~ Marsing mini-vacay ~

Before I get into this post, I wanted to properly draw your attention to the above map and ride data, which I included in my previous post about the Hardtrigger ride, but which did not show up on Google Reader. With my new cyclecomputer, Garmin provided some embedding code for a quick snapshot of my ride data and map, however, the code is not compatible in Reader. I've figured out a workaround and it should work for the future, but I was disappointed to discover that the data for my awesome ride did not go through to my Reader folks. Anyhoo, click on the image and it will take you to my Garmin site, where you can check out some interesting graphs and an interactive map, etc.

As I indicated in my previous post, Josh and I celebrated my 30th birthday in Marsing and riding bikes in the Owyhees. We actually drove up on Friday morning and stayed the night through Saturday.

Marsing is a fun little town, and has more going on than one might initially think. For example, despite its population not quite cresting 900 people, it has a number of places to procure a cup of coffee, a taco stand, an actual Mexican restaurant, a nicer restaurant, a diner, a biker bar, several thrift stores, a hardware store, a grocery store (equipped with hunting and fishing gear, of course!), a senior center, a smattering of religious establishments, a field office for the Bureau of Land Management, and even a motel.

Ahh... the motel. If you recall, Josh and I took a mini-vacation to Marsing a few years ago and found that the motel, coined the "Whitehouse Motel", was not what we had expected. Josh and I normally stay in one or two star accommodations, usually picking either the cheapest hotel or the second cheapest. In fact, no one could ever argue successfully that we are hotel snobs. Or even very picky, for that matter. Mainly because we prefer to spend our travel money on dining and other experiences of DOING things rather than on the hotel. Another reason for our selection of the cheapest hotels is because one can sometimes find a gem among crapholes. Take, for instance, the Whitehouse Motel in Marsing Idaho.

Arguably, the Whitehouse Motel bears a somewhat misleading name. For whatever grand structure the name "Whitehouse" conjures, the Whitehouse Motel is, quite simply, a doublewide trailer. Below are a few photos from the previous trip.

The Whitehouse Motel is, however, $36 a night, has plenty of hot water and has insanely comfortable beds. Also, the plywood roofing produces soothing sounds during a wind or rain storm, which we have experienced during both our stays there.

Unfortunately, the Whitehouse Motel is not as clean as I would prefer (and I have realistic cleanliness standards when it comes to my one star motel accommodations) and the water smells like sulfur. Really, really bad sulfur. And definitely not drinkable.

Other than that, it's a great (and only) place to stay in Marsing.

On Friday afternoon, Josh and I did a mountain bike ride over by the S. Jump Creek area of the Owyhees. It was just an out-and-back and wasn't anything to write home to Mom about. But it was a good warm-up for the next day's Hardtrigger 25 mile ride.

We set out with no expectations about the ride. Friday was very cloudy and windy, with severe storms going on in the Valley (that was the day there was a funnel cloud in Boise!!!), so Josh and I expected that we would have to cut a ride short. Of course, because my life is nothing if not ironic, we didn't apply sunscreen before the ride because it had been absolutely dark and cloudy all day. Then, not long into the ride, the sun poked out. And the previously cold weather turned to hot. And I had to take off my long sleeve jersey because I was baking, and proceeded to worry about being fried in the sun.

We rode for about an hour in the sun, and I did not get a sunburn.

It was, however, incredibly windy. So windy that I was literally blown off the trail several times.

There were also a lot of cows, a prelude to our Hardtrigger bovine experience. At some point, while we were climbing a section, we crossed paths with a very very pregnant cow who was so pregnant that she couldn't scamper away from us like the others and instead she had a massive diarrhea explosion in response to our presence.

We turned around shortly thereafter, in part because of the cows, but also because the road was difficult to ride with the deep hoof prints from the cows, because I was worried about being in the sun for so long without sunscreen, and because of the strong winds.

Behold my data and map! Click on it to see more.

After the bike ride, we got cleaned up and had dinner at the Sandbar, which is the slightly nicer restaurant in Marsing, down by the Snake River. We ate there on our previous trip, dining on delicious steaks. This time, I dunno, it was a little disappointing and I don't feel like dwelling on the experience.

Then we had a lovely stroll through the park along the river (where we had a few run-ins with some geese) and through some cute neighborhoods. We ended up at the biker bar where we shared a pitcher of Coors Light, downed some shots of tequila, chatted with the bartender (who took a shot with us), and played shuffleboard.

After a good night's sleep, we had eggs, toast, and hashbrowns at the diner next to the motel and then did our big Hardtrigger ride. After the ride, we rushed home to clean up in time to make a friend's wedding reception, where we mingled and had a lovely time.

Posted by jennifer at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ Weiser Mini-Vacation ~

This weekend, Josh and I took a mini-vacation over in Weiser for some relaxation and road riding. While I realize that Weiser might not be a popular location for weekend vacations, we had a wonderful time. We had been considering taking a weekend mini-vacation for a while and had mulled over various small Idaho towns. Our decision criteria included: limited driving time (1-2 hours max), scenic road riding opportunities, cheap motel, and that the town have a few options for dining. Our first choice was actually Hagerman, which is the cutest small town, nestled in the scenic Hagerman Valley, and rich with road riding opportunities. However, as I was calling around to hotels in the county, there were no vacancies anywhere because of a Cowboy Poetry Festival going on that weekend. As a result, it was at the 11th hour that we decided to go to Weiser.

Weiser is a little over an hour drive from Boise. It is situated in an area with rolling hills and is at the base of some larger hills, with winding country roads ideal for road riding. While it might seem like a dive motel from the outside, on the inside the rooms of the affordable ($50 a night) State Street Motel had THE MOST COMFORTABLE BEDS, plenty of hot water, free wi-fi, and room to stash two road bikes. As for the food, Josh and I ate well throughout the trip - - and each dining experience was a memorable adventure.

We arrived early Friday afternoon and spent the first few hours wandering around town. We had lunch at Fawn's - - Josh had a French dipped sandwish with horseradish and I had a grilled shrimp sandwich with tomato basil soup. Both were extremely delicious. After lunch, we continued to wander around town, eventually exploring the area around the railroad tracks. We went into each downtown business, where we put some dollars into the local economy.

Later that afternoon, we set out on our road bikes and pedaled along some country roads heading west. There was a significant wind blowing from the Northwest, making the ride feel slow and difficult. The ride was 20 miles, and we were chased by four different dogs. The being chased by dogs bit is the primary reason that I have withheld some love for road biking, particularly along these otherwise delightful country roads, where dogs are left un-fenced and free to chase road bikers.

That evening, we had dinner at the Homestead Cafe and then got drinks and played darts at a local bar.

The next morning, we had planned to get coffee and a morning treat at the Huckleberry Cafe. When we arrived, however, we discovered that they were hosting a funeral service and we felt obliged to seek our coffee and breakfast elsewhere. And it was back to the Homestead Cafe.

Having felt that we have canvassed Weiser on the previous day, we decided to drive south for 12 miles and explore the town of Payette.

We had lunch at a local pizza establishment and then visited the Payette County Historical Museum.

That afternoon, we went on a truly amazing road ride. We headed in an Easterly fashion before ultimately hitting Mann Creek Road. The ride was 36 miles total. Mann Creek Road was a glorious country road winding through ranches and farms, at the base of some larger hills. If you look at the satelite imagery, it is a sliver of green.

View Larger Map

We were having too much fun riding to stop and take photos - - the photos that we did take do not do the ride justice. The road was perfect for riding, little traffic, glorious scenery, and rolling hills. Josh and I had a spectacular time sustaining speeds over 20 mph despite the side/headwind.

Josh said that it was one of the best road rides he has ever done, and we agreed that it would be worth going out there again. In particular, farther north across the highway, is a reservoir, and it might be fun to try and extend the ride.

That evening we had dinner at the local Chinese Restaurant. While it was far from authentic Chinese food, it was delicious. We returned to Boise the next morning, after a fun and affordable mini-vacation. More photos on my photoset.

Posted by jennifer at 8:54 AM | Permalink

~ San Francisco ~

Josh and I took a long weekend to spend time in San Francisco. We had been due for a vacation and had San Francisco on the brain, remembering what a wonderful time we had when we went there three years ago. In addition, we've been talking about moving to California and San Francisco was near to the top of the list. The idea of moving to San Francisco began after we saw Klunkerz a documentary about the origins of mountain biking, which started outside of San Francisco in Marin County. This prompted us to consider that mountain biking in San Francisco might be comparable in terms of accessibility as in Boise. As such, in preparation for our trip, we packed mountain biking gear.

The other reason we did this trip was that we were able to get a really really good deal on the flight and hotel. Such a good deal, in fact, that we would have been fools not to go. That said, we picked the hotel because it was the cheapest one on the list. Because it was the cheapest one on the list, I was prepared for not-luxury accommodation. Josh and I normally stay at one or two star hotels anyway, so we're used to not-luxury accommodations. In spite of this, we were surprised by HOW SMALL the room was - - it was actually only slightly larger than the full size bed. And then there was the shared bathroom and shower facilities, which we shared with 20 other people on our floor, which were also very very small. Other than that, the bed was comfortable and the rooms were quiet.

The best feature of our hotel was its location half a block from a major bus and train station. San Francisco has a great public transit system, which Josh and I used extensively. It was also very easy for us to use - - I've visited other cities where the transit system was confusing or difficult in some way, but in SF it was straightforward and seamless. Also, the locals had no trouble telling us which bus to take to get to a certain part of the city - - I remember in New York, no one was able to give us directions about which bus to take because either they didn't take the bus/subway or it was too confusing to have memorized.

Day 1, Thursday July 2nd

We arrived about 10:00 in the morning on Thursday. We took the train from the airport right to our hotel and then proceeded to get some lunch. Upon David's recommendation, we had lunch at Tu Lan, a Vietnamese restaurant at 6th and Market in the Tenderloin. It was DELICIOUS. David had indicated that the restaurant was a hole-in-the-wall sort of place in a not very nice part of town and that it was very very small, but that the food was DELICIOUS. And it was. I had a chicken curry dish and Josh enjoyed a sweet and sour pork. mmm... Afterwards, we walked all around the Tenderloin and got to know it pretty well.

That afternoon, we took the bus out to a bike shop to rent some mountain bikes. The people at the shop were helpful and friendly, and we rented a pair of Gary Fisher Ferrous, steel hardtails. From there we navigated several miles through the city and along the Bay... during which time the spicy curry I had enjoyed for lunch was having a bad reaction in my tummy and fortune came our way in the form of a clean public restroom. There was a visitor's center on the city side of the Bridge for the Golden Gate State Park where we took a moment to purchase some calorie packed pumpkin bread with chocolate chips and got some treats to go. From there, we rode across the Bridge.

Three years ago, we rode a tandem mountain bike over the Bridge and it was great. Apparently San Francisco has been really windy this year. Riding across the Bridge this time was somewhat terrifying because the wind was so strong that it was whipping me from side to side. There are a few corners to ride around and the wind brought me to a complete stop on my bike and I had to dismount and push myself through the wind. Also, it is generally known that the Golden Gate Bridge is kinda high, and wind plus high above the water is scary. A couple weeks ago, wow morbid, Josh and I watched The Bridge a documentary about people who commit suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. Josh and I stopped a few times to gaze all the way down to the water and contemplate our mortality - - I'm sure we were both remembering the footage of the people jumping and imagining what it might be like to fall and hit the water.

Once on the other side, we rode up Panorama Highway and stopped at the Battery, an old fortress thing, to look at the view and explore.

From there we continued riding up Panorama Highway, which was likewise really really really windy until we came to Rodeo Trail at the start of the Marin Headlands. The Marin Headlands were what we had thought might be comparable to Boise's foothills. By the time that we arrived at the trail, however, we realized that they were not nearly as accessible as the foothills. Riding through the city, over the Bridge, and up Panorama Highway took quite a bit of time and effort. Nothing compared to the 5 minutes it takes us to get to the foothills from where we live in Boise.

We rode Rodeo Trail and Bobcat Trail in the Headlands. They were not quite what I had expected - - much more hardpack than Boise's foothills, and they were fireroads, not singletrack. We were also surprised by how few people were on the trails - - Boise's foothills are usually packed, but we only saw two or three bikers and a couple of runners. Also, it was a sunny day, but it was pretty cold. I was so glad that I brought my arm warmers and wind breaker, both of which I wore for most of the ride. I did forget my gloves and my hands were freezing.

The scenery was pretty. The trails took us up some pretty good climbs to a ridge, with valleys on either side.

It was after 8:00 by the time that we got back to the bike shop to return our bikes. We took the bus back to our hotel, showered (tiny though the shower room was, it had plenty of hot water), and then got dinner at another Vietnamese restaurant. I enjoyed garlic noodles with lemongrass chicken - - and at one point, I accidentally slurped a noodle in such a way that it flipped up and slapped me on the face and the spice of the noodle burned my eye for a time.

Day 2, Friday July 3rd

On Friday, we got up early and had coffee and a morning treat at the Starbucks across from our hotel. We then took the bus to Golden Gate Park. Our original intent was to go to the de Young Museum which is in the park and see the King Tut exhibit, but it was sold out. We purchased advance tickets for Saturday and then wandered around the park. There was even a carousel that we rode.

We then wandered the Haight area. That was an area we missed the first time. We had lunch at the Blue Front Cafe on Haight Street (potato and pesto pasta salads). We went into all of the thrift stores and Josh found several clothing articles to buy. I found none. Also, Josh remembered that the Tour de France was to start the next day and so we located a bike shop to ask about where one might watch it. They directed us to a bar just down from Haight on Stanyon, the Kezar. We walked to the bar where Josh had a discussion with the person on duty, learning that this bar opens at 5:00 in the morning and that it would be possible to watch the first stage of the Tour live (which I think was 6:30am SF time).

From there, we got on a random bus and rode its full circuit. The random bus was actually the bus that would eventually take us back to 4th and Market, where we met up with my friend Aimee and had dinner at a sushi restaurant.

