Before I start today’s blog, I must comment on the picture of the bowl of cherries. We are in Washington, you know. So, the other day on our drive between MSH and Mt.R (read earlier blogs to figure out those locations), we stopped for liquid refreshment and there was a produce stand on the opposite corner that had fresh Washington cherries. Our #2 loves fresh cherries, so I bought a couple of baskets just because we would have done it had he been with us. They were Bing and Rainier cherries. Never heard of the Rainier variety, but they were every bit as good as the Bings. Since these cherries hadn’t been refrigerated, I kept some of the pits to see if we can grow a cherry tree just for #2!
Okay. So. Today was downtown Seattle day. At least that was our plan. #3 woke up with a tummy ache and feeling light-headed. He had a bout last year with a condition called labyrinthitis, which our dr. said was a rare virus that affects the labyrinth passages of the middle and inner ear, thus the dizziness and nausea. We were just praying that this was not a recurrence of that episode.
We got dressed and drove downtown to at least walk around a little while and have lunch at a place recommended to me by some of my engineer buddies at work. Random fact: Downtown Seattle is surprisingly hilly. Some of the streets that run east and west are reminiscent of San Francisco, they’re so steep! I wouldn’t want to drive in downtown Seattle in the winter time or with questionable brakes. Or with my mother.
Maggs got us to the parking garage for the Pike Place Market and after driving around the garage for about 15 minutes, Dear was finally able to find a parking space. #3 was hanging in there, so we went up several flights of steps to get to the Market and find Ivar’s – our lunch destination. We had no luck and Maggs kept saying, “You have arrived,” which we knew darn good and well we hadn’t.
So I called one of the engineer buddies responsible for this particular wild goose chase and told him where we were and where the heck was Ivar’s!? He said we should go back down to the street that was at the water level – down the freaking steps that we just climbed!! to Alaska Way that runs parallel to that particular area of Puget Sound – and walk toward the ferries.
Maggs liked those landmarks and we finally found Ivar’s. The lunch crowd had thinned out by this time (because of our boondoggle trying to find the place), so we only had to wait a couple of minutes for a table. #3 was barely with us by this point and was looking kind of green, but he was hungry. So he ordered a bowl of clam chowder while Dear and I had fish and chips. Good food. Not the best we’ve had on the trip, but good.
After lunch, #3 felt a little better so we rode one of the free Metro buses to Pioneer Square to take the tour of Underground Seattle. It was really hot on the bus – no air conditioning – and the heat combined with the motion of the bus didn’t do #3 any good. By the time we got to Pioneer Square and found out that we’d have to wait 90 minutes for the next available tour, #3 gave up and asked if we could just go back to the hotel. We made it to the car in record time and got out of downtown just as rush hour was beginning.
Another random fact: There are 5 floating bridges in the world and 3 of them are in the Seattle area. Two of them are right in the city and the third links Bremerton Island to the Olympic Peninsula. We drove across the 520 floater on our way back to the hotel. One down, two to go.
Back at the Quality Inn and Suites, #3 slept for a couple of hours while Dear watched TV and I caught up with photos, email and blogs. In retrospect, it was a good break for us from the rush hour traffic, because what we saw of said traffic was comparable to the mix master at 4:30 on Friday afternoon.
When #3 woke up about 6:30-ish, he felt better (whew!) and we decided to venture out again – this time to visit the Space Needle. Maggs pretty much knows the way to downtown Seattle by now, so she got us there in good time. The Mariners are in town this week playing the Blue Jays, but we missed most of the game-time traffic.
The Space Needle is relatively easy to find and I called ahead to see if we could get dinner reservations at SkyCity – the revolving restaurant one level below the Observation Deck. The earliest we could get a table was 8:45, so we had a little time to spare. Dear drove around a few blocks deciding whether to park the car ourselves or take advantage of the valet parking at the Space Needle.
He was heading into a $5 lot when a scruffy-looking man approached the car and shouted to us that there was “FREE PARKING ACROSS THE STREET AND WE WOULDN’T HAVE TO PAY ANYONE ANYTHING TO PARK THERE.” Scary little man. Dear politely thanked him and drove around a couple more blocks just to make sure the man didn’t follow our progress. Because of that, Dear decided that valet was the wiser choice for parking.
We puttered around the Space Needle gift shop for a few minutes and then rode the whoosh-evator up to the Observation Deck to walk around and take some pictures till our table was ready. The only revolving restaurant we’ve ever eaten at is the one at Reunion Tower in BigD and that was like 16 years ago – right after we moved to TX. [We have a friend, David B., who (when he was younger) had a life ambition to eat in every revolving restaurant in the United States. I thought of David as we entered the SkyCity revolver.]
Of course, we took pictures on the ObDeck and also in the restaurant. We were lucky enough to be there at sunset, so Dear got some passable shots as we revolved around. The meal was wonderful, but expen$$$$ive. Very. But I figure, how many times will we eat at the SkyCity Restaurant at the Space Needle? And the ride up was included as part of our meal, so we saved money there. Yeah.
That’s what I keep telling myself.
Dear and #3 had the Seafood Trio (salmon, prawns and scallops with red and purple potatoes and asparagus spears) and I had an 8-oz. filet mignon. Did I say wonderful? Yes, it was. But, it was definitely our splurge for the trip. We didn’t have dessert there, but we did stop in the gift shop and got stuff for the rest of the fam. Wish they could have been with us.
We also stopped at Shari’s (comparable to Shoney’s or Marie Callendar’s and conveniently located next door to our hotel) and got some coconut cream and oreo cream pie to take back to the room. Note the photo of the contents of the refrigerator in our room: Diet Coke and PIE. I am my father’s daughter and he would be proud.
“Benchwarmers” was on TV, so we watched it, ate pie and drank Diet Coke to finish off a fun day. We didn’t get to do everything we’d planned, but tomorrow is another day.
ttfn
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Free Sunday, Malibu Chicken, Volcano and Mountain
Sunday morning. It’s weird not getting up and getting ready to make it to church for 10:30 choir practice. Dear always leave the house before 8, so it’s usually just me and #3 around the house. Dear only gets 2 Sundays off during the year, unless he’s sick (very rare), so having free Sundays with the family is a novelty for him. Condemn if you want, but we always enjoy the time away from responsibilities and expectations. It’s a very demanding job and the breaks are always refreshing for Dear. But then, at the end of our time away, he’s ready to get back into the swing of things for the next 50 Sundays. How many other people do you know who are at church 50 Sundays out of the year?
