Between the holidays and the toddler, it's been busy, but I had to post a Merry Christmas to everybody out there. Ours was fairly low key. Most of my family was in Colorado, but we couldn't make that trip unfortunately. Only so much leave to go around. We did get a chance to see them on the webcam, and although the Mizz has about a one minute tolerance for sitting still, we still got to see family on the appropriate day.
We actually started Christmas Thursday when my folks came through on their way to the Colorado festivities. They brought along a winner -- a tent and tunnel combo. The Mizz loves it, although it does pretty much fill up the living room. We're down to the tent right now, which is still plenty big for him. It's full of legos rights now. He keeps inviting me inside, but I can only fit about halfway in laying down. He keeps telling me to wake up.
We ducked away Saturday night to Newport, Oregon. It's not exactly prime beach season, but we figured, if you're going to be cooped up out of the rain with a toddler, you might as well be somewhere cool. As we rolled into town, the rain stopped, so we were able to run around on the beach for a while. The Mizz has never really seen the beach, so rain drenched sand in the cold was still pretty cool to him. He did a lot of playing with kelp and sand and just running around. He kept saying that he wanted to go the beach. When we pointed out the fact that he was at the beach, he said, "No, I want to go to the beach of the water." He then ran directly for the surf. Luckily, we had seen this coming and we were a good hundred yards from the waves and the sharks and whatnot so he was easy to catch. We also caught a glimpse of some harbor seal napping on rocks. The next morning, we checked out the historic bayside, specifically to take the Mizz to the Undersea Garden. It wasn't that cool. It was a good sized aquarium, but unlike the brightly colored brochures, it was pretty drab. A whole green and brown aquarium full of green and gray and brown fish. Somewhat interesting, but only for a short time. The Mizz did get to touch a starfish and was pretty pleased about that. More interesting were the sea lions lounging on the dock outside. They were a little wary of us, but stood their ground. After all that, we decided that although getting away was nice, cooped up in a hotel with a toddler isn't that great. We wandered up the coast a way, with a quick stop in Depot Bay (world's smallest harbor) to observe the storm action in the blowholes. The water was shooting maybe 30 feet above the roadway, which was already quite a bit above the water. Very cool. After that, we'd had our fill of driving in the rain, so we called it a trip and headed home.
Today was pretty relaxed. The Mizz got a few things, but he's still pretty young to really understand the whole day. He has fun opening presents, but if they hadn't been there, he wouldn't have noticed. Waiting for him under the tree this morning was an old Tonka dump truck of mine, circa 1974(?). It is labelled as "hydraulic." "Spring loaded" or "catapult" might have been a better description. We'll show the Mizz that feature some other time. He also got a bunch of new legos, as I was feeling limited in my creative possibilities with his old ones. Now we can build much taller towers and much more complicated castles. We even built a house, because the Mizz wanted one to put a flower on. I'm just the builder, not the designer.
We got a taste of white Christmas. We got a good bit of heavy wet snow that made everything pretty, although it didn't stick around for long. We were going to go for a walk in it, but it was already raining again by the time we got moving.
To end the day, some friends brought over Chinese food, and unbeknownst to us, some more gifts for the Mizz. The best was four eggs worth of Silly Putty. The Mizz got four plastic eggs, WITH the original wrapping, and the rest of us got a lump of nostalgia to play with.
Anyway, I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas, whether it was a big family holiday, or just another day off.
Showing posts with label Oregon Coast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oregon Coast. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Under a log?
I must have been under a log; I haven't posted in two weeks. I have been busy though. I'll try to be brief. We all know how that'll work out, I'm sure.
I had started a work trip almost two weeks ago. I went out to Bend for a few days of work before continuing on to Southern Oregon. However, a day into it, I had to run back to Portland to spend the night in the hospital with the Mizz. When Franny called me from the doctor's office, it was very clear to me that I had to get back there. I missed the worst of it, as the Mizz was finally asleep by the time I got there. That was the longest three hour drive I've ever taken. I have a very good imagination.
The problem was that the Mizz had a bad reaction to a shot he had received the day before for the croup. It was a normal enough prescription for his issue, but he experienced a rare side effect. Rare enough that it is not a warning you normally get with it, but common enough that the folks at the childrens' hospital understood what was happening. Luckily it seems to have caused him no lasting issues and he seems to be back to his normal toddler antics now.
When we felt that he was going in the right direction, I had to return to my previously scheduled job responsibilities. Friday night, it was down to Roseburg to be ready to work first thing Saturday morning. Worked on and on and on through today. Tomorrow is almost a day off, just a couple of hours of driving to be further down the road for Monday morning.
