Project 365 Day 181: Sand-dollar Suvivor

While in Westport, WA a few weekends ago we spent one afternoon with Amy's dad walking on the beach, in search of sand-dollars. I admittedly did not know what a sand-dollar was or what one looked like, but I soon found out (see this Wikipedia entry if you are curious and uninformed like me). At first we only came across broken sand-dollars, but after walking about a hundred yards down the beach, away from the main access point, we soon started becoming overwhelmed by an abundance of whole ones. We estimated that we picked up about 40, and then while cleaning them off decided which ones weren't worth keeping due to defects.

We packed our portion of 12, wrapped in paper towels, in our suitcase, and were pleasantly surprised to find that only a few did not survive the "delicate touch" airline luggage handling procedures. We gave four to the family across our backyard so each of the kids could have one, in return for keeping an eye on our tomato plants, and that left us with these five as our own mementos of the trip.

Project 365 Day 180: Tomatoes!

So far our tomato plants seem to like us, as evidenced by the surprisingly large fruits in this picture. Well, at least three of our four plants like us, the other one is trying to rebel by flipping itself on its side occasionally. It's probably depressed and feels like an outcast because it's in a bigger pot than the other three, and it also started out bigger, so it just never quite fit in. We'll do our best to reintegrate it into the family though!

Thanks to our neighbors across the back yard for helping keep the plants watered and upright!

Project 365 Day 179: Post-Vacation To-Do List

1. Laundry
2. More laundry
3. Mow the yard
4. Additional laundry found hiding in duffel bag
   
5. Clean dishes that we didn't feel like washing the night before vacation
6. Water plants that didn't seem to miss us much at all -- on second thought, maybe let them go a little longer...
7. Pick up mail
8. Consume leftover food that (mostly) passes the smell test (items in parentheses apply only to Adam)
9. Decide laundry isn't really worth the effort, start throwing out dirty clothes and buying new clean clothes
   

Project 365 Day 178: Smelling the Roses

After yesterday's death-defying mountain climbing activities, we decided to play it a little more low-key today with a visit to Washington Park, and more specifically the Rose Garden. Here is a picture of approximately 5% of the roses that are planted in this area. It is really a breath-taking area, with a great view of Mt. Hood on the horizon and literally thousands of roses of every color in front of your eyes.

We also happened to see a Jewish wedding taking place in a special area of the garden. I bet they were glad to be in the Rose Garden and not on a half-eroded mountain hiking trail too!

Project 365, Days 176 and 177: Well, at least it wasn't raining

It seems that every time we come to Portland, we manage to get ourselves into situations that involve our lives flashing before our eyes. Last time it was riding rental bikes over a bridge with cars whizzing past us at 45 miles per hour on one side and a very, very long drop into the Willamette River on the other, separated only by a short handrail and a bike path that was approximately 18 inches wide, interrupted periodically by light posts and by runners who did not understand the concept of “right-of-way.” This time was just as bad.

Adam had a rough day at work yesterday, so I suggested that we devote today to hiking because I knew he wanted to try to do that on this trip. He reserved a Zipcar and we went to the bookstore last night to research possible hikes.

We found a book called 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Portland, which has lots of great information in it. After considering a few options, we settled on the roughly nine-mile Burnt Lake trail and packed our backpacks with plenty of water and snacks.

This morning, we went to the hotel lobby and ate a big breakfast before picking up the car. We drove about 60 miles east to get to the mountains, but our adventure really began when we turned onto a gravel road that was riddled with enormous potholes to get to the trailhead. We weren’t sure whether our little Scion xD would make it, but it did, and soon we had parked and started out on the trail.

The first part of the trail was nice and easy, although it was uphill the entire way, so we were getting a pretty good workout from the very beginning. After about 2.5 miles we reached a switchbach, which was where our guidebook said groups with pets or children should turn around and head back. I suppose that should have been our first hint, but we were determined to make it to the end of the trail, all the way to the lake and possibly even higher to get some good views. Unfortunately, those plans were soon foiled.

