Proper beach attire

I am very lucky.  Although my family lives thousands of miles away, my three siblings, mom, and mom's boyfriend all came to visit us last week!  We had fun spending time together: watching movies, exploring Portland, playing board games, cooking at home.  We also took a day trip to Cannon Beach, which is a lovely place to visit any time of the year.  One doesn't go to the Oregon coast to sunbathe in December, so we occupied ourselves in other ways.

After my family flew home, Matt, the doggles, and I took a short trip to the Olympic Peninsula.  We found a cottage in Forks, Washington, not too far from the Olympic National Forest and some breathtakingly beautiful beaches.  It rained, as expected in the rainiest part of the country.  We were in a rainforest, after all.  It was glorious.

The four of us donned our raincoats and set out for our first hike together, not encountering any beast or person for the entire two hours on Christmas morning.

What a beautiful part of the country!

Happy New Year!  I hope 2012 is filled with happy surprises, time spent with loved ones, and new opportunities for us all!

Sauvie Island

Matt and I took advantage of a comp-day he earned by working really late hours the week before, and headed to Sauvie Island on Friday. It was our first trip to the 26,000 acre island, even though it's just north of Portland.

Before leaving the city, we stopped to pick up breakfast goodies at Sweetpea Bakery. Just look at the size of that chocolate chip scone! I was really digging the lemon danish- flaky and moist in all the right places. Mmmm....danish.
Then we picked up falafel wraps from Wolf and Bear's, deciding to eat them at a nice spot on our island walk. I really recommend their wraps, which are all vegetarian, and can be made vegan. Their falafel is great, and with accoutrements like grilled eggplant, kalamata olive tapenade, and full-of-fresh-herb-flavor hot sauce, you really can't be disappointed!
Upon reaching Sauvie Island, we visited Oak Island, a park with grassy fields and, as the name suggests, many oak trees in all stages of life, surrounded by water on three sides.
We did the 2.5 mile loop and then some, picking blackberries all the way. Want to know a secret? The berries in the shade are sweeter than those in the sun! Lucky for us, we had drink containers left over from our lunch to collect the berries in.
It was a lovely walk, but also quite hot...which is why we were thrilled to find a "gourmet" snow cone and Italian soda stand outside a produce market on our way off the island. I decided on a strawberry lemon Italian soda, while Matt went for the blackberry peach.

Driving across America

It's been four weeks since we've been in Oregon! I figured it was about time to talk about our trip here!

The four-day drive from Philadelphia (technically we started in Baltimore) to Portland (technically we ended in Hillsboro) was mostly a rainy one. We didn't take very many photos along the way, mostly due to the rain, but also because there wasn't much time dilly-dallying. That being said, we did see some amazing sights on the road. This is certainly a beautiful country and I was thrilled to see so much of it.

Doc and I shared the driving, thank goodness.

The hand of god, pointing us in the wrong direction.

Sunny Colorado. Finally, no more rain...for a short while.

Snow in Colorado!

Some of the many windmills we saw along the drive. So cool.

Potty break with prairie dogs, unseen by car-riding dogs.

I tried to capture a photo of the two doggles in the back seat, drugged and cuddling with each other. However, Honda Civics don't afford much room for photo taking, and nothing came out. Andy and Emerson are not the best car riders. Usually Emerson is crated in the back and Andy "sits" on the lap of whomever is not driving. We decided that wasn't going to work for this loooong trip. I found this contraption, which worked beautifully! The first day Andy and Emerson found ways to stick their heads through the bars, but for the most part they settled down after that.

Much to Ladybeth's dismay, we also have no photos of food, although we did have some good eats along the way. My favorite must have been the burritos we got from Bandit Burrito in Des Moines, Iowa.

Overall, it wasn't too bad of a trip. Our time constraint made things difficult (Matt started work a day and a half after we arrived in Oregon!), but it would have been challenging to have the dogs in the car for a longer amount of time.

My biggest piece of advice to those that may move across country: Leave your stuff behind! Have important items shipped, but otherwise just get new "stuff" on the other end. Believe me, it'll save you THOUSANDS of dollars! Sigh...

We're here! And we're excited to begin our lives in Oregon!


