Holiday Partying

Sam and I went to Cleveland for a Christmas party (graciously hosted by Stephen and Sarah) with a bunch of friends. Before we left we made a brilliant decision to bring a bottle of Michigan sparkling wine. Unknown to us, our friend, Jody, planned to propose to his girlfriend sometime that night. Well, she said "yes" and we were prepared with sparkling wine to celebrate. Even better, the name of the wine was "Sex". We had lots of laughs about that one.

The white elephant gift exchange was really funny. Sam and I came home with a bottle of siracha and a tub of frosting. Quite remarkably baby Laila slept through the whole party.

Unfortunately, the next morning I woke with a sore throat and throbbing sinus headache. For Christmas, I don't have two turtle doves, but two sick Wileys. Fortunately, it is just a cold and some other worse illness.

Merry Christmas!

You don't have to live like a refugee

I am thankful for many things including the many freedoms I enjoy that others are not as fortunate to have. I am comforted knowing Christ's mercy does not depend on material goods.

Dr. Wolfram still makes a good point though.

A Different Kind of Adventure

We didn't go anywhere exciting or new, but we now own 2 cars. Somehow that makes me feel a lot older and I don't know quite why. Well, 2 cars isn't very exciting normally, but Sam's car is very exciting.

2007 Nissan 350Z convertible

I still like my car better. It is much more practical.

Jetta SportWagen a.k.a. The Mom Car

Portland: A foodie's paradise

On a spur of the moment, I decided to use my frequent flier miles to visit my cousin, Becky, who had just moved to Portland, OR. We hadn't spend much time together since my wedding, which was over 3 years ago! It was about time to get together again. I took a long weekend and flew out Friday morning to arrive to a very sunny Portland.

Becky lives in a cute little pre-war Craftsman style house with the homeowners/landlords, and 3 other housemates. Becky had to go to work that evening, but we grabbed lunch first at the local pub. Yes, Becky lives 1 block from Slingshot, a great, almost dive bar that servers delicious burgers and has Anchor Steam on tap. Apparently, Portland is known for its variety in eateries and this was just the beginning. While Becky was at work, I took a much needed nap and then had coffee with a college friend, Matt. He had just moved to Portland, too. When he dropped me off at Becky's house we learned he goes to church with one of Becky's housemates. What a small world!

For dinner, we headed to Hawthorne Blvd, which is apparently the ultra-weird, hip part of town, but it looks rather tame compared to Berkeley. We found the Bridgeport Ale House for dinner and did some serious people watching at the window. We tried to drive up Mt. Tabor for a nighttime view of downtown, but the park was just closing. This was the first of our many "romantic" outings, as one of her housemates described them.

The next day Becky's boyfriend, Wyatt, drove down from Washington to visit for the weekend. We went to Saturday Market, which is just like it sounds. It's really just an overgrown craft fair that it held every Saturday in downtown.
Apparently, Voodoo Donuts is a Portland icon, but the line was way too long to be worth any novelty donut.
Portland has a Chinatown, sort of. The only thing that tipped us off to the fact we were walking through Chinatown was this gate. San Francisco has a much better Chinatown, but the gate was cool
We stopped by another Portland icon, Powell's Bookstore. The downtown location is basically a 4 story warehouse with used and new books. I was very impressed with their children's section and bought a few of my favorites. Wyatt had homework to do, so we took him back home. Becky and I went on yet another "romantic" evening to a Lebanese restaurant, Al Amir, and watched belly dancing and tried some raki.

Sunday was much sunnier and was about the best opportunity we were going to have to visit the Rose Garden. I really can't describe how beautiful and fragrant the garden was, so I will just say you MUST visit it if you are in Portland.

The "pink building" is the tallest building in Portland and has the swankiest restaurant on the 30th floor called the Portland City Grill. It doesn't have the most distinctive food (similar to a McCormick and Schmicks), but had the best view and good cocktails. I would probably only go there again if I was with someone who had never been to Portland because you can see the whole river front and (on a good day) Mt. Hood.

