West Coast Shuffle

What follows is an outline of our recent travels along the W(B)est Coast

Day One: Seattle to Ashland, Ore.

Day Two: Ashland to Davis, Calif.
--hiked around Lake Sisquiyou in the rain
--spent five days in Davis visiting friends, cooking, eating, playing cards
--arrived on St. Patrick's Day
--rained almost the entire time
--sipped wine in Napa and was devastated by our lunch at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America)
--drove by Coppola's vineyard, but the gates were locked
--hit Oakland

Day Seven: Davis to San Francisco to Eureka
--spotted a Banksy (really!)
--more rain as we headed up the coast

Day Eight: Eureka to Bandon, Ore
--THE most fantastic breakfast (oysters, bacon, and eggs) with an impossible coastal view
--in utter awe of the 1000-year-old Red Wood Forest
--Beach Wobble

Day Eight: Bandon to Seattle
--odd, beautiful town
--met up with an old Portland friend (Heather B)
--two-mile hike to soak in the Umpqua Hot Springs and while floating in the bubbling mineral-rich waters, gazing at tall trees and an opening sky decided that civilization isn't necessary
--lunch in Eugene (such a cool little town)
--then pushed all the way north to Seattle
--rinsed off the mineral deposits and started blog entry

Mochi for the New Year

Our First Week in the New Place

The day after New Year's Day we took the ferry to Bainbridge Island to attend a Japanese Mochi Festival for welcoming the New Year with good fortune. The crowd was much larger than we anticipated, with several generations of Japanese-Americans from around the Puget Sound along with a lot of Euro-Americans as well.

This is an old tradition of steaming rice (32 pounds at a time) over an open flame and then having three sturdy mallet wielders mash the rice into a thick paste/dough. Great stuff, very high on the yum scale. There was no charge for the food and entertainment (taiko drumming as well!) but donations were welcomed. Everyone was in such a great, convivial mood and we met some really nice folks to swap notes with regarding the best places in Seattle to go for Japanese food.

And the views on that ferry ride were phenomenal. It is odd -- for this time of year -- to get such clear and consistent views of both the Cascade Mountains (to the east) and the Olympics (to the west).

We took our first PNW Wobble into the foothills of the Cascades this past weekend and headed up Cougar Mountain. Though it wasn't raining the trail was thoroughly damp, moss and greenery all around. At one point we even encountered the Evil Thing (aka, the White Blanket of Death) but thankfully it didn't cover the whole mountain.

We're now pretty well settled in the University District; conveniently close to the UW campus, libraries and athletic facilities, and dangerously close to an impeccable array of coffee shops, bars, and Thai food.

Emily has got her office and I've got a library card and next week we're making a huge batch of spaghetti with meatballs for my family and Shawn while we root on the Oregon Ducks for the national championships.

Quacking from the Northwest,

Kevin, Emily, Sammy

Northwest Arrival

Awoke early in Twin Falls and headed northwest, crossing the Snake River, over the Blue Mountains of Oregon, then finally crossing the mighty Columbia River and entering Washington, under a heavy dose of rain -- as is customary.

Weather forecasts for the Cascade Mountain range had us a little concerned but luckily we encountered no nasty storms and slid comfortably down the western slope of the range and into the Puget Sound region, where we feasted with Kevin's family, late night -- as is customary.

We really needed to stretch our legs so we took the dog for long walks before heading out to the ballet followed by an absolutely fantastic meal at El Gaucho. Had a great snacky Christmas eve meal and then awoke Christmas morning not so early -- as is customary -- and opened gifts.

Yet, our arrival to the PNW was not entirely made complete until we sat down at one of Kevin's favorite Japanese restaurants for a fine sushi lunch -- mission accomplished.

We welcomed in the New Year and are now settling into our tiny, oh-s0-tiny, apartment in the University District. Now that we are settling we'll post a variety of photos and commentary on our exploits in the Seattle area and beyond.

Stay tuned,

Kevin, Emily, Sammy

Snowblind

After spending a pleasant evening with old friends from Seattle -- now living in Boulder -- we awoke early, even by Emily's standards, and made good time heading north to Cheyenne. At our pit stop we were told that the I-80 going west was "closed." Well, it wasn't closed but it was brutal: we were pretty much snowblind the whole way, made more challenging by steep hills, winding curves, and very few snow plows. Our only reprieve was lunch at Penny's Diner in Rawlins where it was Free Pie Tuesday -- yum. As we emerged out of the high elevation area we finally got a glimpse of wild Wyoming, which was gorgeous.

