Travel

Our various adventures around the world. Everywhere from the Oregon Coast to San Juan Puerto Rico to Boston to Europe. You never know where we might be going next.

Notes From The Road

Posted by tokenhippygirl on April 17, 2013
Posted in: Eats, LiFe, Travel. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 comment

We’ve been back home now for a few days, but before we actually arrived here, on the last day of our anniversary road trip, Karen and I made a little list of stuff as we were driving.  Notes about things we saw, stuff we did, people we met, etc.  So without further ado, here it is… our notes from the road.

Alright, maybe not just yet… before I unleash the rest of this post I just want to say that having Karen in my life has been a miraculous thing.  We are so lucky to have  found each other.  It’s a beautiful thing to have been together for 10 years and still feel, and in fact feel more strongly, such a huge love for each other.  It’s also a lovely thing to be “married” to your best friend.  There’s no one either of us would rather hang out with, and amazingly we both feel that way and want to share everything.  It’s wonderful and amazing.  I am beyond lucky, and I know it.

OK… here we go… some notes from the road…

2795.6 miles travelled.

“I bet this would be really pretty if the trees were leafed out”

Favorite coffee: Comet Coffee in Ann Arbor… Pour over, so good.

Favorite espresso: Jimmy’s, Kensington Market location, in Toronto… Americano… Yum!

Favorite City: Portland, ME with Toronto a close second.

Favorite public transport: the Red Rocket in Toronto.

Favorite fish and chips: Susan’s in Portland.  A place that was once  a gas station.

Favorite beach: Kennebunkport (heart rock beach).

Favorite countryside: Coast of Maine, Vermont‘s Green Mountains, and New Hampshire’s White Mountains.

Favorite meal Tam: Montpelier at the Three Penny Taproom… chicken stew with pastry.

Favorite meal Karen: Hot Suppa! in Portland, Maine… fried chicken and sweet potatoes.

Favorite ice cream: Dot’s Ice cream in Bath, Maine.   Second place, for atmosphere, Jumpin’ Jacks near Schenectady, NY

Favorite little town: Bath, Maine.

Favorite B&B : Mayor Lord’s B&B in Meadville, PA.

Most comfy bed: Marriott in Portland Maine.

Best unexpected stop:  Williamstown, MA and Williams College… Tunnel City Coffee in the town where Thomas went to school.

Favorite zen moment: marina in Portland, sitting on a bench, chatting, looking at the water, 65 degrees and sunny.

Most interesting historical spot: Fryeburg Academy in Maine and Concord Grape Belt, NY.

Favorite tourist attraction: Herb Brooks Hockey Arena and ski jumping site from 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, NY.

Biggest disappoinent: Niagara Falls… Ghetto. Should’ve gone to the Canadian side.

Most interesting fact: ice wine made from grapes that have gone through first freeze… sold in Canada.

Best breakfast: The Senator in Toronto… both food and atmosphere.

Most authentic eating experience: House of Gourmet in Chinatown, Toronto with it’s all Asian crowd, huge menu in Chinese, and hanging meat.

Bump in the road: rental car malfunction in Albany Ny resulting in car exchange at Albany International Airport.

Best fast food: Eddie’s Footlong Hot Dogs in Meadville, PA.

Noisiest hotel: The Stockdale Inn, Schenectady, NY due to wedding party.

My honey’s big disappointment: not getting a green rock from Vermont.

Interesting natural wonder: rock by lighthouse at Cape Elizabeth, Maine… it looked like wood (we took some).

Life changing moment during trip: sale of Scappoose house.

Personal family moment: driving by the home in Jackson, Michigan where my great grandparents lived when my grandma was born and driving by the memorial site of the hospital where she was born.

Finding great heart rock.

“Pompous grass”

The accent of toll booth guy in N.H.

Coffee at the Bush compound in Kennebunkport (if driving by while drinking coffee counts).

Conversing with people at bed and breakfast who lived in India for a time.

States and Countries visited: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Michigan

Coffee shops visited: 14.

Number of rude people met along the way: 2.  Woman at some gas station in Maine who was terse about bathroom facilities and man at rental car place in Savoy when we picked up the car for the trip.

Favorite souvenirs: raven lunatic t-shirt and huge red lobster.

First drink in three years: strawberry mojito at Hot Suppa! on our anniversary.

Signs for moose, bear, and Amish seen… No actual moose, bear or Amish spotted.

Wildlife spotted: flock of wild turkeys in Maine, sea birds.

Worst weather: Lake Placid… cold and a tad snowy.

“Ride the Red Rocket”

Laughs out loud: too many to count.

Music: 936 songs on shuffle… No repeats… Maine and Back Again Playlist. Awesomeness.

Reminiscing about 10 years together… Priceless.

On routes (Canada’s much nicer version of the rest area).

Nicest person: VIA rail employee in Toronto who walked us a couple of blocks to Union Station and then to where we needed to go inside the station… We told him we wished we could’ve taken him home as souvenir!

Honorable mentions for nicest person: Jimmy’s coffee barista who gave us free croissants, girl at on route stop who talked to us about the toll, red rocket driver, the hotel dude who pointed toward good ice cream in Schenectady, hotel guy in Portland Maine who answered our questions, rental car guy, Steve, at Albany Imternational Airport, also guy in Albany rental car park who let us store our belongings in little locked kiosk while we walked in to get our new rental car.  Lots of nice people along the way.

Best hotel location: tie between Bond Place Hotel, Toronto for great access to transit and downtown, and Portland, Maine Marriott for walking proximity to old port and view of the bay.

