Wow. I sucketh.

Back in June when I started Jenn's Excellent Summer Vacation I promised I'd attempt to write daily.  If you're a follower of this blog (thanks) then you're well aware that I failed, horribly, at this attempt.  So, I'll give you a list of what I've been doing since I last wrote over a week ago.

1. SSiL and I went wine tasting. A very near city, Woodinville, is home to 93 wineries.  I have yet to determine why Woodinville is so attractive to said wineries, but I'm on it. I have 14 more days of my adventure to figure it out.  We did determine however, that wine tasting can cause one to consume too much wine, perhaps. And I can confirm we will be out doing it again soon.

2. PMDude's brother had a fund raiser to help pay for some medical bills he's accumulated thanks to stinky skin cancer. I took advantage of said fund raiser and took Sparky on a little trip to south King County.  After spending some time harassing PMDude I figured I was right next door to IKEA so why not swing on in.  They were just opening, and I gotta say, getting there early on a Saturday does wonders in avoiding screaming kids. I managed to only spend a little bit and got out of IKEA with a soap dispenser and ideas.

3.  A friend of mine, her two kids and I hopped in Sparky and headed to Ellensberg to visit another friend and her two kids.  I know your mouth just dropped open thinking I allowed children to be in Sparky.  Never fear, I kept a close eye on those two. I gotta say, I now understand what drove my parents to say, "Don't make me pull this car over." We were only about 30 minutes into the drive and I found myself wanting to say that.  All in all the trip was good. We ended it with having dinner with The Niece and her GalPal at a Mexican place in Cle Elum. Puck enjoyed his swim in the salsa.

4. Most of last week was more of the same. I'm attempting to get through my list and get myself back to work as planned.  Met the bosses for a quick stroll through the Redmond Farmer's Market yesterday and was reminded why I so want to come back to work. Those two are a ton of fun and fun people make work, well, more fun.

5. One year ago this week, Blueberry, The Landlords, the Pantry Goat and I headed out to the high seas on our cruise to Alaska.  I had the Landlords over for dinner on Friday to celebrate said cruise. We all marveled, okay maybe I was the only one who marveled, at how quickly that year went by.

6. I made a ton of new recipes last week. 5 to be exact.  I screwed up the recipe for the Alaska cruise dinner with the Landlords, but was able to save it.  Then today I was looking through some other recipes and discovered the recipe I "thought" I was making wasn't what I made. Which now makes sense as to why it didn't taste as good. Ah well, moving on. This next week I'll be making a bunch of new recipes again. I've found my cooking mojo back for a bit. Wanna see these fantastic recipes? Check out Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice.

7. 14 more days.

The Feast

Let me tell you a little story.

It begins in about 1981 - give or take. I discovered the man my mother was about to marry and spend the rest of their lives with barbecued.  And he barbecued a LOT.  I had never, in all my 12 years of life seen anyone who would BBQ everything and anything. The standing joke in our family was if he could, the DadUnit would BBQ spaghetti.  We didnt' tempt him.

Because of growing up with BBQ as the main appliance in the Wraspir household, I'm a big fan of anything BBQ'd. And now I too am a BBQ'er.  I watched the DadUnit for years as he mastered the grill. His most beloved accomplishment were his BBQ ribs with the MomUnit's BBQ sauce. Which the DadUnit eventually played with and eventually came up with a tangy, delicious version of his own.

We joked that his BBQ ribs was my dowry.

Because of now being spoiled by the DadUnit's ribs, I can't appreciate ribs any where else.  I had dinner at the restaurant the NieceUnit works and while they were good, Blueberry and I compared them to the DadUnit's ribs.  Puck seemed to really get into them.

I, on the other hand, have never EVER BBQ'd ribs. I think I may make some for a Sunday dinner in the future.

The other favorite BBQ treat everyone, but me, seems to like is pulled pork. While not BBQ'd, necessarily, on an actual BBQ, it generally has a BBQ sauce. I've tried pulled pork a number of times, and feel like I should like it, but just don't. Everyone says I've just not had the best pulled pork by (insert their favorite here).

Blueberry talked me into meeting her for lunch yesterday in downtown Seattle. I picked her up at the courthouse and we headed down 1st Ave to Pecos. 

Its a very small outfit with just two windows. The line, though, is not small. Blueberry and I were there at mid day and the line was non-stop.  Very little sitting outside too, but people made due.  Scooting over to let strangers sit next to them to enjoy their messy lunch.