On my last day in town, we headed to the Columbia River Gorge to see the waterfalls. We hiked all the way to the top of Multnomah Falls, which is Oregon's tallest, year-round waterfall. I felt pretty good about the fact that we "beat" several people to the top of the falls (500 vertical feet in 1 mile). All that yoga and bike riding is paying off!

We finished up my Portland experience with dinner at some food carts on Hawthorne. Think fair food only fancier and in a random parking lot on a street corner. Again, another Portland icon I wasn't aware of.

I had a really great time with Becky. We had lots of time to catch up on the past 4 years of our lives. All of Becky's housemates were very welcoming if not all a bit offbeat. Portland was great, but I was glad to be back home with my hubby.

Hanney-Twomey Wedding and Baby Petrie

Last weekend we made the journey to Detroit to see our college friends, Megan Hanney and Johnfrancis Twomey, get married. The trip began rather oddly because our car was in the shop the entire week for really annoying warranty work. The dealership didn't even fix the problem all the way. We had an '05 Jetta loaner car during the week, but since we were giving Lydia and Emrys a ride it would have been a really tight squeeze. So, we headed into Columbus Friday after work to pick up the Jetta Wagon. From there we went to Cleveland to pick up Emrys and finally headed to Detroit.

The wedding ceremony was early Saturday afternoon in a very beautiful church, the Assumption Grotto Catholic Church. From the pictures it looks like the perfect place to have a wedding, but it is also in one of the worst neighborhoods in Detroit. I can now say I have been to that part of 8 Mile Rd Eminem was always talking about. Other than the surrounding neighborhood, the church was amazing. The wedding was in Latin so I pretty much tuned out the whole time. I could have followed along in the missal, but that would have just gotten me even more worked up. I did have fun looking through the hymnal and finding lots of Charles Wesley hymns.

There was a good 2 1/2 hours between the wedding and the reception, so all of us Hillsdale folks found a really great bar near the reception site. The bar had a few locals watching football, but they were all nice people. The drinks were really cheap, too. I think we really made the bar tender's day with all the drinks we bought and the tips we left.

The reception was your classic Catholic party with lots of food and an open bar. Everyone was very well behaved despite the free flowing alcohol. It was a very fun, light hearted party and I really enjoyed catching up with friends and dancing. (The photos were taken on Sam's phone so the quality isn't great.)

The happy couple

Getting crazy!

Since we needed to drop Emrys off in Cleveland, we took the opportunity to visit the newest member of the Petrie family, Laila. Sarah and Stephen have a beautiful little girl. She looks like the perfect doll you had as a girl. After all my nephews, I was shocked at how small she is. They have a lovely little family.

This is just the beginning of my crazy October. Next weekend, I'm off to Portland, OR to visit my cousin, Becky.

OSU Football

I have now participated in the most unifying experience of central Ohio, an OSU football game at the Horseshoe. The spectacle of Big Ten football is like nothing I had ever seen before. There were different chants for 3rd downs, kick returns, touchdowns, and probably more. The game wasn't very interesting because it was OSU v. Ohio U. It was a total blow out with a final score of 43 to 7. Sam and I didn't stay to the end of the 3rd quarter.

I enjoyed the half time show the best. Both school's marching bands were very good. I don't really know what songs they played; it didn't matter.

This just doesn't work for some states. OU marching band

OSU's band did a cartoon theme and played a medley of cartoon theme songs while making the shape of the characters. They did some very complicated marching, but all the moving around muddled the music.

Homer Simpson

Fred Flintstone

Sam and I had ridden our bikes to the game from his grandmother's house. We took the opportunity to ride along the Olentangy River trail near OSU campus. It is a really nice trail and I might even want to ride it again because it goes all the way to downtown.

We both got sunburned and I really was in the sun too long. It took me awhile to recover from sitting in the direct sun for that long. We recharged at the Rusty Bucket pub with beers and margaritas. It was a really fun day, but I don't know if I would ever purchase tickets to an OSU game. Well, I would probably just want to see them play a more equal team.