Biggest panic moment: when my honey thought she lost her wallet in Lake Placid… It was not lost.

Second biggest panic moment: not having any money for toll to get back into U.S. over Ambassador Bridge and first ATM didn’t work. Thought we might have to learn to speak French.

Frozen Lake Erie was amazing.

Largest Globe we’ve ever seen: Eartha at Delorme.

 

Keyser Soze Has Nothing On Us

Posted by tokenhippygirl on August 14, 2012
Posted in: Eats, Family & Friends, Illinois, LiFe, Oregon, Out and About, Travel. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 comment

Wow.  And wow again.  I think I may have started more than one blog entry with that word and here I am using it once again.  Oh well, I’m getting older and that means repeating myself repeatedly.  I’m OK with that.

I digress…

Wow.  It’s been a whirlwind of activity and adventure since we left our little hovel in Urbana, Illinois for places west on July 5.  Here we are on August 14 and I have no idea where the time has gone.  Day after tomorrow we pack up Thor, our tried and true Volvo, our two pupinos, a bunch of crap, and ourselves for the trek back home.  Six days later, and some 2500 miles we will once again be back in the Midwest.  Where has the time gone?

When we were planning this sojourn we thought, OK, six weeks (including two weeks driving) would be plenty of time, but  then again how can there ever be enough time spent with the people you love.  There are so many people here who are in our lives it’s been tough to see everyone.  We haven’t seen everyone.  That’s a hard one.  To leave without seeing everyone.  Seriously though, how could we?  We’ve been so busy.  Let’s recap…

Six days driving here, get here and have appointment with Oregon oncologist, start treatment in Oregon, see Stan and Connie who drove to Salem just to see us (you guys rock), drive up to Portland to meet my cousin and his family after he finished the STP bike ride, eat pizza, have yogurt, drive up to Burlington, WA (and Marblemount, WA) to participate in the spreading of my grandparents ashes and next day check out the estate sale put on by my Mom and Aunts and Uncles at my grandparents house, from there take off for three days in Long Beach, WA (after a 5 hour drive to get there), enjoy the beach, drive back to Salem, drive back up to Scappoose, dinner with friends who invited us over (thanks SJ and Angela, your house is awesome), trips back and forth between Salem and Scappoose every week so I could get my shot in Salem, helping Mom sprinkle some of grandpa and grandmas ashes at Willamette University, work on the yard in Scappoose, and more work on the yard in Scappoose (thanks to Mom and Kev for helping us out with that one of the days… you two are amazing), dinner out with friends (thanks Maggie for taking us to dinner for our birthdays), dinner with friends from Urbana who happened to come to Portland for a wedding while we were here (great dining with you Evelyne and Natalie), showing our friend Jen (who also hails from Urbana) around Portland, and the farm, for three and a half days,  the treat of breakfast out at the Screen Door courtesy of Vicki (thanks girl, the chicken and waffles there can’t be beat!), a few walks in parks both in Portland and Salem with the pupinos, one of which included a piano solo by Karen, a trip on the river with Stan, dinner at Stan and Connie’s place for us with some of our good friends (so great to see you guys), a walk at Cathedral Park with Liz and Jake and Ilsa and Indy followed by a tour of their new house (love it you guys!), a stop by my old office for some chat (Stacia, I love ya girl) and lunch with some of my old work mates (I miss you Josh, Linda, Chris, Liz and Stacia!), packing up the car and driving back and forth between Salem and Scappoose every week (oh, I think I said that already), our annual walk through of one of our rentals with the renters and a drive by of the other, a couple of barbecues thrown for us by POD members, one including splashes in a pool and the other including a tasty salad made with home grown veggies, a couple of trips to the Portland Saturday Market (Sundays too!), a zoo concert (Melissa Etheridge) with some of the POD, dinners out at various places we didn’t want to miss while we were here (Piazza Italia, Little Big Burger, tacos at The Varsity, The Stepping Stone, Ruby Jewel for ice cream, chicken and waffles at The Screen Door, Mississippi Pizza, a food cart or two, Pok Pok, E-San for thai, burritos at Muchas, etc.) all of which made us each gain about 10 pounds, breakfast with my sister Kay, time spent at the farm with Mom and Don, time spent in Scappoose with Kev, packing up the car and driving back and forth between Salem and Scappoose every week like gypsies, sun, fun, and loads of love.

It’s been an amazing time.  We’ve had so much fun.  Though, seriously, I think we’re ready to be home again.  Not that we don’t love it here, and love everyone here, but we’re ready to be home.  Sleep in our own beds, be in our own house, see and spend time with the kids and our little man, who we have missed very much.  I guess that’s what happens when you live in two places.  Live in two places in your heart I mean.  You are always missing something, someone.  That’s the nature of how life works sometimes.  We moved to Illinois to be a part of of the kid’s lives, to be in Sebastian’s life, and we are glad we did.  We wouldn’t change that at all.  It’s just that this is home, and always will be.  The people here and this place make it so.  We are torn, but that doesn’t make us any less happy to be there when we are there, or here when we are here.

That bit there being a few moments of reflection.

So we are heading home on Thursday morning.  Leaving early to get a jump on our longest driving day of the lot.  10 hours the first day.  We’re going to Boise, Idaho by way of Bend and Hwy 20, then Driggs, ID near the Tetons, and from there a drive through the Tetons and Yellowstone and then stays in Sheridan, WY, Chamberlain, SD, La Crosse, Wisconsin, and home.  We’ll get there just in time for the Urbana Sweetcorn Festival.  Yum!

