Hello Muddah hello Fadduh

As we're here in Seattle for a week we enrolled Ruby in holiday camp so she can play with some people her own age for a change. Ruby's program is a daily camp which runs out of the primary school just near where we're staying although there are plenty of overnight camps too. She attended her first day yesterday and loved it, made some friends and couldn't wait to return this morning. Ruby and her new friend Leila made a karaoke clip in the mock recording studio, baked some pretty unpalatable bread, played on the 'slip n slide' and played bingo.

Oscar went to visit the University of Washington to see if it had changed much since he ran here years ago. I declined the opportunity to look at another athletics track and stayed local, visiting the local coffee shop. This part of Seattle reminds me of Brunswick full of fixie riding, beard growing, kale eating hipsters, although the ones here look a lot fitter, maybe it's the riding and walking. Speaking of walking, at the bottom of the street we're staying in is a set of stairs marked on maps as a fitness and recreation area. People come to walk or run the stairs, all ages and paces, one elderly woman told me she does one circuit up and down every day and has done so for decades. This confirms for me the blatantly obvious key to physical health - you just have to move! Oscar and I decided to do a stair workout (when in Rome), it was great but feeling a little sore today. This is the same set of stairs Ruby ascends to get to holiday camp, all 372 steps!

Accommodation woes

Unfortunately leaving Portland meant leaving Deb and Dan's house where we've felt very welcome and have had great company and great food including home roasted coffee, margaritas and home baked peach pie, not to mention the raspberries and blueberries from the garden, not that there's many of those left after Ruby went berry picking! We set off for Olympia but found accomodation for a Saturday night incredibly scarce so decided we would stay in Tacoma, just south of the capital. When we got to Tacoma things were just as bad and we ended up at the only place we could find remotely affordable thinking, what's the harm, we're only there one night ? What a night!

It seems that most other hotel guests were long term residents and despite signs everywhere prohibiting the smoking of marijuana (nicotine smoking in the rooms seemed ok) there seemed to be a fair bit of that going on. The room was equipped with a kitchenette but you had to go to reception to borrow even a glass to avoid these things being stolen. We kept our shoes on as the carpet was a bit sticky and the stairwell made us think there must be a lack of toilets in the area. We were kept awake late into the night with lots of comings and goings and even when it did go quiet the bed was the most uncomfortable and noisiest bed I've slept on. Ruby the trooper noticed none of this of course and was happy when Oscar and I decided the best thing to do early in the morning was leave and go to i-hop for breakfast.

That experience left us a little worried about the next 7 weeks, especially as we'd also had trouble finding something in Seattle, finally securing a place a few days ago only because the owner had only just listed with airbnb. Our trepidation  proved unnecessary as we arrived at the apartment we had booked. It's a fantastic two bedroom place on the hill within walking distance of everything we need and close enough to downtown to walk if we wanted. Ruby's favourite furnishing is the four foot giraffe in her room, Penelope. It has all turned out well, no need to stay where my husband wanted us to.....

Mt Hood Oregon

 We ended up in a town called White Salmon on the Washington side of the river with spectacular views of Mt Hood and really cute salmon crossing road markings in lieu of zebra ones. Mt Hood is Oregon's highest peak at 11,240 feet but has Mt Adam, even taller in its landscape. Oscar has skied Mt Hood which you can do year- round although there's not much snow up there at the moment. Like other states on the West, Oregon is very dry, California in drought.

We started the next day with an unusual breakfast, we must stop ordering eggs on toast as it has caused much confusion and some interesting looking dishes, I assume the way we eat that dish comes to us from England not the USA? Our route took us on a road that loops Mt Hood, and with each turn I was drawn to take another photo. We decided not to stop in at Timberline lodge which is where they shot The Shining just in case Johnny's still there but travelled on to a little town to base ourselves to do some hiking. We had a great hike this afternoon along a stream in the bush, forest, woods, what is it called here? It was a little longer than expected thanks to me being in charge of navigating and a km/mile issue with my Garmin so no wonder Ruby had started to tire at what was 6 miles not 6 kms. You all know my directional and spacial issues, don't ever ask me for directions or believe how far I say something is. Miles or kilometres, it didn't deter us, the trail was so pretty beside a crystal clear stream, only very occasionally crossing paths with other hikers, the setting could have been straight out of a chapter of Tolkien.