‘Nuff said. We enjoyed our first Sunday off. We actually left the hotel early and were on the highway north before noon. Yes, that’s early for us on vacation! We decided to drive for a while to give the church people a chance to clear out of the restaurants. You know how annoying church people can be on Sundays when they’re hungry. Maggs graciously found us a Sizzler Steak House north of Longview (WA not TX) and we enjoyed our lunch of steak, shrimp and Malibu chicken.
Sizzler always reminds me of when I was pregnant with #1 in Florida. The only kind of food I could stomach for the first 3 months of my pregnancy came from either Church’s Chicken (a 20-minute drive from where we lived in Boca Raton) or Sizzler (just 5 minutes down the road). I guess that’s why I love their Malibu chicken – I pretty much lived on it back then. At least for a few months at a time.
After lunch, we drove on to see the Mt. St. Helens Volcano. The Visitor’s Center has a gift shop (naturally), exhibits to see and read, and the ever-popular informative video that plays twice every hour on the :05 and :35. We caught the 3:05 show and learned some interesting facts about the MSH eruption in May 1980. Do you remember where you were when it happened? I don’t remember the exact moment, but I do remember the cloud of volcanic ash in the air over Southern Missouri where we lived at the time. Very impressive.
We did the one-mile scenic trail walk (I can’t remember why – other than to walk off the Malibu chicken) in the 96-degree heat and were all sweating (I was “glowing” rather than sweating) and panting by the time we got back to the car. There was a heat advisory alert for southern Washington, so we didn’t see many other people on the path. Wimps. Send ‘em to TX in August. Then they’ll understand heat advisory!
FYI, the scenic trail walk was not TO the volcano site, just around some marshy looking water thing filled with lily pads and ferns that used to be Silver Lake before it got blown away by the 1980 eruption. We would have had to drive another 90 minutes to actually get to MSH. We chose not do to that because the informative video was so, um, informative that we felt like we’d already been there.
Back in the car and on the road again relishing the air conditioned comfort and recovering from the MSH walkabout. Maggs and I had a difference of opinion as to how to get to Mt. Rainier National Park. Since I sit in the back seat with my Rand McNally Road Atlas and Maggs is in the front between the driver and the passenger with her global positioning software microchip, she won. It wasn’t the scenic route that I would have chosen, but she got us there just the same. The drive through the park was spectacular and Mt. Rainier is awesome. Many photos.
Outside temp at the park entrance was 97 degrees. When we got to the highest point on our particular route, the temp was 63. I was most amazed at the snow that was still on the ground – even with air temps averaging in the mid-80’s. How is that possible? At one point, the snow was so deep around the trees that it looked like a Vermont winter scene instead of Washington in June. Several of the reflection lakes were still frozen over!
For the first time in our travels since our trip to Beaver Creek, CO in 2005, we saw a bear! Up close and personal. Well, from about 50 yards away. It was a baby black bear and he (she?) was munching plants on the hillside above the roadway. Photos, of course. But we didn’t get out of the car because baby bear on the hillside = mama bear somewhere close by. But we saw a real live bear in its natural habitat. I know. It doesn’t take much.
Further up the mountain road toward Paradise, Dear and #3 found a spot to get out of the car and play in the snow. Dear thought it was really funny that he was walking in the snow in shorts and t-shirt. #3 did the follow-the-leader thing for a few steps behind Dear, and then decided to challenge his dad to a King of the Hill manly man tussle. #3 ended up face down in the snow. Men, men, men, men, manly, men, men, men…you get the idea. More photos.
On the way down the other side of Mt.R, we could see some weather coming in and by the time we got to the bottom, we couldn’t even see the top of the mountain for the clouds. It started sprinkling and soon was raining with little pea-sized hail mixed in for good measure. Not good for the rental car, so Dear pulled over under some trees for a few minutes until the hail stopped. Then we drove out of the rain shower in about 10 minutes – the only rain we’ve had on the trip thus far. It’s because we brought an umbrella with us. If we hadn’t, it probably would have rained every day!
After Mt.R, we drove on in to Renton (Seattle area) and found the hotel that will be our home for the next 3 nights. I’m excited to see the sights in Seattle (too bad the Rangers aren’t playing here this week) and take a drive around the Olympic Peninsula into the Olympia Mountains. Maybe we’ll see a Pacific Ocean sunset.
Pictures are posted at www.myspace.com/alemapyak. Enjoy!
ttfn
Saturday, June 28, 2008
WA to OR and Back Again
We started out lazy today. I woke up at 7:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep, but I didn’t wake the guys (how thoughtful of me). I plugged in my headphones and watched some videos on the computer and caught up on my emails. Interesting one from the job I applied for at work. Evidently, they want me to call for an interview. I left an “out of office” message on my work email so they know I’m on vacation, but I might have to break down and call in about this job. Still thinking about it.
Dear got up at 11 and got ready for the day’s activities. He checked out the guest laundry room – all one washer and one dryer of it – and decided that he had time to do at least one load of laundry while we were waiting for #3 to reach coherency. Is that a word? #3 rolled out of bed at noon and did his routine to get socially presentable. The laundry wasn’t finished yet, so we started watching a movie. The laundry finally did get finished, but then we wanted to see how the movie ended. Consequently, we didn’t leave the hotel until after 2:30.
The agenda for the day was to see Multnomah Falls and Mt. Hood. Well, it’s impossible NOT to see Mt. Hood if you’re outside and looking east, but we thought we’d get a little closer to it. Multnomah Falls is one of the highest in the world and Mt. Hood is the second most climbed mountain behind Mt. Fuji in Japan.
Side note: We figured out that the reason our camera wasn’t charging was because the charger that we bought the other day at Radio Shack isn’t what the little bugger needed to keep going and going and going. You get the picture (no pun intended). According to the instruction book (which I handily brought along on the trip), our little Kodak shutter pet (KSP) just needed new batteries – not a charger. Come to think of it, I don’t think we’ve changed the batteries since we bought the camera several years ago. I’d say we got our money’s worth out of that set of cells.
We had a little difficulty in navigating to Multnomah Falls, but finally arrived about 4:00. No parking spaces. So Dear drove down the road a little further to find a turnaround spot and did a second pass of the parking lots. A spot opened up, so he scooted into it in true Texas u-turn fashion. We made the short walk to the base of the falls and I took a couple of photos before KSP completely died. (Gentle reminder that I've posted all the photos at www.myspace.com/alemapyak.)
