Yessss!!! Three weeks since the trip and now the photos are finally up. We had an awesome time. So nice especially since it rained in Oregon basically the whole time we were gone. Listed below is our basic itinerary. Lots of snorkeling + lounging on the beach, intermixed with sightseeing. Favorite thing: Waking up to the sound of the ocean every morning. Second favorite thing: Hot every single day!


----------MAUI----------

Maui Day 1
Checked in to Hale Napili
Swam at the beach right outside our condo (Napili Beach)
Had dinner at the restaurant down the beach (Sea House)

Maui Day 2
Shopped in Lahaina
Had lunch at Maui Brewing
Swam at the beach right outside our condo (Napili Beach)
Had dinner at the restaurant down the beach (Sea House)

Maui Day 3
Visited Dragon's Teeth & Olivine Pools
Swam at the beach right outside our condo (Napili Beach)

***Sense a trend here?***

Maui Day 4
Snorkeled at Kahekili beach
Ate lunch (Macadamia Nut Pancakes with Coconut Syrup!!) at The Gazebo, down the beach from our condo
Swam at the beach right outside our condo (Napili Beach)

Maui Day 5
Snorkeled at Black Rock
Walked along Ka'anapali Beach
Shopped at Honokowai Farmer's Market
Swam at the beach right outside our condo (Napili Beach)

Maui Day 6
Ate a coconut bagel (purchased from the Honokowai Farmer's Market)

See pictures from Maui here!


----------KAUA'I----------

Kaua'i Day 1
Checked in to SeaLodge in Princeville
Had dinner & drinks at Hanalei Gourmet

Kaua'i Day 2
Visited the Kilauea Lighthouse & National Wildlife Refuge
Lounged & snorkeled at the beach down the cliff from our condo (SeaLodge Beach)
Had Happy Hour at Hanalei Gourmet
Had dinner at Bar Acuda in Hanalei

Kaua'i Day 3
Hiked the first segment of the Kalalau Trail
Thought about swimming at Ke'e Beach
Had lunch at Hanalei Gourmet
Swam and snorkeled at 'Anini Beach
Ate Sushi in Hanalei

Kaua'i Day 4
Snorkeled at Tunnels Beach
Visited the Limahuli Botanical Garden
Ate delicious delicious shave ice (Rainbow Shave Ice w/ Macadamia Nut Ice Cream!)

Kaua'i Day 5
Kayaked the Hanalei River
Ate delicious delicious shave ice (Vanilla, Coconut, & Strawberry Shave Ice w/ Vanilla Ice Cream, topped with Coconut Flakes!)
Lounged & snorkeled at the beach down the cliff from our condo (SeaLodge Beach)
Had delicious pizza at Kilauea Bakery & Pau Hana Pizza in Kilauea

See pictures from Kaua'i here!

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This year I was majorly delayed because of a) 8-hour mega engineering test and b) 11 day vacation in Hawaii. It worked out fine though because I just decided to buy starts of everything and not worry about doing seeds. Day 1 was last Sunday, which was the day the starts went into the ground. It is interesting to note that Day 1 happened to be the same exact date as last year, 05/17.

Here's what I've done so far:
Purchased all starts
Pulled up winter cover plants by hand
Tilled 5 rows by hand (rows are perpendicular from last year's rows)
Added 2 cups of fast acting lime (total)
Added 3/4 bag steer manure (total)
Tilled in lime & steer manure

05/17 Garden Day 1
Planted starts of:
(Row 1) 1x cantaloupe, 6x lettuce, 1x zucchini
(Row 2) 6x walla walla onion, 3x red onion, 2x broccoli
(Row 3) 1x early girl tomato, 4x eggplant
(Row 4) 1x red bell pepper, 2x serrano pepper, 2x cilantro, 1x broccoli
(Row 5) 4x green bean, 2x broccoli
Additionally, planted seeds of sunflower at the head of each row
See photo from Garden Day 1 here!

05/25 Garden Day 9
Everything is surviving and the sunflowers have sprouted! I also put some cardboard down between the rows to keep the weeds from growing.

p.s. the attached picture to the right is a beautiful columbine from my yard.

