warm night in Portland.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
End of the Tour
warm night in Portland.
Monday, November 24, 2008
More of Jared's photos
Chronologically, from oldest to newest. Enjoy
In Tillamook; look at that precise Helvetica font!
Tillamook cheese factory
In Tillamook; look at that precise Helvetica font!
Astoria, Oregon with Washington in the distance
The flooded Tualatin Valley
Tillamook cheese factory
It always rains in Seattle
See, it all started early Friday night in the city's university district, home to college’s football’s only 0-11 team. We started by drinking beer from three-liter glass boots at this place called Shultzy’s not far from campus. You can imagine.
It was raining outside on our drive into the city and walk to the bar. Pouring, actually. Rain soaked through our shoes and raincoats. But we made the most of it while getting pretty sloppy.
I saw Mark Brennan on TV at Schultzy’s as we were leaving for the College Inn. Now that I think about it…Brennan's latest 15 minutes of fame was happening early in the morning on Saturday, before the Nittany Lions won the Big Ten Championship with a win over Michigan State. Good on ya all back home in PA. Outside, it had stopped raining.
Saturday was bright and shiny and a balmy 58 degrees, so we scattered and hung out around town. By Saturday evening I had made it from Wallingford to downtown, and I almost caught a good sunset at the market. (Read: sunshine).
Then a few of us got in a car and drove northwest out of Seattle, reached the Puget Sound, drove and parked the car on a boat (!), got out of the car and walked all through the boat and to the front of the boat and checked out the skyline and hills of north Seattle(!), then 15 minutes later we got back in the car and drove onto Whidbey Island(!).*
We met up with a friend, a politically-active progressive farmer, drank a beer at a hundred year old bar and watched The Raggedy Anns rip through a few tunes in a cozy room in nearby Bayview. It was damn brisk on the boat and on the island, due to wind and a vast amount of water completely circling the land...but it didn’t rain a drop.
Sunday morning the weather was so warm and sunny, we decided to eat a hearty breakfast to prepare for criss-crossing Seattle on foot. My photos of the beautiful landscapes we saw don’t do them justice – I hope Jared posts some of his, which are great.
We visited Kerry Park and Volunteer Park, poked around inside a conservancy's greenhouses, and climbed the hills to see Mount Rainier, the Cascade Mountains, the Space Needle, fab stadiums and the UW campus from some of the highest lookout points in the city. We ate a peanut butter bacon burger at The Twilight Exit and shot some very, very pathetic lazy pool at the Canterbury before calling it a night.
After three great days of weather, Seattle this morning was sunny and cool, with no breeze and people in a festive mood to welcome the annual Pike Market Holiday Tree.
We poked around the Market again on our way out of town, this time as a big happy family.
None of my photos of that damn sign came out this weekend because of the position of the sun (read: sunny all weekend). This one was at noontime. 'Dems da breaks with a camera phone.
We got back to Rockaway just in time to see another sun(←)set from the cliffs near Manzanita. Bini climbed the rocks and tinkered with exposures on his camera to get some great shots. You better hope he posts some of his. Here's one of mine.
And now we’re relaxing in our big warm house at the shore. As far as big events for this vacation, it's all over but the bird.
*Yes it was my first time on a ferry boat.
It was raining outside on our drive into the city and walk to the bar. Pouring, actually. Rain soaked through our shoes and raincoats. But we made the most of it while getting pretty sloppy.
I saw Mark Brennan on TV at Schultzy’s as we were leaving for the College Inn. Now that I think about it…Brennan's latest 15 minutes of fame was happening early in the morning on Saturday, before the Nittany Lions won the Big Ten Championship with a win over Michigan State. Good on ya all back home in PA. Outside, it had stopped raining.
Saturday was bright and shiny and a balmy 58 degrees, so we scattered and hung out around town. By Saturday evening I had made it from Wallingford to downtown, and I almost caught a good sunset at the market. (Read: sunshine).
Then a few of us got in a car and drove northwest out of Seattle, reached the Puget Sound, drove and parked the car on a boat (!), got out of the car and walked all through the boat and to the front of the boat and checked out the skyline and hills of north Seattle(!), then 15 minutes later we got back in the car and drove onto Whidbey Island(!).*
We met up with a friend, a politically-active progressive farmer, drank a beer at a hundred year old bar and watched The Raggedy Anns rip through a few tunes in a cozy room in nearby Bayview. It was damn brisk on the boat and on the island, due to wind and a vast amount of water completely circling the land...but it didn’t rain a drop.
Sunday morning the weather was so warm and sunny, we decided to eat a hearty breakfast to prepare for criss-crossing Seattle on foot. My photos of the beautiful landscapes we saw don’t do them justice – I hope Jared posts some of his, which are great.
We visited Kerry Park and Volunteer Park, poked around inside a conservancy's greenhouses, and climbed the hills to see Mount Rainier, the Cascade Mountains, the Space Needle, fab stadiums and the UW campus from some of the highest lookout points in the city. We ate a peanut butter bacon burger at The Twilight Exit and shot some very, very pathetic lazy pool at the Canterbury before calling it a night.
After three great days of weather, Seattle this morning was sunny and cool, with no breeze and people in a festive mood to welcome the annual Pike Market Holiday Tree.
