Category Archives: Adventures

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Ambitious Driver

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California flew by us. We had to find a home. We did stop, of course, at various parts of the Redwood National Forest. It was out of season, but I have to tell you that even IN season, I don’t think that the park was even close to anything we saw in New Zealand. It didn’t seem very well organized. The signage was more about who donated money to preserve the trees than you learning anything. Boo.

The best part was the Avenue of Giants. Where you just drive surrounded by the giant tress. I also thoroughly enjoyed driving our car through a tree. Twice. My car enjoyed it too. It told me. It was nervous because it barely fit, but was excited once it was all over. Right.

Here are those pictures.

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NANO TOTAL: 1127 (extremely offensive) words.
NaBlo Day 2: Check.

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And We Were Gone To Oregon

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It was hard to leave. Literally, difficult. We had to cram all our things in the car (clothes hangers, I miss you, I’m sorry you couldn’t come). We had to clear out of the place and chit chat with the landlord. We had to have our last Seattle clam strips from the best pier with the worst service. Finally, after filling up the gas tank (which read permanently empty due to the weight of the car, hilarious) we got out of Seattle at about 2pm. Less than 2 hours later, I’m taking pictures of the bridge you cross to get into Oregon. The ride was beautiful. Oregon is amazing. Our only goal for the day was to explore Portland, so I could try to make MK love it even though I’d never been.

Every street was lined with trees. It was Seattle’s Pioneer Square, with younger bums and prettier scenery. We drove up and down every street and stopped for dinner near some college park area and sat out in the chill and enjoyed some coffee. Gorgeous.

As a reminder, the fires had already started at this point. To be brief about the issues, MK is also sometimes a realtor and knew well that as soon as insurance checks were written, people would be snatching up fire-free properties. We had planned to make a very, very leisurely trip down the coast, over a week or maybe even two. However, with the uncertainty of the traffic and condition of our destination, we agreed to get down there ASAP. That decision would pay off.

I wish we could have spent more time in Portland, but we were able to get as far as Eugene that night. I, for the first time ever, worked out in a hotel, not willing to skip any days on my Body for Life program. I think I rule. It was negative 1000 degrees in the morning and the car was miserable. So maybe I’m not moving to Oregon after all. Also, the gas is all full service in the entire state, which I think is silly. That’s your random information for the day.

Here are the Oregon pictures.

I’m pretty sure this blog has more crossing state line signs than I ever expected:

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Martinis And Corn Mazes

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What do you do with your extra special, last visitor? Why, the best stuff ever, of course. ND got to see all the staples: the library, Shorty’s, the Locks, and the city. But he also got a 7 mile walk through the parks and waterfront. He also got us up the Columbia Tower free. We got to go hunting fish and views, be nearly hit by a train, nearly crash a wedding, and all these fun new things. We had drinks at Tini Bigs and Hula Hula, and saw the Red Bull soapbox races from the comfort of a dry indoor table with MW and some Ohio State fans that let us know UT might’ve won had we been elsewhere (not sorry I missed that).

You might notice the pictures are fantastic, we put ND in charge. We ate well, drank better, and kept moving, the whole weekend. And yes, we literally found and paid money to wander through a giant corn maze. You only live once people.

Here are the pictures!

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One More Time

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Not that it will, by any means, be the last time, but it’s time for another
official announcement!

Our time in Seattle was amazing. KD, RD, LC, RD2, AC, NN, ND, Mom, Dad, MIL, and DW all came to visit us! We explored the city, took trips to Vancouver, the San Juan islands, the Olympics, Mount Rainier…

Six months is too short. There were so many adventures, and still so much we didn’t have time for. But, this is going to wrap it up for now. We’re moving next week again, this time to San Diego!

MK’s visited, and knows people there. I haven’t and don’t. Somehow, I ended up in charge of the trip. So I need some help. Anyone ever driven the entire CA coast? Have any suggestions? So far I know we’re stopping in Portland, and stopping to drive through one of those cut out Redwood trees! That’s all I’ve got, then it gets tricky. There are just so many options!!

