Sorry to have to do this again but it makes sense to switch over to a new blog address as this one ended up being filled to the hilt with photos and maxed out. Instead of deleting entries, I set up this new one – let’s see if it works!
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With a pretty bleak winter in Utah, I was excited to travel south to Mexico for some sightseeing, cultural immersion and climbing. I was going to be away on my birthday and two early birthday greetings stood out:
The flight was direct and faster that I expected. I had planned the trip to arrive a day early to make sure my baggage and climbing equipment made it. The elevation in Mexico City is a bit higher than where we live so another day of acclimatizing would hopefully help mitigate any potential altitude issues.
A couple of the other team members arrived early, as well and we walked down the street to dinner together. The next day, we had until 5:00pm for our gear check, so lots of time to explore the city. Jason had arrived a couple days early and ended up being a great tour guide as he had already found a lot of interesting places to explore plus he had a good handle on Spanish, so Jim and I just tagged along, and used his train ticket!
We spent pretty much the entire day in Chapultepec Park. The name Chapultepec means Hill of the Grasshopper (“chapul” – grasshopper, and “tepec” – hill).To get there we took a couple train rides to find the grasshopper icon station.
The park was huge – in fact I just looked it up and it is twice the size of Central Park. (I had to come home and read about the different things we saw.) Cut and pasted from the park website:
“This was the site of one of the nation’s most bitter experiences during the Mexican-American War. The Battle of Chapultepec took place here on September 13, 1847. At the time, the castle functioned as a military school and six young cadets lost their lives in the battle. The cadets, between the ages of 13 and 19, are remembered by Mexicans as Los Niños Heroes (the Boy Heroes). The monument pictured here is in their honor. It has six marble pillars, one for each of the heroic cadets, and in the center a pedestal with a mother embracing one of the fallen.”
Walking further we went up the hill to the Chapultepec Castle, which was pretty overwhelming. Here is a painting in one of its galleries that depicted the battle.
On the way back to the hotel, we opted not to try one of the food offerings at the stands in the park, but found a great little cafe that was packed, which we took to mean that the food was good! Then it was time for the gear check, meeting the rest of the team and our first group dinner (and first of many chicken poblano mole dishes.)
Once the Thanksgiving decorations were put away, the dining room table was fair game for the now annual puzzle assembly contest.
Joel is on a roll with 4 – 1000 piece puzzles completed in 7 days!
I usually contribute to the effort by placing or finding 8 – 10 pieces per puzzle. Often, the chairs and elbows are flying so fast, it is impossible to even get near the table!
I have been slowly ramping up my training hikes to two per week, aiming for at least 15 miles total with about 28# of weight. By the end of December, I will bump the weight and mileage up and look to be out on the Trails three times a week. With winter pass to Ogden Nordic in hand, I am hoping to be able to get some snowshoeing in, but it is looking pretty bleak right now – no snow on the trails and nothing in the forecast … Keep those fingers crossed!
Antelope Island – Lakeside Loop
Antelope Island – Frary Peak
Lewis Peak
When it was decided that Joel and I would drive Mom back home to Bellevue, she requested three things – #1 Take as long as possible to get back to Bellevue #2 Stop in or drive through Astoria #3 Spend time at the ocean. Hopefully we were able to deliver.
On Monday, after checking out of the Salishan Lodge, we headed up the coast to Astoria. Our first stop on the way was the Tillamook Creamery.
We stayed the night at Hotel Elliott which had great views of the water and the Astoria Bridge. The hotel was beautiful and had been restored to maintain the original architecture and no two rooms were alike. Originally constructed in 1924 as a 64-room property, Hotel Elliott underwent a $4 million renovation in 2003. We found a nice restaurant (Carruther’s) just at the end of the block where we had a hearty meal (Like we needed another hearty meal!).
The next morning after a huge breakfast buffet, we drove up to the Astoria Column. It was a bit foggy – Joel and I climbed to the top but couldn’t see a thing. The Astoria Column, located atop Coxcomb Hill, is a monument to the natural riches of the Pacific Northwest and the people who settled there and was built in 1926. When they restored it over the years, each of the 164 steps to the top had a donor and all there names were on plaques inside the tower – that was pretty neat.
