Tuesday, September 09, 2008
The Goondocks: Photo Blog Part 2
A Woman Obsessed • Out and About •
A wedding, an insane work schedule and other life events have prevented me from finishing my Goonies adventure story. I’m sure you’re all hanging on the edges of your seats, so let me end the torture and bring in the fun!
Day 2 started bright and early with breakfast at a local diner. Immediately we could feel the presence of the Hood to Coast relay racers.
I finally snapped a shot of one of the bazillion drive-thru espresso stands. Can we get these in New York, please?
Stop number one was another Goonies hot spot: Ecola State Park. The drive through this forested wonderland can only be described as magical. The weather was perfect and the forest is so thick that only random beams of sunlight make their way through the canopy of green. It was spectacular. Unfortunately the drive is rather windy and doesn’t lend itself to any stop-and-shoot moments, but the images are ingrained in my head.
Nonetheless, the magic was only starting. Just before entering the park I finally caught a glimpse of it—Haystack Rock has a presence over the whole area. We drove the winding road to Ecola Point and I don’t know how I ever brought myself to leave. This place is so special. The beach was pristine and looking at the rocks you can’t help but look for pirate ships.
We drove down to Indian Beach, apparently a hot spot for surfing.
Then it was on to Cannon Beach. I did a good deal of shopping in the cute little town, and even got a copy of Fearless Fourteen for $3 at the adorable little library.
At last—Haystack Rock in all its glory. I don’t know how to describe it. You just have to stand there staring at it in awe. We just don’t have things like this on the east coast. I could’ve stayed there taking pictures all day.
My travel companion didn’t come down to the beach with me. After 394 failed attempts to appropriately line up myself with the rocks…
...an EMT/Fire guy took pity on me and took some photos for me. Of course, I hate them, but thanks dude!
Alas, at some point I had to leave. Bye, bye Haystack Rock!
Down the road I got up close to those two other rocks from the Goonies.
Then we drove through Garibaldi and some other blip of a town…
...and stopped for lunch in Tillamook at the Blue Heron Cheese Factory. The animals were adorable. The cheese? Nothing compared to Vermont or New York.
From Tillamook we drove to Portland.
We spent the night at a surprisingly very nice—and wicked cheap—HoJo. The next morning, before we headed to the meeting location and my home for the next three nights, we headed into the heart of Portland. I bought sunglasses at Stella’s and perused a gallery. But then we stopped at the famed Powell’s Books, a bookstore that takes up an entire city block and houses new and used books side by side. Let’s just say that I needed to invoke the 2-carry-on-rule as a result of this stop. Among my finds were original 1970s Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back paperbacks to add to my Return of the Jedi book I’ve had since I was a kid.
For work we stayed at the McMenamins Kennedy School, a wickedly cool place to stay. I had cider at a local bar while watching the Closing Ceremonies of the Olympics and playing (and losing) a game of Quizzy.
And then it was over, yeah, yeah, yeah (can you tell I’m tired from doing this for over an hour???) and I got some more shots of Mt. St. Helens on my way home.
Ok, now it’s really over and looking at the photos makes me so want to be back there right now. You all should go there. Just be sure to take me.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Life List
A Woman Obsessed • It's All About Me •
I recently came across Rick’s Life List after he decided to add my Goonies Adventure to his. What a brilliant idea. I’m going to start one and add to it over time. The real question is, do I get to cross off things I’ve already done that would’ve been on it? Please?
Anyway, here is a random start just so I can jot down a few ideas. What’s on yours?
The Goondocks: Photo Blog Part 1
A Woman Obsessed • Out and About •
I’m back on the east coast, but not on east coast time since it’s already 1:30 in the pm and I still haven’t eaten anything today. Since I switched to an earlier flight but neglected to do the same for my luggage, there’s little for me to do today other than post pictures! But since I took over 500, I’ll just give you the highlights from day one. I only had 2 1/2 days of vacation out there before work took over, but, as you’ll see, I definitely made the most of them.
I flew into Portland on Thursday night and got a glimpse of a national landmark, Mount St. Helens.
We spent the night in Woodland, Washington. Then we drove Route 4 along the Columbia River on the Washington side. I saw, among all the beautiful sights, the somewhat disturbing view of where all those logs come from before they end up on giant trucks.
We then hooked up with Highway 101 and drove that into Astoria, OR—The Goondocks!
The Chamber of Commerce folks were very friendly and helpful. We had lunch (only because we JUST missed breakfast) at the Cannery Cafe before beginning hitting the real Goondocks sights.
First stop, the County Jail where the movie begins.
Right across the street is the Flavel House Museum—Mikey’s dad’s museum. I’d like to move in please.
Of course I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to hug a massive, 115-year-old Red Sequoia. Just amazing.
Next stop—the Goonies house. But we had a little trouble finding it so we pulled over near a pier to listen to the crazy seals and see the trolley.