We’re getting all packed up, and OF COURSE – I’m resending an open invitation to everyone I’ve ever met (and haven’t) – to come visit us there! I don’t know how long we’ll be on the road, we are looking at it as a little vacation. Hopefully I can find thestandin for you guys, she’s MIA these days…

road trip
www.roadtripusa.com

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Western Washington Weekend

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Last weekend MK took me on a great big drive from Seattle up into the Olympics. It was beautiful. The weather wasn’t great but the rain held off during the day and we were able to do some really great hikes. We stopped first at Lake Crescent, where FDR stayed when he made it a National Park. We did a short hike to the Marymere Falls.

We saw the Hoh Rain Forest, one of the few true temperate rain forests in the world.

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We hiked the famous Hall of Mosses Trail and the Spruce Nature Trail. There were just incredible trees and plant life everywhere. We had stopped at Rialto Beach but it was very wet and foggy – there’s a couple pictures of it, the black sand/rock was neat. We saw some sort of seal there…

We spent the night in fabulous Forks, at the motel. That in itself was an adventure…but it was a ‘quaint’ little town. The next day we drove out to the coast and started to really see some more beach. The second day was much clearer. Each beach is named something silly- most memorable were “Beach 1” through “Beach 4”. We made a ton of stops at each little place and made little walks to the water. It was beautiful everywhere.

Our last little hikes on the way out were to see the largest Cedar and Spruce trees in the WORLD!!! (or something). On our way back, we stopped in Olympia to say we’ve seen the capitol. I understand why no one lives there… *yawn*.

Here are the (obnoxiously too many) pictures.

And here’s my super high end map of our journey:

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Gone Fishing

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Rounding out my firsts from last week was the Giant Super Crazy Fishing Trip.
Not only did I learn how to make lures and tie and weight and bobber the whole operation (not that I could pass any sort of pop quiz), I learned the skill of acquiring dinner.
First, getting ready.

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You have to know how to tie fancy knots and find colors that fish are attracted to to make them go for the lures. A girl can handle that. Salmon like pink. That makes me laugh. Anyway, so we got the stuff all ready and went down to the beautiful river. We were in Monroe, an hour away from Seattle.

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We’re all fun and games until this little guy walks up and says hi and leaves, and it takes us a bit, but we realize HE STOLE OUR BAIT. MK went after him with a murderous look on his face but to no avail. We had more. But seriously, who does that? Punk.

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We changed spots (yes that is a plane in the background), got burgers, and started fooling around, giving up on the getting any fish part. This is me after I went fishing for the little baby fishies with a french fry.

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Then, NN notices Frank, who will forever be immortalized as “Guy we end up standing next to actually catching stuff and THROWING IT BACK”. He goes with a little of this “Man, I am here from AUSTIN and just can’t catch a fish…all I wanted was to eat some fish from this river tonight, this is my only chance…” just loud enough, Frank offers us a fish.

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Matter of fact, Frank is so cool he catches TWO (yes, Frank 10, Us 0) for us.

Then you learn how to kill a fish. Avert your eyes if you don’t want to know:

you bash them over the head with a rock. Eew.

That didn’t bother us though, we had dinner ready to go! Thanks, Frank.

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NN taught me how to clean the fish, also new to me. Then MP taught me how to marinate the fish. I made some rice and corn, and we went up to the roof with butter lemon garlic and teryaki salmon. Salmon is usually a little strong for my taste, but let me tell you, there is something about spending all day staring at a river full of fish and getting the guy next to you to make you feel like you caught it that makes it great.

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UPDATE: Here’s the link to the video of ‘catching’ a fish.

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Breakin’ The Law

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Shh, don’t tell anyone, but last week another adventure of ours was checking out Snoqualmie Falls. I mentioned it once before (click here for that post). This time the weather was much better, and we did the hike to the bottom, and jumped the fence, right next to the big sign that said don’t jump the fence, and walked down to the water. I wasn’t too worried, there were a ton of other conspirators down there. It was amazing. It cleared out after a while and MK and NN noticed an abandoned raft. So, what else do you do but jump in it in the water, the most totally inappropriate thing possible. The guys both floated around in the water for a while, I sat and laughed the whole time. In theory, a 5$ plastic boat at the bottom of falls taller than Niagara may seem crazy but it was in fact, awesome.

We took a ton of pics, here’s the link to some.

There are also four pictures from the top of the Columbia Center, which I also mentioned before, here’s that post.

