Friday, March 31, 2006

Road Trip Readiness

Ah yes, the snow tires are off. The whiny power steering pump is replaced. The new glasses are ordered. Kerry emailed me with her road trip expectations of "ridiculous shenanigans" and "Thelma and Louise without the plunge to the death at the end" and a Kerry "I didn't know existed"! What? Didn't Thelma and Louise rob banks and hook up with Brad Pitt? I'd prefer Johnny Depp, but if she could deliver him, she sure wouldn't share! Seriously, though, Kerry decided our road trip would more likely be titled "The Adventures of Commander Cautious and Captain Careful." So, I'm looking for suggestions to help us step out of our comfort zone. Kerry has come up with karaoke, second ear piercing and horse back riding (which we are always going to do on vacation, but never quite get to it.) I'm sure there are lots crazier suggestions to be found! I promise to send a souvenier to anybody who comes up with something that we actually do try! Email me with your suggestions: garvin@owt.com

Friday, March 24, 2006

Depth Perception Bye Bye

We brought my car into the Ford dealer today for servicing in preparation for the big road trip. The customer service guy mentioned the scratches in the paint (Guess he didn't want the shop to be blamed for putting them there.) There was a diagram on the form to indicate where the scratches were and HE JUST CIRCLED THE WHOLE CAR! OK, I admit it! What little depth perception I ever had is even worse now. When we got back from the car dealer, I made an appointment with the eye doctor.....

Thursday, March 23, 2006

I left my heart...

...in San Francisco. That's right! Coming up at the end of April, Kerry and I will be making a road trip down to the Bay Area to visit Aunt Marie. Coming from the east will be Mom, Nancy, Laura and Megan. We're hoping for a chick trip supreme!

Monday, March 13, 2006

A Little About Nothing

Nothing But Noodles plus lobster ravioli = YUM!

Friday, March 10, 2006

There's been a murder!

Over on Whidbey Island just a short ferry ride from the mainland, there's a little town called Langley. Filled with quaint stores and great restaurants, with fabulous scenic views of water and mountains, it's a great place to find a nice B&B and spend a little time. Every year on the last weekend of February, amateur sleuths from all over gather to solve the murder of a well known (but perhaps not so well liked) resident. Townspeople act and dress the part of the characters in the mystery and stores hand out clues to help the visiting detectives solve the crime. The scene of the crime is all decked out with yellow police tape and a special edition of the newspaper gives even more clues. It's all done very "tongue in cheek" and with a great sense of humor. This is the third year we have made a "girl's weekend" of it. Even though it was colder then past years, we still had a great time and solved the crime!

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

RIP Gold Spike, San Francisco, 1920-2006


I'm feeling fragile today

Got an email that my 8th grade class is planning a reunion. Amazing enough that they found me, cause I only went to that school for 1 year. So, I was trying to exhume long lost memories by putting together the faces and names at the site. I remembered being asked to dance by one boy and so I thought I'd see if the info said what he was up to now. Turns out he's dead!!!!!!! What a shocker. Add that to the fact that the Italian restaurant where Jack took me on our first date recently closed. It's a little joint in San Francisco that has been run by the same family since it first opened in 1920! (No, we weren't there that year!!!) God, I feel so old. My older friends smiled at me with great amusement when I told them about my fragility. Basically, they told me to get over it. It only gets worse. Okay, now I need to go find some chocolate to soothe my feelings......

Saturday, March 04, 2006

A strange combination

Bunnies and eagles. Bunnies and eagles, you say??? Yup, kind of like the lion and the lamb of biblical fame (although I don't know if they co-exsist quite so peacefully). We went up to the northwest corner of Washington state because we had heard that up to 400 eagles come to winter in the Skagit valley and feed on salmon there. What we didn't realize until we got there was that although 400 had been sighted in December, the sightings were down to about 20 in February! Ooops! Next time I'll read the literature better! We did see one eagle. And the bunnies? Well we saw hundreds of those! We stayed at a cute family-run resort called the Skagit River Resort It's a 50's style resort with cabins, a B&B, a campground, a restaurant and a roadside chapel. Go here to learn the story of how the bunnies came to live at the resort. It was a restful weekend including a walk by the river, a wonderful dinner by Kerry, sitting by the fire and exploring the surrounding area. Oh yeah, and feeding the bunnies. Extra bread is left on trays by the restaurant so that anyone can feed them. They seem to be in groups (herds?, packs?), each clan staying in their section of the property, We would meander by them and up they would hop, waiting for us to toss bread for them. Most were brave enough to eat right out of our hands, although we didn't try to pet them. All in all, it was a delightful weekend and we hope to visit again in December when the eagles return.