Creature Bug

Spring Break: Day Six {Inveraray & Glasgow}

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." 

Well, here we are. Our last full day of the trip. And since our Sunday of the trip wasn't particularly eventful-- other than walking around Andrea's neighborhood, having a delicious breakfast at a cafe down the road, and visiting Tesco (the grocery store) to pick up last minute souvenirs--this will be my last Scotland recap. Sometime next week I'll post a link round-up of all the links I found helpful in planning for our trip, but mostly...this is it.

We're at the end of our amazing trip.

In case you happened to miss some of the days, here are the posts in chronological order:

Saturday, March 31, 2012: travel to Iceland
Sunday, April 1: stuck in Iceland
Monday, April 2: Edinburgh
Tuesday, April 3: Saint Andrews & area
Wednesday, April 4: William Wallace & Stirling Castle
Thursday, April 5: Scottish Highlands
Friday, April 6: Iona & Mull

...and now we're at Saturday, April 7, and it's exactly a year ago today that we were flying out to Scotland.

You can't even imagine how much I wish we were flying back there again, or even that we had another trip planned there. But hopefully someday we will visit Scotland again!

Ready for today's adventures? Here we go!

Always important to get our bearings:

Yesterday we traveled to Iona (J) and then drove around Mull (I). Today we'll leave Mull, and drive towards Glasgow (A), making a stop at Inveraray Castle (K) on the way there. We'll see a couple lochs (lakes) today, and they all have proper names, but none of them stick in my head except Loch Ness (for obvious reasons) and we never even visited Loch Ness because it's farther north than we wanted to travel.

After a delicious breakfast--no, not the traditional full breakfast; we already did that!--we are on our way towards the ferry terminal.

We say goodbye to the Argyll Arms Hotel where we were treated quite well. It definitely didn't have the charm of the B&Bs, but it was clean, the food was good, and everyone was very nice. Hooray for having excellent accommodations for our entire trip!

On our drive towards the ferry, we decided to make a quick stop at a foreclosed castle and wander around the grounds.

We had seen it yesterday, and remarked about it to the main guy at the Argyll. He told us it was for sale. "...for a million pounds. If you happened to have a million pounds laying around, you can buy a castle. Of course, then it will take the rest of your money to keep it going." Which evidently is what got this particular castle in trouble: expensive upkeep.

Well, no time for castle shopping. We have a ferry to catch!

We ferry across the sound, back to Oban, where we get some lunch, some candy to take home to the girls, and a coffee for the road.

I can vouch for their coffee: it tastes just fine. I have discovered from Andrea, however, that they are quite limited in what syrups they offer. So the next time you have your salted caramel mocha, be thankful. Because Scotland doesn't have it. They have castles, though. So you know. Maybe it evens out.

On our drive to Glasgow, we are undecided about whether or not we want to visit Inveraray Castle, which is right on the way. We decide that we'll stop to at least get pictures.

Now is that a gorgeous castle, or what? The castle is fenced off, so if we really want to take a good look at it then we'll have to pay admission.

After a bit of indecision, we decide to take the tour. Andrea has already toured Inveraray and said that, yes, it was a good tour.

Inveraray Castle is the home of the Duke of Argyll and his family. In fact, as we were walking around outside we saw the kids jumping on the trampoline out back. I bet this is a fun place to live.

The tour inside was very well organized, showcased lots of history, and had lots of royalty-related memorabilia.

At just over 63 feet, Inveraray Castle has the highest ceiling in Scotland. Muskets and other arms dating back to 1740 are all over the walls, and I have to say, it is quite the entrance. Funny story behind the pictures: no photography is allowed inside the castle, but I thought I would just take a couple of this room because it was so cool. I slyly pulled out my iPhone and quietly snapped two pictures.

Andrea saw me, and was properly horrified. "Steph! No pictures!" I think she was afraid we'd get kicked out of the castle--which possibly we had been warned ahead of time was a possibility--and so the little sister shamed the big sister into putting her camera away. Well, not shamed enough that I'm embarrassed about telling the story. I still think it's a funny story.

A few more pictures and then we are on our way to Glasgow.

These are two of my favorite pictures from the trip, so the stop at Inveraray was definitely worth it.

All good road trips must come to an end eventually, and early afternoon we roll into Glasgow. We had been hoping to spend all of last Sunday there, but these things happen. What do we want to see most? Andrea's school and her neighborhood.

We drop our stuff off at Andrea's flat, and walk to the University of Glasgow (or Glasgow University, as it is also called).

It is an absolutely gorgeous evening!

For all the castles scattered throughout Scotland, unfortunately Glasgow does not have one. They have a bit of a complex about it, but you know what they do have? The fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world. In Scotland, only Saint Andrews is older.

They also have a connection to Harry Potter movies. The spires of the main building (above photo) were the inspiration for Hogwarts. The catacombs were also a set-piece in one of the movies (they tried to film in the catacombs but the lighting was poor, and I've also heard that the university didn't like a lot of Harry Potter filming going on there).

As a Harry Potter fan, it was fun to be in Glasgow knowing that several of the places ended up in the movies. 

Glasgow University also has Lord Kelvin as an alumnus. He did important science stuff. Stuff I don't know anything about, but people do. Smart people! Good job, Lord Kelvin.

You know what other important person is connected with Glasgow Uni? My sister!

Here she is sitting on the steps of her academic building. Yay English majors! You are awesome.

A little more walking around...

...before we make our way to Ashton Lane (last Harry Potter reference: Ashton Lane is said to be the inspiration for Diagon Alley; okay, I'm done now).

Ashton Lane is a trendy little street that has lots of cute restaurants and a movie theatre. We have dinner, and then end the evening by watching the movie "Hunger Games," which just happened to be the book that Jason and I read on the flight over to Scotland.

And there you have it. Our trip to Scotland.

We had road trips and castle tours, landmarks and movie trivia; we ate amazing food, took ferry trips, and walked along ancient paths.

We went to celebrate our fifteen year wedding anniversary.

We went to visit my sister.

We went because we were lucky enough to have the means to go and the graciousness of those who watched our kids. I didn't want to waste a single moment of it because I thought, I'm not going to leave my children and spend lots of money to travel halfway around the world without making the most of it.

Obviously, we didn't do everything, but we did a lot.

Hope you enjoyed all the photos and stories. To relive the trip, even reliving it a year later, was great fun. It really was one of the best trips I've ever been on in my life.

Spring Break: Day Five {Iona & Mull}

Ready for some island living today?

Before you start dreaming of tropical weather and warm sandy beaches, let me remind you that we are in Scotland! Island living around here means ferries, one lane roads, and expansive watery views.

Friday, April 6, 2012, dawned as cloudy and gray...just like most our days in Scotland. Fortunately, there were always long stretches without rain, and every once in awhile we might even have a glimpse of blue sky. Of course, being lifelong Pacific Nor'westers we are more than a little used to this kind of weather.

We started our day with breakfast at our hotel. Even though there are a few B&Bs on the Isle of Mull, Andrea arranged to have us stay at the Argyll Arms Hotel because it has one of the only restaurants open on the island during this part of the year. In fact, it might have very well been the only restaurant that served dinner. The guy who checked us in last night also is in charge of the restaurant...as far as I could tell, he was the first one up in the morning and the last one to close up the restaurant. I commented to him on how exhausting his job must be, and he told us he was looking forward to the seasonal help that was arriving later in the month. No doubt.

Not having had a traditional Scottish breakfast--also called a "full breakfast"--so far on our journey, today was the day we decided to "indulge."

Hope you were hungry for protein because you'll get a lot of it! Starting from the pile of baked beans on the left and moving clockwise: fried mushrooms, sliced sausage, back bacon (what we call ham), haggis, blood sausage, a fried tomato, and an egg sunnyside up right in the middle. Not pictured is the obligatory tea and toast.

I ate the beans, egg, ham and tomato. I tried the blood sausage (spicy) and haggis (like meatloaf) just to say I've tried it. I didn't eat the mushrooms because I never eat mushrooms, and Andrea was happy to have both mine and Jason's mushrooms (part of the reason I married him: he dislikes mushrooms even more than I do).

Although I wouldn't opt for a full breakfast every day, it does keep you full for a very long time.

After breakfast we drive to Fionnphort at the tip of the island to catch the ferry over to Iona. It's a walk-on ferry because no cars are allowed on Iona except for the locals who live on the island.

Ten minutes later we were at Iona.

You can clearly see the Iona Abbey from the ferry.

Our plans for the morning are to walk around the island and see the Iona nunnery ruins and the abbey.

It was really an amazing feeling walking around Iona. For one thing, because there are very few cars, you feel as though you are walking around a huge park rather than an actual community. It's very quiet, and extraordinarily beautiful...even though it was raining.

For another thing, it has a strong spiritual feeling to it--particularly at the abbey. Iona is significant because of the ancient monastery that was built there around 563, and that monastery helped convert the locals to Christianity, which in turn allowed Christianity to spread through England.

We walked along the road to the ruins of the Iona Nunnery.

Even though there are lots of old ruined buildings all over Scotland, you know it's significant if it has a plaque out front explaining what it used to be. Fortunately, no one seems to mind if people tromp around the old ruins. Good thing, since we tromped around plenty.

We eventually wander off to see the Iona Abbey.

Two crosses stand out in front. The one on the right is St Martin's cross, and it's been there since the middle of the 8th century. Wow!

The other one--not quite as visible in the above photo--is a replica of St John's cross. The original is in a little museum in the back.

Here's a better view of it.

The building is still used as a church and spiritual retreat center, but some of the areas inside were closed off because it was Good Friday and they were preparing for Easter.

Still plenty of history to take in.

Out behind the abbey in another room, they were preserving some ancient grave slabs and monuments that had been carved, oh, about 1500 years ago. No big deal. 

I have to tell you, it's a bit surreal being around stuff that is that old. Also, there's a bit of disconnect in that you want to appreciate how old it is, but on the other hand, it didn't have any personal connection to me so they sort of felt like a bunch of old rocks.

Really old rocks.

But I'm glad someone is taking the time to protect them! Important stuff.

Before leaving, we stop at the gift shop and end up visiting with some of the local residents. Trouble is, I am not good at understanding the Scottish dialect. Consequently, Andrea had to repeat some of the questions so I didn't have a perpetual blank face of confusion.

When we leave we discover it's not raining anymore. Yay!

No blue skies, but we can put our umbrellas away. We wander around a little more, and then eventually head back to the port where we'll catch the ferry back to Mull. Since we have a bit of time to kill, we stop in at a cafe for a "spot of tea."

This was one of my favorite moments of the trip--sitting in the restaurant's sunroom, sipping tea and eating scones with jam and clotted cream, watching the ferry arrive. It was just...perfection.

Our ferry finally arrived, and soon enough we were headed back to Mull.

Knowing that we won't have much time to explore Mull tomorrow (because of an early-ish departing ferry), we decide to do a bit of exploring this afternoon. No plans, just a car, a one lane road, and a "I think I saw a sign for this" adventure.

We drive from the ferry port, back towards Bunessan--where you can just barely see our hotel in the distance--and then drive on towards the rest of Mull.

Mull isn't that big, but guess what? It's big enough to have a castle. 

Hello, Duart Castle! Fancy seeing you here. Duart Castle is one of those castles that people live in and open up for tours--no doubt to help offset the costs of maintaining the castle.

We didn't tour it because it closed early on Fridays, but we did wander around the grounds, much to the consternation of the little terrier dogs tied up out front.

Mostly we wandered down to the field below the castle to get a good view of the area.

Yep. Nice area.

Out across the water we saw the ferry we would be taking to get back to mainland Scotland.

Hello, ferry! We'll see you tomorrow!

Back to the one lane road for us, to see what else we can see.

Oh boy. Are you in for a treat. Are you ready?

Are you sure?

Because seriously.

Baby cow! We watched this little guy for quite a few minutes because he had somehow managed to get on the wrong side of the fence from his mama. He kept running up and down the fence, and even though we could see the hole where he could get back inside his mama's pen, he couldn't figure it out.

Poor baby.

Having considerably more fun down the road were some spring lambies.

Hello, lambie!

Finally, we turn back towards the hotel for a late afternoon nap before dinner.

And just a bit of video showcasing parts of our day.

Fortunately for us, going back to our hotel meant we wouldn't have to drive out again for dinner since we were at the dinner spot. Quite early on, it got busy with tour groups and anybody else who wanted to go out for dinner. Since we could easily occupy ourselves with a card game up in our room, then we decided to have a late dinner to avoid the crowds. Andrea is a big fan of playing hearts, so we often played that in the evenings.

My philosophy at playing hearts is to "shoot the moon" as often as possible. ("Shooting the moon" is to collect all the penalty cards for that round, which then gives you zero points but gives everyone else 26 points.) It happened on this occasion that my gaming philosophy was working.

We had determined that we would play to 100 points, but since I had shot the moon a couple of times, both Jason and Andrea had considerably more points than I had.

It finally comes down to Andrea having 98 points and Jason has 99, and we figure it will be the last game before we go to dinner. Andrea jokes that she and Jason need to conspire together so that I end up with all the penalty cards except 1 (which she would collect) in order to keep the game going. They didn't actually set anything up, but early on I decided that I would again shoot the moon.

As luck would have it, I collected every single penalty card except the very last one, which Andrea picked up. To say we were a bit noisy in our collective response to that last card is putting it mildly.

Andrea and Jason both lived to see another game, and even though I ended up the ultimate winner they still felt rather victorious too.

I suppose that's the best way to end a game, isn't it?

And can you believe it? Tomorrow is our last full day in Scotland. We'll take the ferry back to the mainland, and drive back to Glasgow. *sigh* It's been a fabulous trip so far, hasn't it?

 

Spring Break: Day Four {Scottish Highlands}

Although we've only been in Scotland a few days, we have passed the halfway point of our trip. Fortunately, months of planning on both mine and Andrea's part insures that we aren't ever wondering "What should we do today?" While those kind of trips have their place, THIS is not that kind of trip. We have an itinerary and aside from the unavoidable snafu with the delayed flight at the beginning of the trip, everything else has been smooth sailing.

Or should I say "smooth ferrying" because that's what we'll be doing today!

Let's look at our map again to get our bearings:

Yesterday we travelled from our B&B near St Andrews (C) to Stirling (E) and then up to Birnam for an overnight stop (F). Today we drive drive drive to Ft William and beyond (G) and then down to Oban (H) to catch the ferry over to the Isle of Mull (I). We have a designated time for our ferry travel, so we can't dilly dally around doing nothing in the Scottish Highlands.

Of course, every day needs to start off with a good Scottish breakfast (albeit, we have not yet had a traditional Scottish breakfast). How about warm blueberry muffins, yogurt, and oatmeal with whiskey cream?

It will knock your socks off, let me assure you. So good. Or if you'd rather, there's also scrambled eggs with salmon? I heard it was rather delicious as well.

Either way, you won't leave hungry.

Our B&B for the night was Jessie Mac's (btw, their webpage has a great photo slideshow of the place). We did have a bit of trouble finding the place last night. You would think that with only a dozen buildings in the whole town, it wouldn't be that hard to find. But we looked and looked, and it just wasn't where it was supposed to be!

Finally Andrea called and the woman explained where the B&B was. We still couldn't figure it out, and so she came down to the street to wave at us. Turns out, she was a new owner and had recently changed the name of the B&B...and we didn't know it. Ha!

The top window on the left is where we stayed.

A charming church was right next door to the B&B, and our very comfortable room had this bed as well as a bunk bed that Andrea slept in.

Before heading out of town, we had to do what we came to Birnam for in the first place: go visit the Beatrix Potter Garden and museum.

What the garden and exhibition lacked in size they made up for in charm. The whole thing was darling. Jeremy Fisher was sitting near the pond; Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and naughty Peter were sitting up on the hill, and Mrs. Tiggy Winkle was in her house. 

Beatrix Potter's connection with Birnam is that she spent summers here as a child, and got ideas for her famous Peter Rabbit characters from her time in the countryside.

Inside the museum/fine arts building, there was a sweet little tea room and Beatrix Potter exhibit. We didn't actually end up touring through the exhibit because of time (it also wasn't free), but it looked like the perfectset-up for children.

I did manage to get a few Beatrix Potter souvenirs, not least of which was a box with 100 Potter Postcards. In fact, if you would like me to send you a Beatrix Potter postcard just email me your address and let me know if you have a favorite Potter character/book (the email link is in the sidebar). I would be happy to send you one (or more if you have kids who would like one) because I bought them precisely to send to people who would find them as charming as I do.

Feeling sufficiently enchanted with literary sweetness, we begin our roadtrip for the day. And of course what's a roadtrip without a couple of quick, fun stops?

We made a quick stop at the Chocolate Centre, and although we got to sample some yummy chocolate the place itself was not super exciting.

A place that could have been exciting--though we opted for less excitement--was a stop at Dewar's World of Whisky.

We had missed out on touring a distillery in Edinburgh, so we thought maybe it would be fun to do this one (in Aberfeldy). But after wandering around the shop a bit, and noticing that the tour wasn't on the inexpensive side, and considering that none of us actually care much for whisky...well, we got a picture, and hopped back on the road.

Not lingering at Dewar's gave us a little bit longer to experience the Scottish Highlands.

It was absolutely gorgeous. The fog swirled around the mountains, so it was all very mysterious and moody. As we drove, we also passed parts of the West Highland Way, a popular footpath that winds through the western part of Scotland. People hike the WHW, like people hike the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail. It's mostly a single path through the mountains, and Andrea has even hiked parts of it.

You can see the path right behind Andrea in this photo. Some of the trail runs along the road, and some of it is in rather remote parts of the country. For those who are hiking where there aren't any towns, there's the option of camping or staying in a bothie, which is an unlocked hut that once upon a time belonged to itinerant workers but now is just open to whomever happens to wander in.

No hiking for us, though. We have places to be and pictures to take!

