dubois to ontario

Today was a lot better. I started off the day with a latte in Dubois. It was the first latte that I've had in weeks and I was so grateful. After I got some breakfast, we left town and went to drive through the Tetons. I could see it was raining in the distance but that also made for a beautiful rainbow pictured below.

While going by the Tetons, I stopped a lot and let Ava run. I also pulled up next to some Bison and got some pictures. After the Tetons, we cruised through Idaho, backtracking somewhat to return the battery charger I bought on the way out at Idaho Falls. We hit the Craters of the Moon and ended up going through Boise during rush hour. Poor planning but I got to our hotel at Ontario just after 6.

Three years ago, Dean and I stopped at Craters of the Moon and ended up here at the Ontario Inn. I didn't realize it when I booked it but as soon as I saw the dog area in the back, I knew we were here before. The Inn's nice enough but I was hungry and unable to find any good veggie options as I walked around town. I walked the other way from the Inn and ended up at a place called Bargitas. I waited while they made my burrito while Ava was tied up outside barking. They're kind of a fast food place but serve margaritas. I wanted one so bad but couldn't drink while Ava barked. I cannot wait to get her home so I can get a little space.

home stretch

 

Due to our setbacks yesterday, I had to switch routes and take the less scenic I80 into Nebraska just to shave off an hour or two of what was still an 11 hr ride. I was disappointed and could have kept with the original plan and stayed another night in a hotel but I didn't want to spend the money. Staying in Jackson was expensive and I still had to pay for the room I had reserved in Riverton. Plus, on the way through Wyoming today I got a ticket going through a town so I was all about pushing through to make it to my parents' place by the end of the day.

We stopped at this charming scenic view just north of Colorado on I-80 where Ava got to run free for a bit. My car started this morning and didn't give me any more issues throughout the day. Hopefully, it will be fine going back and we can run on a leisurely schedule because 11 hrs is a bit much.

I don't like driving through the country at night (I'm afraid of hitting deer) so I wasn't too happy that not only was it night when I got within 30 miles of my destination but it also started raining and my driver's side wiper needs to be replaced. >:( But we made it!

travels & tribulations

 

So, things haven't gone so smoothly today but I'm still glad I'm on vacation.

I woke up this morning after probably the worst night at a hotel I've ever had to a dead car. When I exited my car last night, the car started dinging before I locked the door like I hadn't turned off the lights or the key was still in the ignition. I gave it a once over and determined that nothing was amiss. Well, fortunately, my insurance comes with free roadside assistance so I used them to come jump-start my car.

It set Ava and I back a little bit as far as time goes but only 30 minutes so we were fine. We headed into Twin Falls, Idaho for gas and then stopped at this scenic view pictured on the top above quick to let her potty and to take some pictures. While I was holding the phone above the chainlink fence for a pic, I fumbled with it and it fell on the other side of the fence onto a small cliff. I wasn't quite sure how to handle it and thought initially about jumping over fence but could envision myself falling down the canyon and Ava being left alone. I thought about walking around the fence but that would involve walking back on the other side along a small cliff in parts. Then I tried pulling back the bottom of the fence to reach the phone. I ended up pushing the fence forward and reaching it that way.

I stopped again in Snake River Valley scenic overlook and let Ava run around off-leash. It's a beautiful view a lil off the highway with very little traffic. We took a little too much time to enjoy it though because when I got back to my car, the battery was again dead. This meant another hour wait but it was a great view, there was water at the rest stop, and plenty of shade. I was slightly perturbed by being behind my schedule but I came for the adventure and I wasn't going to sweat it.

I didn't want it to keep happening though, especially as I was now going to be going through national forests so I turned back and headed 30 miles the wrong way to Idaho Falls to get it checked out. The awesome folks at Quick Lane Tire and Auto Center figured out it was just a missing washer or something on the battery cable and fixed it free of charge which was awesome because I was in for more expenses.