Spending time with Aimee was very nice. She used to live in Boise and was my best friend for a while. Like all of my long distance friendships, we haven't kept in contact over the years but whenever we see each other it's "like old times." There weren't any awkward moments, we had loads to talk about, and it was very pleasant and comfortable. We still get each other's sense of humor. We also had some good conversations about heavy topics - - in the past year, we've both had some deaths near to us and could relate about that.

Anyway, after dinner we got drinks at a few different bars. One was a lounge place and the other was the Tunnel Top, a bar that is over the tunnel that leads into Chinatown. We sat upstairs on some rusted chairs and enjoyed some pale ales. It was here that we talked about death and stuff.

After our beers, we crossed to the other side of the Tunnel and explored Chinatown at dusk. I was mildly intoxicated and it was a surreal experience.

Day 3, Saturday July 4th

On Saturday, Josh got up at 6:00 a.m. and went to the bar to watch the timetrial prologue of the Tour de France. I stayed in bed until about 7:30, at which point I got a coffee and a treat and took the bus out to the Haight area to meet him. I had something of an unpleasant bus experience. As we were travelling through the Tenderloin, a number of homeless people kept getting on the bus without paying and the bus driver kept having altercations with them about how they need to pay or get off. I felt it was too early in the morning for so much yelling. At one point, a noticeably drunk homeless man gets on, open beer in hand, and sits near me. He and the bus driver yell at each other for several blocks (the homeless man was yelling very obscene racist things at the bus driver) and finally bus driver stomps back and throws the guy off the bus. It was a lot of hostility right next to me, and I was disturbed and uncomfortable.

Once in the Haight, I made my way to the bar and found Josh enjoying a bloody mary at 8 o'clock in the morning. To my surprise, the bar served breakfast, and so I ordered some eggs and toast and watched the Tour with Josh. I also learned that when Josh arrived at the bar (at 6:30 a.m.), it was packed with people drinking beer and watching a rugby game. I found this amusing. And as much as I enjoy beer, I stuck to coffee for my morning beverage.

Then we returned to the de Young Museum and went through the King Tut exhibit. The exibit was disappointing in that (1) there were WAY TOO MANY people and (2) it had a poor bang-to-buck ratio. For $30 and a specific time slot, I was expecting a quality experience. Instead, I was herded around like cattle, could barley see the exhibits over everyone's heads, was pushed around, and felt very claustrophobic in the rooms filled to capacity with people. And in spite of the slow pace at which we moved, we finished the exhibit in under an hour - - for $30, I was expecting something more substantial. Other than that, however, I found it very interesting.

After that, we took the bus over to the Sunset area of town and had lunch at an overpriced pasta restaurant. I had some butternut squash ravioli, which was good, but paled in comparison to the cheap Vietnamese food in the Tenderloin.

We then took the train to the Castro district. On the previous trip to SF, I was not impressed with this district. Looking back, however, that time we only walked up and down Market. This time, we really explored Castro and it became one of my favorite areas. Josh and I watched Milk a few months ago, and from that film I had decided to give the Castro another look-see. We wandered up and down many of the side streets, saw a brass band play on Castro and Market, and smelled the flowers at Harvey Milk Plaza. On 18th, we had strawberry nutella crepes and Orangina at Queen Malika's and played chess. It was a very nice afternoon.

Aimee met us at Queen Malika's. "The Plan" was to make our way to the Mission District for burritos, but Josh's wandering instinct kicked in and we ended up spending the time very differently.

Tangent: one of our major discussions during the tip was the gender/personality difference (no consensus on whether it's gender or personality) in which some people feel this instinctual urge to explore. Me, I don't have this. Yes, I enjoy exploring and I like adventure, but I can also be perfectly happy going to the same places day in and day out. Josh, on the other hand, reminds me of a blood hound in the way that he is compelled to sniff out new places - - he points his nose in a certain direction and says "Let's go that way!". I enjoy exploring if it takes me to areas that I will otherwise enjoy (ie, if they are scenic or pleasant to be in) but Josh derives enjoyment from the pure act of exploration, regardless of whether the place is scenic or pleasant. I kinda wrote about this when Josh took us up this trail where we got all of the thorns in our bike tires - - for me, it wasn't a great trail to ride and then I got sour about all of the thorns, but Josh was excited about being somewhere he had never been before. So for me, if a place is unscenic AND unpleasant, then I don't get a kick out of exploration, but if it is scenic OR pleasant, than I will enjoy the exploration. /end tangent.

Anyway, so while Aimee and I were under the impression that The Plan was get some burritos, Josh convinced us to check out this park that was in the opposite direction of the Mission. By "check out this park," I incorrectly assumed that we would go there, "check it out", turn around, and go get some burritos in the Mission. So I consented to "check it out" - - and I was glad I did. The park was tucked away in the Castro neighborhoods and featured a cool cement slide. It took us a moment to figure out why there were so many scraps of cardboard at the base of the slide - - that they were necessary to silde down the cement. We each took turns and it was fun. Josh's exploration instinct definitely pays off - - it was both scenic and pleasant!

Instead of turning around and heading towards the Mission to get burritos, Josh then convinced us to "check out" this garden area above where the slide was. It was a small plot of garden that made great use of the land along the slope of the hill - - it was nice looking at all of the sweet little plants and HUGE succulents.

From there, Josh decided that he wanted to "check out" a hill off in the distance, a desert-like hill featuring singletrack that got us farther away from the burritos. We hiked up the singletrack and were rewarded with a stunning view of the city. Again, Josh's exploration instinct served us well. Above us, a much larger hill, Twin Peaks. Not wanting to miss an even better view of the city, Josh convinced us that we should make our way to the top of that hill... you know, just to "check it out." To do this, we navigated the steep hillside streets, using these very steep and long stairways connecting the neighborhoods. My fear of steepness kicked in and I held onto the railings for dear life, trying to motivate my legs to continue climbing even though my knees were feeling wobbly. At the top of the neighborhood area, we had one final ascent up Twin Peaks, along some narrow and steep singletrack and it took my last bit of courage and willpower to make it to the top. Burritos were suddenly far from my thoughts. I might also mention that, whereas both Aimee and Josh were wearing hiking-appropriate footwear, I was wearing flipflops. At times, it was a bit precarious... There were a lot of other people enjoying the top of the Peaks. When we got to the top, Josh announced that he had to pee, and even though Aimee and I recommended that he find a bush, he insisted on using the public lavatory that had a long line. Aimee and I stood along the overlook, enjoyed the view, and talked for a very long time while Josh stood in line for the bathroom. He waited for well over half and hour and when he finally joined us, said that he should have just found a bush.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the view, we made our descent back to Castro. Josh was kind enough to hold my hand down the steep singletrack and staircases. Once in the Castro, we were so hungry that we decided to get burritos there instead of the Mission. Actually, only Aimee got a burrito - - I got chicken mole which was so good I almost died from satisfaction. We took the bus back downtown and Josh and I watched an action film in our shoebox of a hotel room.

Day 4, Sunday July 5th

Having missed the Mission district on the previous day, Josh and I decided to get our morning coffee there on Sunday. The Mission is apparently known as a place in SF worth visiting. On the previous trip to SF, we walked a long way on an unpleasant strip to the Mission for sushi, and my memory recalls a particularly dirty area with nothing of interest for me. This time was not much different. We took a bus most of the way and then walked several vomit covered blocks to a coffee shop. During our walk, it occurred to me that the Mission is probably a lot of fun at night, what with all of the cool bars. During the day, however, the barf and pee smell along the sidewalk take away some of the charm. But maybe that's just me, me and my not enjoying areas that are unscenic and unpleasant.

We went to Ritual Coffee shop where I had a hardened scone and a strange-tasting coffee. Josh was unable to get his vanilla latte because they don't subscribe to flavoring. Rolls eyes.

We then walked over to Noe Valley where we perused some shops and had lunch at Joe's. This area of town was 'nicer' but it seemed like the sort of place where rich middle aged people would hang. I went into several clothing stores, for example, and promptly exited because the fashion was not in accordance with my age group.

We took the train back downtown and went our seperate ways. I walked around for a bit, went into some of the stores, but ended up going to a coffee shop to hang out until it was time to catch the train back to the airport. For some reason, I felt really groggy and drowsy that day. Josh went down by the Yerba Buena area and eventually met me at the coffee shop. Then we got the train to the airport and made our way back to Boise. Overall, it was a really good trip. We have ruled it out as a place to move, however, because of the weather and because mountain biking is not as accessible as we had hoped. We had heard that SF has the most consistent nice weather year round, but I had to wear a wool sweater and windbreaker for almost the entire trip and still felt chilly. The fog I can handle, the wind isn't a total deal breaker, but wearing a wool sweater and windbreaker in July and still feeling cold would not work for me. And from what I was able to tell, the mountain biking outside of Boise is FAR SUPERIOR. All in all, it was a wonderful trip and I am glad to be home.

Here's the link to my photoset

Posted by jennifer at 8:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ blue Missoula ~

As the subject of politics can sometimes elicit excitement and alter behavior, I went on a road trip over the weekend to Missoula Montana with Josh and Eric. The origins of the trip go back a few weeks when we were staying up past our bed times discussing the impending presidential election. Liberals in Idaho frequenlty confront reality when wanting to 'get involved' with politics beyond the local level. It's unfortunate that anytime I might consider volunteering for the state democratic party about, oh say, the presidential elections, I am detered because it seems like an incredible waste of time. During the political discussion of a few weeks ago, Eric mentioned that the Idaho Obama Campaign is encouraging potential volunteers to head to Montana because it has more democratic leanings than Idaho.

And so early last Thursday morning, we loaded up three adults, their crap, and their mountain bikes into my fuel-efficient vehicle and drove to Missoula. The drive was long, but it wasn't horrendous by any stretch of the imagination. We arrived in Missoula at about 4:00 pm and made our way to Eric's brother's house, where we would be staying. If you recall, Thursday was the night of the Vice Presidential Debate, so we declined a family dinner engagement and went to downtown Missoula to watch the debate over some beers. There was a bit of a snafu in the communication between Eric and the Obama Campaign dude, in which the latter had informed the former that there was to be a debate watching party, when that information was untrue. We made our way to the Union Club, thinking we were going to be watching the debate with other bleeding heart liberals, but other bleeding heart liberals we did not find. Instead, we got some grub from the bar kitchen (I had a chilli hot dog with fries, if you are curious) and watched the debate. The bar ended up getting really packed with other debate-viewers, so we were far from lonesome. Afterwards, we wandered around downtown.

The next morning, we rose and went back downtown for breakfast. Upon the suggestion of a local, we went to a very small place on Higgins. The goodness of the breakfast was slightly overshadowed by the crowdedness of the place (as Eric had to sit alone in the corner for some time due to lack of available seating). Afterwards, we wandered around that part of town, venturing into a few shops, including a bike shop and some kind of strange novelty shop. We also explored Eric's old neighborhood, including a walk by his old house. The males also got their swing on. After extensive wandering, we went to a coffee shop where I had lunch of a roasted red pepper sandwich and barley salad. I also took the opportunity to visit a yarn shop that was reported by various internet folks as being the best yarn shop in Missoula. Once I walked into the shop, however, I was to feel slightly uncomfortable as the shop owner was discussing her ill health and impending death with a friend. I was unsure what the most polite behavior would be in this instance, so I just kind of walked the circumference of the shop quietly and slipped out.

Then we went over to Rattlesnake recreation area and went on a fun mountain bike ride. I must say, the mountains outside of Missoula make the Boise foothills pale in comparison. Eric led us on a ride that took us way up the mountains and afforded us a lovely view.

The downhill was great fun, punctuated by a herd of wild turkey sighting. We ended up doing two loops. The first took us up the mountains at a fairly steep grade and wound us along the side of the mountains. The second was up some of the roads at a more moderate grade and down some singletrack with switchbacks. Both times we ended the loops with a fun jaunt through what I called Sherwood Forrest, a section that had truly sweet winding singletrack in which the autumn colors were striking on the adjacent trees.

The ride was a lot of fun and left me wanting to take a longer trip to Missoula to have more riding in its mountains. Afterwards, we picked up a large quantity of pizza for Eric's family, as a token of appreciation for letting us invade their home. We had every intention of hitting the bars that evening, but found ourselves watching "Empire Strikes Back" instead. I have to say, watching a Star Wars film with commentary by a five and four year old is a quality experience.

The next day, we went to a bakery downtown for breakfast and coffee. Afterwards, we went to the Obama campaign headquarters and spent half an hour in an asinine training, as though canvassing is rocket science. We got our clipboards and went to a neighborhood near the University to do our political duty. Eric went by himself and Josh and I teamed up. I thought the volunteer coordinator was full of doo-doo when he estimated it would take us 3.5 hours, but he proved to be right on the money with his estimate. Josh and I were able to get several people registered to vote and got quite a few absentee ballot requests completed. We also had a good conversation with a Republican leaning Obama as well as a few Independents. Therefore, if Montana goes blue this election, it will be ALL because of us. We rule.

By the time we were done canvassing, at around 2:30, we were all starvin' marvin. Eric directed us to a drive-in where we procured some delicious drive-in food. Of course, I couldn't allow us to have a normal / boring drive-in experience. I had to go an drop Eric's burger down the front of my person and onto the car floor. The server person was nice enough to get him another free of charge. Then, as I was exiting the car, I managed to drop the entire tray that was loosely affixed to the window and which was supporting multiple uncovered containers of ketchup, all over the ground. The resulting ketchup splatter caused me to have a large quantity of ketchup all over my clothing, compounding the preexisting ketchup and mustard stains that I aquired when I dropped Eric's burger onto my person. Anyway, I was just keeping it interesting for everyone.

