Sister Visit Part I

It's that time of year again... when I get to see family as they're finishing up the summer and heading back home to Seattle.  While I'm never very excited for fall (since it's a reminder that the cold, dark winter is quickly upon us), I always look forward to visits from my family.  Jeannea is the first to arrive - her season gets done in August - and I get a follow-up visit from Sara (in September).

The timing for Jeannea's visit couldn't have been more perfect, since it coincided with the state fair and it's been a few years since she's been able to go with me.  We hooked up with Stacy and headed out early.  At least, early for me on a weekend... since we got there just after 10am when they open, and I'm normally still in bed at that early weekend hour...  But the start of our eating adventure (that's what fairs are, right?) went a long way to make up for it.  How can you pass up fresh doughnuts?

We spent the next 8 hours or so, wandering from food to food: fresh made pretzel, fresh dipped corndog, deep fried pickles, kettle corn, roasted corn on the cob, fried cheese curds...  And in between that, we got our faces painted, saw the pigs and cows and goats, examined the enormous pumpkin (902 lbs - I wonder how many pies that'd make?) and stopped in the beer tent to give our barkin' dawgs a brief respite.

 

We even tried the chocolate covered bacon.  How was it, you might ask?  I give it 1-1/2 thumbs up.  I think I'd like to try it again, but I'd like the bacon a little thicker and crispier (lack of crisp might be because they made it and then froze it) with just a tad less chocolate.  I think if I were to open a chocolate covered bacon stand, I'd find a way to deep fry the bacon (so I can consistently get it to the perfectly crispy but not overdone state), then have some of that magic shell chocolate on hand.  That way as I get orders, I can dip my perfectly cooked bacon in the chocolate just prior to handing it off to my customer...  Anyhow.  It was good enough that the idea of bacon cookies doesn't seem that ludicrous any more.  Hmmmm.

We didn't get to see the roller derby, since it was typical fair weather: rain.  Thank goodness I was with people who have their heads on their shoulders.  Stacy brought rain ponchos for all of us, and both Stacy and Jeannea brought dry socks and shoes.  Turns out that was a good thing, otherwise I would've been driving home barefoot.

I had a *lovely* time visiting with Jeannea.  Too bad her company isn't based in Anchorage - then I'd have both of them (Jeannea AND Sara) close by all year 'round.  Ah, well.  At least this gives me something to look forward to in the spring - my next visit...

By the way, Jeannea: Thanks for the RockStar treasure hunt!!  It took me more than a week to find them all, and that was with some helpful hints from your cohorts in crime.  We all know I'm not the most observant person in the world - especially in the morning - but I opened the medicine cabinet three times before I finally saw that one... =)

Walking with Dinosaurs

It's amazing to me that I still feel the draw of dinosaurs.  It's not just children that were excited for this event... In April, I first heard it was coming to town, and went to the website to check it out.  After looking at the cool site and watching some of the "making of" videos, that clinched the deal.  I convinced Greg to get tickets on the first day they were available (in May).  So I've been looking forward to this show for more than four months.  Of course, it was even better because we shared the experience with good friends (happy late birthday, Nita!).  If this ever comes to your neck of the woods, I highly recommend it!

Here Comes the Sun (da da da da dah)

Enjoying the sun is now a newsworthy, momentous event.  After 30-some-odd days of overcast and rain, we had a really *lovely* day today.  Too bad I had to work.  It's times like these that I think it'd be worth it to get a schedule where I work all the crappy days (sometimes weeks on end), just so I can have ALL the nice days off.  I'll probably get that schedule right before they tell me they've decided I can work from home (doing anything and everything I please, including nothing) and be paid for it.  Oh, and by the way, you should sleep in until 10am every morning since we know you're a night owl and mornings just aren't your cup o' tea.  Feel free to work in your pajamas - even if it's just reading the latest novel you picked up at the bookstore - and here's a raise, since we know you've been working so hard...  Ahhhh, sweet dreams...

I've been missing the sun immensely.  I moped at home all weekend last weekend, just because there was a forecast for sun on Saturday, but that didn't happen.  (Okay, so someone told me that if you were up before noon, you got to see the sun for a bit, but that doesn't count.  Who can be up before noon when they went to the movies and then spent most of the rest of the night reading a book??  Y'all would've been sacked out right along-side me.)  I've been thinking that maybe I need to pick up some vitamin D to help combat my lack-of-sun-depression.

