Monthly Archives: August 2014

We’re baaaaack!

image

The final route for the trip

 

We got back early Friday evening. Dorothy really had it right-there IS no place like home! I think all this traveling really made me not only appreciate our great home and family, but it made me look at friendships in a new way. Friendships need to be nurtured and respected and treated with love and care. Friends cheer each other on. They keep you moving forward. There is no room for envy or rudeness. There are times we need to ask ourselves am I being a good friend, and if not, why not…..

Since Rick will still be working some now that we are back, but not nearly as much as before we left, we will keep this blog going. I did pay to have it for an entire year, so if anyone is interested in checking out what we are up to or to read my lengthy ramblings, it will be here.

I thought that I might jot down a few last thoughts regarding our adventure.

It is not possible to eat three meals a day on a trip of this length. You will get fat. Rick gained no weight whatsoever, me 4 lbs…..they and some their friends will be gone VERY soon. Had we eaten three times a day, I can’t even imagine…..

Use the gyms in hotels. They will save your waistline.

Whenever we checked in to a hotel room I entered the room number in notes. Yes, with 61 rooms, in 73 days (1 day longer than Kim Kardashian’s last marriage), you can forget your room number…..awkward.

Talk to strangers! Pretty soon they are not strangers anymore, and they make the whole journey so much more interesting and fun!

Stay away from heavy rainstorms on freeways. They are no fun whatsoever.

If you are anywhere in the east, get an EZ Pass from the beginning. No one has that much change with them.

Stay away from Citgo gas stations. Unreliable restrooms and rudeness.

If you think you have a good relationship with your spouse before you take a trip like this, it will be tested, and if you are lucky, it will be even better afterwards. I am very lucky.

Laugh out loud whenever you can. Hug often.

Don’t take pepper spray to Canada. I believe I covered this topic in excess already.

Something else I covered in excess-use Priceline Express-it will save you tons!

Figure out how the heck to get rid of spam comments before your trip. I am looking at the comments symbol as I type, and since I haven’t logged on since Thursday there are 920. I just hope some of them are from people who are actually reading this and not just  #@*&%*# spam. Now it’s 926!

We had a deal from the beginning. We will continue on this adventure as long as we are both having fun. We asked each often, are you having fun? It kept us on track and having fun.

Favorite comments on the trip: Me-I thought I had to Spokane, and only Quincied. That probably won’t make sense to anyone, but we laughed for days. Rick, while listening to Unchained Melody: Great song-you need to be making pottery, and I guess I need to be dead. That cracked us both up.

 

 

The last leg

Wow! We did it! Tonight is the last night of our road trip-or as I like to call it-our epic adventure. We left Monterey nice and late, like we left most places. We never set an alarm. Ever. Until Hal made us set one so that he and Rick could go to the gym and have coffee with friends. Way to go Hal! God, we loved Monterey. What a great area. Hmmmm. On the ocean again, go figure.

So, we drove like hell from Monterey to Palm Springs. With a stop here and there. We stopped in Carmel, because, I had to. Then we stopped in Paso Robles for an amazing lunch at Hunter Ranch. It was SO beautiful…. I love wine country. A lot. Spent way too much on wine-couldn’t help it. I want to come up here and spend a couple of weeks and really do the area(s). I bet I can talk Rick into it if I try…..Anyone want to come? lol!

The drive was seriously a pain. Especially since I started driving way before we hit L.A. at rush hour. By the time we reached Palm Springs, I had to pry my fingers from the steering wheel and kind of wanted to throw myself on the ground and kiss it. We talked to our son, Tyler while stuck in rush hour and he asked Rick, “What were you thinking having Mom drive through L.A.?” My thought exactly. Yikes. Not a huge fan of freeway driving, which is what went through my head when Rick originally brought up this idea. Thankfully, he has done the lion’s share of the driving. And quite expertly, I might add. Although he does seem to think the H.O.V. lane is the warp speed lane.  No one is perfect.