We’ll miss you Oregon, and everyone in it.  It’s been a flash, and now we’re almost out of here.  A month, poof, just like that and it’s gone.  Keyser Soze has nothing on us.  We love it here, and we love the people here.  This wonderful adventure has flown by, and been fantastic.  But be rest assured… we will be back.  It’s time for us to go back home, to more people we love, but we will be back.  We will miss you while we’re gone.  But be rest assured… we will be back.

Day Six… And Home

Posted by tokenhippygirl on July 10, 2012
Posted in: Riley, Travel, Weston. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

The drive on day six was awesome.  We went to Caffe Mela in Wenatchee before we started, as usual going to a local coffee place we’d found, and fueled up before heading to Leavenworth.  It’s a quick drive over to Leavenworth from Wenatchee and we were there in 30 minutes or so.  Not bad.  The four of us wandered the town, looking in windows, walking in the grass, taking a couple of photos with the phone.  Nice.  Then it was on the road for the drive to Salem, by way of Portland.

We were pretty happy as we entered Oregon near The Dalles.  I tried to take a photo of the entering Oregon sign, but Riley was on my lap and bumped my arm.  I got a fantastic shot of the side of the bridge.  The drive along 84, done so many times by both of us both separately and together, was gorgeous.  We passed Multnomah Falls, Karen driving, and I tried to lean over and take a photo as we whizzed by. I think I got a great photo of the dog bed and a tiny view of the falls.  Hilarious.  My photo taking abilities were definitely lacking yesterday.

We stopped in Portland to pick up a half a tray of lasagna from our favorite Italian place, Piazza Italia.  Yum.  We’d called and ordered in advance because my honey has been craving this lasagna for a year.  We had it for dinner.  It was yummy.

We arrived at Mom and Don’s last night about 6:00.  2584.1 miles, 8 states, 6 days and we finally were able to stop driving.  Yay!  Don’t get us wrong, we love road trips, but being able to stop and not have to drive the next day… lovely.  The dogs are liking it too, though we’re sure they thought they lived in the car after spending so much time there over the last several days.  They thought that was their life.  Good thing they adjust pretty well as long as they’re with us.  Kev was here to greet us, very nice.  Nothing like a Kev hug on arrival.

Next on the agenda… enjoy this fantastic Oregon weather.  It’s supposed to be low to mid 80′s very low humidity the next several days.  Lovely lovely.

Flathead On Day Five

Posted by tokenhippygirl on July 9, 2012
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Flathead Lake, gorgeous by the way, entering the Pacific Time Zone, getting back to the Northwest, Coeur D’Alene Idaho, Ponderosa Pines, rain, and ending up in the Travelodge in Wenatchee.

The Travelodge… A dog on the outside with some sketchy looking customers hanging out near the front, but once we got in the room it ended up as our favorite lodging of the road trip. Great layout, outside door, roomy, quiet, a really decent free breakfast, and a really low rate of $68 (which included the extra dough for the pet fees). We liked it a lot. A keeper, as we like to say.

In other not so great news the dogs were sick. Actually the girlie got sick on day four and it continued for her, and then Weston as well, today. Diarrhea and some hurling. It was awful for awhile. We were both really stressed and worried about her as we neared Wenatchee. She was shaking and panting very badly, but once we got to a place to stop (in 105 degree temps I might ad) she was able to go, and then she crashed. We think it was some rogue ham we had. Lesson… Don’t buy or give to your dogs rogue ham you bought at a random store. We had it too and it didn’t make us sick, but the pups weren’t so lucky.

We think, and hope, they are on the mend now. Only a little time will tell.

Tomorrow… Home.

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Glacial Day Four

Posted by tokenhippygirl on July 8, 2012
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Day four found us traversing across the hi-line of Montana to Kalispell. Montana is such a huge state we spent the entire day there.

I had a cool thing happen, a cool sighting really. I glanced over, while we were driving along the edge of Glacier National Park, and saw a herd of big horn sheep. Or as my honey likes to call them, big hornies. She makes me laugh. It was an awesome thing.

Otherwise we were just so happy to get into mountainous country. You don’t really realize how much you miss it until you get back to it. The smell of the Ponderosas was spectacular. That slight vanilla scent in the air, magic.

Kalispell is a neat little town. Growing like mad, but still sort of funky. Part western town, part resort town, part funky artsy town. We liked it and the cool little coffee roastery, Colter Coffee, we found. We also had a nice walk through one of the neighborhoods with the pups.

Tomorrow… Idaho, Washington, a return to the Pacific time zone, and a stay in Wenatchee.

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Oily Day Three

Posted by tokenhippygirl on July 7, 2012
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Day 3… Gorgeous canola fields, really good coffee from a local shop in Grand Forks called Urban Stampede before we got on the road, lakes and marshes and wild birds aplenty in Eastern North Dakota, big silos on beautiful farms, and then… Da da da dum… Western North Dakota and the smell of money, dirt, oil, and a hundred thousand men living in temporary housing. How depressing… And yes I know we need the oil, use the oil, and we’re currently on a road trip made possible by oil… I’m not an idiot. It’s just so depressing to see the wasteland of what once was beautiful land. It’s been so mismanaged that the growth of the boom is speeding past all possibility of keeping up with the devastating side effects. In typical fashion we jumped in fast and furious for the money before forming a plan to properly handle the process. It’s surreal there. Strange and unsettling.

Luckily we passed through many other amazing and stunning places. It took awhile and a few miles but we put it behind us with only a few comments to the effect of what the frack?!

Tomorrow we head to Glacier and beyond… More beauty to see, more miles to put behind us as we head toward the northwest.

In other news Spam turned 75 today!

