Seattle, Day 10

Lake Washington, near Seward Park, looking down from the picnic table where we had our BBQ.

Back to Seattle for the last few days of our trip. Staying with my best friend and her husband, and we had the most amazing day yesterday. Brunch. A walk in the arboretum. Nice warm weather and a BBQ at the lake. Heaven. 

Whistler, Day 9

Mountains on the way up to Whistler from Vancouver. Canada is so incredibly beautiful.

So we left Vancouver this morning and drove up to Whistler...what an amazing drive, water and mountains, clouds and sun, waterfalls, a bear, etc. Incredible. We went up onto the mountain in the gondolas hoping to hike up there, but there was so much snow at the top. Still, the scenery was beautiful, and we rode the peak-to-peak gondola with the glass-bottomed floor so every way you looked was just this spectacular mountain scenery. Couldn't have asked for a nicer day.

XO

Vancouver, Day 8

Looking into Stanley Park across one of the harbors. We spent a good part of the day in the park, and I feel like we barely scratched the surface...

Waited out the heavy rain this morning, which gave way to a beautiful sunny afternoon. Chinatown for lunch (surprised by how small Chinatown is here...so much smaller than the ones in Seattle and San Francisco), and then hours hiking the trails in Stanley Park, some time at the aquarium, a visit to the park's totem poles, a walk back to our hotel. Lovely, mellow, tourist-y day.

XO

Vancouver, Day 7...And I Start Lupron Today!

Vancouver buildings at night...

Happy Friday Everyone!

We're spending the next few days in Vancouver, a city I haven't been to since I was a teenager. It's spectacularly beautiful up here, so lush and green and mountains and water everywhere and in the city itself has such beautiful architecture, such an interesting mix of old and new buildings.

Drove up from Seattle yesterday with my husband and his best friend, checked into our downtown hotel, and then spent the rest of the afternoon/evening wandering around a few sections of the city. We:

• Browsed in an Indian art gallery, where there was a bird mask I really wanted to buy--red and white and black with a big beak and a tongue sticking out and a raffia-like substance for hair--my husband said it was too scary (and too expensive)
• Checked out the incredibly cool furniture in the sleek modern furniture stores in the Gastown neighborhood 
• Watched the old-fashioned grandfather-like steam-powered clock that chimed on the quarter hour...so charming...
• Had beers at a little Irish Pub with big, comfortable, cushion-y chairs...it was like sitting in someone's living room...lovely...
• Ate what was seriously one of the best meals of my life at Nuba, Lebanese cuisine in this hip little underground space. I want to go back, but it would be a shame not to explore more of Vancouver's restaurants...

And in fertility-related news...I've been doing OK on the hormones in the birth control pills I'm taking, although earlier in the week I puked for no reason (probably unrelated, but on the other hand, I never puke) and I've been feeling a little moody (not too bad) and worn down (not sleeping great...also probably unrelated). AND, today I start Lupron shots! Not looking forward to those, but it's one step closer to the transfer...

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

XO

Seattle, Day 6

A cloudy and cool walk on Alki beach, watching the ferries glide by...

Part of the reason we're on vacation is because we vacationed before my last IVF cycle, and I got pregnant, and I think being relaxed from that trip had something to do with it. Hoping to get pregnant again, obviously, and figured another trip couldn't hurt. 

Went all out on the relaxation front yesterday, with a nice little stroll on the beach in the morning, and an afternoon at the Olympus Spa. Love that place and have never seen anything else like it. There are a number of pools kept at different temperatures, a steam room, a sauna, and then a variety of rooms, most of them hot, you can go into and lie down...one with salt under sheets on the floor, one with sand, one with charcoal lining the walls, etc. There are pillows to lay your head on and you go from pool to steam to sauna to rooms...it's heaven. Not to mention the treatments...yesterday I had a body scrub and massage and moisturizing treatment.

I have a friend originally from Belarus here in Seattle, and she took me to this spa the first time...it's a great way to spend an afternoon with a girlfriend, although I went by myself this time and it was good to have some time for me, to get really relaxed and centered. Wow I really needed that indulgence...feel like a new woman. :)

XO

Seattle, Day 5...And I Feel Such a Connection to This City

I love the Seattle library so much we had to go walk around in it. Here's a view of downtown looking out from some of the library's diamond-shaped windows...

Ah, Seattle. It's really unfair for me to show up here on a brilliantly sunny day in June, stay on Alki Beach, not have to work, and feel like this is a typical day in the city, but there it is.

