We did not spend a night in the HIgh Atlas, but did drive through there on our way to the Sahara, and found it quite interesting. I would look into both of those and see which interests everyone the most. They are both easily doable as an overnight from Marrakech. Doing Marrakech would definitely give you a completely different experience than what you would have encountered earlier in the trip – but look at the airfare costs/times to determine whether that or more of Spain would work best. Look at low cost airlines like EasyJet and Ryanair.
The Sevilla/Granada would also be a great four day trip, and probably easier/cheaper to get to. We loved Andalucia, but we may be in the minority, but enjoyed Granada and Cordoba a bit more than Sevilla, however, I would probably still recommend Sevilla and Granada as the combo. Though in Aug. it will will be VERY hot there, in Morocco too so just keep that in mind. We absolutely LOVE the food in Spain, though we really did like the food in Morocco, though did tire of it a bit, but that shouldn’t be a problem with only 4 nights there.
Good luck!! it will be an amazing trip no matter which you choose!!
Hi
This was a very useful read as we are planning a week to marocco this Easter with two young adult daughters and a grandfather…
The wonderful world of the web…
Thanks
Nelleke – Glad you enjoyed it and found it helpful. Have a wonderful trip!