Monday, November 13, 2006

Guestroom is OPEN!

Nothing too exciting to report as of late. We did spend this last weekend rearranging the apartment and getting some other furniture so that we now have an official guestroom rather than just a pull-out sofa to offer. The point? Now there's no excuse for you not to visit!! We did hang out at this nice fondue/wine bar (sounds like we're high-class now, huh?) for quite a while on Friday with a couple of friends which was nice.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Sleepless in Seattle


We went to Seattle this past weekend for a little getaway. The main reason was to see the Dead Sea Scrolls which were on exhibit from Isreal at the Pacific Science Center. They rarely leave Isreal, so it was cool to have the chance to see them. They were much smaller than I think we expected but I guess when you have to write on animal skin (parchment) you learn to conserve space. Unfortunately it was pouring all day Saturday so not lots of good pictures to show.


We did have a chance to play around and spent a lot more time there than we thought we would. We went to the planetarium too!

Saturday night we went to see the musical Company at the 5th Avenue Theatre after a nice Italian dinner. Finally it stopped raining! The good thing about being in the city is that when we get our 11pm cheesecake craving...theres a Cheesecake Factory just around the block!! We need one of those in Corvallis.





Sunday the rain held off long enough for us to take the Underground Tour of Seattle (the city used to be about 12 feet lower and was constantly flooded during high tide).

Click HERE to see the rest of the photo album.

We stopped off at Pikes Market to do some shopping then got on our way, but we had one more stop...IKEA.

A friend wanted us to stop off at IKEA and get a light that wasn't available online. So we did, thinking we'd get in and out in no time. IT'S A TRAP! You can't leave there with only what was on the list. We bought ouself some kitchen stuff and a bookcase (a prior display model). Unfortunately...we are a bad judge of size and it didn't really fit in the Blazer. So we did the best we could, bungee corded the hatch down and Myra's knees were in the dashboard for the 4 hour ride. Of course it was pouring all the way home (major flooding going in the Pacific NW). I suppose it was worth it but it looks huge in our tiny apartment!!


I think we are staying put for a couple weeks (to figure out where to put this bookcase!) but we'll be heading to MEXICO for Thanksgiving!!!

Halloween Eve

Our good friends Pato & Ximena came over the night be Halloween to drop off some stuff so we had a little time to visit with them and their adorable children Bea (Beatrice) & Max (Maximiliano). Max was all prepared in his Superman costume but Bea was saving her Bumble Bee outfit for the next day!



We may look like naturals (at least Myra...I swear Bea was smiling most of the time!!) but don't get any ideas just yet Mom & Dad!!

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Hiking, Biking, & Rowing -- Gotta love Oregon

A bit of a change of scenery for this weekend. We rented a cabin on a stream near the Mckenzie River with our friends John & Sarah (and their dog Linus).




On Saturday we went up to Clear Lake (yep the name is appropriate!) and did a 5-mile mountain bike ride around the lake (well us newbies had to walk some of the lava flow region...John was a trooper). We had some lunch on the dock and then a nice row on the lake.




















Yoda travels everywhere we go with John & Sarah and seems to wind up in the weirdest places. He started his trip with us on our way to Death Valley, CA during Thanksgiving 2005 and has since appeared in many pictures. His legacy continues and theres no doubt he is the most well travelled BK Kids Meal toy ever. Look at the entire album (click on the bridge picture below) and see if you can find Yoda anywhere else!

John did a little fly fishing at the end of the day then we finished off the night with pizza and a couple games of Settlers (man people on the West Coast seem to love this game!).

Sunday we checked out of the cabin and did a short 3-mile hike to see some waterfalls in the area (Sahalie and Koosah Falls). It was misting/raining this day but still a pretty great hike through the old growth.

It was a great weekend, now back to a week at work. CLICK ON THE BRIDGE to see an album of all the photos from this weekend!!!!

Then stay tuned, next weekend we're taking a trip to Seattle!

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Myra's first whale sighting!


We went to Depoe Bay on the Oregon coast this weekend to do some whale watching! Grey whales feed very close to the coast in this area during the month of October (in about 30-40ft of water). We took a boat out and saw a ton of whales, some pretty close to the boat. Hard to tell how many different ones we saw since they surface a few times then go down to feed for a few minutes, but it was awesome. Digital camera delays stink when you're trying to get action shots!



BEST of all the motion sickness medicine worked so Joe didn't spend the whole time throwing up like the last time he was out on a boat in the ocean! Bonine rocks!