I have such a love for Seattle, and a long history here:

• My father grew up here, and his family's been here for multiple generations. When I was little, every summer I would come visit my grandparents, who lived outside the city, but I always flew into Sea Tac and spent time in the city. What I remember most is the soft humidness of the air, the smell of saltwater, the screetch of the seagulls...
• I lived here a summer in college, with my grandparents in the Queen Anne neighborhood
• Right after college I moved here, lived here for a year and a half, worked my first job here, made some amazing friends, had the first serious love of my life...just generally had an absolute blast being young, feeling like absolutely everything was ahead of me (which it was)
• Fast-forward a number of years...my husband was working in Alaska when I met him, but returned to Seattle shortly thereafter. We did long-distance between Seattle and Santa Barbara, and it was in this city we fell in love
• And then I moved here to be with him...that's how I left California...but that move was short-lived as I was heartbroken over my brother dying and having to leave the house where my brother and I had lived together in California...and I came from sunny Southern California in January and it was too much of a shock to go from there to the dark and gray when I was already so incredibly sad. Six months later, we moved to Colorado to be closer to my family and that was absolutely the right decision, although lately both my husband and I have been really missing Seattle...

It feels so good to be here...for my husband too. Yesterday was such a great day of sitting on the sand on the beach, taking the water taxi from West Seattle to downtown, wandering around downtown taking pictures and girly shopping (Anthropologie, Lush, Fireworks, Twist...there's no shopping where I live...got to get my fix while I'm traveling). And then we went over to Queen Anne where we used to live together and had dinner at Pesos, which is one of my favorite restaurants in the world...their carne asada is to die for. Yesterday was the solstice, too, and it's cool to be here for the solstice...it got light about 4 AM in the morning and there was still light in the sky at 10 PM.

Loving being in Seattle...

XO

Ashland, Oregon, Day 4

Hi Everyone!

So after camping, my husband and I drove up the California coast (so beautiful! So great to see waves and cars with surfboards on them!), had an amazing fried oyster lunch in Crescent City (I don't eat a lot of seafood in Colorado...eating as much as possible while on the West coast), and then went inland to Ashland, OR. I have a wonderful friend who lives there (this is her backyard, above...I didn't realize how much I want to live in a place like this with all the greenery surrounding it until I went to visit her).

My friend and her husband barbequed for us, and then we went to see a free concert, sitting outside on the grass with the guys playing bagpipes and a digeridoo and hippies dancing, and we had ice cream, and played board games, and generally just had a lovely time. We also the next morning got skinny, skinny french baguettes with ham and thyme butter and took a litle stroll in Lithia Park, one of the loveliest urban parks I've ever seen, with brilliant pink azaleas blooming and the creek burbling through.

Love Ashland and was so awesome to see my friend! 

XO

Northern California, Days 2 and 3

This past weekend we went camping with a group of friends in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. So fun, and so lovely to see some of my friends from college and San Francisco days! Some cool things that happened:

• We got to the campground via CA-36, which goes right by Lassen National Park (volcanoes)...the most scenic drive imaginable but so twisty and turn-y and LONG...probably the only time in our lives we'll do that road, but the snow-covered volcanoes behind meadows full of wildflowers and blue alpine lakes were unbelievably beautiful
• Camping under the enormous redwoods was amazing. It smells so good up there, and the trees tower so high...it's amazing to tilt your head back and look. The wind sounds lovely blowing through the trees and sometimes the trees squeak like a squeaky door...
• There was a little path down to the Eel River, which had sandy banks and it was warm down there...cool in the forest...Saturday afternoon hanging out in the warm sand on the riverbank was just heaven
• S'mores in the evenings. Enough said
• And have I mentioned how much I LOVE campfires? I wish I could sit around a campfire every evening...
• Saturday afternoon we played tourist for a little while and drove down the road to a place where you can pay $6 to drive through a tree. It was scary to drive through a tree...there is not much clearance. Also at the drive-through-a-tree tourist trap, there were these little tree houses (above). I sat inside each in turn and I wished I was eight again and had one of these in my back yard. How cute is the little white bunny over the door of the one on the right? 
• In one of the redwood groves we stumbled upon a drum circle, and this is so cliche Northern California but it was actually really magical to be among these enormous ancient redwoods listening to drums. Amazingly cool

Hope everyone has a great week!

XO

Utah and Nevada: Day 1

So today was the first day of my summer vacation with my husband! Yay! A long driving day...we are on our way from Colorado to the West coast, so today was about 12 hours driving all the way across Utah and all the way across Nevada (we're spending the night tonight in Reno). We drove highway 50...billed as "The Lonliest Highway in America," and it was pretty lonely, but more cars than I remember eight years ago when I was first here and remember driving for half an hour to an hour and not seeing a soul.