We drove up to the Hyatt Regency and I thought I may have died and gone to heaven. (Although after that hair raising drive-motel 6 might have had the same effect-hahaha-not really). I heard amazing music. It is a beautiful hotel. Right in the middle of the main drag. The girl at the front desk was so sweet. The lobby was stunning. The room-a suite-incredible. I needed a cocktail-or two-to calm down. We then walked out of the hotel and I heard a rendition of “Happy”, that was so good, I thought it had to be Pharrell. It was Chris Lomelli (hope I got that right). He was amazing. We wound up sitting there a really long time-until he was done, actually. What a great last night on the greatest road trip ever!

In case I haven’t said it enough….. Thank you, honey. Great idea! Great trip! I love you! Until the next adventure……

 

 

One last beach stop!

Oh my god. I had to delete 109 spam comments after finishing up yesterday’s post. And this morning when I logged on, another 51. What the heck? I am not interested in knock-off (or real, for that matter), Louboutin shoes, Louis Vuitton bags or Versace evening gowns. One thing that I find somewhat curious, yet satisfying, is that people I don’t even know are finding this blog and letting me know how much they enjoy it. I never thought that would happen and the cynical side of me (is there another side-lol?), wonders why and how and is this normal or legit?

After Redding, we headed toward Monterey hoping for a few stops along the way. This is another one of those, if we weren’t ready to be home, we would stop in Napa for a few days, and Sonoma, and San Francisco and and and we’d be home in September (I meant for there to be three ands, btw, to make a point). Granted, we’ve been all over this area before, but I really like it and it’s been a LONG time…..But, we need to keep the momentum. These one nighters are killers though. So much driving, so little stopping. Thank god the first 8 weeks didn’t have this pace! We decided to treat ourselves and end this trip on a high note, so we are staying at Hyatt Regency’s the last two nights. You only live once, right? And to quote Rick-“it’s only money, it ain’t blood.” You know me, though, I still got good deals on those places.

I’m gonna admit it right here, I was really crabby on the drive here. I didn’t sleep well last night and I was so hungry and the two places I really wanted to stop at just didn’t happen. I swear my husband never gets hungry! My stomach is eating itself, and yeah, he could eat something, after I bring it up in my cranky tone. If you know me, you may have heard it. It’s not good. After checking in to the hotel, we took a nice long walk along the bay and stopped for a delicious sushi dinner. My happy voice reappeared. Thank god. I was even annoying myself. More walking and a lot of picture taking later, we came back to the hotel. I broke in to one of the bottles of wine I bought yesterday. Yum.

Holy cow. Tomorrow is our last night of this epic adventure. Photos-

 

On the way back

After a gorgeous half-day of driving, we arrived in Portland, Oregon on Monday afternoon. What a great city! It has it all! We stayed downtown at the Hilton-another Priceline gonga! We had a very nice dinner at Ristorante Roma with Heidi and Julie Drabs, followed by an ice cream and a walk at the Riverfront. Before heading out in the morning, we met Julie for a quick bite at the Waffle Window. Why didn’t I take a picture of this? Holy cow! I had a waffle with brie, bacon and basil. Rick had one with bacon, jalapeno and cheddar. What a concept. Every town needs this.

We stopped in a couple of vinyards in the Willamette Valley on our trip south. Thank you, Sandy, for the Stoller Winery recommendation! I bought several bottles there and some at Erath as well. This region is spectacular! Close to the ocean, beautiful rolling hills, gorgeous vegetation….and wine! I could spend a week in this area alone. Well, another time, but I could, really! We made our way back to the highway after some exploring and got all the way to Redding, CA, which is near Mt. Shasta. The entire drive was breathtaking. We have heard of a drought in California, but when you see the low water level in Lake Shasta, it is incredible. I took a photo, but I don’t think it’s clear just how bad it is around here. Not to mention the forest fires in the region. We talked to a man who is a tomato farmer who could not grow tomatoes this year due to the water rationing. I can’t even begin to understand how this would work.

We spent Tuesday night at the Win-River Casino Hotel in Redding, and no, we didn’t win. But it was a fun stop.