The next adventure was to Blue Sky Brewery for some free beer. If you've ever been to a local brewery, you can imagine how that adventure went. We all had to try on every single Brewery hat, had to play with all of the beer openners, had to put the beer cozies on our heads, and in general defied our maturity level. Afterwards, we returned to Eric's brother's house for some R&R. That evening, Eric went to a family BBQ and Josh and I had a date in downtown Missoula. We went to a sushi place, where we enjoyed some fairly good sushi, and then wandered all around, having various silly moments. We explored the river area, having a great deal of fun running on some grassy mounds and eventually went to a bar for some wine. We returned to the homestead where Eric recounted the shenanigans of the family BBQ.

The next morning, which would have been Sunday, we had a hearty breakfast with the family, which included pancakes, scrambled eggs, and sausage made from a deer that Eric's brother shot and killed. We then loaded our persons, our crap, and our bikes into the car and set off for Boise. The drive back took longer as a result of more lengthy stops, including a lunch stop at Kooskia.

Photos for this are available here

Posted by jennifer at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

~ Seattle adventures ~

Josh and I went to Seattle for a few days last week to celebrate the anniversary of my birth. Yay, birth! Our adventures centered around eating, shopping, and wandering. As a preliminary, photos are available on my Seattle photoset.

For the hotel, I received a banging good deal on a place downtown. Downtown, however, has a number of meanings. For me, "downtown" refers to a place where all of the cool young people spend their time. I attribute this interpretation to the fact that Boise is not a big city. In cities larger than Boise, "downtown" generally refers to the business and financial district. When I scheduled the hotel, I didn't give any consideration to the meaning of "downtown." And so, in Seattle, we found ourselves among lots of people in business suits, towering skyscrapers, and concrete. As such, we embraced our walking shoes and the bus system, so as to spend a good amount of time outside of downtown.

For the hotel, I'd also like to mention that this was advertised as "a three-star hotel for the price of a two-star." Which was exciting because Josh and I normally stay at 1 or 0.5 star hotels, so we were living the high life!

We arrived at the SeaTac airport Wednesday afternoon. The bus system, I found very user-friendly and affordable. It cost $1.50 to ride from the airport to downtown. After we checked into our hotel, we employed a technique that we used several times during the trip: asking locals for recommendations. As restaurants in the downtown area were pretty expensive, Josh asked a local person for a cheap place for dinner. She referred us to Bruno's, an Italian / Mexican restaurant. That odd combination (Italian/Mexican) should have compelled us to turn around, but we were hungry. The interior of the establishment was overflowing with plastic plants, which should have also compelled us to turn around, but we were hungry. I had a chimichanga from the Mexican side of the menu, and Josh had some spaghetti from the Italian side. The two sides of the menu offered very different experiences: I loved my chimichanga, Josh was really disappointed with his spaghetti. I had a decent opinion of the establishment until we were about to leave and I decided to visit the restroom. Let me tell you, if I had gone to the restroom when we had first arrived, I would have insisted that Josh and I leave immediately. I was very disturbed and revolted by the conditions of the restroom and I can no longer look back on my chimichanga experience without being grossed out.

Our next adventure involved a lot of wandering around. We wandered over to Pike's Market, along the waterfront, and then through downtown. We stopped for beers at a place called Cyclops, where Josh ordered a special local beer that I forget the name of. Later that evening, we went down to Pioneer Square. From a street vendor, we bought DELICIOUS hotdogs and then went to New Orleans (a pub) for more beer and live jazz music. There, we had the Purple Haze raspberry beer, about which I had mixed feelings. The jazz was wonderful.

THURSDAY

The next day, we started the day right with some caffeine and treats at a coffee shop. We then went over to Columbia Tower, and rode the elevators to the 73rd floor to admire the view. After that, we went back down to Pioneer Square and did our main tourist activity, participating in the Underground Tour. It was very interesting and provided a good opportunity to get out of the rain for a bit. Ah, I haven't mentioned the weather: it was overcast and rainy for 99% of the time. You all probably recall the numerous times that I have indicated my preference for non-rain, but it proved to be quite tolerable with my rain-proof jacket.

For lunch, we wandered over to the International District and went to an "authentic Hong Kong" restaurant. Josh and I were feeling like exploring food options outside of our normal comfort level. And so he ordered noodles with oyster sauce and kidneys and liver, while I ordered shrimp potstickers and some meat/rice dish that I forget what it was. Josh's noodles were good (I helped myself plenty to his meal). I've been wanting to try liver for some time, as it is supposed to be really good for one's person. I ate 1.5 pieces of liver before the gag reflex began. Josh ate all of the rest. The kidneys were a different story. I'm not sure the nutritional benefit of kidneys, but Josh ate one piece and was extremely revolted. He articulated that the kidney tasted like solidified urine and recommended that I not sample one. My personal meal experience would have been better if I had gone with vegetarian options, as I am not a very good carnivore. I ate most of my rice and had some good potsticker experiences, but then I had several instances where I bit into a meat product and wasn't sure what it was that I had in my mouth, and wished that I had gone with a vegetable dish.

We then wandered for a very long time. Eventually, we got to the Capitol Hill area where we visited some shops and had a sit-down at a coffee shop. As we were making our way back to downtown, Josh became stricken with a severe case of Athlete's Foot. I surmise that the soggy shoes from all the rain were responsible. We parted ways at a pharmacy where he could get some ointment for his feet and I continued to wander. I went into a number of retail stores and tried on about four hundred clothing items, but did not find anything I wanted to purchase. I then returned to the hotel, utterly exhausted, and vegetated in front of the television for some time.

That evening, we went for dinner at Elliot's which came highly recommended. We spent a lot of money on crab, which Josh has apparently never before eaten. It was not the best crab dinner as a result of what I believe was margarine instead of butter. Afterwards, we wandered some more.

FRIDAY

After getting some coffee and breakfast, Josh and I took the bus up to the Freemont area where we walked around. There were a number of shops we visited, and Josh procured a pair of pants. We also had lunch there, at some super new-agey/hippie place which I don't recall the name of...something like Silence-Heart-Spirit, or whatever.

After that, we decided to catch a bus to the university district. While waiting at the bus stop, I identified a fellow knitter by her hand-knit scarf and struck up a conversation about local yarn shops. As a result of my being VERY introverted, I'm not generally one to converse with strangers and, for me, meeting people is near-to impossible, but throw knitting into the situation and I'm suddenly rather extroverted.

In the University District, Josh and I found several second-hand stores to peruse. I had good luck and found FIVE shirt items for no more than $10 each. Afterwards, I deposited Josh at a coffee shop and went off to the recommended yarn shop, where I found myself in yarn shop heaven. It was called Weaving Works and I was impressed with how well organized it was. Normally, the yarn organization of a yarn shop can elude me, but this place was very well organized by fiber content and then by brand. I was shopping for yarn for two projects that I've got in mind and I splurged big time. After considerable thought and comparison, I chose Noro Silk Garden for a scarf and Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed for a sweater. They are glorious! I also purchased two sets of four buttons, which I found very satisfying. Afterwards, we asked some people for a dinner recommendation and they referred us to an Indian restaurant. Josh and I shared an order of samosas and a curry dish. I also had a beer. It was, by far, the best meal of the entire trip, and was one of the more affordable meals.

To top off the evening (and because our feet were tired), we decided to go see the new Indiana Jones movie. It was not very good and we probably could have done something better with our time, but whatever.

SATURDAY

We got breakfast at a recommended establishment (which proved to be not very good) and walked around a bit before catching the bus to the airport.

All in all, it was a good trip but the weather made me somewhat depressed. We arrived to a sunshiney Boise and my spirits are getting back to normal. Yesterday, we went on a fun mountain bike ride. I need to put in some time on the bike this week, as I recently found out that Josh and I have been sponsored to ride the 100 mile course in this coming weekend's Bob LeBow Bike Tour for which I am utterly unprepared! Something tells me that I will not be riding the entire 100 miles - - hello sag wagon!!!

Posted by jennifer at 9:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

~ Arkansas ~

Spent the last week in northwest Arkansas visiting Josh's family. We had the opportunity to visit a number of the little towns around the area and do a bit of exploring. I was a bit surprised by how hilly and lush (by winter standards) Arkansas is. It would have probably been better for my impression of Arkansas to visit during the summer when the lushness would be more vibrant, but I don't think I could handle what sounds like a very active insect infestation. The trip, for me, would have been better if I had not come down with a flu virus two days into the trip. I am not a good sick person and found myself battling the crankiness.

Highlights of the trip included walking through the cute neighborhoods, finding two good coffee shops (one with good soup, the other with good coffee), visiting a wonderful knitting shop, and having some good people moments. In particular, I had the opportunity to don some real leather biker gear and go on a motorcycle ride through some hills into Missouri with Josh's father. The best day was when the family caravanned to Eureka Springs and spent the day walking around the cute town in the Ozarks. The sun came out that day and the light was simply glorious. Josh and I hiked up to the top of one of the hills into a strange rural Arkansas Ozark neighborhood and had a great time exploring. That evening, the remaining members of the family went to the Crescent Hotel which is apparently haunted by ghosts - - and had plenty of fun.

For photos, here's the link to my Arkansas photo album. I have omitted the hundreds of photos of people opening presents.

As fate would have it, Josh and I continued to have travel snafu after travel snafu. On the way to Arkansas, Josh and I made it to our destination...our luggage did not. As there are not a whole lot of flights to rural Arkansas, it took some time before it arrived. On the way to back to Boise, our already incredibly long travel day was lengthened because the Atlanta airport was completely shut down due to fog, so we had to be diverted to Dallas, and so the sitting around in the airport was augmented considerably. I spent all day yesterday recovering from the flight. We could have gone to Europe in the time that it took us to fly halfway across the country. Anyway, it's nice to be home.

Posted by jennifer at 9:36 AM | Permalink

~ merry making ~

~:~ ~:~ ~:~ ~:~

On Saturday, Elizabeth and I went on a big wonderful hike in the Owyhees in the Wilson Creek area. I was particularly proud of myself that I was able to successfully navigate us to the trailhead without too many wrong turns. About three weekends ago, Josh and I engaged in a big mountain bike adventure in the Owyhees, which included a bit of riding the Wilson Creek area. Due to the rugged and unorganized features of the trail that we rode, we assumed that we had failed to locate the actual Wilson Creek trail. As such, prior to embarking this weekend to the area, Josh recommended that I take Elizabeth to this other trailhead, which we were certain would be the real Wilson Creek trail. It was not. Elizabeth and I spent a few minutes hiking on some singletrack until it branched into an ATV road which ultimately took us to the main road in a very roundabout way. I tried to explain that this is all a part of the Owyhee experience...uncharted and unmarked, with different makeshift trails and ATV roads intersecting everywhere, and the constant probability of getting lost. During this part of the hike, we encounterd some horse riders who directed us to the "real" Wilson Creek trail, which was the trail that Josh and I had ridden bikes on. Apparently, it forms a great big loop. Elizabeth and I navigated ourselves to that proper trail and had this glorious hike through some amazing Owyhee scenery, which you may view in the photos above. During the hike, we saw a big lizzard and had a number of really gross and fascinating conversations about what she's been learning in her anatomy classes.

~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~

In other news, on Friday, I spontaneously acquired a new mountain bike. To make a long and involved story "short," Josh was looking at this Stumpjumper hardtail last Thursday and felt that it would be a better bike for me than the HiFi that I've been riding. He had developed a theory that the HiFi was too much bike for me and that I should ride a bike that centered my weight lower to the ground to increase stability. What is more, this Stumpjumper has v-brakes and not disc brakes, which was particularly exciting for me. So, it was absolutely random that he called me on Thursday and planted the seed of this new bike in my head. I let the seed take root over night as I pondered and researched it. Initially, I wasn't enthusiastic about the idea, but on Friday, I took my lunch break and went to the bike shop to see this new bicycle and it became an agonizing decision for me. I was not at all concerned about the money, as the only reason that I work is so that I can afford those things that make up a lifestyle that brings me joy and happiness, however I was concerned about the prospect of buying yet another bike that wouldn't be perfect for me. There is an agonzing uncertainty when it comes to trying to find the right bike. And bikes aren't the sort of thing that one can purchase, ride around for a bit, decide it's not the right bike, and return for a different bike.

On Friday, as I was test-riding the Stumpjumper, it was apparent that I would not be afraid of the bike. I have written extensively about my strong disc brakes that lack proper modulation and how I exist in a constant state of fear with regards to these brakes. And this fear has been justified and reinforced by the simple and plain fact that I have crashed a number of times on this bike as a direct result of these brakes and the fear that they have caused. I understand the concept that one must have correct form and skill with regards to using one's mountain bike, but at the same time, I feel that the mountain bike should be a user-friendly tool to enable me to have fun on the trail rather than being an obstacle to overcome. And so, I decided to get the Stumpjumper. Even though it is a "downgrade" in terms of going from full suspension back to a hardtail, I decided to sacrifice cushy suspension in favor of not being afraid.

The pro-con list that developed during this decision-making process was rather extensive and complex. In the end, the decision became easy when I imagined riding my favorite trails and no longer being afraid. And I am confident that I made the right decision in getting the Stumpjumper. On Sunday, I had the opportunity to take her out on a ride. Josh and I did some old favorites, Sidewinder and Shane's Loop. The first point to make is that I haven't had so much fun on a mountain bike ride for months and months as I did on this ride. The difference was palpable. I also haven't ridden as fast, both uphill and downhill, for months. I felt so comfortable and relaxed on the bike, what with the sheer lack of fear, and I cannot begin to articulate how CONFIDENT I felt! For the first time in what seems like a LONG time, I felt in control. The ride on the downhill felt tight, controlled, smooth, seamless, nimble, stable, and incredible. I was able to let go of the brakes and just fly down the trail, knowing that I could slam on the brakes at any given moment if necessary. Whereas on the HiFi, I always made a concerted effort to keep my speed at a controlled pace because I was concerned that if I had to brake suddenly that I would fly over the handlebars. And this, I feel, is the primary advantage of weak v-brakes...being able to let loose yet still be in control. What is more, a primary difficulty that I had with the HiFi and downhill form was the concept of putting weight onto the front wheel. As I was afraid of flying over the handlebars, you know, because I flew over the handlebars and crashed several times, I would try to keep my weight as far off of the front wheel as I could. Proper downhill form requires weight on the front wheel to ensure stability and traction, which can feel very counter-intuitive if one is afraid of flying over the front of the bike. On the Stumpjumper, my lack of fear of crashing over the handlebars allowed me to comfortably put weight onto the front wheel during my downhill, which increased my feeling of stability and control. All in all, the experience was amazing and to further my feeling that this was the right decision is the generocity and understanding of the bike shop bosses who let me basically walk away with the new Stumpjumper in a quasi exchange for the HiFi.

