Jun

25

Lil is Losing It

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Today we were driving down from Washington, back to Oregon, when Lil exclaimed, “Look! Corn!” I looked. It was a vineyard.

To be fair, she HAS done a lot of driving. We drove thru about a quarter of OR and the entire length of WA yesterday. By “we” I mean “Lil,” since I have done zero driving so far. I think maybe she’s worried about the fact that I’m on prescription pain killers, or maybe I’m doing such a good job as navigator that she doesn’t want to lose that. I’d just like to take this opportunity to mention that we have NO real maps, either. Just small maps from hotels and brochures. That makes everything even more of an adventure!

So I am chauffeured around until we stop, at which point I get out and shuffle around, sassing my driver and waiting for my next pill. I’m basically reenacting the last few years of Bradley’s life. Speaking of whom, something about this trip has made me miss him a lot. Maybe it’s seeing everyone and their brother out and about with their dogs, or being on the old laptop and seeing pictures of him I haven’t seen in a while. Whatever reason, he’s been on my mind a lot lately.

Tonight we are back in Oregon, where you are not allowed to pump your own gas. We’re in the same hotel and same room we had 2 nights ago. We have a partial view of the ocean and in the morning get to go visit the tide pools again, along with our little starfish and sea anemone friends. I bet they missed us!

Tomorrow, I think the plan is to head south on the coast (picture posted on my Twitter) and see what we can see of the sea!

Jun

23

Lil is like a Monster

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I will spare you the detailed accounts of the horrors to which I’ve been exposed during this trip, but this is a family-friendly blog. I’m kidding, except not really.

Today we traveled up the Oregon coast and all the way up Washington (traveling hint: if one of the first signs you see in a state is for Cape Disappointment, it will not be as awesome as Oregon). We saw coast, rain forest, mountains and wildlife.

I’m kidding, we’ve seen approximately ZERO wildlife. We have seen a bunch of trees, stumps and branches that kind of resembled various awesome animals (ie: elk, whales, abalone, a dead squirrel, a bear, a couple buffaloes). Actually, I saw a sea lion which looked to be dead or in the process of dying, but that’s about it on the wild animal front.

In case you’re wondering why these blog posts seem so stunted, I want to mention that I brought my old laptop along on the trip since it is smaller, lighter and more expendable. It’s missing the “O” and “I” keys, though, which is kind of a bummer when trying to type anything.

Jun

21

Portland! Day 2

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Today was a full day of tourism!

We started out by going to Portland to check out the International Rose Test Garden. It was very, very cool. Lots and lots and lots of roses. We went around and smelled them all and scowled at the ones which didn’t have much scent.


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After we got our fill of flowers, we headed into Portland and spent a while wandering around, looking for China Town. We found it, FINALLY, and had a delicious lunch which we scarfed down, famished after a full morning of casual sauntering and flower sniffing.

Afterwards we wanted to see some more of the countryside, so we headed out to the coast. That involved driving through the mountains which was exciting for a while.


The coast was pretty awesome, too.



Please note that I spared you from a picture of lots of pelicans standing about in their own filth.

Also, we saw 5 rainbows today! Honestly, it was a little excessive.

Speaking of excessive, our dinner was EXCESSIVELY delicious. We stopped at a coast town in a little shop and sampled their fresh brie cheese, mustards, jellies and BBQ sauces. We ended up going back and getting a VERY fresh wedge of peppercorn-crusted brie, a baguette straight from the oven and cherries from road-side stand. Lil positioned them for this beautiful picture:


Yum!

Jun

20

Puddle Jumping

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My sister Lil and I are out gallivanting in the great Pacific Northwest. We flew in today, which was my first time flying EVER. The trip to Washington was actually quite uneventful and not the least bit scary. We had a 3 hour layover in Seattle before getting on a “puddle jumper,” aka a small aircraft, and flying in to Portland. I didn’t like the small airplane at all, but luckily they did provide free beer and wine on the 1/2 hour flight. So, y’know, that goes a way to win me over.

Besides puddle jumping, I have not been doing any sort of even semi-athletic movements for the past fews days. Santana, aka “Mr. Mega Bucks,” decided to audition for the rodeo on Wednesday when I rode him. I hit the ground pretty hard, but after I got my breath back (from all the cursing), I got back on. Santana took the opportunity to do an encore performance as I was mounting, which served to reacquaint me with the ground. Uncharacteristic of him for sure, but such is life with horses. I think he’ll probably be going to a trainer soon to let them deal with whatever demons he has.

In the mean time, I’ve been hobbling about with a very sore hip and wrist and a scraped up arm and chin. It’s not exactly the worldly traveler image I was going for.

Jun

14

Horror of horrors!

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AGH! What I’m about to show you may make you pass out from the sheer nastiness.

Or you may get a thrill from it… If you’re a SICKO.


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WHAT is THAT?!

It is a torture device that some evil mastermind created so that EVERY brownie is an edge piece. In fact, almost every brownie has at least two edges.

What about those of us who like the delicious, soft, gooey inner pieces with no edges? Where is the pan for my people?

Jun

6

Various Thoughts, the punchy edition

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1) Sometimes I worry about people who shop at J. Crew. Sure, some things look classy and well-made, but then there’s stuff like this:


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That is what looks like a Hanes undershirt (the kind that comes in a 2 pack!) with a large dead squirrel draped over the shoulder. It costs $148. I think I could make a pretty good replica (I would even forgo the dead squirrel for something more attractive) for, oh, about $5. And I would sell it to you for $140. It’s a steal!

2) I also sometimes worry about people who go onto “What Not to Wear” and freak out about having their hair cut. Mostly because:
A) You’re getting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go on the show. Take some risks!
B) You’re getting, like, 5 MILLION DOLLARS (or thousand, whatever) to buy awesome clothes and get a professional makeover. Your hair is part of it, you knew that getting in, suck it up!
C) It’s hair. IT GROWS BACK.

3) Lil and I leave for Portland in under 2 weeks! I’ve been put at ease by the several hour-long special marathon of a tv show called “Crashes that Changed Flying,” news reports on the recent plane crash and Mom’s helpfully informative input on planes being TORN APART IN THE SKY.

4) Santana, aka “Destructo,” is maturing into a… well, let’s say “ornery” young adult. And by “ornery” I mean “he’s annoying the heck out of Mom.” I have yet to find a diary filled with angst ridden poetry in his stall, but that’s probably because he’s so busy destroying everything he can reach. Good thing he is so dang cute.


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5) La Cocina de Kalin has been thriving, thanks to a rotational food preparation scheme in which I participate with Mom, April and Lil. I cook supper for all of us on Tuesdays and so far I’ve made po’ boys, shepherds pie, empanadas, sloppy joes and tortellini, all of which have received rave reviews. I have to brag on this because I caught so much flack from people (April… Mom… Lil…) who didn’t actually believe I could cook. Unfortunately, cooking enough food for 14 exhausts me and so I never get around to taking pictures of my culinary masterpieces.