Midwest Wine Country

When thinking of a place to go for Labor Day weekend, I just couldn't think of a better place than Traverse City, MI. It's less than 8 hours away, has sparkling clear blue water, great camping, and world class wines. How could a NorCal girl resist?

We had been up to the area before for Labor Day weekend in 2007 and 2008 for backpacking on South Manitou Island. The previous years we had phenomenal weather that was perfect for sunbathing and swimming in the cold Michigan waters. This year was not so nice, but we managed to have a good time anyway. We camped at Interlochen State Park on Green Lake at the rustic sites. The peace and quiet was well worth no flush toilets and a hand pump well.

We made the best of the rainy Saturday by outlet shopping and wine tasting. Traverse City really only has a Gap and Old Navy outlet, but I really like the Gap so I was happy. After lunch at Culvers (I love those cheese curds!), we hit up the Leelenau Peninsula wineries as on our previous trip we had toured the Old Mission Peninsula wineries. We went to 3 tasting rooms: Chateau De Leelenau, Ciccone, and L. Mawbry. They all had quality wines, but I loved L. Mawbry because they specialize in sparkling wines. I was impressed with their classic brut and riesling. Afterwards we headed to the tip of the peninsula to see the state park we almost stayed at and, boy, was I glad we didn't. The weather at the entrance to Grand Traverse Bay was even more rainy and windy. The evening cleared up a bit, but was very cold compared to the 90˚F weather back in Ohio.

Lighthouse at the tip of the Leelenau Peninsula

Stormy weather at the mouth of Grand Traverse Bay

Sunday was sunny and warm so we decided to use our bikes after driving them all the way up. We took the bike path from downtown Traverse City north towards Suttons Bay. The path winds through woods crossing clear streams and passing by numerous lakes. I really like the bike paths in Ohio, but they just don't compare to northern Michigan. We had a picnic lunch at the tip of the Old Mission Peninsula and walked out all the way on the natural jetty.

Sam at the tip of the Old Mission Peninsula

Old Mission Lighthouse

Sam's favorite Michigan winery is Chateau Chantal and he really wanted to stop by although we had been there before. The tasting room was packed full of wine bus people. I reminded Sam we could buy all their wines at the grocery store so we left the building to roam their grounds a bit. The grapes looked almost ready to pick and the views of the bay were spectacular.

Chateau Chantal grapes

West Grand Traverse Bay

Chateau Grand Traverse

Sam was a real trooper the whole weekend. He still has a head cold, but drugs and sleep are helping nurse him back to health. I had 2 really bad nights sleeping on a broken Thermarest. After 30 years, the pad finally sprung a leak. A quick stop at Gander Mountain fixed my problem. I hope my new Thermarest lasts 30 years.

We came home with more than a case of wine! I really wish Ohio alcohol laws weren't so onerous so I could buy Michigan wines at my local grocery store. Although we didn't even get in the water we had a very relaxing time. I now want a house on Lake Leelenau and a boat to go with it. The weekend was really great until the American police state ruined our drive home. Nothing like having an highway patrol officer issue you a citation for the very same law he was breaking. I will refrain from any further tirade about the American police state (aka legalized bullying). At least I am well stocked with wines!

Indians Game

Mariners over Indians, 3-2. I'm not a big Mariners fan, but I rooted for them anyway. Next time I will have to get tickets to an Indians-A's game.

Friday afternoon we drove up to Cleveland for a baseball game with the Petries. Sam's mom gave us the 4 tickets to the game, so we made it a double date with the Petries. We went to the Great Lakes Brewery for dinner and Great Lakes beers on tap. I've never thought all that much of their beers, but on tap they were amazing. The brewery is just across the river from the stadium and offers a $1 Fatty Wagon shuttle service to and from the games so we didn't even have to pay for downtown parking.

We had 1st baseline, upper deck tickets which put us in the setting sun. It was HOT!

