bugsii

Yesterday morning was our third anniversary.  Three years ago today, we were boarding a flight to Italy.  Ho hum.

Not that I’m complaining.  We had an awesome day yesterday in the Hocking Hills.  I woke up, made coffee, and watched the sun slowly move up through the trees from our front porch.  It was nice and cool in our little spot in the woods and steam rose slowly from my coffee.  I read for a while until Dan woke up.  He came and sat with me for a bit until we decided it was time for breakfast.  I made blueberry pancakes while Dan made omelets.  We feasted and then headed out to three different trails.  We started at Ash Cave, then went to Cedar Falls and then, Old Man’s Cave.  Dan will post some pictures in just a bit, but all three were short hikes with beautiful rock formations.  My favorite was Ash Cave, but Dan got his favorite picture at Cedar Falls.

At lunchtime we came back to the cabin to make sandwiches and take a little break.  I read in the hammock for a while, and we both took a nap.  In the afternoon, we headed to Conkle’s Hollow and did the “Rim Trail” which was a 2.5 mile hike up (way up) to the top of a semi-circular gorge and all the way around.  The views were stunning and we worked up a good appetite for some Mexican food!  After a little trouble finding the place, we ate at La Cascada in Logan (the closest town).  It was delicious.  Afterward, we went back to the cabin to soak our weary bones in the hot tub before calling it a night.  I could get used to this hot tub thing.

This morning, we woke up early.  I repeated my favorite cup-of-coffee-while-reading-on-the-porch scene before we ate breakfast and headed home, just in time to see the US almost lose and then almost win their match against Slovenia (a draw will have to do).  Three years down, many more to go! 

That’s the name of our cabin.

Dan and I headed down into the no man’s land that is southeast Ohio last night.  We decided to take a nice little local vacation into the Hocking Hills, a state park with lots of great hiking trails and cabin rentals.  It’s about an hour and fifteen minute drive from Columbus and it’s really a beautiful area in the foothills of the Appalachians.  We rented a little cabin called “Comfort in the Woods” for three nights.  The two full days we will be in our little cabin are June 16th, my birthday, and June 17, our anniversary.

We left after Dan was finished with work, so we got to the cabin around 4:30pm.  We were pleasantly surprised to find a little cabin that was super clean with nice and simple decorations, and floor to ceiling pine.  If you close your eyes and think of the cutest cabin the world, it would be this one.  It has an adorable little kitchen fully stocked, complete with mason jar drinking glasses.  Above the kitchen is a little loft with a ladder leading to a double bed.  If I was a kid (as in, not 29 or married), I would go crazy for that room.  The bathroom is a decent size with a nice new shower and the kitchen table in the main area is just perfect.  We also have a catch and release pond just outside our front door with a sign, straight out of a Yogi Bear cartoon, nailed to the tree that reads, “No Swimming.”  Next to that?  A hammock.  There’s also a hot tub on the front porch and a picnic table.  We were greeted by a cute black kitten (that I would be more excited about if he were a little cleaner).  There should be a bunch of pictures under the piictures tab in just a few minutes.

So, once we unpacked and looked around the house, we decided to take a walk around the area.  We inspected the edges of the pond, carefully trying to spot fish, frogs and turtles.  I laid in the hammock for a bit and then we walked down our tiny dirt road, past some other cabins tucked away behind the trees.  We spotted lots of butterflies, wildflowers and raspberry bushes.  The little black kitty followed at a distance for our whole walk.  When we got back to the cabin, we made some pizza together.  We had bought dough, sauce and veggies from Whole Foods yesterday and it was fun to make dinner together.  Then, we soaked in the hot tub for a little while before Dan made me dive into my birthday cake a day early.  He also tried to make me open presents early, but I was stubborn.  The cake, though, was definitely worth it.  It is a chocolate cake with the best peanut butter frosting I have ever tasted in my life.  It tastes like peanut butter fudge was smeared all over the cake!  I savored every bite and I was glad we dug in early!  Then, we turned on a movie that was left in the cabin and fell asleep.