This delay put me more than three hours behind and there was no way I was going to go through 2 or more national parks at night while already sleepy and roll into a Rodeway Inn in Riverton at 11pm. Instead, I went stopped at Jackson and paid a lot more for a room at the 49er Inn but it was their last room and it's dog-friendly. I purposely tried to not be in Jackson because of the cost and the tourists but this was the hand that I was dealt today. It's still all better than being at work. Adventures!

looking onward

 

I've done the drive back to Nebraska a handful of times. Normally when I do it, I'm taking vacation time so I do it in two days which means at least 12 hrs of driving in a day. However, since I have four weeks off and am only planning on being in Nebraska for two weeks, we have a little more time. I don't want to spend too much time on the road tho so we're doing in in three days, averaging 8 hrs per day. This means we get to make lots of stops along the way.

Today, we started our journey and had the destination of Mountain Home, Idaho as our goal. The picture above is a scenic view outside of Pendelton. Ava's doing good in the car but I want to make sure she has ample time outside of the car each day so I want to stop at every marked scenic view and as many parks as possible along the way. 

After this scenic view, we stopped at Farewell Bend State Park where she got to swim in a pond quick to chase ducks. It was pretty and she got some good off-leash time. We also made good time getting to Mountain Home. All of this was new to me, including eating at Frankie's Burgers which had a gardenburger option.

The only problem so far is that I forgot my pillow (which is actually one of Andrew's pillows). I woefully realized this as I stepped into our motel room and saw their lousy, square, flat excuses for pillows. So my new thing was also ordering a pillow thru Amazon to be delivered to my parents' house.

derby day 2015

We went to the Portland Adult Soap Box Derby today. This is my second year attending it. Last year, we brought Ava which turned out to be too much for us and her. This year, we brought a flask which was a much better idea.

This year, we didn't move around either which made it much more relaxed. We just sat back and watched the cars go by. I filmed a lot of them in slo-mo on my iPhone which made it easier afterwards to really appreciate the cars. Most of them went by more than once so I was able to enjoy it outside of my iPhone as well. My favorites were the Spaceballs RV, Ecto 1, Steampunk R2D2, the Duff Balloon, and the Racing Snail, shown in the movie above. My new thing was getting Duffed by the Duff Balloon. In the video below, you'll notice that the balloon was spraying. With six of us sitting there on the sidelines watching, I was the one that got all of the spray. It was shocking but very enjoyable.

What else?

Since we weren't taking Ava to the derby, we took her to coffee, brunch, two parks, and a pet store first. At one of the parks (actually a school yard), we met Moby who is a St Berdoodle. I have never met a St Bernard/poodle mix but he was huge, adorable, and full of energy. He and Ava got along splendidly!

I also finished Armada, Ernest Cline's follow-up novel to Ready Player One. It wasn't a sequel but it was similar in theme and pop culture references. I would recommend it.

On Friday, my new thing was trying the Kale Salad at Fressen. It was okay.

duty calls

On a weekend in August in Portland, there is any number of fun things to do. The rain is gone, the heat settles down and the days become our reward for putting up with the rough year-round weather. For example, on this weekend, they're holding the soapbox derby on Mt Tabor near my house. I've been invited by a handful of different people to attend with them but duty calls.

My friend Jen from Country Fair has a five year old son named Sam. Earlier this year, Sam was diagnosed with brain cancer. He's been in the hospital for months now undergoing chemo. While he's in good hands in Doernbecher's Children's Hospital, his mom has been with him the whole time and they will be facing a lot of bills when they get out so my friend Stacie organized a yard sale for this weekend to help raise funds for him.