One of the cool kitsch-y things along Highway 50 is the shoe tree (above). Actually, this is the NEW shoe tree...the original shoe tree was, according to news reports, cut down (vandalism) in January.

The story behind the shoe tree is that newlyweds were on Highway 50 and arguing...one threw the other's shoes into the tree so they couldn't leave, and then they made up and the other reciprocated, and people have been throwing their shoes in the tree ever since.

We didn't leave any shoes, but I love to stop for things like this.

Will post again Monday...camping this weekend with some of my best freinds from college in Humboldt Redwoods State Park in Northern California...absolutely cannot wait!

XO

Southeastern Utah, June 2011

Hi Everyone!

Today I thought I'd post a few pictures of the trip I went on with my dad a week or so ago. We were just gone for four days, as I had to be back for medical stuff, but it was wonderfully relaxing!

The pictures above are from the first day. Top: Sego Canyon pertroglyphs, just outside the town of Thompson Springs, Utah. These images were made by Indians a long time ago (hundreds of years ago? Thousands?). I'd never seen petroglyphs this color before. Bottom: Later we went to Canyonlands National Park outside of Moab, Utah (got the new Jeep out in its' natural habitat).

That night we had dinner at Milt's Stop and Eat. Really cool old diner (actually old, not new trying to look old), and best hamburger I've had in a long time. 

The next day we went south from Moab, to Natural Bridges National Monument, where we did an incredibly long and tiring hike (top). On the way there we saw Newspaper Rock (more petroglyphs; bottom).

That night we had hamburgers again in Blanding, Utah at the Patio Drive-in. My dad said to the cook, "That's the best hamburger I've had in a long time. It's even better than Milt's up in Moab." And the cook laughed and said with a smile, "Well, I KNOW that."

This night and the next we stayed at one of my favorite places in the world, Recapture Lodge, in Bluff, Utah. It's not fancy, but it's so laid back and it's right on the river and everyone there is soooooo nice (lots of European tourists). And there's noting better than their hot tub under the stars after a long day of hiking...

Day 3 clockwise from top: (1) One of the bridges in Natural Bridges National Monument. If you ever get a chance to go, I would highly recommend it...lots of great (though somewhat tough) hiking and the rock bridges are amazing. (2) Anasazi (Indian) ruins in the rock cliffs at Natural Bridges. (3) Valley of the Gods. This is a drive you can do not far from Monument Valley, with the same type of incredible rock monoliths, minus the busloads of tourists. I'd never been here and it was amazing. (4) My dad hiking outside of Bluff. This was one of the first things we did this day...we were in search of a place called Monarch Cave, but ended up on these enormous slabs of rock above it. Still an awesome hike.

And then the last day, before heading home, we went to Hovenweep National Monument, which has incredible Pueblo Indian ruins. Had always wanted to come here and it did not disappoint.

Would highly recommend a trip like this to anyone who's interested...we had the best time.

XO

Travel...Why I'm So Addicted

I read this a few weeks ago, and it says it better than I ever could:

"...that one vacation changed her forever. Of course, perhaps that's the experience we all secretly--and not so secretly--crave when we travel: the chance to be transformed. Henry Miller once perceptively commented, "One's destination is never a place rather a new way of looking at things," but with all due deference to Mr. Miller, to my mind a new way of being is what really makes us head off into the unknown."

--Letter from the Editor, Vogue, June 2011

Image: Indian ruins at Hovenweep, southeastern Utah, June 6, 2011.

The Annual Father/Daughter Trip: A History

Here's my dad and I on the top of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. A couple years ago we hiked from the South Rim to the canyon floor up the other side and then back. About 50 miles round trip. Absolutely incredible...this is something I'll definitely be doing again.So since 2001 my dad and I have done a trip together almost every year...just the two of us. It's always one of the highlights of my year.

Where we've been:

• 2001: Reno, NV
• 2003: Utah and Arizona and Las Vegas
• 2004: Jeeping in the Colorado mountains (this is the trip where I learned how to take my Wrangler off-road. We did some incredibly hard stuff, and my dad made me drive the whole way. Even though I was scared. Even though HE was scared (there was one portion of the trail with a huge drop-off on his side where he got out and walked)
• 2005: We were supposed to go to Seattle together, but my brother/his son had just died, and I couldn't fathom traveling
• 2006: North Carolina Outer Banks
• 2007: Washington's Olympic National Park, Victoria, BC, San Juan Islands
• 2008: Jackson Hole and Yosemite (it snowed like crazy this trip, even though it was early June)
• 2009: Backpacking in the Grand Canyon
• 2010: Memphis and Mississippi (I was initially sceptical of how much fun we could have there, but this ended up being one of my favorite trips)

And this year, it's four glorious days hiking in Utah, starting tomorrow. I've just had a couple brutal work weeks and I cannot tell you how excited I am to be getting out into the desert with no phone, no computer, no obligations...just a girl and her dad hanging out and having a good time.

