The Happiest Place on Earth

Two words... Griddle Cafe! Jan, the kids and I went to the Griddle on Friday for lunch. This place makes ridiculous pancakes...crazy pancakes, pancakes that even Garrett cannot finish. Dani had some 'Teachers Pet' pancakes made with cinnamon apples and the Gman had the "Yellow Brick Road' pcakes made with butterscotch and caramel. The girls had breakfast tacos which are a rare find here in the land of California-Mex. The whole experience was enhanced because we enjoyed it in one of the back, velvet rooms.

After, we all headed to Venice beach and spent the afternoon walking along the shops. We called it an early night because of the 5 am wake up Disney call.

Up at 5, out the door by 6 and to Disney by 7 on Saturday morn! Because of Dave's master planning we had ridden Star Tours, Space Mountain, The Little Mermaid Ride and Toy Story by 11 am. A second ride on Star Tours and lunch by 1! The afternoon we bounced between Disney and California Adventure, had dinner at the Wine Trattoria, saw the World of Color show at 10 then wrapped up with a few more attractions, shopping and late night coffee so we could make the drive home.

Right now we are enjoying coffee and Maddie's Bitchin' Blueberry Muffins! We are back on the road today and headed towards Flagstaff.

later, rob

LA Live

Yesterday? The best day ever! We had promised Dani that she could get her ears pierced when she was 10. So Jan found a place next to her hair salon that would do it and the whole family went along for support. After, we went across the street for a celebratory donut.

Remember those shoes that I had been hunting for since last summer? Well guess what? They are made in Burbank, California! So the troops all headed to Cydwoq where, after about an hour I picked the style of shoe, the leather I wanted and the address to ship them to...sweet! The kids were amazingly patient.

After what was already shaping up to be the best day after, we headed to Portos, an LA institution. Oh man oh man! The place is a Cuban style deli on one side and a bakery on the other side. We had sandwiches, plantains, desert, mashed potato balls and more. It was a real LA treat!

Fat and happy we grabbed the subway downtown and off we went to the Grammy Museum, my personal favorite. Several hours later the kids dragged me out of the first room, through the rest of the museum and to the Lucky Strike where we waited for Dave to pick the kids up and had drinks and appetizers.

Dave went off with all the kids (thanks Dave!) and Jan and I started the evening at the Ritz Carlton with Martinis and Sushi. Then a subway ride, a rather long urban walk and we arrived at our true destination...Umami Burger. Good god I love this place. Last year the burger brought tears to my eyes. This year I didn't cry but it was just as yummy.

As if we weren't happy enough, Jan and I swung by the Stout bar after Umami. I scored some local brews and Jan and I stayed up past the last subway chatting happily away. A short taxi ride and we were home, sleepy, satisfied and united!

later, rob

In and Out and In and Out

We had a fun day yesterday! After shmoozing in the morning we headed over to In and Out burger for lunch. In and Out is a burger chain that is only in the So Cali/ Arizona area and is pretty yummy. Afterwards we walked around Ventura for a bit before catching the Pooh movie...I love Pooh! Then everyone helped me find jammy bottoms since I apparantly left mine in Oregon!


We walked to Hugos Tacos last night for dinner and Maddie made her bad ass choco chip cookies for desert.

We are off for more LA fun in the sun today!

later, rob

Voodoo Hoodoo

I split Seattle last Wednesday and headed down to Oregon. I spent the day in Portland messing around on the 40 mile bike trail that goes around the city. I stopped at Voodoo Donuts and was rewarded with some pretty funky choices after waiting in line for about 45 minutes! I had dinner at Amnesia Brewpub and then drove down to Eugene.

My plan was to backpack the smaller 35 mile loop around the three sisters range before picking up the Gman. I swung by the Ranger station and found out once again because of the snow alot of the trails were still buried. Nevertheless, I threw my ice axe on my pack and away I went... until about mile 8, at which point the trail eluded me. I had been having trouble keeping track of it but by mile 8 it vanished. After some deliberation I figured it was probably smarter to turn around then risk getting lost. So my day turned out to be a long day hike with a heavy pack :)

There is a special secret place along the Mckenzie River that bike dude told me about last year...only bike dude must have told several folks because I can only get the spot some times since there seems to be folks there quite often. I scored the campsite on Thursday night after my failed attempt to do the Three Sisters loop. It was a lovely night, the food was fresh from kiva, the beer fresh from Eugene!