While we slept, there was an insane storm.  It was raining so hard and there was so much lightning that I was kind of afraid.  Not afraid enough to get out of bed, mind you, but afraid enough to wonder if any of the trees outside were close enough to fall on our cabin and crush us.  No trees fell though and I guess I fell back asleep alright because I woke up to a beautiful morning.  It was actually great luck that the storm came overnight because this morning (my real birthday!), we had a canopy tour scheduled.  So, we got up and made pancakes.  I opened my gifts (Dan got me very thoughtful gifts.  He’s a great gift giver.), and we headed to our canopy tour.  Even though we looked ridiculous in our straps, helmet and gloves, we had SO MUCH FUN.  We walked across bridges, stood on platforms high in the tops of beech and sycamore trees, and zipped between them at 30mph.  Dan and I were both kind of scared at first, but it got easier and was really a great experience.  I’d love to do it again!

The canopy tour was in a town called Rockbridge, so named for a natural rock bridge.  So, we decided to hike the trail to the rock bridge and take some pictures.  The trail was a little muddy, but it was worth the walk.  The bridge was really beautiful.  There was a little craft mall nearby and we walked around that for a bit before deciding to drive into Athens (home of Ohio University, not to be confused with Ohio State University) for my birthday dinner.  When you’re in the sticks and you want vegetarian-friendly fare, what do you do?  Find the nearest college town!  First we walked around campus, which we both thought was gorgeous (even though OU is Miami’s rival).  Then, we found a little Mediterranean place and ate a delicious meal of falafel, tabouli and spanakopita.  Mmm.  Now, we’re sitting in a campus coffee shop leaching internet and getting our fix before it’s time to head back to our cabin and eat more of that cake!  What a great 29th birthday!  I wonder what this year will hold?  (A three letter degree better be in there somewhere…).

P.S. Happy 2nd birthday to my blog! 

Today the weather finally took a turn and it’s been nice and hot, like it usually is here this time of the year.  We took advantage of it and spent the morning at the beach.  This time the bocce guys have a clear blue sky.

Beach bocce!

Ben and I dug a hole to bury Matt.

Ben the grave digger

That was fun.  And Dan tried to draw a six pack on him.  Can you see it?

Matt getting very sandy

And my mom and I read for a few hours in our beach chairs.

Bibliophiles

Then, Ben, Matt, Dan and I went out for a late lunch to a Chipotle rip-off place called the Bad Bean.  It was alright, but the best part was that Matt decided to take the “Kyle’s Kitchen Sink” Challenge and eat this enormous burrito made with two wraps, chicken, pork and beef.  I’m sure you all believe me when I tell you that he finished the whole thing.

Holy crap!

Then, we found an awesome ice cream place called Big Buck’s and I had a cone with reese’s pieces ice cream and caramel cup ice cream.  Yum!  This is more like it!

In my first morning here in Corolla, NC, I woke up early and went for a run on the beach with Ben and Guido.  It was breezy and cool and the sand was packed enough to make an ideal running surface.  I could have run all day, but we decided to do 3 miles.  Toward the end of our run, we were overcome by a giant group of lifeguards doing laps and sprints and making us feel white and out of shape. 

After that, Mom, Natalie and I went shopping and bought postcards and sweatshirts.  The sweatshirts were helpful today because it was a little chilly.  And by chilly, I guess I only mean it was in the 70s, partly cloudy and breezy.  This was a good thing though because tonight was Dan and my turn to make dinner.  We decided to go first so we could relax the rest of the week.  I spent much of the day prepping for the meal.  I made pesto potato salad with green beans and asparagus pieces in it (it was a modified recipe from blog.fatfreevegan.com).  I also made a salad, roasted corn on the cob and baked tofu.  Dan was in charge of the grilled chicken.  Everything turned out good except the salad, which was gritty.  It was locally grown, and Guido said that means lots of sand.  I hand-rinsed each leaf individually and still… grit!  Ah well, it was nice to sit down all together and eat a meal.  I forgot to take a picture, but I’m sure you can imagine, 12 people around the table, lots of food, and a pleasant breeze through the beach house.

For dessert, we got a cake for my Mom’s birthday, which Ben and I missed.  She was excited and admitted that all through dinner she was secretly wondering what was for dessert (she thought I might have forgotten the most important part).

Mom loves her cake!

Everyone helped clean up, I wrote out postcards and am now watching the Bachelorette (one of my favorites!).  Hoping to make it to the beach tomorrow to soak up some sun…

Dan, Ben, Matt and I were the first to arrive today.  We went and picked up the key to the house called Sea Dream, but when we got there, the cleaning people were still working, so we hung out by the pool and found the beach.