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Superior Road Trip

Posted by tokenhippygirl on July 6, 2012
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Day two found us driving through Wisconsin, Minnesota, and into North Dakota. We got glimpses of Lake Superior, saw the most amazing cloud formations, drove through some big rain, and ended with a really nice, and much cooler, walk along the Grand Forks Greenway.

The day didn’t go without it’s difficulties… We got to our hotel in Grand Forks and found, contrary to it’s website and our reservation, that dogs were only allowed in smoking rooms. This doesn’t work so much or so well for us and so we went across the street to the Econo Lodge where we got a nice clean little room that was non-smoking. Say goodbye to the Ramada, where we will probably never stay in again.

All in all though, besides the little room speed bump, it was a great day of driving, looking at some beautiful scenery, good conversation, and loads of singing to terrific music. The pups are pretty good little travelers as well, especially since we got the herbal stuff from the vet for Weston’s car sickness. It’s working for him, which is wonderful!

Tomorrow… A drive across North Dakota and into Eastern Montana.

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Oregon Road Trip 2012

Posted by tokenhippygirl on July 5, 2012
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A sweltering day one on the Oregon Road Trip Odyssey 2012. We meandered up through Northern Illinois into Wisconsin today in temps ranging from 95-105. Hot… And humid. We’re still in an excessive heat warning up here, haven’t yet been able to escape it. Maybe tomorrow? One can only hope.

It may be hot in Wisconsin, but it’s also beautiful. Definitely deserves our future attention in the way of a trip all about it. Another in a long list of places to visit. We do love our travel.

Now I’m waiting in the car with the pups, air on, for Karen to come back with our take out Chinese food. Then it’s back to the hotel for the evening. We had planned on maybe taking the dogs for a walk, but neither they or us want to do that. One quick trip back out later for their evening constitution, and that will be it. It’s still 100 out there…

Tomorrow… ND.

Pronunciamento

Posted by tokenhippygirl on June 1, 2012
Posted in: 100 Things, Art, Eats, Family & Friends, Film, LiFe, Music, Out and About, Photos, Poetry, Riley, Travel, Weston, Words. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a Comment

I love words and this is a great one. Pronunciamento. Meaning… pro·nun·ci·a·men·to   [pruh-nuhn-see-uh-men-toh, -shee-uh-] noun, plural pro·nun·ci·a·men·tos. a proclamation; manifesto; edict.

I came across this one today as I was looking around the dictionary.  Or more precisely, in this new age, dictionary.com. It’s a wonderful word found in a wonderful place.  Dictionaries are exciting, to me anyway.  I’ve been reading them since I knew what one was and found one in our house.  Words.  Wonderful.

I used to play word games with some of my work mates.  Emails going around with sentences made up of words with the same letter.  Peter picked pickled peppers.  Like that.  We’d start with A and work our way to Z and back again, or we’d rhyme, or be cute some other way with wonderful wacky words.  Fun, to us anyway.  We’d stretch our minds, our vocabularies, and we’d laugh and laugh.  Words are good like that.

Today as I looked around I came across this great word.  Had never heard of it.  And now I love it.  I am also, I think, going to use it here.  Make a pronunciamento about things I’d like to do this summer… a proclamation of sorts.  Here, publicly, live and “in person”.  Maybe if I put some things down here I will do some of them… maybe I already have.  Maybe I would anyway.  No matter… it’s a fun exercise.

(Riley is playing with her Uncle Kevin right now… he’s rubbing her belly, she’s growling, barking, and jumping up to wiggle around and play bite at him.  She’s like popcorn. It’s cute.  They missed each other.)

Anyway… back to the pronunciamento.

100 things to do this summer… and in life.

  1. Be present.
  2. Act with grace.
  3. Ride my bike around town.
  4. Use the frisbee golf set I purchased.
  5. Play with Sebastian.
  6. Eat grapes.
  7. Get my photos better organized.
  8. See an opera again.
  9. Hold hands.
  10. Be patient with people.
  11. Listen.
  12. Walk.
  13. Sing loudly in moving vehicles.
  14. Eat more whole food, less processed food.
  15. Play guitar again.
  16. Travel to foreign places.
  17. Write.
  18. Be silly.
  19. Dance suddenly and randomly at home, and sometimes in public.
  20. Be child like.
  21. Hug my honey more than I already do.
  22. Use the library more than I do.
  23. Make pudding.
  24. Sleep outside.
  25. Be less afraid.
  26. Live more sustainably.
  27. Don’t buy anything for myself, including music, clothes, videos, etc. unless it’s second hand. (related to previous point)
  28. See a few movies in the park.
  29. Stop and listen to live music (street corners, festival bands, etc.)
  30. Paint something.
  31. Go to the drive in.
  32. Take photographs that inspire me.
  33. Continue to evolve.
  34. Give more than I get.
  35. Show respect to strangers.
  36. Buy meat from a farmer.
  37. Write and send actual letters.
  38. Study other cultures and ideas.
  39. Honor my ancestors.
  40. Swim in wild waters.
  41. Walk in Central Park in New York, eat lobster in Maine, watch hot air balloons in New Mexico.
  42. Use the crockpot to make dessert.
  43. Put my feet in lakes, oceans, rivers, puddles, tiny wading pools.
  44. Do another paring down of my clothes and shoes.
  45. Eat tomatoes from our tomato plant.
  46. Sit quietly outside in the wind and sunshine listening to the trees and not talk or play on the computer or phone or any other man made thing.
  47. Live responsibly.
  48. Worry less.
  49. Try new foods that scare me a little.
  50. Use hairbrushes and wooden spoons as microphones.
  51. Give the pups even more attention than they already get.
  52. Go snorkeling.
  53. Take random day long road trips with my honey to nowhere in particular with good music playing and great conversations.
  54. Embrace my dorky nature.
  55. Go to museums.
  56. Dinners with friends.
  57. Be in awe.
  58. Make people laugh on purpose.
  59. Learn.
  60. Make and eat pudgy pies.
  61. Talk to strangers.
  62. Laugh at myself and things that might irk me, but shouldn’t.
  63. Be the nicer version of me in taxing situations.
  64. Do things I love more than things I should do.
  65. Make and drink naturally flavored sun tea.
  66. Make a fort out of blankets.
  67. Smile often and only from the eyes.
  68. Camp in wild beautiful places.
  69. Put my toes in the sand.
  70. Color.
  71. Eat more fruit and less bread.
  72. Read at least two books a month.
  73. Make stuff.
  74. Take care of my honey like she deserves.
  75. Skip, hop, and jump.
  76. See the AFI top 100 films.
  77. Know what’s going on in the world.
  78. Read poetry again.
  79. Play games and cards.
  80. Volunteer my time.
  81. Be passionate in life.
  82. Always look people in the eye.
  83. Wear funky hats.
  84. Write random and unexpected emails to friends and family more often.
  85. Love.
  86. Get paid for being creative.
  87. Take the dogs to parks and on walks.
  88. Be an agent of positive change.
  89. Travel to new places.
  90. Take the train more often.
  91. Ride a bus to Chicago or maybe some other random place.
  92. Sit around our chiminea with good company.
  93. Make a s’more or two.
  94. Say what I mean and only that.
  95. Smell flowers.
  96. Live free.
  97. Eat handcrafted ice cream.
  98. Help out friends and family.
  99. Be kind to myself.
  100. And lastly, though I could go on, laugh laugh laugh at why WordPress has famous nuns and Saint Peter as recommended highlighted links down below this as I type.  Hmmmm….