As is the case with all national/state/local attractions, there was a gift shop! Fancy that. And they had the required lithium batteries to feed our little Kodak pet. She was revitalized and ready to take another thousand pictures or so. I didn’t take nearly that many at the falls, but got enough to document our visit.
We headed back west to Portland and across the Columbia River bridge to Washington to find a place for an early dinner. We’d seen several restaurants along the riverbank earlier and decided to stop at a place called Beaches. Didn’t see Bette Midler or hear the song, but the food was good, the atmosphere was fun and the view was of the river and all the boaters, jet skiers, sailors, etc.
We ordered seared ahi and onion rings as an appetizer and then the guys had seafood fettuccini and I had a grilled mahi mahi filet with strawberry salsa. Interesting blend of flavors, but very good. A light dessert (frozen strawberries, chocolate cake and key lime pie) and we were full to the gills.
Back to the hotel for an early evening, another load of laundry, blogging, crocheting and maybe a movie. I love relaxing with the fam. Sigh.
ttfn
Dear got up at 11 and got ready for the day’s activities. He checked out the guest laundry room – all one washer and one dryer of it – and decided that he had time to do at least one load of laundry while we were waiting for #3 to reach coherency. Is that a word? #3 rolled out of bed at noon and did his routine to get socially presentable. The laundry wasn’t finished yet, so we started watching a movie. The laundry finally did get finished, but then we wanted to see how the movie ended. Consequently, we didn’t leave the hotel until after 2:30.
The agenda for the day was to see Multnomah Falls and Mt. Hood. Well, it’s impossible NOT to see Mt. Hood if you’re outside and looking east, but we thought we’d get a little closer to it. Multnomah Falls is one of the highest in the world and Mt. Hood is the second most climbed mountain behind Mt. Fuji in Japan.
Side note: We figured out that the reason our camera wasn’t charging was because the charger that we bought the other day at Radio Shack isn’t what the little bugger needed to keep going and going and going. You get the picture (no pun intended). According to the instruction book (which I handily brought along on the trip), our little Kodak shutter pet (KSP) just needed new batteries – not a charger. Come to think of it, I don’t think we’ve changed the batteries since we bought the camera several years ago. I’d say we got our money’s worth out of that set of cells.
We had a little difficulty in navigating to Multnomah Falls, but finally arrived about 4:00. No parking spaces. So Dear drove down the road a little further to find a turnaround spot and did a second pass of the parking lots. A spot opened up, so he scooted into it in true Texas u-turn fashion. We made the short walk to the base of the falls and I took a couple of photos before KSP completely died. (Gentle reminder that I've posted all the photos at www.myspace.com/alemapyak.)
As is the case with all national/state/local attractions, there was a gift shop! Fancy that. And they had the required lithium batteries to feed our little Kodak pet. She was revitalized and ready to take another thousand pictures or so. I didn’t take nearly that many at the falls, but got enough to document our visit.
We headed back west to Portland and across the Columbia River bridge to Washington to find a place for an early dinner. We’d seen several restaurants along the riverbank earlier and decided to stop at a place called Beaches. Didn’t see Bette Midler or hear the song, but the food was good, the atmosphere was fun and the view was of the river and all the boaters, jet skiers, sailors, etc.
We ordered seared ahi and onion rings as an appetizer and then the guys had seafood fettuccini and I had a grilled mahi mahi filet with strawberry salsa. Interesting blend of flavors, but very good. A light dessert (frozen strawberries, chocolate cake and key lime pie) and we were full to the gills.
Back to the hotel for an early evening, another load of laundry, blogging, crocheting and maybe a movie. I love relaxing with the fam. Sigh.
ttfn
Friday, June 27, 2008
Coos Bay to Vancouver
Today was another traveling day. We Rossed and checked out of the hotel at 11 a.m. and headed back to the Captain’s Choice for another bowl of their excellent clam chowder before we left the area.
The drive today took us up the 101 for a few miles and then east on Hwy 38 toward I-5 where we turned northward again toward Eugene, Salem, Portland and Vancouver, WA – our destination for the weekend. The drive was uneventful, slow in spots, and the outdoor temperature got progressively warmer the further inland we drove. By the time we drove through Eugene, the temp was 90. So much for those 65-degree days and 50-degree nights.
We stopped to get $4.19/gallon gas in Salem (no DOOL faces around, sad to say) ((if you know what that means, you “know” what that means)). Here’s an interesting tidbit of info about Oregon should any of you faithful readers ever travel out this way. Dear got out to pump gas and was stopped by a guy with a bright orange vest on over his shirt. Orange Vest guy said he’d pump the gas. Dear said no thanks, I can do it myself. OV guy said it’s illegal in the state of Oregon for a consumer to pump their own gas. HUH??? Dear told him that we were from TEXAS and were used to pumping our own gas, thank you very much. OV guy didn’t back down, so Dear decided that when in Rome…or Oregon, as was the case here. He didn’t want to have to explain a stay in an Oregon jail because of self-gas pumping.
One other random event in the car as we were driving and listening to music. #3 decided to wear his moccasins today and discovered that he could make squeaking noises by rubbing his moccasin’ed foot against the dashboard. His comment was, “Hey, I can play the shoe.” The shoe?? Seriously?
In an effort to hone his craft of shoe playing, #3 then tried a GLISSANDO by moving his foot horizontally across the dashboard. I’m sure that there will be opportunity soon for everyone to witness this newly discovered talent. Dear is thinking of an orchestra arrangement to feature our SON AND HIS SHOE!!!!
We’re so proud.
Anyway. We got to Portland about 5:00. What is it with us, big cities, and rush hour?? Northbound traffic wasn’t bad until we got within 7 miles of the bridge into Washington. Then we c r a w l e d along at 5 mph for those 7 miles all the way across the bridge. We finally made it to the hotel at 7:15. Yeah. It took that long. Maggs reported that our average speed for the 225-mile trip was 28 mph thanks to creeping through Portland.
The only photos I took today are of Mt. Hood from afar. We plan to see it up close and personal tomorrow.
After settling in at the hotel, I caught up on our weekly paperwork while Dear and #3 watched a movie. Dear was also reading the phone book to find a place to have a late supper. He chose McGrath’s Fish House and Maggs dutifully directed us to the restaurant. Dear chose well because the food was good, the atmosphere was quiet, and the prices were reasonable. #3 went for the seared ahi with wasabi sauce that he originally tried a couple of years ago when we traveled to La Jolla in SoCal. Dear even tried a bite of #3’s ahi and declared it very tasty, but preferred his fish, prawns, scallops and clams. I had a grilled salmon steak and a crab cake.