I have a slight problem with heights, which you might say would be a good reason not to hike on mountains, but usually I can talk myself out of my nerves. I started feeling a little woozy immediately after the switchback, where the trail became just a narrow, flattened strip jutting out of an otherwise pretty sheer dropoff, but at that point I was still able to successfully convince myself to keep going. About three miles from the beginning of the trail, however, we reached a new challenge.

The trail had been getting progressively rougher and narrower, to the point that in some spots, I could not have stood with my feet next to each other. This was nerve-wracking enough, but then I turned a corner to see this:

Yikes! Then, a few yards after this, I realized that I could not see where the trail went.

Adam worked his way around me--at this point, I was so panicked that I literally could not move--to check out the situation. When he returned, he told me that the only way to get to the rest of the trail was to crawl over a rock that was jutting out of the side of the mountain and was sloping slightly downward toward the ravine.

At that point, I almost started hyperventilating. My legs were shaking, which made the trail situation even worse; there was nothing to hold on to; and I didn't think I could talk myself into either going on or turning around and heading back over the somewhat treacherous ground we'd already covered. I even started wondering if our new AAA membership would cover mountainside rescue! Finally, with Adam's encouragement, I sort of sat down and scooted over the worst part, and Adam was kind enough to document it:

I'm pretty sure I was actually a quivering pile of goo at this point, so Adam's camera must be magic. Can you SEE that dropoff to my left?! I don't actually remember, but Adam assures me that from where we were standing on the ledge, the bottom of that ravine was not visible.

Once we got back on (relatively) solid ground, the day went a whole lot better. We had some good pizza at Government Camp (seriously, that's the name of a town); checked out Timberline Lodge, which was built during the Depression and is as high as you can go on Mount Hood; and took another, much flatter and easier, hike around Trillium Lake. Here are a few more pictures from the day:

Adam sitting in a tree at Trillium Lake

Timberline Lodge and Mount Hood

Trillium Lake and Mount Hood

Oh, and the problematic part of the trail? When we got home, Adam did some research and found a warning about it on the Forest Service website. The moral of the story? Next time we go hiking, we'll check the Forest Service website first!

Project 365 Day 175: Cousin?

While eating at the most-excellently-named Burgerville restaurant for lunch in Portland today, I couldn't help but notice that the man standing in the recycling bin in this picture hanging on the wall looks eerily like my cousin Danny who just recently got married.

Danny, if this is you, a couple of notes:

1. You should have let us know you were in the area so we could get together while we're visiting!
2. You shouldn't settle for recycling bin housing; if you're in that dire need of a place to stay, we've got room in the Marriott for the rest of the weekend.
   

Project 365 Day 174: Seaside by the Ocean

We reserved a Zipcar in Portland this afternoon and drove west on highway 26 to the beautiful ocean-side town of Seaside, Oregon. This statue of Lewis and Clark sits in the center of a promenade along the beach and marks the end of the Lewis and Clark Trail. We loved walking on the promenade and beach, with the ocean on one side and a view of mountains on the other. With plenty of restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, and video arcades, we may have another potential city to add to our places-we-would-like-to-spend-the-winter-in-when-we-are-retired-many-years-from-now list.

Project 365 Day 173: Shoe Shopping

During our visit to the Lloyd Center shopping mall this afternoon, we came across a familiar shoe store where I had purchased some Keen walking shoes a couple of years ago during our first visit to Portland. Lo and behold the same gentleman who helped us that time was working again today and was even more helpful; he convinced both of us to get new shoes this time!

It didn't hurt that he used the slick computer system pictured above to show us what our arches were like. After standing on a special platform for a few seconds the pressure points are depicted on the screen, and apparently I have some super-high arches and may really be some sort of advanced humanoid life-form from another galaxy. Luckily they had some shoes and inserts that could meet even the demands of my alien soles, and we both walked away happy customers.

