Anyone want to go for a drive?

Hello from Oregon! Well it's been go, go, go since we left San Francisco...well, actually since we left Ft. Lauderdale! We left Ukiah on Friday morning and were headed for Brookings, Oregon. We took a slight detour backwards so we could visit our dear friend Chuck Brown at his museum...and it was definitely worth it! After that, we pretty much spent the remainder of our day on the road. Not much for me to report there because I have difficulty staying awake in a car for more than 20 minutes at a time. I did wake up for a delicious meal at Marie Calendars. :) A few hours later we arrived in Brookings at our lovely little hotel on the beach (good find, mom). We walked on the chilly, chilly beach, and most of us even got our toesies in the Pacific waters. We found a Fred Meyers before hitting the sack that night. In the morning I went on a chilly little run through a retirement community 1st thing and then we hit the road after breakfast. We were headed for another little coastal town near Lincoln City, Oregon (Naskowin???). We made it there early in the afternoon and thanks to Lori's connections, we had another hotel right on the water! We went shopping at the outlet mall and brought subs back to our oceanfront balconies for dinner. We even got to see a wedding right on the beach! Seems to be a common occurrence for us this summer (although this time they had their own tent). We walked on the chilly beach for a few, had a near death experience with a moth and a broom, and then got some good sleep. Today (Sunday) we woke up and once again hit the road. We were supposed to be in Portland in less than 2 hours, but it took us a bit longer due to some traffic. We stopped at this cute little roadside farm stand, sampled some yummy snacks, and saw arguably the biggest zucchini ever grown. We made it to Portland, checked into our hotel, and then went out in search of the yummiest coffee ever cold brewed...and boy did we find it! Thanks to Ry's suggestions, we went to the original Stumptown and I got a cold brew from the tap...FULL of foamy deliciousness! We will definitely be headed back tomorrow. Lori and Jan got some that was already mixed with milk and enjoyed it too. We then went to Clackamas mall for a little bit of tax free shopping. We stopped by Fabric Depot (with no luck for what the ladies were looking for) and then had the yummiest veggie filled dinner at VeggieGrill (why can't we have one of you at home, sweet veggie wonderland???). I had grilled peaches (oh.my.word.DELICIOUS.)on my salad of quinoa, romaine, beets, tomatoes, and candied walnuts....I also had roasted veggies and think I was close to heaven after my first bite. Lori got some "fish" tacos, Jan had grilled portobello skewers, and mom had mac and cheese. We were all happy campers (and didn't get a ticket for parking illegally). We hit up Fred Meyer again and then made it back to our hotel. We decided to go for a little stroll and...wait for it...went foraging for wild BLACKBERRIES!!! Mom spotted a ginormous bush right by our hotel and we gathered a whole bunch!! And let me tell you...the yummiest and sweetest blackberries I have ever tasted! We discovered a waterway behind our hotel too with some adorable houseboats and are now in for the night. Tomorrow we plan on going to a U-pick farm and doing some more fun things that I don't know about :) I CAN tell you that we will be making at least one visit it Stumptown for some more deliciousness. :) We are taking bunches of pics and I can hopefully put some one soon...they are just all on Lori's computer. Thanks for reading! Miss you all! Katie :)

I left my heart in San Francisco...