Our descent took us near Salt Lake City, but we were pressed for time so weren't able to swing by one of the Mormon conversion drive-throughs.

The rest of the drive to Twin Falls was dark but fairly easy, but oh man, by that time -- after four days of 12-hour journeys -- our bums were sore. We decided to "splurge" and book a room at a hotel that has a pool. Following our dinner we swam in the pool and floated in the hot tub.

To know that we left New England on Saturday and tonight we'll rest in a state that borders dear-old Washington feels really good. We're so close. However, tomorrow we've still got many miles, a good ten hours of driving, two mountain passes, and one mighty river to cross.

But for now, we're already sleeping in our flannel and habitually singing Nirvana songs. The fresh sushi will have to wait until we smell the salty breeze wafting across Elliot Bay.

Kevin, Emily, and Sammy

In two days we made it from Youngstown, Ohio to Denver, Colorado. So this will be two trip blogs logged as one. Here we go, or, more accurately, there we were:

Day Two:

Frigid, and I mean really frigid, was the temp when we departed Youngstown early morning at 6am on Sunday. Crossed the fine state of Ohio and lunched at a Greek place in Indianapolis, to our surprise, at the exact hour that fanatical Colts supporters were furiously jockeying for parking spots and downing tall cans of beer. Not wearing blue and white, we kind of stuck out. But the convivial Greeks served us all the same. Good lunch, but loud with pre-game enthusiasm. Paid the check and bolted back to the highway.

Scurried southwest towards St. Louis and one thing we noticed as we crossed Ohio and Illinois was the abundance of jumbo-sized white crosses dotting the otherwise increasingly flat landscape, along with more than a fair number of billboards questioning travelers about where they would spend eternity. Um, as a mortal, I didn't really assume that eternity was actually an option...I blame my mediocre, state-funded public schooling.

Crossed the mighty Mississippi and made our way to the left-side of Missouri to stay with our friend, Erik, in his princely, professorial mansion at the edge of the crack district of Kansas City. Nice to catch up with him, and he treated us to a fantastic vegetarian feast. Slept well after our longest day of traveling west.

Day Three:

To our surprise, the Kansas folks had not only erected their very own monument to me (see photo), but also a vast number of white and imposing pointed structures akin to their Ohioan and Indianapolan brethren along their landscape; these, we assumed, were not dedicated to a Christian savior but to an ancient wind goddess. We found these to be pretty cool, as they were just about the only vertical structures to pepper the horizontal scape that is Kansas.

At this point it really started to feel like the West: ranches, open road, never-ending sky, huge Moon rising as the golden sun tucked herself behind the horizon.

Alas, we drove into greater Denver under darkness, so no sight of the mighty Rockies. Yet, the sea of metropolitan and suburban torches left us feeling like we were most certainly not in Kansas anymore.

Heading West,

Kevin and Emily

9 Hours, 5 States, 1 Cat

Moving west and making it to Ohio was fairly easy. Leaving the luscious warmth of our friends in Northampton was the hard part. A great send-off last night at TDT, so thanks to all of our well-wishers, geuze buyers, and audio book and CD music gift givers.

Once we left the congestion of MA-CT-NY gliding across PA was a scenic breeze. Lunched in Scranton -- hoping to spot some of the glamorous stars from The Office -- we soon realized that the show is actually shot in LA. So we ended up being the prettiest people in the vegan cafe, Eden, which offers great food, should you find yourself out that way.

Strolled across the Poconos -- scenic but desolate -- we arrived in Youngstown in search of good eats. After driving through the post-industrial downtown we soon realized that the best food around was literally right next door to our hotel.

Sammy has checked out the room and it meets his approval, although to Emily and I it does have a rather post-Soviet generic feel to the place.

Early start tomorrow for Kansas City, where we'll be staying with Erik (graduate school friend from UMass). It'll be nice to see a familiar face and catch up before we make the long journey across Kansas to Denver.

TransAmerica Tidbits

Emily and I are already boxed up and ready to hit the road -- on our way to Seattle for the next six months.

We'll be posting videos and written reflections to document our trip across several states: Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and finally, Washington.

Stick with us -- it'll be fun. We'll also blog about our time spent in the Pacific Northwest, relating to our academic work, creative enterprises, and surveying of food and drink in this most delectable part of the world.

More to come...

Kevin and Emily