Back Tuesday. Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! :)

XO

Charles de Gaulle Airport

Really, without question the most beautiful airport ever. The architecture is so incredibly unique...curving and cement outside and then the inside, the ceilings in the concourses are this beautiful high arching wood, an enormous semicircle and the wood is weathered soft like wood patio furniture gets outdoors. Being in Charles de Gaulle is magical, even if you're just connecting and don't actually get to go to Paris. 

Posting this today because my BFF is in Paris this week for the first time. She is ultra-stylish and super fabulous, and Paris has been a life-long dream. So happy she's there. So jealous she's there.

XO Miss Danielle...hope you are having a fabulous time!

{Image Credit: donmcvey via Etsy.}

Tasks for a Rainy Day

My irises are blooming this week...aren't they lovely? We've had so many flowers this spring...A rainy Wednesday...we've had such a wet spring...but a good time to stay indoors and: 

1) Work--work is crazy right now...and we're traveling to Las Vegas Sunday for the week to see my mother-in-law, so trying to get ahead so I can have some fun while I'm there...

2) Schedule medical appointments--feeling much more on top of things than I was yesterday. Have pretty much everything I need done scheduled. My husband and I are driving to Denver and back Friday for testing (4 1/2 hours each way...bummer we have to do that). Oh, and by the way, the HSC I'm having done is the painful test I was afraid I was going to have to do, but I asked my nurse what they could do to help and they're going to give me a valium. My mom said ask for what you need, and I did, and I'm glad...thanks, Mom! :)

3) Schedule summer plans--we're going to be traveling an incredible amount between now and my FET...this is kind of my normal state of being (I can work from anywhere, which makes this possible) and it's WONDERFUL in that I'm going to get to go to so many places I love and see so many people I love, but on the other hand I'll be working and it's a little bit harder to work on the road, and a little hard for me to be away from home in general. I love to travel, and given a chance I will schedule trips like crazy, but I also love being at home and miss it when I'm gone.

Not TOO many logistics to plan, because a lot of this we're doing as road trips and staying with friends and/or camping, but there are still little details. And big details, like I'm going to need blood drawn and labs on the road, and have to figure out how to accomplish that.

Where we're going between now and July 22:

• Denver (just for the day, so not sure this even really counts)
• Las Vegas to visit my mother-in-law
• Colorado mountains to visit my brother
• Utah hiking and camping with my dad
• Humboldt County CA, Oregon, Seattle, Vancouver, seeing a TON of friends
• Santa Barbara for a fabulous wedding, and to see more friends
• Denver for the transfer...yay!

It's going to be fun.

Feeling better and more organized as all the medical/travel logistics fall into place.

Hope everyone's having a good Wednesday. :)

XO

Hiking in Moab, UT

Happy Monday, Everyone!

Today I wanted to share a few pictures from Moab, UT, where my parents and I went hiking on Friday. Friday was the anniversary of my brother's death, and has traditionally been a really tough day for me (although this year it wasn't too bad...a few days before was much worse.)

Anyway, I don't know what to do with painful days except to try to go and make some good memories with the people you love who are still alive, so off to Moab we went.

First was Arches National Park, which I've been to a number of time. I think Delicate Arch is one of the most beautiful things on the planet, so we went there.

Photos, clockwise from left: My parents on the trail up to Delicate Arch; a cool old, old, old tree on the side of the trail, Delicate Arch with me (tiny, tiny) at the base.

After Delicate Arch, we got lunch in Moab at the Moab Diner. There was a car show in town (actually starting Saturday), but I got a few pictures of cars on the street. Love the colors on old cars, and their logos...kind of along the same lines as my obsession with old hotel signs.

And then in the afternoon, we went hiking again just outside of Moab in Negro Bill's Canyon,  where I'd never been. There's a beautiful stream that runs through, which is unusual in this part of the world. And at the end of the trail is this unbelievable arch...it's hard to show in pictures...imagine a huge arching rainbow overhead.

Photos, clockwise from left: Me at the base of the arch (and source of the stream); the stream meandering through the canyon; the arch from below.