I spent several days on the Southern Oregon coast, even stretching down into California. I thought I was going to get rainy weather all week, but it was beautiful on Sunday when I went out to the coast. Then Monday is was raining with gale force winds. Then it was beautiful, then drizzly, then sunny, and then rainy again, with rain heavy enough to make even Oregonians complain. Most of the time, our rain is just a drizzle. I have a raincoat, but I almost never put it on. With this stuff, however, you could actually get wet.
Lots of places (including Portland) like to make the claim that, "If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes." This is intended to help you understand just how unpredictable the weather is in the speaker's particular part of the world. Most people act like they invented the phrase, and hey, aren't they witty. However, although it may actually apply to other places too, the Oregon coast in the Fall is the place I've been that most deserves to say it.
Thursday evening, I made my way down to Eureka, California. It's not super far, maybe 100 miles south of the border, but it was a pretty long trip down US-101. It was slow and twisty, drizzly, foggy, and since that section of road is called the Redwood Highway and goes through Redwood National Park, there were giant freakin' trees right up to the edge of the road. "Elk Crossing" signs too. Somewhat stressful. It was much better on the trip back north the next day. Beautiful, with either huge trees in the mist or ocean vistas. I found the elk. They were lounging on a lawn in front of some cabins by the side of the road. These ones seemed to know about the lack of hunting on national parks. I also passed the "life-size" statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox at Trees of Mystery. It's a side-of-the-road attraction in the middle of the park that has a tour through the redwoods to show you just how interesting 1000 year old trees can be. I remembered the statues like it was yesterday, even though I was only 9 or 10 the last time I saw them.
Eureka is in the middle of Humbolt county. It's reputation preceded it. On my way through the redwoods, the only radio station I could get for a while was playing 2 straight hours of the Grateful Dead. It was interrupted only by commercials for greenhouse and hydroponic equipment dealers. However, despite being in town for almost 14 hours, not one person offered to sell me pot. Luckily, I live in Portland, so if it's ever an issue, I'll just roll down Belmont or something.
I spent today with one of the crassest individuals I've had the privilege of meeting. They customer is always right though, I hear. He has several small locations, so I got to follow him around the mountains all day. I'm done with him though, so tomorrow it's a little further south, and then home by Tuesday. I've put on something like 1,400 miles so far this trip, and I have another 500 or so left. I'm sick of the road.
So much for brief, but you didn't really expect that, did you?
I had started a work trip almost two weeks ago. I went out to Bend for a few days of work before continuing on to Southern Oregon. However, a day into it, I had to run back to Portland to spend the night in the hospital with the Mizz. When Franny called me from the doctor's office, it was very clear to me that I had to get back there. I missed the worst of it, as the Mizz was finally asleep by the time I got there. That was the longest three hour drive I've ever taken. I have a very good imagination.
The problem was that the Mizz had a bad reaction to a shot he had received the day before for the croup. It was a normal enough prescription for his issue, but he experienced a rare side effect. Rare enough that it is not a warning you normally get with it, but common enough that the folks at the childrens' hospital understood what was happening. Luckily it seems to have caused him no lasting issues and he seems to be back to his normal toddler antics now.
When we felt that he was going in the right direction, I had to return to my previously scheduled job responsibilities. Friday night, it was down to Roseburg to be ready to work first thing Saturday morning. Worked on and on and on through today. Tomorrow is almost a day off, just a couple of hours of driving to be further down the road for Monday morning.
I spent several days on the Southern Oregon coast, even stretching down into California. I thought I was going to get rainy weather all week, but it was beautiful on Sunday when I went out to the coast. Then Monday is was raining with gale force winds. Then it was beautiful, then drizzly, then sunny, and then rainy again, with rain heavy enough to make even Oregonians complain. Most of the time, our rain is just a drizzle. I have a raincoat, but I almost never put it on. With this stuff, however, you could actually get wet.
Lots of places (including Portland) like to make the claim that, "If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes." This is intended to help you understand just how unpredictable the weather is in the speaker's particular part of the world. Most people act like they invented the phrase, and hey, aren't they witty. However, although it may actually apply to other places too, the Oregon coast in the Fall is the place I've been that most deserves to say it.