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Back in November, Sean and I took advantage of the extended Veteran's Day weekend to get out of town. I could never remember visiting Astoria (although my mom says I've been there) and Sean said he didn't think he'd ever been there (no word on what his mom said).

We stayed two nights in the historic Hotel Elliot. Our first stop was at Fort Clatsop, the site where Lewis & Clark spent their winter in 1905-06. We also drove out onto Clatsop Spit, to the very northwestern point of Oregon. It was a pretty grey day and not much to see, unfortunately. Even still, I think it was one of my favorite stops. We checked into our hotel in downtown Astoria and then walked to the Fort George Brewery, a local brewery I'd been interested in checking out. Our dinner & beer were pretty delicious and ended up taking a growler of the local brew back to our room.

The next day was so nice that we went for a walk on a path that parallels the Columbia river. We also spent about 5 minutes visiting Fort Astoria. It wasn't that interesting except that the marker is in the exact same location that the actual Fort was built (Fort Clatsop was in an area believed to be the same, but no way to know for sure).

We took the short drive up to the Astoria Column. There were some great views from the parking area and unfortunately, the Column was closed due to maintenance. We drove across the Astoria-Megler bridge to Washington and stopped at Dismal Nitch, where Lewis & Clark stopped due to poor weather while traveling down the Columbia, as well as their Station Camp. This was probably the most disappointing stop we made. There was merely a sign stating that it was the site of the Station Camp. You had to be careful not to miss it either, as it was a small gravel pull-out on the side of the road. It was the site where Lewis & Clark camped while they were looking for a good place to spend the winter (which ended up being the Fort Clatsop site).

Then we drove back to Oregon and spent some time at the Columbia River Maritime Museum. There was some really interesting information about the Coast Guard as well as the hard work that the Columbia River Pilots and Columbia Bar Pilots do. For dinner, we ate at Astoria Brewing/Wet Dog Cafe, another local brewery.

The day we left, it was really windy and stormy. From the roof of our hotel, you could see a ship coming in that required extra assistance coming up the river from the tug and tow boats, to keep from hitting the bridge!

See pictures here!

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The snow has been on and off all week. Thursday was the only real dry day this past week and the only day I felt comfortable commuting by bike. The bird seed I bought last Sunday has really been a good investment with all the new snowfall. Saturday morning and afternoon we received quite a bit and it covered up all the previous bird seed I had spread on the front and back patios.

I put more out and it kept the Nooch pretty entertained as the birds gobbled it up. I shot this video of the hungry birds in front of our house on Saturday. Keep in mind that I have been snowbound for a while (with the exception of going to work) and so many things seem interesting that would not otherwise be. Also, the music was not selected on purpose for this video, but I think it's actually a good soundtrack - these birds would probably rather be in Key West right now! :)

Enjoy!



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Although the weather report said it would snow today, I was still skeptical because snow is pretty rare in the Willamette valley. But this morning when I woke and opened the blinds, I was pleasantly surprised: SNOW! And lots of it, too. Our newspaper had about 2 1/2 inches sitting on it when I picked it up off our driveway around noon today. I don't think it has stopped snowing yet either.

Sean and I took a walk to Safeway to buy some birdseed for the birds in our backyard. They were looking for food, so I used it as an excuse to get out of the house and into the snow.

The only sad thing is that the snow is too dry for snowmen. :(

Yay!

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Okay this happens to be a little late - but I'm finally getting around to posting the photos from our trip to the Pendleton Round-Up this year. Sean's friend Eric came with us and it was really fun. We drank multiple beers and watched some rodeo. This year we went Thursday and Friday so we could make it back in time for John & Day's wedding. We told them not to get married again next year during Round-Up week because we didn't want to miss the fly-over that occurs on Saturday.

I can't remember why I look sad in this photo but it's funny!

See pictures here!

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...when your heater comes on for the first time
...when you have to wear a jacket on your bike ride home from work
...when you start making soup for dinner on a regular basis
...when you have to decide if you're going to do anything interesting for Halloween
...when you're watching football games 3-4 nights a week
...when you attach the additional head light on your bike for the morning commute
...when you forget to check on your garden after work because it's dark before you know it
...when you remember you need to buy candy corn before the grocery store sells out

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Garden Day 109
I ate my first tomato last Monday. It was dee-lish. Now I want some more!
Why isn't there more stuff to eat in my garden right now? I am so tired of waiting!

