Why I Love to Travel Off Season....

We hit the road early on Saturday morning, packed for our 12 day adventure. We headed to the Amtrak station and caught the train to Portland. We splurged on one of those little rooms (emphasis on little) for our short (but early morning ride down to the city). ES managed to get some sleep, but I was enjoying the view as the sun was coming up and as we got further into the Gorge. The cloud cover was light and we were treated to a wonderful view of Mt. Hood.

I always had this romantic idea of train travel, perhaps fostered by the trains of Europe. They are faster, on time, and configured a little differently which encourages you to interact with you fellow passengers.

We got to Portland early Saturday morning and went to visit Grammy. We'd hope she'd be doing a bit better, but she seemed about the same. She's still got her fiery spirit, so this gives us hope that she'll ultimately get better. We headed over to visit the 4 B's and celebrate KB's birthday. We had a great time visiting with everyone and playing with the boys, who are getting so big!

We flew down to Albuquerque on Sunday morning. The flight was bad. Lots of turbulence the flight attendant asking me multiple times "are you alright" bad. For those who know me, I hate flying. I look it as a necessary means to an end. I love to travel more. This is the only way/reason I can get on the plane. For most of the flight, everyone (including the flight attendants) were stuck in their seats...Thankfully, it was a 2.5 hour flight direct to Albuquerque.

1st stop was Dion's. Pizza so good you'd think you were back in New York. Yes, that good. And I've lived in New York (although it was technically upstate...). After a quick stop, we headed over to the 4 S'. All the family had gathered for dinner. It was great to visit with everyone.

Being from a small family, I remember the first time I met even a small fraction of ES' family. My sister-in-law threw us an engagement party. Six members of my family graciously came, including my aunt, cousin (her son), brother and his wife, and my parents. ES had over 50 people from his family there. And these were just the ones that were close by (within a couple hours by car). I was a bit overwhelmed at first, but then felt the welcoming spirit of everyone and felt right at home. I even met one of ES' cousins and we reminisced about ES and his aunt (aunt "Fab") and her eggs (she made great eggs!).

We set the GPS for the Grand Canyon and headed out for Arizona early Monday. We passed the Continental Divide along the way. It was a long day of driving and it was beautiful watching the topography change from pinon and mesquite/high desert (5000 feet) and no hills to even higher (~7000-8000 feet) pine and mountains. Mt Taylor and Mt Humphries (in NM and AZ respectively) we visible for good portions of the drive. We decided to take the scenic route up to the Grand Canyon, driving the final leg through the Navajo Indian Reservation.

We stopped at the Little Colorado River Gorge. There is dawned on me that perhaps someone who isn't good with heights shouldn't have necessarily thought the Grand Canyon was a good idea...Hmmm..I took a nice high vantage point a little back (ok -- a lot) from the edge. ES took the camera and plunked down to to get a glimpse of what we would soon see in the Park.

Finally -- almost 7 hours later -- we made it. The views (even from my chicken little vantage point a good bit of the time) were amazing. My camera didn't do justice to either the colors or the sheer magnitude of what is lying in front of you. We drove from the east to west through the main road of the park, and didn't have any trouble finding parking. We don't think we'd want to come visit in the summer.

The parking lots weren't all that big and it must just be a crazy crowded mess to even get on the shuttles (as our driver told us we'd have been lucky to get on as a standing passenger) and no pics of unobstructed views. We watched the sun go down, but clouds rolled in and it wasn't too dramatic. Still we were at the Grand Canyon so as sunsets go, I couldn't complain.

We stayed just outside the park. The resorts inside the park were poorly rated for what you paid (I love http://www.tripadvisor.com/dvisor.com/ -- check it out for recommendations on where to stay, eat, what to do...). I found a hotel that had slightly less negative reviews than it's next closest competitor. Given however, that they have you as a captive audience (Flagstaff is over an hour to the south and when you're already tired to driving, it seems like hours away...), the service isn't exactly, well, great. It was HOT. When I say hot, I mean like so hot that you lay down on bed and just sweat hot. So hot that you feel like taking a cold shower every hour hot. Apparently, since it was still (according to the front desk -- "the depths of winter") in the off season, the heat is turned to a set point without individual control. I only made it worse when I turned on the "air" and set the thermostat at 65 and we left for dinner. Opps. We cranked open the windows and hoped for the best...

We decided to get up early and tour an area called Hermit's rest. We left the car along the shuttle route (Yavapi Point) where there was a small museum to explore. At one point, I'd stepped outside of museum up and sat down on the bench (ES was still inside taking pics) and just enjoyed the morning view in absolute quiet. Little wind and a few birds were the one things in the background. It was amazing.