It began early in North Portland this morning so I had to wake up earlier, load up last minute donations on my bike, and head up there but it was all totally doable and I was glad to do it to help out. Cancer is such a daunting disease and there's nothing I can do about that but I could help in this way. I got there this morning, set some stuff up and helped manage the rush that followed shortly after we opened. A lot of awesome people donated, including the widow of a guy who owned a whole lot of new and nice athletic wear. Two of the first guys to come to the sale were THRILLED and bought a lot of it up before we really had time to research the value. However, they also gave us some tips on what to price some of the other items so it all worked out. In one day, we made around $800 and there's still another day of sale to go!


If you'd like to donate to Sam's fund, here's a link to a site that was set up to help raise money for him. Thank you in advance.

Even if they hadn't needed help at the yard sale, another friend needed help cleaning out her house that she is selling since she was recently widowed. It can be a shitty world sometimes but it's nice to have friends that will pitch in and help out. Plus these hard times remind us to remember and value the good times.

What else?

 A good number of people showed up in the early afternoon to help out at the yard sale so I was able to leave a little bit early. I managed to get home and have enough time to walk Dean up to Mt Tabor quick to catch the very end of the soap box derby. Apparently, Sophia and Jen took him up to the derby last year so I was happy to be able to keep his tradition. I wish I could have seen more of it but there's always next year. I don't regret a bit of today.

16 hours and 1159 miles later

I am so frazzled.

I took off from the Ontario Inn at around 10am. The Inn was very dog-friendly, complete with a large fenced-in area in the back for dogs to run and poop. Then I started on my trek.

Thank the gods for audio books because I would have been bored to tears otherwise. I thought about the adage that it's about the journey and not the destination so I decided to do one touristy thing on my drive and stop at the Craters of the Moon. I've only been there once before when I drove out to Portland to move there in August of 2002. It's just as large and desolate as I remembered but I didn't have a lot of time to stop. I started to figure the mileage and how long it would take me and realized I could make it to my parents house but it would be at 2am. I forgot about the time zone change too so it was actually going to be closer to 3am. I think I could have shaved off an hour or two if I had just drove the interstate the whole time but that's so dull.

 The Craters of the moon was my only leisurely stop. Other than that, I only stopped for gas, at which time I would grab a snack and let Dean out to go to the bathroom, stretch his legs and drink some water. He seems to like traveling but I wish he'd eat more on the road. Part of the motivation for making it home and not stopping again for a motel was just to get him settled in a spot again.

When we arrived home, he jumped out of the car into the humid 73 degree weather in the wee hours of the morning. He ran through the sprinklers and then ran into my parents' house and into their bedroom. I was so relieved to be done that all I could do was laugh at his ridiculous nature. It's good to be back.

must like adventures

If I was to list the traits desirable in a partner, a sense of adventure would definitely rank high. Yesterday, when we walked around the Octopus Tree, I suggested we keep going. On our adventurous hike, I found an even less taken path and it led us to overlook an amazing cliff. Andrew mentioned that he liked my desire to explore. Today, it was his turn.

It rained most of this weekend. Today was our first day of clearish skies. We took Dean on the beach and there was a door in the side of the cliff on the beach. I didn't think much about it but Andrew headed to it and Dean followed. I expected them to have just found a service tunnel (?) or something but then they didn't come back for a while. When I went to find them, I saw that the doorway was manmade tunnel that connected to a more natural tunnel a little less than halfway through the cliff. The tunnel lead to another beach. The other beach wasn't that amazing but the journey was fun. It reminded me of the going through the bookcase at Circa 33. Just fun for the sake of adventure.

What else?
We also decided to try a cafe, Brewin in the Wind for brunch. It was great to find a vegetarian friendly, funky brunch place in little Oceanside!

Also, we had to clean the sheets and linen there and fold them afterwards so we had a lot of time to lay around in the sun on the porch after our beach walk. Sigh, this weekend went too quickly...

the octopus tree

Today, I went to see the Octopus Tree near the lighthouse at Cape Meares which I visited three years ago. The tree was amazing (I can't believe I missed it last time) and afterwards we went around to explore the park, looking over cliffs. It was slightly rainy which made for an enchanting atmosphere.