Sam and Stephen went through several beers sitting in the sun. The stadium wasn't very full so we moved during the 7th inning stretch to right behind home plate at the very top where there was a great breeze. The view was also really great.
I hadn't been to a baseball game since high school. It was a lot of fun and I remembered how much I really like baseball especially going to the games. There were some good plays and some really botched plays. The Indians 2nd baseman was not looking too sharp that night. Ichiro Suzuki opened the game with a single, stole 2nd, moved to 3rd on an out, and was brought home by the next batter. Talk about manufacturing points! Shin Soo-Choo, Indians right fielder, was probably the best batter of the night and the Mariners pitcher was pretty much afraid to pitch to him. There were fireworks at the end of the game, but it got too loud and smoky so we left before the end.
We spent the night with the Petries and the next day, while Stephen was at work, we went to a local park on the lake. Unfortunately, we didn't have our swimsuits but we waded out. The water felt really good on such a hot, humid day. It was a really great beach and park. We walked along a creek and found remnants of what appeared to be an elevated roadway.
It finally rained and cooled things off while we were walking back to the car. We said goodbye to the Petries over gin and tonics as if we weren't going to see each other for a while. Then we all remembered we would be hanging out next Saturday for the baby shower and cook out.

I will need to rest up for next weekend because I have my sister-in-law's birthday party on Friday, Petrie-Pullmann baby shower in Saturday, and my brother-in-law's and nephew's birthday party on Sunday. August is a busier month than I expected.

Ohio's Finest Wines

Ohio has wineries?! Yup, and we tasted many of the wines from Cleveland area vineyards at the Vintage Ohio festival. Our friend from college, Rebekah, works for Cleveland metro parks at the Farmpark where the festival is held every year and invited us up for the day (and got us all a sweet employee discount). We also met up with Emrys and Tristan, also college friends who live in Cleveland.

Getting ready from some wine tasting

Although the majority of the wines were a little too sweet for me, there were some very good wines. The Old Firehouse winery had a very good spumanti and the Grand River winery had solid wines all around. It seemed like every winery had to Ohio classic catawba wine, which is sweet and grown in the Lake Erie area. I enjoy a catawba because it's more like juice than wine, but nice on a hot day.

Garden sculpture

Waiting in lines to taste wine got old and we weren't there to get drunk on 1/2 oz. samples so Rebekah showed us the educational garden center. The Farmpark has solar panels and a broken windmill that generate power, so there was a display showing how much power the solar panels were generating. Since it was a sunny day they were generating a lot of power. Clearly it was more power than the Farmpark needed so did they store this energy in batteries, sell it to the grid, or waste it? There was also an inaccurate display on how siphons work.

Sam's mouth was watering at all the ripe tomatoes in the different project gardens and greenhouse. I was pretty impressed with the hydroponics in the greenhouse. It looked like a really fun project to do in my dream greenhouse (along with all the citrus).

We grabbed some pizza at the local pizzeria, Angelo's. The pizza was really good. I don't know if it was better than Adornettos or Pizza Express, but I'm not the best judge of pizza as evidenced by my love of Pizza Express.

After dinner we went back to the festival and bought glasses of wine and enjoyed the evening in the park. Rebekah showed us the horse barn, where she works mucking stalls and riding horses. We couldn't resist taking pictures like we were seven.

Sam and Emrys barrel riding

Me and Sam being ridiculous

It was a long day and an even longer drive home. We drove by two accidents on the way home; one of them involving about 10 cars. Fortunately, we made it home safely. I don't know if I would go to the wine festival again, but it was a wonderful afternoon with friends.

Presque Isle State Park

Saturday Sam, his dad, and I went to Erie, PA to visit Presque Isle State Park. Sam's dad asked us Friday afternoon if we'd like to fly up with him. I thought, "When can you turn a 4 hour drive into a 1.5 hour flight?" So, we agreed to meet him at the Coshocton airport around noon. The up there was rather uneventful, which is the way I like my flights. Upon landing at the Erie international airport (seriously, Canada) we taxied right to our rental car and had our bags loaded for us! Such service!