On Toward San Jose

Posted by tokenhippygirl on November 3, 2011
Posted in: Family & Friends, Photos, Travel. Tagged: , , . 1 comment

We are on the train, the Saluki Northbound, making our way toward Chicago. The first leg of our journey to San Jose. Train travel rocks. I’m a fan.

The weather turned cold and wet in Illinois today. A 25 degree drop in temperature from where we were at yesterday. That’s Illinois. T-shirts yesterday, fleece jackets today. Too funny. I think it’s raining in San Jose today as well. Hopefully the weather improves in both places so that we can enjoy some nice California weather and Mom and Kev can have the same here as they dog sit/house sit for us and the kids.

Next stop for us… Union Station. Two hours and twenty minutes away. Then… Lunch!

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10 Hours and Counting

Posted by tokenhippygirl on August 10, 2011
Posted in: LiFe, Travel. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a Comment

We are just about 10 hours from heading out on our journey toward Illinois and our little grandson (and his parents, let’s not forget).  Wow.  I can’t believe it’s here.  We’ve been planning on this and for this for a long long time.  Seems like it was so far away not that long ago… and again, here we are.

I don’t really know what to say other than… first stop, Pocatello Idaho, here we come.

Chicago to the Carlton Inn Midway Via The L

Posted by tokenhippygirl on June 21, 2011
Posted in: Chicago, Family & Friends, Photos, Travel. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 1 comment

We checked out of our room this morning, walked the four blocks to the L train station, bought a couple of passes at the nearby currency exchange, climbed the steps up to the platform, jumped on our train when it showed a few minutes later, road out to the second to the last stop on the Orange line, got off the train and walked about six minutes to the Carlton Inn Midway, asked for and received an early check in, arranged for our airport shuttle at seven in the morning, dropped our bags in our room, walked to the corner to have some Greek food at a hotel recommended place (which was great), and then came back to the room so Kev could do laundry and we both could just chill for the rest of the day. We’re tired. So busy, in a great way, the last couple of days, and before that it was drive drive drive. Chillaxing today is awesome!

About the restaurant we went to for lunch… the Greek place. I did something I’ve wanted to for a long long time… when the time was right… and it so was today. This restaurant… The New Pindos was just down the street from our hotel and recommended by the staff as a place that’s “family owned and been there for 30 years”. It was great, but then I love places like that. It had this old vibe, but it was clean. The waitresses all looked like they’d worked there all of those 30 years. Ours was awesome… new her stuff, was funny, nice, so very attentive, all the good things you want in a waitress. I liked her. We both did. So when it came time to leave, Kev picked up the bill and I laid a $20 on the table as the tip. We walked up to the counter so Kev could pay and our waitress, who was such a cutie pie older lady, came up to me and quietly said… I think you made a mistake. I smiled and said no, I didn’t. She then said, in a bewildered voice, I’ve never gotten a $20 tip before… are you sure? I said, yes I was absolutely sure and told her to have a great day. She just smiled and said again… I’ve never gotten a $20 tip before. It was awesome, that look on her face. Money is money, not the end all and be all of happiness, but man… the look on her face. She was shocked, and happy. That’s a little extra happiness out there in the world. Maybe she’ll pay it forward somehow, but even if she doesn’t, she’ll be sweeter than she already was, and I bet she’ll be smiling all day. Which, really, if you think about it, is paying it forward. Smiles pay all kinds of joy forward.

We’ve had a great trip… eventful at times, but great. I think Kev has had a great first Chicago experience. I think he loved it. The architecture alone had his head on a swivel the whole time we were downtown. It was sweet. Great views, fantastic things to do and see, yummy food, great vibe. Chicago is, I will say once again with only a little redundancy, my kinda town. LOVE it. Chi-Town, I will be back… and I think, if I’m not mistaken, Kev may just be back as well.