After a couple hours of driving we made it to our first destination: the Glenfinnan Viaduct.

Although the view is quite spectacular, we didn't go just for the view. We also didn't go just to see the Glenfinnan Monument:

(To give you some perspective on the geography, imagine taking the photo of the viaduct first, and then turning directly around and then taking a picture of the monument)

No, we drove all the way through Fort William to see the viaduct because...it makes an appearance in a couple Harry Potter movies. It's the railway for the Hogwarts Express! Another place not too far off had a whole Harry Potter movie set built on it, though it has since been torn down. It was a fun moment for three Harry Potter fans.

Our funny touristy story from the viaduct: While we were there, a group of Chinese students were also there taking pictures. Someone had the clever idea of getting a branch, and then they would take turns riding the branch (ala "a witch's broomstick style" as a nod to Harry Potter) by jumping off a rock and then trying to get pictures of each other in mid-air with the viaduct in the background. Eventually, the stick broke, and their little adventure came to an end.

I wasn't paying them too much attention other than to notice their commitment to creating a fun Harry Potter moment, but as we were walking back to the parking lot, Andrea mentioned that she was happy that she still remembered enough rudimentary Chinese to understand what they were talking about. She filled us in on some of the comments they had made, and proceded to repeat a few Chinese phrases to us.

As she did so, one of the Chinese students--who had been walking not too far in front of us--turned around, presumably expecting to see one of her friends, but her expression was one of being thoroughly caught off gaurd to see my ginger haired sister speaking Chinese. She hurried away, and when we got back to the car we had a good chuckle over the whole encounter.

All right! Enough hanging around in the highlands, it's time to get to Oban. We have a ferry to catch!

We get there in plenty of time, enough time to wander around the town a little bit before all the shops close (and they are prompt about closing). We were lucky enough to find a candy shop where we could grab a few snacks for ferry trip. Extra bonus: I remembered that British candy doesn't have red dye #40 (which we try to avoid), so I made a mental note to stock up on lots of candy when we return to Oban on Saturday.

Goodbye, Oban! We hardly knew ye. We're on our way to the Isle of Mull.

Can I tell you about my stocking hat? See, I knew we were going to be taking a couple of ferry trips, so I thought I'd grab this stocking hat just for those trips. What I didn't realize is that it was going to be so cold that I would end up wearing this hat for most of the trip.

If I had known that--known that the hat would make MANY appearances in photographs--I would have bought myself a properly cute hat and matching gloves. But, alas. I did not. And now plain gray stocking cap is immortalized forever in pictures.

The end.

Let this be a lesson to you: On a trip, do not take any article of clothing you are not committed to wearing in every photograph that is taken.

Hopefully my dazzling smile compensates for my dowdy cap. Yes? Okay.

Before too long, we are docking on the Isle of Mull and making our way to the far tip of the island to the Argyll Arms Hotel.

It was a gorgeous evening for a drive.

Wow! What a sight to end the day.

We finish off the day with dinner at Argyll Arms, a game of cards, and dreamy anticipation at tomorrow's visit to an island that holds so much history for the story of Christianity.

Spring Break: Day Three {Wm Wallace & Stirling Castle}

Good morning! Any Braveheart fans out there? Well, today you are in for a treat because we are going to see the William Wallace Monument. And then take a spectacular tour of Stirling Castle. It doesn't get much more Scottish than that, I say.

We packed up our bags and bid the Hamptom House B&B a fond farewell. The woman who runs the house was so kind, and the breakfasts were just perfect. It turned out that we were the only ones staying in the house, so it was very quiet. Of course, we were only there to sleep and eat breakfast, so it wouldn't have mattered even if the place had been full.

We stayed upstairs in the house, and ate breakfast every morning in the sunroom. Of course, being as it was freezing cold, the sun room wasn't particularly warm. We kept a couple of space heaters under our table to keep us from getting too cold.

We headed back inland to west central Scotland, with Stirling as our primary destination.

First stop: the William Wallace Monument.

I had done advance research, and we specifically planned our itinerary around being at the Wallace Monument on a Wednesday because that was the day of the week they had a Wallace presentation. We didn't know exactly what the presentation was going to be, but we wanted to be there to see it.

The presentation ended up being an actor who told the whole story of how William Wallace defeated the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, a victory which helped transform Wallace into a national hero.

It was very well done, and even though I did have a bit of trouble understanding the actor's strong Scottish dialect, I got the general facts down. If you happen to be in the Stirling area, I highly recommend going to the monument on a day that the actor is performing.

The Monument itself was built many hundreds of years after William Wallace died with no small amount of controversy. Each floor has a presentation, with the most interesting room (I thought) the one that displays William Wallace's sword. Yes, his actual sword! It's 5' 6" tall. Evidently Wallace was quite a tall fellow (funny since Mel Gibson is the one who portrayed Wallace in the movie, and Gibson is on the shorter side).

There's also a floor dedicated to iconic Scotsmen. We were happy to see a bust of Robert the Bruce since Jason is a direct descendant of his (Bruce is Jason's 26-times Great-Grandfather).

They totally have the same nose :)

At the top is a spectacular view of the area.

From the top you can see Stirling Castle, which is where we headed next.

As you can imagine, there is a lot of information that I could share about Stirling Castle, but it would take far too long for me to write it all out. I will say this: if you only tour one castle in Scotland, this is a great one. It's very well organized, much of it has been restored, and the tour guides are super knowledgable.

Some highlights...

Jason standing next to another Robert the Bruce monument:

A view from inside the castle looking out (and my iPhone was on a weird setting, hence the dramatic photo):

Our castle tour guide with spectacularly awesome pants:

A tree in the courtyard:

To the right of the tree is the main castle, and the yellow building behind it is the Great Hall:

Much of the castle has been or is in the process of being restored. The Great Hall was restored a decade ago, and they used exactly all the same techniques and materials that would have originally been used.

Inside the Great Hall:

And outside the Great Hall:

On top of the Great Hall? Lions and unicorns.

Unicorns are all over the castle, as well as all over Scotland.

They are, in fact, the national symbol--based on the Scottish tradition of myths, folklore and superstitions.

Some of them are pretty cool looking, and some of them are kinda weird, with their tongue hanging out. I think they are supposed to look fierce. Maybe.

I have so many pictures from Stirling Castle, but I'll just leave you with a couple more.

Here you can see they are working on restoring the tapestries. They are meticulously using the same techniques that would have been used hundreds of years ago. They are serious about authenticity.

We could have stayed longer at Stirling Castle, but eventually we were cold and hungry and so we wandered down into the town to get something to eat.

We were temporarily detained,

but made it out of the town without too much trouble.

On our way out of town, we took a quick stop at the Stirling Bridge--the same bridge that helped make Wallace famous (though it has been rebuilt since the whole crux of his victory was destroying the bridge).

Finally we headed out towards Dunkeld and Birnam, where we would be staying the night at another B&B. We did quite a lot of driving, and because I didn't want to forget the experience of driving on the left side of the road, nor the scenery that we travelled through, I took some video. Here's a two-minute clip that gives you a taste of driving in that part of Scotland.

 Before too long, we arrived at our destination: Birnam in Perthshire. We chose this particular town because it had a Beatrix Potter Garden. Wasn't my sister so nice to make my literary dreams come true by finding a B&B right across the street from the garden? Yes, yes, she was.

It was getting dark by the time we got there, so we made a mental note to tour the garden in the morning before we headed to the western shoreline. The town itself was just as cute as can be, and could possibly be characterized as a sleepy little town except that when we arrived it sounded like a dance party was going on. Turns out the local Zumba class was meeting across from our B&B. Happy about our very successful day in Stirling and our safe travels to our destinations, we had our own little dance party on the street before turning in.

Tomorrow? Lots of driving and less walking around.

Of course there are still some things to see. Like the Scottish Highlands, and a landmark used in a Harry Potter movie. Oh yes. More good times are ahead.

Spring Break: Day Two {Saint Andrews & the seashore}

Good morning! Are you ready for another busy day on the eastern shore of Scotland? You may still be jet-lagged over the 8-hour time difference, and you may have stayed up too late playing cards and watching old episodes of "Castle" with your sister, but have a cup of tea and a scone and let's get going.

Yesterday we landed in Glasgow (A) and drove east to Edinburgh (B) and today we'll spend time at Saint Andrews (C) and other seaside villages (D).

Although I imagine Saint Andrews can be lovely on a nice summer day, the weather was positively miserable the day we were there. It had snowed the night before, and even though the snow had melted, icy wind whipped around us and frozen rain pelted our faces.

I hadn't quite packed for this kind of weather, but oh well. I won't soon forget the experience of being tossed around by the North Sea wind and protecting my face from ice pellets.

First we walked around the old ruins of St Andrews Castle, parts of which have been standing there for several hundred years.

The castle sits right on the North Sea, and once we stepped out from behind any of the buildings the wind was fierce.

We took a few photos standing on the wall even though I admit that I was just a teeny tiny bit nervous that a big gust of wind would push us over. The ocean was also surging over the wall at times, so we didn't hang out there too long.

To give you the full experience of the standing out there, here's a 1-minute video I took.

We finally had enough of the wind and walked back towards the town of St Andrews, where not surprisingly, the buildings provided some protection from the wind.

And because Andrea and I are always on the lookout for good cupcakes, we couldn't resist stopping in at Bibi's Bakery for some sweets.

They had macarons too, so we bought half a dozen for our further road travels.

We did a little bit of window shopping, but eventually we were ready to get back in the car. On our way to the car, however, I did manage to spot this coffee shop:

The sign in the window says, "WHERE KATE MET WILLS (for coffee)". Being rather fond of that adorable royal pair, I was quite tickled to have snapped a picture. In case you didn't know, St Andrews University is where Prince William and Kate went to school, so I suspect they hung around the town a fair amount. We didn't get coffee there though, for whatever reason.

Back on the road, we headed south to the coastal town of Anstruther.

But before we got to Anstruther, I wanted to make a stop at the St Andrews Botanic Gardens. It sounded nice in my head, until we got out of the car. Once we stepped out of the car again, however, we changed our minds. Wandering through a half-dormant flower garden just wasn't that appealing to us. Our brief sidetour did bring one interesting sight. A big pig!

You can't quite get the full effect of just how big this pig was, but take my word for it: it was big. Big enough for me to jump out of the car and pose for my sister to take a picture of me through the car window. That counts for something, right?

Anyway, onto to Anstruther and lunch at the award winning Anstruther Fish Bar. It's a good thing that I actually like fish (when it's deep fried, not so much plain) because we had quite a lot of it in Scotland. And of course fish and chips is a very UK-centric meal.

Jason and I had the traditional haddock, which was very good. Andrea had Hake, which is evidently a fish from South Africa that is farmed in an environmentally sustainable way. Because fish is such a prominent part of the UK diet, then there has been concern about over fishing the waters and destroying the local fish population. So, they've tried to introduce imported fish to the population, with some mixed results. I ended up liking the hake even more than the haddock, but it doesn't seem to be readily available around here.

If you put a fisherman by the door, people are obligated to get their pictures taken by it.

It was here that I had my first taste of mushy peas, a common UK side dish that is, yes, peas mushed up. Since I like peas, I didn't mind mushy peas. Nothing surprising about how they tasted; probably more salty than I usually eat my peas.

The town of Anstruther is a cute coastal town that was once a thriving fishing town. It had lots of cute shops, and various landmarks, though after a fairly lengthy search, we couldn't find any landmarks that were significant to any well-known literary figures.

From Anstruther we drove a few miles south to visit St Monans.

St Monans church is considered to be the church closest to the sea, which I wouldn't doubt. You could stand at the church and throw a stone into the North Sea. It would have been lovely to attend a service in this church, but it was mid-week, so back to the road for us to search for the Robinson Crusoe Statue.

On our way, we saw a sign for a chocolate company. Never one to pass up chocolate, we headed into Pittenweem, which has got to be one of the most delightful names ever given to a town. We took as many opportunities as we could to say Pittenweem, I assure you.

And there in Pittenweem we tasted the wonderful treats from The Cocoa Tree!

Yes, we had hot chocolate that was amazing. And, yes, we bought several chocolate truffles that did not last long as we drove around. I'm currently abstaining from chocolate during Lent, and just looking at these truffles is making me uncomfortable.

Our last touristy thing of the day was to find the Robinson Crusoe Statue. You'd think that it would be rather famous, right? Big signs? Maybe a gift shop?

No.

Good thing we had a map as well as a small car because we were driving around all sorts of narrow village roads in Lower Largo to find this supposedly famous statue.

Finally, we saw a sign!

And then there it was, the statue, on the side of a building.

As you can see, it was quite the understated landmark. But we found it, and we got pictures to prove it. Its significance? "Lower Largo is famed for its links with Alexander Selkirk, who was born in the Village in 1676 and as a youth ran away to sea. He was marooned on a desert Island in the Pacific Ocean where he remained for four and a half years before being rescued. Daniel Defoe the novelist published the real life story as Robinson Crusoe at the start of the eighteenth century. Lower Largo has a statue of Alexander Selkirk marking the site of the cottage where he was born." So there you go.

We ended the day by heading back to our B&B and getting some dinner near it. A very fun day at the coast!

Tomorrow? The William Wallace Monument and Stirling Castle! Oh goodness, it's going to be exciting.

Spring Break: Day One {Edinburgh}

Woo hoo! I'm on Spring Break!

I don't have too many plans. I have some very non-fun things to do--some grading, some house cleaning, some getting ready for a garage sale, some detoxing from sugar. But I have one little project that I'm working on that I'm rather enjoying.

It's way overdue.

Way way waaaay overdue.

I'm finally going through all my Scotland pictures and putting them into a photobook. I know! Fifty-one weeks later! Ridiculous! I can assure you that it isn't something I have procrastinated on; it just hasn't been at the top of the priority list.

I'm doing it now, though, and that's what counts.

Are you going anywhere spectacular for spring break? Well, if you don't have any plans for spring break, let me bring you along on my trip down memory lane. I'll post a day for each day of travel, almost exactly a year after it happened. So today, I'll share what we did on Monday, April 2, 2012.

(Important sidenote: I am notoriously bad at following up on "the rest of the story" when it comes to blogging, so I made sure that I pre-blogged a few posts over the weekend so that I'll be able to keep caught up.)

To catch you up: We started our trip on Saturday, March 31, by flying to Iceland.

Then on Sunday, Iceland's idea of an April Fool's joke: We weren't going to be heading on Scotland that day afterall. Thirty-six hours later we made our way onto a plane that was bound for Glasgow.

All caught up? Off to Neverland!

Well, Glasgow anyway.

My sister was there to greet us at the airport, and I cried happy tears. She had rented a car, and fortunately she would be driving because I never did quite get the hang of driving on the other side of the road. I think I could have managed it except for turning into traffic. Turning left into traffic and then staying left was unnerving.

We drove to her flat, dropped some stuff off, and then we headed to Edinburgh.

Our original plan was to spend Sunday in Glasgow, and then spend Monday in Edinburgh. Because it would have been nearly impossible to change our itinerary, we missed out on spending much time in either one of those cities (though we did get to see Glasgow again at the end of our trip).

People say that Edinburgh is one of their most favorite European cities, so charming and so much to do.

I will just have to take them at their word because we only spent a few hours in Edinburgh.

First we went to Edinburgh Castle.

We were lucky enough to get a little bit of daylight while we were still in the city. We walked around the lower grounds of the castle, and Andrea gave us a few history lessons. Although it was cold (so cold!) and rainy (so rainy!), it was still spring.

And while, of course, modern living is going on all around, you cannot escape the reminders that centuries of history has happened in this country. Old buildings, statues, monuments and plaques are everywhere. There was somebody famous who said he didn't want a statue of himself because birds would come and poop on it. I can't remember who, but they knew what they were talking about.

Then we walked up the steep road to the castle and were treated to fabulous views.

You can imagine why this was an ideal place for putting a castle. The views! And, okay, being well-fortified and being able to see your enemies coming was probably also a key factor.

We didn't take a tour of the castle because it was closed, and we opted not to come back the following day to tour the castle because we were already going to tour (spoiler alert!) Stirling Castle on our trip.

I can't vouch for which castle is the better tour, but Andrea has done them both and she recommends Stirling Castle over Edinburgh Castle. I can agree that Stirling Castle is fantastic.

After a quick walk around the castle courtyard, we headed down the Royal Mile, so named because it is just over one mile long and is the main road through the old part of Edinburgh.

It was quite steep, and the cobblestones made the terrain rather unpredictable. I loved the look of those old stones.

Most of the stores were closing up by now, so we only had a couple options. We had hoped to get a tour of a whiskey distillery, but it was closed, which ended up being fine because we were able to do a tour of Mary King's Close ("close" as in "she is standing close to me" not "close the door"). It's almost all underground, and it shows the old streets and spaces as they were lived in hundreds of years ago. It was super cool and very informative. Alas, no photos because it was mostly all in the dark.

Before the tour, we got a bite to eat in a traditional Scottish pub, and then after the tour we were off to our B&B for the night.

(An otherwise nice picture of us, slightly ruined by my hand awkwardly holding that glass.)

You'd think that checking into our B&B would have been rather uneventful, but we did manage to have a good laugh about it. Andrea had looked into staying at several places in the area before choosing the Hampton House B&B. Unfortunately, her notes had not clarified that this was where we were staying, and so we stopped at another place. And gave that proprietor quite the scare when we inquired about checking in, and what's that? You don't have our reservation?

Fortunately, we were able to piece it together and did manage to make it to the proper place.

A good sleep was had by all, and we woke up to...snow!

Tomorrow: Saint Andrews!

7 Quick Takes (vol. 19)

{Since most of you probably don't regularly read Conversion Diary--the blog that hosts this weekly round-up--you might not know that Jen was admitted to the hospital with bilateral pulmonary embolisms. Please send her (and her baby--she's 24 weeks pregnant) your thoughts and prayers.}

Since I hardly wrote at all in 2012, how about a run down of some highlights from the year?