It was windy at the beach!

Then, Mom, Guido, Natalie, Little Guido and Baby Guido showed up and the cleaning people left.  We came in the house and smelled a strong mixture of smoke and febreeze.  This was supposed to be a nonsmoking house.  The rooms were smaller than we expected, but the top floor was really nice.  I thought we would just deal with it, but Guido was not too happy.  From the third floor I could see him waving his hands around and talking on the phone.  Later, I would learn that he told the lady on the other end that “this place smells like a French whore” and that he wouldn’t be staying there.  Oh boy.

Angie, Abe and Judah showed up a little later.  Angie tried to calm her Dad down, but he wasn’t budging.  The manager of the rental place said that she would be down at 5 to bring us an air cleaner.  In the meantime, Abe called the rental place we usually use and found a cheap rate on a nicer house.  The lady came at 5 and we were all still sitting in the driveway (we got there at 1:45).  Somehow we ended up getting  promised a refund and went to pick up the keys the new house.  Then we grabbed some pizza (mine came out wrong, not that I’m complaining, I’m just saying… not a good start).  The new house is a million times better and we are now all settled in.  It’s called Corolla DeVille and has a picture of a dalmation.  Here it is:

The beach is close by and tomorrow morning, Ben, Guido and I are going to take a jog in the sand.  Ah.

This morning we got up relatively early and were on the road by 8:15am (but if you heard Dan crying about it, you would have thought it was 4 in the morning).  We swung by and packed Ben and Matt in the backseat with the cooler and were on our way.

Ben, the cooler, and Matt

The ride was about 8 hours and we spent a large chunk of it asking trivia questions about each other.  It was sort of like a really long, crappy facebook quiz, without facebook.  Questions included… What is your dream car (Audi SUV maybe, but no real answer)?  What is your favorite color (purple)?  What is your favorite restaurant (Northstar)?  How many kids do you want to have (at least 2)?  Who is funnier, Seth Rogan or Jonah Hill (I don’t care)?  What are your three favorite movies (Forrest Gump, The Wizard of Oz and Juno)?  What is your favorite video game of all time (Sonic the Hedgehog)?  And many many more…  We have nothing to talk about on the way home now.

The Commonwealth of Virginia

We finally made it to our hotel for the night and Dan practically ran upstairs to hook up Street Fighter on the hotel TV.   He was so giddy afterward that I thought he was going to clack his heels together.  While Ben and Dan played, Matt and I went for a swim at the tiny hotel pool, then we all headed to get some grub.  Somehow eveeyone let me take them to a cute hipster cafe that was mostly vegetarian.  It was delicious!  I had fried plantains and tempeh on strips of zucchini and sweet potato!  I love finding places like that.

The horn of plenty at Ipanema's

A moment of silence before the meal

Even though we were all stuffed, we drove to an ice cream shop (Bev’s) that Dan and I went to last year when we were in Richmond for the night.  At the time, we thought it was pretty good… but that was before Jeni’s.  Now that we know what good ice cream is, it’s hard to have anything else. Matt said he actually felt sorry for the people around here that never had the chance to try Jeni’s.  It’s a darn shame.  At least the neighborhood was cute.

West Cary St.

Now, it’s off to watch some UFC.  Rich Franklin is going to get his puny little weakling butt whooped by the gorilla monster that is Wanderlei “the Axe Murderer” Silva.

I think it’s safe to say today that I have officially completed one year of doctoral study.  Wow, this year has flown by and I feel like it has been a great experience full of growth and vocabulary development (among other things).  To celebrate the end of year one, I am going to the Outer Banks tomorrow at 8am (well, really we’re stopping in Richmond for the night first, but eventually we’ll get there).

Today, I had to finish up a second draft of an article, so Dan and I went to Stauf’s and got coffee and bagels.  Dan worked on some manly work stuff and I wrote my article (and browsed facebook).  We came home at lunch and I went for a run.  Then, I spent several hours planning Marcy’s Bachelorette Party/Shower weekend and I would love to tell you all about it, but you’ll have to wait until July 31, 2009 (it’s going to be fun though, I can tell you that).  Then, Dan and I went to Northstar for some dinner.  I haven’t been there in a loooong time and it made me think back longingly to the week we first moved into our apartment last summer and had no furniture or cooking utensils yet, and I ate there twice a day.  Those were the days.  Here I am with the gargantuan Northstar burger and as I was eating it, I thought I heard somewhere that your stomach is only the size of your fist.  Ha!  I don’t think so!  I could barely bite the thing and if you know me, you know that my mouth is huge.  People like to say pretty smile or nice teeth, but I know what they really mean… “My, you could probably eat an orange whole if you tried.”