Today, the sun came out again.  It's like that time when you've done everything perfectly and the rest just falls into place for a lovely surprise (and you can almost hear a chorus in the background, singing praises).  It's the feeling you have when you're sitting around visiting with good friends and things couldn't be going better for you.  It's Tillamook Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream decadence.  It's winning the million dollar lottery.  And it's also the knowledge that you received a reprieve from going insane from all the dreariness and chopping up the neighbor's dog (or the neighbor) that was making all the racket the other night.  However you describe the feeling, it was wonderful!

To celebrate this recently uncommon event, we drove out to Turnagain Arm Pit for dinner.  We had great barbecue food, and got to sit on the deck enjoying the weather.  In the picture above, I look like I'm about to sneeze.  Not sure what was really happening, I just know you don't get an idea of how good the food is by that picture.  You don't see the perfectly cooked slab of bacon on my sandwich or the homemade barbecue sauces (I really like the mustard-based one); nor do you see the sides: fried okra, fried pickles, fried jalapenos (those were all for Greg), and sweet potato fries...  Oh goodness, what a treat!!

I certainly hope this isn't the last of the sun for the summer - but the dour-hearts on the radio keep saying that we're moving from that one system that gave us all the rain, right into our normally scheduled rainy season.  I'm going to enjoy what rays of sunshine fall my way with enthusiasm and abandon.  I'll post updates, as they happen...

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

It's been a wet and rainy summer, thus far.  I think the best weather we've had was in May over Memorial Day weekend - thank goodness we went camping that weekend.  There hasn't been enough sunshine put together in the last two and a half months to make a whole week, let alone a weekend.  I heard on the radio today that we're "flirting with the record for the most consecutive days with measurable precipitation" or something like that.  Rained again today.  If it rains tomorrow, we tie the record... if it rains on Saturday, it's a new record.  Ugh!  I'd rather have a record for the most consecutive sunny days.  =(

The upside to all the rain is that I haven't had to water my flowers practically since I planted them.  Although, the ones at the back of the front flower bed are dried up dead husks.  How can that be, you might ask?  Well, that bed sits right against the house and the back portion is sheltered from the weather by the eaves.  Since I haven't been watering, and they've been sheltered from the rain... you do the math... (but it starts with a D and ends with a D and has two vowels in between.)

Another anomaly I've noticed is that we're growing loads of mushrooms.  Tall ones, short ones, white ones, orange ones... and for the first time ever, I've even found them in my flower bed.  Which makes me wonder where the little mushroom seeds come from.  I mean, I didn't plant them; they didn't grow in the flower bed last year (or for any of the past five or so years); I don't think birds crap them out... so where do they come from?

And then there's the spiders... *shudder*...  We normally have a fair amount of spider webs that populate the deck in the summertime.  I let them live because they're eating other bugs that I may not want around (read: they'd better be eating those damn mosquitoes and any other bug that's trying to eat me or my plants!).  But there seem to be more spiders this summer.  Not sure if it's because of the rain too?  Or maybe because it's been cloudier and the spiders don't like sun?  No idea, but I get the heebie-jeebies every time I walk through a web or get close to one.

Those guys were lucky to keep on living - except that I didn't have a hard-soled shoe on me and I suddenly had a mental picture of them jumping on me.  So I stayed as far away as I possibly could to get the picture.  Thank goodness for the zoom feature on my camera!!

Chilkoot Chums

I've heard stories for the last couple of years about Greg's trip to hike the Chilkoot trail.  It's been more frequent recently, since he's planning another trip to do the same thing (end of August).  The trail is 33 miles long, starting just outside Skagway, Alaska, up and over Chilkoot Pass to Bennett, British Columbia.  It's a trail that was heavily used for access to the gold fields in the 1890s.  Now it's a hikers dream and a National Historical Landmark, apparently drawing people from all around the world.

Trail Map

Trail Profile

I found the map and trail profile here, which has some interesting information.  Particularly regarding people who do the hike in a day; or more amazingly, hike there and back in one day. Based on the trail profile, I'm glad Greg and his group are taking time (and took time on the last trip) to enjoy the route.  Maybe someday I'll make the trip, but rest assured that I, also, will not be doing it in only one day.

Anyhow.  When Greg, Tony, and Brian did the hike a couple years ago, they met and hiked with Steve and Inga, who are now vacationing in Alaska (including hiking Bomber Glacier - call me before 10pm on  Friday, so I know you're okay... otherwise I'll assume I need to send someone out to rescue you!!).  Greg's been super-excited to get together for dinner, and I admit to being curious about the people he's talked so much about.