Because of the paperwork catch-up activities, I needed to get some postage stamps. The hotel clerk was less than helpful, so we asked Maggs to direct us to a Wally World. What would we do without Wally? One of the aggravations of traveling without research is that we discovered that there are no Chase Banks in this part of the country. Hmmm, since we don’t usually carry much cash, this could be a problem. Wally to the rescue again! I purchased the postage stamps and a few other necessities (Diet Coke 24-pak for $5!) and chose the maximum cash-back option from my debit card. Voila! Cash on hand for whatever.
Back to the hotel to relax, upload photos and catch up with my blogging. Mission accomplished.
ttfn
The drive today took us up the 101 for a few miles and then east on Hwy 38 toward I-5 where we turned northward again toward Eugene, Salem, Portland and Vancouver, WA – our destination for the weekend. The drive was uneventful, slow in spots, and the outdoor temperature got progressively warmer the further inland we drove. By the time we drove through Eugene, the temp was 90. So much for those 65-degree days and 50-degree nights.
We stopped to get $4.19/gallon gas in Salem (no DOOL faces around, sad to say) ((if you know what that means, you “know” what that means)). Here’s an interesting tidbit of info about Oregon should any of you faithful readers ever travel out this way. Dear got out to pump gas and was stopped by a guy with a bright orange vest on over his shirt. Orange Vest guy said he’d pump the gas. Dear said no thanks, I can do it myself. OV guy said it’s illegal in the state of Oregon for a consumer to pump their own gas. HUH??? Dear told him that we were from TEXAS and were used to pumping our own gas, thank you very much. OV guy didn’t back down, so Dear decided that when in Rome…or Oregon, as was the case here. He didn’t want to have to explain a stay in an Oregon jail because of self-gas pumping.
One other random event in the car as we were driving and listening to music. #3 decided to wear his moccasins today and discovered that he could make squeaking noises by rubbing his moccasin’ed foot against the dashboard. His comment was, “Hey, I can play the shoe.” The shoe?? Seriously?
In an effort to hone his craft of shoe playing, #3 then tried a GLISSANDO by moving his foot horizontally across the dashboard. I’m sure that there will be opportunity soon for everyone to witness this newly discovered talent. Dear is thinking of an orchestra arrangement to feature our SON AND HIS SHOE!!!!
We’re so proud.
Anyway. We got to Portland about 5:00. What is it with us, big cities, and rush hour?? Northbound traffic wasn’t bad until we got within 7 miles of the bridge into Washington. Then we c r a w l e d along at 5 mph for those 7 miles all the way across the bridge. We finally made it to the hotel at 7:15. Yeah. It took that long. Maggs reported that our average speed for the 225-mile trip was 28 mph thanks to creeping through Portland.
The only photos I took today are of Mt. Hood from afar. We plan to see it up close and personal tomorrow.
After settling in at the hotel, I caught up on our weekly paperwork while Dear and #3 watched a movie. Dear was also reading the phone book to find a place to have a late supper. He chose McGrath’s Fish House and Maggs dutifully directed us to the restaurant. Dear chose well because the food was good, the atmosphere was quiet, and the prices were reasonable. #3 went for the seared ahi with wasabi sauce that he originally tried a couple of years ago when we traveled to La Jolla in SoCal. Dear even tried a bite of #3’s ahi and declared it very tasty, but preferred his fish, prawns, scallops and clams. I had a grilled salmon steak and a crab cake.
Because of the paperwork catch-up activities, I needed to get some postage stamps. The hotel clerk was less than helpful, so we asked Maggs to direct us to a Wally World. What would we do without Wally? One of the aggravations of traveling without research is that we discovered that there are no Chase Banks in this part of the country. Hmmm, since we don’t usually carry much cash, this could be a problem. Wally to the rescue again! I purchased the postage stamps and a few other necessities (Diet Coke 24-pak for $5!) and chose the maximum cash-back option from my debit card. Voila! Cash on hand for whatever.
Back to the hotel to relax, upload photos and catch up with my blogging. Mission accomplished.
ttfn
Oregon for the Day
Day 3 started out very lazily. We slept in. Really slept in. The outside temp was a very brisk 55 degrees, so we kept the window open in the miniscule bathroom and the fan running on the air conditioner to keep the air circulating and for the white noise. I woke up at 7:30 and since no one else was stirring, went back to sleep until 10. Glorious vacation. When I woke up at 10, Dear was awake, too. We turned on the TV and watched a comedy with Matthew Perry, but we never did figure out the name of the movie. I’ll have to look it up on imDb.
#3 finally woke up and we all got ready to go exploring the Coos Bay/North Bend/Charleston area. We had lunch at the Blue Heron in Coos Bay – it’s a German bistro right on the main 101 drag beside the bay. I had a salad and a cup of clam chowder. #3 had an Oktoberfest combo with bratwurst, knackwurst and sauerbraten. Dear had the sauerbraten with mashed potatoes and red cabbage. The food was very German (obviously) and very good. It was #3’s first experience with German food and he was pleased with the choice.
After lunch, we stopped by the local visitor’s center to find out what the must-see’s in the area were. One of the ladies at the center was extremely helpful and she gave us brochures and a map on which she highlighted the recommended route for our explorations.
She was right. We followed the yellow highlighted road right to the ocean shores of Sunset Bay, Shore Acres and Cape Arago. We saw the Cape Arago lighthouse, the marine mammals sunbathing on a little rocky island a few hundred yards out into the water, took a hike down a bluff to a windy observation point, and then Dear and #3 hiked down the cliff toward the rocks as far as was possible without being mountain goats. I’ve added the southern Oregon coast to my wish list of places to build a vacation home. Sigh.
We stopped at one of the swimming beaches – no one was swimming because the ocean temp this time of year is probably 65 degrees – to walk along the shore just to say we did it. After shedding our shoes and socks, we plodded through the shifting sand to the more compact beach sand where it was much easier to walk. We spent about 90 minutes on that beach walking up and down, playing in the shallows and warming our feet in the tide pools. I picked up a couple of rocks and got a zip-lock sandwich bagful of Oregon sand to take back home. And we took pictures.
About 7 p.m., we drove back to Coos Bay to an Italian restaurant we’d seen earlier in the day. The place is Benetti’s and is only open for dinner. Yummy. It reminded us of the food at Maggiano’s in BigD. We brought some leftovers back to the room, but forgot to get a spoon/fork with which to eat them, so they’re in the refrigerator. Note to self: get plastic ware the next time it’s available.