: 1 :

The absolute best part of 2012 was going to Scotland to visit my sister. I can't even tell you how much we enjoyed that trip (and, as it so unfortunately turned out, I didn't even tell you how much we enjoyed that trip). As Andrea said to me yesterday, Every year should include a trip to Scotland. I agree.

Andrea and I at Inverary Castle.

Andrea and I on the wall at St. Andrews. It was sooooo cold there. And windy. Crazy windy. The North Sea was crashing over the seawalls, and we joked that one strong gust would likely send us falling over the wall during this picture.

Jason and I at the viaduct not too far from Fort William. This particular site is notable for some Scottish warriors who fought against the Jacobites. It's more notable, however, as the film site for the Hogwarts Express in the Harry Potter movies.

Jason and I at Stirling Castle. If you're going to do a castle in Scotland, then I highly recommend Stirling Castle. It's better than Edinburgh Castle. I might be partial to it because (1) we didn't actually get to visit Edinburgh Castle and (2) this photograph is awesome, ergo Stirling Castle is awesome. As is my sister who took this picture.

As far as our Scotland trip goes, I do have this Flickr setup, and will be adding more pictures to it this week because I need to organize myself into getting a photobook done of it...a mere 10 months after the fact.

: 2 :

I ran the Portland Marathon.

And I would do it again.

: 3 :

For the first time in I don't know how long, Jason and I had a year with a lot of movie nights. It was the culmination of many things: living near grandparents, not having a nursing baby, having a teeny bit of extra spending money for dates, and living near a pretty decent theatre (that Jason can get reduced ticket prices to through his school district).

Some of our favorite movies? Silver Linings Playbook (YOU MUST SEE IT), Lincoln (LOVED), Argo (Ha! Really enjoyed), and Loopers (entertaining). We still are planning on seeing Zero Dark Thirty and Les Mis. Jason saw The Hobbit, but with a run time of 3 hours I think I'll wait until...maybe never.

: 4 :

Jules started kindergarten.

Love the school, love her teacher, love the stuff she's learning there. She's still a bundle of emotional extremes, but her teacher would never have guessed it. Jules got the Student of the Month award for Kindness.

I might have wept.

: 5 :

The Second Annual Family Farm Family Camp!

Jason has managed to keep in close touch with lots of the guys he played college soccer with. It used to be that he would see a lot of them at the annual alumni game, but then a few years back most of the guys from Jason's team stopped going to the games. We needed a solution to make sure we all saw each other at least once a year.

Family Camp.

And so four other families came to the Family Farm and camped out. There were 19 kids.

Laser tag is a big hit.

But I'm partial to the s'mores.

It's crazy fun, and I can't wait for next year.

: 6 :

The entire summer.

It has to get its own bullet point, because there are just too many things to list about it that I loved. Definitely at the top of the list?

My sister was in town for the month of August. It was super duper fantastic.

We even managed to squeeze in a weekend at the beach where Andrea, brother Jake, sis-in-law Sarah and I did the Tillamook Bay Run.

: 7 :

Making our house a place I'm pretty happy to live in. Some people love home improvement projects. I really like thinking about home improvement projects. And I love them when they are done. But I'm not super keen on them in the middle of the project. Nevertheless, all the stuff we got done was a big highlight of the year.

So that's it. Some of the best parts of 2012. And per tradition, I made a video that attempts to capture some of that goodness in three and a half minutes.

 

Here's to another great year.

{More Quick Takes here.}

 

Iceland for a day

Although it was not our intention to spend a day and night in Iceland on our way to Scotland, I would highly recommend doing it if you had the opportunity. Icelandair even encourages the layover by not charging people extra to have an extended stop in Keflavik/Reykjavik before heading on to their final destination. I wouldn't think you'd need very much time there to get a great feel for the country--I think two days would be sufficient--and the two main attractions (from what I could tell) are the famous Blue Lagoon geothermal spa and the rather charming city of Reykjavik. And, of course, there's the volcano. My aunt and uncle spent two weeks there, and a former student of mine is spending six weeks there this summer, so of course a person can find things to do.  But. If you were doing a whirlwind kind of trip, you can do a lot in one or two days.

Brother Tyler and Sarah are hoping to visit Andrea next year, and after my relatively lovely experience, they're thinking they might travel with Icelandair and have a (planned) stop in Iceland. I hope they do. (And, of course, I hope their plane doesn't break down in Seattle like ours did.)

We landed in Iceland at 9:30 in the morning, and pretty quickly learned that we would be stuck there for the day and night because there were no more flights to mainland Europe.

It was one of those "it is what it is" deals, and even though I was mightily disappointed I wasn't going to be taking a nap in my sister's Glasgow flat that afternoon, we thought we might as well make the best of it. It helped that the airline covered our hotel stay and meals while we were in Iceland.

All of us who had missed our connecting flights were bussed to a hotel, and by a happy accident Jason and I had to sit on the floor at the front of the bus. I chatted up our driver who told me that there were two things a person could do: go to the Blue Lagoon (we didn't have swimsuits, so we opted not to) or take a bus from the hotel to Reykjavik. I learned from my dad and the few group tours I've been on that sitting at the front of the bus is a good idea because (1) you might find out some fabulous information from the bus driver and (2) you will be the first person off the bus.

Getting off the bus first at the hotel proved to be a major bonus because we got checked into our hotel room quickly. After many long hours of traveling, I was feeling a bit desperate for a shower.

If I had had my international wits about me, I would have inquired straight away at the hotel desk for a city map and when and where the next bus was going into town. But because I was tired and hungry and didn't know exactly what we were going to do for the day, we didn't ask until later in the afternoon. And, alas, when we did make it into Reykjavik we had only a short window of time to be there because we needed to make sure we got the last bus back to our hotel.

That small mistake notwithstanding, we were still able to see a bit of Iceland.

First we ate lunch. We ordered the local fish, which, for a non-fish eater like myself, was a bit more fishy and salty for my taste.

But we nibbled at it, and patted ourselves on the back for trying something new. However, for dinner we had the chicken.

Near our hotel:

In Reykjavik:

Reykjavik really is a beautiful city, and I wish we could have spent more time there but it was quite cold and we had not packed for those kind of temperatures; and it got dark rather early, and we didn't want to be wandering around the city in the dark.

We still got to wander around a bit and managed to find the Hofdi House.

Its claim to fame is being the location where Reagan and Gorbachev met to discuss ending the Cold War. Hooray for historical sites!

Very pretty building.

It wasn't open for tourists, but I was happy to see it anyway. And it gave us the opportunity to have an adventure not unlike the kind you see on Amazing Race.

We had to hustle to get the Hofdi House in order to take pictures and then be able to run back to the bus station to catch our bus.

The distance wasn't that far--not even a mile--so we were pretty confident that we would be okay on time. But, not being quite familiar with how roads intersected, we misread our map and ended up overshooting the bus station and ending up on the wrong side of a freeway. We finally got on top of a hill to see where we needed to go. We had about 4 minutes to get to a location that seemed a long ways away, so we started sprinting down the shoulder of some major road. We were darting across traffic, running down embankments, and checking our watches every 30 seconds.

We run into the bus depot's parking lot to see our bus. driving. away.

And, Amazing Race fans, you would have been proud of me.

We saw that the bus was going to have to backtrack a bit through the parking lot to get out onto the road, so I ran through the parking lot, waving my arms, and eventually running in front of the bus so that it would stop and let us on.

We made the bus.

So, that was our adventure in Iceland. It was lovely, and while I don't imagine I will ever go back, if I had the chance I would.

I went to sleep dreaming of having elevensies with my sister the following day.

Unfortunately, we got to the airport and discovered that Icelandair doesn't fly to Glasgow on Mondays, and so we would be routed through Amsterdam and arrive in Glasgow that evening.

It was one thing to miss a day with my sister. It was an entirely other thing to miss TWO days with my sister, and have to waste more time hanging out in an airport instead of hanging out in Scotland.

I was undone.

I cried and cried and talked to a very nice airline representative who told me there was nothing that could be done. Perhaps we could be on the flight to Manchester (England), but there were no guarantees that we could catch the flight from Manchester to Glasgow. Please, I sobbed, I just want to get to Glasgow. She was sympathetic, but when you're dealing with airplanes and flight plans and small things like oceans, there's only so much a person can do.

We flew from Iceland to Amsterdam, and what seemed like a small eternity, flew from Amsterdam to Glasgow.

I finally got to see my sister.

And our Scotland Adventure finally began! First stop: Edinburgh.

We Took A Trip

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A big thing happened while I was away from here.

Huge.

Exciting.

Something we've been planning for more than a year.

We went to Scotland.

Just Jason and me.

It was amazing.

A student asked me if I'd like to go back, and I said, "If I had the money, I'd go in a heartbeat."

And he said, "I like how money is your first thought, and not the responsibilities you have at home like your kids and your job." And then I punched him in the nose and drop kicked him out the door.

Not really. (You figured that, huh?)

He was just teasing me anyway, so no big deal. But really, if we had the money, we'd go again. The grandparents stepped up and took care of the girls--Jason's mom did the lion's share of the work by staying out our house with the girls and keeping them fed and clothed--and Jason was on spring break so the work thing and the house thing and the taking care of the kids thing was all good. Because my spring break was the week before we left, I did cancel my classes for the week that I was gone, but I had worked it out all ahead of time, so it was good too.

Anyway! Those the logistics of how people like us go do crazy things like travel to a foreign country for a week.

So, Saturday, March 31st, we flew from Portland to Seattle and then to Iceland. Then we were supposed to fly from Iceland to Glasgow and arrive there Sunday morning. However, our plane in Seattle broke, so we had to wait around for a plane to arrive from Iceland, and even though I am a good and easy traveler who does not fret about flying, I admit that eventually this plane breaking down business had me sobbing in front of some Icelandic woman who really wished she had taken that day off from work.

But before that drama, we had this drama.

And by drama, I mean dramatic.

And by dramatic, I mean awesome amazingness of flying over the top of the world and seeing the sun rise.

I got very little sleep on the plane because I was excited, and because I was reading "Hunger Games" over Jason's shoulder (I didn't start until half way through, so I know the end, but haven't actually read the whole book). But I did doze off a little bit.

And when I woke up, we were hitting the Icelandic coastline.

(all these pictures are with my iPhone because I packed my point-and-shoot in my luggage)

Because of our delay and because the Iceland airport evidently doesn't have any flights off the island after 9 am, we discovered upon our arrival that we would not be going to Scotland that day. We--and about 60 others from our flight--would be hanging out in Iceland for the day and evening (our hotel and meals courtesy of IcelandAir).

Though I was bummed, I had a good attitude. When would we ever have a chance to visit Iceland? Never. How fun could this be? Very.

So we made the best of it and spent Sunday hanging out in Reyjavik thinking that we'd be catching the early morning flight to Glasgow the next morning and I'd be giving my sister a big ole' hug by 10:30 am.

Little did we know: IcelandAir does not fly directly from Iceland to Scotland on Mondays. There would be no 10:30 am hugging of my sister. There would instead be lots of tears.

...to be continued...

Roadtrip Day 1: Trees of Mystery

When we were planning our trip to Reno, Jason casually suggested that we take a detour from our route and spend a couple days in San Francisco.

Although Jason likes traveling, he's not really a huge fan of road trips, so I was quite surprised he had thought of such a wonderful idea without any begging from me. Before he changed his mind, I posted our plans on Facebook, which is my equivalent to having him sign a contract.

You can't back out now, buddy. I Facebooked our plans.

Oh yeah. Commitment comes by way of status postings.

When we started talking about San Francisco, we thought we better take a drive through the Redwoods (to show Sydney), and then, well golly gee, there's a Six Flags just an hour east of San Fran, and oh my goodness gracious, could I please please please meet up with a longtime blog friend in San Francisco?

And what was initially going to be a "spend a night in SF" turned into "spend 2 nights in SF, go to Six Flags, meet with Nikki, and wander around the piers of SF."

It was fabulous.

Since it's a long drive from here to SF--especially since we were taking a long detour by going along the California coastline rather than the direct route down I-5--we headed out at 3:30 am. We were sleepy, yes, but when traveling with kids, sometimes it's best to go during the hours that they are most likely to sleep.

By breakfast time, we had already driven through Oregon and were in Crescent City, a town I've visited many times on account of having family there. After a hearty McD's breakfast, we were off to the Trees of Mystery.

Sydney did an American Folklore unit in her music class, so she was quite familiar with the friendly characters greeting us off Highway 101: Paul Bunyan and his beloved blue ox Babe. Paul and Sydney chatted for awhile (truly, they did. there's a guy (inside Paul?) who operates a mic and chats up all the tourists who wander by), then we headed out to see the mysterious trees.

Ronald Reagan is misquoted as saying, "If you've seen one redwood, you've seen them all."

That wasn't exactly what he said, but for whatever reason, he wasn't really a fan of the redwoods.

As for myself, I could fill a whole memory card in my camera with redwood photos.

They are amazing trees.

They are so tall. And so big around. It's awe inspiring to stand next to a tree that's been around for hundreds--some even more than 1000--years old. Many years ago, I went camping in the Redwood National Park, and it was an unforgettable experience.

Sydney wanted me to take her picture on top of this huge stump. It was one impressive stump.

This tree formation is called a Cathedral Tree; it forms like this naturally when the center tree dies and other trees grow up off the root. According to a plaque at the tree, people get married there, although I did a quick Google image search and couldn't find any traditional wedding pictures at the Cathedral Tree. So. Who knows.

A family tree! Can you spot the other trees growing up off the branches of the main tree?

At the end of the trail, we took a gondola ride up through the redwoods. (By the way, Gretchen: the SkyTrail lift was manufactured in Grand Junction, a little fact that made me think of you as I was floating over the tops of the trees.)

Sydney loved it, and I pretended to love it, although I kept imagining the cable snapping and our little cart plummeting to the earth below.

Yes, I have an active imagination and have seen too many movies. (Speaking of movies, there's some great footage of the redwoods in The Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which Jason and I saw last weekend and really enjoyed. The plot and dialogue isn't anything spectacular, but the cgi is AMAZING.)

Eventually we wandered out of the Trees of Mystery, and got back on the road headed to Vallejo.

Our day of traveling would have been considerably shorter if we hadn't taken the time to explore the redwoods, but I'm so glad we did.

I suppose as a native PacNWer, loving trees is in my DNA. But I think even a non-tree hugger would marvel at redwoods and be thankful that long ago California decided to protect these majestic trees.

Tomorrow's photos: Six Flags!

Big Island Recap

The luggage is back in the basement. My sunburn has peeled away. My photos were edited, oh, last week sometime. I keep thinking I need to write a little something about my trip to Hawaii, and since summer is moving right along (we had our one day of sunshine on Tuesday; that seems to be all we're getting), I better put down the highlights of the Big Island before I move on to writing about this island.

I love Hawaii. Oh, how I love it. I've been to Oahu once, and Kauai three times. I'm not sure I would have chosen to visit the Big Island except that my cousin has a house there, and her generosity in letting us stay there allowed us to vacation relatively inexpensively.

Now that I've been to the Big Island, I would absolutely go back. Did you know it has 12 of the world's 14 climate zones? Did you know it has two of the best beaches in the US? Yep, there's tons to do there, though we didn't do much since our primary objective was to just relax (plus we had Addie, plus Megan is pregnant). By the way, if you're thinking of taking a trip there, I highly recommend getting Hawaii The Big Island Revealed. We used it while we were there, and it's a great guidebook. Lots of our finds were because of the book.

In order to keep myself on track, in no particular order, here's my Top Ten Favorite Things from my trip.

1. Golf carts are awesome.

Even though we rented a car, my cousin has a golf cart at the house that can be used all over the resort property. We have a golf cart here on the farm (two actually), but if there is such a thing as a tricked out golf cart, this was it. Turn blinkers, radio, headlights, windshield wipers, seatbelts--a totally awesome ride. And we got plenty of "sah-weet ride!" comments from people. We used it to zip around to the grocery store and beaches and restaurants, and Addie loved it.

2. When in doubt, just go to the beach.

The house is in Kulalani on the Mauna Lani Resort property (click on the link to get an even better photo of the beach), and there is a special beach just for residents. No beach in Hawaii is private, but this beach was certainly not crowded.

We hung out there a couple days, ate at the restaurant twice, and always felt good knowing that we had a default location to hang out at if we needed one.

We did see a non-sandy beach our first day. Addie got her toes in the water. Touching the Pacific Ocean milestone? Done. June 1.

She didn't like it much. Too cold.

We also hung out at Hapuna Beach, and it was the quintessential Hawaiian beach. Long stretches of sand, lots of families playing in the surf, gorgeous blue water. So fabulous.

We'd walk around, eat snacks from the cooler, and talk and talk and talk. I don't think Megan and I could ever run out of things to talk about!

3. I love palm trees.

I kept wanting to take pictures of palm trees and then realizing that, of course, how many pictures of palm trees does a person need? I want one though. In my yard. Is that too much to ask?

I love everything about palm trees except the possibility of having a coconut fall on my head. That sounds risky.

4. If I ever competed in an Ironman...which will be never.

The weekend we were there, a neighboring resort was hosting a Half Ironman. We happened to be out and about on the day the race happened, and so we saw the cyclists (as we headed out to breakfast), and then saw the runners as we were zipping around the golf cart exploring the area. We did our cheering duties as we zoomed past them, and suspected some of the organizers thought we were odd because we accidentally kept going past the same checkpoint. (Yes, we're here. Again. Nevermind us. Just carting around like two non-athletes.)

It was fun to see such hardcore athletes, especially since Megan's hubby is competing in an Ironman in August.

In another stage of our life, we might be inspired by such dedicated athletes. In this stage of our life? We were happy to be watching rather than participating.

