Almost Home Again

Friends, we have to tell you it was bittersweet today as we crossed the border from Idaho into Washington state. We are staying the night in one of our favorite places, Leavenworth, and will head home tomorrow. We are expecting our cats to be furious at us...either ignore us for a few days, or let out that hell-possessed yowl that could wake the dead. We are looking forward to spending some time in our own house, cooking with our own dishes, eatting food we make, and relaxing in our space.

Tomorrow we plan on picking up 40 lbs of apples to bring home with us so we can make some applesauce again like last year...homemade sauce is so good!

Glacier National Park

Our original plan was to camp at Glacier National Park, but when we found out that it had been down in the 20's at night we changed our minds and booked a hotel in Whitefish instead.

We headed to the West side of the park and nearly immediately saw a huge black bear trying to get berries out of a tree right by the road! We tried to get a picture but couldn't get the lens on the camera fast enough before it ran into the woods on the other side of the road. We headed up the road to Avalanche Creek and stopped for a beautiful hike to Avalanche Lake. We were inspired not only by the hike's beauty, but also by how much the lake itself reminded us of our own familiar alpine lakes in the Cascades. We are so looking forward to seeing them again soon!

On our way back down we stopped by the Lake McDonald Lodge to catch a boat ride, only to find it was booked for the last two trips. So instead we decided to have a late lunch on the shoreside. We attemped to skip rocks on the water...turns out we aren't so very good at that...especially Margaret, so instead we just threw rocks in the water...tried to skip some again, and went back to just throwing them in.

On Monday we went through the East side of the park and saw a mountain goat! We went through Many Glacier, up to Logan's Pass and hiked up to the Hidden Lake Outlook, stunning!

For dinner we went to Pescado Blanco, which means "Whitefish" in spanish. I don't know what it is about Mexican food, but when done with 'fusion' cuisine, it always turns out so well! This was "Gourmet Mountain Mexican", so they had elk tacos, and bison enchilladas. It was SO SO good, truely the tastiest meal that we have had in a restaurant on our entire trip.

Yellowstone National Park

We had a lovely time in Yellowstone National Park! We camped for three nights at Grants campground. We were there just as the campsites were closing down for the year, most of the families with school aged children and retirees had headed for warmer climates. The first day we arrived we didn't have much time for exploring, and spent our evening setting up our camp and trying to stay warm (it was pretty cold at night!). The first full day we were there we went to see Old Faithful. We were rained out in the afternoon and retreated to our campsite to relax and do the crossword in the local newspaper.

The next day we set off to explore the Geisers of the Upper, Lower and Mid basins near old faithful. The colors of the pools were phenominal, as were beauty of the geysers. We saw hundreds of buffalo, and found this one hiding behind some bushes...note to self...don't pee behind a bush, you may not know what is on the other side!

We enjoyed a ranger-lead program at the fishing bridge and learned about the drama of the Yellowstone Cutthroat trout. Seriously, Desperate Housewives could learn a thing or two about drama from this little fish and it's fight for survival!

On our way out of the park the next day we went and saw Canyon and Mammoth on our way to Whitefish. Our drive was mostly uneventful (minus the high-winds and unbanked crappiness of Montana's poor excuse for I-90), and beautiful with the rolling waves of grasses, and high mountains.

Sunday September 13 - A Day on the Farm

Today was surely one of the highlights of our trip. We started off the day being so lucky, Grandma made us buttermilk biscuits and gravy for breakfast, it was SO good.

We powered up Grandma and Grandpa's four wheel drive, and went for a drive around the farm. The farm is separated into four areas, the hay meadow, the house part, the pasture with the pond, and then a third pasture has all the farming equipment. We drove through the part of the pasture with the pond, and then wound our way through the hay meadow. We decided to 'hunt' cows, and found about a dozen of them spending the warm morning in the cool shade. Unlike Grandma's previous cows, these particular bovines don't chase ATV's (One of the creapiest experiences of my life the last time I was here on an ATV was being chased by 8 cows thinking I had food for them!), and instead just kind of stared at us. We didn't get too close as many of them had calves, and we didn't want to make them mad! We then went through to the house part of the farm, and Sean tried to see how fast he could make the ATV go. I thought we were going to die. Sean used to have ATV's and needless to say is much more comfortable on them.