Off to Hermit's Rest. This area is closed to private vehicles, so we took the shuttle. You can get on and off at will through out the loop. There were so few people at most of the locations, it was as if you had the park to yourself. The route terminated in an old cabin (aka Hermit's actual rest) with a little gift shop (of course) and a snack bar. After a quick coffee refuel sipped next to the cabin's large fireplace, we decided to catch the shuttle and head off on our next adventure -- Sedona.

We took a 2nd route out of the park for a different view and along the way encountered some interesting hotels, motels, kid-friendly play areas, etc from yester year. While there were many places where you could sleep in "authentic" concrete tepees/wigmans (most along the old Route 66), we stumbled across Bedrock. Yaba Dada Dooo.

We stopped at Camp Verde on our way to Sedona. Given that we purchased a National Park Pass, we decided to make the most of it. Montezuma's Castle is a preserved Indian cliff dwelling from about 1200. We walked around the park and were awed by this large dwelling built hundreds of feet into the side of the cliff wall.

ES and I like to stay in B&Bs. We enjoy chatting with the other couples and like the personal touch such an Inn affords. We stayed at a wonderful little place called The Inn at Canyon Villa. We had a nice little porch with a view of, what else, a red rock. Actually, it was pretty red rock. Breakfast is one our favorite parts of B&Bs as well. The first morning was fresh pineapple followed by the fluffiest of fluffy eggs with little potatoes. All items I don't normally eat, but they were really good. Our 2nd morning's breakfast consisted of broiled pair with candied almonds followed by lemon souffle pancakes with blueberry compote.

Our dinners were equally interesting, but not in a good way. We decided to get dressed up and have one nice dinner out (we'd been eating on the fast and cheap thus far...). We picked a Mediterannian Italian fusion restaurant, which is really just a nice way of saying hey we want to just make lots of different foods. I had a seafood pasta. The homemaid noodles were delicate and very flavorful. I saved the seafood for last, savoring my noodles. Unfortunately, by the time I'd gotten to the seafood, I was a bit disappointed. It was gritty. Like eating a dirt ball. However, given the events described below, I figured I'd be pressing my luck if I sent it back.....ES ordered a steak -- well done. I was joking with him that the chef will be insulted by such an order. He mentioned this to the waiter and the waiter said "oh no -- an insult is A1." To this I (I really did think ES and I sounded so over the top sarcastic there was no way he couldn't think were were joking....) I said "oh no my husband loves ketchup." ES added "an wor-chester-shire sauce too" -- making sure to pronouce all the syllables out quite well. The waiter joked and headed off. He came back with....yep...ketchup and worchestershire sauce. Strickenly we looked at him and said we were joking. We was like oh, I opened a can of ketchup and looked for 5 min for the worcheshire sauce. He even added he told his boss about the ketchup and got a little guff for it. Opps. We left him a nice tip and realized that perhaps were are just too good at being sarcastic.

We saw this sign in Sedona. We figured if people couldn't grasp this much of the obvious, then we were in real trouble.....

We took some lovely hikes up trails (there are litterly 100's of trail heads - including in residential areas -- that are open to the public) before it got too warm during the day. My favorite trail was the Mystic Trail. It was a short hike up (way up for my not used to the altitute up), but we were rewarded with a great view of the city. We stopped at The Chapel of the Rock, a chapel a nun helped design and build in the 60's. It provided a large vantage point of the city as well.

Red Rocks State Park provided some nice hikes as well. Not detered by the "There are rattlesnakes in this park" sign, we took a nice loop walk down through the desert and over Oak Creek (runs all through Sedona). We cursed ourselves for now bringing our binoculars, as there were lot of birds that we wanted to get a closer look at. We didn't see too much other wildlife, except for a stray coyote and my 1st glimpse of a road runner. Thankfully -- no snakes.

Airport Mesa provided another viewpoint of the north side of Sedona.

We ate lunch at a diner called the "Red Planet," complete with alien themes. We enjoyed our burgers under the visages of aliens. We mistook several of them for several celebrities....

We decided to take a drive up route 89A, a scenic view drive up north from Sedona (we'd taken the interstate from the Grand Canyon and bypassed this 2 lane road). We took a few stops along the drive, but mainly just enjoyed the view along the drive. We stopped back in Upper Sedona to do a little window shopping.

Grandma had some pretty good fudge in her shop....

We got up and ate breakfast with our fellow B&B stayers and headed out Thursday morning for the long drive back. It was a gorgeous day, where Mt Humphrey (13,000+ feet) was visibile, but unfortunately the wind kept getting higher and higher. By mid afternoon, we had 40-50 mph gusts.

