Double-Stacked Bookshelves

The week is nearly finished, fellow A-Zers, and I'm looking forward to the weekend!  Today brings us to the letter V in our month-long alphabet challenge and I love what this letter represents in Oregon.  I'm actually going to go with two things today (cheater).  Without further ado... The Vortex In in the hills outside of the small town of Gold Hill, just north of Medford, there is a wonderfully mysterious site for the adventurous where brooms stand on their own, things that are smaller appear larger and vice versa, and where balls roll uphill.  The Oregon Vortex and House of Mystery is, essentially, a roadside attraction that is full of optical illusions which cause visitors to question the laws of physics.  The proprietors proclaim that the strange occurrences are due to paranormal properties, but I'll leave that up to the individual to decide.  The building on the property, a gold assaying office originally built in the early 1900s, slid o...

Today we move closer to the end of our A-Z Blogging Challenge and encounter the letter S.  There are a lot of things in Oregon that could qualify for this letter, but I'm going with something that spreads a little culture to everyone...   Shakespeare Festival The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is renowned and awesome.  The festival takes place in Ashland, Oregon in the southern part of the state.   Originally conceived in 1893 as part of the Chautauqua adult education movement, the theater could accommodate up to 1500 spectators in an outdoor arena.  Soon, a domed stage was built on the site.  When the stage fell into disrepair, the Chautauqua movement faded away in Ashland.  However, in 1935 a drama professor, Angus Bowmer, at the Southern Oregon Normal School (today's Southern Oregon University ) wished to use the location to present Shakespearean plays.  He was given limited funds ($400) to put on two plays as part of the city's Independ...

I'm getting a late start on my post for today...stinkin' work getting in the way of blogging :)  Today's letter of designation is J and we're heading down to Southern Oregon to explore Jacksonville Jacksonville , Oregon is located just north of the California border about five minutes from Medford, Oregon.  Founded in 1851, the town was settled when gold deposits were discovered in the surrounding area.  People soon flocked to the area and the community quickly developed.  The downtown district of Jacksonville has been declared a US National Landmark and most buildings have been preserved or restored to reflect their original appearance from the mining days.  Jacksonville was also the first place that a designated Chinatown was developed in Oregon.  This was discovered in 2004 when roadwork was being down.  With the discovery, the road maintenance was halted and an excavation crew was brought in to recover the many artifacts which included...