Long Time, no blog!

It's been a long time... should I start blogging again?

Portland & Washington

Rich has a colleague who invited us to stay at his horse ranch in Yacolt, WA.  We decided to make a nice trip out of it, so in mid-November we travelled to the beautiful Pacific Northwest.  It is one of my favorite places to visit - not only because is it incredibly beautiful, but because many of my loved ones live there!

We flew in early morning to Portland (the closest airport to Yacolt) and spent the day exploring.  We grabbed our rental car and hit downtown for some window shopping and lunch.  I highly recommend Lardo. We had the most delicious pork shoulder sandwich, the best salad with delicata squash, beets, and candied hazelnuts, and their "dirty" fries with chunks of pork, peppers, fried herbs and parmesan.  YUM!  A little tip:  go hungry and don't plan to eat for the rest of the day.   Well ... that is unless you just decide you need a donut from Blue Star.   I mean, when in Portland, right?

After lunch, we visited the largest bookstore in the country, Powell's. Wow, what a place!  Humongous, and fun to browse.  Later that afternoon we visited the Pittock Mansion,  a turn of the century residence on 46 acres that is now open to the public.  Also, we made a short trip to the International Rose Test Garden, but at this time of year blooms were not on full display.  

 

                                        Pittock Mansion, Portland

In the late afternoon we made the little over an hour trek from Portland to Yacolt, WA.  I'm sure you've never heard of Yacolt.  I hadn't!  It is a very, very small remote town in Clark County with a population of around 1500.   Rich's colleague, Chuck, bought a large acreage there and built Mustang Mountain Ranch over the last 20 years.  Recently, he acquired an adjacent property on 20 acres, a home called Wild Horse Station that he rents as a vacation home.  He invited us to be his guests there.  We got there around dinnertime and Chuck and his family warmly welcomed us.

We were a little blown away by the "cabin" we thought we were to stay in.   I guess I was thinking something smaller and more modest - more of a guest house I suppose-  but the place was a full blown authentic log cabin home!

 

It looked so pretty at night when we arrived! 

We enjoyed a lovely home cooked meal and evening at the main house and then retired to our toasty, cozy home in the woods.  
It was really something else.

The next morning, we enjoyed some tea by the fire before heading over for another gracious meal of omelettes made by Chuck, bacon, fruit and croissants. 

Chuck showed us around the grounds of his horse ranch.  It's quite incredible.

   

Chuck and his sweet daughters, Andie & Theresa

 Andie and one of their 25 horses!

 

The road to the Log Cabin from the main residence... makes me want to sing "Country roads... take me home" 

 

Log Cabin front entrance

 
 View from front porch - the main house is on the right 
(the red roof is his indoor horse arena, house is above that to left, mostly obscured)

 
Cozy fireplace, stairs leading to loft

 
Entrance to living room

 

the gorgeous living room (I spy relaxing hubby)



The large kitchen



The master bedroom -- vacations are for unmade beds, am I right?

 

I'm even gonna show you the bathroom because it was so cool. It had log cabin walls!

After a few lovely days in Yacolt, we headed to Seattle to see these awesome people!!

 

Kait and Tim moved to Seattle last summer and are living on a BOAT! 



Here she is - the "Autumn Dawn" in Salmon Bay.
We even spent the night there on board! It was an experience :-)
We had a great time having lunch and exploring their little town of Ballard and having Kait's homemade pizza in their cozy "galley".  

The next day, we headed to Pike's market.  Rich had never been there, and it is a must see place if you're in Seattle.



You kind of have to start the morning with coffee at the original Starbucks right outside the market, and a delicious coffee cinnamon roll at Piroshky Piroshky.  Just follow your nose to the cinnamon smell, you can't miss it.



We later hit breakfast in the market at Lowell's -- if you want a yummy breakfast with a great view this is your place.  We had a delicious leisurely breakfast of eggs and potatoes.



In the afternoon, we took the 35 minute ferry ride to Bainbridge Island.  The ferry is enormous and holds at least 50 cars!  There is both outdoor and indoor seating, both with great views.  It's such a fun experience.



The view looking back at Seattle from the ferry.



My love on Bainbridge shore.

 

  We drove around the island and then happen to find (read: happened to YELP) some really yummy ice cream at Mora.  Cinnamon ice cream with pear sorbet - pretty incredible!