We poked around the Market again on our way out of town, this time as a big happy family.
None of my photos of that damn sign came out this weekend because of the position of the sun (read: sunny all weekend). This one was at noontime. 'Dems da breaks with a camera phone.
We got back to Rockaway just in time to see another sun(←)set from the cliffs near Manzanita. Bini climbed the rocks and tinkered with exposures on his camera to get some great shots. You better hope he posts some of his. Here's one of mine.
And now we’re relaxing in our big warm house at the shore. As far as big events for this vacation, it's all over but the bird.
*Yes it was my first time on a ferry boat.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Mo's, again
With Gorski and Jay hard at work back at the Hermit Crab, Bini and I ventured into civilization to run some errands, read: buy axes. (No, your eyes aren't deceiving you, Chuck Bini is indeed on the scene. Seems the farm he was working on convinced him to stick around an extra week to help prepare the goats and sheep for market. If you know anything about our agrarian friend you know he can't turn down the chance to satisfy his blood lust with a good backstrapping.)
Neither Jay or Bini were at Mo's last week when Gorski and I braved the elements so we decided to meet for a late lunch. Kevin the Upselling Waiter talked Bini and me into a plate of oysters while we waited, though we didn't need much pushing. Later he convinced us all a basket of fries was a much better option than a puny side order. As we finished lunch he inquired about dessert, an endeavor I wasn't prepared to undertake until my chowder-addled brain heard Peanut Butter Snickers pie. Turns out they a peanut butter pie AND a Snickers pie, but K.U.W. didn't earn his nickname by being complacent. It was his brilliant idea to de-crust the peanut butter pie, place said crust on a plate, top with the Snickers pie, slap the crustless PB pie on top of that, and dump chocolate sauce, caramel and whip cream over the whole ungodly concotion, producing the picture that gave you Diabetes two posts ago.
Between the Tillamook factory on Monday and this gut-busting fiasco, my intestines will most likely withold lactase for the rest of the year.
Neither Jay or Bini were at Mo's last week when Gorski and I braved the elements so we decided to meet for a late lunch. Kevin the Upselling Waiter talked Bini and me into a plate of oysters while we waited, though we didn't need much pushing. Later he convinced us all a basket of fries was a much better option than a puny side order. As we finished lunch he inquired about dessert, an endeavor I wasn't prepared to undertake until my chowder-addled brain heard Peanut Butter Snickers pie. Turns out they a peanut butter pie AND a Snickers pie, but K.U.W. didn't earn his nickname by being complacent. It was his brilliant idea to de-crust the peanut butter pie, place said crust on a plate, top with the Snickers pie, slap the crustless PB pie on top of that, and dump chocolate sauce, caramel and whip cream over the whole ungodly concotion, producing the picture that gave you Diabetes two posts ago.
Between the Tillamook factory on Monday and this gut-busting fiasco, my intestines will most likely withold lactase for the rest of the year.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
I love the sunshine
haven't learned them yet.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Another beautiful evening
computers so we're really behind with posts.
Special apologies to Joanies weenie wagon - I'll get those pics up soon!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
It IS the Goonies Rock!
Standing on the beach to take photos, Tyler said "hey, that looks like the Goonies rock!"
Thursday's sunset at Rockaway Beach
He's right...of course. Turns out part of the film "Goonies" was filmed here; the offshore rock structure with the oval hole was used at the end of the film and is now called "Goonies Rock."
A little Wikipediaing later, I am reminded that Goonies is a story about a group of teenage friends living in Astoria, Oregon who go on a quest to find forgotten buried pirate treasure in the area. Our 'hood!
Tyler also says the kid who plays Chunk in the movie is now a lawyer who operates a local practice. I smell interview.
For what it's worth
Today was bright and warm so we took a short trip into Rockaway proper to mingle with the locals.
We dipped in and out of thrift stores dressed like unemployed bums (all sporting weirdo facial hair) and scoped out the menus of every diner, cafe, bar, tavern and restaurant on the HWY 101 strip before deciding to duck into Rick's Roadhouse for some sort of fried/fish/local delicious.
Rick himself eyed us suspiciously for a moment but gave us menus. The burgers and fried oysters sounded perfect until he told us his deep fryer blew a fan overnight (I dunno) and wasn't operational. He was waiting on an electrician to bring him a replacement engine, but no one really seemed to be in too much of a hurry.
He served us a plate of tasty nachos and a pitcher of Drop Top beer, mmmm, an Oregon original. We watched a few minutes of the Virginia Tech game on his massive flatscreen and split.
We dipped in and out of thrift stores dressed like unemployed bums (all sporting weirdo facial hair) and scoped out the menus of every diner, cafe, bar, tavern and restaurant on the HWY 101 strip before deciding to duck into Rick's Roadhouse for some sort of fried/fish/local delicious.
Rick himself eyed us suspiciously for a moment but gave us menus. The burgers and fried oysters sounded perfect until he told us his deep fryer blew a fan overnight (I dunno) and wasn't operational. He was waiting on an electrician to bring him a replacement engine, but no one really seemed to be in too much of a hurry.
He served us a plate of tasty nachos and a pitcher of Drop Top beer, mmmm, an Oregon original. We watched a few minutes of the Virginia Tech game on his massive flatscreen and split.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