Thursday evening, I made my way down to Eureka, California. It's not super far, maybe 100 miles south of the border, but it was a pretty long trip down US-101. It was slow and twisty, drizzly, foggy, and since that section of road is called the Redwood Highway and goes through Redwood National Park, there were giant freakin' trees right up to the edge of the road. "Elk Crossing" signs too. Somewhat stressful. It was much better on the trip back north the next day. Beautiful, with either huge trees in the mist or ocean vistas. I found the elk. They were lounging on a lawn in front of some cabins by the side of the road. These ones seemed to know about the lack of hunting on national parks. I also passed the "life-size" statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox at Trees of Mystery. It's a side-of-the-road attraction in the middle of the park that has a tour through the redwoods to show you just how interesting 1000 year old trees can be. I remembered the statues like it was yesterday, even though I was only 9 or 10 the last time I saw them.
Eureka is in the middle of Humbolt county. It's reputation preceded it. On my way through the redwoods, the only radio station I could get for a while was playing 2 straight hours of the Grateful Dead. It was interrupted only by commercials for greenhouse and hydroponic equipment dealers. However, despite being in town for almost 14 hours, not one person offered to sell me pot. Luckily, I live in Portland, so if it's ever an issue, I'll just roll down Belmont or something.
I spent today with one of the crassest individuals I've had the privilege of meeting. They customer is always right though, I hear. He has several small locations, so I got to follow him around the mountains all day. I'm done with him though, so tomorrow it's a little further south, and then home by Tuesday. I've put on something like 1,400 miles so far this trip, and I have another 500 or so left. I'm sick of the road.
So much for brief, but you didn't really expect that, did you?
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Another Reason to Love Portland
How many places can you pull off skiing, boating, and surfing in one day with a pit stop in a major city? Go Portland!
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Where the heck has Dave been lately anyway?
I've been told by my reader that I have to blog something. I suppose it has been a while. I guess I just haven't been in the mood lately, but here goes...
I've been working on the Oregon Coast this week. If you have to travel for work, you could do worse. Most of the work this week is between Tillamook and Seaside, but I also had to make a run down to Newport. The weather's been on and off, but hey, it's Oregon.
Most of the work out here is at wastewater plants, but I worked at the Tillamook County Creamery the other day. It a dairy that makes awesome cheese and ice cream. I'm not sure how far away you can get it, but it's good stuff. Whenever I work there I have to check out the visitor area. It was raining which means the place was crawling with tourists, so I didn't bother to wait for the free samples. I did however need to check out the viewing area. There is a whole section overlooking the packaging floor where you can watch industrial stuff happen. I always love watching assembly line processes. In this area, 50 lb. blocks of fresh cheese come in one end, get cut to the right size, and packaged before rolling out the other end on conveyor belts. Just listening to the other watchers, it's amazing to me how little people understand machine-looking things. I admit that I might be more technically trained than the average Joe, but it's very comical listening to people guessing what various machines and workers are doing. I feel bad for the folks working on the floor down there too. Not only are they working a boring-ass production job wearing all white uniforms and hair nets, but every tourist in Oregon is watching them do it. Somebody next to me sang the Oompa Loompa song.
This morning I met a couple lab cats. Lab kittens actually. I almost stepped on one of them sitting in the doorway of the first lab of the day. Apparently, their mother was killed by a raccoon and one of the guys bottle-fed 5 kittens until they could eat. 2 of them now live there. They were a little cautious of me at first, but pretty quickly they decided it would be fun to play on my feet and equipment for the rest of the time I was there. I tried to grab a picture of them on my phone, but like toddlers, they didn't sit still for long.
I have been staying in Garibaldi for the last couple days. There's not much going on in Garibaldi. It's the main port/marina for Tillamook Bay, but there's not much more to it than that. The marina was about 1/3 commercial fishing boats, 1/3 charter fishing boats, and 1/3 personal boats that looked very small for the ocean, especially next to the other 2/3. There's a lumber mill here too, but not much else.
I ate at the Pirate's Cove, which is supposed to be the best restaurant in town. There are only like 2 or 3 other places anyway, so there's not much competition. The food was decent and it had a nice view of the bay, but that's about it. The service was slow and the atmosphere sucked. The Pirate's Cove sounds like it should be cool, but don't be fooled. It was vaguely nautical, but only with the kind of seashell cutesy crap that your grandmother might keep around (not YOUR grandmother, of course, but you know the kind of stuff I mean). Basically, I spent half as much and had a better time eating a burger at a local fisherman's dive bar across the street from the hotel the other night.
The bread was really good at the Pirate's Cove though and I ate WAY too much of it. Dummy.
I'll be finishing up out here tomorrow and heading back home for the weekend. Good thing too, 'cuz I miss Franny and the Mizz, and as he can now tell me on the phone, he misses me too. I don't know if he knows what it means, but he knows to tell me it on the phone anyway. I'll take it.