Later, back in the city, we had to stop at the iconic Seattle chowder spot, Pike Place Chowder for an early dinner before Rich flew home.  They have 8 different chowders!







We shared the "sampler" which is four 6 oz chowders of your choice.  Only $13.95 - perfect for two and SO perfect in the cold weather.

Poor Rich had to get back to the "real world" but my adventure wasn't quite over.  I dropped him off at Sea-Tac and headed about 1 1/2 hours north to my bestie's house.

 

Carol, my dearest friend, lives in Sultan with her wonderful, large family.  These days only six of her eight children live at  home, but it's still a full household.   She and her son Matthew thought it would be funny to hack my phone,  and I think it's funny that I can post this on my blog :-)



The next day, I got to accompany her on her bi-monthly shopping spree!   She lives kind of far out of the city, so she treks out only once every two weeks for major shopping, gathering her food and household needs.  She usually takes one of her older children to help, but since I was there I got to step in. :-)  It was really so much fun to hang out all day, just us two.  We hit 4 or 5 stores, stopped at a latte stand, may have polished off a box of Trader Joe's macarons in the car, and even squeezed in a delicious lunch at a cozy place.  Lots and lots of chatting about everything -- she is my closest confidante and one I admire and love so much.  We email and text frequently but it's just so great to have face time.

 

Other than our big outing day, it was a low key stay.  We enjoyed a walk through her neighborhood with her three sweet little girls.

 



I love her daughter Hannah as if she were my own!  I wish all young ladies were as mature, sweet, and so easy to talk to/hang with.  Not only is she super cute, but the girl has some mean homemaking skills, too (I could learn a thing or two from her, not kidding).



Movie selfie on my last night. 
Auntie K was sad to leave this sweet family that I love so much!





 

Mini-Vacays

This summer, since we were expecting our newest grandbaby, we opted not to do a week long vacation with the family.  Instead we did a few small 1 night/2 day getaways and we decided that we liked that very much.   If you don't have much time or money to spend you can squeeze a lot of vacation into 2 days!  We did three little getaways in July, August, and September.  

There is minimal planning or packing needed for a mini vacay.  In fact, for our August one we made plans spur of the moment and our hotel reservations the day before!  There are many options for mini vacays here in southern California, so for those of you locals, I thought I'd share some of the fun places we went. We chose Marriott hotels for all the nights, since they are nice but still reasonable, and since we are Marriott Rewards members, we can earn/redeem free nights when we stay.

In July, we celebrated the 30th anniversary of our 1st date, which was the Pageant of the Masters in Laguna.  We have gone a few times since that fateful day on July 24th, 1986  - but this year as our 30th was extra special so we decided to make it a mini vacay and spend the night in Dana Point.   If you have never done the Pageant of the Masters, I highly recommend it!  Prior to the event, we dined at our favorite restaurant in Laguna, 230 Forest.   They have the BEST cioppinno on earth (and it's huge, so share). Rich and I dream about that cioppinno.... seriously.   The rest of the menu is amazing too.

We stayed at the Laguna Cliffs Marriott and it was outstanding! We always request early check in and try to arrive right around lunch.
We spent the first afternoon relaxing at the pool before heading to Laguna.  The next day, after check out, we continued to enjoy the pool.   Marriott hotels always allow you to enjoy the property as long as you want on check out day.  We just stow our bags in the car and pack a change of clothes into our pool bag.

 

Beautiful cliff top property!

View from our room.

View of Dana Point Harbor from dinner the second night.  We decided to go old school and ate dinner
at the Chart House.  Great views, gracious service, and that awesome salad bar... just as remembered.


 

Our night at the Pageant ... thankful he asked me on that first date and all it lead to!

 In August, we planned a fun spur of the moment getaway with Nick, Emma, and Darsy.  Our family loves Newport Beach and likes to squeeze in at least one day trip each summer.   Drew and Stephanie were busy settling in with baby Duke, so I asked Emma if they wanted to come along.  Rich took a Friday off, and we headed down early, and the Steadmans joined us after Nick got off from work (after a very trafficky drive ... not a good time to drive in L.A.!).   Newport hotels are expensive and crowded, so we opted to stay inland 15 minutes in Costa Mesa.

Again, a splendid view from our hotel.  We shared a suite.