5. Hawaiian Farmer's Markets are just like Washington Farmer's Markets.

Except around here, no one sells fresh limes. Or lemons.

Or macaroons from local coconuts.

Otherwise, though, totally the same.

This little market was up in Hawi, and we thought we better sample some of the baked goods. We were not disappointed.

6. Take the road as far as it goes.

Though I'm sure most visitors to the Big Island make sure they check out the volcano, we weren't up for that. So, as we followed the road north, we bypassed the turn off to the volcano, and went to the end of the road instead.

We got an awesome view, and next time we go back maybe we'll do the hike down the mountain to the beach. It looked pretty cool.

Also cool?

On our drive, we found the original King Kamehameha statue. There's one in Honolulu, but this is the original one that was shipwrecked on its voyage to Hawaii. A replacement was made, but then the first one was salvaged and put in a little town on the north coast. It's very...statuesque.

Also along our drive? A great restaurant: Bamboo. Yowzah. Good food.

7. Smoothies.

We had smoothies in the morning. Smoothies in the afternoon. Smoothies for dinner.

Pina colada was the hands down favorite, and we fear we won't find any as good around here.

8. The adventures of the non-adventurous.

So this wasn't the snorkling, zip-lining, hiking, horseback riding, surfing kind of vacation. We still saw cool things.

Ancient fish ponds.

Surfers.

Big trees.

Decorative toilet seats.

Oh yeah.

9. Babies don't ruin vacations.

They just change the pace a little.

Sure, we worked around nap times, and didn't exactly have leisurely meals. But all in all?

10. Favorite part of all? Girlfriends in Hawaii.

For months leading up to our trip, Megan and I would text each other.

It's 80 degrees in Hawaii.

One month until we leave!

24 hours until we're on a plane!

The whole time we were there, we could hardly believe we had pulled off this trip. Of course, we pulled it off because our husbands are AMAZING (and we got cheap airfare and didn't have to pay for lodging). Since Megan and I both love the sun more than a PacNWer realistically should, this trip was exactly what we needed. If only we had a tropical vacation planned at the end of every school year.

Sunshine. Smoothies. Sand beneath our toes.

We're thinking we should take this trip again in 5 years when we turn 40. Only in five years, I think we'll leave the kiddos and bring the husbands.

Can we wait five years until we're back in Hawaii?

At least we'll have the photos to keep us happy until then!

Have Baby. Will Travel.

When Megan and I first started talking about a trip to Hawaii, I knew it meant taking Addie along because if I'm going somewhere for more than a few hours, then Addie comes along too. Even though Addie is a happy baby, flying with a baby to a tropical paradise is still flying with a baby, if you know what I mean. It means traveling with gear. The Ergo, stroller, car seat, a diaper bag packed with Cheerios and books, and a suitcase packed with diapers and wipes were essentials for me on this trip. (My only moment of panic was how I was going to get into the airport after being dropped off outside. Picture this: Addie in the Ergo, umbrella stroller under my arm, one hand holding the car seat, the other hand pulling a suitcase--with my carry-on bag perched precariously on top. I finagle my way through the rotating doors, and a little grandma (bless her) asks if she can help me. I let her carry the stroller.)

Traveling with a baby means highchairs at mealtimes, or if you didn't quite time it right, breastfeeding in that fancy beachfront restaurant. (But hey! at least we were eating AT a fancy beachfront restaurant where people are so happy to be in Hawaii they don't care what you're doing.)

 

It means finding creative ways to get through meals. Sharing the guacamole from your Hawaiian pork nachos might be necessary. Or discovering that napkin rings make great teething rings too.

Spending an afternoon shopping might involve strollers if it seems too warm to pack the baby.

Just so you know, in Hawaii, shoes are optional.

When traveling with a baby, you might have to find reasons to hang out a little while longer so that you don't put a baby who will fight you with her mighty healthy lungs if you even think about putting her back in the car.

Hanging out might involve smoothies.

And even after hanging out, traveling in the car with a baby who is used to having siblings entertain her may not be worth taking a picture of.

(Hence, no picture of screaming baby in the car.)

So, if at all possible, travel by golf cart instead. Preferably a sweet six-seater red one. You cannot go wrong with this baby.

Be sure not to pack your schedule too tightly. No one is happy with excess busy-ness. Hang out in the backyard. Zip around the golf course in your golf cart. If you're in Hawaii the time-zone change will have you leaping from your bed at 7 am, and compel you outside (in jammies, no less!) to appreciate the above 70 temps.

Traveling with a baby might provide you with lots of opportunities to talk to other people: people who are parents, people who are grandparents, people who love babies, people who feel some pity for you and your pregnant friend who are hauling very heavy luggage through the airport (bless the Hawaiian airlines guy who helped us with our luggage on our return trip). We encountered so many friendly people, and I think we can partially thank Addie for that.

And if your baby falls asleep in the car seat, and she does best taking her naps there, then by golly, you haul that carseat down to the beach and don't worry about what people say. Although, it should be worth noting that your biceps may hate you for the next two days.

It was worth it though. Because when Miss Baby woke up, I got this:

It was so much fun seeing my girl dig in sand, put her feet in the ocean, and taste her first pina colada. Now all my girls have been to Hawaii as babies, and that's a tradition I was happy to create.

Traveling with Addie may not have been the easiest thing in the world, but everywhere we went people were willing to help us. Of course, I didn't have to go far to get some help. Megan and Addie were best friends.

I know some people get nervous at the thought of traveling with a baby--and certainly it requires some work and creativity--but I like to travel. And if I have a baby, then she goes with me.

My little traveling buddy.

Just don't make her ride in the car too long, and she's happy as a clam.

15

I had intentions of blogging from Hawaii. I even lugged along the laptop for that very purpose. But...when it came down to it, I just didn't want to be spending much time in front of a computer screen. We were in Hawaii, for pete's sake. Can you blame me?

Every day we went to the beach. And every day we drank smoothies.

There's a reason Addie isn't smiling in this picture. All her life she has believed that milk is delivered to her at body temperature, and then suddenly this whole new world opens up. What's this? Cold milk that tastes like coconut and pineapple and bananas? Oh, Hawaiian Smoothie! Where have you been all my life? Yes, Baby Girl was hooked on smoothies, and in the above photo I had hidden the smoothie. She was two seconds away from smacking me in the face for taking it away from her. Seriously. 

It was a fabulous fabulous trip. I haven't yet managed to unpack my luggage--I've tried (unsuccessfully) to convince Jason we should all just go back and spend a couple weeks there, and then I wouldn't need to unpack at all--and today was spent getting caught up on grocery shopping and freelance jobs.

But before today slips into tomorrow, I thought I better introduce the next set of photos that will finish off Addie's first year.

(Sometimes I think I might have more photos of Addie than I do of the other girls, and then I go back and look at photos from Syd and Jules' first year and realize that it's about equal photo time for all the girls. Hooray.)

Megan and I tossed around several ideas of what to use for "fifteen," and ultimately settled on flowers. Because if there's anything that Hawaii does well, it's flowers.

Five yellow hibiscus, five pink hibiscus, and five white plumarias were the flowers we picked for Addie. The plumaria were blooming right outside the house, but the hibiscus we gathered from the community bushes. I would have felt guilty taking flowers from the neighborhood except that the bushes were loaded down with blooms and snipping a few off didn't put much of a dent in the supply.

It was a beautiful trip. More photos tomorrow.

I Love a Good Carrot

I promise you, this isn't going to turn into a blog about the weather. Really. It isn't. But if you're local and you've watched the news, or watched a commercial about the news, or been out in public where people talk, the big news is that it's supposed to snow here. I'm sure the news people have come up with some name for this supposed snowstorm. February Snow? February Storm? February Stormy Snowy Something? All I know is that according to the tv people, it's News with a capital "N."

There's Libya.

And then there's snow.

And believe you me, the snow is getting way more airtime than Libya (which is why I don't watch the news very often).

Most of the time, I just rely on my weather app on my Droid for temperature and a general idea of what the skies might bring me in the next five days. I've plugged a few cities into my weather app, so whenever I'm feeling curious I can see what the weather is like in, say, Glasgow.

I need to know what my sister is experiencing.

Or Providence, Rhode Island. To see if the sun is shining for my brother-in-law and his family.

Or Boise. For my Uncle Bud and Aunt Janet.

Or Orlando, Florida, just in case I decide to hop on a plane and visit Walt Disney World.

Or Honolulu, Hawaii. Because at any given moment, that's where I'd rather be.

I'm often checking the weather in Honolulu. It's usually around 80 degrees. Even at 3 am. Somehow this brings me joy.

Last year, my friend Megan and I were talking about Hawaii. How much we love it, and how much fun it would be to go there together sometime. I have family who graciously allow family to stay at their house on the big island, so it's just a matter of airfare and car. The talking between Megan and I was wishful dreaming because last year Jason didn't have a job, and I was pregnant and miserable, and life in general wasn't flexible enough to plan for a trip to Hawaii. So our familes went to Reno, Nevada, instead and had an awesome time.

Someday, we said. Someday we'll go to Hawaii together.

A few weeks ago, Megan and I were talking again about Hawaii.

"We really should go," I said.

"We really should," she said.

"I think we should," I said.

"I think we should too," she said.

And we sighed and blissfully ignored the rain pouring down outside. Someday, we said.

Later, I happened to look at airfare to Kona. Three hundred bucks. I started getting dizzy with excitement. A few giddy Facebook messages to Megan, a conversation with Jason, and some phone calls later and voila: Megan and I were going to Hawaii.

 

We're going for five days, and our loving and amazing husbands are staying home with the kids (except Addie, who will get to go on her first airplane ride). Our primary objective is to hang out on the beach and relax.

When I see a forecast that says it'll be 20 degree this weekend, I think of Hawaii.

When I think of having a bowl of ice cream at night, I think of Hawaii (and the swimsuit I will be wearing).

When I think of the upcoming soccer season that will have Jason gone many nights a week, I think of Hawaii.

Megan and I got lucky: our someday is coming in June.

Aloha.

Away from Home

I've been away from home this week. I'm still away from home actually. In about 30 minutes, we'll be leaving Ft. Collins, Colorado, and making our way to Salt Lake City. Then tomorrow the long drive back to the Family Farm.

Next week I'll tell all the delicious stories of my road trip adventures (which are mainly comprised of eating out at lots of fabulous places and wonderful visits with others).

But today...it's my sweet girlies who are on my mind.

I don't worry too much about my family whenever I'm gone. They manage just fine without me, and I'm a strong proponent of getting some time away to decompress from parenting duties.

But, of course, I still miss them.

Particularly since we were supposed to arrive home today. Which we won't be doing.

Monday it was sunny and high 60s here in FoCo. I wore flip flops. We ate lunch outside. We rolled down the windows in the car.

Tuesday it snowed. And snowed. And snowed some more. My flip flops were a poor shoe choice. 

In the midst of all the snowing, a certain interstate that would be taking us across Wyoming shut down. There was another way out of Colorado, but my dad wasn't keen on it. When I talked to Sydney on the phone Tuesday night she said, "You'll be home in two days, Mom!" I was sad to tell her the change in plans. She thought it was crazy that I was stuck in the snow.

Jules evidently has been missing me quite a bit. Particularly when she gets in trouble. Then she really misses me. Funny. Because when Jason was gone she really missed him. Particularly when she got in trouble.

Despite our plans, we didn't start driving home on Wednesday.

We hung out and cleaned my sister's house a little more. We watched the snow melt, although I-80 still didn't open up. We ate dinner at a really good seafood place. It was certainly better than being stuck in an airport, which happened to a lot of folks in Denver.

Meanwhile, my girls enjoyed a beautiful day outside under the watchful eye of Jason's mom.

They jumped on the trampoline. Rode bikes. Maybe even played in the sand pile, one of their favorite activities even though it means some extra work for me on account of sand ending up everywhere--their hair, their pockets, the floors of the house. Sometimes I might even grumble about it a little bit.

But the beauty of getting away for a little while is that you end up missing all sorts of things. You miss the things you knew you were going to miss, and you might even miss the things you didn't think you would miss. Like sand in your pockets.

Or dirty footprints on the floor.

Or vacuuming sand out of curly hair.

I've had a good trip away from home, but I'm ready to be back. I was ready to be back today, but snow happens. So I wait.

If Jules doesn't get in trouble she won't even know I was gone an extra day.

It was a good trip, and it'll be good to be home. 

My Field Trip to GlaxoSmithKline

Awhile back I read an article that attempted to explain why elementary school kids are often ridiculously fascinated with dinosaurs. Kids who can't remember to hang up their coats have this odd ability to memorize all sorts of facts about dinosaurs, becoming walking encyclopedias about the eating habits of the stegosaurus.

I'm not really that interested in dinosaurs, except the ones in Jane Yolen's books and Edwina the dinosaur who didn't know she was extinct. Otherwise...dinosaurs. Meh.

However, I get the whole obsessed-with-a-topic thing. Take me for instance. I enjoy reading about diseases and vaccines. I find it really fascinating. The history. The politics. The drama. I like it.

So when I got an invite to go out and tour the GlaxoSmithKline vaccine facility in Marieta, Pennsylvania, I was (first) amazed that I would get an invite considering I am not a high-profile blogger and (second) thrilled to pieces. Add into the invite that GSK was paying for the entire trip (airfare, hotel, food), and it was like winning the lottery. Minus actual money in my pocket, of course.

I'll write more about getting to hang out with my fellow bloggers who toured with me, but let me focus right now on the GSK facility.

The facility looked like a high school. Really. Lovely landscape. Some pretty trees. Brick exterior. For legal reasons (their lawyers were quite nervous about us coming in the first place) we couldn't take pictures, but I've scavengered some photos off the Internet just so you get the idea.

We got to spend about four hours at the facility, and got to hear from several people who were involved in the research, managing, education, and production of vaccines. The first couple hours were filled with some passionate presentations--presentations really providing a different look at how I might have perceived a big pharmaceutical company. I was alternately giddy with joy when someone mentioned Maurice Hilleman ("I read about him!" I squealed in my most unprofessional geeky voice) and moved to tears when one of the doctors talked about how vaccines are a "miracle." Say what you will about vaccines, but they have certainly done a great deal for humanity.

We got to ask some questions, some of which they had answers for, some they didn't. We had been told there were some restrictions on what they could say--no specific products mentioned, no personal medical advice--and so it's hard to not come off as evasive when you can't answer specifically. As it turned out, all the questions I didn't get answers to, I was able to ask a different medical professional today in a phone interview. More on that another day.

After the presentations we got to tour the facility which I think was just FDA certified in August. Although the place isn't necessarily geared for the general public (in fact, they've never before had a general public touring group) they have inspiring posters on the wall, and even a hallway painted in bright yellows and greens. I asked a guy about it--why the posters and happy paint? were they expecting lots of touring groups--and he said that it was simply to create a positive working environment. I can appreciate that.

We saw the gear the medical team uses when they're working in the aseptic area--the place where test tubes are filled with vaccine material. For obviously reasons (we couldn't strip down and put on specialized gear), we weren't allowed in the dirt/germ/hazardous material-free room, but we heard about it. And when someone asked if that room was ever really 100% clean of contaminants, our guide answered with a resounding "Yes."

 

Eventually we ended up in the room where vaccines are inspected and packaged, but not before we all had to suit up in gowns, booties, goggles, and hair nets (we all wished we had our camera at that point!). In a room near the production line, we got to see employees manually inspecting each vial at their personalized work station. In order to combat muscle and eye fatigue, the employees have specialized chairs and yoga blocks for comfort. Every 20 minutes they have to get up and move around a little bit, stretching their muscles. Very cool that GSK pays attention to that kind of thing.

We got to see a massive machine (affectionately called "the diva") packaging vaccines into boxes and witnessed all the safety precautions taken along the way. Certain colors for certain vaccines (they already have a plan for when they run out of colors...I asked). All their packaging is environmentally friendly. Cameras all along the machine insure that everything is labeled correctly. I saw a box missing an expiration date, and when it passed by the special camera, the box was bumped from the line. Safety in action. Of course, there are individuals all along the entire process, so even though the machine was fully automated, humans still have a critical role.

What I will always remember is what happened while we watched the Hib vaccine being packaged. One of the doctors who was on the team that created the vaccine was walking along with our group. He evidently hadn't seen his vaccine being packaged before, because when he saw it, right in front of his eyes, boxes and boxes of the vaccine that he helped create, he got a little emotional. "That's my vaccine," he said. Can you imagine? Seeing your work being prepared to be sent all over the country, saving children from a potentially fatal disease? I couldn't help but get a little choked up myself.

They told us about how they had been working hard to meet the vaccine shortage that is going around. Talked to us about how they would pull huge numbers of vaccines if a particular lot had problems (which they haven't had to do). Clearly communicated their passion for vaccines and patients' lives.

As if the facility itself wasn't impressive enough, I was really impressed by GSK in general. Specifically, many of the presentations and part of the tour were done by women...Impressive, strong, intelligent women. A couple of the bloggers asked GSK if the women leaders were brought out specifically to impress us, but, no. They really do have women in high ranking roles. Although this particular facility doesn't have on-site daycare, they do provide flexible scheduling for moms. In fact, the woman who was giving us part of the tour had to hand the tour over to someone else right at the end in order to go pick up her son. She returned as we finished our tour, and we all waved at her kid.

Yeah. I was very impressed.

The whole experience was really amazing. GSK didn't ask us to write about or tweet any part of our experience, but I am anyways because I think they did a good job. I'm not saying I'm all in favor of Big Pharma, but when it comes to vaccines and when it comes to their facility in Marietta? Well done.

More to come about meeting the other bloggers and eating some really good Cuban food in Philly.

For more accounts of our trip, check out The Feminist Breeder, Uppercase Woman, and Sarah and the Goon Squad. Oh, and the very funny Michael who writes the GSK Blog (and managed to impress us all with a Kierkegaard reference) also has a nice write-up.