West Coast Road Trip 2014 is underway and we’re living it up Cali style! We left Ft. Lauderdale Wednesday morning without much delay and had a pretty uneventful flight (minus Mr. Coughing man of the century sitting next to us and his crying, seat-kicking children behind us). No real complaints though because we made it to San Francisco around 1:30pm ready to rock and roll. We decided to take BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit for you nonlocals…basically their subway) as far is it would take us. We ended up still too far from our hotel to walk, so thankfully we made it into Hussein’s Taxi Cab of Wonder. If you are ever in the Bay area and in need of a cab, I suggest you go with Hussein. Considering you probably have a 1 in 3 chance of stumbling into a cab with a Hussein behind the wheel, this shouldn’t be too difficult. But unless you ride with our Hussein, you probably wont have as much fun as we did. First off, he seemed rather unconcerned about fitting four women, four large suitcases, four large carry-ons and a bipap machine into his itty bitty little California eco friendly vehicle. This resulted in the four us in the backseat (which was probably intended to hold 2 ½ women on a good day), and our luggage squashed in all around. Well thankfully, our comic relief came from our driver. After a bit of small talk conversation I asked him where he was from. This seemed to excite him and spur him to challenge us to a game of “Guess my cab driver’s nationality and win a free cab ride.” He allowed us two chances and unfortunately we were wrong (Persia…who knew?) but it certainly made for an enjoyable ride to our hotel. We were staying at the Sheraton down at Fisherman’s Wharf, which is the same place we stayed the last time (which was pretty phenomenal considering it is located right at Fisherman’s Wharf….greatest location EVER!!!). After a quick change at the hotel, we decided to venture out and find some food. I had wanted to try this organic place called The Plant that I found online. They have quite a few locations, one of them being Pier 3. Although advised against it, we decided to walk there because we needed to stretch our legs and the weather was GORGEOUS!! Sunny and cool, our walk was just delightful (and only about 30 minutes long). We got to see all of the different piers and then enjoy a delicious dinner outside right on the water. It was pretty much a perfect way to start our trip and stay in San Fran. Mom and Jan got yummy salads, and Lori and I had the plant burger (made from all kinds of fun things like beets, lentils, and cashews). We had a great walk back and then decided to take the Hop-On-Hop-Off night tour of San Francisco. This was Good Decision #4 of the day (#1 being Hussein, #2 walking to dinner, and #3 eating at The Plant). We had a beautiful tour of the city as the sun was low in the sky and got to go across the spectacular Bay Bridge (which unfortunately doesn’t get as much credit as she deserves). We were undeniably frozen by the end of the tour, but it was stunning and well worth it. We ran into Safeway for a few treats and then hit the sack shortly thereafter. Well…after a few episodes of the Duggars, circa 2003. We had a great sleep and I went on THE BEST RUN OF MY LIFE first thing this morning. I ran past Ghirardelli Square, up the biggest hill ever (exaggeration??? No way!), and then back down to where we ate dinner last night. I was pretending the entire time in my head that I was a local going for a run at the Wharf before biking to my posh job downtown in the Financial District. I’m pretty sure everyone around me was thinking the same thing about me too… After cleaning up, we hit the road (with our feet) to the local farmer’s market at the Ferry Building (pretty much at the beginning of the piers). We tasted lots of yummy samples (fruit and cheese curds and brittle and shortbread…oh my!) and I even tried a sea bean (but taking a giant gulp of water from the gulf will give you the same effect for free). It was such a fun little market and was good choice #5 for sure. After the market, we caught the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus to go to the Golden Gate. This unfortunately is where bad choice #1 was made: our seat choice. We didn’t have much choice since the bus was pretty full when we “hopped on” so we had to seat directly in front of our tour guide. All I will say is that she had only been on the job for 2 weeks and hadn’t mastered the art of speaking loudly and clearly vs. screaming in our ears. I used some ear buds to help so I didn’t have to keep my fingers in my ears the entire 2 hour ride. Our goal was to walk the bridge, but we ended up not having time because we had to pick up our rental car. After picking up our car, we did get a chance to stop at the Golden Gate viewing spot, snap a few shots of the magnificent views, and get a quick walk on some of the bridge. We then headed out of the city hoping to stop at the Charlie Brown museum. Massive amounts of traffic caused this plain to fail and we somehow ended up at an Applebees (surprised?). We chowed down and then hit up the Trader Joes in the shopping center. An hour later we pulled into Ukiah for a fun filled night of a trip to Walmart and pretty much nothing else. Well folks, I’m pooped. We are headed to Brookings, Oregon tomorrow… which looks like a beautiful coastal city. Hope to post more in a day or so about our continued adventures!!

Oh Canada... (insert national anthem here)

Well we made it to Canada, bu not without a few hiccups along the way...
Let's back up a few days, shall we?

Well, Charlie Brown Town was all the glorious things I remember it to be. Unfortunately, Spamoni was still feeling icky so she waited in the car for us. We made it to Ukiah Saturday night and hit up the Walmart and Applebees (like I said before....not much else to do). Lori, my mom, and I did find this beautiful lake that was Sunday we drove up to Medford, Oregon to visit Harry and David and eat some delicious concoctions. We decided it was necessary to take Jan and Lori to a clinic so they could get some meds to start feeling better. Marie Calendars fed us a good dinner before we hit the sack for the night.

Monday we began our day with a drive to beautiful Lincoln City on the coast of Oregon. It was about time we stopped at a Dairy Queen for Jan, so we ate there for lunch and then did some shopping at a fun outlet mall there. We weren't that hungry, so we grabbed some food at Safeway and then crashed at the hotel for the night.

Tuesday we were all feeling pretty icky (except for the Bev, thankfully). We drove to Tillamook, Oregon to the cheese/ice cream factory. Thankfully tasting some squeaky cheese curds and ice cream made us all feel a little better. They have almost 40 flavors of ice cream to choose from, which is not an easy task for this group (except for mom, because she has had her heart set on pumpkin ice cream since she heard about it). The final choices were as follows: Mom-Pumpkin, Jan-Vanilla Bean, Lori-Pistachio Pecan, and Me-Cookies and Cream. I think the only way we could've gone wrong was if we chose bubblegum....