L to R: Tony, Steve, Inga, Greg

Dinner was a marvelously enjoyable event.  (One would hope so, since we were visiting for more than four hours!)  It's always delightful to meet people and construct new friendships. It seems we have lots in common - even me, the non-hiker in the group - and therefore conversation was flowing the entire evening.  I hope the rest of your vacation is full of adventure and fun, Steve and Inga, and maybe someday we'll make it Down South to visit you there...

Dave's Visit

Dave came up to Alaska to work in Dillingham for the summer.  It's a great chance to save money, since they work lots of hours and there's not a whole lot of places to spend the money.  I didn't get to see him on his way up, but he made sure to give me a couple days on his way back home.  Always, always nice to see family!

I'm grateful he didn't mind sleeping on the couch, since the spare bedroom is still crammed full of things that haven't made their way back upstairs yet.  (I'm thinking we need to get rid of a lot of what's left down there.  Haven't used or needed it for more than six months, and I like the less-cluttered look we have right now.)  We had company over Friday night for a barbecue, visiting, and a game of Killer Bunnies; movies and a fire on the deck on Saturday; and all too soon it's Sunday morning - time to get breakfast and head to the airport.

I love this time of year, even though it's bittersweet.  Dave came through and we had a chance to catch up and visit; in a couple weeks, Jeannea will be here for a short visit; a couple weeks after that, Sara will be here for a bit; and a couple weeks after that, we'll be heading to UT to see everyone...  YAY!  But it's also sad, because it means that summer is almost over.  I have to get ready for the cold and dark, and won't see family again until next April.  But I get ahead of myself... right now, I'm glad I had some time with Dave and I'm looking forward to having Jeannea come visit!

Life Lesson #354: Read the Signs

Do you ever play games on the way in to work to determine whether or not it's going to be a good day?  I mean, as if having to get out of bed doesn't start it out wrong to begin with.  Then sleeping too late, rushing to get ready, trying not to get too sweaty after getting out of the shower, cleaning around the eyes from the mascara that didn't make it to the lashes (I'm not a big fan of the microfiber brushes they have now)...  running out of coffee, cold water for the shower, and getting your hair caught in the drawer pull as you're rising from putting down food for the cats...

On my normal route to work, there are nine stop lights.  On average, I hit six of those lights green.  And I do ratios as I'm getting closer.  One light red 1/1; one light green 1/2 - that's 50%; another green light - 2/3 for 66.67%; etc.  (Side note: it's amazing that when you only have a small pool of numbers, any detractor causes a significant drop in percentage that is never really recovered.  Makes me think those pop quizzes in school that counted for so much of a grade were really unfair.  Ten questions, I miss two and I'm already down to a B.  Five questions, miss one and it's a B; two and you've practically failed.)  The even and smaller numbers are easier to convert to percentages - it's a bit more difficult when I get to 7 or 9, but I have it all worked out before I get into the parking lot.

Like I said, most days I get six of nine (2/3 or 66.67%) green lights.  There are some days that I'm luckier and get 7 or 8 green lights.  On those days, I make sure to circle the parking lot, since I just *know* there's going to be a spot right up front for me.  And in more than 6 years of working at this location, there has only been ONE time when I made all nine lights green.  That was an amazing day.

On the other hand, there are days (like today) that only make 5/9 (55.55%) - and the few rare 4/9 days (44.44%).  If I'd been paying attention to the signs, I would've realized that I should just go home and crawl back in bed.

The Grand Finale

Instead of going to downtown Seattle with the rest of the gang, on Sunday (4th of July) I chose to spend the day with my friend Holly and her family.  I've known Holly since I was 12 - longer than practically any other person outside my blood family.  We don't get together very often - and that includes email, snail-mail, phone calls or visits - but I try to work in a get-together whenever we're in the Seattle area, even if it's just a meal between flights.  =)  By opting out of further geocaching events, that meant more time for visiting with friends.  YAY!

 When we arrived at the Gorski household (Sheri and Phil accompanied me on my adventures), we were immediately asked our preference for a puppet show: shadow puppets or real puppets.  We ended up getting both, from the imaginations of the two older boys (the baby is only a few months old, so he's not interested in participating... yet...).  So cute!

Sheri and I spent the rest of Sunday and the better part of Monday (up until it was time to go to the airport) visiting.  Nothing super-exciting, but all of it enjoyable as I reconnected with Holly and her family.  They're so great!  Sheri was wonderful with the baby - if he was fussy at all, he'd settle right down and go to sleep when she was holding him.  For me, the first encounter was the usual: semi-sleepy, content child gets handed off to me and less than 30 seconds later he's upset and crying.  Hand off to Sheri and 30 seconds after that he's happy and drifting off to sleep again.  I did get in some holding time where the baby wasn't fussy - which happens so infrequently that it's practically a miracle.  Seems that once the babies get to toddler and older they're okay with me, but the small ones and I just have some kind of issue...