I've been working on the Oregon Coast this week. If you have to travel for work, you could do worse. Most of the work this week is between Tillamook and Seaside, but I also had to make a run down to Newport. The weather's been on and off, but hey, it's Oregon.
Most of the work out here is at wastewater plants, but I worked at the Tillamook County Creamery the other day. It a dairy that makes awesome cheese and ice cream. I'm not sure how far away you can get it, but it's good stuff. Whenever I work there I have to check out the visitor area. It was raining which means the place was crawling with tourists, so I didn't bother to wait for the free samples. I did however need to check out the viewing area. There is a whole section overlooking the packaging floor where you can watch industrial stuff happen. I always love watching assembly line processes. In this area, 50 lb. blocks of fresh cheese come in one end, get cut to the right size, and packaged before rolling out the other end on conveyor belts. Just listening to the other watchers, it's amazing to me how little people understand machine-looking things. I admit that I might be more technically trained than the average Joe, but it's very comical listening to people guessing what various machines and workers are doing. I feel bad for the folks working on the floor down there too. Not only are they working a boring-ass production job wearing all white uniforms and hair nets, but every tourist in Oregon is watching them do it. Somebody next to me sang the Oompa Loompa song.
This morning I met a couple lab cats. Lab kittens actually. I almost stepped on one of them sitting in the doorway of the first lab of the day. Apparently, their mother was killed by a raccoon and one of the guys bottle-fed 5 kittens until they could eat. 2 of them now live there. They were a little cautious of me at first, but pretty quickly they decided it would be fun to play on my feet and equipment for the rest of the time I was there. I tried to grab a picture of them on my phone, but like toddlers, they didn't sit still for long.
I have been staying in Garibaldi for the last couple days. There's not much going on in Garibaldi. It's the main port/marina for Tillamook Bay, but there's not much more to it than that. The marina was about 1/3 commercial fishing boats, 1/3 charter fishing boats, and 1/3 personal boats that looked very small for the ocean, especially next to the other 2/3. There's a lumber mill here too, but not much else.
I ate at the Pirate's Cove, which is supposed to be the best restaurant in town. There are only like 2 or 3 other places anyway, so there's not much competition. The food was decent and it had a nice view of the bay, but that's about it. The service was slow and the atmosphere sucked. The Pirate's Cove sounds like it should be cool, but don't be fooled. It was vaguely nautical, but only with the kind of seashell cutesy crap that your grandmother might keep around (not YOUR grandmother, of course, but you know the kind of stuff I mean). Basically, I spent half as much and had a better time eating a burger at a local fisherman's dive bar across the street from the hotel the other night.
The bread was really good at the Pirate's Cove though and I ate WAY too much of it. Dummy.
I'll be finishing up out here tomorrow and heading back home for the weekend. Good thing too, 'cuz I miss Franny and the Mizz, and as he can now tell me on the phone, he misses me too. I don't know if he knows what it means, but he knows to tell me it on the phone anyway. I'll take it.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Insomniac
I'm not sure why I'm awake in the middle of the night, but I'll take the opportunity to write, I suppose.
It's been another busy week, but not super interesting until Friday. Franny's folks came to town, partly to see the Mizz and partly to celebrate birthdays for Franny and her dad, one day apart. What her dad didn't know is that her brother Sam also came out for the festivities. Excellent surprise.
Friday, we went out to eat at Mother's Bistro. They claim to love kids -- how could they not with that name? That said, the Mizz seemed to be really testing that theory. We were wondering if he would be the first kids blacklisted from Mother's. I ended up taking him outside for a walk where we found a bench he could climb in and out of. He wouldn't stop until a couple of girls, maybe three or four years old with face paint from the Rose Festival, saw him through the window and were enthralled by him. He, in turn, did not want to stop watching them. He's got a great story for daycare about the older twin chicks that were checking him out.
Speaking of Rose Festival, I managed to forget about the Starlight Run that I was going to do until it was much too late. I got all sick and travelling and forgot all about it and now it happened Friday evening and I didn't even notice. That's motivation for you. Maybe next year.
This weekend we stayed at a great house at Bella Beach with the inlaws for a couple days. Bella Beach is a neighborhood a little south of Lincoln City on the Oregon Coast. True to Oregon, the weather sucked until we left this morning. Just lots of rain, but we still had fun. The front coming through made for some awesome wave to watch, something Oregon usually only sees much in the winter. The house we rented was fairly baby-proof, so chasing Mizz was still a necessity, but not as difficult as some of the knick-knack laden places we've stayed before.