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Didn’t Even Use My AK

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So one event in our super duper fun week was that we went and shot guns. They actually have ‘Ladies Night’ over at Wade’s Shooting Range… all that sounded to me was unsafe.

(Tangent – Wade’s? In TX, it was Red’s. Are all gun ranges owned by guys with cool hilarious first names?)

I had never ever shot a gun before. As opposed to the people we went with, that brought their own. Fancy guns too. We had Thai for dinner first. That’ll rev you up- or something.

The guys there basically showed me how to load and cock the thing. And the rest, well, I was supposed to figure out myself. That was a little strange to me. MK and NN and MP were all there to guide me, but the first 9mm that I shot scared the crap out of me. Then the second time, the shell fell down my shirt. Those are hot. I also realized I kept closing my eyes and freaking out a little. So I stopped. I felt like a giant wuss. MK went to get me a smaller caliber gun. NN decided to let me shoot a bigger gun. I did it. It was hilarious to see MK come back with a .22 (smaller gun) and I’m in there shooting a .45 (bigger gun). He was confused.

For whatever reason, the .45 was much easier to shoot. Less kickback or something. The best part was getting the body target. NN drew a mean face and made it so the ‘body’ was giving us the finger, so I would hit it. I actually got the guy right in the heart, over and over…and over. I was a pretty good shot with the little gun.

Other than that, what I learned was that every woman (and man for that matter) should go shoot a gun, in case they might ever need to, so they don’t freak out in a real life situation. I kept imagining real life situations where I’d be shooting – much to the dismay of the hardcore mean chick that kept rolling her eyes at me. She apparently shoots for ‘recreation’. Whatever. I shoot to LIVE lady.
😉

This is me shooting:

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This is the other big gun I shot:

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This is the giant gun I did NOT shoot:

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Viva Mexico

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It always takes a week for me to get around to my travels, mainly trying to bug MK to get the pictures to me, since he is in the habit of hiding the camera cords. It rained and stormed almost every night we were there, which was great, as it made the days clear and cool, with just enough cloud cover to relax under, and a nice breeze to keep the heat and humidity at bay.
I needed this trip. It was great family time with MK’s step mom, dad, brother, brother’s gf (Potential Sister In Law?) and little step sister. They are such a fun bunch, and any time we spend together is for learning and laughing, penucle and partying.

We had great meals every day and night, and played ping pong, tennis, shuffleboard, and volleyball. One of my favorite things was painting with KK, and the place glazed and fired the things we made, for the perfect self made souvenir. Check out my little jar:

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Looks professional, doesn’t it? I had a little help.
Our place was the top floor penthouse with a great view, a private hot tub, grill, and chairs and tables. Our room was huge. There were four bedrooms and a giant lower level. You can see the marble floors and staircase in the pictures. We traveled into the town and down the beach, and even to the Mazatlan Aquarium, which was interesting.

Here are the pictures!

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And We Danced

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So, I went to that dance class the other night. It was a small studio near Greenlake. With no air. What is it with these people? They tell me it’s not that hot, then we’re all sweaty and gross. Right. MK thought I must have danced like crazy. I couldn’t tell if I got any exercise or was just too hot.

We warmed up. A lot. It was kind of fun to be able to do all the sit ups and push ups and such, something I wouldn’t have been able to do a while back. But that was enough. Then we stretched, and flexed, and stretched to music… I understand they don’t want you to hurt yourself but maybe it should be your responsibility to limber up a few minutes before you get there. Because, when is the dancing? I got a little worried, it was getting late. You could tell we got rushed on time pretty quickly. We learned an 8 count for about 15 minutes, then one more for 5, and then 16 counts practically walking out the door. I might remember a few moves. Maybe.

Don’t get me wrong, it was fun. It’s been, about.. 12 years since I did any formal dancing classes, which reminded me I’m clumsy! And I can’t catch on as easily as I used to! which all =

I’m getting older.

Ugh.

MW’s friend brought 4 girls so it was like being at home with a workout tape, not all that intimidating, but by the end I gave up trying to look like a hip hop dancer. And realized I haven’t been out to a dance club since Austin. And you lose your ability to shake your money maker. So I either don’t set foot in a club again, or I am going to look like “THAT LADY”. Yikes.

elaine dancing
www.ohiopike.com