Back in the room, the wifi is finally working so I can post my blogs from the past couple of days and upload the pictures we’ve taken so far.
And the morning and evening were the third day!
ttfn
#3 finally woke up and we all got ready to go exploring the Coos Bay/North Bend/Charleston area. We had lunch at the Blue Heron in Coos Bay – it’s a German bistro right on the main 101 drag beside the bay. I had a salad and a cup of clam chowder. #3 had an Oktoberfest combo with bratwurst, knackwurst and sauerbraten. Dear had the sauerbraten with mashed potatoes and red cabbage. The food was very German (obviously) and very good. It was #3’s first experience with German food and he was pleased with the choice.
After lunch, we stopped by the local visitor’s center to find out what the must-see’s in the area were. One of the ladies at the center was extremely helpful and she gave us brochures and a map on which she highlighted the recommended route for our explorations.
She was right. We followed the yellow highlighted road right to the ocean shores of Sunset Bay, Shore Acres and Cape Arago. We saw the Cape Arago lighthouse, the marine mammals sunbathing on a little rocky island a few hundred yards out into the water, took a hike down a bluff to a windy observation point, and then Dear and #3 hiked down the cliff toward the rocks as far as was possible without being mountain goats. I’ve added the southern Oregon coast to my wish list of places to build a vacation home. Sigh.
We stopped at one of the swimming beaches – no one was swimming because the ocean temp this time of year is probably 65 degrees – to walk along the shore just to say we did it. After shedding our shoes and socks, we plodded through the shifting sand to the more compact beach sand where it was much easier to walk. We spent about 90 minutes on that beach walking up and down, playing in the shallows and warming our feet in the tide pools. I picked up a couple of rocks and got a zip-lock sandwich bagful of Oregon sand to take back home. And we took pictures.
About 7 p.m., we drove back to Coos Bay to an Italian restaurant we’d seen earlier in the day. The place is Benetti’s and is only open for dinner. Yummy. It reminded us of the food at Maggiano’s in BigD. We brought some leftovers back to the room, but forgot to get a spoon/fork with which to eat them, so they’re in the refrigerator. Note to self: get plastic ware the next time it’s available.
Back in the room, the wifi is finally working so I can post my blogs from the past couple of days and upload the pictures we’ve taken so far.
And the morning and evening were the third day!
ttfn
Thursday, June 26, 2008
From CA to OR
Day 2 started off groggily, but we made it out of the room at 10:59 a.m. (a la Ross). We ate lunch at Gallagher’s, an Irish pub in Eureka, CA. This was our first opportunity for seafood on the west coast and I had heard somewhere – probably on a radio commercial – about their clam chowder. So we ordered a bowl for the three of us to share. Dear had a seafood combo plate, #3 had fish and chips and I ordered a grilled mahi mahi sandwich w/cole slaw. The clam chowder was wonderful. There was just a hint of garlic in every bite and the bowl was empty in record time. The rest of the meal was good, too, but nothing to write about. We took a couple of pictures at the pub just to document our visit. Then back in the car to continue our northward journey.
The drive up the 101 through NoCal is called the Redwood Highway and it took us through the heart of the coastal redwood forests. [I’ve had this nearly uncontrollable urge to burst into song about redwood forests and gulfstream waters, but have managed to contain myself thus far.] To say the redwoods are big is a vast understatement and, unless you’ve actually seen them, even pictures don’t do them justice.
We stopped at a visitor information center to pick up some literature on the area and also to get our National Park Pass because we’ve planned to stop at several National Parks on this trip. The ranger station where we stopped didn’t require a NP pass, so they didn’t sell them. The ranger did give us a handy-dandy map of the redwood trail and pointed out a couple of must-see places that were on our route. There was also a 12-minute video about the redwoods, which gave us good info about the trees themselves and the rainforest environment in which they grow.
I won’t bore you with a lot of scientific data, but the dynamic of the redwood environment is very interesting should you be…well, interested. I like to view natural wonders with at least a smattering of knowledge about what I’m viewing, and the video was just enough info to satisfy my curiosity without going overboard with nerdy facts.
For example, the redwoods regenerate themselves so that when the parent tree is damaged or falls, it has already produced an offspring tree that lives on the original root system. And for such tall trees – they can grow up to 360’ in height – their root system is only 10-12 feet deep. But the roots spread out for hundreds of feet, intertwining with other redwood root systems to produce the stability that has kept them standing for so long.
There are other things, but I said I wouldn’t bore you with my newfound knowledge. Do your own research (or keep reading – I’m sure I’ll throw some other stuff in as we go…).
The ranger station also had beach access, so we strolled down toward the Pacific and took some beach photos. There were some large pieces of driftwood on the beach that made for good posing props.
With map in hand, we continued driving north on the 101. Our first stop in the Redwood National Park was at a tree that had been hollowed out by fire, but the hollow was large enough to accommodate a breakfast table and chairs comfortably inside. The layer just inside the bark of redwoods is like a sponge, thus giving the tree an extra layer of fire protection. That’s why so many of the trees have survived forest fires. It’s like trying to burn a sponge.
Our next stop was the Big Tree (duh … wonder how they came up with that name…). At least that’s what I was thinking until we saw the thing. Again, words are not adequate to express the grandeur of these giants. We walked a couple of trails and found a spot called the Cathedral where part of a giant had fallen between 2 other giants creating a cathedral-ceiling effect. More photos. Dear and #3 decided to climb one of the fallen limbs (that still stood about 30 feet tall!). Still more photos.
When we had enough of the forestry and got serious about driving, we made pretty good time. It was about 130 miles on to Coos Bay/North Bend, OR where we were scheduled to spend 2 nights. The drive on the 101 through southern Oregon is absolutely spectacular. The road is labeled the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway. We had to pull over several times just to enjoy the awe-inspiring views. And take pictures.
We made it to Coos Bay about 8:00 and Maggie directed us to have seafood at The Captain’s Choice restaurant. Good choice, Maggs. The clam chowder was superb – even better than Gallagher’s this morning.
The rental car has gotten between 20-30 mpg. That’s a good thing because gas in CA was in the $4.75-$4.95 range. Dear filled up at $4.77 when the tank got down to ¼ full and it was $65 and change for nearly 14 gallons. Gas is cheaper in OR. We’ve seen it as low as $4.21, but the average has been around $4.35. We’re actually spending less than we usually do even though the price per gallon is more than at home. But at home we put gas in three cars at least once a week and Dear usually has to fill up twice a week because of his job-related driving. It’ll probably be a wash when all the gas bills are totaled and compared.