What else?
We also went to Tillamook where we got cocoa at Muddy Waters, perused the Tillamook Farmer's Market, listened to a blue grass band while playing cards and having a beer at the 2nd St Public Market, went back to the house quick, had an awesome mushroom enchilada at La Mexicana in Tillamook, had a mediocre drink in a dive bar in Netarts called the Upstairs Bar and then walked on the beach in an everlasting twilight at Oceanside. Busier than yesterday but still as enjoyable. 

the portland pride pups of 2012

Andrew and I attended the Pride Parade this year. It was my first year watching it with a boyfriend. I also don't think I've sat through the whole thing before. It was LONG! I realized when looking at my many pictures, I took a lot of the dogs in the parade which shouldn't surprise anyone who's read this blog for any length of time.

However, the highlight of the parade for me was getting a bear hug, pictured below and the Gay is Good contingent. Here's some non-canine pride pics:

What else?
For my thing, Andrew and I drank at the Living Room Theater which is right next to the Red Cap Garage pride block party. I felt like I should go to the block party since I knew Sharron Needles from RuPaul's drag race was going to be there but then I just couldn't bring myself to go. I was too exhausted and didn't want to deal with crowds. Misanthropy wins out.

on the edgefield

 

I took a break from Pedalpalooza today and went...for a bike ride. Andrew and I headed out to Edgefield for the day since I've never really spent time there. I've ate there quick with Ashes and Victory on the way back from the Gorge and I went there for Vampire Weekend a while ago but I've never just relaxed there. It's like a real vacation getaway. There's Scottish Golf Courses, a number of places you can get a drink, and a nice campus to walk around. I'd like to come back on a weekday sick day and just hang out when it's not so busy.

fireworks: man vs nature

The Rose Fest fireworks show happened tonight. Andrew and I went down there with Victory and Ashes. It was Andrew's first time going to see them. We went really close to the water's edge and watched them without many other people around. I think a lot of people were scared off because there was a thunderstorm just a few hours earlier. Those are so rare here that I bet a lot of people just stayed indoors. It was my first thunderstorm in Muffin HQ. I hope we get more of them this year!

What else?
On Wednesday 5/23, we finished our accreditation process. I remember last time we were accredited, I was thrilled with the results. This year, I couldn't have really cared less. I don't think that it's a true survey or that we had to answer for much.

On Thursday, 5/24, Andrew and I went to the Caldera Pub House where I had the Tabor Salad for the first time! Sooooo good.

the romantic in me

A few months ago, I got an e-mail from PSU, saying they were selling discounted tickets to Cirque Du Soleil's Ovo. Going to Cirque Du Soleil has been an item on my to-do list ever since I first heard about them years ago so I decided I would go ahead and get two tickets...in the front row!

It just so happens that I got them for today on the one year anniversary of me and Andrew's first date. It was AMAZING. It's kind of like how I just didn't even bother putting it into words when I saw the ocean for the first time. It's just an event that's hard to describe. However, I'll give it some effort. The costumes immediately caught my eye as amazing. Bugs were the theme for Ovo and bugs never looked so fabulous. The athleticism was equally astounding and it was funny too. After the show, they set off a few air cannons filled with butterfly confetti. I felt a youthful bliss as I reached out and plucked a few of the yellow and orange and gold paper butterflies drifting in front of me.

He leaves town tomorrow for a couple of days so we lucked out that he didn't leave today. I had a Country Fair meeting in the afternoon but I proudly declared that I would be leaving early to celebrate my one year anniversary and I did. We took the MAX out there which made it pretty stress-free. Also, they prohibited photography (which they announced after I got the above picture) so I was able just to sit there without worrying about getting the perfect shot. Afterwards, we took Dean out to Circa 33. It was pretty much the perfect weekend.

Below are some publicity pictures from my favorite parts of the show. The Grasshopper/rock wall was outstanding!