One more post tomorrow as we travel back to the Northwest. Flight is early… 8:40, but it’s a straight shot. Then… back to my Oregon home, my honey (who I’m missing very very much), and my pups, who I’m also missing very much. My little family… here I come!

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Yolk, Fish, The Lake, The Pier, The River, Willis, and Chicago Dogs

Posted by tokenhippygirl on June 20, 2011
Posted in: Chicago, Eats, Photos, Travel. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

What a full day we’ve had. Started off lounging around the room for a bit to let the major part of the storm pass, then we were off and running.

First stop… Yolk for breakfast. Wow. I had the stuffed french toast. French toast stuffed with raspberry jam and cream cheese topped with bananas and powdered sugar with raspberry syrup on the side. Oh yeah baby! That with a side of bacon and a few cups of coffee gets a girl going in the morning. So awesome.

From Yolk we walked to the museum complex where the Shedd Aquarium happens to be. An hour wait in the queue, but it was worth it. Fish, more fish, more fish, a show, a 3D movie, and a really enjoyable time.

After Shedd we took a water taxi, traveling on Lake Michigan, from the museum complex to the Navy Pier. We enjoyed Chicago dogs, me with sweet potato fries and Kev with curly. What is a Chicago dog you ask? It’s a dog with relish, mustard, tomatoes, peppers, a dill pickle, and onions. That’s how they do them and they are good. We also enjoyed the Smith Museum of Stain Glass Windows at the Navy Pier. So cool… and free. Also good. I’d heard about this from Karen’s brother and sister in law when we were all in Chicago for the wedding last year. They went then and showed us some photos. I had to see these windows… and am glad we did. They were gorgeous.

From the Navy Pier we took another water taxi, this time on the Chicago River, to the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower), the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. We took the one minute 1350 foot journey up to the Skydeck on the 103rd floor to stand out on the Ledge. Trippy, that’s what it was. It’s a long way down.

We ended with a walk back to our hotel, a bit of a rest, and then some dinner at the restaurant in the lobby… The Thai Spoon. What did I have? Hmmm… maybe some Massaman with chicken and a thai iced tea. Yeah… that’s what was for dinner.

Now here we are, back in our room, both playing around on our computers, TV on, feet sore, and happily tired. What will we do tomorrow? Well that’s the question… we move hotels tomorrow… leaving the good ol’ Travelodge for a hotel out by Midway. Close to the airport for our earlyish flight on Wednesday back to Oregon. I’m sure we will find something to do… there’s so much to do here. I love this city.

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Champaign/Urbana to Chicago

Posted by tokenhippygirl on June 19, 2011
Posted in: Chicago, Eats, Photos, Travel. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 1 comment

Well… here we are in the Second City. We started the morning by dropping off Mary’s car at Charlie and Jennie’s place and then getting a ride from Jennie in to the train station. She was wonderful. Took us to the train station, went inside with us as we checked in and got our boarding passes, then took us over to Cafe Kopi for some coffee and really nice conversation until it was time to take us back to the train station. Jennie is great and it will be good to sit down with her for tea and coffee again.

Our train was a bit late, an hour or so, which wasn’t really an issue. We had no time schedule. Once on and rolling it was smooth sailing to Chicago. Both of us with our individual head phones on playing our own music. Kev working on his laptop, me mostly just staring out the window. A nice mellow ride… and we didn’t have to drive. Yay!

We got in to Chicago, oriented ourselves (with the help of the iPhone GPS) and walked the 20 minutes from the station to our hotel. We checked in, dropped our bags, and immediately went in search of food. Not just any food, but Chicago food. Pizza. That’s right… Lou Maltani’s pizza. So good. I mean… really good. We loved it big time.

Then it was walk time… had to walk off some of that pizza. We walked over to Michigan Avenue and took a stroll up to Millennium Park. All kinds of stuff going on near the Art Institute, at the Jay Prytzker Pavilion, and the Crown Fountain. We saw tango dancing, heard Dennis DeYoung (lead singer of Styx) singing with his band live and for free, took our photos at the bean, and marveled at the beauty that is Chicago architecture. That’s just day one.

We are now comfortably ensconced in our room, hooked into the internet, TV on, loads of water here for the drinking to combat the humidity. It’s supposed to be rainy today here, but wasn’t and isn’t. It was humid, but beautiful. A few clouds, but loads of blue sky to go with. They say thunderstorms tomorrow, but who knows… hopefully we’ll get more of what we had today. And if not… s’ok. We will still be out exploring more of this gorgeous city.

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Hays, Kansas to Champaign/Urbana, Illinois

Posted by tokenhippygirl on June 19, 2011
Posted in: Family & Friends, Photos, Travel. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Kansas… what can I say? It was a L-O-N-G drive through Kansas. Eastern Kansas is beautiful… Western Kansas… not so much. But we were there, and there, and there. That’s how it seemed anyway. Ha! Because we started out a bit further back than originally planned the drive yesterday was the longest of the four driving days. But, we made it. Missouri was beautiful, and Illinois was as well. We were glad to have the driving over. Here are the pictures from that part of our trip… enjoy!

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Posts Coming

Posted by tokenhippygirl on June 19, 2011
Posted in: Chicago, Family & Friends, Travel. Tagged: , , , . Leave a Comment

We got into Urbana last night after a LONG day of driving with enough time to find a branch of our Illinois bank and make a deposit, give Kev a mini driving tour of the cities, and have a cup of custard at the Custard Cup. No time left to upload photos and blog about yesterday’s journey. I promise to do it tonight from our room in Chicago… Including a post about events today.