View Cross Country Trek in a larger map

Seattlegiving 2009

Last week I returned from a wonderful trip to Seattle, where I met up with friends that I went to school with in Gainesville, FL. We were all part of an animal activist group at UF and have remained good friends since. Three of the group moved to Seattle recently and were gracious enough to take turns hosting the out-of-towners. Thanks, Shivels and A and J! TCat, Ladybeth, Nowheydude, and I traveled from all points in the country for this reunion. What fun!

We ate lots of wonderful vegan food (some of it too exciting to wait and take a photo of!), spent a good deal of time traipsing around Seattle, and best of all: catching up.

GoMaxGo bars are abundant in Seattle. Our first stop the morning after TCat and I arrived was at a UW bookstore that Shivels took us to. Why? GoMaxGo bars, of course! We even waited outside the store for several minutes until they opened! My favorite is the Jokerz (Snickers). TCat (who is well-featured in photos from this trip), poses with our early morning find.

In between thrifting and site seeing, we ate brunch on Day 1 at Silence Heat Nest.

Next stop was the outdoor market in Fremont, which was full of great finds and delicious treats like the truffles found below:

And the site-seeing continues:

TCat with her three (nesting) vintage suitcases acquired at the market.

The troll under the bridge.





No photos of the delicious pizza at Juliano's, but here's one of hemp ice cream at Healeo.

Day 2: Filled with wonderful thrifting, and walking around Seattle, was not picture heavy!

We ate from the superb Vegan Thai buffet at Araya's for lunch. Afterward, TCat and I spontaneously decided to get our noses pierced. (If ever she decides to post her photos from the trip on FB, I'll post some more here!) Dinner was a low-key meal at A and J's.
Day 3: "Tuna melt" at Cyberdogs

A brussel sprout-loving iguana spotted at Pike Place Market

Shots from inside the AWESOME main library.


Dinner at Teapot was meh. Apparently there were better items we could have ordered. Oh well!

Day 4: After volunteering at A's work, TCat, A, and I met up with Shivels at Wayward Cafe.




Next, we hit up Sidecar for Pigs Peace, also meeting up with J, and headed to Mighty O Donuts. When we got there, TCat and I were crestfallen with the selection of plain cake donuts they had left for the day. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a tray appeared with all sorts of wonderful delights, all at half-price. I bought half a dozen of donuts to take home with me. I ended up taking 3.5 home to Philly, which were devoured the next day.

Yay! I'm in a photo, and just look at that double vegan whammy!

This doesn't completely capture our ecstasy!
I was even able to meet up with a middle/high school friend that has also recently moved to Seattle!

Day 5: Thanksgiving!
Wonderful, wonderful J made delicious "sausage" with biscuits for breakfast. (I liked them so much, I made them for breakfast this morning!)

Then we headed over to Shivels' house to start preparing the meal. So many vegan cooks in the kitchen was great. It helped that her kitchen was so large! Unfortunately, I didn't take any preparation photos.


TCat posing with her namesake.

The meal (ALL VEGAN!):

Cranberry Orange muffins (Vegan Brunch) made my J

Cinnamon Rolls made by Ladybeth (and transported from FL)

Herbed Stuffing with cranberries, pomegranate, and celery made by A

Kale Slaw made by Shivels

Creamy Herbed Potatoes made by Ladybeth's friend Raf

Tofu Turkey (vegweb) with Miso Gravy (VWAV) and stuffing made by me

Cranberry Pineapple sauce made by me

Cornbread made by Shivels

Brussel Sprouts with Root Vegetables made by Ladybeth (and transported from FL)

Cashew Nutloaf (or casserole) (port wine sauce not pictured) made by TCat- The favorite of the night

Pumpkin Cheesecake made by Shivels

Pumpkin Pie made by J's friend Babs

Pumpkin Pie made by J

J and A....and Shivels deomonstrating how full we all felt after the meal.

Playing Telephone Pictionary

I would be remiss if I neglected to mention that while I was off galavanting with my friends, DocDufresne had daddy duty and took Andy and Emerson to his parents' home for Thanksgiving. I just had to include these photos of Emerson sleeping on his great grandfather's lap, taken by Doc's brother.