One of the bits I'll remember fondly about this visit: Holly, Sheri, and I were in the kitchen warming up pizza for lunch.  The oldest had been sent to his room for some type of misbehavior.  He sent a note out via Corey to Holly that read something like this: Please quit toking (talking) and make lunch.  Very funny in retrospect (and I totally wish I'd taken a picture of his note), but let's just say he didn't get out of his room any sooner...  =)  After some tears and making up, lunch was a happy, energetic event.  Holly and Corey certainly have their hands full with the three boys, and the baby isn't even mobile yet. I can only imagine...

With enough time to collect Greg from his hiking adventure and get our luggage loaded in the car, we met up again at The Cheesecake Factory.  First time I've been there, and it was tasty!  We'll have to go again sometime, when we've got a bit more time to relax and visit.  After mechanical issues with the plane, we made it home safe and sound.  Greg even got to nap for an hour before he had to get up and go to work (I took the day off).  The highlights of this trip for me are related to the people I was spending my time with:

• Sheri's foaming toothpaste that tried to kill me the first time I used it (there *is* such a thing as too much toothpaste, especially for the foaming kind where a little goes a very long way)
• The Lighthouse Tour with Sheri and Greg
• Scoping out the wild outfits at GeoWoodstock with Chachee and Sheri
• Spending time with Holly and her family

All in all, a superb trip with plenty of happy memories.  And now it's back to the daily grind.  =)

GeoWoodstock

A whole day surrounded by geocaching enthusiasts.  My vision of the event is it's going to be like a small scale fair combined with a trip to WalMart - a festive atmosphere with tents and booths where you can hardly move without bumping into someone.  I'm *SO* glad Sheri is biting the bullet to come with me.  She doesn't cache at all, and I'm not an enthusiast like Greg.  Oh, I'm so not looking forward to the crowds...

After some mighty fine bacon with a tasty breakfast, we made it to Remlington Farms in Carnation, Washington - the location of this year's GeoWoodstock.  After being there for about a half hour, I could feel the walls closing in.  Complete strangers were coming up to see where I was from and how I liked caching there.  It seemed like I couldn't turn around without either bumping into someone or being accosted.  But here comes Sheri to the rescue!  In addition to hanging with me for the day, she came up with some alternative entertainment: Sheri, Chachee and I spent the rest of the day scoping out and taking pictures of the wildest outfits we could find.  =)

Turns out our first specimen (the fellow in the orange shirt with the bowling pin - he goes by Gomer) is a friend of Greg's from Florida.  He and his cohorts drove cross-country to attend the festivities.  Now that's dedication! After a while, Sheri and I parked it on the lawn while the rest of our buddies took off for a "team" caching event - they came in 4th out of 8 teams.  Not so bad...  Chachee even won a raffle prize - yay!!

Aaron and Team Purple Heading Out

Chachee Returns with Her Prize

 

 All in all, it wasn't a bad day.  I definitely don't need to attend another GeoWoodstock (Honey, if you want to go, you're on your own!), but it was fun to spend time with friends and I especially enjoyed the time with Sheri.  So glad she could get the time off for the weekend, and consented to hanging around with crazy cachers.  =)

For dinner, we stopped in at Triple XXX Rootbeer Drive-in (recommended by Gomer) for burgers.  Definitely worth the stop!!  Great rootbeer, great shakes, great burgers.  Greg had one almost as big as his head - the Cutlass 442 with a beef patty, hot dog, slab of ham, bacon, and topped with grilled onions.  We all hurt watching him finish.  (Read the fine print on the warning sign below - advice worth following!)  I'll definitely keep this spot in mind for future trips down South.

On tap for tomorrow: Split the group.  Greg, Aaron, and Chachee are going to do more geocaching events while Sheri, Phil, and I head out to visit my friend Holly and her family.  Time for some shopping!!  =)

Lighthouse Coastal Tour

Greg originally wanted to get started at 6:30am today.  Lucky for me, we couldn't check out of the room until 8am.  An extra hour or so of sleep, yay!  To make up for not being able to leave as early as planned, Greg went out to see some sights and get some pictures.  In the guise of being helpful, he thoughtfully set the alarm on his blackberry.  This is all good and fine, except the damn thing was locked and I had no way to disarm it - the best I could do was snooze for 5 minutes.  When he got back to the room 45 minutes later, it was in pieces.  Fortunately for him, those pieces were the case, the battery, and the device, rather than smashed little bits.  Not the most auspicious way to start the morning for someone who is definitely NOT a morning person.  But the cinnamon roll almost as large as my head and some coffee from a little cafe in Oceanside seemed to help immensely.  =)

The plan for today was to do some sightseeing as we made our way back up to Washington for the geocachers luau, a pre-GeoWoodstock event.  First stop along the way, the Tillamook cheese factory for a tour and lunch.

