Seattle and Vancouver, eh?

We recently returned from my premier visit to Seattle and Vancouver! Our rented Volvo offered heated seats for all of the rainy weather. We stayed at the Edgewater in Seattle, located on a pier, the same hotel The Beatles stayed in and fished off their balcony.

Our first dinner was at Cafe Flora in the Madison Avenue neighborhood: "A creative world of vegetarian foods." The most memorable foods were the "Caesar" salad (they used capers instead of anchovies to add that salty edge) and the lavender gelato for dessert. We also found a great cider beer - Spire Mountain. If you like cider, you'll love this brand!

Day two was for more neighborhood exploration. We ate breakfast at the Wayward Cafe in the University Neighborhood. It was the scariest place to eat delicious vegan food ever! With some "death metal" playing in the background and the cashier who may or may not have been the nude model in the painting behind us, we chowed on some of the best tasting and least pretentious vegan grub we've had.

Over in the Ballard Neighborhood (known as one of the top 10 "green" neighborhoods in the country.) We stopped into a music shop for some theme tunes for the trip. Choices were: 1) Local Artist: The Dept of Energy - Held by Waits. Great for tooling around the hills under overcast skies. 2) Album Been Meaning to Buy: OK GO - Oh no! Awesome album!! These guys bring WAY more to the table than just great choreography. Detailed descriptions of vague concepts paired with catchy drum and guitar work. 3) New Album of Artist We Like: Miss Kittin - Mixing Me. Cool techno beats, kept us awake during the drive up to Vancouver.

We drove up to the Microsoft campus in Redmond and cruised around with the company Prius cars. We also visited the Space Needle, rode the Monorail, shopped at the Pike Street Market and discovered a sculpture walk. It was nice to return to the fireplace in the hotel room. And the hotel coffee? Starbucks, of course!

Before our trek to B.C., we stopped at the 14 Carrot Cafe for brunch. A great place for veggies and non-veggies alike. "The Jewel of Eastlake." If you go, split a meal, because they give you tons of delicious eats like tahini French toast and fresh fruit. Great art as well. And we found this place from our trusty TomTom GPS. In Vancouver, we were on the top floor of the Pan Pacific, which impressed me with their double-hinged doors and half-recyclables waste bins. We visited Stanley Park, an amazingly huge wooded park with many vantage points. In the fog and mist, the moss-covered trees look like something out of a magical movie.

Everyone we met in Vancouver was so nice it made you wonder what was going on. We ate at a fabulous 24-hour vegetarian joint in an old house named The Naam. After being informed that - No, there is no list of names, just a queue (that we had just barreled through), we waited in line. :) There we had an incredible Mediterranean appetizer (and we have a Greektown here!) and, of course, a tasty local brew. We cruised through the Gas-Light district and saw all the great shopping to be had downtown. All the shops are right next to each other, so it must be easy to go on a spree (this we did not do.)

We raced the flood waters back from the Pineapple Express to Seattle and had a bite at one of Kevin's favorite haunts: Six Arms. "Another basic classic British-style-pub-meets-Deadhead kind of place." Veg-friendly, micro-brews and fantastic decor, how could we go wrong?

We had a great time on our West Coast adventure, and have more pictures on dreaddontdie!
Also check out my vacation video at http://lauriebillen.com/5%20yr%20trip.zip!

Hiking again! But no more skiing.

I went for my first walk in the canyons for several weeks after finally recovering from the cut on my left heel. Good to get some exercise again. Since I was partly laid up with the heel, I had the doctor cut out a small cyst on the 2nd toe of the other foot. Of course, both the heel cut, then the toe managed to get infected. I was on an antibiotic for the heel for a week, then 2 days after finishing that prescription the toe got infected. Another week on another antibiotic. But now (one day to go on 2nd antibiotic week) everything is fine. I saw the doctor on Friday to get stitches removed from the toe and he thinks both heel and toe are heeling normally.

Trails are in good shape. There are lots of deer tracks on the trails these days. There were also horse tracks(!) on my new trail, and they made a few deep holes where the trail has not compacted enough yet. I also see that the county crews have been using the new trail to pile up and burn much of the dead wood lying around in that part of the canyon. That sort of work might save the town from the next forest fire.

The ski hill closed for the season on Sunday, March 18 after quite a good year. Too bad I missed the last month of it. It was in over 70 degrees F for too many days here to keep any snow for long. The ski club is getting closer to getting snow-making equipment installed. Most of the approvals are done, water is available in Los Alamos Canyon, and estimates for the equipment and a holding pond on top of Pajarito Mountain will be coming in soon. Then all we will need is a gourmet restaurant on top of the mountain.

First Vacation in two plus years!

Sunday March 18, 2007

We finally pulled off a real vacation. After the trip to Kenosha for Stan's uncle's funeral, we headed to Gulf Shores, AL - checked in one week after we were supposed to check in, so I asked when we checked in if the unit was rented the week after we were leaving. NO, so I said, can't we start our month now, as I did buy travel insurance. The kid checking us in, and a gal that was training him - thought that sounded ok. (The "big shooter" was on the phone at the time).
They changed our dates, etc and after he got off the phone, he didn't think our travel insurance covered that, so I asked him to call the insurance company and check. He couldn't get thru - and I think he got sick of it - so ok'd the changes!!! YES!

Now we get our full month - but needed to make some changes on the other part of the trip. We had planned to go to Florida for 2 weeks and visit 5 different friends. Way too aggressive, packing and unpacking dragging shit in and out. So we decided to visit the people who live there year round - not the people who live here in the summer (we see them anyway). So we "cut"
3 visits out and went to 2 places. Bradenton for 4 days and The Villages for 3.

Back to Gulf Shores, we had a beautiful 2 bedroom condo over looking the Gulf, the weather was a little cool the first week. High's in the 50's (It was zero when we left Keno - so 50's felt pretty good) The next 3 weeks were in the high 60's lower 70's. Perfect. Stan golfed a lot, I walked the beach, and read 15 books from the library. Ate lots of seafood, did not walk enough, as I gained 5 lbs - too many fried oyster sandwiches!

Bradenton was ok - I am not real fond of the people we visited there (a childhood chum of Stan's and his wife). But the Villages was cool. HUGH retirement community - with lots of activities - we may end up there sometime in the future. Everyone rides around in golf carts. You can go to Wal-mart, Dr, hospital, dinner, shows, etc all in golf cart (we will have to put Bears logo on ours!)

The guy we visited in the Villages is getting married to another resident in July - her house is bigger than his, so he will be moving in with her. He plans to hang on to this place, so his kids can visit - we may be renting his 3 bedroom home next Jan 15 to Feb 15 and then go to Gulf Shores for a month Feb 15 - March 15 next year. When we are there, we plan to look at lots available with a realtor. Even if we never end up there, it should be a good investment. Plan to look at the most desirable lots available.

I guess that is all for now! WOW my first Blog!

It's 70*F outside today!

And 82*F at my desk here at work. My elbow and knee pits are actually sweating. We aren't allowed to touch the thermostat and we don't have windows for circulation of fresh air so we are sitting in a stuffy sweatbox while it is glorious outside. Sigh. Makes me motivated to work on my class tonight an extra hour so I can be free sooner.

Craig is on his way to pick up the Prius! Yeay! The nightmare is over and I can pretend like it never happened now.