Posted by jennifer at 8:41 AM | Permalink

~ I <3 NY ~

New York City made me sick! Literally, as I have a miserable flu, complete with a sore throat and body aches. Until yesterday evening, I thought that my ill feeling was due to over-exhaustion. As I began to feel worse and worse, I asertained that I was truly under the influence of a maladie acquired some time during the tour-de-force which was my vacation.

Step one: Complain.

New York is a stinky, dirty city. Everywhere I went, particularly the underground mass transit, I inhaled the smell of urine, feces, and vomit. Seeing someone's discarded soiled pants at the subway station was hardly worth noticing, as the grime and grossness were all too common. I determined that the reason I smelled urine and feces everywhere was because of the quaint tradition of not offering public restrooms in the city. All week, the practice of going to the bathroom became an exercise in offensive strategy. Also, the urban wildlife was remarkable. I've never paid much attention to those stories of rats in the subway, but they're true! Rats the size of small cats! And the honking of car horns...never stopped. I spent the duration of the week unable to completely relax because of a lack of establishments for rest and recuperation. The coffee shop experience is THE staple of my quality of life. Who knew? that there are no coffee shopes in New York as I know coffee shops?!!

Step two: Fondly Remember

New York is a very interesting and stunning place. It was unlike anywhere I've ever been. Even though I took 150 photographs, I felt that I wasn't photographing much at all, because New York is an over-photographed place. And I've seen the city so much in photos and movies that I recognized most everywhere that I went.

Seeing old friends: By far, the best part of going to New York was the opportunity to see some friends who I haven't seen for a long time. Lola, who lives in Astoria, and Zach and Corey who came up from Massachusettes...ah, it was as though I saw them just yesterday, nothing had changed. The great thing about me is that I've got great taste in friends, who have excellent senses of humor and keep me laughing and laughing. Josh also had the opportunity to see his brother Seth, who lives in Brooklyn.

Eating: One of the nice things about having local New Yorkers, Lola and Seth, around was that they took us to some fantastic places to eat. My favorite was an Indian restaurant in the East Village called Panna II, followed by a Japanese sake bar on 47th street where we drank sake from a box.

Sight Seeing and Activities: Josh and I walked and walked and walked around the city. We hopped onto a boat which took us around the southern part of Manhattan, which allowed for us to gain a good perspective on the city. We went to a Broadway show, Spamalot, based on Monty Python's Holy Grail, which was too funny! I had the opportunity to visit the Met and MOMA for free, where I took in some art. Josh and I travelled to the top of the Rockafeller Center for a view of the city. We spent a bit of time in Central Park. We got to see Noe Venable play at a small venue in the East Village, and it was a wonderful concert. We went by the United Nations, saw Ground Zero, and marvelled at some really huge buildings. We saw the East Village in depth. Soho was overpriced and disappointing. The Meatpacking District was overpriced, but had some good galleries. We saw a photo shoot for a high end fashion magazine there. I saw some celebrities in Greenwich Village. We saw Newt Gingrich in Midtown.

Man, I've got a lot of stories from the trip. But I'm tired and I have the flu.

If I had it to do again: I would have liked to spend more time in Central Park and Brooklyn.

Feel free to navigate my photos on flickr. Josh has also posted photos on his flickr deal. I will leave you with a shot of myself and Josh, at night, with the Chrysler building in the background.

Posted by jennifer at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ Marsing ~

This weekend, Josh and I went on a mini-vacation to Marsing, the Gateway to the Owyhees. We have been through Marsing numerous times, having thrown some money down at their eating establishments after a hike or bike ride in the Owyhees. While Marsing might not seem like the most amazing place to go on a mini-vacation, it holds a warm place in our hearts and is much more quality than a superficial view conveys. We left Boise on Saturday morning, after procuring some good coffees for the road. Josh had made reservations at the only hotel in Marsing, the Whitehouse Inn. I suppose that from the name, I had expected something slightly more grand than what was the reality. Somehow, the name "Whitehouse Inn" compelled me to assume that we would be staying in a beautifully renovated historic building with a view of the stunning Owyhee mountains. Yet, as I pulled up to the front door, I was a tad surprised to find that the so-called Whitehouse Inn was nothing more than a trailer park, with trailers that had been sectioned off into multiple "hotel rooms." After seeing our portion of the single-wide trailer, I was greatly relieved that we would at least have our own restroom. While I may be harshly judgemental, I'm not much of a snob and I don't insist on existing always with a silver spoon crammed into yee olde netherparts. At the same time, I found that staying in a converted single-wide trailer was to be one of several white trash experiences.

After settling into our accommodations, Josh and I hit the town. We walked "downtown" where we got some very affordable soft tacos from Freddy's Taco stand (a joint that we've eaten at a few times before). Freddy's Tacos is wonderful. It appears to be a family-run establishment that offers affordable food at incredible quality. Ah, just the thought of my tastey tacos makes my mouth salivate. Josh, who is WAY more social and outgoing than I, chatted with some local Marsingians, found out how to pronounce some Spanish words, and through the interaction I was able to get my hands on some homemade salsa for my tacos. I probably applied too much of this homemade salsa, but it was amazing! Zing! Then, we located a park and had all kinds of fun. We swang on swings, teeter-tottered, slided, and I managed to persuade Josh to let me into his fort which he was protecting by throwing rocks and twigs at all of the enemies.

Then, we went down by the lovely and radioactive Snake River. Marsing is also a check point for motorcycle enthusiasts. At the river, there was some kind of motorcycle congregation which we took pains to avoid. The ground was littered with goatheads and I spent several moments plucking them from the soles of my shoes. The most notable landmark in Marsing is Lizard Butte which is basically a hill with some volcanic rock that looks like a giant lizard. It's pretty cool. As you recall, Easter was on Sunday, and while neither Josh nor myself are big followers of Easter, we had planned on joining the locals at the top of Lizard Butte at sunrise for their Easter Sunrise Service. While we were walking along by the river, we took the opportunity to people watch some of the locals as they were fishing in the lovely and radioactive Snake River. Now, it's not as though I am this neat-nick clean-freak, but the polluted waters of the Snake River is not the source from which I would like to get my fish.

On our way back to the "hotel", we stopped by the grocery store, where I was a little surprised at the numbers of dead animals hung about. The entire Marsing adventure had undertones of white trashedness, but this grocery store which displayed dead animals alongside food and beverage for sale was the second clear demarcation of a white trash experience for me. You know how when people hunt and kill animals, they display the dead animal carcass as though it was a trophy...I've never much understood that. Above the greeting cards, in this grocery store, were moose and elk heads, above the candy and pre-packaged baked items, stuffed turkeys. Along the cereal aisle, there was even a dead mountain lion. I know that it's hard to judge taste sometimes, but I prefer to not live around dead animal carcasses, so I've never quite understood the many people who choose to swathe their walls with dead animals. I mean, why not display a family photo or a replica of some famous painting? What is the appeal of dead animal carcasses as décor? …Yet another mystery of life.

That afternoon, we utilized Marsing's Gateway to the Owhyees, to enter into the Owyhees for some mountain bike riding. We went to someplace a bit west of Jump Creek and explored some motorcycle roads. It was a lot of fun. At some point, we rode up to this plateau to take in the view. Josh noticed, in the distance, that the wind was causing a mighty dust storm. And by the look of the clouds, and the smell in the air, it was apparent that we were about to be caught in a sudden torrential downpour. We immediately started to ride back to the car, but the wind was so strong that it proved to be a harbinger of the difficulty that lay ahead. Twice, the wind coming at me to the side was so strong that it literally blew me off the trail and the rain came very quickly. Rain plus strong wind made every exposed part of my person freeze, and then the wind would whip up the sand against my leg, which stung my frozen flesh. What is more, our lack of structured exploring made me feel slightly concerned that we would lose our way. Nevertheless, we made it back safely and returned to our trailer section for a shower before going out to eat.

For dinner, we chose Marsing's finest restaurant, the Sandbar, which is beachside of the lovely Snake River. The meal truly was lovely…it just took forever to arrive. I was concerned about gorging myself on the appetizers. The vegetable soup that came first was divine, and my salad that came twenty minutes later was incredible. An hour later, when my entrée arrived, I was quite uninterested in continuing to sit at the table. Yet, the food was good (though, Josh's was better than mine). Throughout our dining experience, there was a group of real and old school cowboys next to our table. They were having some conversation about the good old days of being a real cowboy, when you could herd your cows in the open range...or whatever. At some point, it was the most obvious thing I've ever seen, one of the cowfolk turned around, looked up Josh and I, turned back around and started saying something about "ferners." Again, I'm not a snob with a silver spoon, but sometimes it takes a bit to understand some of the regional dialects. It was very apparent that he had said the word "ferners" in response to seeing Josh and I, and I was able to deduce that he was poorly enunciating the word "foreigners." I thought it was rather rude. Anyhoo. After we were finished eating, we thought about going to one of the local dive bars, but didn't. We went to bed feeling fully satisfied. Ah…but I probably should mention that the freak torrential downpour which had disrupted the bike ride had not abated by bedtime. In fact, all throughout the night when I would wake up with insomnia every ten minutes, the torrential downpour continued. This put a damper on our plans of attending Easter Sunrise Service at sunrise on Lizard Butte. In fact, it put a damper on the rest of our Sunday plans, which had included a hope of returning to the Owyhees for more mountain bike exploration. Instead, we returned to the big city where I remained exhausted and lethargic all day from my lack of sleep.

You will be pleased to learn that I managed to post a variety of photographs of the adventure.

Posted by jennifer at 7:55 AM | Permalink

~ Parma, Nyssa, Ontario...ho! ~

On Saturday, despite the pain from my mountain biking crash, I had the opportunity to go on an exploratory adventure. Josh and I packed up our persons and drove West. Our first stop was his old stomping ground, Parma. As we pulled off the highway, we drove up to a replica of Olde Fort Boise, which is apparently the only thing to see in Parma. In front of the withered concrete structure was a sad looking model of Big Foot. At the base was an educational snippet about Big Foot, as though Big Foot were, you know, real. ...It was odd. Speaking of Parman education, while we were there, we stopped by Josh's old middle school where it appeared that the construction of a new building may have destroyed the hiding place of a time capsule that his class had burried beneath the earth. Despite his saddness, he was able to have some fun at a nearby park. Here's a sweet photo of the little apple of mine eye finding some joy in the day.

We then drove our persons across the border to Nyssa, Oregon where the fun was simply overwhelming. The two-block downtown provided ample amusement for two young bumpkins like ourselves. We started the Nyssan adventure by entering a quilting store and wandering the stock of brightly colored fabric. There was a seemingly antisocial genderless being playing a game on a computer and Josh bought a small stuffed animal friend of the ground hog variety with top hat and bow tie which we named Half Chubb because of its resemblance to a semi-erect penis. Nyssa provided ample more excitement, including a video rental establishment with cheaply priced items and a "fashion" store which embodied the epitome of gaudy.

View image

And so we found ourselves in search of further excitement in Ontario, Oregon. I might mention that before leaving Boise, we stopped by the record store for some new compact discs with which to listen to some musical tunes, which included the new Modest Mouse album. Josh had wanted to purchase tickets to their concert while we were at the record store, but he learned that the tickets sold out in seven minutes. So, no dice..or, no mice. Anyhoo, Ontario. Our hunger compelled us to drive around town looking for a tasty place to eat (rolling of mine eyes...a tasty place at which to eat, but we were so hungry that we could have eaten an entire establishment). After driving around for a good amount of time, we finally decided to enter a cheezy "Italian" restaurant whose decor I simply could not contain my disgust for. I dunno, call me Judge Mental, but I found their expression of the shabby chic with cheap "made in china" knock-off furniture along with plastic grape vines and postcard photos of Italy not the choices that I would have made if it had been my restaurant. We ordered some garlic bread and sauce which was veddy veddy yummy and some calzones which were alright. I wanted four beers but had water instead. After filling our bellies with authentic Italian food in an establishment that made me feel like I was on the streets of Roma (insert another rolling of the eyes), we wandered the streets until we came upon the local train station.

Posted by jennifer at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ Hiking the 8th Street Interpretive Trail, Drinking and Riding to Wineries, and costumed parties ~

This past Saturday was a great day for me. On Friday after I got off of work, Josh and I hiked the 8th Street Interpretive Trail. It was a beautiful fall evening. We spent the majority of the hike brainstorming what we wanted to be for halloween. A few months ago, I came up with the idea of being an activist for planetary rights, protesting the demotion of Pluto to less than full planet status. I thought I'd wear a garbage bag fashioned into a dark orb, spraypainted gray, with leggings and a protest sign proclaiming "Pluto is a planet, dammit!" No one seemed to think this as brilliant as I and the idea withered along with the fame and fortune of the once glorious Pluto. At about the time that I had this flash of brilliance, Josh decided that we should go dressed in Mormon temple garments which are not all that attractive. The plan went so far as to investigate the distributor of these elusive underpants, but we discovered that one needs one's Mormon identification numbers to even register one's garment size, so that idea was out the window. On our hike, we threw out hundreds of ideas. We were focusing on couple costumes, like Thomas Jefferson & Benjamin Franklin, Pamela Anderson & Kid Rock, and once he came up with the idea, Josh simply would not let go of the idea of going as Mr. Rogers and the Cat. And I found his manner of persuasion most unconvincing; he kept turning to me and articulating several "mew, mew, mew"s. I dunno, I feel very OVER the whole "going as a cat" thing, even if it's the Mr. Rogers cat. Me, I was obsessed about going as our pre-cool selves. By the end of the hike, we disagreed on the matter as though we were disagreeing over the quantity of some lifesaving elixir to administer to a dying person. Which was kind of ridiculous. Here's some photos of the hike.