We then headed out to Ocean Shores where we were staying at the Quinault Beach Resort and Casino. I was a little hesitant about staying at the casino but they boasted ocean view rooms at a reasonable price. The rooms seemed recently updated and they were very nice. The only “glitch” was that there was a power outage when we checked in. The generators were running the basic services but the internet was out and the restaurants were closed. Luckily, the power was restored in time for dinner and we had another great seafood meal at their restaurant – Emily’s.
The next morning we woke up to an amazing sunrise and all took a hike to the beach. There was a boardwalk but it ended relatively quickly so there was a sandy beach walk for about 1/4 mile. Mom did great and seemed to enjoy the view.
After cleaning the poop out of my shoe with my toothbrush and a coffee stirrer stick, we were on our way to Bellevue, with a stop for one last seafood meal at the Fishin’ Hole Restaurant in Montesano. Once we got Mom situated in her apartment, we (I) set up her digital photo album and hung up her birthday artwork. Then off to Cielo’s for dinner and an early morning send off as Joel and I headed home.
Larina and Bob took Mom to lunch and a movie in Lincoln City, Joel and Tony watched football and I went horseback riding with Natalie, Ross and Sammi. We had our fingers crossed that the ride would happen, with rain in the forecast, they notified us that it would not be enjoyable for us and the horses if it was raining ( we didn’t care as we all had rain gear!) The sun came out and the ride was on! It did rain for about 45 minutes during the ride but at that point, we were mostly in the trees.
We all made it back in one piece and had a great time – thanks for organizing, Natalie!
The big dinner event then happened at Beck Restaurant where we enjoyed the Chef’s 5-Course tasting menu. The menu is new every week and it was based on what the restaurant could find at the local markets or forage in the forest. Unfortunately for Natalie, that meant that 2/5 courses were made with Chantrelle Mushrooms! Who knew? (Note that the menu was not printed so you have to rely on my sketchy memory and Larina’s great photos!)
Once we finished dinner, it was time to reconvene in the library of the Salishan for the art contest, which has already been covered in a previous post. But first, a few more family photos.
Day 3 was another activity-filled day with Ross and Sammi taking Mom down south to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Joel and I took advantage of an early morning walk on the beach and Joel was able to capture some great sunrise photos.
We headed down to the beach and saw some extremely rough seas – in fact there were a lot of warnings around dangerous waves, high tides and what are called “Sneaker Waves” – waves which may be 2 – 3 feet deep that rush up the shore and then back out without any warning. They did leave a lot of interesting sea foam!
Once we made it back to the room, we changed clothes and met Natalie for our Aerial Tour/Zipline adventure. Natalie is an old pro at this and had apparently gone multiple times with Alex and Xavier. She basically had to “show us the ropes.” Both Joel and I were new to this adventure!
After changing clothes again and meeting the rest of the group, we headed up to Lincoln City to the Heart & Stone – highly recommended, didn’t take reservations and the sign on the door indicated they were away for two weeks! DRAT and double DRAT! So much for researching restaurants months in advance! Another quick internet search and we ended up at McMenamins Lighthouse not far away.
Before breakfast we hit the fitness center and met Bob and Larina. It was a pretty decent-sized gym and we had a nice workout.
Natalie had made arrangements at Lovejoy’s Restaurant and Tearoom for the ladies for their High Tea celebration. It was about a 2 hour drive, south to Florence, OR. A very cute place and we were all relieved that it was a more casual event and we didn’t have to dress up – hats optional! Great food and another chance to celebrate Mom’s 90th birthday.
After lunch, Natalie also arranged a visit to the Sea Lion Caves. Natalie and I hiked down to the caves but had been told that the sea lions had moved out for the season (although we saw them on a beach a bit farther north.) We did get tickets for another visit – hopefully Ross and Sammi can make use of them.