Coincidentally, it turned out he also enjoys spending time fishing in Westport, WA (site of the wedding this weekend). A few other factoids: he was drafted for Vietnam while in the middle of art school, and he now does pen and ink sketches in his spare time and has occasional showings around town, presently at Cooper's Coffee in Portland. Hopefully we'll make it there to check them out!

Project 365 Day 172: Next Stop Portland

We took Amtrak from Seattle down to Portland this evening to begin the next leg of our trip out west. We'll be staying in Portland near Lloyd Center, where I will work out of the hotel during the day and then go out with Amy to see the sites and the infamous Portland slackers (i.e. kids who live on the sidewalks because they think it's fun). Maybe we can at least convince some of them to start a lemonade or frozen ice sno-cone stand and make something of their lives...

Project 365 Day 171: DJ Crabcakes

Today was the big day. Amy's sister got married, Amy had a nice reading during the ceremony, and I had one of the most important jobs of all: disc jockey of the iPod.

Luckily I was born for this. Many years of of using touch-enabled devices to play music have led to this one moment. I expertly created an On-The-Go playlist containing the four required songs, and practiced fading out one track that ran a little longer than necessary. Preparedness and practice are key!

Congratulations to the bride and groom, and say hello to the world's newest musical mix-master: DJ Crabcakes!

Project 365 Day 170: Cups Overrunneth With Cake

At the rehearsal dinner for this weekend's wedding we enjoy copious amounts of food, mostly from the meat category. These cupcakes were the final course, and were very tasty!

Project 365 Day 169: Sleepified

After spending the night in the Minneapolis airport, awake, followed by three hours of pseudo-sleep on the flight to Seattle, this bed in Westport may as well be the cure for cancer. I can't wait to put my head down on the pillllll...

ZzZzZzZzZz

Project 365 Day 168: McDonald's at Midnight

Our plan was bulletproof.

Goal: Get from Iowa to Seattle in June for my sister-in-law's wedding.

Method: Fly from Des Moines through Minneapolis to Seattle.

Risk: Low

(I mean, it's not like we're flying through Minneapolis in December, so no crazy Minnesota ice storms to worry about messing up our travel plans, right?).

Outcome: Spending the night at the Minneapolis airport, because of a crazy summer midwest thunderstorm that swept from Des Moines up through the Twin Cities and caused us to miss our connecting flight.

Oh yeah, forgot about those summer storms.

Good news is we found the 24/7 McDonald's in Concourse G, we're hopped up on caffeine, and it's only 7 hours until our rebooked flight leaves for Seattle!

Project 365 Day 167: Suitcase and Syncing

We leave for Washington state tomorrow for Amy's sister's wedding, which means tonight was spent doing two very important things:

1. Packing the suitcase
2. Syncing the iPod

The order of priority is up for debate.

Project 365 Day 166: RAGBRAI Approacheth

I often feel a twinge of excitement when I hear the doorbell ring during the day, because hey, you never know who might be there. While I'm working away on nerdy computer stuff in my basement office maybe Fred Hoiberg has decided to stop by for a visit and get some feedback on basketball plays he's working out for next season.

That may be the most ludicrous thing ever written on this website (thus far).

More often than not, however, it is the UPS Man, or sometimes the FedEx Man, or once, the Census worker who told me that they had not received our Census form for 2010 even though we know for a fact we mailed it, and I'm guessing they probably didn't get it in time before the workers went out because we waited until after the date specified in the first question that went something like "How many people are living in this residence as of April 1st" or whatever, and we were like, "Well we can't send this in before April 1st cause then we'd be lying. There's no way to know how many people might be living in our house in a few weeks." You just never know.

So when said UPS Man or FedEx Man visits, more often than not it is a package of clothes or yarn or something else that is not for me. But still, I can't help but get a little excited when that doorbell rings and today my excitement was validated, because the UPS Man dropped off our RAGBRAI kit, complete with a couple of jerseys like the one in this picture, as well as wristbands, bike tags, luggage tags, emergency contact forms, and a paper asking us to ride safely and responsibly.

Just over a month to go... RAGBRAI here we come!