Snow. Lots of snow near the base of the mountain as we drove back to NM.

We decided to stop at Petrified Forest/Painted Desert on the way back. The directions to the park took us along Rt 66 prior to the park entrace. The WigWam Motel, complete with cars from the 50's, still operates along this historic route.

We drove through a sandstorm on the way back to Alburquerque on Thursday night. We ate dinner with the 4 S'es at a yummy place called The Elephant Bar. The crispy chicken teryaki was really good.

We spent Friday down at the farm in Veguita with my FIL and MIL. We had a really nice visit and headed up to Belen for lunch. After a little lunch, we stayed and visited at the farm until dinner. We were invited up to the D's for dinner. They've got a wonderful view from their house, from which we've enjoyed many sunsets.

We spent Saturday morning down in Old Town Albuquerque puttering in the shops and picking up a few little presents for friends and family. We headed out to Rio Rancho to watch little MS^2 play soccer. Despite the high winds and really cold temps, we had fun. Brought back lots of soccer memories! Dinner was a Dion's...a treat

We had breakfast Sunday at Milly's Diner. KS treated BS and I to pedicures on Sunday. I haven't had one is so long. It took the pedicurists a bit longer with my toes than the others........We all gathered again for a big family dinner on Sunday night up at the 4S'.

ES and I headed up to Santa Fe and points east on Monday. Our original plans were to head out to Chaco Canyon, but it was raining/snowing and due to the poor road conditions (13+ miles of dirt roads into the Canyon) and the need for a 4-wheel drive, we've put this off until the next trip.

Snow up to Santa Fe

Lunch at the Shed - A Santa Fe local tradition

Pecos National Monument Ruins near Santa Fe

We spent our final day enjoying Albuquerque....A last look at the Sandias before we headed out.....set to return soon....

House Sounds -- A Brief Follow up

So it turns out that perhaps it wasn't a ghost or our imagination (although, yes it could be animal sounds)...however given that we've just seen a bulletin in our local paper about break ins in the surrounding area have spiked for some reason, it leaves me pause. I was talking to VB (lives nearby) about an alarm system. One of our other mutual friends who lives not far from us just put one in. We're thinking about it too. Especially if, at some point, we have kids. I think once we have kids, we won't think twice about doing it. We'll just do it.

Going to the Chapel...

HC and MS got married this weekend. It started out with ES and myself (just happened to be that we picked today 3 months ago to schedule a follow up --- worked out well!) both getting haircuts. HC came in as I was just getting ready to leave looking great and excited for the soon to be ceremony. ES and I were headed off to pick up the flowers (a surprise since HC didn't plan on having a bouquet) and the cake.

ES and I heading to the Church.

The cake was amazing. There's a place in town that is legendary for its cakes. All you have to do is mention it's a Cake By...and everyone is willing forgo the potential extra calories for a day in order to have a slice. As it turns out, ES put together a drawing for the Bakery that HC and MS wanted incorporated onto the cake -- a skier taking off from a diving/starting block into the pool where a swimmer was waiting in the pool. The bakery did a good job of translating the drawing to the cake (most of it was done in chocolate).


It was a really nice ceremony, where they were surrounded by family and friends. HC and MS looked so happy as they said there vows. AS and I stood up with HC. The pastor gave a nice sermon and we got to visit with everyone after the ceremony. ES took pictures during the event, so most of the photos are on the newlyweds camera. I have only a few here to post....The newlyweds treated the bridal party and their families to dinner at Cedars on Saturday night. We wished them well on their honeymoon and they headed off.

The Happy Couple -- Congrats!

House Sounds

The other night ES and I awoke to an odd thump followed by a bump, bump, bump. My first thought (having lived for too many years in the "big" city) was that someone was trying to or had already made it into the house. The cat freaked out and ran under the bed. Perhaps this is why a dog would be a good thing...but I digress...ES checked the downstairs and I looked around upstairs. We didn't find anything out of order. We checked the garage the next morning and didn't see anything. Although, to be fair, we now have so much stuff out in the garage, it's our next organization project (sigh..again). This included the Christmas tree which we have been unsuccessful at pulling apart (the pre-lit variety) so it can fit back in its box. For now, it's just propped up on the BBQ. ES even checked outside. Nothing. Still a mystery. Perhaps one day we'll find out what fell when we tackle the unseen hidden (i.e. buried) stuff out in the garage....

Food, Shopping, and Spa Treatments = Girls Weekend!