A tiny glimpse of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Although we spent nearly all our days immersed in all things Disney, we did spend one day at Universal's Islands of Adventure.

Islands of Adventure has some great grown-up rides, but aside from a cool Dr. Seuss area, it's not particularly a small child destination. In hindsight, I'm sure the girls would have had more fun at Sea World (Jules in particular), but fortunately I did get to go on some cool rides.

Even more importantly, I got to see what kind of construction was going on in the way of the new Harry Potter theme park that will be located inside Islands of Adventure.

I'm sure The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is going to be a huge draw for Universal, and it will no doubt make the lines considerably shorter for the rest of the park rides. Good news for non-HP fans, I guess.

So far, however, construction is not all that impressive. Since 2010 is a mere 4 1/2 months away, I'm guessing the park has ideas of a late mid-to-late 2010 opening for HP.

I'm guessing the above photos are going to be the exterior for Hogwarts.

And this is probably an entrance into Hogsmeade.

My friend Devon suggested that I sneak into the construction area, but I really doubt I would have seen anything more interesting than what I could see from the park. Aside from the signs and the castle exterior, it was not too exciting.

However, I'm pretty sure that the rollercoaster ride Dueling Dragons will be converted into a Harry Potter ride, and if that's the case, then I can say I've already had a small taste of what The Wizarding World of Harry Potter will feature.

If only they were serving butterbeer samples outside the construction zone...

Week 268 (belated): A Magical Vacation

We returned Wednesday night from our vacation to Orlando. I'm still exhausted from all the vacationing and fall asleep just about every time I sit down. We had a great time though.

Sometime this weekend I'll upload all the photos into my Flickr set, but in the meantime, here are few moments from our very magical week:

"I yuv ice cream. A yot."

"I'M STANDING NEXT TO CINDERELLA! WOW!"

"Yook at me! I'm with Cindereya!"

Two times to Walt Disney World in one year might seem like overkill, and yet...it totally isn't.

Top Ten {Tuesday}: Our Disney Vacation

I have long wanted to participate in Amanda's Top Ten {Tuesday}, but my Tues-days are busy with whatever it is that I do, and my Tues-nights have been busy watching So You Think You Can Dance. (UPDATE: The pre-vacation excitement must have gone to my head. SYTYCD is on WEDNESDAYS AND THURSDAYS. Duh.) (BTW, tomorrow is the finale! Who are you cheering for? My favorite is Brandon...such an amazing dancer!)

But since I know that Amanda is a huge Disney fan, I knew I had to participate this week. So without further ado, here are the top ten things I'm looking forward to on our vacation.

:ONE:

Hanging out with Nathan and Carolyn (Jason's brother and SIL). We haven't seen them in a long time, and we've all been looking forward to this family vacation for months. Jason's parents are going with us, so it'll be quite the family reunion.

:TWO:

Eating Mickey Mouse ice cream. We've budgeted a fair amount of money for food so that we can get as much dessert as we want. Yay!

:THREE:

Staying at my cousins' vacation house in Celebration. This is a town designed by Disney, and it's amazing in a wow-every-house-looks-perfect kind of way. Also? My cousins are graciously allowing us to stay there for free, which makes this vacation really affordable. (FYI: It costs as much to fly to Orlando in August as it does to fly to Los Angeles. It's like nobody wants to go to Florida in August...I can't imagine why)

:FOUR:

Going to the new Kissimmee Aquatic Center. Although Celebration has several swimming pools, we aren't residents so technically we can't use them. After a little searching on my part, I discovered a new water park that looks like so much fun! I can't wait to play there.

:FIVE:

Taking Sydney on the roller coasters at the WDW parks. Who would have thought that this normally cautious child would like roller coasters, but she does! The whole raise your hands and scream part is her favorite. At the top of our list: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (her favorite) and Splash Mountain (it was too cold to get wet when we visited last December). One we'll skip: Space Mountain (she doesn't like the dark).

:SIX:

Doing the kiddy rides with Jules, especially the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan's Flight. And I know she'll love playing in Pooh's Playful Spot and "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" Movie Set Adventure. Pooh's Playful Spot was one of Sydney's favorite places to hang out, and just as it's getting dark is the best time to be there. So magical.

:SEVEN:

Nighttime at the parks seems extra magical. And the fireworks show? Loved it. Made me cry.

:EIGHT:

Seeing blogfriend Megan again. She's making the long drive out to meet up with us again. Sweet!

:NINE:

The princesses. And then more princesses. And then maybe Minnie Mouse. Fingers crossed we get a photo op with Cinderella. Although I do love Belle.

:TEN:

The magic that is Disney. When we got back from our trip last December we started planning this one. It's just about the perfect place for our family to go, and being there with even more family will be so much fun. Sure it'll be hot, but oh well. That's what water rides are for!

:OTHER HIGHLIGHTS:

Sea World, going to Hollywood Studios for the first time, the safari ride at Animal Kingdom, sitting in the restaurant that overlooks It's A Small World and waving at the people about to go on the ride. I'm not sure if a vacation can live up to the anticipation (we've had a countdown going for over a month now), but I'm very hopeful.

PS: Even when I'm not posting, keep up with all our vacation happenings by checking out my Twitter sidebar on the left.

Have a great week, everyone!

A Weekend in Lincoln City

One of the small inconveniences for where we live now is that we don't live as close to the beach as we did before.

We used to live just over 1 hour from the beach.

Now we live over 2 hours from the beach. TWO WHOLE HOURS.

I moaned about it once to my sister--who lives in Colorado--and she told me to be quiet. Evidently moving from Pasadena, CA, to Ft. Collins, CO, has taken a toll on her beach humor. Sheesh.

A few months ago, when we were thinking about what to do for our anniversary weekend, we thought about heading somewhere north. Now that we live in Washington we have a good excuse to explore all the beautiful places up north. I'm assuming there are beautiful places up there anyway. At least, that's what Margaret and my Sunset magazine keep telling me.

But then a former student of ours had her wedding last weekend, so we ended up down in Oregon anyway. We weren't at all disappointed because it was a wedding we were happy to go to.

Geron and Ryan make a beautiful couple, and we were extra delighted to be able to visit with her older siblings who we also had as students (although I already talk to Devon quite regularly, but still. good times).

After the wedding, we were off to Lincoln City, our go-to beach city.

Even though it was hotter than blazes in the valley, it was quite foggy and cool at the beach with hardly a view of the horizon. No matter. We still had a great time shopping at the outlet stores, eating lunch at the Blackfish Cafe (highly recommend the chowder, and Inkling will agree with me on that), eating dinner at Kylos (the crabcakes are delicious, though probably overpriced), and staying two nights at the newly remodeled and oh-so-chic Surftides Hotel. Their continental breakfast was rather pitiful, but the rooms were fab with amazing views of the ocean (the above picture was taken from our hotel balcony).

We took long walks on the beach. I got in a good nap. Jason got to exercise for a couple hours (whee). And we even went to see a movie. It used to be that I wondered why anyone would go to the beach and then waste time sitting in a movie theatre. Now that I have children, I think anytime you have a babysitter is a good time to go see a movie. (Incidentally, we saw a popular R-rated comedy which was hilarious, though very, very deserving of its R-rating.)

Then we wrapped up our visit with a trip to our favorite candy shop, owned by a family whose daughter was a student of Jason's.

Read's Homemade Candies is the only store in Lincoln City that makes its own salt water taffy. Their taffy is excellent (and Sydney and Jules agree); their chocolate covered orange sticks are amazing. I ate...oh...let's just say, I ate a lot of them. And I'm not sorry.

It was, all in all, a perfect anniversary weekend. Very relaxing, and just what we needed, especially since we had been more than a little snippy at each other the week before. Though we may be perfect for each other, we are definitely not perfect to each other. And this summer--what with all the settling in, readjusting to a new life, reconnecting after a school year of long absences from each other--has been...I don't know what to call it. Well, I guess it's been hard work. Twelve years of marriage and we're still learning how to be gentle with each other. I'm willing to bet we'll always be learning that.

Fortunately, the hard work is worth it. Absolutely. Positively. Every single day.

PS: The hard work is easier with a mouthful of salt water taffy and chocolate covered orange sticks. Just FYI.

From Lifenut to Violetismycolor*

Although for obvious reasons I didn't write about my surprise trip to visit my sister in Colorado, I knew there was one blog reader I had to tell:

Gretchen from Lifenut.

Gretchen lives in Colorado, and as soon as I booked my flight, I crossed my fingers that I'd be able to meet up with her. I've been reading Gretchen's blog for years. She wrote that it was four years, and I'll take her word for it. I suppose I could figure it out by seeing when Chief Justice Roberts was confirmed because that's the day I started reading her blog. She had a picture of the new Chief Justice and his squirmy little boy, and now I will forever associate the Supreme Court with Gretchen, which is certainly to their advantage.

We met two Mondays ago, in a town between Denver and Fort Collins, at a restaurant that had big windows, yummy food, and crayons for the kiddos. I love any restaurant that has crayons. Beatrix and Joel colored marvelously on their kids' menus, and Archie--blessed Archie who I had prayed for when he was born and whose eyes I briefly got to look into just before we parted--slept the whole time. Although I could have gone for a few minutes of holding the little guy, I can't complain that he was perfectly angelic through the whole meal.

And what a fun meal it was. Joel is a master conversationalist, and tried to give me a crash course on how to play a computer game with a crocodile and moving platforms and hidden rooms. Beatrix showed me her colorings and talked to me about her lunch, and I couldn't stop smiling at her. One highlight of the meeting: getting to hold Beatrix's hand as we walked across the restaurant. Oh mercy. I had to call Jules at home as soon as I got in the car, I was so homesick for her little voice and hands.

Between Joel's laugh-out-loud stories and Beatrix's adorableness, Gretchen and I talked about all sorts of things, and it was pure delight meeting this mom whose advice I have respected and whose writing I have adored. Thanks for the meet-up, dear Gretchen. What a treat.

♥

As if meeting one blogger in a week wasn't enough, Diane and I met up with each other last Sunday. I've actually met Diane several times before, although it hasn't been for a couple years now (crazy since we live so near to each other). From the moment Diane and I get together, there is non-stop conversation. We talk about everything, and when I leave her I'm always giddy with all that talking.

This time around we talked about her trip to Japan, kids, Portland, movies, and food. Before our yummy dinner we saw the movie Coraline and were both charmed and alarmed by the movie. If you're not familiar with the premise of the movie, some of the characters have buttons for eyes, and let me tell you, those buttons are a bit unsettling. But the movie itself was so interesting. Hooray for seeing films with ties to Oregon. And hooray for finding time to meet up with nearby friends.

♥

It is such a quirky and amazing thing to meet people who we know so much about and who know so much about us. That's one I love about blogging.

*Alternate title that I abandoned, fearing it would be too obscure: "Buttons: Cute and Otherwise." As in, the Lifenut kids being cute as a button, and Coraline having freaky buttons. I decided that any title you have to explain isn't quite as clever as I had hoped.

Week 249: Making Memories

All growing up, my parents tried quite deliberately to create events that we'd remember. While the end of my teenage years were filled with Big Vacations--trips to the Bahamas, Puerto Vallarta, Hawaii, and Washington D.C.--those trips didn't happen until we were all teenagers (which meant that as the oldest I was out of my teen years for half of those vacations).

Before those Big Vacations there were years and years of mini-vacations. Two or three-day vacations spent somewhere in the Pacific Northwest were about all our family of four young children could handle. But even though the trips were short, the memories were long. At Christmastime, we had the traditional Family Shopping Day, not quite a vacation, but still An Event. We had some summertime road trips to the mountains or the beach. I remember one spring break when we spent the day driving through the Columbia Gorge, having brunch at the now defunct Columbia Gorge Hotel, visiting Maryhill Museum (where I first fell in love with Auguste Rodin's sculpture), and having Japanese food for dinner at Bush Gardens.

I write all this to preface what I was thinking last Thursday when my parents planned another Event. These days, we don't even attempt to vacation all together (yikes!), but we do try to plan moments where the great-grandkids get to spend time with their great-grandma.

Last December it was a ride on The Polar Express.

This spring break it was seeing Goodnight Moon at the Northwest Children's Theatre and having lunch at Bush Gardens, a place I hadn't visited since I first was there 20 years ago.

I wasn't quite sure how a 30-second book would translate into a 75-minute production, but it was amazing. Obviously, the script had several extra bits that the book doesn't include. Some song and dance numbers, integration of the story Runaway Bunny, the backstory for the cow jumping over the moon, as well as the three little bears sitting in chairs.

Have a mentioned that this is one of my favorite children's books? I did? Well, now it's one of my favorite children's productions. It was magical. It was brilliant. It kept the attention of a room full of little kids, which I found really miraculous. Dozens of toddlers and children sat rapt with attention as Bunny gets ready for bed, his friend Mouse causing mischief, the quiet old woman whispering "hush." There's one more weekend of performances, and I highly recommend going.

 

As soon as we entered the auditorium (filled with benches, see? perfect for squirmy audience members!), Jules cried out, "Goodnight Moon! GOODNIGHT MOON!" She is well versed on the story and recognized the set immediately. Afterwards, Sydney had her picture taken with the Moon Fairy--responsible for moving the moon across the sky, naturally.

 

 

Here's little mouse, the quiet old lady, and young bunny signing autographs and posing for pictures. Marvelously talented, I tell you.

And after the show, it was off to Bush Gardens for a lunch of miso soup and edamame.

 

The girls didn't go for the miso soup, but they were mighty thrilled with the chopsticks.

 

"I think we should eat watermelon with chopsticks every day."

 

"That looks like something I could draw on the walls at home!"

Who knows exactly how much of this the girls will truly remember, but we'll have the pictures for them to look back on. My grandma is 94 years old, and it's important to all of us that her great-grandkids have memories of her that will stick with them on some level, like invisible threads wrapped around their heart.

Sometimes I forget that making memories doesn't have to be a huge affair, just something a little out of the ordinary will be perfect. You can't leave moments like that up to chance. You have to plan them; you have to photograph them; you have to talk about them.

And above all else, you have to treasure them.

Week 248: The View From There

What a difference five days makes away from my family.

I missed them, of course. But also? It was good to get away. It was good to be high in the mountains, eating too much food, staying up too late, and hiking trails that reminded me to exercise more often.

As I sat in the Denver airport, waiting for my return flight home, I looked out the window to pass the time. The view was not of the Rockies, but of the eastern plains that stretched for miles. I was fascinated by visions of telephone polls at least a mile away, maybe more. I was amazed that no tree or mountain interrupted the landscape.

There are no views like that around here. For one thing, there are the mountains which rise up on both sides: the Oregon Coast Range to the west, the Cascade Range to the east. For another, even if you're looking north or south, the view is always obstructed by a hill or trees. Lots and lots of trees.

Most of the time it's good to live with the mountains in sight. Gives you a sense of bearing. When my sister lived in Florida she complained that she had a hard time with direction because every direction looks the same. Not so, here in the Willamette Valley. You always have the mountains to point you in the right direction.

I looked out that airport window, and remembered advice that I gave to my students a few weeks ago: Use natural formations as metaphors in your speeches. The mountaintop experiences. The valleys of despair. They nodded in understanding. Familiar metaphors for these students who have Psalm 23 memorized.

But sitting there in the airport I remembered the other metaphor we use for mountains. A mountain of work. A mountain of laundry. Mountains aren't always majestic. Sometimes they keep us from having perspective. All we see is the mountain, never the vista. All we feel is trapped in, never sure of what's out there on the horizon. That huge pile of rocks and dirt becomes the very antithesis of inspiration.

Last night in the airport, I looked long and far. I wanted to permanently burn that image into my memory because I don't know when I'll have that kind of view again. Eventually I boarded the plane, and began my journey home--towards the mountains--but I was grateful for the reminder that the horizon is out there, even if I can't see it.

You can have your mountaintop experience.

As for me, I'll never forget the perspective of the plains reaching farther into the distance than my eyes could see.

Surprise Trip

Today is my sister's 30th birthday.

I love a million things about Andrea: her ability to make me laugh and cheer me are at the top of the list.

A few weeks ago I devised a plan. Since her big day was coming up, and since I needed a bit of cheering up myself, I decided that I needed to visit her for her birthday. Not just visit her, but SURPRISE visit her. 

It's worth mentioning that our family doesn't do surprises. No surprise parties. No surprise gifts. We find that surprises takes a lot of effort. Nevertheless, Andrea's roommate thoughtfully picked me up at the Denver airport yesterday morning, drove me to Fort Collins, and when I walked in to see my sister she could not have been more surprised. She thought she was hallucinating, that's how surprised she was.

It's been such a fun trip. Going mini-golfing, going hiking, going frisbee golfing, going a whole night without waking up. I needed this trip on so many levels. Extra bonus to spending all this fabulous time with my sister: I'm going to meet Gretchen from Lifenut.

Happy Birthday, Sistah. You's the best, and thanks for letting me crash your birthday party.

good memories & moving from oregon

 

More answers...

When fellow mommy blogger (and new Facebook friend!) Goslyn asked me, "What is your happiest memory?" I had a flood memories rush to the front of the line. I have lots of happy memories, considering my perfectly regular childhood, a lovely marriage, and sweet children. But the one memory that stands out? The one I turn to when I'm feeling down?

Well, I have to say it's December 2007's anniversary trip to Camden, Maine.

I know I should probably pick a memory that involves the girls, but a trip to Maine? A surprise trip to Maine? A surprise trip to Maine where we honeymooned more than 10 years earlier? Well, really. It's hard to top that. 

It's funny because the timing was far from perfect. We didn't really have extra money to be spending on travel, but decided to do it anyway. Jason had to take along all of his study material for the comprehensive exams that he would be taking a month later. I hadn't exactly stopped nursing Jules, which is to say that she knew how to use a sippy cup, but still used me at sporadic intervals throughout the day.