And messy doesn't even really cover it.

See that spork there? Yah, you need it for sure. There's no way you could pick up with masterpiece and eat it.

Now, I didn't get the pulled pork. Instead I opted for the pulled beef.  The sauce comes in several different degrees of heat and I opted to start light and mild.  Glad I did. It was just right. Blueberry, meanwhile, got the medium and was sniffling the entire time saying, "God I love this."

I'm still not a convert to loving pulled pork, or beef, but Pecos was pretty darn good. The sandwich was easily 1/2 lb of goodness. I'm not joking either. It was beefy and hefty on the portion.

What this has to do with the DadUnit and his BBQ is as we sat Blueberry and I reminisced about the BBQ ribs.  While we were stuffing our faces we were dreaming of those ribs.  The DadUnit doesn't BBQ anymore - which saddens me to no end.  But I promised Blueberry yesterday that I will do what I can to master the ribs.  I will become the rib master that the DadUnit was.  I might need some help eating them though. Anyone want to join me?

The Death March at Gingko Petrified Forest

I, like many people I'm sure, have a "bucket list". A list of things I want to do between now and the day I die.  My list, for the most part, is small. It consists, right now, of things that are very achievable if only they were planned and scheduled.  This "bucket list" started several years ago between Blueberry, HikerGirl and I.  We didn't get very much done in that year because Blueberry and I were training for the 3Day. Since that year, I've still not marked too many off.

Having 100 days off I knew this would be the time to check off at least a couple. 

Saturday, Blueberry and I checked off visiting Gingko Petrified Forest. Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park contains the remains of one of the most unusual fossil forests in the world. Many of the petrified logs are still in their original locations and on this "nature walk" to see them.  How hard could a nature walk be? Hah!

Blueberry, Sparky, Puck and I took off out of Redmond about 10:30am. We wanted to take the scenic route since having a convertible means you HAVE to take the scenic route. We hopped off the interstate at Cle Elum and hopped on a highway that took us through some of the most beautiful countryside in Washington.  We rounded a corner and WHAM suddenly we had windmills...Don Quixote would be busy in this part of the woods.

I've seen these beasts from the interstate before, but I never realized just how big they truly are. And there are dozens of them out here. 

We drove on and found ourselves at the Gingko Trail for the Petrified forest.  I had read about some petroglyphs here that I wanted to see and of course shoot photos of.  We realized then we hadn't purchased a park pass and so we drove the rest of the way to the Gingko Petrified Forest Museum where we could purchase our park pass.

The museum had some interesting information in it, none of which I read. Blueberry read most of it. We potty-ed and set out again to the forest.  Parked Sparky and started the "nature walk".   By this time is 2:30pm in the afternoon in Eastern Washington - which for those of you not from around here Eastern Washington's weather in the summer is usually hot, dry and HOT. Did I mention it was hot?

So water bottle in hand, camera bag over the shoulder we struck out.  The first quarter to half a mile was uphill. ALL uphill.  I was dying. It was 95F outside - breezy as Eastern Washington is - but Holy Hades it was hot.  I was dying.  I started to forget about the stupid petrified logs and just wish the death march was over.  And we had chosen the shorter of the two trails - still it was what felt like a lifetime before we started down again. 

This is a view from the trail. Do you see a "forest"? Yah me neither. The sage brush does not a forest make.  There's smoke off in the distance as there was a brush fire in Coulee City by Grand Coulee Dam.

I stopped at one point and sat while Blueberry trudged on to see the rest of these "trees".
 

All the trees/logs were in these grate like thingy's and really hard to see or photograph.  But they made a good chair for those of us who needed to stop for a breather. The stone was super hot, but it felt good to sit and catch my breath.

We drove back down to Vantage after the Death March to get some refreshments and salty snacks.  We'd sweated so much both of us were craving salt in the worst way.

Vantage is a beautiful area to me. The Columbia river is so beautiful and cuts through the landscape with such grace.

Back into Sparky we headed another highway back to Cle Elum to have dinner at the restaurant my niece works in.

All in all it was a great day. We had a blast and have some fantastic memories to recall in our later years in life.

In other news, tonight was the one year anniversary of Sunday Dinners. VERY small crowd - BigBro, Seattle Sister In Law, the Pantry Goat and Blueberry.  I made a ravioli dish and these fancy pants cupcakes that were to die for.

