Creep-factor: Just got back from a week in McAlester. The usual hotel was full, so I ended up in a creepy place. Really creepy. Checked in then checked right back out! Grabbed the phone book and started calling hotels looking for something with a much lower creep-factor. God is good! Found a nice little B&B that had a room available. If you are ever in McAlester, Oklahoma, stay with Debra at The Hydrangea (http://www.thehydrangea.com/). It's in the church district up on a hill overlooking the town. And the breakfast beats the Holiday Inn any day! It actually beats the frozen waffle I usually eat at home.
Moving the Parents: Mark and I are heading to Newton for the weekend. Mark's folks have decided to make the move to Oklahoma, so we're going to help start packing and get the house ready for the realtor to put it on the market. Sounds like Aunt Margie is coming too.
Home from College: Tessa has finals next week then will head home for the summer. She called today complaining of mold in her sorority house. I don't doubt it. It's a pretty old building and she lives on the third floor where not a lot has been remodeled. One more reason she'll be glad to be home with the boring old parents...the other reasons: having a bedroom and bathroom all to herself, access to food 24/7, use of her car, and no drama other than what she herself creates! Reasons she'll be complaining in a week: missing the drama of a 5-girl room/70-girl house, nothing to do, finding a job, working a job...
Mark and Cari: Card-carrying members of the sandwich generation!
Friday, April 25, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
More Wandering
Hanging out in Ocean Shores today enjoying sunny weather and several long walks on the beach. Yesterday we wandered around mountain lakes, rain forest trails, and beaches as we made our way around Olympic National Park. Hoping to get home easily tomorrow, given American keeps canceling large numbers of flights. We aren't flying on the type of plane that is grounded, so we're hoping, hoping, hoping for a smooth trip home.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The Couple That Ate Seattle
Apparently we’re taking a culinary tour of the city. Today we continued the trend by hopping a trolley to an industrial neighborhood in the Union Lake section of Seattle in search of Skillet. You’ll never think of the lunch truck in the same way once you’ve eaten out of one of Josh Henderson’s trailers. Josh is married to Kelly Carrier, who is the oldest daughter of Judy and Dave Carrier, our wonderful friends from Phoen
ix. They serve gourmet meals out of a silver Airstream trailer in alternating locations in Seattle.
We went for breakfast. The handwritten menu on the chalkboard leaning against the trailer offered about 6 choices. Mark picked “Trailer Hash” – bacon, eggs, potatoes and veggies. Yum! I chose an amazing dish of waffles, eggs, and oddly – a bit of pork roast. Also tasty!
We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon driving down and around and up the west side of Puget Sound on our way to Port Angeles. Stopped for lunch in Port Gamble and had homemade chicken noodle soup – even the noodles were homemade - and a freshly baked cinnamon roll. Mark had his third meal of clam chowder since coming to the northwest. Mmmm Mmmm good. We tried to work off all the good stuff by hiking for awhile in the Olympic National Park. A large part of the park is closed due to heavy snow, but we still had some beautiful territory to explore.
Tomorrow we plan to drive Hwy 101 down the coast to Ocean Shores. You may have read the book or seen the movie base on the book titled “The Tale of the Traveling Pants”. I’ve decided I could write a book called “The Tale of the Traveling Windbreaker”. We realized Mark has been wearing that green jacket since his first trip to Bulgaria back in 1993. Oh the places that jacket has been. Time to get a new jacket!
We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon driving down and around and up the west side of Puget Sound on our way to Port Angeles. Stopped for lunch in Port Gamble and had homemade chicken noodle soup – even the noodles were homemade - and a freshly baked cinnamon roll. Mark had his third meal of clam chowder since coming to the northwest. Mmmm Mmmm good. We tried to work off all the good stuff by hiking for awhile in the Olympic National Park. A large part of the park is closed due to heavy snow, but we still had some beautiful territory to explore.
Tomorrow we plan to drive Hwy 101 down the coast to Ocean Shores. You may have read the book or seen the movie base on the book titled “The Tale of the Traveling Pants”. I’ve decided I could write a book called “The Tale of the Traveling Windbreaker”. We realized Mark has been wearing that green jacket since his first trip to Bulgaria back in 1993. Oh the places that jacket has been. Time to get a new jacket!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Seattle
In Seattle for a mobile medical conference. There are other people in the world with similar challenges! Who knew. Today, though, the conference ended and a short vacation wandering around northwest Washington has begun. Couldn't leave town without a walk down to the Pike Street Market to mingle with the camera-toting tourists, local dread-locked, sandal-socked granolas, overalled fish mongers, a crowd of students from a culinary school on assignment, and enough people wearing Northface to keep that company's stock prices rising. Had to sample the hot coffee, the freshly made donuts, the fish & chips cooked to order, and the just-baked cookies from various vendors along the way. Finished it off with a bundle of shocking pink tulips to brighten the hotel room and we're back for a luxurious nap.
The anticipation of a few days of pointless wandering is tempered by knowing that Tessa is home from college with a severe case of mono and possibly strep and no mama to hover and nurse her back to health. Fortunately she has a gma and sister willing to hover.
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