Yep.

She and I went cold turkey when I stepped on that plane to Maine, and even though I did nurse her one more time when we got back it was essentially the end of the nursing road for both us. My mother-in-law was a saint for taking Jules, who adjusted just fine. As for my adjusting, I ended up being rather uncomfortable--even a quick stop for cabbage didn't help--and developed a pretty terrible cold as a result of my body not quite working right.

It didn't matter. 

Afterall, it was being together--driving down that snowy road listening to Alicia Keyes--that made it perfect. I never fail to smile when I remember our trip. It goes to show that the timing is often never perfect, but you go forward anyway.

*

Fellow Oregonian Diane asked me, "Why oh why would you think of moving out of Oregon, dearest CB?" It's a good question. Especially since I do love living in Oregon, particularly since Sydney was born. It's a great state. No sales tax. Home to Nike and the famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Strong identity. Easily recognizable on the national level (as opposed to Washington, which always has to be clarified as "Washington State" when one is traveling to the east coast). Even celebrating its 150th birthday on Valentine's Day. There's a lot to love.

So why the move?

The answer is that my parents gave us 2 1/2 acres in Brush Prairie, Washington. I can tell you that if it wasn't for the land, we wouldn't make the move. But the 2 1/2 acres is all the reason we need. It's the land where I grew up; it's the land where my great-grandparents lived many years ago. It's where my parents, my grandma, my aunt and uncle, my brother and his family, and my cousin and her family live. It's three miles away from the pre-school that Jason's mom owns. It's eight miles away from where Jason's parents live. Property, family, the chance to build our dream house: it was too perfect to turn down.

Fortunately, Brush Prairie is still close enough to Portland (a mere 20-minute drive away) that we'll be able to stay connected with a lot of our friends who make regular trips there from Salem. Plus, southwest Washington doesn't have any of its own news stations, so all our news is Oregon news anyway. It'll almost be like we still live in Oregon, except we'll have to pay sales tax and pump our own gas. But hey! the property taxes are low and the family is near. Can't beat that with a stick.

Week 238: Princess Love

Here's the thing: I kind of like Princess stories.

Okay. I love Princess stories. Even though I cringe at some of the themes and the crazy commercialization of Disney princess stories, I love the classic Disney princess stories, even with their sanitized versions. I don't want to watch Ariel turn into sea foam because she disobeyed her father (which is how Hans Christian Anderson ended it). Frankly, it doesn't stir the emotions of my heart. But Ariel singing "Part of Your World"? Well, it was a highlight of my 8th grade year. (By the way, I just stumbled upon an amazing/odd version of the song. Seriously.)

I say all this to preface the fact that I had relatively few issues taking Sydney to see all the Disney princesses when we were at Disney World. When we were planning the trip, I wasn't really sure how Sydney would respond to all the princesses because she hasn't seen most of the movies. She hasn't seen Sleeping Beauty (too scary). She hasn't seen Aladdin (although I never really consider Jasmine a Disney princess). I don't think she's seen Snow White (also because of it being too scary). In reality, the Disney princess movies don't often make it in the rotation of movies--not like Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh do.

Part of me wants to roil against the Disney princess movies. Some of the themes bother me. Step-mothers are never portrayed well (as Alida recently mentioned). Mothers are usually absent or dead (even in Finding Nemo). There's the whole needing to be rescued by a prince deal. These are legitimate concerns. Add to that the marketing of princess stuff to young children, and I get a little...squirmy.

But here's the other thing: Sydney loves Princesses. Not because of the stories. Not because of their charm. Not because of the prince. She loves the princesses because of their dresses.

Because they dance.

Because they sing.

Because they are just so pretty (you know, in a relative cartoonish way). Especially if there's pink involved.

She has little paper dolls of Disney princesses, and she makes up all kinds of stories about how they are friends and what they like to do. She can tell you what color their formal dresses are supposed to be. She can tell you the color of their hair. She's a fan. Yes, we like all things girly around here.

So when she asked to see Ariel, and I saw that the wait was 60 minutes, I didn't think twice. My girl was going to see Ariel. I don't think I would have paid money to go see Ariel (I can't even bring myself to buy Sydney shoes that have princesses on them), but I will gladly give of my time when I know it's important.

 

Sixty minutes is a long time for a little kid, but not once did Sydney complain. She was happy as a clam just waiting. If it weren't for Syd, I can honestly say I wouldn't have waited in line to see any of the characters. Okay, well maybe just for Ariel. After all, I do have all the lyrics for "Part of Your World" memorized and have been known to sing them for certain English classes. But otherwise. An hour? For a picture of a princess?

 

Well, in the case of seeing Aurora and Belle, it wasn't just a picture. Miss Sleeping Beauty made sure that the 70 minute wait was totally worth it. She spent 5 minutes oohing and ahhing over Sydney, declaring her as a younger sister because they shared hair color. You should have seen Sydney. She was in heaven.

   

Unfortunately, my camera didn't take the best pictures, but I'm calling it good enough (although I would be lying if I said I didn't consider buying the professional photograph for $15). Sydney doesn't even know who Sleeping Beauty is, but it was enough that this woman in a gorgeous pink dress made her feel like royalty.

Personally, I was hoping that Cinderella was going to be in the Princess Tent (I'm a fan), but evidently she was busy. So we visited Belle.

 

We had actually visited Belle the day before at Belle's Story Time (which is the more efficient way of seeing her because the line is much shorter, especially if you're sitting along the back on the right side).

 

It's possible it would have been enough if we had just seen Belle. Just heard the story. Just got to visit with Belle for a minute, whereby she said to Sydney, "Oh my! What beautiful hair you have!" That memory alone has stuck with Syd.

But I knew that Sydney wanted to see those princesses in their beautiful dresses. She wanted to be part of the magic and see what those fabulous dresses were like up close and personal. I had no problem with that. My mission was to make Sydney's dreams come true.

 

Because whatever you think about Disney, they do a pretty good job of letting you know that wishing and dreaming are important. And that's good stuff in my book.

Where Dreams Came True

Just returned home a few hours ago from our week in Disney World, and while there is much to share, there is also much sleep to catch up on. A preview of the magic...

 

 

 

It was awesome. And yes, I cried during the fireworks show. I just love fairytales.

That's the Way Things Happen on the Polar Express

December 3rd has been circled on our calendar for many weeks now, and all creatures great and small had been looking forward to the day with great anticipation.

For on December 3rd we were taking a ride on The Polar Express.

Our destination? The North Pole, by way of the Mt. Hood Railroad, departing from Hood River, Oregon. It's a very scenic route. Lots of trees. Very little snow.

Sydney and Clover were beside themselves with joy, racing alongside the train, staring up in wonder at the conductor as he called out "Tickets, please! Tickets!" Oh my stars and snowflakes, it was everything these little 4-year-old cousins had dreamed of.

If you aren't familiar with the book or the movie, well then, you are missing out (particularly if you haven't read the book...it's a classic). Fortunately, Sydney is not only familiar with the book (and even possesses her own autographed copy), she knows the movie (which she can only watch with someone sitting next to her because it's a bit scary) and the soundtrack. It's no coincidence that she wears a blue robe, just like the boy in the movie.

The train ride perfectly combined all three as the songs from the soundtrack played over the sound system, as the story was read, as the conductor came by to punch tickets, and as the attendants wearing big white chef's caps passed out cookies and hot chocolate.

  

As the train raced along the mountain, little eyes peered on out into the darkness looking for wolves and signs of Santa. They might have been looking for wolves because I told them they were there. There might have been a bit of panic until I reassured them that there weren't really any wolves. Just rocks. Very, very friendly rocks.

And those who weren't looking outside were cuddling up with Grandma-Great, whose lap was definitely preferred over Santa's. Good thing Santa is secure in his jolliness or he might get a complex from all the babies who see him and scream.

 

Neither Jules nor Toby were particularly interested in sitting on Santa's lap, but Sydney and Clover did, both telling him that they wanted "a spinny dress" for Christmas, both giving him a hug. And with a wink and a nod, he wished them a very merry Christmas and gave them each their own silver bell. Even the littlest girls got bells, which Jules enjoyed very much. Not once did she hit anyone with that bell. Seriously. She treasures it.

Two hours after the train set out, we returned from the North Pole, our cameras filled with pictures and our arms filled with children who couldn't stop talking about the trip. After a stop at the North Oak Brasserie for a delicious dinner, we made our way back down I-84, humming Christmas carols as we drove.

 

And as we drove, little girls dreamed of elves and bells and hot chocolate and cookies, wondering if perhaps high above them Santa was disappearing into the cold, dark polar sky. Magic.

Saturday's Silly Survey #4

We're busy packing and probably won't have Internet for a couple days, but before I unplug our magic Internet box, I have this week's silly survey.

Even though I should be too busy packing and studying and grading papers and living daily life to even think about going on vacation, turns out I sneaked in a little bit of time this week to look at airline tickets to Orlando.

Don't tell Sydney, be we're thinking that a trip to Disney World is in the works. The land of princesses awaits us. Woo hoo.

And sure, it's Saturday, and you're busy doing chores and all that great stuff, but if you could transport yourself to the vacation spot of your choice, where would it be?

(poll)

Wandering Through Graveyards

One of the things we did a fair amount of on our trip back east was visit cemeteries. When you're visiting Boston and Philadelphia, naturally there's going to be a lot of "Here is where Samuel Adams is buried," or "Here is where Benjamin Franklin is buried." I don't know that I was really all that interested in finding out where Benjamin Franklin is buried--nothing against him, but he doesn't exactly stir the emotions of my heart, like, say, Louisa May Alcott might do--but I enjoy walking through graveyards. Not at nighttime, of course. That would freak. me. out. But during the daytime, I think they're very interesting, in a melancholic, picturesque, philosophical kind of way.

Boston had some really interesting cemeteries that were right downtown. We'd be walking along the Freedom Trail, and then randomly stop to wander past some tombstones.

I have a hard time capturing the feel of graveyards through photography. It doesn't help that some people (*ahem* you there in the upper left-hand corner of my picture) tote their Macy's shopping bag through the graveyard. That really ruins the feel of graveyards. More than that, though, there's something about the three-dimensional aspect that my non-fancy camera just can't quite get. Nevertheless, that didn't stop me from taking pictures.

Plus, cemeteries on the east coast are so old--well, comparatively old. Here in Oregon you don't find too many tombstones that date back to the 17th and 18th centuries.

Also, not a lot of skulls and crossbones either. Which I'm fine with. I definitely do not want a skull and crossbones on my tombstone, no offense to Cap. Nicholas Gardner here. It's just not my style.

Philadelphia had more famous dead people. Famous people like Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Benjamin Rush just happens to be Jason's Great-great-great-great-great Grandfather's cousin. Yes, rebelliousness goes wayback in Jason's family. Fortunately it's patriotic rebelliousness, so I can excuse that. Except when Sydney wanted to paint a flag on the wall with magic markers. In our house there may be a little bit of tyrannical oppression when it comes to certain freedoms.

One of the things we did while we were DC was go on a ghost walk through Alexandria. Our guide--a chipper college student with a knack for storytelling--narrated our way up and down the streets of Alexandria, regaling us with horrifying tales of ghosts and graveyards. And when I say "horrifying" I really mean "funny with a gory twist." Like Fargo. Except more family friendly. And without the wood chipper. Or the fabulous Frances McDormand.

The end of our tour found us gathered in a graveyard where our guide told us a final tale of a tragic love story.

We laughed, we cried, we were distracted by fighting squirrels. And then off in the distance, I thought perhaps I too could see the ghosts of children playing by the tombstones. I quickly grabbed my camera and snapped a picture of them.

Oh what tragic tale surrounded these poor little children that they were doomed to wander the graveyard for all eternity? I will say that the little middle ghost wouldn't stop laughing, but the other two? I think they really wanted to be at some fun playground rather than a cemetery. But they kept showing up, so I kept taking pictures.

Now, wait a second...

 

Those little ghosts look awfully familiar...

And that name on the tombstone...I recognize that name...

Stout? Well, now that I think about it, I have seen these pictures before. These and a hundred others just like them that fill our family's photo albums. What's that? You think it's morbid, all these pictures of smiling children on tombstones? Well, then, you never had a mother who was a genealogist.

I knew there was a reason I felt a connection with graveyards.

  

Although I'm definitely not feeling the connection with those shorts.

(c) Creature Bug 2008. All rights reserved.

In the place of literature

For many years now, a friend and colleague of mine have had the same discussion over and over again regarding the idea of traveling to a place made immortal by great literature and/or great writers. She doesn't understand why anyone would find such places important or inspiring. "It's just a place," she reminds me when I once told her how much I enjoyed seeing where Charles Dickens lived. She delves into literary criticism that espouses the virtues of literature transcending the place where it was created. "There's nothing left there except an opportunity for people to make money off tourists."

Well. Maybe.

Except I wholeheartedly disagree.

I love seeing where great authors lived and created their literary masterpieces. For me, it makes literature so much more meaningful when I can see the environment in which it was created. Certainly, modern life has transformed what early novelists saw as they wrote out pages and pages of prose or poetry, but I can't help but believe there still remains a sliver of something. The way the light comes in through the window. The sound of the birds in the trees. The vista out the north window. Reading about Walden's Pond is one thing; seeing it is quite another.

Unfortunately, on our trip I didn't get to see Walden's Pond even though I was. this. close. We saw the sign as we made a u-turn to get back on the right road, and I thought for a brief moment we might get to see it, but I knew it wouldn't have done much good to make the trip just for the two of us who would have appreciated it. Eighth graders, for all their many...um...virtues, have no interest in Walden Pond. Although they would have dutifully taken pictures of it if we had told them to.

Nevertheless, for the brief hour that we spent in Concord (Massachusetts), we got to catch a small glimpse of where great novelists once lived. First of all, I must say that this trip was made exponentially better by the fact that my dear friend Inkling traveled along as a chaperone. She and I shirked our chaperonely duties more than a couple times I suppose, but the students fared just fine. Just by watching how Inkling studied and photographed old stone churches made me appreciate old stone church even more. If you're going to be away from your children for a week, and your husband is going to mostly preoccupied with leadership duties, I highly recommend having a friend along who will make the trip so much more fabulous.

So.

Concord.

Home of Louisa May Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Talk about heavy expectations for the English department at the local high school.

I could have spent all day there, but had to be content with 60 minutes. The main focus for being in Concord at all was because of its relevance to Lexington and the Revolutionary War. I'm all for war history and battle fields, but it took a great deal of my energy to take this picture...

 

...a monument dedicated to the Revolutionary War...knowing that I was just a few feet away from touring the Old Manse, where Nathaniel Hawthorne once lived. Fortunately, not far from the monument was also this:

an old tree down by the boat house that surely Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne must have visited. Maybe they leaned against that tree, waxed poetically about that tree, considered cutting it down for timber. Whatever its role in early American history, the tree survived. And I touched it. I'm counting on that tree to stir within me the Great American Novel.

What do you think, Mr. Early American? Does the tree have special literary powers?

"Ah, of course," he says, and points at yonder feature:

No, no, I protest, not special chipmunk powers! But Mr. Early American has already wandered off for his next photo op. I guess we'll never know what the tree holds.

Eventually our 60 minutes we up, and we start on our way out of town. Fortunately, our dear bus driver agreed to drive past Louisa May Alcott's house, although only a few of us got off the bus to take pictures, and none of us got to tour it. This is one that I would have enjoyed touring knowing that the house is described in Little Women.

Nevertheless, it was amazing being in Concord--even if just for a short while--and I can't wait until I can go back and spend more time there. What I really want to do is lead a literary tour of New England, one where we can read Robert Frost's poem "Fences" while sitting on old stone walls, and hang out at the docks where Herman Melville once lingered. Any takers? No? Well, we shall be content to imagine the larks that Alcott and her sisters had in the attic of her house.

I suppose location doesn't matter to some folks, but to me, seeing that window...well, it just means something to me. Whatever it is, whatever I feel, I for one will always be a tourist willing to pay to see the places of the great writers. I'm a sucker for stuff like that, I guess.

(c) Creature Bug 2008. All rights reserved.

Week 213: Returning

Left last Saturday
or rather early early Sunday morning.

Took with me
unread books,
not enough sweatshirts
or socks.
Plenty of Excedrin
(thank goodness).

Left behind
Jules with a fever and the flu
wishing that I could stay with her
(and would have in other circumstances),
as well as a laptop
leaving me blessedly unconnected
for seven whole days.

Gathered along the trip
memories of Boston
of Philadelphia
of New York City
of Washington DC

Plus plenty of conversations
a nice tan line
a new sweatshirt
an encounter of meeting in real life
a memory card full of pictures
and a small stash of souvenirs.

Returned to
a clean house
(thanks to world's best Nanny Rebekah),
two finished books,
a suitcase full of laundry,
and enthusiastic children
who smothered me with kisses all day long.

Ready to find those 3 hours
I left on the east coast.

Sleepy.

Bonding time with
pictures of my east-coast adventure
is on my list of things to do.

By the end of the week:
The Statue of Liberty
and I
will be
(Photoshopped)
best friends.

Tripping

I find it downright remarkable that I have been on a plane four times already this year, and am about to get on yet another flight, which will make it a record-breaking FIVE times this year. It even beats the year I flew to Europe twice and Hawaii once. That was a fun year; although, now that I think about it, it was also a really difficult year, so evidently the travel didn't exactly make my life easier (only a lot more fun). But this year? Wow. There was the trip to Kauai in June, the trip to Pennsylvania in October, the trip to Maine in December, the trip to Pasadena in May, and now on Saturday we're flying off to the East Coast.

Now, if you travel all the time then five times doesn't seem like such a big deal. But for little ole' me, that's a lot of flying. Good thing I enjoy it...even if I had to fly with a baby on my lap for two of those trips.