Uncle David and his wife Angie, and their two daughters arrived just after 3 pm. Uncle David is actually closer to my age than my dad's, just 11 years older than me, so we had a lot of fun catching up about issues that we are both experiencing, home improvements, going back to school, buying a house, etc. Grandma made a GIGANTIC dinner (I can see where Aunt Debbie gets it!), we had pulled pork, potato salad, coleslaw, and about 5 different kinds of BBQ sauce including the one Grandpa made last night (Whoo Hoo!). Dinner was absolutely wonderful!

After dinner Uncle David, his 3 year old daughter Jessie, Sean and I went out to the fishing pond to see what was there. And by fishing I really mean that Uncle David taught Sean and I how things were done, and could barely fish himself because he was so busy helping out Sean, Jessie and I. We had a wonderful time catching blue fin, big mouth bass, Croppie and cat fish. Two fish actually broke the line because they were SO big, approximatly 28 inches, our little lines couldn't handle it. Uncle David even hooked one that was more than 36 inches long, and it broke the line above the bobber. We laughed as the bobber went around the whole pond, being dragged by the one that got away. We could see the bobber go around from one side of the pond to the other for over an hour =).

Uncle David and family headed home, and Grandma, Grandpa, Sean and I rounded out the evening with some wonderful peach cobbler and the Lord of the Rings.

Saturday September 12 - CowTown

Well CowTown...the name says it all! It's actually a museum in Wichita that wonderfully captures the essence of the 'Old West' in the mid-1800's. There are approximaly 30 buildings that have been moved to the site and restored to how they were during the 1800's, employees dress in period costume, and are walking encyclopedia's about early Wichita history. We enjoyed watching bank robber's being 'gunned down' by a group of angry townswomen, and going into each of the old buildings and learning about their roll's including the pharmacy, the grain elevator, train station, meat market, and our favorite...the saloon! Our favorite quote of the day was from one of the 'townswomen' "Men may have settled the West, but Women civilized it".

We stopped by the Kroger grocery store, Fred Meyer and QFC to us is Dillans here, and got all the things we needed to make up a gigantic pan of enchilladas. We headed home and cooked and enjoyed a great dinner together.

Friday September 11 - Drive from Indianapolis to Augusta

Today was a long driving day. We are learning to better break up our time, and switched drivers every one to two hours instead of doing longer shifts. The most shocking part of the day was the drive from Kansas City to Grandma's house, as we drive through the Flint Hill's (the prarie) we were amazed at how beautifully green it was. We didn't know how much rain Kansas had been getting, and were so lucky to see this area which is normally card board box brown to be so full of blue-green waving grass. We found out from NPR while we were driving that this is actually one of the best years for Kansas for corn and soy bean farming.

We arrived at Grandma'a and Grandpa's around 6:30, just in time for BLT sandwiches with home-grown beefsteak tomatoes!

Thursday September 10 - Drive from Syracuse to Indianapolis and Maid of the Mist

We were sad to leave Marissa this morning, I wish that we lived closer! We had such a lovely visit! We headed out to Niagara Falls and had a wild time going on the "Maid of the Mist" which is the boat that goes by all the falls. The Horseshoe falls on the Canadian side were absolutely breathtaking. The American falls, and Bridal Veil falls were also stunningly beautiful. We enjoyed wearing our gigantic blue poncho's =). After Maid of the Mist we would our way to Indianapolis and didn't arrive until about 9 pm, and we quickly crashed.

Wednesday September 9 - Happy Birthday Marissa Part I

We mostly relaxed today, enjoyed playing Mafia Wars, Mario Brothers. We went to Starbucks and planned our route to Grandma's house.

After Marissa got home from work we headed out to Target to get a few things for our road trip. As a belated birthday gift Marissa generously got us a cooler for our cross country adventure =). We then headed to "The Saucy Swan" for dinner. The best way to describe the restaurant is to say it's like the Red House in Renton, but they specialize in Italian food. We had a lovely dinner to celebrate Marissa's birthday a few days early.