We made it to Portland that afternoon and had a tricky time finding our way to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner, but alas we made it.....we enjoyed some strawberry muffins and then ventured out to try to find our hotel again...

Wednesday we headed out to find the waterfalls and do some much needed shopping (no tax in Oregon= happy family). It was a pretty gloomy/rainy day (in Oregon, no way!!), but we made it to the falls to take a few pics and enjoy the sites. We found another sweet little lake and then hit the mall (Clackamas Mall, that is). The ladies did a little bit of credit card damage, but can you blame them when there is no tax?? We (and when I say "we" what I really mean is "me") found our way back to Sweet Tomatoes for a late lunch.
We went by a few supermarkets (Trader Joes!!!! and Fred Meyer) and then found our way to Fabric Depot so we could get some of these reusable bags that my mom gives to strangers (don't ask). Our hotel had a lovely Chinese feast for us when we got back and then got a good night's rest for our long trip to Canada.

Yesterday we hit the road to CANADA!! We stopped at...can you guess??....Applebees for lunch and then kept on driving. They let us into the country without too much trouble (those border people are rather intimidating). We discovered rather quickly that Canada is filled with 2 things...lots of bad drivers and Asians (who are not necessarily the bad drivers). After much traffic, we made it to our sweet casino hotel. Jan opted to hang out in the room while we hit the slots!! Well, while we walked "through" the slots (first I had to go grab my ID...oops). Since the casino didn't offer us much excitement, we hopped in the car and drove around town (only to discover that we were in some type of Asian district---we seriously thought we made a wrong turn and ended up in China). We found a mall and walked around there for a little while and then stopped by a McDonalds for dinner and crashed for the night at the hotel.

Today we are getting ready for an exciting day of ZIP-LINING!!!! I'll be sure to post on how that goes and who chickens out. We pick up Ry at the airport in about an hour (yay!!) and then hit the mountain! After that, our next and final stop will be Seattle!! We'll get in tonight and be there until we leave Tuesday morning.

I tried to post some pics on Lori's facebook page but only some loaded. Check them out if you get a chance and I will try to post more when I can.

Off for an exciting day in Canada!
Talk to you from the States, eh,
Kt :)

Look out Chuck, here we come!!

Well San Fran was all that I remember it to be...and more! Unfortunately Jan wasn't feeling well Thursday so she hung out at the hotel. The rest of us headed down to Fisherman's Wharf. It was absolutely beautiful and the weather was gorgeous (60's and not a cloud in the sky). We found this little path that took us into the foresty-park area where people biking the bridge could get their start. We then made our way to delicious Ghiradelli Square and had some yummy samples. After some chocolate, we picked up Subway and had lunch back at the hotel with Jan. It was then time to brave the beast! We decided the best way to tour the city and get to the bridge was by the "Hop-on-Hop-off" bus tours. It took us everywhere! We got to see Chinatown, Union Square, Alamo Park and the Painted Ladies (aka the houses and park on the intro to Full house), and last but not least....the Golden Gate! After preparing ourselves mentally (mom) and physically (me....snow boots, anyone?) we hit the bridge! It was an absolutely lovely day with the most glorious of views. They told us it would take about 1 1/2 hours to get across, but they certainly weren't taking my mother into account. She didn't let anything (or anyone...sorry bikers) get in her way from getting to the other side. For those of us who were a little less intimidated, the views of the bay were spectacular! I even saw a sea lion down in the water swimming around! We made it across in about 45 minutes and were relieved to be able to ride our bus back to Fisherman's Wharf.

When we got back, we walked around the wharf and saw our very entertaining sea lion friends at Pier 39 before we grabbed dinner and hit the sack.

Yesterday, our main mission was to ride a cable car DJ Tanner-style (ya know, hanging off the side and all). We (all except Jan---she needed to rest some more) got to the station and hopped on a trolley...and yes, I hung off the side like a real-life San Franciscan. We made it up to Lombard Street (the most crookedest street in the world) and hopped off so we could walk down. The hydrangeas there are incredible! We then hopped back on the trolley and took it to Union Square so we could pick up our tour bus to take us to Alamo Park. We then made it back to Ghiradelli Square for some last minute chocolate purchasing and picked up Jan to head out for Fairfield, California (Jelly Bellys, anyone?).

We got to the the Jelly Belly Factory just in time for one of the last tours. This time it was awesome because they let us taste the different stages of the beans during the tour. They have a new flavor called "Chili-Mango." If you like a little kick, it's perfect for you!