The hotel/motel in North Bend is okay. Really big room, very small bathroom. The wifi didn’t work for our laptops because they use Windows Vista (go figure…). So, I’ve been journaling in MS Word until we get the wifi going here or get to another hotel where it actually works in real time.
And that was Day 2.
ttfn
The drive up the 101 through NoCal is called the Redwood Highway and it took us through the heart of the coastal redwood forests. [I’ve had this nearly uncontrollable urge to burst into song about redwood forests and gulfstream waters, but have managed to contain myself thus far.] To say the redwoods are big is a vast understatement and, unless you’ve actually seen them, even pictures don’t do them justice.
We stopped at a visitor information center to pick up some literature on the area and also to get our National Park Pass because we’ve planned to stop at several National Parks on this trip. The ranger station where we stopped didn’t require a NP pass, so they didn’t sell them. The ranger did give us a handy-dandy map of the redwood trail and pointed out a couple of must-see places that were on our route. There was also a 12-minute video about the redwoods, which gave us good info about the trees themselves and the rainforest environment in which they grow.
I won’t bore you with a lot of scientific data, but the dynamic of the redwood environment is very interesting should you be…well, interested. I like to view natural wonders with at least a smattering of knowledge about what I’m viewing, and the video was just enough info to satisfy my curiosity without going overboard with nerdy facts.
For example, the redwoods regenerate themselves so that when the parent tree is damaged or falls, it has already produced an offspring tree that lives on the original root system. And for such tall trees – they can grow up to 360’ in height – their root system is only 10-12 feet deep. But the roots spread out for hundreds of feet, intertwining with other redwood root systems to produce the stability that has kept them standing for so long.
There are other things, but I said I wouldn’t bore you with my newfound knowledge. Do your own research (or keep reading – I’m sure I’ll throw some other stuff in as we go…).
The ranger station also had beach access, so we strolled down toward the Pacific and took some beach photos. There were some large pieces of driftwood on the beach that made for good posing props.
With map in hand, we continued driving north on the 101. Our first stop in the Redwood National Park was at a tree that had been hollowed out by fire, but the hollow was large enough to accommodate a breakfast table and chairs comfortably inside. The layer just inside the bark of redwoods is like a sponge, thus giving the tree an extra layer of fire protection. That’s why so many of the trees have survived forest fires. It’s like trying to burn a sponge.
Our next stop was the Big Tree (duh … wonder how they came up with that name…). At least that’s what I was thinking until we saw the thing. Again, words are not adequate to express the grandeur of these giants. We walked a couple of trails and found a spot called the Cathedral where part of a giant had fallen between 2 other giants creating a cathedral-ceiling effect. More photos. Dear and #3 decided to climb one of the fallen limbs (that still stood about 30 feet tall!). Still more photos.
When we had enough of the forestry and got serious about driving, we made pretty good time. It was about 130 miles on to Coos Bay/North Bend, OR where we were scheduled to spend 2 nights. The drive on the 101 through southern Oregon is absolutely spectacular. The road is labeled the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway. We had to pull over several times just to enjoy the awe-inspiring views. And take pictures.
We made it to Coos Bay about 8:00 and Maggie directed us to have seafood at The Captain’s Choice restaurant. Good choice, Maggs. The clam chowder was superb – even better than Gallagher’s this morning.
The rental car has gotten between 20-30 mpg. That’s a good thing because gas in CA was in the $4.75-$4.95 range. Dear filled up at $4.77 when the tank got down to ¼ full and it was $65 and change for nearly 14 gallons. Gas is cheaper in OR. We’ve seen it as low as $4.21, but the average has been around $4.35. We’re actually spending less than we usually do even though the price per gallon is more than at home. But at home we put gas in three cars at least once a week and Dear usually has to fill up twice a week because of his job-related driving. It’ll probably be a wash when all the gas bills are totaled and compared.
The hotel/motel in North Bend is okay. Really big room, very small bathroom. The wifi didn’t work for our laptops because they use Windows Vista (go figure…). So, I’ve been journaling in MS Word until we get the wifi going here or get to another hotel where it actually works in real time.
And that was Day 2.
ttfn
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Traveling and Rental Cars and Tree, Oh My!
California/Oregon/Washington – Summer 2008
Thus begins the blog of our long-awaited vacation to the Pacific Northwest. Dear and #3 are adding 2 more states to their “been-there-done-that” list! That makes 31 for #3 and 38 for Dear. I already have all of the contiguous 48 on my BTDT list. Day 1 was Travel Day, but I do have some things to share about traveling and rental cars.
Our beloved home airport has recently installed those full body scanners in Terminal D – the newest of the buildings in DFWland. Luckily, our flight was scheduled to leave from Terminal A, so the dreaded scanners weren’t an issue for us. Until the day before we left. When I did our online check-in to print our boarding passes, I saw that our flight would be departing from Terminal D after all. Hmmm. That opened up a whole new spectrum of speculation for #3 and Dear. I could hardly wait to get to the airport for THIS adventure.
It was a bust. When we got to the security check-in lanes, I went left and the boys went right. Turns out that I made the better choice because I sailed through without a problem. The boys both got “puffed” as they walked through the scanner thing (not the full body, just the old-fashioned metal detector type). Evidently, the puffer is supposed to sense any kind of explosive materials that one may be harboring on their person. No alarms went off.
I think the boys were actually disappointed because the ensuing conversation was about wondering what would have happened if they’d um, you know, done the bodily emissions thing when they were walking through. Boys. Ya gotta love ‘em. At least to maintain some semblance of sanity.
The 3-hour flight was uneventful. No screaming children or obnoxious fellow travelers. There were also no complimentary snacks, but we had lunch before we got on the plane. American still graciously serves free sodas, water, juice or coffee. Everything else has a price tag.
Dear, in his never-ending quest to find good, challenging Christmas music for our beloved choir and orchestra, brought along one of the “top sellers” for this season for us to review. We got out the headphones and the music book and Dear fired up the iPod about 30 minutes into the plane ride. May I say to those of you who bemoan the fact that new music is scarce around COL, there is a reason for that. This musical was a JOKE! We rolled our eyes so much throughout the listening process that I’m surprised we can still focus on things in front of us.