We said goodbye to the bean this morning… Leaving it and it’s contents in the good hands of Charlie and Jennie. Jennie was kind enough to give us a ride back into town to the train station so we could check in, and then to the Kopi cafe for a nice sit down cup of coffee. That place is a keeper and we had a really nice chat with Jennie. She then went the extra mile and brought us back to the train station where she was finally rid of us. What a great lady. Really like her.

So here we are… Waiting for the train and the next part of our adventure!

Rifle, Colorado to Hays, Kansas

Posted by tokenhippygirl on June 17, 2011
Posted in: Eats, Family & Friends, Photos, Travel. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 2 comments

It’s day three and here we are, safely ensconced in our hotel room in Hays, Kansas. It’s been a hell of a day. Started off pretty nice up in the Rockies, had a wonderful lunch time visit with a new old friend (Jan, it was lovely to meet you and put a face to all of the correspondence and commenting we’ve been up to for quite awhile now), and then… then… well… thunderstorms. Severe thunderstorms with lightning, pea sized hail coming down so hard it piled up an inch or two high on the highway, rain pounding down with it, cars driving so slow all with hazard lights on, and Kev and I just saying to each other… press on, if we can get ahead of it we are good to go. We pressed on… and we did. Scary moments for sure… not the least of which was when the emergency alert came over the radio that there was a tornado warning for our area. Both Kev and I started scanning like mad and planning where we would park and run if we had to try and get away from one. Like I said… some scary and nerve racking moments.

Then… well… we thought we were in the clear… literally. We made it through that storm and were heading full speed ahead toward what was supposed to be our stop for the night when I checked the weather up ahead. Low and behold there was another group of severe thunderstorms heading straight for Salina. They were bigger and looked much worse than what we’d driven through… so we made the decision. Turn around and head back to Hays, which was about 20 miles behind us, instead of motoring on to Salina, 78 miles ahead. We were done for the day. There was no way we wanted to be heading into all the lightning we say in that direction not being able to see anything else because it was now dark outside. I decided to forgo the reservation we had, forgo the money we’d lose, to keep our nerves better intact. Good decision. Oh, and the photos… I didn’t take any at all during the worst of it. None. I was too busy obsessing about what was going on around us to pick up my camera. I did take a 13 second video with my phone. I’ll try to post that as well.

Tomorrow we read there is the possibility of more severe thunderstorms ahead. Pretty much all the way to Champaign. And, we have further to drive than originally planned. I’m hoping for a more mellow drive… fingers crossed. Lets just get there already! LOL

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Twin Falls to Rifle

Posted by tokenhippygirl on June 16, 2011
Posted in: Eats, Family & Friends, Photos, Travel. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 1 comment

Day two found us traveling 559.1 miles through a couple of thunderstorms with a couple of stops for gas and a stop in Fruita for food. Music playing, photos taken, another day of conversation. We are halfway to Champaign/Urbana! Kev is in Colorado for the first time ever, pretty exciting! Tomorrow we go to Kansas… lookout Dorothy!

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First Stop Hood River

Posted by tokenhippygirl on June 15, 2011
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First stop on the Parker sibling great American road trip… Oregon to Illinois… Finds outr intrepid adventurers in Hood River getting gas, a coffee refill, and subway healthy breakfast sandwichs. We are off to a great start folks…. And the sun is starting to peak through!

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Pictures of Early Us

Posted by tokenhippygirl on March 11, 2011
Posted in: Photos, Travel, Weston. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a Comment

These are photos I used on my blog between 2005 and 2007.  I blogged with Blogger for that time… until I switched to WordPress, where I’ve stayed.  I was just perusing these and enjoying them.  Thought I’d share.  Some of these were before I had the Canon Rebel even.  We were using point and shoot little digital cameras then.  Plus there are photos of Weston when we first got him… what a cutie.  Enjoy….

Tam’s Think Tank

A Love Letter to My In-laws

Posted by tokenhippygirl on January 30, 2011
Posted in: Family & Friends, Travel. Tagged: , , . Leave a Comment

We just landed in Portland after a quick but lovely trip down to see Karen’s family in San Jose.

The whole in-law situation can be tricky sometimes. When you get together with someone you never really know what you’re going to get in regards to your love’s people. You can’t be sure if they are going to like you, or if you are going to like them. Like I said… Tricky.

So it was with a bit of nervousness nearly eight years ago the first time we flew down to San Jose to meet them. There have been many trips since and I can say, without any doubt, that I love them more each time I get to see them. The wonderful thing about in-laws is that if you do like them, and they like you back, it totally adds another whole layer and depth of feeling to your life. It’s wonderful, as they are.

I can’t begin to express how much I love and cherish them. Thanks for always welcoming me so warmly, for loving me so well, and for treating me like one of the family. I love thaty family has grown so much and so well just by joining yours.

I love you guys and am already looking forward to the next time we get to see you.

Two Weeks In England

Posted by tokenhippygirl on December 23, 2010
Posted in: Family & Friends, Out and About, The U.K., Travel. Tagged: , , , , , , . 4 comments

Since I’ve been super remiss about posting here on the blog about our adventures in England, I thought I’d do a bit o’ recap of the highlights from the last couple of weeks….