We found a Bagel Shack for breakfast!

My favorite... lox on toasted Everything bagel.

Darsy mostly just enjoys the cream cheese part.



Back at the hotel, we enjoyed our little cutie at the pool.



Grammie's glasses are always a fave...



"Relax"



Later on, we played on the beach in Newport and had an early dinner at our family's favorite seafood restaurant, the Crab Cooker.  It was Darsy's first time and she enjoyed trying the new foods.



And no Newport trip is complete without a trip on the ferry to Balboa Island.
Darsy also enjoyed her first taste of a Balboa Bar.

At the end of September, we celebrated another anniversary ... the 30th anniversary of our engagement!  (Can you tell we like to milk any anniversary we can?)  Rich proposed to me at George's at the Cove restaurant in La Jolla on September 28, 1986... so there we returned!  We decided it would be fun to stay on nearby Coronado Island.  We loved the Marriott there!

 
Again, the hotel room view wasn't too shabby.  Starbucks in the hotel means morning tea and paper.

Our room was one of the prettiest hotel rooms I've ever stayed in.  Newly remodeled and  the huge bathroom with sunken tub was to die for!




The island has a long, winding, scenic path. 

 

Free bike rental was included with the hotel.  They also have tennis courts but we didn't have time.
We took advantage of the bike rental and the beautiful weather and biked to the elegant and historic Hotel del Coronado.




Visiting the "Hotel Del" is like stepping back in time.

Though we couldn't rationalize staying at this grand hotel, we enjoyed a (virgin) drink and the million dollar view at their beachside bar.

 

Dinner at George's didn't disappoint.  We went to the California Modern downstairs. It's pretty swank.

 

I had the venison with spaetzle, beets and nectarines. It was my first time having venison and it was delicious - tender like a filet mignon.




Rich chose the aged New York steak with mushroom ragout and some insanely good sauce.
It came with a sunchoke/potato mash in a tiny, adorable lidded Le Creuset pot.



Dessert is always a work of art at George's.   So much going on, it's a flavor party!
That green stuff is a "matcha" crumble.




This spectacular view was waiting for us at the hotel when we returned from our dinner.

 

The next morning, we decided to take the ferry from the island to downtown San Diego.
It's not cheap at $9.50/person round trip, but it is fun and the view is gorgeous.

 

 The morning ride was so delightful and it was the start of another beautiful, sunny day.



 

After disembarking the ferry, we had a short walk through downtown to breakfast.
  Unfortunately the restaurant we had chosen had a really long wait, so we found a cute spot called Cafe 222. 
I had a delicious veggie frittata and Rich had his fave, Eggs Bennie.



The Gaslamp district is a foodie's dream.

 

Once again, after checkout we enjoyed the pool for the afternoon.
I was a big fan of how they oriented their lounge chairs :-)

 

Dinner that evening, El Pescador Fish Market, was found on Yelp and was awesome.



As the title denotes, it was both a restaurant/fish market.  Everything was so fresh and appealing.
We also found it very reasonable in price.
It was casual, with a great vibe, and you just order at the counter.



Poke... my favorite.



One of everything, please!



We settled on a bowl of cioppinno and a crab/shrimp cocktail to start.



Then we devoured this super tasty grilled swordfish sandwich.
The swordfish was local caught and so fresh.

 

After dinner, we drove over to La Jolla Cove, parked, and walked around.



We stuck around for the spectacular sunset.



The whole trip, I was plotting a time to go get some gelato at this place.  While not a huge gelato fan, I wanted to go because this place gets 5 STARS (unheard of) on Yelp.  So we walked over from the Cove to try it.  It was adorable.



Just LOOK at the flavors!

 

I went basic with an amazing chocolate sorbet and charcoal vanilla.
So incredible.  I don't usually get chocolate ice cream but this one was like ganache.
Rich got the chocolate as well, and a nutty flavor called Meditteraneo.
 This was the PERFECT conclusion to the perfect getaway.


So as you can see, we were only gone 3 nights all summer, but squeezed in a lot of fun!

Some tips for a successful little getaway:

Grab your favorite person (or persons).
Don't plan too far ahead.
Pack light.
Yelp your food spots.
(you're only there for a short time, 
so you definitely want to take advantage of the best local food finds. No chipotle, ok?)
Take pictures.
Savor every minute of your trip!