Birthdays Past and Present

1997: Auburn (party at my (parents') house, my senior year)
1998: Pacific City (Big Lake staff surf retreat)
1999: Lincoln (party at Paul and Ter's)
2000: Spangle (pre-session at UCA)
2001: Lincoln*
2002: Florence, Italy (intersession at Villa Aurora)
2003: Lincoln (dinner with J & L)
2004: Bowling Green
2005: Bowling Green
2006: Minneapolis (Tibetan food in St. Paul)
2007: Minneapolis (party at my apartment)
2008: Minneapolis (downtown with friends)
2009 (tomorrow): Celebrating at my parents' home for the first time in 12 years!

*I'm drawing a complete blank on this one, and I guarantee it's not for the usual Turning Twenty-One reasons. Maybe it's for turning-29 reasons? Anyone?

Glacial

So a couple of weeks ago, my aunt, uncle, and Small Cousin embarked on an adventure to Glacier National Park. (I tried to convince David to come, but at the time he had a pesky day job.)

We left early Friday morning, stopping for a picnic lunch at Riverfront Park in Spokane, and arriving at Flathead Lake in time for dinner. We stayed at Ilo's cabin there for two nights before heading to the park on Sunday, during which time we ate lots of delicious food, visited the National Bison Range, and jumped into the lake (every single one of us, including Ilo--who heard all of our shrieks as we hit the water, and got in anyway!) even though it was only about 50 degrees.

At the park, Small Cousin tried camping and hiking in the mountains for the first time--and liked it so much that even though Ter and I were ready to go home Monday night, the little one insisted we camp one more night. We got home Wednesday, tired and smelling of smoke--but not at all hungry, thanks to Ter's most excellent camp cooking skills.

One thing we managed not to get a picture of was the bear (a BEAR!) we saw by the side of the road. It was all sorts of awesome, but Ter zoomed in too far on her camera to see what she was aiming at, and I couldn't get a clear shot from the backseat without her camera in it. Still, I promise it happened.

Click below for a selection of photos from the adventure; as usual, you can see larger versions and make comments on individual photos here:

Rodeo

Hello again, Few Readers I Still Have Left.

I write from the rest area in the middle of the Grapevine, at which we have paused en route from Santa Rosa (where we stayed with the ever-fantastic Jon and Lauren) to Loma Linda (where we'll stay with the charming Becca and Justin), via LA for dinner with Jeni and Soroosh. Epic Roadtrip II is underway, and more reports will doubtless follow, but for the moment I want to make good on a promise on which I've been remiss: the rodeo report!

In my last post, as you may recall, I was anticipating attending my first ever rodeo. Here is a sampling of the pictures we took; as always, click here to view larger versions, leave comments, etc.:

I've been telling people that aside from all the cringing and gasping (of which there was plenty), I actually had a pretty good time. It's interesting how quickly one (or I, in any case) grows inured to the violence and constant threat of injury to both man and animal. I was also struck by the fact that the people participating in and attending what could be perceived as an exploitative manifestation of cruelty are actually the ones who in contemporary culture maintain the most actual contact with these animals, and possibly love, respect, and understand them more than those of us urban vegetarians; on the other hand, as Ter pointed out, they may just be numb to the concerns of the dumb animals who form their property and source of income.

Anyway, philosophical concerns aside, it was a good time. We started with the fair, which runs concurrently, checking out various animals and crafts pavilions before heading to the rodeo arena. Unfortunately, we missed the Mutton Bustin', which apparently is a huge deal at this rodeo and prompts allegations of political scandal, as far as whose kids get in. We did make it for the bareback and saddle bronco riding, individual and team calf-roping (especially cringe-inducing: those poor baby cows!), steer wrestling (no joke), barrel racing, and bull riding. You can see the videos David uploaded here.

The other interesting aspect for me was how, in our position of privilege in our box seats (whose long waiting list doesn't preclude people hoping to jump the line from calling the rodeo office, apparently, upon hearing that a particular box seat owner has died--despite the fact that the box seat is just an upgrade from bleachers to metal folding chairs, closer to the ring (although I was still grateful that David was able to get them from his work)), we had a view of Hermiston's Who's Who, from the local Toyota magnate to various business owners. David said that once he even sat next to a senator.

Pictures of Adventures in Glacier National Park and Epic Roadtrip II will follow as soon as possible; don't abandon me yet!

Yesterday and Tomorrow

Yesterday, I went to my first rodeo! We had box seats, which is not as fancy as it sounds, but every bit as entertaining.

Tomorrow, I'm headed to Glacier National Park with P & T and my Small Cousin. We come back on Tuesday.

I'm leaving Lappy here, and I think it will be the longest time we've been apart since I got it. I'll try to make up for it by posting lots of rodeo and camping pictures!

Pictures

So here are a few of those fabled pictures from Seattle, courtesy of David.