Arrived, fussed over the little boy, dealt with the whole shot thing by ending up going to Manchester by train to meet with Dr. Yin and get the first shot (Karen and I then made our way from the clinic by taxi back to the train station in Stockport and then by train from Stockport to Manchester where we did some shopping and finally from Manchester back to Lancaster), many trips walking into town for shopping, have had an occasional pasty, a nice visit with Ashley who came in on the train from Edinburgh, more playing with and fussing over the boy, a drive to the Trafford Center mall near Manchester for more Christmas shopping, more walks into town (we do it at least once daily), more fussing over the boy, wrapped purchased Christmas presents, petting Wicket and Ziggy, and still more fussing over the boy.  He’s the cutest every, I’m just saying…

That’s pretty much been it.  I’ve taken some photos, though not tons.  Mostly of the boy.  We are gearing up for a lot of picture taking on Christmas eve and Christmas day.  Watch for those.

We’ve been here two weeks tomorrow.  The time has flown by really.  There’s tons of darkness here.  It doesn’t get really light out, like fully light, until about 10:00 in the morning and conversely it starts getting dark about 3:30 or even a tad sooner.  The sunrises and sunsets seem to take a long long time.  I think we only get about 6 hours of good daylight every day.  Strange.  At least we’ve had a lot of blue sky so far when it is light.  We like that.  We were expecting way more gray skies and rain.  Lucky.

A Peaceful Moment

Posted by tokenhippygirl on December 22, 2010
Posted in: LiFe, Music, The U.K., Travel. Tagged: , , , , , , . 2 comments

This is something I wrote on the plane ride over to the U.K. a couple of weeks ago.  Tried to post it when we landed and couldn’t, then with all the business of getting here and such I forgot about it, until today.  I re-read it, liked it a lot, and so am posting it now.  It’s relevent, anytime really….

December 10, 1:20 AM, Pacific time

Sun coming up over the Atlantic.  Traveling in this plane, just having woken up from a nap laying across two seats and Karen (a miracle in and of itself).  Taking pictues with my phone out the window and listening to the Hip (80) playlist on the ipod on my phone. Bose quiet canceling headphones on.  The world is a beautiful place.

I’m having one of those moments… So filled with gratitude and wonder and love.  So much love I feel like this smaller body of mine might not be able to hold it all in.  Overflowing out of me as teardrops falling down my face.  It’s so quiet in here right now. All these people sleeping, watching the movie or listening to their own music.  All these people going somewhere…. To see someone they love, like we are, or to see somewhere new, or just making the journey home.  And here we all are together, on this plane winging our way across the Atlantic as the sun comes up. I’m listening to Good Life right now, and it really is a good good life.  Thank you thank you thank you thank you….

Getting Ready for England

Posted by tokenhippygirl on December 8, 2010
Posted in: Family & Friends, Leukemia, Travel. Tagged: , , , , . 5 comments

Just got a call from my doc’s office with the numbers from the blood draw yesterday.  All were really good, except my white count was 3.2.  That number isn’t bad at all in and of itself, but it puts it in the range where my maintenance dose is reduced to half.  This has happened a couple of times before, which is why my blood is monitored every week… if my white count falls into a certain range it’s an automatic reduction.  Anyway…. my doc has decided to leave me at the half dose during the time I’m in England, since this reduction in white count has happened before.  This makes it easier for us while we are there so we don’t have to worry about whether the counts are over that reduction edge.  The protocol calls for reduction to half anyway if this happens a few times.  My guess though is that when we return he will probably increase me to the full dose again.  I’ll also be on another 15 day round of ATRA starting the day after we get back.  But that’s then… for now we are getting it all ready.  We will go in today so I can get the shot and also will be picking up all the meds (the shot meds for the month, enough pills for the month, and then refills of other meds for me to take in case I need them… ambien, etc.).

I’m starting to get excited….. we are actually going to be able to go.  I’m actually going to be able to go!!!  Woo Hoo!!!  I’m crying right now… life is so beautiful!!

Three Days and… Crazy Around Here

Posted by tokenhippygirl on December 6, 2010
Posted in: Family & Friends, Travel. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a Comment

This has been a busy day, already.  Karen was waiting for her new phone, which didn’t come.  Come to find out delivery was attempted at her old work address, which shouldn’t have happened.  After many emails and calls we found out it was at the Fedex facility over by the airport, so in we went.  She now has her new phone, though we haven’t activated it yet or set it up.  That is for tomorrow.  Yay for the Blackberry Torch.  We hope.

In other news… we also haven’t gotten another package containing Christmas gifts from Old Navy, which was also delivered to her old work address.  She hasn’t been there in what??? a few years?  I don’t even know.  So it got sent back to Old Navy and was supposed to be overnighted back to us at the house in time for us to take it with us this Thursday when we fly… we will see if it gets here.  She just got off the phone with them and they didn’t really know what was going on.

And… in the bigger news I guess…. seems there’s an issue with me getting my shot at the particular clinic we thought we were going to get it at.  It’s more complicated than anticipated.  We may be traveling to Manchester every week for a blood draw and injection with a private pay oncologist there.  We don’t know yet.  Karen is getting up tomorrow at 6:00 to try and work something out with someone.  It’s a blood draw and a shot that takes less than a minute to give me.  Hope we get this worked out tomorrow.  It’s causing a tad bit of anxiety.  Good news is that we are going and we will make this happen one way or another.  AT least we have nearly a week there before I’m supposed to have the next blood draw and shot (I have a blood draw tomorrow here and a shot on Wednesday here this week).

We have lists made up of stuff to buy before we go (not that much now… vitamins and such) and lists of stuff we can’t forget to take…. I will be happy when we are on the plane to Chicago.  Then it’s what it is…. and we are on our way to see the kids and that grandson of ours!  Woo Hoo!  Christmas and New Years in Britain.  Fun fun!!