Rock! Death! America!
Littering our noise on the Earth
August 15, 2008 at 1:34 pm · Filed under Better World, Pets
We got a dog!
We told O that as soon as we sold the tiger bus (our ‘71 VW) we could add a dog to the family. He was pretty attached to the VW, and didn’t want us to sell it, but once we made that deal he never looked back. We sold the bus right before we went to Colorado and - without meaning to do it so quickly - found a dog the day after we got home.
Ziggy was part of the Pixie Project, whose mission is this:
he Pixie Project is a non-profit animal adoption center and pet supply store conveniently located five minutes from downtown Portland. Our goal is to help alleviate overcrowding at high-intake county shelters by taking adoptable animals and making them available for adoption in a nurturing and family friendly environment. We then match happy, healthy, loving animals with their forever homes.
The people at Pixie make sure that they can keep track of the animals they adopt out for the rest of their lives, and really try to ensure that the pet and family are a good match. After we filled out the paperwork they answered any questions we had, ordered us a cute dog tag, and will cover any vet bills for the first few weeks. They will even help you to find a pet if they get lost. I felt good about using a place so dedicated to the animals.
His description was so perfect, we had a hard time believing it was all true:
I am an adorable, loving and smart 2 year old Pointer / Lab mix who is sweet with everyone and everything! I adore other doggies, cat, and kids and I love to play. I am smart and already know all of my basic commands and I am house and crate trained. I am loving and always up for a fun adventure. I am just an all around cool, cool guy!
We went and met him, filled out the seven page application of doom, and found out by the end of the day that we were approved. They were worried he might have some separation anxiety because he wasn’t with his friend he came to the shelter with, but he has been nothing but fantastic since he came home. The description was perfect! He is mellow and friendly and has a set of super long legs.
He was put in his place by Sophie this morning - she stalked him under the kitchen table and backed him into a corner against the couch before laying down in front of him and not letting him leave. He finally just gave up on the crazy cat and went to sleep.
August 14, 2008 at 9:19 am · Filed under Vacation
We made it home! Someone needs to let the town of Sublett, Idaho know that they are halfway between Portland and Denver and should build a nice comfy hotel. We stayed in Ogden, Utah instead of Twin Falls, Idaho, hoping to even out the drive a bit. Instead, we managed to switch the long and short days around. At least when you get back into Oregon you lose an hour and it seems like you haven’t been driving quite as long.
Colorado Sunrise
Once again, the kids did surprisingly well. Movie players are the way to go. When they weren’t watching, they were sleeping. We stopped for lunch on the first day at a brewery in Rock Springs, WY. It was called Bitter Creek Brewing, and the beer was actually quite tasty (I had the stout, D had the alt). Unfortunately they were out of three of their normal brews, which limited our choices. I was stunned to find a restaurant in the middle of nowhere Wyoming that had gardenburgers on the menu. Excellent!
Wyoming
Bitter Creek Brewing
The motel (just a Best Western) had a pool, so the kids had a chance to cool off and work off some energy before bed. We hit the road after a really tasty breakfast at the coffee shop (Jeremiahs - kids had chocolate chip pancakes, I had french toast made with banana bread, D had a really tasty veg omelet). We saw a ton of pronghorn antelope going through Wyoming, but after that we didn’t really see any wildlife at all, except one lone coyote and the requisite roadkill (skunk, badger, fox).
Columbia River & Mt. Hood in the distance
The trip was fun, but we are glad to be done with all that driving. D and I did get a chance to listen to some good podcasts, which really helped the time go by.
August 10, 2008 at 6:33 pm · Filed under Vacation
I really wanted to go up in the mountains while we were here, so we drove up I-70 into the trees. We stopped briefly in quaint little Idaho Springs before moving to Echo Lake.
The lake is at 10,550 feet in elevation and it was cloudy, sprinkling and cold. We were all wearing shorts and sandals, but braved the little trail around the lake. The scenery was beautiful, with higher peaks shrouded in mist behind the lake and clouds reflected in crystal clear water. We ignored the goosebumps and raindrops and enjoyed our lunch.
O had a great time running in and around the trees and scaling the boulders. XM liked watching the ducks.
Saw spectacular sunrays through the clouds over Denver tonight, it gives the illusion that we are now so close to the sun that the beams don’t have as far to go. There was also a huge rainbow stretching almost as far as the eye could see. It was stunning.
We leave bright and early tomorrow, back through Wyoming and on to Ogden, Utah where we’ll spend the night in an air conditioned hotel room and not a broiling cabin.
August 9, 2008 at 8:45 am · Filed under Vacation
Walked around downtown Denver (aka LoDo) yesterday. Started with a delicious lunch at Breckinridge Brewery, across the street from Coors Field. All the beer was delicious. Good variety of veg food. Friendly & attentive service.
Walked up & down 16th street mall. City getting cleaned up & decked out for Democratic Convention next week.
Made a final stop at Wynkoop Brewery. Service frazzled & terse. Beer not very tasty. My Monkey’s Fist IPA was downright foul (should have guessed by the name) - I drank less than half of it.
Got home in time to watch big black cloud head our way. Constant lightning, it was crazy. Watched the Beijing Opening Ceremonies when the weather allowed the signal to work.
August 7, 2008 at 3:22 pm · Filed under Beer, Vacation
Free tour plus three free tasters, all you need is the time.
August 7, 2008 at 8:55 am · Filed under Vacation
Drove for 12 plus hours yesterday across Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, & Colorado. Had clouds with us from Utah on through, crazy rain in CO-had to pull over until we could see again.
Arrived a little after 8pm, got a good nights sleep & all cleaned up. Looks like a beautiful day ahead!! Going to tour the Coors Brewery.