And then there came Saturday.

I had been looking forward to the possibility of sleeping in on Saturday morning as a person wandering the Sahara would crave an oasis...my bed, the warm little nook tucked away from the street and city noise, where I have all my sweet little dreams and snuggle in my bundly pillows...yet there was to be none of that on Saturday morning. Somehow, the chi wasn't there. I couldn't find that spot of amazingness that I get lost in every morning when I need to get out of bed to go to work. It was something of a travesty. So I just got up and got ready for my big day.

At 9:30, I picked up Josh and we drove out to Nampa for a coffee at the Flying M coffee garage, which is a very quality place for a morning coffee experience. What makes it super satisfying are the TWO wonderful yarn stores and the THREE great used book stores within walking distance. That downtown Nampa, seriously, people need to appreciate it.

From there, we drove out to the St. Chappelle winery and had a good sampling of their wine selection. I didn't say anything at the time, but I felt that the wine pourer was being much more generous with Josh than with me. Neverthehoo, it was fantastic. Once imbibed, we changed into our cycling gear and set out on a bike ride. I have no sense of direction and didn't consult the map, so I don't have a clue what our route was. I know that we rode for a good distance. After maybe ten miles, we turned onto a dirt road that was difficult for me to ride my road bike on. This led us to the Sawtooth Winery, where we bumped into some folks that we had had an interaction with back at St. Chappelle (they took our photo) and they said that they had been cheering and toasting our cycling up the dirt road. At this winery, the wine pourer was extremely generous, pouring us a third of a glass of each wine...and I think we may have had about seven wines??? Granted, that is not all THAT much wine, but since we were on a bike ride, I feel that my blood stream had opened itself up to all liquids that I delivered to it, in the hopes of remaining hydrated. So the wine quickly made me tipsy. Speaking of tipsy, somehow I fell in love with this silly wine bag with a woman named Tipsy, described as a happy lush. I dunno, had to have been there. We spent some time at this winery outside, where there were some lovely roses that we stopped to smell.

As we mounted our trusty steeds, I was giggly and smily, clearly drinking and riding. We set out down the road and I found it quite a challenge to direct my bicycle straightly. At least it was a vacant farmroad. Oh yes, the scenery! It was beautiful. Farmland, but near to the Owhyees it was stunning, as is evidenced in my photos. At some point, we pulled over for a bio break and I became extremely alarmed when I realized that there was a bunch of idiots on the cliff above us firing shotguns. A dude in a truck pulled over and we all had a conversation about how horrid that was, but yawhatever free country bit, so they assured me that we were too far away for the bullets to hit us, but I was totally freaked. I mean, they were SHOOTING GUNS IN OUR DIRECTION!!!! Yea, I had something of a cow.

As we were driving back into town, we remembered having seen a sign at K-Mart for 40% off on Halloween costumes. We stopped at the K-Mart in Nampa and selected two cheap standard costumes. We then spent some time seperately resting up and then united once more to get ready for the evening. We donned our costumes and makeup and hit the Balcony Dance Club for hours and hours of dancing. I became utterly intoxicated over my vodka redbulls and was a dancing feind.

Posted by jennifer at 6:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ Peddling, Rocking, and Saying Goodbye ~

Day Six, the final day of the trip to Austin, October 20th, is rather fuzzy. This may come as a shock to each of you, but I haven't been creating these amazing detail-packed blog entries about my vacation from mere memory. Indeed, during the vacation, I took notes about the activities in my journal and from those notes composed these fantastic entries. The last day of the trip, unfortunately, I did not take any notes and I do not have the greatest of memories (which is why I am a voracious note-taker). Last night I popped by Josh's residence to deliver some pain killers and chicken noodle soup for his cold or flu, as well as a knitted gift for his birthday (Happy Birthday!!!), and we were discussing the final day of the trip and trying to remember certain details. What was particularly irksome was that we could not recall where we had had coffee that morning. Never fear, however, because this morning it hit me!

Friday morning began with us riding bicycles down the greenbelt area, across the Colorado river, and over to a coffee establishment called Flipnotics. This place is also a hipster clothing store and had a big patio with wireless internet and flowers. After getting our coffee, we initially sat outside. We moved seats several times because we couldn't get everything exactly perfect, and we ultimately sat indoors. If memory serves me correctly, we had a little bit of a late start that morning and I think that it was around noonish by the time that we left.

Our plan for the day was to go on a big mountain bike ride, exploring all of the trails around the Barton Springs area. Which was a lot of fun! Riding a bicycle on these trails was unlike any biking I have ever done during my entire one and three-quarter years' experience of mountain biking. Firstly, their trails were much more consistently technical than anything I've ever ridden. I was quite proud of myself for being able to ride as much as I did, and I was able to ride most all of it. Riding in the Boise foothills, truly technical parts of trails are pretty rare and I'm usually too much of a weiner to challenge myself over much of it. That whole "I don't want to fall and hurt myself" thing. But in Austin, there wasn't a choice. It was either ride my bike, have a lot of fun,challenge myself, and take a chance on falling and getting hurt, or don't ride, don't have fun, and don't take any risks. I chose the former. And it worked out beautifully. I had so much fun and I felt so proud of myself for being able to clear so much of it. Secondly, the trails in Austin were dense with folliage and trees. In Boise, the foothills have "high desert" qualtiy to them, which implies that folliage is almost nonexistant except for some knee-high sagebrush and brambleweed. In Austin, it was like a jungle, with the trees hanging low over the trails. So not only were the trails themselves more technical, but the trees growing all along either side of the trails and sometimes hanging over the trails, which meant that it truly was a full-body strategic riding experience. While I was popping my front wheel over rocks, I was also negotiating my handlebars around tree trunks, and bending my torso down low to avoid hitting branches.

From what Josh was telling me, the mountain biking in Austin is much more similar to mountain biking in most of the country, whereas in Boise it is somewhat exceptional. While I was feeling like a major accomplisher, Josh was feeling like he was back home in Kansas, it being the same sort of mountain biking that he first started riding on. Additionally, the trail system in Austin, while it was definately well-maintained and well-traveled, did not seem to be as well-mapped as in Boise. At several junctures, it was not readily apparent which way the main trail went. So on multiple occasions, Josh and I found ourselves on these offshoot trails which led to strange areas with deadends. Thus, our biking was quite the adventure. We found mini-canyons and caves, streams, and had a lot of fun.

At some point, we realized that we were starvin' marvin and we asked for some directions on how to get to some civilization. From these directions, we got outside of the wildernessy area of Barton Springs and was on some far end of Greater Austin that wasn't even on our map. We asked someone if there was a place to eat nearby, and he looked down at our bicycles, smirked, and said that we had to go up a certain hill to find any eating establishments. This certain hill was one that I had seen two minutes earlier and thought to myself, "Oh my! That's a crazy steep hill. Good thing we won't have to ride bikes up it." And I kind of gulped. As I approached the hill on the bike, switching for the first and only time into my granny gear, I kept the thought of impending food at the forefront of my mind to provide me with some pseudo calories. Needless to say, Josh arrived at the top before I did, but I still felt that I did a pretty good job on my climbing. At the top, one of the first things that we saw was a big sign that said "Chilis" and there was no need to even have a conversation. We went there, a chain restaurant that we could have found in any city, and had a fantastic huge meal. We also took advantage of the opportunity to cool down. Afterwards, we wandered through some of the shops, including a Nordstrom's Clearance Outlet where I considered buying a fugly pair of Prada bootties.

We continued riding for a time and then turned around and headed back downtown. From here, my memory is a little fuzzy, so hopefully Josh remembers what we did. I think that we rested at the hotel for a while. But eventually, we got all dressed up and walked down to Red River Street. We had hoped to eat at Moonshine again, but there was too long of a wait. Instead we went to yet another Mexican food place (yea, it might be a long time before I crave an enchillada). I wasn't in the mood for Mexican at all but we were kind of in crunch time and needed to eat something and this was the only place that didn't have a wait. Plus, it was right across the street from Stubb's Ampitheater, where we were going to be seeing Built to Spill play that night.

The concert was great! I am a fan of the Built to Spill. The opening band, which was named...something???...can't remember...wasn't all that remarkable. Josh and I found a place to sit, and we ended up having to keep our guard up to keep our spots, but it was a decent ways from the front and we could see Doug Marsh bright and clear.

I did not sleep very well that night. And we had to get up at 4:00 in the morning to get to the airport. Yet again, I failed at interpreting the bus schedule. I was certain that we could take a bus to the airport, but I had neglected to read the weekend schedule, on which there is no bus running that early in the morning. So we had to take a cab. And we had kind of a miserable airport experience. I was so exhausted, cranky, and very uncomfortable. Our connecting flight was delayed and I was blowing my discomfort out of proportion. I was so happy when I arrived at my home.

Posted by jennifer at 9:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

~ 70 degrees, being intellectual, silly walking, steak ~

Day Five, Thursday October 19, of the Austin trip was the first "cold" day. The storm from the previous evening accompanied a cold front (which was still warm, considering that it was October, but cold for Texas). We rode bikes to the Spider House for a third experience. Having to endure mediocre coffee and a lame atmosphere the day before, we didn't feel like sacrificing quality just to try something new. This was to be our intellectual day. After coffee, we went over to the university area and visited the Harry Ransom Research Center, which has an impressive collection on Norman Mailer and a caricaturist named Topoloski. I felt very smartened by the end of it. And that was the first floor. We took the elevators up to the second floor, which had a collection of movie posters that I wasn't interested in. While Josh poked around, I sat on a bench and looked out the window and watched people. Josh joined me and we looked at people together. Then we took the elevator up another floor. This floor appeared to be merely offices, but we decided to walk around. At some point, we decided to practice our silly walks. As we walked past an open office door or window, we walked as mature adults, totally normal. But once we had past the doors and windows, we instantly broke out into a silly walk, and stopped the moment we came to another window or open door. We did this all down and up the hallways. It was pretty great, but perhaps you should have been there to grasp the pure genius of it. At some point, I realized that a woman had seen us and that we were going to be in the elevator with her. She seemed to be trying not to laugh and I was trying to retain my dignity.

From there we went to the Jack Blanton Museum of Art, where we saw a lot of paintings on the life of Christ and people wearing uncomfortable looking clothing. While I enjoyed seeing many of the paintings of Christ and of people wearing uncomfortable clothing, because they were good paintings, I eventually became a little bored of the redundancy of it. I understand that if you're really passionate about it, that perhaps you want to spend all of your time painting renditions of the life of Christ, hundreds upon hundreds of them, as well as people wearing uncomfortable clothing, but I dunno, variety is the spice of life.

After the Museum, we ate at a generic Mexican food joint. Then we went down Nueces and checked out the shops in the Warehouse District and Second Street. For me, it was total sensory overload at this point. From the overload of just being in so many new places for five days, to having a full day of looking at art, and then going into shops that had been creative in their decorating (one shop in the Warehouse District had decorated with strategically placed full length mirrors in a big circle around some of the clothing...I became disoriented and kept walking into the mirrors). We broke up the shopping with a visit to Bookpeople, a large independently-owned bookstore. Eventually we returned to the hotel for some rest.

That evening we walked down Red River street and waited for a table at a restaurant called Moonshine. After a thorough consultation with the menu, we each decided to order a Texas flat iron steak in bleu cheese butter and red wine reduction with vegetables. Now, a brief word about me and the meat. I am not much of a meat eater. If I was left to my own devices, I would probably never or almost never eat meat. It's partly because I'm down on cholesterol and saturated fat and I think there's plenty of other ways to get protein. Also, it's expensive and tricky for me to cook. Moreover, until the time that I met Josh, I had a firm dislike of all things steak. I think that the very few instances during my upbringing when I had steak, it was overcooked and hard to chew with no amazing sauce. And then Josh made me a steak medium rare and slathered it with the Stubbs' bbq sauce, and my opinion changed. Granted, I still only consume a steak about once every two or three months, but it is always fantastic. Anyhoo, so we were at the restaurant and we ordered these Texas flat iron steaks. And...remembering my first cut into it, dripping with bleu cheese butter...it was amazing. I think that it is impossible to describe it and still give justice to its awesomeness. After the second bite, Josh looked up and said that it was one of the best steaks he's ever had in his life, which I feel is telling. Ah, memories...see, I am a big fan of the good food, and I endeavor to eat this "good food" at all instances of eating. But sometimes, a meal is so fantastic, that I actually spend time reflecting back on it, my mouth watering. ....

After dinner, we walked around Red River looking for a place to get an adult beverage. Earlier, when we were in a Diesel store, we received a recommendation for a place called Club de Ville (which had a surprising similarness to the Neurolux even down to its old Best Western Crown Sign). In the bar's darkness, we found a pleather-cloaked couch and I ordered us a glass of wine to share. This crappy bar wine that came from one of those oversized wine bottles cost seven dollars, and I was not enthused about that. So we hung out in the smelly darkness drinking our overpriced shitty wine, and then left. We wandered and wandered. Every place along Red River was having some bands play and entrance covers were upwards of five dollars. Since I had just spent seven on a dumb bar wine, I was feeling picky about what I wanted to spend my money on. We went into a bar that was playing a ninja soccer movie and Josh ordered a jack and coke. But the place was lame so we left. Eventually, we wandered over to Sixth Street and entered the land of frat boys, their hoochies, and the meat markets in which they connect. Saying that I was "displeased" with the situation in which I found myself would be something of an understatement. And I think that I'm going to cut my description of this area down, because as I'm recalling my experience there, I'm becoming irritated and lamed out. Eventually we had some wine at a meat market and I started to get all depressed. I was sitting in the corner staring at all of these people who are the complete opposite of myself and I could not understand their behavior or how they seemed to be having a good time. I think that Josh was trying to distract my attention away from them because it was probably obvious that I was becoming depressed, but the solution was to just leave. So we left. We went to a somewhat empty bar that had a typical bar band playing hits from various decades and we enjoyed a few pony-necked beers. The volume for the band was much too loud and I stuffed toilet tissue into my ears. We sat at the back of the bar on a smooshy couch and drew pictures on a piece of paper. And that was pretty much the end of the evening.

