Northwest Meanderings

Whew, one week of travels in rain and fog can make one weary, but experiencing friendship and finding hidden gems in new places is priceless.  We visited Seattle and Kingston, WA on Wednesday and Thursday.  Our friends, CJ and Skipper, just moved to Kingston, WA a hamlet nestled in the Olympian Mountains about  30 minute ferry ride from Seattle.  It was a quaint home, on a lake, and surrounded by huge fir trees.  They recently bought this home and moved in, and now have a 6 week old baby.  Visiting new parents is such a trip, especially for aspiring parents.  The wacky hours, the strange creature that is almost a human, the new life...WOW!  CJ and Skipper are living the dream - plus they have a kitty who poops and pees on the toilet, not in a sand box.  Fanfrickingtastic!  Thanks for sharing it y'all.

While visiting them, we made a day trip to Seattle and visited the Seattle Aquarium.  It was the best Aquarium I have ever visited.  Here are some photos from that visit too.

We headed back to Portland on Friday.  Ryan gave me a special Seattle tour, of his old stomping grounds.  He had lived there in the 90's with CJ as a roommate, and another roommate Skoi, who we had also visited with on the day of the Aquarium trip.  While on our Seattle visit, Ryan showed me the troll that lives under the Fremont Bridge.  He was awesome and was even crushing a VW.

  

Coos Bay, Oregon

We had the best time visiting with an old friend of Ryan's on sunday evening of our trip.  Nikkie and her family live in a fantastic out of the way home high in the hills above Coos Bay, Oregon.  The central coast of Oregon is lush and juicy.  There are beautiful fir trees up aside a bay leading to the Pacific Coast.

Nikkie and her husband Wade hosted a fantastic dinner of Tri tip and oysters and crabs.  We were so busy shucking oysters that I did not get one pic.  It was quite a feast though.

The following day we visited the Newport Aquarium in Newport, Or.  Sweet little town, makes me want to consider moving that way.  The aquarium was huge, but sadly there were very few visitors.  We received a background tour from one of the life support engineers there and he told us that they had recently laid off 19 people.  As the economy continues to sour, you really see it in out of the way places like this.

Foie Gras and other adventures in food

One of the best parts of visiting the Northwest is visiting my dear friend, Ms. Julie Spanks.  Ms. Spanks is a veritable dark angel, one of the sweetest yet most sadist souls I know.  I have a great admiration for the elegance she lives her life with.  She lives on the cornerstone of sublime, so I know that each visit I will be treated to some new and worldly experience.

Monday's stop in Portland brought Julie and I to her neighborhood restaurant, Toro Bravo.  It was hip and yet quaint, with candlelight and good looking chefs, cooking in a vestibule, open to all the patrons.  We had left Nascar at home with our Surly Camp matriarch, PattyCakes, to watch the BSC bowl game. so the two of us were able to procure the corner seats around the open kitchen.  In front of me happened culinary magic (I am sure), although I was more interested in the fantastic dirty martini I was sipping and catching up with Julie Spanks.

Our culinary treats included:

The foie gras (or foy grass) as I adopted, was not to my liking.  The richness of the fat and the sickening stories of its inception did not do much for my palette.  (I know I am not a trendsetter..)  Surprisingly, what I liked best was the Hedgehog Mushrooms and Crostini.  I have never enjoyed mushrooms until now, I guess it is a testament to the maturation of my palette due to living with Gabby.

The unfortunate end to this story was my Norovirus that occurred the next day.  A 24 hour bug set Nascar and I back one full day on our trip.  Twas most unfortunate, except that Ms. Julie Spanks was there to care for me.

Wild-Life

We are visiting with Nascar's Mom and her husband in La Casa Grande, Arizona.  They live in a strange place, "Retirement Planet" is what I have deemed it.  It is a strange land, filled with people who have no jobs, and play golf everyday.  Many of them drive around in golf carts, and drink wine out of sippy cups!  In truth, "Retirement Planet" is their neighborhood of golf clubs, strip malls and older people, and it is strangely comfortable to be visiting in.  I am sleeping late, as there are no jack hammers or trash trucks outside of their windows at 8am.  Sandy, my mother-in-law, is cooking for us everyday and has wine with dinner every night.  We have visited the "ruins" of Casa Grande (see last post) and today we visited a wildlife park.  Nascar is loving the chance to visit other nature sanctuaries, and especially enjoys the desert animals.

We watched a raptor demonstration featuring the Harris Hawks today.  These are the only type of hawks that hunt in groups and form maternal groups, with a female as the head of the pecking order.  They are beautiful soaring animals and remind me of the Animal Medicine from Native Americans of the spirit of "Hawk the Messenger".

We saw some beautiful cats, including two lovely bob cats, and two fantastic owls.

There were all sorts of learning activities, including experiencing the hearing of the bat:

It was fairly silly, and quite fun to be with Nascar's family and get to know his Mom better.  She seems so glad to have us visit and really proud of her son.  Here is a family photo:

Most importantly to me, Nascar had a great time.  He loved learning about the animals, and being outside.  We picnicked for lunch, and probably walked 5 miles.  Nascar was the navigator and took his map reading job very seriously.

La Casa Grande

Ryan and I are visiting Casa Grande, Arizona and his Mom and Mark, her husband.  Since arriving last night, we have visited the Casa Grande Ruins and met Ryan's Aunt Priscilla and Uncle Alan.

The Ruins are the oldest in the US, and have been up since 300 A.D.

The zeroscape of Arizona is quite beautiful.  Cacti remind me of some of my most favorite people in the world.  Prickly but striking on the outside, meaty and juicy on the inside.  Here are some photos of cactis.

2010 Wrap Up - Sil's Birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas

Whew!  2010 ended in a blur of work and family.  Thanksgiving brought Uncle David to the mothership that is San Francisco.  He lived it up in our fair city, having a wonderful visit with Ryan, Tigh, Noah and I.    Plus he made some fun memories of his own, travelling around and meeting people.  Alexa and Patrick hosted a fun filled Thanksgiving with the Smiths, Alice, and Tigh.  I think it was the first Thanksgiving I shared with Tigh ever as grown ups.

Speaking of grownups, Madame S, Ms. Silvia turned 40 on Sept 29.  A wonderful celebration was hosted by the Coopers, even Mrs. O made an appearance from San Diego.  We spent most of the weekend pretending we were not grownups, and I dressed up as an angler fish for Halloween.  (no pics though)

These photos remind me why I love my friends!  And the whole weekend made me really miss Surly Camp!

The holiday was started with Noah's Birthday in early November.  Tigh, Noah and I went to the Oakland Zoo to celebrate the beginning of his fourth year.  He is such a sweet spirit.  It has been difficult to watch his little heart and brain understand his parent's divorce, but he is really so resilient.  Plus his mom and grandparents have done a wonderful job of keeping Tigh and active part of his son's life.  That being said, Tigh has been on a great path of good decisions and is flourishing in his role as Noah's dad.  Being grown up is never easy, but friends and family make it worth it.

Ryan and I spent Christmas at home together baking lasagnas and waiting for Gabby to return.  Lucky for us, Gab returned safe and sound from Honduras on the 31st.  And our happy home continues on into 2011!