This week marks 4 weeks until I have to return to the work force.  I have an awful lot to do before then. I'd better get busy.

33 days...

Its hard to believe, but I only have 33 more days left of my 100 days.  Man the time sure flies!  I knew it would, but didn't think it'd be at mach 3!

I made it back from Tucson on Monday. And I did it in class.  I got to fly first class in fact.

That's right boys and girls, Puck and I flew first class. Turns out this business man wanted to swap me my seat next to his family for his seat. I figured why not!  I didn't, at the time, know it was for first class. I actually figured I'd be suck in the middle.  Turns out being nice, for a change, paid off.  Puck and I were first on the plane and enjoyed a bloody mary and some snacks ... for free! We think we'd like to request more first class please.

The last couple of days in Tucson were more of the same with the DadUnit.  He was grumpy almost every time we went to see him.  Its hard to appreciate why he'd be grumpy all the time until you're in the room with him in a nursing facility...suddenly it makes sense.  Depression = grumpy!

On Sunday we had a heck of a monsoon. I had been waiting for one to come through and actually hit us. They had been coming over the mountains and splitting, missing us all together.  Finally, a couple of loud claps of thunder later and the sky opened up.

The wind came up and blew like the dickens.  Lightening, followed almost immediately by thunder and rain in buckets. I LOVED it. Now THAT's a storm.  By about 40 minutes later it was gone. All it left in its wake was a very wet road and some residual streams from the amount of water that came down in such a short period of time.

Other highlights this trip were...

The sunsets....

The prickly pear cacti in bloom...

And the Sonoran Hot Dog...

What's a Sonoran Hot Dog you ask? Well it's a heart attack in a bun, with a little bit of healthy on the side.  The hot dog is wrapped in bacon and grilled.  The condiments are: grilled and fresh onions, tomatoes, pinto beans (I know. I was like, "what?"), mayo, and jalapeno sauce.  Can I just say, it was pretty darn good? The bread is made fresh and was a very soft, french roll consistency.  The coke you see in the back ground is the "good kind" of coke. Real sugar in it...OMG sooo good. Puck even liked it. It was a drive to get to these, but it was worth it. 

The MomUnit and I also tasted their carne asada steak tacos...and OMG...I'd fly to Tucson just for those tacos. Sooo darn good. Reminded me of my days in Guadalajara.

So I'm home and am trying to get through my list of things to do this 100 day break. I'm running out of time that's for sure.  I need to get moving.

Holy Fried Toads on the Pavement Batman!

Its a dry heat. 

So I'm down in Tucson visiting the parentalunits.  Dad hadn't been doing very well last week and so I thought it'd be good to come on down.

This week he seems to be doing a lot LOT better.  They've moved him into a Skilled Nursing Facility - which is just a fancy name for a nursing home. Me no likey.

When I got in yesterday the MomUnit and I headed over to see dad.  We walked into the facility and at first glance all I saw were old people scooting around in wheel chairs.  The reality hit home for me that we weren't in Kansas anymore. 

We walked down to the DadUnit's room and my first thought when I saw him was "Man he looks frail."

My dad has ALWAYS been a big, strong, strapping, stubborn man. The small frail man I saw in the bed just didn't seem to be dad. 

He seems to be doing a tons better and from the sounds of it his color is better.  Being grey-ish last week to normal this week.

Today the MomUnit and I went in and sat with the DadUnit while he ate lunch. The dining room was wall to wall wheel chairs.  All the patients pushed up to their tables, some talking, many not, many attempting to feed themselves and failing horribly. It struck home again that the DadUnit wasn't in a normal hospital.  Looking around the room was difficult. It was hard to come face to face with what could potentially be your future. I know nothing about all these folks but I wondered if they had family come visit them or if they were "left" there. Heartbreaking. Truly heartbreaking.  I commend those nurses who work in those homes because I sure couldn't do it.

After that the MomUnit and I went to grab lunch and do a little shopping. It's been so dang hot down here (shocking I know) that I barely felt like shopping. Crazy.

We came home and sat to watch a monsoon come over the hill. Crazy weather today. Hotter than hades and then these big storm clouds form and come over the mountains.

This was yesterday's storm.

This was today's. We left to go see the DadUnit before this one hit us.

Tonight we had a beautiful sunset. The sun cast a crazy rose color glow on everything. It felt very strange. The air felt almost electric.