I’ve been a bit remiss on writing lately. I was out of town for a week in Texas and came back only to come down with a nasty cold, my second of the year. In between Texas and the cold came an all girls weekend down in Portland, which can be summed up as: food, spa, and shopping.

We went to celebrate HC’s engagement. Seven of us piled into 2 cars and armed with fresh Starbucks, 2 GPS units, and 2 walkie talkies (who knew HC knew CB lingo?), we made our way down to Portland.

AS and HC as we make our way down to Portland.

We arrived down in Tigard and checked into the Embassy Suites.

The Hotel

Once we dumped off our bags, we met up again downstairs to head out for dinner. We decided to go to the local outdoor mall to grab some dinner. Given there was 7 of us, I figured it would take awhile to get a table on a Friday night, but it took just about as long to park….

Waiting for Dinner....

We ate and toasted our friend and soon to be bride at the California Pizza Kitchen. It was a yummy dinner and one we can’t get where we live. Dinner at CPK

By the time we ate dinner and got back to the hotel, it was pretty late so after a little bit of visiting, we decided to call it a night so that we could get up bright and early for some serious shopping.

AS and JT at Breakfast.

We piled back into the car and headed up into the city. We parked and walked over to get some coffee (while the free breakfast was good, the coffee was pretty bad). As we sipped our coffee, we made our way over to the Max line to ride it over to Pioneer Square.



The girls waiting for the train.


We all crowded in for a little photo.

Joke was on us. The Max went about 3 blocks and stopped due to construction. There was a shuttle available, but we decided to walk the rest of the way. As it was, the last “stop” was right across from a Nordstrom Rack, which we took as a sign to stop. After a little shopping (and not finding any shoes that were the “ones”), we walked up to Nordstrom’s. HC had a final item she needed to pick up before the wedding. After a little looking and some help from one of the sales associates, mission accomplished. Our next stop was the Nordstrom Café, which was very good.

Enjoying lunch at the Café.

We had just enough time after lunch to get in a little more shopping before taking HC to her big surprise. A little shoe shopping later (doesn’t one of the photos have a bit too many – or perhaps too few – legs?) and success.


HC, RB decided on a similar pair of Ruby slippers. LN also bought a pair as well.


We wandered over to Saks and Williams Sonoma. AS got a little makeover at Saks. They gave us some water and free perfume samples. We couldn't browse too long though...we needed to make to over the Spa for our final surprise of the weekend....


AS post make-over and RB


Alas….it was now time for our surprise…The Spa. We each had a treatment, be it mani, pedi, haircut or a massage. We relaxed and enjoyed the next few hours joking around and being pampered.


LS had a connection to a restaurant out in Beaverton, so we ate at the Hall City Grill. It was amazing. The food was fantastic. I think we all agreed the desserts were the best part. It was a long day, capped by really amazing food.

Dinner at the Hall City Grill

We were a little pokey on Sunday, and got up to have breakfast. We made 1 stop before heading back up the Gorge. We had a little after breakfast treat at Saint Cupcake. It was delightful. We all enjoyed a little sweet treat.





It was a really fun weekend and we all decided to try and get together once a year to have another girls weekend adventure.

Engaged!

Think two people and not “Star Trek,” not that there’s anything wrong with “Star Trek,”  The movie “Trekkies” had me laughing so hard…I digress….A and I threw and engagement party for our friend H and her fiancee M.  They are getting married in February and this would be a low-key way for everyone to meet H’s M.  What started out as a Costco run ended up being enough food to feed 100+. 

Turns out I am more of my mother that I realize.  We had food, more food, and even more food as guests also brought some.  It was nice however, that there was a good variety of things for everyone.  Some of our friends have special dietary needs and we had plenty for them as well.

The night was a hit!  We had a little jazz in the background playing.  This was actually the mixed playlist E had put together for our engagement party 3+ years ago in Albuquerque.  Funny how things work out.

Food and drink were flowing and people mingled and visited.  Even the kids had a great time – all thanks to the Wii.  A brought her controllers over and between the two of us and a Mario Kart game, we were able to keep them all entertained.  One of the parents even said that the kids loved the layout since they could run circles around the house from the living, to the dining, to the kitchen and back again.  I was glad the kids didn’t die of boredom at the party.

You know how your greatest fear is that someone will come to the party in your dress….well it was the reverse.  Someone came who was wearing the same sweater as E.  It was too funny!   They kept saying if only you’d phoned ahead, I would have changed. 

I forgot how much I enjoy having people over.  Now that we actually have a space to do it, I think we’ll have a nice spring and/or summer BBQ.  Can’t wait for spring.