Posted by jennifer at 8:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ natural beauty and a bat colony ~

On Wednesday October 15th, Day Four of the trip to Austin, Josh and I ventured downtown for coffee at an establishment called Little City. It was a mediocre experience. My coffee was hardly worth drinking for lack of flavor and I was horrified at the styrofoam cup in which it came. Additionally, I've lost patience with establishments where I spend my hard earned money who make it ridiculously difficult for me to properly go to the restroom. Little City coffee, thumbs down.

Our plan for the day was to go to the Botanical Gardens, but we became a tad sidetracked (cough, cough) in finding some public restrooms in the Zilker wildernessy area. We located one at the Zilker Nature Center where we had some nature learning experiences, saw some animals in cages, and did a bit of hiking. On one of the signs, it read that all of the animals that they had captive were ones that they found injured in the wild that would have died otherwise. So they had eagles with arthritis and stunted wings, blind owls, and I felt particularly sorry for all of them. But whatever, it was a beautiful day. After some time, we went down Robert E. Lee road for some lunch, and had some Mexican food at Baby Acapulco's. It was pretty good, overly cheesy and fatty, but tastey. Afterwards, we hopped onto our bicycles and transported our persons to the Botanical Gardens. Which were stunning. I am always a big fan of spending time in botanical gardens. You know, the pretty flowers and shit. The first bit that we spent time in was the Japanese Gardens which were, uh, very japaneesey. The Gardens are bordered on one side by a highway, and that is the side of the Japanese Gardens which use a bamboo forest as a buffer. At some point, we climbed on some of the rocks and we were able to look out and see over the bamboo, downtown Austin. And it was neat, being in this huge sanctuary buffered by folliage. This part of the gardens also had pools filled with koi. It was a very relaxing place to be. And you know, part of going on vacation is the relaxation bit and taking time to smell the roses. And in between the Japanese Gardens and the rest of the Botanical Gardens was the Rose Gardens. Beyond those were a series of other gardens, including a primitive plant garden and a butterfly garden. It was very nice.

After we had our fill of nature's beauty, we ventured over to the Daily Juice for another refreshing beverage. I had another blueberry lemonade and Josh ordered the most expensive smoothie on the menu, a Subliminator. Then we toodled over to South Congress for some shopping in the hipster clothing, vintage, and antique shops. We broke this up with another coffee experience at an obscure place called Bouldin Creek cafe, which is highly recommended for its unusualnitudiness. After further South Congress exploration, we rode our bikes down to the Congress Avenue bridge where we sat on the grassy knoll with other tourists to watch the bats fly out from under at dusk. For whatever reason, there are an ass-load of bats living under the bridge, and it's been named the World's Largest Urban Bat Colony. And every night at dusk, they all fly out from under the bridge to go about their nightly living. As we arrived on the knoll about half an hour before dusk, we waiting for about that long. When it started to get dark and the clouds were rolling in, we could see the odd bat here and there flying underneath the bridge. After a while, one or two bats would fly out from under the bridge, mounting our suspense. Josh ran down to the river to get a better look, while I remained on the knoll out of comfort and a desire to watch the bikes. At some point, when it was too dark to take any photos, pretty much all at once, the bats came out. They formed this great big line, twenty abreast, and came pouring out from underneath the bridge. It truly was not the most spectacular sight (actually, it was a bit anticlimactic), but I was impressed with the sheer quantity of bats. Yes, it's a big bridge, but as I determined, each bat must take up a specific amount of space and it did not seem possible to me for that many bats to fit on the underside of the bridge. And they just kept coming, more and more bats. It was crazy.

Eventually, when the bats were still emerging, Josh and I decided to put the rubber to the peddle and get back to the hotel. For that evening, we had had every intention of going out and having a nightlife experience, but a thunderstorm rolled in, followed by some flash flooding. And we cuddled up with some cereal for dinner and crime shows for entertainment.

Posted by jennifer at 8:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ Laguna Gloria and Crime TV ~

Day Three, Tuesday October 14th, in Austin was memorable and stunning, very photo worthy. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. Josh and I rode bikes to the Spider House for a second wonderful morning coffee experience. The day was hot, at about 90 degrees with a decent amount of humidity. After coffee, we cycled out to a place called Laguna Gloria, which is some affluent and impressive estate along the river that was donated to the Austin Museum of Modern Art and now serves as an extension to the art museum. The ride there was not for the faint of heart. I was able to understand exactly what the people in that area of the world mean by the term "hill country". By the time that we arrived at Laguna Gloria, we were dripping with sweat. My impression of the place was that while it was totally beautiful and a lovely place to spend the afternoon, it was a little overly glorified. My favorite part of the home was this empty room in which there was no display, the lights were turned off and the blue tile on the floor was broken in several places, and I sat down feeling in love with the incredible view through the windows. Josh and I also explored the gardens along the river. Beautiful. The area seemed very much like the "deep south" in my romantic sense. By the time that we left, we were about to collapse from low blood sugar. It took us some time to get back to a part of town with places to eat. We went to this establishment called the Kinney Street Cafe (I think) and I was very satisfied with my meal. Then we continued to wander around the area and stopped in another coffee shop for a sit down. I fell asleep and drooled on the pleather couch.. I felt exhausted from all of the cycling and wandering, as well as feeling overly stimulated with being in a new place. That evening, we made a dinner from some leftovers that we had collected from our restaurant meals, as well as cookies and beer from the neighborly convenience store, and relaxed in the hotel room watching crime shows. It was fabulous! Incidentally, part of the awesome thing about not owning a television is that it always seems like this new, almost "cultural" experience when I get to watch some tv. So it truly felt like a quality way to spend part of my vacation, snuggling up watching some crime shows.

Posted by jennifer at 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ from the wearing of middle aged shorts to a romantic dinner and jazz ~

Our second day in Austin, Monday, began early. Josh and I set out with the specific purpose of finding some bikes to rent to use as transportation for the duration of our vacation. The day before we left on vacation, I gave Josh a list of things that he was to pack for himself. And among the items on the list was his bicycle helmet. Thus on Monday, we decided to walk to an area of town that had some recommended bike shops and during our walk to that area we stopped by the Texas Capitol building and made light of a serious establishment.

Austin has some free buses, called the Dillo (short for armadillo), and we had decided to catch one to take us nearer to our destination. It was raining and we waited in the rain for possibly twenty minutes. The bus dropped us off on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, right at the corner of the bike shop. Inside the bike shop, we found an amiable chap who was willing to give us a good deal on renting some bikes for the entire week. We left to get some coffee while he repaired a tire on one of the bikes. Our walk to get some coffee was not as expected. We walked for a much longer distance than I had been prepared and then the coffee shop that we were aiming for was no longer in existence. Luckily, Josh asked a worker in a nifty shop where would be a good place for us to go, and she directed us a few blocks away to the Spider House. This proved to be the best place that we found in Austin for a hangout and coffee. It was fantastic. The coffee was unusually delicious and their food items, while a tad overpriced, were wonderful. This establishment was of such quality, that we returned three times. We sat on their outside patio for over an hour, with coffee and sandwiches (as by this time, it was nearing noonish). Josh and I normally have our Saturdays to spend together, and we always begin these Saturdays at a coffee shop doing our individual coffee shop activities. What was most fantastic about our vacation was that we had an entire week to have our morning coffee experiences. I found it especially satisfying due to the sheer quantity of knitting that I was able to accomplish. The day before we left, I procured all of the materials necessary for a new and exciting project: a felted messenger bag for my laptop. I'm roughly basing the look of the bag on a fair isle pattern in the current issue of Vogue Knitting. You can see the early stages of this knitting project to the left, as knitting from the patio at Spider House.

After we were fully satisfied from our coffee experience, we returned to the bike shop (Austin Bikes, by the way) and rented our trusty peddle-mobiles. We then utilized our newly acquired transportation to explore the area around the University of Texas. This is where we discovered some species of turtle and enjoyed some fountains. At some point, we returned to the hotel to change clothing, as it was becoming quite humid, and I adorned the lower half of my person in Josh's swimming trunks (since I had neglected to bring any shorts for myself and jeans were too unbearable to wear in the humidity - also, the temperature was nearing the 90's). Josh's swimming trunks, incidentally, did not flatter my figure. They were much too large and baggy and the Hawaiian flower motif was not quite my style. They did not, however, have a chance of falling down because the netting that holds his junk wound snugly around my thighs. I was much more comfortable in the humidity, regardless of my appearance.

Austin is a hilly city, as evidenced in this photo. I was glad that we opted to rent the slightly more expensive bicycles that had gears, as we toured a good portion of the city on our bicycles and this would not have been possible (for me, at least) on a single speed. Monday afternoon, we spent riding down the greenbelt along the Colorado River and it was beautiful. We became all hot and sweaty, but had a lot of fun. The area around the river is especially lush, swampy at times. There are a series of pedestrian-only bridges that we crossed and stopped to stare into the water. I was struck by the amount of seaweed in the river, loads. And the density of the trees made me feel as though I was in the wilderness and not in the middle of a reasonably large city.

Some time at about the middle of the afternoon, we fell pray to a low blood sugar attack. We had neglected to bring along with us some water and all of the bicycling in the heat provided that it was time for us to hydrate and calorify (which means, to intake calories). As we exited the greenbelt area, we found ourselves riding along Robert E. Lee Blvd. It was evident that this was a more cyclist-friendly area of town. There were several bike shops in the area, good bike paths, and (as we were to discover) establishments that gave discounts to peddlers. So we rode and rode down the road. We stopped at a place called the Daily Juice, a small place along the road specializing in tasty beverages with fruit and vegetables. Josh was the first to notice the brightly colored sign out front that indicated there was a 15% discounts to cyclists, which I found delightful. I ordered a "blueberry lemonade" and Josh had some sort of exciting smoothie with peanut butter and fruit. We then sat outside under the shade and consumed our exciting, calorie packed, drinks. While we were there, I should note, Josh had the opportunity to participate in an anti-George Bush conversation, further proof that even in the heart of Texas, Austin is cool.

After we left the Daily Juice, we headed up South Lamar Street where Josh located a bicycle shop that he felt was one of the best he's ever seen. Something about being the girlfriend of an avid cyclist, I shall have you know, is that you can expect to spend a lot of time in bike shops. Upon entering the shop, Josh proceeded to introduce himself to some of the shop employees and embarked upon a huge conversation about all things cycling. psst...don't tell Josh this, but while I absolutely love bicycling, sometimes (just sometimes) I get a little bored in the bike shops. So I had thoroughly entertained myself in the shop by looking at every single dingle wingle item they had for purchase. Some items I even examined twice or thrice! I also went to the bathroom and examined all of the posters of cyclists on the wall. It was about the time when I was comparing and contrasting the prices and features of handlebar accessories when Josh wanted to borrow my camera so that he could take some photos of the bike shop. At that point I just sat down and waited patiently, because there is no rushing a man who is passionate, I have found.

From there we continued to ride down some street and I decided that it was imperative that I purchase a pair of women's shorts. The total ridiculousness of wearing Josh's oversized swimming trunks was getting me down - - I was feeling embarrassed and full of shame while I was in the bike shop, wearing those trunks. In that vein, we located an establishment called Department Store, which was as generic as generic could be, and I purchased for $4.70 a pair of shorts, obviously intended for a woman in a different age group than myself, on the clearance rack. I changed into them in the store, and while I was not exactly sexy in these shorts (especially considering how sweaty I had become), I felt like a beautiful goddess compared to how I had felt in the men's swimming trunks. From there, we rode bikes all around the neighborhoods, up and down hills, having fun and seeing some awesome residential areas. As it was approaching darkness, we rushed to the hotel for some much needed showering and beautifying.

After an exciting, tiring, sweaty, and unattractive day, Josh and I then proceeded to have a romantic evening. The temperature had cooled down significantly and the humidity was barely noticeable. We walked downtown in search of a specific sushi restaurant, Kyoto, which we found at a corner of Congress Avenue. Kyoto was a dimly lit tasteful sushi place where Josh and I were some of the only customers, making it relaxing and romantic. We shared some age tofu, as well as a Longhorn roll, a Godzilla roll, and a Rainbow roll. They were all fabulous and so satisfying. Afterwards, we walked downstairs to a place called the Elephant Room, which is a jazz bar. There, we enjoyed a few glasses of wine and some good jazz.

Posted by jennifer at 8:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ The Live Music Cycling Liberal Mecca Capital of the World ~

Clearly, my boyfriend of twenty-one months does not know me at all. As we were walking through the airport to our gate, he said to me, "My best guess was Miami." On Sunday, October 25th at around 6 o'clock in the morning, Josh and I began our journey to Austin Texas. Prior to this, he was not privy to the knowledge of where he would be vacationing. For months, I have had the agonizing responsibility of keeping it a secret. He knew that he was supposed to take the time off of work, and beyond that I endeavored to keep him in the dark. During this time, I spilled the beans to several individuals, most of whom asked me "Why Austin?" Austin is, after all, well known as the Live Music Capital of the World, the hometown of Lance Armstrong (along with being regarded as something of a cycling town), as well as a place for a couple of hott liberals to take a fall vacation to extend the summer (indeed, Josh and I have returned with fresh sun burns!). Needless to say, this is going to take some time for me to recount. The trip, incidentally, was something of a celebration...Josh's thirtyfirst birthday is nearing, we just celebrated our twentyfirst-monthiversary, and two days before we left I found out that I was accepted into my masters program. Ching, ching!