Franny and I managed to escape for a little while for a pseudo birthday dinner Sunday night while the inlaws watched the baby monitor. From what I heard, it didn't require much, but we were grateful for the time out with just the two of us, something that doesn't happen near enough these days. We ate at Kyllo's in Lincoln City. A decent spot with an excellent view. It's built up on stilts right at the beach and we arrived about an hour before high tide, so the water was about as close as it got. It was situated right at the mouth of the "D" River, which is about 100 yards from the beginning of the "D" River, which, according to the sign, makes it the world's shortest river. We debated what constituted a river versus a creek or stream or whatever, but we just have to assume there's an international governing body that regulates these things.
This evening we had an early birthday dinner for Franny and Phil, since Sam has to leave early on Tuesday. We ate at Higgin's in downtown Portland. The Mizz was not invited on this trip. Most of us had the steak special, which was excellent. Very tender with a wonderful sauce. Highly recommended. One of the fun things about Franny's parents visiting is that we get to eat well. They like to eat at new nice restaurants, so we get to eat at new nice restaurants. Franny and I have actually been to Higgin's before, but not often. Last time, we had the duck. ("Say we grant you a reservation. What would you order?" "Oh, I don't know. How about the duck?" "He cannot have zee duck." "You can't have zee duck." "He can have zee chicken." "You can have zee chicken." "Well, what about my date? I can't tell her what to order." "You can strongly suggest zee chicken." [Probably misquoted, but still one of my favorite movie scenes.])
I really need to get back to sleep. I don't know what my problem is, but I'm wide awake. Maybe some chamomile tea or something...
It's been another busy week, but not super interesting until Friday. Franny's folks came to town, partly to see the Mizz and partly to celebrate birthdays for Franny and her dad, one day apart. What her dad didn't know is that her brother Sam also came out for the festivities. Excellent surprise.
Friday, we went out to eat at Mother's Bistro. They claim to love kids -- how could they not with that name? That said, the Mizz seemed to be really testing that theory. We were wondering if he would be the first kids blacklisted from Mother's. I ended up taking him outside for a walk where we found a bench he could climb in and out of. He wouldn't stop until a couple of girls, maybe three or four years old with face paint from the Rose Festival, saw him through the window and were enthralled by him. He, in turn, did not want to stop watching them. He's got a great story for daycare about the older twin chicks that were checking him out.
Speaking of Rose Festival, I managed to forget about the Starlight Run that I was going to do until it was much too late. I got all sick and travelling and forgot all about it and now it happened Friday evening and I didn't even notice. That's motivation for you. Maybe next year.
This weekend we stayed at a great house at Bella Beach with the inlaws for a couple days. Bella Beach is a neighborhood a little south of Lincoln City on the Oregon Coast. True to Oregon, the weather sucked until we left this morning. Just lots of rain, but we still had fun. The front coming through made for some awesome wave to watch, something Oregon usually only sees much in the winter. The house we rented was fairly baby-proof, so chasing Mizz was still a necessity, but not as difficult as some of the knick-knack laden places we've stayed before.
Franny and I managed to escape for a little while for a pseudo birthday dinner Sunday night while the inlaws watched the baby monitor. From what I heard, it didn't require much, but we were grateful for the time out with just the two of us, something that doesn't happen near enough these days. We ate at Kyllo's in Lincoln City. A decent spot with an excellent view. It's built up on stilts right at the beach and we arrived about an hour before high tide, so the water was about as close as it got. It was situated right at the mouth of the "D" River, which is about 100 yards from the beginning of the "D" River, which, according to the sign, makes it the world's shortest river. We debated what constituted a river versus a creek or stream or whatever, but we just have to assume there's an international governing body that regulates these things.
This evening we had an early birthday dinner for Franny and Phil, since Sam has to leave early on Tuesday. We ate at Higgin's in downtown Portland. The Mizz was not invited on this trip. Most of us had the steak special, which was excellent. Very tender with a wonderful sauce. Highly recommended. One of the fun things about Franny's parents visiting is that we get to eat well. They like to eat at new nice restaurants, so we get to eat at new nice restaurants. Franny and I have actually been to Higgin's before, but not often. Last time, we had the duck. ("Say we grant you a reservation. What would you order?" "Oh, I don't know. How about the duck?" "He cannot have zee duck." "You can't have zee duck." "He can have zee chicken." "You can have zee chicken." "Well, what about my date? I can't tell her what to order." "You can strongly suggest zee chicken." [Probably misquoted, but still one of my favorite movie scenes.])
I really need to get back to sleep. I don't know what my problem is, but I'm wide awake. Maybe some chamomile tea or something...
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