Updates by item:

Tomato: Lots of green ones, only a few red (and I have eaten those)
Broccoli: Getting bigger but no signs of fruit yet
Onion: Doing good - waiting for the tops to wilt before they are picked
Lettuce: I may have already mentioned that I gave up on the lettuce
Pepper: Doing really good! I picked 2 today! And the cayenne is starting to turn red!
Carrot: Pulled one today but they're still really small
Eggplant: Getting really big and flowers are forming!
Pumpkin: Insane! It will take over the back yard soon!
Butternut squash: Also really awesome but not quite as dramatic as the pumpkin
Corn: Only one ear per stalk which is kind of a bummer - eating the first 2 tonight

The most exciting thing today was the grasshopper. This is the first grasshopper I have ever seen at my house. Hurray!

See Photo from Day 109

And for comparison:
See Photo from Day 84
See Photo from Day 61
See Photo from Day 45

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08/08 Garden Day 84
The garden is growing but there is still nothing to eat yet! Well, I take that back, I did eat some lettuce. For some reason it always grows really tall, so this year I cut off the top and am hoping that more leaves will grow out the side. I ate the leaves I cut off on a tuna sandwich this week. Yum!

I set up a soaker hose, but not on the garden. This helps because it is still less time I have to spend outside holding the hose. I did finally receive my rebate from Lowe's, but haven't made a trip out there just yet.

The cayenne pepper I bought at Freddies has a little pepper on it, but it's still green. My other pepper plant has flowered so now it's just a matter of time until a pepper grows. There are plenty of tomatoes but none are ripe yet. There are ears of corn but not ready to eat yet. The eggplant is getting bigger and so are the pumpkin and squash! The additional lettuce and carrot seeds have sprouted now and look good.

I made some herb cubes with the mint and basil. But there is still so much mint!

See Photo from Day 84

And for comparison:
See Photo from Day 61
See Photo from Day 45

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Ahh the beer festival. It came and went so fast this year. It is surprising, considering that I spent 7 hours at the waterfront on Friday and another 5 or 6 hours on Sunday. There was definitely some good beers and so getting there at noon on Friday was definitely required to be able to try them before it got crowded.

There were 8 beers that were 8% ABV or higher, including one that was almost 10% - the Full Nelson IPA made by Widmer. I learned that Widmer makes a special one-off brew for the Oregon Brewer’s Festival every year. So the Full Nelson was one of my first stops. There were several Imperial IPAs and Double IPAs – so definitely no lack of hops this year. The hoppiest beer (113 IBUs) was brought by McMenamins – the Madman Jack. Brewed by the Hillsdale McMenamins and was the winner at their own McMenamins competition/beer fest earlier in the year (can’t remember if I voted for this one or not). Second hoppiest was a beer that I was introduced to at the KLCC beer fest in Eugene this year, Hop Stoopid by Lagunitas. This one has 110 IBUs and is de-lic-ious! We voted for this one at the KLCC beer fest and it won the taster’s choice first place spot. I was glad to see it again this summer.

For our Sunday volunteer gig, we sandwiched ourselves around the Hop Stoopid (with Day as the tapster). I poured Stone Brewing’s Levitation Ale (a dark amber). My favorite thing about this beer was that more people pronounced “Levitation” wrong than they did right. It must have been the beer talking. :)

Michelle poured the Great White by Lost Coast (somewhat of a regular) and her friend poured a pale ale by MacTarnahan’s. That beer really did not move at all.

I tried many, many beers – but it’s hard to really pick a favorite. There was a coffee-flavored beer that was really good. And of course I loved everything with lots of hops. I guess I’d have to go with the Full Nelson. But I’ll probably never get to have it again. :(

All in all, it was super fun and we strategized well with the early tasting on Friday and the shorter shift of volunteering on Sunday. I think I’ll do it again next year! Who’s with me?


See pictures here!

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