So, this trip? Well, let's see. We fly through Saturday night to arrive in Boston on Sunday. Do the duck tour, walk, walk, walk, and walk some more and then finally meet up with Jason's brother and SIL. Monday and Tuesday we're in NYC for all the touring stuff and to see Hairspray. Wednesday we're in Philadelphia, and hopefully meet up at some point with Suzanne. Thursday at Six Flags (ROLLER COASTERS!!!). Friday through Sunday in DC doing all the DC-stuff, and *fingers crossed* meet up with Jess one of the days.

To top it all off, the trip--flight, hotel, meals, shows tickets and touring stuff--is all paid for. Sound fabulous? Ah, yes, but there is a teeny-tiny catch:

We're chaperoning 40 eighth graders. And a dozen parents.

Oh yeah. Bring it on.

I know that a trip like this would be a nightmare for some people, but I just love educational travel with students. Back in my high school teaching days, I was fortunate enough to take two groups of students on tours of London and Paris, and it was amazing. Sure, there are difficult parts of traveling with a group, but I don't seem to mind those difficulties too much.

For this trip, the hardest thing is going to be leaving the girls with the grandparents for eight days. We don't have to worry about the house since we have people living with us for the summer, but leaving my girls...my heart aches a little bit already. I know Sydney will be fine, but this will be harder for Jules.

And me.

A whole week.

I almost backed out of going on this trip because I wasn't sure if I could leave Jules for a week, but I'm going to trust that she'll be okay. Plus, Inklingis a chaperon on the trip as well, so we can bolster each other up when we start to feel homesick for our kiddos. Cell phones are also a huge blessing for the worried parent. *whew*

It'll be fun, it'll be exhausting, it'll be crazy. Wish me luck.

(c) Creature Bug 2008. All rights reserved.

Travel Highlights for Pasadena

Sometimes I feel as though I write about the same thing all the time, and occasionally wonder if people think, "Really? Again with the birthday? Again with SoCal?" But then I remember that this is the space where I leave so much of what rumbles around my head, and so be it if it happens to not include much variety.

(Incidentally, I do think about lots of things all the time. Like how irritated I was that Comcast was hacked last Thursday and for six hours my emails went into a black hole, but Comcast didn't notify me of that, Typepad did when I complained that I wasn't receiving my comments in my inbox.

Or how I was generally excited that the Oregon primary meant something, and how exciting it was that today's South Dakota (!!) primary meant something even though it didn't actually mean anything to me since I am not a registered Democrat.

Or how just tonight a guy that I do not know tried to become my friend in Facebook, and it felt very highschoolish to hit that "Ignore" button, but really? Sure, we went to high school together, but he was a mean guy three years younger than me who bullied other kids around school and his profile picture doesn't appear like he's changed his ways too much.

Or how I am excited beyond measure that So You Think You Can Dance is back on tv for the summer, and it is seriously one of the best talent competitions. Ever. I am not just saying that.)

Anyway, back to non-parenthetical writings...I just have to finish writing about my trip to visit my sister in Pasadena because it's like my dad says: "If you don't take a picture, then it never happened." For me, if I don't write about it, then it never happened. Or something.

My favorites...

• Walking around Old Town Pasadena

What a fabulous downtown area Pasadena has! You can even pick up a very handy map in the Old Schoolhouse parking garage, which Andrea and I used for our afternoon adventure. Sure it's easy to just stick around the main street there, but venture off the path. The library, the old capitol-ish looking building, the little hidden alleyway full of gorgeous purple flowers and beautiful artwork--all worthwhile destinations.

• Having lunch at Cafe Santorini (check out their website for cool pictures)

Thanks to a recommendation from Alida, my sister and I had lunch here where I ate the best salad I have ever had in my life. My sister had pizza that was dripping with chunks of delicious mozzarella cheese. I'm so hungry right now for that salad.

• Pinkberry. Swirly yogurty goodness that causes me to look off to the heavens in delight whilst wandering the aisles of The Container Store.

• Going to see Wicked.

My sister surprised me with tickets to the show, and I was blown away. Blown away, I tell you! The review outside the theatre said I'd laugh, I'd cry, I'd think. And what do you know, all those things were true. As a random sidenote: my sister told me that our destination for Friday evening was at Pantages Theatre, and I speculated that whatever entertainment was going down involved Pandas. From the ages. Fighting Pandas of the Ages. Yikes.

Fortunately, Wicked was way better than even the fiercest panda bears. Lynette asked in an earlier comment if I saw it with Megan Hilty and Eden Espinosa, but Espinosa had been replaced with Caissie Levy, who had been recently replaced with Teal Wicks, who did a remarkable job. Ah, but it was Megan Hilty's performance that I found so brilliant and hysterical. Loved her. Want to see it again. If you ever get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it. If you live in SoCal, why haven't you seen this show yet!? Go! And then go again! And then tell me all about it so I can be green with envy.

• Hanging out at Venice Beach and Santa Monica pier.

In case you missed that adventure, let me direct you to this post.

• Going to The Getty

Sure, sure, museums may not be your thing, but the view...my gosh, the view! It's spectacular. Admission is free, but parking is $8. Amazing gardens and sculptures abound. And peculiar sculptures too.

There was a lot we didn't bother seeing, but I had to check out the Monet paintings, since the impressionists are just my favorite. So pretty and blurry and full of pastels. Kind of like a great deal of my life.

• Dinner at the Black Cow Cafe in Montrose

After The Getty on Sunday, my sister and I had some free time, so I searched Sunset for any SoCal recommendations. Found a clever little article espousing the virtues of Montrose, and even though most of the shops were closed on Sunday, we still were lucky enough to have dinner at the Black Cow Cafe, where we were thoroughly entertained by our server, Victor. Just as the article mentioned, the Mexican hot chocolate really is something else.

A hike to the falls at Eaton Canyon, a visit to a park in San Dimas, and movie viewings of Death at a Funeral (hilarious) and Dan in Real Life (just okay) rounded off my excellent trip down south. There's more I could write about--how everybody drives so fast down there, left-hand exits off the freeway (what!?), the night scene in Hollywood (not my scene), wishing we could have eaten at the Armenian restaurant near my sister's apartment--but I'll just have to keep all that to myself.

Most of all, it was nice to hang out with my sister. Even though we are certainly at different stages in life, and even though we have quite different personalities, we still laugh at the same things, enjoy doing a lot of the same things, and generally like hanging around each other. That's what the trip was all about, and that's what I got to do. I won't be seeing her again until Christmas, so it was definitely cool to spend some sisterly bonding time together. Very, very cool.

(c) Creature Bug 2008. All rights reserved.

An afternoon at Venice Beach

(For those of you familiar with Venice Beach, you'll notice that I reversed the picture so that the lettering of "Venice" is readable. My apologies for the misrepresentation.)

Last Saturday, Andrea (sister), Bri (sister's co-worker), and I spent the afternoon at Venice Beach. Though I was only there for the afternoon, it seems like a nice enough beach, with lifeguard towers and all. As an Oregonian, I feel compelled to write about lifeguard towers since we don't have many. Maybe three or four along the entire stretch of Oregon coastline. The Pacific Ocean in these parts is not particularly safe to swim in, and according to every piece of coastal literature/billboard/beach sign/hotel brochure, we are notified of how DANGEROUS! it is because of the undertow (and probably lots of sea monsters, which I find to be even more threatening than undertow). People still swim in it, but they have been duly warned not to, and no lifeguard is going to protect them from sea monsters, er, undertow.

It was perfect weather for being at the beach. Hot and not windy. Though my sister insisted on parking miles away from the beach, and we had to hike through a homeless camp to get to the ocean (not kidding), it made us appreciate our destination all that much more. By the time we got onto the sand we were ready to relax. We snacked, we Frisbee'd, we napped, we talked, and--amazingly--we swam. In the ocean. Of which I have a phobia.

Even though all three of us are admittedly afraid of sharks, we convinced ourselves that it would be good therapy to go out into the ocean. Not far into the ocean, but into water that was probably four feet deep. (And, in case you didn't know, a shark can attack you in less than three feet of water. I'm just saying. You need to know this to appreciate our bravery.) Plus, we reasoned, surely the sharks would go after the surfers before us.

Venice Beach was a visual treat, because we encountered all sorts of things that I wouldn't normally see at our conservative-by-comparison Lincoln City beach front.

Like this guy, who was standing not far from where we were hanging out.

He totally reminded me of some Baywatch episode. Oh, the good old days of Baywatch, and red swimsuits, and Mitch. One thing is for sure: the Oregon coast never makes me nostalgic for Baywatch (probably a good thing). I'm not sure if you could even get one of those floaty devices around these parts. The guy was committed to the role, though. A couple minutes later he was still there, yellow buoy in hand.

If you're thinking of watching old Baywatch episodes, don't look at Blockbuster. They don't have them.

After beaching it, we decided to just wander down the boardwalk, stopping along the way to look in the shops and watch people.

 

Here's where we stopped to get a very tasty fruit smoothie, and a blended mocha. I'm actually just pretending to pose for the camera because the real focus of this picture is behind my left shoulder.

Hello, Mr. Iguana! It was evidently a great day for reptiles, because right before this we saw a girl wearing a snake as a necklace. A live snake. With a flickering tongue and everything. I'm so not caught up on my reptilian accessories.

We continued down the boardwalk, hoping to get a glimpse of the famous Muscle Beach. We found it, yes indeed.

Hello, gorgeous blue skies! Hello, towering palm trees. And, um...

Hello, leopard print speedos. This guy was working out on the Muscle Beach fitness equipment, and he was totally committed to his workout. Props to him for his dedication to physical fitness, no matter what the attire.

Vibrant, eclectic, and a great place to watch people, Venice Beach was a fun place to spend an afternoon. It has a totally different vibe to it than anywhere I've ever been, and it was made all that much more enjoyable being able to spend it with Andrea and Bri.

We finally headed over to the Santa Monica pier for yummy food and drinks at the Mexican restaurant on the far end, and even though the birds were mercilessly crowding us trying to get our food, it was a fantastic end to our adventurous beach day.

***

And lucky for me, my fun day at the beach happens to fit perfectly with Parent Bloggers Network's blog blast theme, in which they've teamed up with Huggies Little Swimmers. Blog about your family's summer adventures for lots of great prizes!

Week 208: Pictures from SoCal

Writing takes time, which I seem to be lacking in, especially since I spent the last hour catching up on (although still needing to comment for) dozens and dozens of new blog posts that happened while I was away. I have post-it note reminders for emails to return, phone calls to make, and tv episodes to view. Whew.

While I whittle the list of things to do down to a manageable size, here are a few pictures from my trip. In a nutshell, my weekend consisted of Pasadena, Hollywood, Venice Beach, Santa Monica pier, Getty Museum, Montrose, and San Dimas. And all along the way I ate fabulous food, which is exactly what you should do on vacation. What I don't recommend doing is getting horribly sunburned, so much so that your legs swell up in some sort of tragic allergic reaction to the sun. That's really not so much fun. It's the price I pay for an afternoon of swimming in the Pacific Ocean.

 

  

 

My sister has posted even more pictures...

(c) Creature Bug 2008. All rights reserved.

Having a Good Time

As far as I know, we're all having a good time this lovely Friday morning: Jules with her grandparents, Sydney with her cousin Clover, and me, soaking up the sun in Pasadena. Jason--still working for a few more hours--will be having a good time right about 3:30 pm. When his weekend with Sydney begins.

My flight had its ups and downs. It wasn't the 2-hour delay just to get out of Portland, it wasn't the missed connection in Oakland, it wasn't even the middle seats on both flights. No, it was that I arrived in Ontario without my luggage. Boo. Southwest hasn't yet called to tell me when I should be expecting my luggage ("we'll call you, and then deliver it in a 2-4 hour window"...whatever that means); fortunately, my sister has hooked me up with all the necessary items, so I'm not hurting too much.

Maybe the silver lining on lost luggage is that it gives me a reason to go to Patagonia to get a new shirt. And some flip-flops.

We're off now to explore Old Town. Let the good times roll.

Luggage Update (10:54 am): Southwest called to say they are delivering my bag between 1-3 pm. *fingers crossed*

Luggage Update (5:35 pm): The luggage guy called my cell phone whilst we were wandering around Old Pasadena to tell me he had my bag. He thoughtfully waited for us to drive back to my sis's apartment, and I was joyfully, though not tearfully, reunited with my bag. All items accounted for, including the six volumes of Harry Potter audiobooks I was returning to Andrea. Hip hip hooray!

(c) Creature Bug 2008. All rights reserved.

Destination: Pasadena

I should be packing tonight, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow morning. Hopefully I'll have enough time to get myself and the girls all packed and out the door by noon. Yes, I'm thinking I'll have to wake up early. Rats. I also had good intentions to lose five pounds and get into running-shape for this trip (my sister runs, and I thought it would be cool if I went running with her), but that also didn't happen. At least I did have my eyebrows done today. Because, really, I'm not totally unprepared.

In anticipation of leaving, the house is clean, the girls' summer clothes have been brought down from the attic, the bills have been paid, and the mail has been sent. I even have a blog post ready to show up while I'm gone (except the review I have to write for Monday...I forgot to do that ahead of time and so have to do that while on vacation...bleh). The only thing I didn't work out was rainy weather while I'm gone. Isn't it supposed to be that when you go on vacation to a nicer climate that you leave a less desirable one? I can't believe I'm going to miss the 95-degree weather around here this weekend, but evidently it's supposed to be even hotter than that in Pasadena. Good times.

I'll check in again from Pasadena, hopefully already relaxed and tanned.

(c) Creature Bug 2008. All rights reserved.

Buying My Own Mother's Day Present

About Mother's Day...

Here's my confession: I bought my own present. And while it was more than what Jason would have spent on me, and I perhaps didn't consult him about it as much as I should have, I'm feeling pretty good about it.

And if you hand me the microphone on Mother's Day and ask me, "What are you going to do now that you're a mom?!"

I'd raise my fist into the air and yell victoriously, "I'm going to Disneyland!"

Okay, maybe I won't actually be going to Disneyland. But I could. Because I'm going to Pasadena, California, to visit my sister and Disneyland is practically right there. I might see if I can't sneak in a short trip just to go on a roller coaster or two. I do love roller coasters.

Technically, I'll be home on Mother's Day because I planned it that way. I do actually want to be around my children on Mother's Day to enjoy the whole Hallmark moment of becoming a mom and having my heart and my life and my hips forever and irrevocably altered. The card, the hugs, the breakfast in bed...yes, please. I want all that. Next Thursday, however, I'll be jumping on a plane and flying south for four days.

Four whole days. Four whole nights. Me and my sister. Hanging out. Having fun.

The last time my sister and I hung out--just the two of us--I was seven months pregnant with Sydney. I flew down to North Ft. Myers, Florida, for a week and it was quite fun and adventurous. Just now, I chuckled to myself when I read my blog excerpt from March 29, 2004:

"Oh little fireant, why did you have to bite my "piggy had none" toe? I realize that perhaps I smashed hundreds of your friends as I trod on your little ant hill, yet there was no reason for you to smite me so harshly. Maybe you felt that my feet had had too much fun in the sand of the beautiful beaches and swimming in the Gulf of Mexico. And true, my feet had quite the time strolling down the fantastic 5th Avenue in Naples. But you may have had some pity for them since they did get a little bit sunburned, and my ankles are swollen too from all the walking. It's bad form to bite the feet of a pregnant lady."

But there are certain limitations to having fun at seven-months-pregnant in Florida. First of all, I went to bed around 9 pm every night. Secondly, my ankles acted like two giant sponges and soaked up all the moisture in the air. Just put me in a room, and I could dehumidify it in two minutes flat. And, of course, the fireants didn't do me any favors either.

This time our visit together will be different. No pregnancy, so I can stay up late, go on roller coasters, and drink a beer if I want. No kids, who I would have to constantly remind my sister to stop harassing ("gentle" is not part of her vocabulary). No fireants, hopefully. Just a whole lot of hanging out, eating food, and having fun doing whatever we'll be doing. What larks, Pip! What larks! (...points to you if you know what book this line is from...)

So, my gift to myself for Mother's Day is a weekend where Jules gets to stay with Jason's parents, and Sydney gets to have her own weekend with her daddy, and I get to hang out with my sister. Sounds like the perfect gift...for the whole family.

Which, as it turns out, sounds very much like the kind of gift a mother would give.

Speaking of gifts...this post was inspired by Johnson and Johnson and their new charitable giving site Johnson's Baby Cause. Thanks to Parent Bloggers Network for hosting the blog event.

(c) Creature Bug 2008. All rights reserved.

A Love Project

Leslie got it right in her last comment: I am still on a vacation high. Even through a stuffed up nose, through Jules working on a molar and feeling rather needy since my return, through cold and rainy weather--I am still feeling the love from our weekend back east. At any rate, it's far more interesting to write about that than what I did today, which was watch Sound of Music with Syd and then sing that Cuckoo song for the rest of the day. Don't get me wrong; there's a certain charm to Sound of Music. I'm a big Julie Andrews fan, but I don't know if I could write very much about her. Maybe I could.

Rather than find out, I have one more batch of photos to show you from Camden.

 

If you go to Camden you really ought to stay in a Bed & Breakfast. Sure, there are hotels around (even nice charming ones right in the center of the village), but Camden is full of wonderful B&Bs that treat you to delicious breakfasts, fabulous conversations, and romantic quarters. Both times we've visited Camden, we've stayed at the Windward House, and I know when we go back we'll stay there again.

It's quite a story how we ended up at the Windward House the first time around. I had originally made reservations at the Blue Harbor House, who I found through a Maine Visitor's Guide. The week before our wedding, I called the innkeepers to confirm our reservations. Not sure why I felt compelled to confirm, it just seemed like the thing to do. Probably had it on my Wedding To Do checklist.

Imagine my complete shock when the innkeeper told me, "We have you staying here this weekend."