Those gymnastics classes kept her feet dry several times today

Columbia River Gorge

We had been invited for dinner to the house of Oscar's former DP from Waldport, Pat who is now teaching at the University of Portland. Also invited was Pat's charming 91 year old father ( who seemed to know more about the nuances of internet speed than anyone else there). We had a lovely meal sitting in Pat's backyard under a sequoia tree, but not a drive- thru one thankfully. The next day we headed east along the gorge of the impressive Columbia River, making the Yarra look like a mere trickle. The road was built in 1914 by a very progressive engineer who started out by trying to build a road to highlight the area's natural beauty, not at the expense of it. The road also apparently covers the most concentrated collection of waterfalls in the world, not sure if this is true but they are certainly beautiful.

 Bonneville Dam made for an educational stop at which Ruby found herself part of a demonstration about how electricity is made. A group of people were handed objects and had to line themselves up in order of what comes first. Luckily she was given the light switch so she didn't need any help working out she was at the end of the line. Even more impressive than how electricity is made, which I clearly don't get or I would find it more fascinating, is how those salmon get through the dam and swim upstream all that way only to spawn then die. This is salmon country so we are keen to sample some, particularly the Chinook, although I'll feel bad thinking they may have made it 3/4 of the way through their masssive journey only to end up on my plate and never fulfil the ancient call of their instinct. Really tasty though!

Back to Waldport

Most of you will know that Oscar spent a year teaching in Oregon in 1989 in a coastal town called Waldport, so we headed east so he could see how things had changed.

The school is no longer on the original site due to its location in the tsunami zone, but the new school on higher ground is lovely with an enviable track to boot! This part of the USA is on alert for 'the big one' some time in the next few decades and scientists seem to be suggesting that it's not if but when and even the when window seems to be narrowing so Oscar is on alert as he wakes during the night to loud rumbling........only to discover I'm snoring again.

There's not much to Waldport, population 2050 but a lovely coastline with some fantastic tidal pools to explore (rock pools for you Aussies). We spent some time this morning exploring some pools looking for star fish, sea anemones, crabs and other creatures we learned all about yesterday at the Orgeon Aquarium. Much to Ruby's disappointment we didn't see one of those cute otters. The beaches are beautiful but REALLY COLD, (I thought Cape Paterson was cold) and they have sneaker waves which sound pretty treacherous so we waded for five minutes til our feet turned blue then back to the tidal pools.

Have to share this view from our hotel window, the woman at check-in made a big deal of giving us an ocean view as we were travelling from Australia, which I thanked her profusely for, how thoughtful!  This is the ocean view....pretty funny!

We returned to Portland tonight, feels like home. Ruby returned with a plush sea otter (Wally mark II) but without her front tooth which finally came out with some assistance this afternoon. It's been hanging by a thread for days.  We hope the tooth fairy has greenbacks.

Hope you're all coping with the cold, we've heard it's been a bit chilly for you southern staters.

Portland Oregon

We've spent the last few days in Portland Oregon and are staying with Dan and Deb, daughter of Ruby from Ashland which has been wonderful. We're yet to meet Deb who is away at the moment but keen to catch up as she works for a union so I'm keen to hear about her experience especially as her husband, Dan tells us that companies have successfully excluded Union labour here for some time. Portland is a nice city, reasonably easy to navigate, although the one-way streets are driving us a bit nuts. We spent yesterday at the Oregon zoo and today at the science museum which was fascinating and so much fun, - lots of hands on stuff for kids and adults, we were there for hours. It's been nice and hot today, about 35 degrees celsius but we found some water fountains to play in for a while before we hired a quad bike to ride alongside the Willamette river downtown. It's been great staying here in a home rather that a hotel,tonight Dan fixed some Margaritas while we enjoyed the 1906 pianola. Ruby was very impressed with this and proclaimed that we should turn our piano into a pianola and we could be famous, having just made her way through the Stars and Stripes Sousa march.