The next morn I decided to head to Bend to do some mtn biking! I wasn't gonna' make the shlepp but seriously, I couldn't help myself. I picked up the trail map at REI and then spent the afternoon on Phil's trail, After, I went to the Deschutes tavern. The tavern is pretty cool because Deschutes brew masters make beers they serve here that never go to bottling. So I had a King Screamer IPA which you can never get in Austin and an Elk burger that was soooooooooooo delish! After, I went to this shoe store (boutique) to find these shoes I had seen last year that I really, really wanted. Of course I should have bought them last year because I have not been able to find them since. And, they didn't have them this year!

I spent the night on the river again and woke up to rain. I hit one of the Eugene bakeries before heading to NYC to pick up Garrett. NYC graduation was entertaining, the stories were really funny. It was the Gman's bday on Saturday and we got a room in Medford and pizza from the local pizza joint to celebrate.

We made our way down to Oakland on Sunday to hang with the fam. Monday I picked Dani up who had flown by herself into SFO and we all went to see the new Harry Potter movie. We made our way even further south into LA yesterday and we are hangin' with the Sloans for the next couple of days...yee ha! In and Out for lunch, Hugo Tacos for dinner and lot's more in store....

later, rob

Seattle Times

I left Gayla on Monday and headed to Trent and Tony's to hang for a couple of days. We headed to Serious Pie for dinner, a Tom Douglas restaurant. We started off with a baby lettuce salad with a simple vinaigrette and a tuscan melon, cypress grove chevre, pistachios salad. We then moved onto the pizza! We had the soft egg, house lardo, beacon hill arugula pizza as well as the sweet fennel sausage, roasted peppers, provolone pizza. Both were good but we all agreed the greens on the egg pizza (which by the way you can put an egg on anything and I will adore it!) needed to be salted or lightly dressed. I washed it all down with a schooner exact gateway golden ale, a local beer of course.

Aftrewards, Trent and I went out to Capitol Hill and he took me to the bar that Nirvana used to play at when they were just a regular ol' grunge band.

Yesterday Trent and I went for a bike ride around Union Lake and had lunch at one of the many bakeries in the area. A few chores and a nap in the afternoon and then we walked to dinner at Ravish, a small plate restaurant. We opted for the flank steak skewers, the beet salad and the baked brie with apples and caramel. Trent had a cocktail called Greyhound and I had a gimlet that was made with cucumbers, basil and lime, really delish! We drove over to whole foods last night and I stocked up on some food for the road trip today and scored some of Fran's salted caramels...he he he

I am off today back down to Oregon and making my way to the Gman and whatever fun along the way!

later, rob

Around the world in eighty days...

We took off last Wednesday from our friend Maury's house outside of Seattle and headed to the North Cascades. Originally we had a loop hike planned outside of Stehekin but the heavy snow year and late summer thaw had caused us to change our plans since the ice axe, crampons and falling to your death thing didn't appeal to us so much this year. We picked up our permit at the ranger station in Marblemount, graciously declined the bear canisters they recommended and headed off. Here is a recap of our adventure!