August 5, 2008 at 6:40 pm · Filed under Vacation
It’s hot. We are on a vacation, heading towards Denver to visit friends. Everywhere we go, it is hot. I never get used to it.
We spent 10 hours on the road today, driving from Portland to Eden, Idaho, which is just east of Twin Falls. The kids each had access to a movie player, which kept them occupied for many hours. We played a little scenery bingo, & didn’t hear “I’m bored” until we were 17 miles from our final stop of the day.
We had lunch at the Baker City Cafe in Baker City ( duh). It was delicious, & the people were super nice. Cute town. We are staying at Anderson Camp RV Park in one of their camping cabins. The kids love the bunk beds.
We had dinner at the pub attached to Trail Creek Brewing. Good food, & really tasty beer. Time for early bed. Wish the cabin had A/C…
Tomorrow: through Utah, Wyoming, & Colorado to Denver!
(10 points if you can name the song referenced in the title)
ETA: night was terrible. Sweltering in cabin. Had to play musical bunks all night. Somehow I ended up in the top bunk.
July 30, 2008 at 2:47 pm · Filed under Beer
We saw that on a shirt this weekend at the Oregon Brewer’s Festival. We typically go on Saturday, arriving right at noon so as to get a decent shady spot near the root beer tent with the kids. This year we went to the Estacada Summer Celebration on Saturday, so we dared to attend the OBF on Sunday, despite the fact that all the yummy beer might be gone.
Once inside, we made a beeline for Pliny the Elder, and were not disappointed. Fabulous hop aroma, and so, so tasty. A delicious beginning! I noticed it didn’t take long for them to run out. I also noticed that early on the really long lines were for the fruity wheat beers.
For some reason we were given 2006 mugs, which is kind of a bummer…we tend to keep at least one from each fest for posterity. I don’t know if this is a Sunday thing-use up the old cups on the last day once they’ve run out of the current year. There are signs up at the tasting trailers stating “2008 mug required”. Nobody checked, so what is to stop me from bringing an mug from a more recent year next time?
But then their website says this:
“We are happy to announce that we have found a company that will recycle our plastic mugs from this and previous year’s festivals. Note that in order to drink beer at this summer’s festival, you are required to purchase a 2008 mug. Mugs from previous years will not be filled. But if you wish to bring all of your old mugs to the festival to be recycled, we will gladly take them off your hands and keep them out of landfills. Just look for the recycle boxes at the main entrances.”
Okay, so if we got a *recycled* mug…that is pretty disgusting. Heh.
Other beers tasted:
- Rogue Glen - Smelled faintly of soap. Strong, well rounded and tasty.
- Bridgeport Hop Czar - Smelled like cat pee, more so to D than me. I couldn’t put a finger on what was wrong, but I didn’t care for the taste either. D said he couldn’t get past the smell.
- New Holland Dragon’s Milk - This wasn’t on our short list of things to try, but man, I’m glad I did. This was so good. I thought it smelled like candy - caramel and chocolate. Tasting note simply reads “sooper yummy”. I want to have this again.
- Collaborator Rye - Hoppy smell, and kick you in the teeth hop flavor. Never found the rye.
- Surly Brewing Co. Coffee Bender - “omg coffee smell”. This was so, so delicious. I love coffee, but don’t like typical coffee and alcohol drinks like Irish Coffee and such. This was a perfect marriage of coffee and beer.
- Widmer Full Nelson IPA - Could definately smell the spice, I thought it smelled like Indian food. Unique flavor, thick mouthfeel, and pretty darn tasty.
- I noted here that the first “wooooooh” occured at 1:56 pm. My 3 year old loved to join in.
- Eugene City ‘red?’ - Okay, so here is where the note taking started to go downhill. I couldn’t remember when I got back to my seat what kind of beer this was. I also wrote down “I said “wooh” to the hops…D said “really?”"
- Roots Calypso - Smells sweet. You can totally smell the peppers. Tastes like chips and salsa. So, so, good.
- Green Flash Hop…Something - That is what I wrote. It is Hop Head Red. We were waiting in line for Lagunitas but the line was stoopid long and not moving so we switched. Looks like I also wrote “yum”. By now my taste buds were pretty shot, and apparently my brain as well.
- Lagunitas Hop Stoopid - The lines were really long for this one, but we decided wait since it was our last token. At this point it was cold and delicous and super hoppy, much like all the other beers we tasted. Again, I simply wrote “yum”. Maybe next time I should make a list of descriptions that I can circle, so I don’t have to come up with words on my own.
The kids had fun despite the fact that there was only root beer and not root beer floats this year. We brought lunch (watermelon, pb&j, peanuts) and played Fairy Tale and hung out with our extended family. Can’t wait for next year!
July 26, 2008 at 9:29 am · Filed under Food
July 25, 2008 at 6:39 pm · Filed under Board Games, Family
D has worked with a couple of people that have been really into board games. These weren’t your ordinary board games - no tedious and endless games of Monopoly, no mind numbing sessions of Chutes and Ladders. These were beautiful games on thick boards with cute wooden pieces, games that require thought and skill and luck and were loads of fun to play. Many are known as Euro Games, but there are other categories as well.
We got our gateway game a couple of months ago - Ticket to Ride. From there it was a game here, a game there, maybe a game bought with a Barnes and Noble gift card earned from work. Today brought a shipment of six games, ranging from a card game about recycling to a board game re-creating the presidential race between Nixon and Kennedy.
The site boardgamegeek.com has been indespensible, with ratings and rankings and reviews and commentary on virtually every game out there. We’ve been watching video podcasts (the best being Board Games with Scott) and playing games until our brains hurt. D likes them better than video games, likes to sit with people and have all the bits and pieces in his hands. Owen is really into it, and even XM can play Hey, That’s My Fish! A good time is being had by all.
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