Project 365 Day 165: ISU Athletics Saved from Obscurity

The past week has been a bit of a roller-coaster ride for the Iowa State athletics fan. After some long-running rumors, all of the sudden a week ago the idea picked up steam that the Big 12 conference could break up. Colorado jets for the PAC-10, Nebraska leaves for the Big 10, and then another group of schools from Texas and Oklahoma might also leave for the PAC 10, leaving the remaining Big 12 teams to find a new home that would have resulted in less money from TV deals, less stature in level of competition, and more difficulties on the recruiting trail.

So today we and many other ISU alumni and fans breathed a sigh of relief when it became nearly certain that the Texas and Oklahoma schools had decided to stay with the Big 12, effectively saving it in its current state at 10 teams. Supposedly the deciding factor was a new TV deal with FOX and ESPN in the next few years that should roughly double the income to each school.

Now I can get back to obsessing about healthy things, like Fred Hoiberg's incoming recruits for men's basketball, and whether Paul Rhoads can repeat and improve upon the success ISU had last year on the football field.

Project 365 Day 164: IT is Funny

Thanks to one of Amy's coworkers we have been exposed to a very funny British sitcom called The IT Crowd (as in, Information Technology, aka what nerds and geeks do, aka, what I do). It might draw a loose comparison to The Office, but it includes a ton of "in" jokes relating to computers, video games, etc, that I and my kind appreciate. There are also fewer long-running plot lines, making each episode more self-contained. It generally doesn't matter if you've seen prior episodes for the current one to make sense.

Amy got the three available seasons (six episodes per season) on DVD for us to watch, which we have thoroughly enjoyed, and now we wait anxiously for the fourth season to begin airing in the UK later this month and eventually make its way over to the Colonies.

Project 365 Day 163: Sheep and Wool

Here's a picture Amy took of some very colorful wool on display at the Iowa Sheep and Wool Festival in Adel, IA. I'm told that this wool was in fact shorn from a sheep, however the sheep was not a Technicolor Dreamcoat sheep, and the color was added after the fact.

Project 365 Day 162: Happy Anniversary to Us

Today we are celebrating five years of married bliss! Thanks to our parents for the gifts!

Project 365 Day 161: A Lovely Bouquet

While coming up with grand schemes for planting plants and trees around the house in the coming weeks and years, we realized that it would probably be a good idea to make sure we don't dig into any sewer lines, water pipes, eletrical wires, dragon caves, etc. So we called to have these nice little flags planted on our property denoting such hazards. Little did we know they would also plant the flags in our neighbors' property too. We're pretty sure the neighbors would not like it if we decided to plant trees in their yards for them, so we took the liberty of pulling these flags up from the surrounding properties tonight.

Project 365 Day 160: Locally Roasted

Tonight while on a bike ride around town to return a movie and get some more miles in, we decided to finally stop at the Burgie's Espresso coffee shop in the gas station on Airport Road by Lowe's. We were pleasantly surprised to find that they make a Jamocha shake that is (hold your breath) better than Arby's! And this after Arby's profoundly declared in their recent commercial that their Jamocha shake is a flavor like none-other that has ever existed on this planet in the entire history of mankind and dinosaurs!

Funny, I always thought it tasted like a mix of ice cream and coffee.

Burgie's is not quite so bold in their advertising, but the coffee flavor in their shake is plenty bold and adds a nice little kick that I never knew I was missing from Arby's version.

So, I declare Burgie's to be the victor in the Jamocha shake wars of 2010, and I will also continue purchasing their locally roasted coffee beans, as picture above.

Project 365 Day 159: Rainbow City

We have started cross-training for RAGBRAI by starting up on the Couch to 5K running program again. We started our run this evening just after a typical Midwest summer rainstorm blew through town, leaving us with some nice rainbows to run towards. Despite our zig-zagging all around the Somerset neighborhood, we never did find that Pot'O'Gold!

Project 365 Day 158: Medication

I'll take one of each, please!