25 gifts for Joel's 25th birthday:


Another gift from me was a website for Abraham, where the adoring public will finally be able to legally purchase their music. Coming soon!

Mom made an amazing French silk pie with homemade whipped cream and fresh raspberries:

April had her SCUBA check-out dive Saturday afternoon, so we all went to Illahee park with her:



Sunday, Joel and David and I took the ferry from Port Orchard to West Seattle. We dropped off the Rockstar and picked up the Englishman:


Oh, and a Blackberry photo--waiting to pick Joel up in Bremerton:


The weekend before that was the Lacamas Lake Half Marathon, which I ran and which kicked my butt. I did quite a lot of walking and finished in 2:20:55, a 10:45 mile pace. I guess that's what I get for not really training (though, to my credit, it did hit 93° that day, and there were some serious hills--including one in the last mile that was so steep I panted just walking up it).

Here's one official race photo and a few of David's pictures:

Pallottole

• Last night Hathor and I went to see The Taming of the Shrew at the Fort Walla Walla amphitheater.
  
• It was set in a trailer park, and although that might sound gimmicky, I thought it worked pretty amazingly; they threw in a few "beer me"s and "ka caw!"s, but you'd be impressed at how well the script fit without any modification.
• Earlier in the day, I had gelato with the Englishman before he flew to San Francisco--coincidentally, on the same flight as my aunt and uncle.
• I had coconut and mango lassi, and he had Japanese plum and strawberry.
  
• I almost always have coconut gelato when it's available; my favorite pairing with it is Nutella or something chocolatey, but I'm not consistently impressed with the patisserie's chocolate (though I am with almost everything else).
  
• Tonight I joined a local Italian conversation group at the Starbucks.
  
• I'd been invited by my friend Lidia, whom I ran into at the patisserie several weeks ago, and have since visited to meet her new puppy.
  
• Lidia is the woman responsible for the quote in this entry.
• Ironically, I'd just had my hair cut short again the day before I ran into her.
• It felt good to speak Italian again, and funny to hear Italian words held awkwardly in so many American mouths (including mine; I'm very rusty).
• Maybe I can find an Italian speaking group in Mpls.
• Tonight is rainy and cool in Walla Walla, and it feels pretty fantastic to have the windows open.
  

Seattle, Walla Walla

At the moment, I don't have any pictures of the weekend, and although I'm sure David will share them with me eventually, many of my favorite moments weren't even photographed:

• My delicious Hermiston taco wagon veggie burrito and the preteen at the counter who seems endlessly fascinated (in the most charming way) with our personal lives
• The beautifully banked curves of Snoqualmie pass and the muted layers of hills
• Sleeping on my sister's floor in Port Orchard, where the crisp, evergreen-scented air from the open windows made it feel like camping
• Giggling with my mom and sister upstairs while we sorted through and tried on clothes she was getting rid of
• My amazing Bay Street mocha with homemade vanilla whipped cream, accidentally iced but all the better for it, enjoyed amongst Bremerton's new fountains and educational plaques
  
• Analyzing the gigantic crowd waiting to board the ferry to Seattle and determining, from the preponderance of skirts with cowboy boots, dudes in cowboy hats, and at least one "Chesney" jersey (bright orange), that there was a Kenny Chesney concert across the water (in addition to SeaFair)
• Making the best Thai peanut vegetable curry of my life, to which I attribute my mom's inimitable skills as sous chef and my sister's cayenne and spicy curry powders
• Playing Aerobie with David and the Rockstar at Illahee State Park
• My mom's nachos with David's spectacular guacamole
• Sharing childhood memories over Swedish pancakes Sunday morning

We did take photos of some of the other fun stuff, which I'll also try to post.

I do have a few pictures of Monday, taken on a camera kindly loaned to me by M&C after the lunch invitation they extended turned into an all-day outing of the not-to-be-unphotographed kind, playing tourist with the Englishman David and I picked up in Seattle and brought back across the mountains with us. Sadly, the vast majority of the photographs I took were shot from the moving car, and although they are a tribute to my fascination with the wine country scenery and the fortitude of the camera, they do little to capture the essence of the afternoon, which I suppose was a sort of social experiment gone excellently.










































































































































We ended up at the Thai restaurant in College Place, which serves some of the best food in the area, but at which I've only eaten once, given their rather unpredictable hours. Most of Walla Walla was closed for Monday, but Bangkok 103 was open and we enjoyed excellent spring rolls (a once-in-16-years rarity, our waiter told us) and a fantastic squash curry, among other things.

I don't know if you can tell in this picture, which M snapped, that I am attempting to recover from an incapacitating laugh that left me all flushed and weeping (as I believe it did all of us, though no photo could ever do that baffling scene justice). As I recall, it was M's story of the bearsharks, and in particular his use of the word "enraged" that set me off, but really, it was just that kind of an evening. The best kind.