Monday, September 7 - New York State Fair

Whoo-Hoo. This is where we began to get our 'middle America' on with starting off the fair with a wine slushy. Well I guess it could most appropriately be described as red neck, but it was also delicious, so much in fact that we ended up getting two of them! We had a lovely time at the New York State Fair, and got to even pet a giraffe!

September 6 - Yuppy Road Trip USA

Today we begin our great drive across the country. I felt a little yuppy headed down the coast of the Atlantic in our pretty subaru, our keen sandles and with a tasty starbucks. Last time I went on a road trip it was with my entire family piled into a car, Dad threatening that we would have to pee in a cup in the back seat, and Mom trying to get us to eat our homemade sandwiches so we wouldn't stop and spend money on fast food. We've enjoyed the music so far on our drive to Marissa's in Syracuse, started off with 70's folk and have just now found a station with seattle grunge music, a little taste of home!

We left Auntie Ellie's this morning after breakfast, our visits with our east coast family are always way to short. Today is Auntie Ellie's birthday HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNTIE ELLIE!!!

We plan to arrive at Marissa's this evening about dinner time.

Quote of the day: "Moose Crossing...Holy Crap...REALLY?...I want to see a Moose"

September 5 - Chauncey Creek

September 5 - Chauncey Creek

Sean and I walked into Portsmough today from Auntie Ellie's house, about a 3 mile walk. We stopped by the farkers market and got some lovely tomatoes and headed into the small town for brunch. We met Mom and Auntie Ellie at the glass studio and then headed across into Maine for some outlet mall shopping. It was glorious. The first stop was Villeroy and Bach, who makes our every day dishes pattern. We walked out spending $54, and the sum of the original prices was $495. Thank you factory store!

We went back into town and Sean became very concerned that the local ice creamery had run out o ice cream, so Auntie Ellie, Sean and I went to Annabelles just to check, and each got a scoop.

As fun ans shoppng and ice cream were, they were by no means the highlight of the day. The best part of theday day was dinner

After ice cream we went back to Auntie Ellie's and started getting things together to go to Chauncey Creek for dinner. Chauncey Creek is a lovely restaurant in Kittery Maine. The only thing that they really serve is Lobster. So everything else you have to bring yourself. We set out a beautiful sea themed table cloth on a large picnic table on the pier. Auntie Cathie and Uncle Wayne drove up from Boston, and my Grammie's friend Irine came to join Sean, Mom, Auntie Ellie and I. We lit the candles of the center piece that we brought and set out a smorgesborge of wine, green salad, cheese puffs, black-eyed-bean salad (Mississippi Cavier). The lobster came out after a while, and we enjoyed teaching Sean how to eat it the Maine way, dipping it in butter, breaking the back, eatting the claw meat, sucking all the meat out of the legs like a straw all while wearing a plastic bib.

For dessert we dined on funfetti cupcakes, chocolate dipped strawberries and chocolate truffles. We caught up, chatted, sang Happy Birthday to Auntie Ellie.

After dinner Mom went back to Boston with Auntie Cathie and Uncle Wayne so that she could catch an early flight out the next day. Sean, Irine, Auntie Ellie and I headed back to Ellie's house for a cup of tea. After Irine headed home we made some popcorn and watched two episodes of "the Tudors" and then hit the sack!

September 4 - Exploring Portsmouth

An early morning we head into downtown Portsmouth with Mom and have breakfast at a lovely cafe in the town square. We then head to a museum called "Strawberry Banke". In 1623 the first settlers came to New Hampshire and set up their first permanent residence at the mouth of the river between what is now Maine and New Hampshire. The village existed primarily on the fishing industry. Strawberry Banke has many of the towns original homes which are available to go inside and explore with period furniture. Staff dresses up in period costume and share with the guest the way that life in the 1600's and 1700's were in what was to become the United States. We learned about the roll of the Nutter family in the Portsmouth society of the time (that is Sean's Paternal Great - Grandmother's maiden name).

After a tasty lunch back at Auntie Elli's we headed to Dover to learn more about the Nutter family in this area, which dates from 1633. We went to the Woodworth museum, and learned about the Nutter's which were some of the original settlers of this area. One of the real treats of the day was when Mom found a decree written by the 'City of Dover' signed by both Sean's ancestors, and my ancestors, espeically fun because there were only three signatures of the document.

