Wine Country Inn — Jacksonville, Oregon USA
/We’ll be staying in the Wine Country Inn in delightful Jacksonville, Oregon August 21-23, 2026 (double room, $180/night with breakfast, property link). More soon.
Reflections on the United States of America 2026
We’ll be here from July 14 - August 24, 2026. We’re confining our annual stateside visit to just the State of Oregon this year.
We’ll be in our hometown of Portland for all of it except for a southern Oregon weekend visit. We’ll attend a celebration of life for our deceased friend Dan Valens in Medford. We’ll stay in the historical village of Jacksonville, Oregon for the weekend.
Portland accommodations will be repeats at both Beau’s Airbnb and Stephen and Thomas’s Portland International Guesthouse. Both rainbow properties are wonderful and are in our old neighborhood offering us that feeling of “going home,” even though we are still homeless. We’ll also spend our final weekend in a southeast Portland guesthouse close to our kids and grandkids.
The accommodations listed below add in the new 2026 listings first, followed by our 2025 itinerary.
Reflections on the United States of America 2025
We were here August 12 - September 22, 2025. We had friends to see, family to love on and property we had to check.
But without access to our home, currently being rented, we stayed in hotels and Airbnbs. We visited our hometown of Portland, Oregon and some spots in Ohio to see family.
Below are pics from our accommodations.
See pics (on our Facebook posts) of what we did throughout our six weeks in the USA - First post, Second post, Third post, Fourth post, Fifth post, Sixth post.
We also recorded two podcasts while we were there: “How To Die in Oregon…Naturally”: Part One, Part Two.
Evermore Guesthouse — SE Portland, Oregon USA
/We’ll be here August 21-24, 2026 (standard king room, $246/night without breakfast, property link). More soon.
Airbnb Apartment — Chillicothe, Ohio, USA
/We were here September 18, 2025. We rented a nice downtown apartment big enough for the four of us ($314 /night - Airbnb property link).
We did a road trip with family leaving from Cleveland, stopping in Newark (east of Columbus) and arriving in Chillicothe north and east of Cincinnati. Paul lived in Ohio from birth until 21 years old but never visited these very historical places.
We were on a mission to visit the ancient Native American mounds dated from before European contact with the continent. Chillicothe is a very historic place in Ohio and American history. Great overnight road trip.
Below are pics from the accommodation.
See pics (on our Facebook posts) of what we did throughout our six weeks in the USA - First post, Second post, Third post, Fourth post, Fifth post, Sixth post.
Also see: Our Visit to Serpent Mound
Photo from archaeologicalconservancy.org
Airbnb apartment — Birdtown, Lakewood, Ohio USA
/We were here September 15-22, 2025 (1 bedroom, 1 bath house $124 per night, Airbnb property link). It’s a beautiful property, with our family living just two blocks away. We hope to stay here again when we return for another visit. Loved it—and love Lakewood. Beautifully remodeled and super comfortable. Highly recommend!
Below are pics from the accommodation.
See pics (on our Facebook posts) of what we did throughout our six weeks in the USA - First post, Second post, Third post, Fourth post, Fifth post, Sixth post.
Holiday Inn Express & Suites Toledo South — Perrysburg, Ohio USA
/We were here September 13-15, 2025 ($174 per night without breakfast, booking.com property link). The reliable Holiday Inn—reliably 2.5 stars. We always stay either here or the similar sister property in Bowling Green (down the road 20 minutes) when we are visiting family in the area.
Below are pics from the accommodation.
See pics (on our Facebook posts) of what we did throughout our six weeks in the USA - First post, Second post, Third post, Fourth post, Fifth post, Sixth post.
Mark Spencer Hotel — SW Portland, Oregon USA
/We were here September 7-12, 2025 (Deluxe King Room with Kitchen $127 per night, property link). Perfect central westside location—close to everything including public transport, Powell’s Books, lots of restaurants and shops.
Below are pics from the accommodation.
See pics (on our Facebook posts) of what we did throughout our six weeks in the USA - First post, Second post, Third post, Fourth post, Fifth post, Sixth post.
Airbnb apartment — SE Portland, OR USA
/We were here August 28 - September 7, 2025 ($99 per night, property link). Nicely remodeled basement apartment with full kitchen off Cesar Chavez Blvd near SE Division. It was conveniently only two blocks from our family. Lots of nice touches with a sitting area in the backyard. Very nice owners live above and were a pleasure.
Below are pics from the accommodation.
See pics (on our Facebook posts) of what we did throughout our six weeks in the USA - First post, Second post, Third post, Fourth post, Fifth post, Sixth post.
Portland International Guesthouse — NW Portland, Oregon USA
/We were here August 20-28, 2025 ($110 per night, property website). [And from July 20 - August 21, 2026.] Love this place and great guys, Thomas and Stephen, run it. There’s one private basement apartment but we stayed in a private room with shared bath upstairs. Shared kitchen space. There’s only four rooms plus the apartment. Great value and in a great neighborhood. Highly recommend!
Below are pics from the accommodation.
See pics (on our Facebook posts) of what we did throughout our six weeks in the USA - First post, Second post, Third post, Fourth post, Fifth post, Sixth post.
Beau's Airbnb apartment — NW Portland, Oregon USA
/We were here August 12-20, 2025. [And July 14-20, 2026.] Our friend and neighbor Beau runs this Airbnb. We’ve stayed here before and visiting family has stayed here too. We love it! We would have stayed more nights but this was all we could get. He’s always 100% booked. This one-bedroom unit is right off popular NW 23rd Ave.
We forgot to take pics of the accommodation because we have stayed here so much we forgot! Next time we will.
See pics (on our Facebook posts) of what we did throughout our six weeks in the USA - First post, Second post, Third post, Fourth post, Fifth post, Sixth post.