It was fascinating to see the factory and learn about one of my favorite brands of cheese.  We got to taste several flavors that aren't available back home, and had a most delicious cheese sandwich for lunch.  I have to admit that I was disappointed in the quality and cooking of the bacon (it was thin and floppy, rather than thick and crispy), but the combination of cheeses - extra sharp white, medium, and sharp - was delicious!  Being full from lunch, we didn't get more ice cream.  I'm wishing that I could have that ice cream I skipped on then, right now...

From there, we headed north along the coastal route to see some lighthouses.  Of course, in many of our stops there were caches to be had.  Some were Earth Caches - where we have to find information about a formation or phenomenon - like Haystack Rock.  Greg went to find the cache while Sheri and I visited and wondered why this area has deer that jump through hoops.  I suppose it's good exercise and will keep them on their toes?

We stopped at North Head Lighthouse for a short walk and some nice views.  Then headed to Desperation Point.  Greg did the hike out to the lighthouse while Sheri and I entertained ourselves by chatting and taking pictures of the local flora.

We didn't make it back to Washington in time for the luau.  In fact, we arrived back at Sheri's apartment at 9pm - in time to hook up with Aaron and Chachee again and relax for an evening before more fun tomorrow.  It's GeoWoodstock all day tomorrow.  How fun is that?!?

The Oregon coast is absolutely beautiful.  I really enjoyed our little sightseeing tour, and only regret that we didn't have more time.  I would have liked to see my cousins who live in Beaverton - I just looked it up and am really sad, since we passed so close to them on this trip - and our schedule just didn't work to hook up with Greg's cousin Larry.  Next time we make a coastal trip (that's not all about geocaching), I'm going to make sure that we get more family visits in.

Family, Caching, and Hiking. Oh my!

Up early again today and it's Old Home Week (day) for Greg - all his comments were about how things have changed in the Portland area since he lived there years and years ago.  We met Greg's cousin Mike for breakfast.  It's always a pleasure to meet and spend time with family.

After spending an enjoyable morning (re)connecting with Mike, we headed to The Original Stash and to hook up with Aaron and Chachee.  The Original Stash is the first geocache that was ever hidden.  Since this is a weekend of cache-laden events, it's natural to find the first ever hide... and anything else that's in the surrounding area.  A short hike, searching a pile of cement rubble, opening hundreds of film canisters to find the one that has the log...  it's all fun, right?  =)

In addition to the caching, we hit Multnomah Falls (there are a couple caches there, too).  An absolutely beautiful waterfall, and an exhilarating hike.  Of course, I was the slowest in our group - I appreciate the patience of my companions.  My being out of shape was part of the problem, compounded by my sense of vertigo.  It's kinda crazy when you know logically that you're not going to spontaneously lose control, roll down the mountain and die just because you're close to the edge of the trail, but you still get the panic - shallow breathing, intense fear, paralysis, sweating like crazy, crying like a baby, etc.  I walked on the inside of the trail (changing sides with every switchback), leaning my head and upper body up the slope the entire way to the top.  But I made it to the top, and only cried like a baby once.

The path was level and well-traveled, and the views (from nowhere close to the edge) were spectacular.  We actually have a piece of artwork - that will someday be back on the walls, when we're done with the remodel project - that depicts Multnomah Falls.  A lovely day, an energizing hike, and some great company.  Who could ask for anything more?

What you don't see in the picture above is that I'm gripping the railing (as if that's going to stop the whole platform from toppling down the side of the mountain).  I'm surprised there weren't imprints of my hands when we finished, and I have no idea what the view is like from there, except back towards stable land, and the big tree that I used to focus when the panic and tears would start.  =)  We ended the day by stopping in Tillamook, Oregon for super-fresh ice cream and then heading out to our hotel room.  We stayed in Netarts, a quaint little seaside village.  The room wasn't much aside from the view, which was spectacular.

On tap for tomorrow: lighthouse excursion and the geocaching luau.  Good night!