Anacortes

From the very beginning of our trip, we knew that the last two places we really wanted to go to was Anacortes and Portland, OR. So, arriving in Anacortes, WA, on Thursday afternoon meant there was only one more planned stop. Hard to believe….. Anacortes is in the San Juan Islands- Fidalgo Island to be exact. Rick’s brother, Hal and his wife, Cheryl along with both of their kids, and several grandchildren live here. We have seen all of them over the past few days, and it just hit me that I have taken one picture of the family. It is of Hal’s daughter, Amy and Rick playing a game.

We have had a very relaxing time here. The first evening here we went to Hal and Cheryl’s tavern, The Brown Lantern Ale House. This is THE place to be in Anacortes! On Friday we settled in and had a little family dinner while watching sports on TV-lots of fans here-anything Seattle and of course U of A. After brunch and an early morning condo association meeting we had to attend, Saturday found us on Guemes Island with Amy’s husband, Howard and children, Maddie and Thatcher and friend Lonna. I had ample opportunity to take photos of the great house we were at and the incredible views or some nice photos of everyone, but did I? Just one. My children will be very disappointed in me for that! As am I.

In my defense, we have been here many times over the years, although not much in recent years. Plus, this is as relaxed as I’ve been in awhile. After Minnesota, every single stop has been for one night only, and there is nothing relaxing about checking in and out of hotels every single day. Staying put in a house for a few days is a nice break, but after 3 nights I was starting to get that feeling, like it’s time to get moving…On Sunday morning we went out for a nice brunch and played 9 of the worst holes of golf ever(and I’m not talking about the golf course). Wow, we sucked, but it was a beautiful day and the golf course was near Deception Pass, which is truly one of the most beautiful places in the area!

After a wonderful breakfast and some quick photos, on Monday morning we were back on the road again-destination Portland, Oregon…….It’s so nice to see such spectacular scenery! Once we hit Leavenworth, it’s been all good! Tomorrow marks 10 weeks on the road and we have 4 or 5 nights in hotels left and then….our own bed again!

 

 

 

 

Dear Texas, I’m so sorry!

A whole-hearted apology to Texas-west Texas in particular. In the last few years, I may have said that Texas is the ugliest state ever. I now know there are far uglier places. In addition to northeastern Wyoming……Southern Montana….Eastern Washington-Spokane in particular, which may be the single ugliest city I’ve ever seen! Sorry if anyone is from there. Truly! Just kidding. Hahaha! By the time we took the turn onto Highway 2, we were both so tired of the landscape we wanted to scream.

Tuesday marked 9 weeks on the big road trip. I got a message on my iPhone saying I need to purchase more space in iCloud or start deleting, so I went through our trip photos backwards and got rid of duplicates or photos that just weren’t that good. It made me re-live some of the great times we have had. It makes me a little sad that the trip is almost over…….. We went as far as Missoula, MT. Drove through Billings, Bozeman, and Butte. So, basically most of southern Montana.

We got to Wenatchee, WA late Wednesday afternoon for a quick visit with Rick’s brother Jim and wife Renee’. Hadn’t seen them in forever and had a very nice visit! Afterwards we headed to Leavenworth for a little dose of Germany. As if Rick didn’t have enough German the last couple of months…. But I needed a dose. Wienerschnitzl and Pomme Frites! They tried to serve it with spaetzle (which is a German noodle) and that’s just not okay in my book…. It has to be French fries, darn it!  It finally got prettier in the Leavenworth area! Our hotel is on the Wenatchee river with a balcony overlooking the river. Note to my brother-in-law, Hal, who has told me for the last 30 years that Leavenworth is not worth seeing: I call B***S***!

Thursday morning started out chilly and drizzly. We walked around Leavenworth and in and out of the many cute shops. Rick is not a shopper. I may have mentioned this before. So the only things we bought were some adorable stuffed animals for the nieces and nephews we would see when we got to Anacortes. There isn’t much room in our car for anything extra at this point anyway.