We were pooped and headed back to Auntie Ellie's and made dinner, when she got home from work we ready to eat our tasty salad and lasagna. We made popcorn and watched the first two episodes of the "The Tudor's" on DVD.

September 3 - HAPPY ANNIVERSARY SEAN AND MARGARET

September 2 - Freedom Trail

September 1 - Duck Walk

August 31 - Good Bye World - Travel Day

After a tasty breakfast in our hotel we headed out for some last minute souvenier shopping. We found ourselves in the Munich market, and enjoyed looking at all the beautiful fruits, vegetables, and hand made crafts. We found the Starbucks, and headed around the corner to a 'bavarian' store where we found a nice Christmas ornament to add to our stash. We were walking back to the hotel in search of a chocolatier when we stumbled upon a department store and the entire bottom floor was chocolate from around the world...well we used up all our Euros and as we didn't want to pull out any more we headed to the airport lounge and waited for our flight.

We arrived in Boston in the evening and were met by Mom and Auntie Cathie who took us to my Auntie's house for dinner (Taco's!!!!). We really enjoyed exploring the world, but are truely ready to be in a place where everyone speaks English, and we can buy drugs that we can read the labels too.

August 30 - Munich Tour and Englicher Garten

Early start today, we headed to Starbucks which is conveniently where our tour was meeting for the morning. We enjoyed the history lessons about the old town center, but bailed out on the tour about half way through and went to the Houfbrau house for bratwurst and beer for lunch. We walked up to the Englicher Garden and enjoyed the beautiful garden. Luckily we had been in Europe for a while, and Megan warned us, so we weren't so surprised when we stumbled across the clothing optional portion of the park. We enjoyed sitting by the lake in the park, and eating ice cream, and called it a day and headed back into town for dinner.

We went to Weies Brauhaus for dinner again. As a tribute to all things German, Sean had the 'butchers' plate which involved 5 large sausages made in different styles, a mountain of saurkraut, and three large potatoes. Margaret on the other hand got the 'vegetarian' plate which had lovely things, spinach schpatzle, mushrooms in cream sauce, cooked red cabbage, roasted tomato, etc

August 29 - Duchau Concentration Camp

We headed to Duchau Concentration Camp today. Although not the largest camp, it was the first, the model for all the others, and the only one to run the entire 12 years of Hitlers reign. At the beginning of the Concentration Camp the prisoners were all political prisoners, and after they had been 'reformed' they could actually be released. That only lasted about a year though before more and more people came, and the prisoners were there because they were Jewish, Political Opponents, Homosexual, Jehovah's Witness, etc. Dachau was interesting because all the Catholic Priest that opposed Hitler were went there as political prisoners, the only camp to hold priest.

Seeing the concentration camp in person was nauseating, educational, eye opening.

We had dinner Weies Brauhaus for dinner tonight. It's a lovely beer hall with none of the gimic of Hofbrau House, and double the authenticity. Our waitress was a burly frau, she was incredible...we would have called her the beer nazi had it been more politically correct.

August 28 - Travel Day

Today we went from Murren to Munich. On the train down we overhead some students practicing their English. After hearing "Howdy Partner", "Suburb's", and "Good MoRRRRRning" they got to making fun of english and were trying to see how many times they could roll their R's in Good Morning. Well that was just about the time that they realized that Sean and I were sitting there...after a little 'un schiesta' from one of the gals, a rush of German, we all ended up busting out laughing, great fun.

We headed to Zurich for a light lunch, and to see another city, and then headed on to Munich.

In Munich we went to the Hofbrau house for dinner, that was wild! There were a surprising large percentage of folks walking around in Bavaian style clothing, and everyone was singing along with the songs that the band was playing. People were dancing, yelling, and wearing liederhosen! We each managed to polish off a liter of beer (Margaret had never finished an entire liter on her own before!). I think pleanty of other people were also finishing off their own liters of beer because we actually saw someone in a bear costume dancing the polka with a whole bunch of different gals..What a great way to start our stay in Munich!