After our weekend of landscaping adventures, both Amy and I are doing our parts to keep the pain medication companies in business. While Amy's legs are feeling a bit sore, I managed to make it through all the rock-picking-up and wheelbarrow pushing on Saturday without feeling any pain, only to feel a sharp twinge in my back while trying on shorts at the Gap on Sunday. Either all the heavy labor on Saturday took it's toll, or else I'm just really bad at trying on clothes!

Project 365 Day 157: Hosta Hoopla

Thanks to Cousin Deb, we are in possession of this beautiful Earth Angel hosta, and yesterday I performed my manly duty of digging a hole in the ground so we could get it planted. As you can see, one day later and it has not died! Yay!

Cousin Deb is also responsible for the variety of potted hostas and other plants sitting on our driveway that you may have noticed in yesterday's photo. We appreciate her generosity of plants and plant advice very much, and we hope to improve our track record of plant survival through the rest of the summer with these hearty species.

Project 365 Day 156: Green Thumbery

Would you, by chance, be interested in some rocks? The dark area in the picture above is what we like to call "dirt," though it may be questionable as to the true nature of this substance. This area was formerly covered many, many rocks. In fact, it was covered by more rocks than one would imagine upon viewing the rock-covered area as it once existed. By way of transferring these many, many rocks to other areas of our property, such as the already-covered-by-rocks area on the northwest corner of the house, as well as the already-covered-by-rocks area under the deck on the south side of the house, through the use of ice-cream buckets, coolers, and once we had finally arrived at our senses, a wheel barrow, the area pictured in the picture above is as you see it, pictured now.

So, if you would like some rocks, you'll have to come get them yourselves, because we're done with moving rocks!!!

We may have some clay and a fine sand-dirt mixture available, however. Free for the taking!

Project 365 Day 155: Drinks at Brewers

This evening we decided to celebrate the end of another week by stopping in the local neighborhood drinking establishment Brewers for some adult beverages and appetizers. I snapped this photo of some martini wall art on our way out.

It's been at least five years since we last visited the bar, when we were in graduate school at ISU, and it's good to see the place is still alive and kickin'. In fact, one of Amy's coworkers who frequents Brewers has a caricature of himself hanging on the wall. Looks like we better step up our frequency of visits if we want to be similarly immortalized!

Project 365 Day 154: Longer Than Forever

Tonight on our bike ride around town we rode by the bandshell as the Ames Municipal Band was performing a concert. As we pulled up we heard the emcee make a special announcement that one of the band members and his wife were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary today, and the band was going to honor them by playing a song, with a special guest singer, that was played at their wedding.

The song had some sweet lyrics about the husband loving his wife "longer than forever," begging her to "leave him never." So far I'd say that couple is on track!

Project 365 Day 153: If Kelly Kapowski and AC Slater Procreated

While Adam and I were on a 17.5-mile bike ride tonight, we paused to take a picture of this sign, which we've noticed many times due to the fact that it contains the names of two of the main characters in a TV show with which any self-respecting child of the 80s should be familiar: Saved by the Bell. Aah, the memories: Would Screech ever get Lisa to go on a date with him? How long would Jessie stay addicted to caffeine pills? (Turns out, about half an hour, minus commercial breaks.) And, of course, would Zach and Kelly be together forever? *sigh*

Anyway, one of Kelly Kapowski's love interests in the first season was A.C. Slater. In the second season Zach Morris won over Kelly and Slater started dating Jessie Spano, but one of the burning questions of our time remains: What if Kelly and Slater had gotten married and had a child named Nevada Starchild? (Don't ask why Starchild. Adam came up with it and even he doesn't know why.) Obviously, the result would have been this road sign. Which ended up existing anyway.

In summary, I apologize for this post.

Project 365 Day 152: Freezer Full o' Meat

Mmmm, meat. Adam's parents gave us this freezer a few months ago and tonight we finally had a chance to go to the meat counter at our favorite local grocery store, Fareway, and pick out some delicacies to put in it. Butterfly chops? Check! Bacon? Check! Hawaiian burgers? Check! I cannot think of a better use for a freezer.