As I already indicated, we left on Sunday on an early flight. I refused to be offended by Josh's thinking that I had planned a trip to Miami (???whatever???) and we got some coffees and had a big airport experience, made bearable by the two travel guidebooks that I had provided. After we arrived in Austin, there was some difficulty in finding an affordable way to reach our hotel. I had endeavored to be ultra prepared, and had printed off the bus schedule. Except for that I printed off the wrong bus schedule. As a side note, the Austin Capital Metro website could be improved for those of us who cannot read maps and who have no sense of direction, honestly! So, after I asked multiple people at the airport on how to catch the bus to our hotel, they all told us to take a taxi for twenty dollars. And now I ask you, is there no difference to a budget traveler between a twenty dollar taxi trip and an affordable fifty cent bus ticket??? I cannot quite articulate how flabbergasted I was feeling about this. Eventually, we received some proper directions and sucessfully road the bus downtown for fifty cents. As we were rolling into downtown, I was surprised about several Austin characteristics. Unlike what I had expected for the Capital of Texas, Austin was not an arid flat desert full of macho Texans with boots and belt buckles. It was a city on numerous hills with lush landscape, streams and creeks trickling down the urban hillsides, with rockn'roll hipsters loitering around the many music venues.

The taxi dropped us off near to the Texas State Capitol building. Apparently, the largest state capitol building in the U.S., the Texas Capitol building to me, however, was just another state capitol building. The only thing I found particularly noteworthy was the extensive grounds of the capitol area. From the bus, we walked through the Capitol grounds to our hotel, an affordable Super 8 Motel on the other side of the freeway. That evening, after some rest and recuperation at the hotel, we wandered downtown along Congress Avenue to the trendy Warehouse District. We had coffee at an espresso joint called Halycon before exploring the seedy bar district along 6th Street. Upon finding an establishment with cheep beer and a cowboy /slash/ outerspace theme, we found repose with several games of table hockey...and beer.

After leaving this establishment, we walked along Red River street, home to many of the indie hipster-type music venues. Even on a Sunday night, it was hopping. At some point, we stumbled upon a little place called Stubbs, the maker of (what Josh considers to be) the best bbq sauce in the world. It is truly a sight to see the delight upon Josh's face as he proceeds to consume a meal featuring Stubbs. Twentyone months ago, I had never heard of Stubbs, yet now it is a frequent item on my shopping list. And? Austin is the hometown of Stubbs...which is not only the distributer of amazing bbq sauce, but also has a restaurant with an outdoor amphitheater which hosts incredible bands. Even though I was not at all hungry, we hurried into Stubbs and ate an entire meal. And it was delicious. Incidentally, what attracted our attention to the Stubbs establishment in the first place was the placard out front which featured the upcoming bands to play there. Bands such as Ani Difranco, Built to Spill, and the Decemberists. Before leaving, we purchased some concert tickets to the Built to Spill concert which was scheduled for the time that we would be in Ausin. Funny story, hahahaha...I'm not sure if perhaps I was more tipsy from my beers than I had realized, but at some point, I was going down the stairs to the restroom, and I tripped and fell down several steps. Downstairs, there was some fancypants dinner event with white tablecloths and nice wine, and I was splayed on the floor, having stubbed myself at Stubbs. I was so embarrassed! Everyone rushed over and asked me if I was okay, and I said I was fine and ran away. I then arrived back at our table and, with tears welling in my eyes, told Josh my horrible story. As I was doing so, I had become rather animated with my jesticulation, and I flung my head back during an exclamation, and violently banged my head on the wooden wall. Later, as we were walking back to our hotel, I tripped on the step up to our room and banged my knee. And that is Day 1 of our trip... there are six more days, so stay tuned.

Posted by jennifer at 7:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

~ Wallowas / Eagle Cap Wilderness ~

After a period of separation from my BFF, who currently and non-permanently resides in Portland, Oregon, and occasional meetings in the company of others (primarily our significant others), Elizabeth and I formulated a plan to spend a weekend camping. The plan involved us meeting at a pre-determined halfway point and then venturing into the deep wilderness together. We met at La Grande, at a Denny's Restaurant right off the highway. If one considers a map of the pacific northwest, one would notice that La Grande is not halfway between Portland and Boise. Indeed, it is much closer to Boise, which meant that Elizabeth had about two hours of extra driving than I. Nevertheless, we met in LaGrande where we found this amazing place to have a lunch, Folley's, which was in "downtown" La Grande, and we each enjoyed an eggplant parmesean grilled sandwich with a sundried tomato pasta sallad. After eating, we took a stroll along the main drag of "downtown" and unnecessarily purchased passes for the Eagle Cap Wilderness trailhead. Then we drove deep and for a long time on backwoods fireroads, to the Two Colors campground in the Eagle Cap Wilderness in the Wallowa - Whitman Ranger District. Our main adventure was a big hike along the Main Eagle trail. This hike was through some spectacular scenery, as evidenced by the below photographs. On our hike back from whence we had come, we stopped at a stream to enjoy a cooling experience. Elizabeth removed all of her clothing and plunged into the ice cold water, which is a very Elizabeth-thing to do. I merely dipped my feetsys in, which was mighty refreshing. The trail itself was interesting. It varied from gradual ascents and decents, and was littered with boulders and rocks of all sizes (which were sometimes hard to navigate) along with piles of horse manure (the area is popular with the owners of stock animals, such as horses, for recreational use). At some point, Elizabeth made the comment that she rather enjoys the smell of fresh horse manure. I disagreed. Later, after navigating around some fresh and very sloppy horse manure, she retracked that statement. The main highlight of the trip, in my opinion, was having so much time with my Honey Bear to just talk, and talk, and talk, and talk.

Posted by jennifer at 8:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

~ Idaho City Historic Independence ~

It would be an understatement for me to say that I appreciate holidays. Indeed, having had an insanely busy last week (working overtime and being overwhelmed with my workload), I was elated at having this Tuesday off of work for some national holiday. On Monday, I seized the day by getting up an hour early in the morning and having an entire morning experience before having to go to work. That evening, I bragged about this feat to Josh, while we were sipping beers on my stoop. On Tuesday, the national holiday, I had planned to get up at 6:30 in order to seize the day even though I didn't have to work. When I woke up, I saw that Josh had sent me a text message wanting to go on a mountain bike ride before the temperature hit the predicted 97 degrees. By 7:00, we were riding our bikes up Hulls Gulch. It was a short sweet ride, which we enjoyed in the cool temperature. There were quite a number of other people on the trails as well, hikers and runners, dog walkers. After we returned from our ride, cleaned up and all that, we met for some coffee at Java downtown, and I had some quality time with my laptop computer. Before the noon hour, we prepared to go on our main adventure for the day: to Idaho City for their Historic celebration for Independence Day.

Part of my desire to go to Idaho City hinged on its location to the north at a higher altitude. From my knowledge of its location, I surmised that it wouldn't get quite as hot as Boise (as I said, predicted at 97 degrees). Unfortunately, it was still really really hot in Idaho City. When we arrived, there were bucket loads of people everywhere. It was craziness. We began our adventure by walking up and down the two roads which comprise the non-residential part of the town. We walked into all of the antique stores (specializing in Old West stuff), weaved through the crowd of people, and I snapped a lot of photos. At one point it was real funny (hah!)...Josh was in the process of walking along this boardwalk thingie that had old saddles slung over the railing and a big wooden fish dangling over his head. I decided that it was an opportune moment to take a photo of the little whipper snapper. Snap! After I had taken my photo, this big sweaty man dressed in a cowboy costume wrapped his arm around Josh and seemed to want me to take a photo of Josh with the cowboy. A little weirded out, I brought up my camera and took another photo. Then the cowboy thought it would be great to swap hats with Josh and give to Josh his gun. Snap! Snap! Then the cowboy started asking us where we are from, wondering if we were tourists from some distant land where they don't have real cowboys such as himself. The heat was making me a tad cranky and I was annoyed that he thought we were tourists. I mean, I happen to have this new digital camera which is this great toy for me, but just because I am always taking photos of everything doesn't mean that I'm not from around these parts.

The Idaho City Library was having a book sale and Josh and I purchased a few books. Josh bought a collection of these "Myserties of the Mind" book series that were published in the early 1980s and contain funny photos of "paranormal phenomena". At 2:00 we wandered over to this place where some real cowboys were having a real Old West shootout. We gathered with a lot of other people in the heat (though we found a spot in the shade). There was a stage made to look like some Old West scene, with a jail, bank, and saloon. Before the shootout, one of the cowboys, the one who had posed for a photo with Josh, gave the audience a lecture on gun safety. Then they performed this skit about an Old West miner who had struck gold, a cowboy who stole his gold, and the sherriff who tried to restore the peace. The "plot" of the skit was quite brief and was punctuated by gunshots and a final "shootout" at the end. Not being much of a "gun person" myself, I found it rather alarming and every time that the loud bangs of the guns sounded, I let out a surprised scream (which was embarassing). The elitist in me found the whole display disappointingly amature (to me, it just seemed like three guys who put on some costumes and wanted to have fun shooting for pretend at each other).

After the shootout, we decided that it was high time to get some food. We located this establishment called "Diamond Lil's Pub and Eatery" and consumed some greasy bar food, pepsis, and beers. The establishment was something else, as may be evidenced by the photos just below this paragraph. There were rows of dollar bills (defaced by writing) hanging from the ceiling, framed collections of outdated currency from around the world, photos from someone's travels, politically distasteful decorations (notice the "slick willie" wall hanging behind Josh and I at the table...in fact, there were several displays of anti-Clinton throughout the town), and the bathrooms... When we first arrived, I overheard the bartender direct a small boy to the men's bathroom by saying to "go through the door with the pretty woman". Later, I discovered that the women's bathroom was the one with the shirtless man on the door. Inside, the walls were covered with photos of shirtless men with big packages...apparently the men's bathroom was covered with photos from Maxim. Belch. I was offended by such a blatant tasteless parade of heterosexuality, and not even just heterosexuality, but a very specific breed of macho heterosexuality which does not at all appeal to me. Honestly, why do people like that have to wave their preferences in my face? So, our bar food was mediocre but we had an excellent time. The air conditioning was cool, the suffleboard table was slick, and the beers hit the spot.

Anyhoot, I have uploaded many more photos onto my flickr account, which you can access by depressing your mouse button over the flickr photos on the sidebar to the right.

Posted by jennifer at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

My Birthday!

"I chose this road because it was the safest for us." - - Josh, 2006.

Today I am celebrating another revolution about the sun. I do this after a weekend of ups and downs, mainly ups, a big down, and no dull experiences.

Saturday was fantastic. I got up early and met Josh for coffee before he had to do to work. After he left, I had a quality journal-writing experience and then wandered home where I went on a cleaning rampage. Some time before the noon hour, I walked to the downtown music store to do some research on some musical groups. Then I walked to Satchel's for some lunch. While I ate, I read a story from my science fiction anthology of 1981. It was about a distant time in the future when humans have achieved immortality, but the immortality had to come at the price of losing their need to be immortal...losing the ability to be creative. A few hours later, I went to the Art Museum with Devlyn and afterwards we enjoyed some beverages on the patio of Gernika, where Sara later joined us. That evening I played a hardcore version of badmitten ("smashmitten") with Josh at the Fort Boise Community Center.

The next day, I met Josh for coffee at our favorite coffee shop. By the time that I arrived, he was waiting out front for me. I noticed that his bicycle was propped against a pole unlocked. "Why is your bike unlocked?" I asked. "Because I'm using it to lock up another bike," he responded. Jumping the gun, I assumed that he was referring to a birthday gift for me. I was standing next to the tree to which I always lock my bike and saw an ugly crap cruiser locked to it. Mockingly, I gestured to the ugly bike and said with a big smile, "Is this for me?" Almost laughing, Josh came over to me and the ugly bike and said, "Yes, do you like it?" I fingered the torn grips and stroked the chipped paint and said, "It's beautiful." Then Josh said, "Seriously, do you see a cool bike anywhere around us?" And I scanned the area, and off in the distance, I saw a beautiful white glow shimmering in the sunlight. And it was the most beautiful bike in the world.

After we had coffee, we drove out to the Sawtooths to go on my very first road ride. Josh decided that we would go riding on what he considered to be the safest road for us. It was a long open stretch, with a wide shoulder, and no turns with blind corners. Plus, the Sawtooths are amazing. It was beautiful and so much fun. I've never ridden a road bike before so it was quite the experience for me. I was kinda wobbly, but glowing about riding such a beautiful bicycle. Ultimately, we rode about 30 miles.

At some point nearing the last 10 miles of our ride, we were struck by an unfortunate incident. I was riding behind Josh, in his draft, and after getting some energy back, decided to pass him and take the lead. I looked back to verify that there was no motorized vehicle that was going to hit me. I saw one far off in the distance and determined that it was safe for me to pass Josh. About two minutes after passing Josh, that vehicle that I had seen, a large utility truck, sped past me, less than five inches away from my person, clearly having crossed the white line. My life flashed before my eyes and I screamed. I also heard Josh scream. I turned my head and looked back. I saw Josh lying in the gravel along the side of the road. I realized that he had been sizeswiped by the truck and I had a heart attack. I pulled my bike over, unclipped my feet from the peddles, and ran over to him. His bike was off to the side a few feet away, his belongings were strewn everywhere, and he was propped in an awkward position. He was saying that he was alright and I was panicking over all of the blood. His legs and arms were all scrapped up and his hip and left buttock looked like they had been shredded by a cheese slicer. Here is an unpleasant photo of his road rash. Don't say I didn't warn you.