All in all a lovely day.

Hope everyone's week is fabulous!

XO

Kremmling and Rabbit Ears Pass

Hi Everyone!

Wanted to share a few photos today of my weekend trip with my brother. We met in Dillon, CO, and then drove to Kremmling, which is a tiny town to the north. There we took a walk around town, had Mexican food, hung out and got an early night's sleep.

Clockwise from above left: A fiberglass elk in front of one of the businesses, an old snowmobile on top of another, a cool old motel sign...love it.

Got up at 5:30 AM the next morning, dressed, had a quick breakfast at a cafe where they also made us sandwiches to go for lunch and got on the road. 

Here's (above) a picture of Miss Leah, my brother's dog. My BFF gave Leah her pink sparkle collar...love that my brother still lets her wear it...it's so opposite what he would have picked for her.

No snow in Kremmling, but TONS at the top of Rabbit Ears Pass, where we went to snowmobile and snowboard. Top photo: The "rabbit ears" Rabbit Ears Pass is named for. Bottom photo: The snow we drove out into on our snowmobiles from the parking lot. Incredible amounts of snow up there.

Had never snowmobiled before...it's fun. And exhausting...tons of work to keep the machine where you want it to go. Early morning we found a great little hill my brother rode me to the top of and I snowboarded down. About 3 inches of powder and then kind of a crispy layer under that...but what can you expect at the end of April, right? But it was just me on the mountain so fresh tracks every run. By 10 AM the snow was not really worth boarding in it was so wet and sticky. So we rode around on the snowmobiles/dug out the snowmobile I got stuck over and over (hey, I was learning).

Super fun day. So incredibly happy I have a brother to go on little adventures with. Thanks Ben! 

XOXO

Las Vegas: One Last Look

Just got home from our trip but wanted to share one last picture before returning to regularly scheduled programming.

There's a place off Tropicana called the Pinball Hall of Fame that we sometimes go to when we're in Vegas. $5 worth of quarters lasts a lot longer there and is a heck of a lot more fun in my opinion than that money spent on slot machines at the casinos.

The Pinball Hall of Fame is essentially a big warehouse with hundreds of pinball machines that you can play. Some of them are really old...the graphics and kitsch factor are great. But the one I always make sure to play is Big Brave, because very good friends of mine in San Francisco used to have the same machine in their Marina flat dining room, and we'd always play when over for dinner, drinks etc. Lovely people and we has so many years of fun evenings together. Miss those friends. Miss those days.

Las Vegas: The Cactus Garden

A few pictures from the cactus garden we explored today...

Downtown Las Vegas

Went for a little walk this AM…the weather’s lovely in Las Vegas at the moment…makes it easy to get out. My husband and I are staying downtown and there’s a ton of two things I really love around here:

1)    Old hotels, and

2)    Cool signs.

Things get pretty shady pretty fast as you venture too far east on Freemont Street, though…when I go back it’ll be with my six-foot-six husband.

A few pictures:

The Four Queens hotel…love the colors here.

Another one of the old downtown hotels. Again, love the colors on these signs. And they’re of course amazing lit up at night.

Gotta love the Western theme that pops up in Vegas now and again. Why don’t they make signs like this anymore?

Someday I’d love to own/run a cool hotel. It’ll have a great sign--that’s mandatory. The sign doesn’t have to be fancy…something like this would be awesome.

A young and sun-weathered and tattooed man leaning in the doorway of this hotel asked semi-jokingly--half smile, half sneer--if I wanted to take his picture as I walked past. I smiled and thanked him and kept walking, but now I wish I’d taken him up on his offer…he was an interesting looking guy.

Tomorrow’s our last day here…I have some work in the morning, but after that we’re going to have some fun…there’s been a lot of work this trip, but also some time to relax (in other words, lay on the couch…fatigue is still getting the best of me). And we’ve gotten a lot accomplished as far as helping my mother-in-law, which is the reason we’re here…

Out and About: Las Vegas

Lots of family obligations this week, but got out for a little while this afternoon for fresh air and a little walk and some pictures:

This is the reflection (righted) in the pool near my mother-in-law's house. Eighty degrees today...would have loved to have gotten in the pool if I'd had my swimsuit with me.

I miss palm trees. They make me really happy.

And how cute are roadrunners? So cool to see one up close. :)

We're staying downtown amongst so many cool buildings and signs. There's a lot of coolness in our hotel, as well. Hope to get out there tomorrow and share some more pictures. Actually, the signs I really want to photograph are the skid row hotels, they're so funky and retro. We'll see...

Happy Tuesday everyone. :)