After the sea lion caves, we dropped off Natalie, Larina and Sammi and I took Mom up to Lincoln City to pick up her birthday cake at My Petit Sweet https://mypetitesweet.com/
Dinner was at The Attic at the Salishan – basically had the entire restaurant to ourselves despite another ordeal to make the reservations. Seems like during the off-season the restaurants in the area turn on the “Do Not Disturb” signs! Great food and great waitstaff.
The cake was delicious – Coconut Cake, Coconut creme filling and Champagne frosting. Everyone was able to have their cake and eat it … the next morning, too!
It was a 14 hour drive from our house to the Salishan Resort/Lodge on the Oregon Coast so we decided to break the trip up into two days. After a bit of research, the logical choice was to stay in Bend, OR. That afforded us (we thought) enough time to get to the coast and check in early, decorate Mom’s room AND take a quick hike to Tumalo Falls en route.
Joel is always happy to find a waterfall to photograph and we were the only ones on the trail early in the morning. It was a bit chilly and most of the fall colors had passed, but it was still beautiful. A very worthwhile side tour! I think Joel made a note to return at a later date. A Pacific Northwest waterfall tour is certainly waiting to materialize.
After the hike we headed for the 4ish hour drive to the Coast. Unfortunately, there was significant road construction that our lovely Judy Garmin neglected to alert us of; coupled with the fact that groups B and C arrived earlier than planned which made for a stressful arrival at the Lodge. We frantically recruited Ross and Sammi (Thank You!) to help with the decorations as the rest of the group distracted Mom.
Arranging dinner for the 8 of us was easy – the Lodge owns the Beachcrest Brewery across the street and it look like a great place for a casual meal for all the weary travelers. I had called the Lodge several weeks ahead of time to confirm that it would be open for dinner and they could seat all 8 of us. On the way to Salishan, Larina had pulled up the website to look at the menu and texted me that, “Oh, by the way, they are closed for an employee event.” We were able to find an alternate quickly and ate at the Side Door Cafe. Mixed reviews!
Although I am behind on updating the blog from the Family Reunion/Mom’s 90th Celebration at the Salishan Resort on Gleneden Beach, OR, I felt compelled to tell the story of Baby Lakota Schenk as this is essentially a story within the story. I felt that this should be told aside from the rest so that the ugly, tragic details do not get buried somewhere. Let there be Justice for Baby Lakota!
Joel found some very unique squash seeds this spring – the package talks about the Native American Lakota Squash being relatively hard to find until recently. It also mentioned that each plant will have vines 10′ – 20′ long, so Joel decided on only two plants this year.
The plant took off and with lots of tender, loving care there were soon many of the beautiful, unique squashes on the vine.
It soon dawned on me that the squash would be ready to harvest at the same time that we would be packing for the family reunion. I had several family activities planned and, with a couple of recipes I had found, thought that one of the prizes for the family art contest could be a squash!
As you can see, Joel worked diligently in hopes of winning Baby Lakota Schenk back himself, as he knew the value and opportunity for delicious fall soups.
As fate would have it (or as Mom would judge the art contest) Natalie and Tony became the proud owners of Baby Lakota Schenk with their second place finish.
However, soon after this photo was taken, Baby Lakota’s fate took a turn for the worse. Larina snatched him out of Tony’s hand and a dangerous game of “Toss the Squash” erupted. As she was flinging Baby Lakota across the couch, his delicate stem popped out of his body. We watched in horror as the efforts to squish the stem back in place turned futile; a clear liquid started oozing out of his body – squash “tears” were soon dripping and sticking to everything and Baby Lakota was unceremoniously put back into his cardboard transport box.
In another unfortunate turn of events, some time during the evening, Natalie and Tony decided to abandon Baby Lakota. Instead of pursing a proper adoption to someone that would care for and cook him properly, the two perpetrators decided to “hide” Baby Lakota in with the collection of “show pony” squash that were haphazardly “arranged” as decorations at the entrance to the Salishan Lodge.
I suspected all along that Baby Lakota Schenk would not go home to Boston with Natalie and Tony, but what an evil thing to leave him amongst alien beings!
We gathered him up as we left and promptly made soup with him when we got home.
THE END
Joel and Alison's Excellent Adventures 