Day 1

beautiful hike along thunder creek

campsite (Macalaster) high above

finding a tree strong enough to hold gaylas snack pack (for bear bagging)

Day 2

uphill hike

first icy cold ford

rainy campsite (Cosho)

32 piles of bear poop on the trail (we counted!)

finding a tree strong enough to hold gayla's snack pack

Day 3

sleeping in 'cause it was below freezing

day hike into thunder basin-awe inspiring!

snowy!

hoping the same tree was strong enough to hold gayla's snack pack

Day 4

Skagit Queen campsite

land of the upside down Seuss trees

land of the weird claw like trees

finding a tree strong enough to hold gayla's snack pack

Day 5

early morn day hike to Park Creek Basin

later day backpack to Tricouni

lovely campsite with trees strong enough to hold gayla's snack pack

Day 6

hike out to Colonial Creek

lot's of day hikers

beautiful flowers starting to wake up

Of course there is tons I forgot already but really my backpacking trips are about living in the moment, living simply, living focused. I once again am ever grateful to my friend Gayla for giving me guidance, laughter & a warm body at night :)

later, rob

Yankee Doodle Dandy

Trent, Tony and I had breakfast on Monday morn at the house then took a walk to the local Whole Foods. I was paralyzed for awhile in front of the local beer selection and finally decided on a couple of yummy local brewskis and some sushi for lunch. Trent went all out later and made me feel right at home by making guac, pineapple pico, salsa and green chili chorizo tacos which we enjoyed with the neighbors watching fireworks.

Tony left for NY this morn and Trent and I went to breakfast at Toulouse Petit. I had the cured pork cheeks confit hash and Trent had Spicy Creole Shrimp, eggs and grits. Aftre we ran some errands, went to Pike Place and I took off around 5:30 for Maury and my friend Gayla. We are off in the morn for another backpacking trip, this time up to the North Cascades.

until next week...rob

The Three Muskateers

I spent the late afternoon/early evening with Gman and his 2 Texas buds on Saturday. They all looked healthy and relatively clean for being in the woods for 2 weeks. Garrett likes his crew this year but unfortunately can't stand his crew leader...a case of the ' be careful what you ask for'! That boy has such a problem with certain types of adults. How to teach a 14, almost 15 year old that he will continue to have these lessons presented until he 'gets it'?

I left the boys and plowed onto Portland. After some great coffee and a pastry made with yummy Washington cherries at Pearl's Bakery. I found Tabor Park which I tooled around in on my bike then headed for Grain and Gristle which I had read about in last month's Food & Wine. The place is a total locavore hangout as they only serve beers, wines and foods from the area. I ordered these potatoes that were sliced super thin and held together with a light cream and house made bacon that I washed down with a Reggae Junkie Gruit from Upright Brewing. After, I made my way to Hopworks Urban Brewery to try the newly released Evelyn's Sunshine beer.

Fat and happy I wrapped the day up with the drive to Seattle to hang with my close friends, Tony and Trent who had moved up there from Dallas last fall. We had local pizza and beer for dinner and ten went back to their fabulous pad to watch the new Kathy Griffin special.

Today we are off for some good ol' fashioned Seattle fun and some 4th of July party's tonight!

later, robvn

Summer Breeze

fall leads to winter, winter to spring and now...summer!

We kicked off the summer with our usual Too Cool weekend at camp eagle. Then a lazy, hot summer ensued. Dani had swim team, Garrett lazed around until he took off for Oregon again. Cathy's sister and fam finished their year long Argentinian journey with a stopover in Austin, Dani and I rocked the Urban Assault Ride and I took off for the Pacific Northwest again (currently hanging there now).

I am in Eugene today getting ready to visit the Gman and his 2 Texas compadres. Stopped at a pretty freaking' good bakery and picked up some treats for the boys. Had an amazing day yesterday when I stopped in Santa Rosa for a mountain bike ride and then a trip to the Russian River Brewery, my all time favorite beer (Pliny) in the world that sadly, you can't get in Texas.

will update after the visit with the Texas Trio today :)!

Flash___Back

It would take too long to try and wade through the last year so I will do my best to recap. Suffice to say it was busy, relatively healthy and adventurous.

Fall: highlights of the fall for me consisted of a very difficult expedition race in the Mojave, an amazing NY trip for my 30th HS reunion, the Gman beginning high school, Dani's soccer progress.

Winter: xmas, of course. 2nd place at The GUR which enabled us to qualify for nationals in the fall, snow days in Austin.

Spring: a truly incredible week up in Big Sky/Yellowstone, Cathy taking Dani to Argentina, Momo's visit


more to come...