The truck had stopped and a very old man came over to ask if Josh was okay. Josh asked the man how he couldn't have seen us, "I chose this road because it was the safest for us." The man just said he was sorry. I noticed that one of Josh's leses for his glasses was right next to my shoe and I picked it up and began hunting around for the rest of his glasses, which were conveniently the same color as the gravel. I asked the old man twice to give us a ride to our car and he said that he would have to reload the equipment in his truck, indicating that it would be a hassle for him to provide us with such assistance. As I was gathering Josh's belongings which were strewn everywhere, the old man gave Josh $50. Josh said, "Well, thanks but these cycling shorts were $80 and it's going to cost me over $100 to replace my helmet." The man shrugged as if it wasn't his problem and walked to his truck. I was still in a state of shock and wasn't understanding where he thought he was going. As I saw him start up his truck, I made a point of memorizing his lisence plate.

Josh and I then had to ride 11 miles to get to the car. To me, it seemed like a million miles. I felt so shaky on the bike, because I was still not used to riding a road bike but also, you know, because my boyfriend had just been hit by a truck. When we got to the car, I drove us to Stanley, where I purchased a variety of items for his injuries (hydrogen peroxide, non-stick gauze, a spray-on bandage thing, etc.) and while Josh cleaned his wounds, I called the police. We spent an hour making our police report, which was probably pointless because other than filling out some forms, I doubt that anything will be done about it.

We decided to drive over to Red Fish Lake to have dinner at the Lodge. We wandered along the beach, sat on the dock, admired the scenery, used the $50 the old man gave Josh to buy dinner, goofed off in the gift shop, and then drove back to Boise.

I've had constant anxiety since 1:45 yesterday because I keep replaying everything in my head. I've got all kinds of thoughts, anger, anxiety, that just won't go away. My stomach is in knots over this. I haven't spoken to Josh yet today to find out how he's feeling, but it can't be good. Anyway, today is my 26th birthday.

Posted by jennifer at 8:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

~ San Francisco ~

The main idea behind a trip to San Francisco, such as the one that I just experienced, is that it's very nice if you like that whole "view" thing. It seemed that everywhere that I went, some amazing view was present. I managed to snap quite a number of inadequate photos which in no way captured how fantastic the city really was.

~ Day 1 ~

The trip commenced (yes, I believe commenced is not too-retarded of a word for "to begin") on Thursday last. It was in the morning and Josh and I were trying to acquire mochas and an overpriced food item to take to the airport. This was an excellent plan, except for that it failed to take into account that all of downtown seemed to have lost power, a necessary ingredient in espresso-making. Thoroughly disgusted and articulating something about "Good thing we're leaving this mocha-not-making city!", Josh and I procured food items from McDonald's at the airport and some variety of airport coffee. Then we flew to San Francisco in such a manner that our arms did not become weary and we expertly navigated a variety of public transportation options until we came out on Market Street which is near to Union Square. We hauled ourselves and our sparse luggage to the youth hostel and checked into our room.

On a side note, after I had made the reservation at this hostel, the Adelaide, I read some review in which the reviewer indicated that it was located at the end of a sketchy alley and hinted that one might consider staying elsewhere during one's trip to S.F. Well, the reservation was already made and I didn't feel like changing it. Sure enough, as Josh and I were walking down Taylor Street looking for the small alley we would call home (me, having told Josh of the hotel review), we turned to walk down the alley and were struck by its sketchynitude. All of this proved to be unfounded, as the hostel was very nice. As an experienced hosteller, this was one of my better experiences by far. I would recommend it to a friend or close personal acquaintance.

Incidentally, we opted to rent a private room at the hostel rather than go dorm-style. This proved to be a wise decision which I could elaborate in detail for any interested persons.

After oogling our new digs, we wandered down to Union Square where there was some art exhibit thing happening with belly dancers. I have no understanding of what was going on, but it was a quality people-watching experience. We located some nutritional substance from this Greek hole-in-the-wall place on Geary St. and ate on a grassy knoll. The weather was beautiful - - the sun was out, it was warm and fantastic. We spent the duration of the afternoon wandering around. One highlight was the discovery of the Dior store and me entering it with the purpose of inspecting the $1,585 handbag that has caught my interest in several months' issues of fashion magazines. The woman in the shop told me that the bag has a waiting list and that if you can find one available it's best to get it right away because they are so hard to come by.

In the evening we went to a musical concert at the Palace of Fine Arts to see a performance of Ryan Adams. A funny thing happened on the way to the concert... The concert was set to begin at 8:00. We were keeping time with the use of our cellular telephones. Somehow, and "how" eludes me because Josh and I are both smart cookies who understand the concept of time at least as it relates to the act of "telling time" by looking at a digital clock, we didn't realize that the time displayed on our phones would change along with the time change. Up until the time at which we were physically on the bus heading towards the concert, we were convinced that the actual time was an hour less than what was indicated on our phones. As I was looking around my surroundings I noticed that the bus had a clock which placed the time at exactly what was on my cellphone, and not an hour before. I then verbalized the words, "Is it really 7:40?" and a female near to me checked her time and answered in the affirmative. It was at this point that both Josh and myself began to experience some anxiety about arriving at the concert in a timely fashion. You see, we were kind of far away from the venue, in a city that we hardly knew, on a bus in traffic, and not only were we both interested in this concert, but the tickets cost a pretty penny. So, blah, blah, blah, we departed the bus and ran to the concert (I was wearing heels) and we made it on time and it wasn't a big deal. The concert was good. Except for that the opening "musical" act was lacking in talent and Ryan Adams has some kind of gimmick going on in which he can't concentrate on playing his music. Near to the end, it had been a long day for me and I became overwhelmed with fatigue. When we left, we had something of an adventure locating the bus that would return us from whence we came.

As we were walking from the bus stop to the hostel, I decided that it was necessary for me to consume a beer or two in order to sleep. As some side information that may or may not be interesting, I have a lot of difficulty sleeping in strange places. So we went to a klassy place called Lefty O'Doul's which was so cheesy and lame that I would not recommend it to anyone. I did, however, manage to procure two beers which facilitated my sleep. Part of why the bar was so lame was this piano-playing guy with a microphone. And how everyone in the bar was completely intoxicated and singing along to whatever the piano-playing guy was performing. At about the time when Josh and I were getting into our second beer, the guy started playing "Hotel California". It was then that Josh and I made our feelings known to each other about "Hotel California". We looked deep into the other's eyes, clasped hands, and indicated exactly how much we dislike the song. Then we embraced the moment. We sang along to "Hotel California" with all of the swaggering drunks and it was the pinnacle of our bar experience.

~ Day 2 ~

After a refreshing night sleep, I woke up at the late hour of 8:20 in the morning. Feeling as though I had slept for an eternity, I wandered to the kitchen and participated in the continental breakfast. Even though I can't say that I've ever had good luck with continental breakfasts, I developed a breakfast regimen that worked for me, which I continued for the duration of the trip. That breakfast was a toasted bagel with peanut butter. It was fantastic.

Day two primarily involved Josh and I hanging out at various places and scoping out our shopping options. We made a big deal of walking down to the South of Market (SoMa) district, which proved to be dead by day (but rumor has it, a party by night) and succeeded in having sushi. Here, prior to becoming exhausted by the area, we found a nice neighborhood with a park (South Park) where we galavanted on some playground equipment and sat down for some coffee.

As we left the South of Market area, we walked through the Civic Center area, which was mighty noteworthy. My impression of the Civic Center is cloudy, however, because at the time I was overwhelmed with needing to find a restroom (which is just lovely to hear about).

Incidentally, the first couple of days of the trip reminded me of the movie "French Kiss" when the Meg Ryan character goes to Paris and cannot wait to see the Eiffel Tour, yet every time that she is looking for it, it is hidden, but when she is not looking for it, it is in plain view. Likewise, when we got to San Francisco, we knew that the TransAmerica Pyramid was nearby, but we could never see it due to such and such a building/hill obscuring the view. At one point, however, we were walking toward South of Market when we randomly turned to look behind us and there it was (taahdaah!!!) in full view.

At some point, we had a little adventure in the Yerba Buena Gardens. I can't remember if it was day 2 or another day, but it happened. There was this awesome playground which had a rubber ground and we had our fair share of fun.

That evening, I had drinks with my friend Amee who lives in San Francisco, who I haven't seen for over four years. She apparently has an apartment two blocks away from our hostel, which was something of a coincidence. We met at this bar halfway called "The Owl Tree" which had this owl-theme.

That evening, I had some insomnia and I sat on a couch in the common area of the hostel reading with some dim lighting to the rear of my person until the wee hours of the morning. I finally got so that I was able to sleep.

~ Day 3 ~

The third day constituted something of a climax for the trip. Josh and I had coffee at the Crepe House, which was a block from the hostel. The coffee was mediocre, but the atmosphere was fantastic. The establishment had old tile floors and walls with big oval windows. We took our mochas to-go and walked to the bus stop where we took the number 30 to Fisherman's Warf to rent bicycles. After thoughtful consideration, we rented a Burley tandem bicycle in the color of my choice (army green). We rode a path along the Bay and then up and up an incline to get to the Golden Gate Bridge. From my trust and faith in Josh as a bicycle handler, I spent a good amount of time being an amateur photographer on the back of the tandem.

As is evidenced by the photos, it was foggy and overcast that morning, but by the afternoon it became sunny and warm. We rode across the Bridge, down down down and under the highway to Sausalito. We parked the tandem and did a small bit of exploring. We determined that the town was way touristy for our tastes and left after having some pizza and soda.

Then, after consultation with our touristy bike route map, we determined that we were up for an adventure to find a small redwood forest in the Muir Woods. So we rode and we rode and we rode for miles and miles and miles. Many of these miles took us up a 15% grade around a curvy mountain narrow road. Neither Josh nor myself had come prepared for such a bicycle adventure. We both wore slip-on shoes and jeans, and completely forgot to apply sunscreen (having wrongly correlated fogginess with a lack of ultra-violet rays). Up and up we went. And then we came to an intersection....and boy were we lost. Here's a photo of the view.

Luckily, a friendly automobile-driver paused on his journey to inquire whether we needed assistance (having deduced that by our confused appearance). As he pointed to our location on the map, I noted that said location was a good distance from the point at which we thought we were. Having weighed our options of whether to fight or flight, we decided that a valiant retreat was in order and to that end we descended the way which we had come. Me, I spent the duration of the descent experiencing overwhelming sheer terror as I was on the back of the tandem (with absolutely no control over the bicycle) and we were zooming down this 15% grade windy narrow mountain road with no barriers right at the edge of a steep drop-off. I had made my feelings quite clear to Josh who seemed to take it seriously when I said that I would jump off the bike and walk the whole way down if he didn't go slowly. Even still, it was a frightening experience. As we crept towards the bottom, me in absolute panic, we came upon a small redwood park.

We then rode the bicycle back to Sausalito where we got in line to board the ferry across the Bay. The ferry ride was wonderful...pretty much what you'd expect from a short ferry trip across a bay.

We got off at the Financial District where we wandered around and finally had an opportunity to get up close and personal with the Transamerica Pyramid.

Then, as we were riding around North Beach, I had a fucking cow as Josh turned the handlebars in the direction of a very steep street. Having had enough climbing on the back of the tandem bicycle (and having had enough of having no control over where I was going on the bike), I pitched a huge fit and got all cranky on his ass (quite literally, considering my positioning on the bike). Apparently there had been some miscommunication and he thought that I understood that we were going to be riding the bike up to Coit Tower. Of the next three photos, the first is the street that we rode the bicycle up, the second is the view (me, in my cow-having state said bitchily, "Yea, real nice if you like that whole "view" thing"), and the third is from me having my last huge cow/panic attack of the day as Josh decided that he was going to defy everything that I told him to do and ride the tandem down some old steps (not visible in photo clearly) down a steep San Francisco street.

Then we went and had yet another piece of pizza, this time at a place in North Beach. Josh had some pesto mushroom thing and I had a very "interesting" slice of garlic and clam pizza. We continued to toodle around the area, including a stop off at a rad fountain, and became amazed at how much our sense of direction within the city had improved.

That evening, we dressed up and went to hit the town. I treated myself to my third piece of baklava of the trip, yum. We were attempting to go to this lounge place called Azul but it was having some exclusive private party to which we were not invited. Then as we were consulting our map, we met some locals who took us to a club called Tunnel Top. I felt kind of awkward during all of the social interaction (apparently, they wanted us to sit with them and I wasn't in meeting people mode) and succeeded in making an ass out of myself after a couple of Stella Artois. Then we stumbled home and that was that.

~ Day 4 ~

Sunday was yet another beautiful sunny day. After acquiring mochas, we met Amee at Union Square where we loaded onto bus number 71 to Golden Gate Park. We departed the bus at Upper Haight and explored Buena Vista park. Then we went to Golden Gate park and walked and walked and walked and walked.

Just thinking about how much we walked makes me feel weary. After we exited the park, like six hours later, we walked up and down Haight. We had coffee and walked and walked and went into many clothing shops. It was beautiful and lovely and fun, for sure. After hours and hours of walking, we took the bus back, got cleaned up at the hostel, picked up some take-out Thai food, bought a 40oz of beer each, and sat back watching Kill Bill with the other young hostellers in the common area.

At the end of the day, while I was making my list of that which we had done, Josh mentioned what he felt was the highlight of the day (other than being in my company, of course). When we were at Buena Vista Park, after we had climbed to the top of the hill, we watched the fog as it came in and rolled over the city like fingers.

~ Day 5 ~

Shopping, shopping, shopping. I found some hipster shoes, some Diesel jeans, and some awesome used t-shirts. We went shopping in Union Square, North Beach, the Mission (good idea, go to the district with a high density latino population on the same day as "A Day Without Immigrants"...everything there was closed), and the Castro. We partook of lunch in North Beach at a place across from Washington Square called Cafe Divine where we both had amazing pulled pork sandwiches and we found a wonderful sushi place in the Castro for dinner.

~ Day 6 ~

We had the morning to wander up to Grace Cathedral. I sat on a cement wall reading my book in the sunlight as Josh ran around photographing the view. Around noon, we got our bags from the hostel storage area and took BART to the airport. After a wonderful but long week, and a long day of travel with not enough nutritional substance, I finally walked into the door of my home and the first thing that I saw was the open buds of my African Violet.

Posted by jennifer at 9:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)