After some beans, we found our hotel and went searching for dinner. We finally found an Applebees (#3 so far for those of you who are counting) and then stopped by Target (#3 as well) for some necessities (reeses pieces).

Today our goal is but one glorious thing....to visit my Chuck in his very own museum! Yes folks, it's time for the Charles Shultz Museum. We should end up in Ukiah, California for the night. And if it hasn't changed any in the last 2 years, you can bet that we'll be going to the Walmart and then Applebees for dinner (pretty much all they have besides a Home Depot in that town).

Well faithful viewers, it's time for us to hit the road!
I'll tell Chuck you said hello,
Kt :)

Traffic Jams and San Francisco

Well we made to San Fran after quite a bit of driving yesterday...let's just say that New York was looking pretty good after what we went through yesterday.

LA was lovely as always...although there was much more smog than last time. We drove around Beverly Hills in the morning and ate way too much at Souplantation (aka Sweet Tomatoes on the east coast)...we obviously didn't learn anything last time in Oregon and are planning on doing it again the next time we find one of those places...

We then had an absolutely glorious walk along Manhattan Beach...looking inside the incredible houses and the beautiful scenery. Our hotel had a poolside BBQ that night and then we watched the Celtics/Laker game (Jan was for whatever team won).

Yesterday we hit the road around 9:30 without a clue as to what we were heading into...we hopped onto the highway and traveled just about a mile in about 2 hours...yeah, I know...
After we got off the highway and we were able to go over 2 miles per hour, things got going! We stopped at Carl's Jr. for lunch (wish you were here, Ry) and drove past the most lovely of cow farms ( and when i say lovely, what I really mean is disgusting...and I am still having trouble getting the smell out of my nose...). We made it to our hotel by 6:30 (really awesome hotel too) and walked around Fisherman's Wharf around 8 that night. Our hotel is literally right at the wharf...so awesome!

So today we have a few things on our agenda...walking across the Golden Gate beinng one of them. Pray for us as some of us (ahemmmMOMahemmmm) are rather nervous.

Off to explore the bay,
kt :)

Pictures...

Here are a few pictures from New York.

One on at Central Park, one on the subway, and one after the map thief realized her dirty deed...

Ahhh...there's nothing like the westcoast!

We made it to LA!!! After a 5 hour 50 minute flight (and way too many episodes of Real Housewives of New Jersey) we made it to Long Beach, California. But let's back up a few days since you haven't even been to Boston yet!

After a night in Connecticut, we began our journey to Massachusetts. We got to Yankee Candle around 11:30 and walked into a candle lover's wonderland...
What looked like a small room that described the history of the company turned into room after room of goodies galore. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to walk through all of the different rooms with all kinds of fun things (candles and other home goods). There was even a Christmas section!! My favorite part was getting to make my own jar candle that smells like strawberry bliss.

After Yankee, we made our way onto the highway and had lunch at an....Applebees! Yum yum yum! We made it into Boston around 6:30, had a quick bite at the hotel, and then walked around the park ("pock") and T station (Boston's version of the subway) before hitting the sack for the night. Oh...and fun fact about our hotel...our room was called the "Revere Suite" and was set up like a boardroom (long table, business chairs...the works). It was awesome, to say the least.

Sunday we woke up and made our way into Boston for the day. We hopped on the T and then made our way onto a trolley that took us around the city. We went on a little cruise around the harbor and explored an old navy ship (really neat). We then explored Quincey Market (but pronounced "mock-it") and had a nice lunch outside while watching some Redcoats march around with their riffles.
Our next plan was to visit Paul Revere's House and some old church, but the impending thunderstorm changed our plans. We hopped on the T and got back inside of our hotel about 30 seconds before a RIDICULOUS downpour and thunderstorm! We hung out at our hotel and got to bed early since we had to get up at 5:00 for our flight.

Once we arrived in LA, we had lunch (fish tacos, anyone??) at Islands and went down to the Farmer's Market (where we become innocent bystanders to a verbal argument among strangers...I won't give you the details of the profanity, but let's just say that the cray lady should NOT have put her basket on the celery...bad idea...).
Anywho...we got some delicious (understatement) fruit and walked around there for a little bit. We then stopped by Bed, Bath, and Beyond and TARGET (shocker). We had a Chef Boy-ar-dee Ravioli dinner at the hotel lobby and crashed for the night.

Not sure what the plans are for today...just heading out into the Hollywood jungle, I guess. I'll be sure to post about our adventures when I can. And I'm still trying to figure out how and when I can post the pictures, but I will as soon as I am able to...sorry for the delay!

Have a great day, friends!! We miss you all!! :)
Kt :)