OMG. I can’t even imagine any chuch anywhere – even First Church of the Beloved Hypocrites – presenting this music as a serious performance. From the opening number about “it’s that wonderful time of the year” to the last “yee-haw” rendition of Jingle Bells, it was … well, words just can’t describe the incredulity we both felt. I wouldn’t even consider it for a dinner theatre comedy show, much less a Christmas presentation! COL folks and all others out there with sensitive leaders (spiritually and musically), be thankful – be VERY thankful for what you have. There’s a LOT of crapola floating around the church music world. Okay, I’m through. On with the travels.
The rental car place at the airport in San Jose was ridiculously far from the terminal. We walked from the baggage claim area to the shuttle pick-up shelter, waited for the big blue shuttle and made the ride in about 30 minutes. I had made the rental car reservation on April 20 through expedia.com for a full-size sedan, 2-week rental with unlimited mileage, pick up at the San Jose airport and return it to the Oakland airport. Total cost was to be $226. Already budgeted and paid in advance. WRONG.
We were assigned to a red 2008 Nissan Altima. Nice. However…after Enterprise tacked on an extra fee for returning the car to a different airport, extra fee for driving to a state not bordering on CA, extra fee for driving more than 150 miles a day, etc., etc., etc., the blasted rental car cost more than the original allotted amount. A LOT MORE. If you’d care to contribute to the Rental Car Appropriations Fund, we’ll gladly accept your PayPal donations at senecajo@yahoo.com.
By the time we got finished wrangling with Gloria at Enterprise and got out of the rental car parking lot, it was smack dab the middle of rush hour in San Jose. Our exit route would take us north through either Oakland or San Francisco. At rush hour? Riiiiight. We drove (crept) for about 20 minutes and decided to find somewhere to kill some time (euphemism for restaurant). It was dinner time for us because we were still on TX time.
Maggie (our very own GPS gal) directed us to a little Italian place called O Sole Mio somewhere north of San Mateo. The name of the town escapes me now and I’m too lazy to get up and find that little menu I got so I’d remember the name of the town.
It was a small place, probably 12 tables at most, with a real old-fashioned juke box in the entrance foyer and individual juke box units at each table. #3 had never seen the individual ones before, so we used 3 quarters to hear some of our favorites from the list of available tunes. We each chose 3 songs. The choices ranged from Frank Sinatra to Dean Martin to Connie Francis. Are you detecting a pattern here?
The food was good – a little pricey – but we figured that would happen once we got to the west coast, so we budgeted accordingly. We sat and chatted with the waiter for a while and asked the best route north toward Oregon via the PCH. He said to go for the Golden Gate Bridge, so we paid the bill, said Ciao, and got back on the road.
Rush hour had nearly passed and traffic was moving along nicely. We drove north and headed for the Golden Gate Bridge. A first for all of us! I called my mom as we crossed the bridge just to share our adventure (however small) with someone back home. We’ll spend more time in the San Fran area at the end of our vacation, so I’ll write more about it then.
Our sleeping accommodations for the night were in Fortuna, CA – a 250-mile drive through the redwood forests of Northern California. Too bad it was pitch black for most of the drive and we couldn’t see a whole lot. There was also a lot of smoke in the air from the wildfires burning in NoCal. There were a few of the giant trees right at the side of the road that were very awesome – the part we could see anyway – but for the most part we were just intent on getting settled for the night.
Maggie kept telling us that we would reach our destination sometime after midnight, so I called ahead to confirm that we really were on our way and to please hold our room for late check-in. We made it by 12:10 a.m. (that’s 2:10 TX time) and pretty much fell into bed. After checking email, of course.
It was about 50 degrees when we got out of the car at Fortuna. Yeah. Brrr. Thank goodness and weather.com that we brought light jackets and one of those super-soft microfiber blankets (pink) ((mine)) with us. We even turned the heater on in the room for a few minutes just to take the chill off.
That was Day 1.
ttfn
Thus begins the blog of our long-awaited vacation to the Pacific Northwest. Dear and #3 are adding 2 more states to their “been-there-done-that” list! That makes 31 for #3 and 38 for Dear. I already have all of the contiguous 48 on my BTDT list. Day 1 was Travel Day, but I do have some things to share about traveling and rental cars.
Our beloved home airport has recently installed those full body scanners in Terminal D – the newest of the buildings in DFWland. Luckily, our flight was scheduled to leave from Terminal A, so the dreaded scanners weren’t an issue for us. Until the day before we left. When I did our online check-in to print our boarding passes, I saw that our flight would be departing from Terminal D after all. Hmmm. That opened up a whole new spectrum of speculation for #3 and Dear. I could hardly wait to get to the airport for THIS adventure.
It was a bust. When we got to the security check-in lanes, I went left and the boys went right. Turns out that I made the better choice because I sailed through without a problem. The boys both got “puffed” as they walked through the scanner thing (not the full body, just the old-fashioned metal detector type). Evidently, the puffer is supposed to sense any kind of explosive materials that one may be harboring on their person. No alarms went off.
I think the boys were actually disappointed because the ensuing conversation was about wondering what would have happened if they’d um, you know, done the bodily emissions thing when they were walking through. Boys. Ya gotta love ‘em. At least to maintain some semblance of sanity.
The 3-hour flight was uneventful. No screaming children or obnoxious fellow travelers. There were also no complimentary snacks, but we had lunch before we got on the plane. American still graciously serves free sodas, water, juice or coffee. Everything else has a price tag.
Dear, in his never-ending quest to find good, challenging Christmas music for our beloved choir and orchestra, brought along one of the “top sellers” for this season for us to review. We got out the headphones and the music book and Dear fired up the iPod about 30 minutes into the plane ride. May I say to those of you who bemoan the fact that new music is scarce around COL, there is a reason for that. This musical was a JOKE! We rolled our eyes so much throughout the listening process that I’m surprised we can still focus on things in front of us.
OMG. I can’t even imagine any chuch anywhere – even First Church of the Beloved Hypocrites – presenting this music as a serious performance. From the opening number about “it’s that wonderful time of the year” to the last “yee-haw” rendition of Jingle Bells, it was … well, words just can’t describe the incredulity we both felt. I wouldn’t even consider it for a dinner theatre comedy show, much less a Christmas presentation! COL folks and all others out there with sensitive leaders (spiritually and musically), be thankful – be VERY thankful for what you have. There’s a LOT of crapola floating around the church music world. Okay, I’m through. On with the travels.