That's a big sangrich!

After that, we swung by Walmart for some last minute food/goods for the road trip tomorrow.  We are hauling Ben and Matt down, so we had to by extra (jk).  And since I felt like vacation had sort of officially started, I thought we better get some blizzards for the ride home and that we did.  Once we got home, it was already 8:30pm and we hadn’t packed a single thing, which is why it is now 12:22am and I am just getting to my blog. It’s a good thing I have three big boys to drive my helpless womanly-ness around tomorrow.  Ah, and here are the books and magazines I am bringing along for the beach.  It’s a mix of work and pleasure.  I would be too axious if I only took pleasure.  Grad school beats that out of you pretty quickly.

Books, wonderful books!

Okay, I’m delirious, good night.

Well, today I had some paperwork to do for my job at ODE. I got that done and then we packed and headed to Canton for the night. We wanted to see Katie as a “feature twirler” in Central Catholic’s marching band (my alma mater). Katie is only in 7th grade, but they started allowing 7th and 8th graders to play and twirl because Central’s band has, well, never been the largest. It was fun to see her twirl with a high school band. Here she is on the sidelines when we got there.

And here she is again at the halftime show, twirling with FIRE! It was so cool!

Tomorrow morning it’s a long drive (8 hours) across the great state of New York to visit Uncle Ray!

Yesterday was my last full day in Portland. Right now I am in the airport waiting for my plane to Houston, and then home.

In the morning, I ran around Laurelhurst Park again. Then, we went out to breakfast at this cute little place called Utopia. I had the most gigantic bowl of oatmeal and it was delicious. Then, we walked downtown to shop and see Beth’s friend Bill who works at a coffee shop. We sat in the coffee shop for awhile and then went to REI and Patagonia because I was determined to buy a fleece. I found a nice one and it makes me wish it was fall already.

Then, we went to a great vegetarian restaurant called Chaos for a late lunch/early dinner. They had fresh juice and homemade soup that was really good (Spicy Carrot Coconut). Here are Beth and I showing off our juices.
After we ate, we went back to Beth’s house and hung out there for the evening. We had been walking so much the past few days and were pretty tired. We watched Forrest Gump (on VHS!) and ate our chocolates with some coffee. Then, we went to bed early so we could have one more breakfast this morning before we left. Here’s Beth on her couch at home. Bye Beth!

Yesterday, we went hiking at a place called Eagle Ridge Gorge. We took Beth’s friend Pawl with us and packed a picnic lunch. Here’s the view from the car on the way there. The mountain off in the distance is Mount Hood. When we got to the trail, again, I was surprised at how HUGE the trees were. It’s hard to capture with my little camera phone, but here are parts of some of them. Some also had a really pretty moss because it’s so moist in the Pacific Northwest.
Here is Beth and Pawl on the trail. He’s 6′6″ and Beth is 5′1″.
Here are Beth and I at a lookout over the gorge. It was really far down…
And here’s a little waterfall. We sat here to eat our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I think this area was called “Lower Punch Bowl.”
After our hike, which ended up being about 3 hours total, we went back home to freshen up, then we went to eat at an Indian restaurant before going to see a movie. We went to see Hancock only because our friend Tracey from our freshman year at AU is Will Smith’s assistant and we wanted to see her name in the end credits. When I went to see I Am Legend, she was listed as “Assistant to Mr. Smith,” but this time, she was listed as “Associate Producer.” Crazy! Needless to say, after all that hiking, I fell asleep during the movie, so I can’t say how good (or bad) it was although the beginning was funny.

As promised, here are some pictures from the park I have been running in this week. It’s called Laurelhurst Park. I was trying to show how tall the trees are, but it didn’t work so well. Here’s the top.
And here’s the trail. The trunk on the left belongs to the top of the tree in the previous picture. It’s been so nice and cool here in the morning, perfect running weather.
And here is a sample house from the neighborhood I run through on the way to and from the park. There are lots of craftsman style houses and I just thought this one was cute.
Today is my last full day in Oregon so stay tuned!