We finally succumbed to fast food, but fast food Portland style, salad with quinoa, fennel, carrot, avocado, tofu, currants, almonds, red onion, capsicum,mint, kale and lettuce. Fantastic!  Veggie grill.com

ba-na-na!

"Yes Ruby of course you can have a go at that claw machine"

We all know that nobody except Emily ever actually wins anything..........now how are we going to get this home?

Ruby x 2

We crossed over the border into Oregon yesterday and to Ashland to stay with Ruby, who was principal at the school Oscar taught at further north many years ago. Ashland is such a pretty town and Ruby lives in a beautiful house just a short stroll from the centre where there are drinking fountains to sample the local mineral waters. Lonely Planet suggests the amusement of watching unsuspecting tourists drink from the fountain and then spit it out once they get the rotten-egg taste of sulphur. Every street is full of such quaint, well maintained houses, we even saw some deer and Bambi (fawn) much to Ruby junior's delight, although Ruby senior tells us they're really a pest here, wandering the streets and eating plants from front gardens. It was a great reunion for Oscar and Ruby and lovely for our Ruby to meet the lady who sent her, amongst other gifts, Wally the koala whom many of you will remember.

Bambi!

Ashland has a wonderful Shakespearean festival every year with plays concurrently being performed in three theatres, one an outdoor Elizabethan theatre (in Oregon, why not? ) This year there are eleven plays, not all Shakespeare, running from early in the year until November. Ruby had generously arranged for us to go on a guided tour of the theatres, including backstage areas which was really interesting. I tried a beer taster tonight with dinner, micro breweries are big here, the menu started with two pages of beers to try, I only managed six!

               

We've had a lovely stay with Ruby, her daughters Emmalisa and & Kim, and Izzy the cat but as we haven't found Sasquatch yet, despite a very compelling recount from a local waitress, we will continue north tomorrow.

In search of Bigfoot

We drove north, bypassing San Fransisco this time joining route 101 which we'll follow up the West Coast. The coastline is stunning, rocky outcrops, plunging cliffs and gorgeous little seaside towns along the way. This is the coastline the Russians established settlements in the early 19th century for trade and fur harvesting. We stopped at Fort Ross, a replica of the original 1812 Russian Fort built here then abandoned in 1842 once the otter population had been decimated. Ruby was more interested in the long drop toilet than the history until she found the old bell hanging in the yard to ring (again and again and again very loudly). The teenage Russian tourists were very amused!

We came across a lovely seaside town, Mendocino but travelled a little further to stay in Fort Bragg which is not so picture perfect but a nicer feel and less pretentious, a bit like the difference between Anglesea and Lorne. More Mexican food! I went for a swim the next day and could barely float.

Continuing north we wound through the Humboldt State Park on California's Redwood coast to The Avenue of Giants. Coastal Redwood trees are the tallest of the Sequoia trees some over 3000 years old and over 350 feet. Giants indeed. We came across a few drive-thru trees and what can I say? We just had to do it.

In the gift shop I finally realised how people in Australia with un-Aussie accents must feel when I couldn't communicate to the  cashier that I wanted 8 stamps. "What? oh you want ice sorry we don't have ice". When I said "eight......seven eight nine.." She said "oh eight" in what I thought was exactly the way I'd said it. When I apologised she said "don't worry I have a friend from England he sounds exactly the same as you" ......huh???

The food is improving as we head north, tonight's dinner was the best yet!

Goodbye L.A

After another day at Disneyland with Ruby finally convincing me to ride the roller coaster.....twice! I closed my eyes for most of it. Oscar and Cara spent the day catching up. The next day we flew to San Jose where we stayed with Charlie, a friend of Oscar's from College, and his wife Erica. Some partying followed by some very sore heads the next day.

Charlie and Erica have very generously given us use of their spare car for our travels so we headed to nearby Los Altos to see Warren and Ann who I haven't seen since their sister-city swap with Mum and Dad to Bendigo almost 20 years ago. They took us to Stanford University which is a beautiful campus, Oscar of course took a quick run on the track just to try it out. The houses in Los Altos are beautiful but we won't be moving here anytime soon, some of the blocks we passed sell for 2 million, land only.  

 

Another Kenda!