The day was pretty overcast, but really humid until we got about half-way into the park and then it started to pour cats and dogs. Well, Dad got on his phone and pulled a radar of the area. The storm wasn't really that big so we waited it out while everybody else fled the beach. It was worth the 20 minute wait. The beach was nice and the water was warm.


About 30 minutes later, the sky cleared up and it turned to the bright, sunny day I expected. Lake Erie isn't as nice as Lake Michigan and the Michigan beaches, but the water was still great for swimming and warmer. There were even decent waves and you could pretend you were swimming in the ocean. The Great Lakes really are a lot of fun and right in my backyard.

The flight home was more exciting. Dad navigated through a storm system with lightning strikes right off the wing. We left the front about 10 miles from home where we ran into some turbulence. I was a little uneasy with all the bumps and drops. My head never hit the ceiling, but we were moving around pretty good. Fortunately, we beat the thunderstorm home and landed safely at Richard Downing. A great little plane trip!

July 4th Weekend

For the 4th of July long weekend, Sam and I visited some friends in the Washington, D.C. area. I was very excited to visit the Pullmanns since we hadn't seen them since Thanksgiving. We also got to see another college friend, Tom, whom we hadn't seen since graduation over a year ago.

Saturday, Sam, Joy and I went to Baltimore to enjoy the absolutely gorgeous weather. The inner harbor was a very nice pedestrian shopping and sight-seeing area, which rivals Pier 39 and Fishermans' Wharf in San Francisco.

We took the opportunity to visit the National Aquarium. Despite the crowds (at least according to us country folk), I thought there were decent displays and a good variety of species. I really enjoyed the ray and turtle tank. Sam visited the jelly fish exhibit while Joy and I had snacks and water. I don't think I really missed much, but I don't like jelly fish one bit even after swimming through a swarm unharmed.
We finished the day by meeting Nathan after work for dinner in downtown Rockville, MD. We went to the Taste of Saigon, a French-inspired, Vietnamese restaurant. The food was good and the waiter was very friendly. Best of all, it was actually run by Vietnamese. You could kind of say the restaurant was a real American dream come true. Fitting or cliche for the July 4th weekend? Either way, I would definitely go back.

The next day being Independence Day we strategically avoided the capitol and headed for a local park to go swimming. We packed off in our swimsuits and arrived only to find that there was no swimming. Not to let our drive to the park be a total waste, we walked around the reservoir and found wild red raspberries. The Pullmanns made a tasty BBQ dinner for ourselves and Tom. We even had illegal fire works (i.e. sparklers) purchased in Ohio.

To top off the weekend, we came home with a free coffee table from Nathan's workplace at a moving company.

Thanks for your hospitality, Nathan and Joy.

Memorial Weekend in Pennsylvania

At the last minute, Sam and I decided to join the rest of America going camping for Memorial weekend. We rounded up 7 friends who were going to camp at Marblehead, OH and convinced them to come to Allegheny Reservoir in PA. We camped along the reservoir at Red Bridge campground, which was a well run campground.

James, Sam, and I stopped by the Kinzua dam on the drive up. The dam also provides hydroelectric power. What was really cool was there was a giant water battery above the reservoir. During low demand periods, the excess power generated is used to pump water from the reservoir to the top of the ridge. During high demand periods, this elevated water returns to the powerhouse to provide the extra energy needed.
The water battery is back a few forest service roads lined with some of the most redneck campsites I have ever seen. They beat the ones in West Virginia!

Water battery

We reserved walk-in campsites because I can't stand camping next to a generator. The biggest downside to the campground was all the parties. There is no alcohol policy because it's a national forest so people got pretty rowdy.

Cross-country ski to your tent!

Even Emrys is surprised he's doing dishes.