At last, success! The Goonies house, with Data’s house right next door. There were two other girls there doing the exact same thing.
We the went up to see the Astoria Column and a panoramic view of the city.
And of course we did a little shopping in town where I found a Louis Vuitton wallet and this guy.
We finally found the bowling alley, but it was on our way out of Astoria and so alas, no photo. We found a place to spend the night (not cheaply) in Seaside and had dinner at a sushi place in town. We also learned that some huge race would be ending during the night—the Hood to Coast race, the largest relay race in the country.
I couldn’t resist checking out the beach that night, even though it’d been a full day already, since we were only 4 1/2 blocks from the ocean. I’m so glad I did. I found swings on the beach! Brilliant!
I also got to see Tillamook Head, the view from which Lewis and Clark (or maybe it was just one of them) said it was the most beautiful they’d ever seen.
After swinging on the swings, I walked down the 2-mile promenade to find something, uh, unnerving, check out the finish line and see another gorgeous view.
Stay tuned for day 2, including Ecola State Park, Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock—some of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Greetings from the Left Coast
My travel companion has hit the sack at 8:40 so I am left to entertain myself, so I am stopping by the blogosphere to say hi. The Pacific Northwest has lived up to my expectations and then some. Ecola State Park and Haystack Rock can only be described by one word: magical. It’s something about the mist that gives it this magical feeling and makes you feel like you’re someplace special. I have to come back when I don’t have a three-day meeting to get to. I’m in Portland now at a surprisingly nice HoJo. And if you’re wondering, I did make it to the Goonies house. 
All my pictures look fabulous on my little camera screen so I can’t wait to upload them. The laptop doesn’t want to play with my camera so it’ll have to wait until Thursday, at the earliest. Some random parting thoughts on Washington and Oregon:
-They do love their drive-through espresso stands.
-You know you’re in the Pacific Northwest when you see Birkenstock stores and logging mills.
-Hood-to-Coast racers are an, uh, interesting bunch.
-Mt. St. Helens looms seriously large here. It would’ve been nice if the pilot had told me that’s what I was looking at (that and Mt. Rainier). Luckily I’m crazy with the camera and snapped a few shots of what I thought just had to be something important.
-Blue and green. Lots and lots of blue and green.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Gone but Not Forgotten
On Sunday my friend Ronnie passed away. He was one of my deli buddies—really the glue that kept the gang together—and a surrogate grandpa who loved the Yankees. I will really miss him and our talks about baseball and men, and the silly arguments he would get into with us over things like affordable housing in Saratoga, whether or not you need a masters to be a teacher, and the rules of the road. I only wish I’d known him a lot longer than I did because he had a big heart and had clearly been a good friend to so many people. He fought a long battle against cancer and I never ever saw his spirits down. Partly because of that I once again allowed myself to believe that people can get through anything if you just believe and hope and pray.
I hope he is at peace and hangin’ with all the Yankee greats. Spring Street won’t be the same without you, Ronnie.
Do I Hear $1,000?
It’s bachelor auction day at the B&B down the street! Wooo!
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Diamond Dreams
A major focus of my vacation a couple of weeks ago was baseball. I chose that week to take off months ago with the intention of doing something related to the MLB All Star Game since it was, after all, going to be at Yankee Stadium. I have finally uploaded all the fun...player stalking, statues on parade, lots of photos with inanimate objects, and more. Enjoy!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
My Poor Brain
It’s certainly no breaking news story that I frequently have trouble sleeping. Whether it’s the cat or my overactive brain, I’m often woken up a couple of times a night. Last night was the worse. After going to bed early because I could barely keep my eyes open, for some reason I couldn’t actually fall asleep. At all. Ever.
I knew I had a rough day ahead of me; a 9:30am conference call, two afternoon meetings, and dinner out with coworkers (not that that’s rough, but when you’re already sleep-deprived, you just want to go home). I walk in the office and I immediately know things are eschew because my one coworker is there before me. This does not happen. Sure enough, she was there early because of guilt. Guilt that she’d had a conference call time wrong and, as a result, I was now the only one free to do a virtual presentation, one I was slated to do the following week and was thus totally unprepared for today. Oh the joy. That is happening in 1/2 hour. I don’t like the way the presentation is structured but it’s far too late to do anything about that now. All I can hope for is that I make some semblance of sense and don’t say anything terribly erroneous or divulge anything immensely confidential. With my poor tired brain, I’m not sure how I’ll manage.
UPDATE: It’s 4:47pm. I’m still alive. We canceled one meeting due to my sleep deprivation so that helped. Now I just need to make it through dinner…
Friday, July 25, 2008
Oh Can't You See, You Belong to Me
I just discovered a new, easily accessible jockey just around the corner from work. Watch out.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tree Huggers in Training
I’m starting ‘em early.