Tomorrow will be much of the same. We'll get up go visit the DadUnit (assuming he's not grouchy like he was tonight). Then off to get a Sonoran Hot Dog (more on that tomorrow or the next day).Then back to visit the DadUnit. 

For doing almost nothing, I'm pooped. And hot.

So you wanna know...

I know you're dying to know how Sparky did on her first "big" road trip...so sit back and relax and I'll share with you our trip to Bellingham. 

I left Friday to the sun shining high in the sky. It was a beautiful day and promised to be sunny all the way to Bellingham. Instead of going directly there via I5 I wanted to travel the lesser traveled roads.  I had printed out maps and directions and I was off.

Turns out that it gets very windy in a convertible when the top is down. Somewhere between Kirkland and Marysville are my "maps".  I knew vaguely how to go and had my phone should I get overly lost so I figured it was the Mustang Gods telling me to go forth and have an adventure.

I got off the freeway in Marysville and promptly turned right.  About 2 miles heading east I realized the road that ran along the coast would most definitely be to the WEST where the water was. So I flipped a bitch and headed west. Stopped to get a diet coke and we were once again off.

Puck was riding shot guy in the speedometer well. Its a blurry photo because it's hard to focus a camera and drive at the same time.

Puck and I found Marine Drive and we headed north.  It was beautiful. Anyone who knows the Pacific Northwest knows that when the suns out the area is truly breath taking. Tall pine trees all around casting beautiful shade along the road.  I couldn't see the water from the road, but it was cool enough that I knew I was pretty close to sea level.

One of my main purposes of going the long route was to go to La Conner and go to this little store called Good Kitty Bad Kitty and pick up Pookie his crack drenched catnip canary. So I knew that Marine drive would, hopefully, end up just outside LaConner.  I stopped to snap the above photo and check the phone for a route to make sure I was on the right path.  Turns out I was.  So I kept driving. The "directions" on the phone said in about 11 miles I would be turning onto another road.  At 15 miles I still hadn't seen that road but came upon some road crew guys.  The flag guy stopped me for a truck crossing the road and I asked him if I was on the right road and how to get to LaConner from there.  He gave me typical country directions like, "turn right at the second fir tree on the road".  We started to head out and he said, "BTW, nice car!"

Sparky and I wound our way through the woods and ended up in La Conner.  Found a parking place quite quickly and set off to find the cat store.  Turns out the store closed just a couple of months ago. Bummer. No crack drenched canary for Pookie. Instead I had lunch at what used to be the Fat Cat Cafe but is now the Waterfront Cafe. Good food, good service and a helluva view.

I could have headed back the way I came and hopped on the freeway to my next destination, Deception Pass, but why would I do that. Instead I crossed this HUGE bridge in LaConner that's very high and not at all easy to find how to get on it.  There was a Native American festival going on that had traffic across the water slowed to a crawl.  And turns out the way I wanted to go was closed for said festival.  I swung a left following the signs that said "detour" and we were off.  Again, beautiful country.  Eventually we dropped out of the woods into the pasture land that's up north and we were soon on the highway to Deceptions Pass.

Very windy road that would have been perfect for Sparky if I wasn't behind a truck and trailer. I was in no hurry so no need to risk life and limb to pass.  We turned the corner and we were there.

Puck needed to stretch his legs.

Height from water to roadway is about 180 feet, depending on the tide.

The water that runs below the bridge is turbulent and looks very cold to me. I don't do heights very well so I was proud of myself when I leaned slightly over to shoot this photo and then didn't throw up.

After Deception Pass, Sparky, Puck and I headed to Bellingham.  We had a couple hours until my friends up north would be home, so we took it slow and easy.

When I left Saturday from Bellingham I took the infamous Chuckanut Drive - which is another winding, two-laned road.  Some parts of the road made me very nervous in that I felt like my car was wider than the lane.  We made it and unfortunately I couldn't shoot any photos while driving cuz well that would be too dangerous.

Speaking of shooting, I may not be shooting for a bit. I spilled an entire glass of sweet tea into my camera. I had the lens off and cleaning the lens and the camera sitting up right when I reached across it and my sleeve caught the straw of my tea...it was a perfect spill. Turns out camera only can hold about 2 ounces of sweet tea.  It'll cost too much to get it fixed so I'll be on the look out for a new canon body. Craig's List here I come.