Cara picked us up on Sunday and took us to Venice Beach for the day. It's been 8 years since we've seen her and Ruby has never met her sister so it was a wonderful day, especially for Oscar to have his two girls together. Venice Beach is still the collection of weird and wonderful we remembered, can't believe people were actually paying the guy sitting behind a card table with a sign "$1 for some shitty advice" although I guess at least it was a more honest charge than that of the tarot card reader. We hired bikes to ride along the promenade and although Oscar wasn't tempted to workout at Muscle Beach (Arnie's old haunt), we did stop at the gymnastics setup on the sand to watch some pretty impressive athletes. Ruby took on the rope climb much to the embarrassment of the handful of adult male tourists standing around who had failed to make it even halfway.

Independence Day

Americans really do embrace their Independence Day on 4th July. We were still tired from the flight followed by the huge Disneyland day so only ventured as far as the local mall where Oscar and Ruby saw a movie and I planned to do some shopping then sit and have a coffee with my book. What I had forgotten was that firstly I don't really like shopping, and secondly this is not the place to drink coffee so I sat and watched families walk by with children and adults alike dressed in patriotic slogan t-shirts, and any article of clothing which could possibly be fashioned from the American flag, including shoes. We could hear music from the street parties, all American themed, so lots of Bruce Springsteen, John Cougar Mellencamp etc. Perhaps here, like in Australia, Independence Day is celebrated by one part of the community more than others. Just as we're not all young and free, people here are not all free and some have plenty they need to be brave about, but let's not spoil a good BBQ.

The fireworks started from lunchtime, although I didn't quite get the point of that given the daylight factor, and continued on until well past midnight. It seemed there were fireworks in every direction and crackers being lit in almost every second back yard, which is what I know some of you have been up to in Darwin this week. Our host Octavio kindly put a ladder against his house and set up some chairs for us on the roof along with some almond flavoured sparkling wine!?!? for us to drink as we watched the fireworks from nearby Disneyland which were spectacular as you can imagine. For a moment I did consider what a hazard identification analysis of this activity might look like. Ascending a ladder propped against the house to sit on plastic chairs atop the rooftop of a verandah, drinking alcohol barely two meters from the head height electrical main running from the back of the block to the roof top while fire crackers and rockets exploded in the yards around us, falling who knows where, with Ruby barely able to sit still in her chair each time one exploded overhead. I completed a quick risk assessment and decided to limit myself to one glass of wine and told Ruby if she didn't sit on Oscar's lap she couldn't go back to Disneyland the next day. Clearly the Victorian Magistrates Court should never have issued me with an OHS Entry Permit !!!

Happy 4th July everyone.

Testing our stamina

Well we made it to Los Angeles after a 14 hour flight, not at all helped by finally succumbing to that cold everyone's had. When I find out who gave it to me........
Stephanie picked us up from the airport to take us to the Airbnb accomodation we'd organised, which turned out to be fantastic. Our host Octavio is very welcoming, even driving us to the local shops to get some groceries and sort out cash, phone cards etc. ( by the way my mobile number here is 714-510-0987 if you need us urgently. Those who've ever tried to ring Oscar on his mobile at home will understand why he wasn't given that task here.) We couldn't last the afternoon so had a short nap mid- afternoon, making it hard to then get to sleep at a sensible hour and the domino effect of which was a very sluggish start to the day today.

We spent the day at Disneyland, in fact 12 hours there, on our feet for most of that time except for time spent riding the 'Splash down' log ride which Ruby made us do three times. Oscar estimates 13-14 km walking which Ruby didn't seem to notice until the end of the fireworks display at 10pm. Disneyland certainly is the absolute embodiment of corporate greed, unethical marketing and the commodification of culture, but hey, WE LOVED IT!

Tomorrow is 4th July so lots happening here but not sure if we're up to big crowds after today so we might head somewhere more local than Venice Beach or Santa Monica. I'm also looking for some food not covered in mayonnaise, BBQ sauce or fluorescent yellow-coloured cheese. The best coffee we could find was in Starbucks so that's really saying something. Great weather so far, hazy til mid morning then hot but manageable and balmy evenings which we're enjoying right now with a beer. Hope you're enjoying 13 degrees, almost beer weather I suppose, or if not, mulled wine!