The rental car place at the airport in San Jose was ridiculously far from the terminal. We walked from the baggage claim area to the shuttle pick-up shelter, waited for the big blue shuttle and made the ride in about 30 minutes. I had made the rental car reservation on April 20 through expedia.com for a full-size sedan, 2-week rental with unlimited mileage, pick up at the San Jose airport and return it to the Oakland airport. Total cost was to be $226. Already budgeted and paid in advance. WRONG.
We were assigned to a red 2008 Nissan Altima. Nice. However…after Enterprise tacked on an extra fee for returning the car to a different airport, extra fee for driving to a state not bordering on CA, extra fee for driving more than 150 miles a day, etc., etc., etc., the blasted rental car cost more than the original allotted amount. A LOT MORE. If you’d care to contribute to the Rental Car Appropriations Fund, we’ll gladly accept your PayPal donations at senecajo@yahoo.com.
By the time we got finished wrangling with Gloria at Enterprise and got out of the rental car parking lot, it was smack dab the middle of rush hour in San Jose. Our exit route would take us north through either Oakland or San Francisco. At rush hour? Riiiiight. We drove (crept) for about 20 minutes and decided to find somewhere to kill some time (euphemism for restaurant). It was dinner time for us because we were still on TX time.
Maggie (our very own GPS gal) directed us to a little Italian place called O Sole Mio somewhere north of San Mateo. The name of the town escapes me now and I’m too lazy to get up and find that little menu I got so I’d remember the name of the town.
It was a small place, probably 12 tables at most, with a real old-fashioned juke box in the entrance foyer and individual juke box units at each table. #3 had never seen the individual ones before, so we used 3 quarters to hear some of our favorites from the list of available tunes. We each chose 3 songs. The choices ranged from Frank Sinatra to Dean Martin to Connie Francis. Are you detecting a pattern here?
The food was good – a little pricey – but we figured that would happen once we got to the west coast, so we budgeted accordingly. We sat and chatted with the waiter for a while and asked the best route north toward Oregon via the PCH. He said to go for the Golden Gate Bridge, so we paid the bill, said Ciao, and got back on the road.
Rush hour had nearly passed and traffic was moving along nicely. We drove north and headed for the Golden Gate Bridge. A first for all of us! I called my mom as we crossed the bridge just to share our adventure (however small) with someone back home. We’ll spend more time in the San Fran area at the end of our vacation, so I’ll write more about it then.
Our sleeping accommodations for the night were in Fortuna, CA – a 250-mile drive through the redwood forests of Northern California. Too bad it was pitch black for most of the drive and we couldn’t see a whole lot. There was also a lot of smoke in the air from the wildfires burning in NoCal. There were a few of the giant trees right at the side of the road that were very awesome – the part we could see anyway – but for the most part we were just intent on getting settled for the night.
Maggie kept telling us that we would reach our destination sometime after midnight, so I called ahead to confirm that we really were on our way and to please hold our room for late check-in. We made it by 12:10 a.m. (that’s 2:10 TX time) and pretty much fell into bed. After checking email, of course.
It was about 50 degrees when we got out of the car at Fortuna. Yeah. Brrr. Thank goodness and weather.com that we brought light jackets and one of those super-soft microfiber blankets (pink) ((mine)) with us. We even turned the heater on in the room for a few minutes just to take the chill off.
That was Day 1.
ttfn
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Pre-Vacation
Hello readers!
I only have 2 more days to work until I'm off for 3 glorious weeks! I am SO ready for this vacation. Dear, #3 and I are flying to San Jose, CA, then driving our rental car (medium size, 4-door something or other) through NoCal, Oregon and Washington. We'll eventually wind up back in the San Francisco area to fly home from Oakland. The flight was cheaper that way.
Hmmm, I hope I remembered to schedule our rental car drop-off at Oakland instead of San Jose. Note to self...
Our hotel itinerary is already set, so we know where we'll be laying our heads every night. It's the daytime excursions that are open to spontenaity and flights of whimsy. But we know we'll be seeing (in no particular order) giant redwoods, the Pacific Coast Highway, Mt. Ranier, Multnomah Falls, Mt. Hood, Crater Lake, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, that one steep street in San Fran with all the nose-to-nose houses, and taking at least one "Grey's Anatomy" ferry ride while we're in Seattle. One can only hope that we'll run into Derek and/or Izzie...are they filming now?
Because my previous blogging efforts have been on (shhhh) myspace, I'm learning how to navigate and post photos to this new site. I'm relatively savvy when it comes to all things computer, so I'll get the hang of it.
Here's a trial pic just to see if I'll need remedial instruction in Photo Posting 101. It's from #3's recent graduation activities. (Hallelujah!) Looks like my mother and Dear both could use some remedial instruction in Photo Posing 101! LOL #3 has it down to an art.
Well, that was easy enough. I'm good to go!
Let the countdown begin...
ttfn
(that means "ta ta for now" for all you NON-Winnie-the-Pooh & Tigger insiders)
p.s. I love to know who's reading along with me, so leave me a comment or three!
I only have 2 more days to work until I'm off for 3 glorious weeks! I am SO ready for this vacation. Dear, #3 and I are flying to San Jose, CA, then driving our rental car (medium size, 4-door something or other) through NoCal, Oregon and Washington. We'll eventually wind up back in the San Francisco area to fly home from Oakland. The flight was cheaper that way.
Hmmm, I hope I remembered to schedule our rental car drop-off at Oakland instead of San Jose. Note to self...
Our hotel itinerary is already set, so we know where we'll be laying our heads every night. It's the daytime excursions that are open to spontenaity and flights of whimsy. But we know we'll be seeing (in no particular order) giant redwoods, the Pacific Coast Highway, Mt. Ranier, Multnomah Falls, Mt. Hood, Crater Lake, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, that one steep street in San Fran with all the nose-to-nose houses, and taking at least one "Grey's Anatomy" ferry ride while we're in Seattle. One can only hope that we'll run into Derek and/or Izzie...are they filming now?
Because my previous blogging efforts have been on (shhhh) myspace, I'm learning how to navigate and post photos to this new site. I'm relatively savvy when it comes to all things computer, so I'll get the hang of it.
Here's a trial pic just to see if I'll need remedial instruction in Photo Posting 101. It's from #3's recent graduation activities. (Hallelujah!) Looks like my mother and Dear both could use some remedial instruction in Photo Posing 101! LOL #3 has it down to an art.Well, that was easy enough. I'm good to go!
Let the countdown begin...
ttfn
(that means "ta ta for now" for all you NON-Winnie-the-Pooh & Tigger insiders)
p.s. I love to know who's reading along with me, so leave me a comment or three!
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