"This weekend?" My heart sank. "But I don't get married until next weekend."

"So you wouldn't be able to move up your stay?" Not likely.

They were full the weekend of the wedding, and since it was high travel season in Maine, chances were good that every place would be full. I started sobbing on the phone, and the poor lady felt awfully terrible about it all. I couldn't even continue the conversation, so I just hung up and sobbed out the whole story to my mom. It was a week before my wedding, and the honeymoon that I had been planning for months had suddenly fallen apart. If you've ever been around a bride-to-be, you know that this was quite the hysterical moment in our house.

Fortunately, my mom kept her cool and called the Blue Harbor House back. Could they see if any place had any openings? Well, by golly, they had called around, and the Windward House had just had a cancellation in their nicest room and would love to have us. The Windward House innkeeper (at the time) called me personally to assure me that everything would be taken care of. I could have married him right then. Except, you know, not really.

 

So the Windward House saved the day back in 1997, and it saved the day again in 2007 when we were searching for a place to vacation. The innkeepers have changed, but we are just totally smitten with the new owners. Jesse and Kristi are the nicest folks, and have young children themselves so we totally connected with them about eating out, visiting the library, and vacationing. Plus, they were fabulous conversationalists about all sorts of other things too. We hope they stay there for several more years, so we can visit them again.

Loved loved loved the room we stayed in: the Windrose Suite.

Jason had ordered the chocolate covered strawberries (*swoon*), but the chocolate truffles and champagne were an anniversary gift from Jesse and Kristi. I had consumed half the strawberries before euphorically wandering out of the sitting room into the bedroom.

The most comfortable bed I have slept on in my entire life. Worth flying to Maine just to sleep in this bed. Trust me.

No vacation is complete without a soaking tub, which I have promised myself to own one day in our new house. We stayed two nights at the Windward House. I took three baths. And finished two books. And slept in until 9 am. And sat by the fireplace. And ate chocolate. And homemade cookies. And then sat by the fire some more.

 

And when we weren't doing any of those things, we walked down the street to the village where we shopped, and ate seafood, and browsed the stores, and watched the water, and visited the library where I sat in a big beanbag chair in the children's section and read Parenting magazine.

As if that wasn't enough--and it was--we woke up the day we were driving back to Boston for our afternoon flight out to seven inches of new snow. It was everything a dream vacation should be. (Of course, we had a moment of worry about the snow until we saw all the snowplows out clearing the roads. Fabulous New Englanders and their snow preparedness.)

The one final twist to our vacation that was an extra bit of fun was getting to participate in A Love Project. A young couple created this project, traveling all over the country leaving boxes in certain rooms at B&Bs (you should check out their story...quite interesting). The only instructions are to leave a love note in the box, which will be collected at the end of this year and then the love notes are going to be published in a book. Funny thing is, Jason had planned to reserve the same room we had stayed in for our honeymoon, and when he told me about the trip it was available. Then when he went to make reservations, it was booked, so we got a different room--the room participating in the Love Project. Perfect.

We're already talking about going back next December. I suppose there's a good argument for trying out a new destination, but there's just something about Camden that brings out the best in us. It's a special place, and even though there are a dozen B&Bs in Camden, we'll go back to the Windward House. For Jesse and Kristi. For the homemade cookies. For the bathtub and fireplace. For the place that saved the day.

 

Pictures from Camden

One thing I was determined to do when we visited Camden this time: take pictures. Even though I did take pictures when we honeymooned there, it's quite the sad story about that. While I wasn't a fabulous photographer, I could still manage to capture the shots I wanted. There was the picture of the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean. The picture of the skunk that wandered in front of us while we sat by the bay. Pictures of the room we honeymooned in. Nothing amazing, but still. They were pictures of The Honeymoon.

Of course, back then there were no digital cameras, so I trusted on my 35mm camera to pull through. The camera pulled through. That first roll of film, however, did not. When I got the film back from the developers--film that was given to us by family in an effort to save us the trouble of having to go buy it--I learned that it had been exposed not once, but twice before. We did have pictures from the second half of the trip, but not of our first few days in Camden.

Being newlywed, twenty-one, and still recovering from the shock of realizing I'd have to do my own laundry for the rest of my life, my first recourse was to cry my little eyes out. Eventually, I recovered, and it became a story I got a kick out of telling melodramatically. Everyone loves a good "I lost my honeymoon photos" story.

Fast forward ten years, and my trusty digital camera made sure that this time I wouldn't be leaving Camden without pictures. Sure, when I was there before, it was July and so the scenery was a little different. But lucky me, Camden is highly picturesque in the winter.

I just love that little village.

Postcard from Camden, Maine

Postcard from Rhode Island

Before heading up to Camden tomorrow, we had the wonderful pleasure of spending a day in Rhode Island with Jason's brother and his wife. I haven't seen Nathan and Carolyn in over a year, so what a lovely reunion it was to hang out with them, eat dinner, and watch YouTube videos of Flight of the Conchords. Yes, the simple things make vacations the best.

Thanks N & C for letting us hang out with you for the day. We love you.

(Julianne update: she is handling our absence with great determination and courage, though feeling a bit needy. Of course, we did make three phone calls to Jason's mom, so I suppose we're feeling rather needy too. Fortunately, she does get to sleep in her own crib since the grandparents are staying at our house to make things easier. Not that I worry, except maybe a little. You know, for good measure.)

Tomorrow...Maine.

Early Christmas Present

Jason surprised me with an early Christmas present. Boy oh boy, did he surprise me. I gasped. I cried. I even felt a bit anxious for Julianne, but let's not tell her just yet that her mamma is leaving her for four days.

Next weekend, I'm going to be here. !!!!!

Extra presents in your Christmas stockings if you can guess why this location makes Jason the most romantic husband in the world.

Week 178: Home again, home again

Did I fly back Tuesday night? Really? And it's Thursday night? Oh my.

Well, let's ignore those unpacked suitcases and pretend I just got back, say, 15 minutes ago. In fact, it sort of feels like that anyway. Except that I came back to a clean house, and in my "15 minutes" I have managed to make it quite messy. That's my not-so-hidden talent: taking a perfectly orderly house and turning it into a state of mini-chaos, like a reverse "Before" and "After."

We had a good trip, though. Hard to beat Pennsylvania in the fall, especially with 80 degree weather. Beautiful. I didn't take my camera (because my dad was along and no sense competing with the Papa-razzi) and so don't have any leafy pictures, but trust me. It was poetry inspiring. The Grand Opening Party for my cousin's business--which was the reason why we went back there in the first place--was fabulous. My cousin's daughter has opened up a restaurant/catering business called Capers, and they have such good food. I could have eaten the baked brie with walnuts and brown sugar all. night. long. Sure there was an open bar, but what the heck did I care about that? As long as I had my little brie treats, I was happy. We even went back to Capers for lunch on Monday, and I asked if they had any leftovers of the baked brie. They did. I might have to fly back to Erie on a regular basis just so I can indulge in this fabulous yumminess.

And if was possible to be more wonderful than baked brie, there was getting to see my uncle and his family. They are just so nice and friendly and fun to be around. I really wish I could see them more often. It was so nice that the house is set up for grandkids and babies and so Jules got to sleep in a crib, and eat in a highchair, and be wheeled around the farm in a stroller. I *heart* baby gear on vacation.

For all my fretting about how Jules would be (memories of a particular awful flight back from Kauai still makes me break out in a sweat) Jules was a great little traveler, finding everything to be quite fascinating and humorous. Looking out the window at clouds? Giggles. The emergency exit cards in the back of the seat pocket in front of us? Better than a bag of toys. AND she slept in my arms for a couple hours. Such a good baby.

Of course, there were a couple of traveling snafus. Like leaving 90 minutes late out of Portland because of some generator problem. This meant we got into Detroit late, so that by the time we got to our connecting flight at a gate a mile away they were closing the door. As my mom was running to the gate she saw them about to close the door, and yelled that we were coming, but trying to stop airport personnel from closing the gate is like trying to stop a toddler from having a meltdown after a birthday party. Practically impossible.

The gate closed. Next flight to Erie was four hours later.

If you ever want to know what it might feel like to get locked out of heaven, just get to an airline gate a second too late and hear the sound of the door closing echoing through the corridor.

"I'm sorry," they say. "You're too late. There's nothing we can do."

You can beg; you can plead; you can tell them that you lived a good and virtuous life. They will not open the door.

Unless an angel in disguise walks up behind you and says, "You are not allowed to close the door more than 15 minutes before the flight leaves. It's the rules."

For all the millions of rules that fly through airports--like the one that allowed them to frisk me because I was holding Jules too close to my stomach so that it appeared that I was hiding an explosives belt, or the one that forced my 93-year-old grandma to get out of her wheelchair and walk through the security gate--it's so sweet when one of the rules actually works in your favor. (I know all the rules are intended to work in our favor, namely not getting blown up on an airplane, but still...some of the rules are irritating.) The Gate Guy called the pilot, and voila! The gate was opened and we made the flight.

Naturally, it would have been too simple if it all worked out perfectly. My dad, having lost his cool at the Gate Guy (all my siblings together now: "Doggone It You Guys!") ended up leaving behind his responsibility at the gate: my carry-on luggage and the car seat. Fortunately, the kind folks at the Erie airport loaned us a carseat until my stuff could make it out on the next flight from Detroit a mere four hours later. I forgave my dad, but made sure that I handled all my belongings on the way home. Baby included.

So, I'm home.
Home to a pile of new magazines.
Home to Sydney's smiling jack-o-lantern.
Home to too many emails to read, too many blog posts to comment on, too many newspapers to browse. Home to a finished backyard fence.
Home to a little doggie who got a new haircut, prompting Sydney to say, "She looks like a different dog! She's so pretty."
Home to the sounds of two little sisters playing together, who squeal with joy when they see their daddy after days away, who want to stay up late just so they can be with us.
Home to a husband who built us a fire last night, who bought me a carton of the season's first eggnog, who is has the day off tomorrow to spend with all of us.

Good to be home.

I'm Leaving on Jet Plane

I think somehow in the midst of my mounds of laundry, autumn photos, and cricking neck I forgot to mention my trip to Pennsylvania. So, um, yeah. I'm flying to Pennsylvania tomorrow.

Jules and I, along with my parents and my grandma, are flying out to Erie and we'll be back on Tuesday. My cousin's daughter opened up a new restaurant and the grand opening shindig is on Saturday. It's been many years since I've visited my uncle's family back east, so I'm really looking forward to the trip.

What may or may not be quite as much fun is having Miss Squirmypants on the plane. But I have A Plan. My Plan involves bringing lots of Cheerios and baby food and assorted other distracting toys to keep her happy, as well as entertaining her by passing her back and forth between family members. We'll see if this works.

I haven't actually checked to see if bringing baby food is allowed through airport security, but I can't imagine it not being allowed. Does anybody know?

So, have a great weekend, and I'll be back here next Wednesday.

A Hawaiian Friday*

We were hanging out at the pool this afternoon when I spied a gentlemen next to me reading Book Six (aka Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince).

"Harry Potter fan?" I ask.
"Absolutely," he said.

And just like that, we were best friends.

Jason and I had a nice chat with him about HP theories, which led to us talking about traveling, teaching, and parenting. He and his wife are in Kauai for their 25th wedding annivesary. They're from Bangor, Maine, which led us to talk about our honeymoon in Camden, Maine. Even though I'm not always emboldened to talk to strangers in regular life, somehow vacations bring it out in me. There's always something to talk about.

The weather has been beautiful--not too hot, a nice breeze blowing in from the ocean. We hung around the resort for most of the day except for a drive out to Princeville and Hanalei, where we had to stop for a little pre-dinner dessert. I finished off Austenland, which Inkling loaned me just in time for me to bring it along. It's a charming and funny tale of a woman, Jane Hayes, trying to break her literary crush on Mr. Darcy. Inkling warned me that the writing wasn't fabulous, so I didn't mind that this was, in some cases, true. It was entertaining though with laugh-out-loud moments, perfect for a vacation read.

Speaking of tomorrow...facial and massages for Grandma and me. Woo hoo. Jason is snorkeling at Tunnels in the morning, and then will watch Jules while we ladies are off being pampered. Such bliss. It all would be perfectly relaxing except that Jules has turned out to be a very uncooperative travel buddy. She's a dear, of course, except for all the squirming when we're trying to eat, or screaming when we're driving the car, or waking when we're trying to sleep. Other than that, she's perfect. The upside is that she has convinced me, utterly convinced me, that after Jules turns one in December, Jason and I are going to belatedly celebrate our 10-year anniversary with a vacation without kids.

But enough of the small complaining. I'm in Hawaii. It's good.

This one is for you, Karen.

**I know it's Saturday, but I typed this on Friday and had trouble posting it.

Aloha!

The air is full of the scent of plumaria, the sounds of birds chirping, Hawaiian music playing, and the rush of the ocean.

Today we are going to Poipu and Spouting Horn. We'll also search the island for a portable swing in an attempt to get Jules to take a nap. You'd think she'd get tired every once in awhile. For good measure, my grandma and I are going to get a massage, so that even if Jules doesn't sleep at least I'll have a few more days before my shoulders ache from holding her.

Kisses from Kauai.

xx

Week 148: Family Vacation

Well, here I am, sipping my Sleeping Time tea, trying to channel lovely non-stressful thoughts as I realize that spring break is over. There was much celebrating as I got to appreciate Jason being home, and also was able to sleep in a few days. And this morning when I didn't get to sleep in, well, the celebration came to an end. Back to regular life.

However, we get to go into regular life a little bit changed having just experienced our first overnight family vacation with the four of us. Certainly we've had plenty of overnight vacations with Syd, but this was Jules' first vacation. And even though the Oregon coast isn't exactly the dream spot that some vacationers might envision, we were quite happy with it.

Really, the whole thing was a bit last minute, but our friends weren't going to be able to use up all their time at their vacation spot, and would we do them a favor and like to stay there for them? For free? We remembered our manners and said thank you very much, we'd love to.

I don't know if two nights away really qualifies as an actual vacation, but any place where I don't have to worry about household chores is a veritable paradise for me. Plus, we used suitcases. Isn't that really one of the major qualifiers for a vacation? I think so.

What did I learn from our family adventure? First of all, it takes a long time to pack. Maybe as long as you are going on vacation. We were only gone for two days and two nights, but we had to pack half a dozen outfits for each of the girls since Jules insists on pooping through most of her clothes and Sydney can't bear to wear something if it gets spilled on--or even almost gets spilled on. Throw in a case of diapers, books, beach toys, blankets, DVDs, and two coolers and the car was loaded.

Since the hotel room we stayed in had a full kitchen, we planned to make almost all our meals. This probably doesn't sound like that much fun to some people, but it's WAY less stressful for me because Sydney doesn't really eat if we're at a restaurant and then later on she gets frantic and cranky with hunger. So we hauled out the cooler and filled it with milk, apples, applesauce, apple juice, cranberry juice, jelly, butter, peanut butter, eggs, yogurt, and cereal (Syd's special treat: Tiger Cereal, aka Frosted Flakes). Add in another bag full of car snacks (pretzels, yogos, fruit leather, granola) and we were more prepared than a boyscout in the wilderness.

The second thing I learned: it's okay to watch Winnie the Pooh on vacation. I hardly have the capacity to keep going all day long, let alone expect Sydney to. Down time comes in all sorts of forms: reading books and watching tv is okay. We can hone that "let's get moving and make the most of the day" character trait later. Right now? Not so much. That's why going the Oregon coast is a great place to vacation, because you can do very little and not feel like you're missing out.

However, even with some down time, we still packed in plenty of activities. We went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory where Jason kept with tradition and bought himself some squeaky cheese (or cheese curd, is it is properly known -- not my favorite). I was a genius mom and packed pretzels and a sandwich for Sydney, allowing Jason and I to enjoy our cheeseburgers without hearing "I don't like hamburgers!" Some nice guy at the table next to us gave us his fries, and while I don't usually eat food from strangers, I was on vacation and willing to go along for the adventure. I kept telling Jules how exciting it all was, but she slept through the whole thing.

Then on Wednesday we hit all the highlights of Seaside that would fill any little kid with joy. My parents drove over from Washington, bringing Clover along with them, so it was quite the family affair. Oh boy, oh boy. Down to the beach where the weather was gorgeous, plastic shovels and rakes, and sandcastles and the ocean and oh my goodness was it all just too exciting? Then off to the carousel for rides, then to the aquarium to see the seals ("and they barked! and they splashed Clover! and they ate fish!" Sydney tells me every time she remembers it), and then out to eat to Norma's where we filled our tummies with crab cakes/fries/chowder/cobbler/ice cream, and finally back to the hotel for some swimming.

Whew.

My parents headed home; we packed up, did a quick stop at Starbucks on our way out of town (since all the other local coffee shops had closed by then), and spoiled ourselves with wonderful uninterrupted conversation as we made the two-hour trek back home along the dark windy roads.

As we were driving back, it dawned on me that our vacations from here on out will probably look a little different than the ones we've had in the past. This vacation we didn't do any shopping, didn't look in any book stores, didn't eat by candlelight, didn't watch any romantic movies or stroll along the beach when the sun set. And yet, that was okay. We've done that before, and someday we'll do it again.

But for now I suspect our future family vacations will make us experts at finding the nearest carousel, the nearest children's museum, the nearest ice cream shop, and the nearest family friendly restaurants. Our vacations will be a little louder and a little crazier.

And you know what? It's going to be so much fun.

The Photo Pop-In

Shhh...I'm still on my blogging vacation, but thought I'd quietly sneak in here and post a few pictures from our little vacation in the lovely northern Oregon coastal town of Seaside (we stayed here, thanks to our friends who had the whole week reserved but could only stay on weekends). My parents and Clover drove out and spent the day with us there yesterday, which is when my dad took these pictures. I'll be back with stories next week.

 

Okay, I'm out.