A quick apology to anyone who posted a message in the last few days. I have been inundated with BS spam, to the tune of up to 125 per day. So, when I sign on to the blog, the first thing I have to do is go through the messages and mark them as approved, spam or trash. I may have accidentally deleted some that I should have approved. I wish I knew how to block this evil intrusion, but unfortunately they are not all from the same sender or I imagine it would be pretty simple.

Some photos. Next stop, Anacortes.

 

 

 

3rd Full Moon

It’s hard to believe, but we are seeing the 3rd full moon of the trip. On our way from Lake Minnetonka to Mount Rushmore we drove through Le Sueur, MN, home of the Valley of the “hohoho” Green Giant. I never got that Le Sueur peas were named after a place. Now I know, and I saw it. Another day, another lesson.

Added two new states to my long list of first time-in states. South Dakota and Wyoming. As we were driving through the Badlands, we saw a billboard that said “Help manage wildlife. Wear fur.” Okay, not politically or otherwise correct, but it was good for a chuckle. This is the area where Dances With Wolves was filmed, and you can totally see it. The drive to Rapid City, SD, was a long one (574 miles), but there really wasn’t any place you’d want to stop, for lack of things to do, so we just went for it. We found a great restaurant (it was time for a steak) just a short walk away, and made a new friend. He is moving to Phoenix next month (we will try not to hold that against him though, lol!).

On our drive to South Dakota, we noticed motorcycles everywhere on the road. It turns out the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was over on August 10th. I guess we dodged a bullet on that one-apparently accommodations were difficult to find during that week-it’s still not great yet. Sturgis is 29 miles from Rapid City, where we decided to stay.

On Monday morning we headed to Mount Rushmore, which was pretty cool. Lots of people. There is a very short trail to give you different vantage points. After that we went to the Crazy Horse Monument, which I’m sorry, annoyed me a little. They charge twice as much to go in to it than Rushmore, but it is not even close to complete. The head is done, nothing much on the horse, which is what will be really amazing. I say wait on this one. Next stop-the Devils Tower in Wyoming. You can see this for miles and the drive is beautiful. Thumbs up. We took a really pretty scenic drive between Custer City and Deadwood-the Black Hills area is definitely worthwhile. Lots of little casinos everywhere-but we did not stop. We had hoped to make it to Billings, Montana today, but with all the oohing and ah-ing, that was not to be. A quick stop in some little Wyoming town, called Gillette, and then onward to Montana in the morning. I feel bad that this post is kind of boring, but how much can you write about all these rocks?

 

 

Lake Minnetonka

The drive to Lake Minnetonka from Duluth is a nice short drive. As we got closer to the lake we were totally blown away by the homes around here. While some people live here year round, a great many of the houses are vacation places. The CEO’s of Target, General Mills, and the many huge corporations based in the twin cities have homes here…..There are mansions you wouldn’t believe, many far nicer than the Hamptons.  There is 125 miles of shoreline. On a lake!

We got to our friend, (Hideout) Steve’s house on Thursday afternoon. He has this great old house that his parents purchased in 1959. It was originally built in 1908 to house ladies of the evening, so there are many rooms…. He is updating this house room by room, and it is a labor of love. It is a big two story house with a full basement and attic, right on the lake with over 130 ft. of shoreline, complete with a dock and a pretty red boat (to match his pretty red truck). He gave us the grand tour and showed us his many projects. It is great to see what he is doing here and we can’t wait to see how it looks when he finishes it. It is a big project, but he is clearly enjoying the journey!

The first thing we did after settling in, was to go to the grocery store and get all the stuff for me to make a big German dinner. Bratwurst, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes and French bread, then we played some cards-till after 1:00 a.m. So much for making a healthy meal-oh well, it seemed right at the time. We introduced Steve to Phase 10, a game my friend Carol introduced us to. He proceeded to beat us.

