Odds and Ends

A few of my favorite pics from this summer...

The summer is over despite the fact the heat drones on here in Tejas. School started today and as my big 5th and 10th grader go off to their respective schools, once again I am left to reflect on my wanderings and what I bring to the table afterwards. It's easy for me to be inspired when I am surrounded by beauty, nature, friends, family. The true test is to find that same inspiration in my daily life. In the shlepping, the cleaning, the laundry. When I find myself daydreaming I end up missing the here and nows...the good stuff!

So to all my 'good stuff'...I am keeping my eyes wide open.

later, rob

Rocky Mountain High

We left LA and had a short layover in Flagstaff. Dani and I spent the morn biking and Garrett walked around the town. We drove thru the 4 corners and headed to Pagosa Springs where Cathy's folks have a summer home. We had a couple of great days with the grandparents. The kids fished a bunch with Gramps which was just a hoot. We had a great competition going and apparently Dani is a chip off the ol' block and fishes like her Mama used too! Garrett on the other hand :)

We also did our usual picnic at Williams Creek Reservoir with the traditional ice cream after and new this year, tubing along the Piedra River which runs through town. All in all it was a great visit (as you can tell by the Gman's teenage face :) )

We plowed on home with a lunch stop at Michael's Kitchen in Taos which served some bitchin' green chile stuff! On and on we drove as temps climbed from the 60's to Texas' toasty 100's.

We arrived home to find Cathy, a fabulous chicken curry dinner and our own comfy beds!

later, rob

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