We had a lot of fun swimming in the reservoir and playing with the aerobie. We lost one in the water, but had a spare to keep playing.
We hiked up a waterfall near the dam. There wasn't one big drop, mostly a lot of cascades. Kevin found a great natural waterslide, though.

The weather was perfect until our drive home. It rained in sheets as we drove through Oil City. Fortunately, it was nice and dry at home.

Homeward Bound

Day 9: Bayonne, New Jersey

After a rough night at sea leaving Bermuda and a chilly day, we arrived in the New York harbor. It was total pea soup just like the last time I was in Newark, NJ (at the airport). Sam was very excited to be sailing up the Hudson. I'll admit, it's pretty cool, but not at 6am when it's cold and rainy out and I just spend a week in the Caribbean.

This picture was taken from our stateroom balcony. I've only ever seen New York City almost completely obscured by fog.
This is the stern of a smaller cruise ship that appears to be heading for the Manhattan cruise terminal. I'm very glad we didn't disembark in Manhattan.
The Bayonne cruise terminal is pretty new and wasn't really setup to handle passengers in the rain. We were bused from the ship to our luggage warehouse. Due to some mixup with taxis, we took another charter bus to the airport.

We had layover in Detroit and laughed that our layover was longer that it would have taken to drive from Detroit to Cleveland (our final destination). By the time we reached Cleveland, I wanted nothing more than to be home and go back to work. The perfect vacation.

Bermuda

Day 5: At Sea...Not much to talk about.

Day 6 & 7: Kings' Wharf, Bermuda

We arrived in Bermuda around 1pm after traversing Bermuda famous reefs. Most cruise ships now dock in Kings Wharf, which is at the north end of the country and, as described by a local, "the ugly part". Sam was very excited by the maritime museum in the old British fort, so we had to visit.

The fort and original wharf were build by convicts (i.e. the Irish). The original wharf is still used and as been expanded to accommodate cruise ships. The fort seemed pretty robust especially given the island is surrounded by reefs. No wonder the British used Bermuda as their Atlantic naval headquarters until very recently.
The magazine was underground near an inland underwater cave. The magazine was definitely built for smaller people.
The upper portion of the fort had cannons laying around everywhere. Here are a bunch of 18th century cannons, but they also had a variety of more modern cannons as well as some WWII guns.
Unfortunately, there really wasn't much about maritime history at the fort. It was mostly as history of Bermuda, which was interesting but not what Sam was looking for. Probably the oddest thing was the dolphin experience inside the fort. Pretty weird, but you could swim with dolphins.

The next day we decided to see the pretty part of Bermuda, so we got up early and headed into Hamilton (the capital). It was refreshing to be in a city where people are just going to work in the morning. We even saw a few bankers in the classic Bermuda suit (Bermuda shorts, knee high socks, shirt, tie, and jacket). Before heading to the beach, we stopped by the Anglican cathedral. The stone looked like it was all imported!
We took a bus to the south shore, which is basically a national park along most of the shore or tennis clubs. These were definitely the most beautiful beaches I had ever seen. All the beaches were connected by trails so you could walk the length of the park. It was rather odd and British, but the park was mowed along the trail with picnic tables and barbecues. I'm used to national parks in a more "wild" state, but this was definitely manicured and maintained.
Since Horseshoe Beach is so famous, we thought we'd check it out for awhile. It lives up to all the hype and then some! Since it was still spring in Bermuda, the only people at the beach were cruise ship passengers. The water was pretty cold, but it was warm and sunny. The beach was great for swimming because you could walk out really far and still be in knee deep water.
We brought our masks and snorkels and snorkeled around some of the rocks. It is really hard to take pictures while snorkeling, but Sam got a few good shots of parrot fish.

This guy was pretty big

The coloration was pretty crazy

The best part about Bermuda was the incredibly friendly and polite people. It was British without being too stuffy. I was also very impressed with how well the society is integrated. There are a lot of different ethnicities in Bermuda, but it was culturally homogenous. It was a really family friendly place, too. Definitely worth a second visit.