In the morning we woke to the smell of coffee and bacon-best thing ever to wake up to-along with blueberry pancakes and eggs. We then got our stuff together for a day on the lake. This lake is over 14,500 acres. We wandered in and out of coves and under bridges and through channels and explored it for hours with several swimming stops before going out to lunch where you pull your boat in to a slip at a restaurant dock and dine on the terrace. Pretty incredible place! I feel very lucky to have experienced this! We got home around 6 p.m., cleaned up, rested a minute then went out to see some live music at the local watering hole. There was this band called “Coyote Wild” that was the strangest mixture of people, but some pretty great country music (there was a time I may have considered that to be an impossible combination-pretty great and country music!). The two female singers were totally gorgeous with amazing voices, but the men, as Steve put it were “an old guy on the keyboard, Duck Dynasty on the bass, the guitarist looks like a trucker and a skinhead on drums (not to mention the other guitarist looked like Jonny Depp goes rastifarian). Fun evening….

On Saturday we headed to the University of Minnesota Arboretum. It was a beautiful place with a 3 mile loop walking tour of the many gardens and a maze. A glass artist, Craig Mitchell Smith has 32 glass sculptures installed all over the park. I may have gone overboard in photographing them, but I will whittle them down to just a few for posting purposes.

We decided to head out on Sunday morning, because we find 3 days to be just about the perfect time for a stop. Too long and it’s hard to get moving again. But on the last night, one more home cooked meal here. Rick made his famous fried chicken dinner-I made the salad. After this stop-we are heading towards Mt. Rushmore. Not looking forward to the find a hotel drill again……We are starting to wind this trip down. But still having fun!

 

Minnesota-Part 1

Duluth. Not a pretty sounding place. But it really is. Duluth was never even close to being on the radar. And had it been easier to find a place in the U.P., we probably never would have made it there, but here we are. The hotel is lovely and the location is wonderful. Right downtown. It sits on a beautiful bay and there is a Lakewalk that goes on for a really long way. It has a boardwalk, a bike path, and even a path for horse drawn carriages. We immediately took a long walk on the Lakewalk and went out to dinner, then wandered back through the downtown area. Halfway there, we saw these big lights, and there, in the middle of downtown was a Casino. Nice. We may have gone in there for a while before returning to the room for a movie marathon.

Our second day in Duluth was spent getting lots of exercise, both in the hotel gym and a whole lot of walking. We also took a great boat tour up the river and around the bay in Lake Superior. They have this huge bridge, that unlike the regular drawbridges, which they also have, this particular one goes up and down like an elevator. I’ve never seen anything like it before. The architecture here is pretty cool. I highly recommend it.

Next stop-Lake Minnetonka! So excited!

Da Yoop

Made it to the Upper Peninsula on Monday afternoon. Checked out the south shore-a little. Escanaba, Gladstone and a few other little places, and while some of the places were nice, we decided to try the north shore instead and are so glad we did. The Lake Superior shore is beautiful. We tried Munesing-no decent rooms available, so we went to Marquette, which really is a cute little town. I think if we went way over to the east side as several people have suggested, we’d really like it a lot, but I think we are both kind of getting ready to wrap it up. We have a few more things to see and a few more people we want to visit, but home is starting to sound really good.

We did the usual exploring around Marquette and went to a great little restaurant called Vierling’s, which specialized in local whitefish. And we had it. Lots of it. Smoked whitefish served with a dill and caper spread with toast points. Also grilled whitefish covered with crab and breadcrumbs-strange looking-see photo below. Kind of like a giant crab-cake riding piggyback on a fish filet. Heavy, but delicious.

We found a decent price on a Radisson in Duluth and jumped on it for a couple of days, after which we are heading to Minnesota to visit our friend Steve for a few days where I will get to cook again! So excited to go to a grocery store and buy real food again, not just snacks and all manner of beverages.

On the road to Duluth we made a quick stop for a snack. Although, my friend, Geri doesn’t like them and thinks they are too heavy, after seeing countless signs advertising Pasties, I had to try one. No, this is not some sleazy stripper apparel, it is something you eat. And it’s yummy, but heavy (Geri was right). We shared one on the road. It is a piecrust circle filled with ground beef, onions and potatoes then folded over and the edge crimped and then baked. Good stuff.