We're baaaaccck!
Sep. 1st, 2007 10:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tiggymalvern
Back in the land of real computer access! We've been glued here since we rescued the cats from boarding hell XD
We got back last night, after a pretty good trip overall. Only a couple of days of rain, and we adapted our plans for more scenic driving and less hiking, so it worked out. Though of three and a half days hanging around the vicinity of Mount St Helens, we got one fleeting glimpse of the crater through a passing break in the clouds. I suppose that gives us an excuse to go back sometime :-) It wasn't always as warm as I would have liked either - what is it with the Pacific Northwest this year? If it's August with cloudless skies and glorious sunshine at sea level, I expect it to be 80F plus, with me driving a convertible in shorts and T-shirt, not wearing two jumpers with the heater on! But it was a fabulous route we covered, with a huge range of stunning scenery - now I just have to sort through all those photos....
The Seven people were a good bunch to travel with - by definition they were all car geeks, and largely computer geeks too since they're members of the online Sevens list, so they were a smart set of people. A couple of them were quiet types, who we didn't get to know all that well, but mostly they were fun and really easy to get along with.
The car was fairly well-behaved throughout, though the exhaust split again at the same joint it did last year. It's a design flaw in our model of Seven, with too much stress on that joint, and looking at the arrangements on the other Sevens, we now know how to get it altered to stop it happening again. We got it welded for $40 and half an hour in Ellensburg, once the guy at the garage had stopped laughing. 'Hey, Bill, get over here! You're gonna love this one - it's a go-kart!'
I've got to mention the food issue, because every time I venture into the rural US away from the coasts, it's tempting to begin some sort of rudimentary nutritional education program. I'm a very long way from being a health food nut, as anyone who's ever looked into my fridge will testify, but holy crap! I need to print a series of cards next time and hand them to management at every place we eat:
1) There are sources of carbohydrate other than potatoes. You should try rice or pasta sometime - you might like them.
2) It's possible to cook chicken without dipping it in batter or breadcrumbs and frying it. No, really, it is.
3) There are more kinds of vegetables than the onions on your burger. All those burgers and steaks that make up 90% of your menu could be offered with something green alongside the chips/fries. I'd pay extra!
After three days eating in towns like Packwood and Carlson as we wandered round Mount St Helens, I had cravings for rice, and Canada was like salvation. Every roadside eatery has some variety in the menu, and every one-street desert town has a Japanese or Chinese restaurant. It's only the US interior locals who think that people can live on beef and chips.
The wildlife have invaded again in our absence. Last time we were away for a few weeks, the mice had moved in when we returned. No sign of them this time (yet!), but we've acquired a wasps' nest in the garage, and the SO was stung while we unpacked the car. We've lived perfectly happily with a wasps' nest in the tree right outside the window before, that we walked under every time we left the house, but the garage is a confined space for a lot of sleepy, dying wasps, so the exterminators are coming to commit insect mass murder this afternoon. Clearly it's a sign that we should never travel!
We got back last night, after a pretty good trip overall. Only a couple of days of rain, and we adapted our plans for more scenic driving and less hiking, so it worked out. Though of three and a half days hanging around the vicinity of Mount St Helens, we got one fleeting glimpse of the crater through a passing break in the clouds. I suppose that gives us an excuse to go back sometime :-) It wasn't always as warm as I would have liked either - what is it with the Pacific Northwest this year? If it's August with cloudless skies and glorious sunshine at sea level, I expect it to be 80F plus, with me driving a convertible in shorts and T-shirt, not wearing two jumpers with the heater on! But it was a fabulous route we covered, with a huge range of stunning scenery - now I just have to sort through all those photos....
The Seven people were a good bunch to travel with - by definition they were all car geeks, and largely computer geeks too since they're members of the online Sevens list, so they were a smart set of people. A couple of them were quiet types, who we didn't get to know all that well, but mostly they were fun and really easy to get along with.
The car was fairly well-behaved throughout, though the exhaust split again at the same joint it did last year. It's a design flaw in our model of Seven, with too much stress on that joint, and looking at the arrangements on the other Sevens, we now know how to get it altered to stop it happening again. We got it welded for $40 and half an hour in Ellensburg, once the guy at the garage had stopped laughing. 'Hey, Bill, get over here! You're gonna love this one - it's a go-kart!'
I've got to mention the food issue, because every time I venture into the rural US away from the coasts, it's tempting to begin some sort of rudimentary nutritional education program. I'm a very long way from being a health food nut, as anyone who's ever looked into my fridge will testify, but holy crap! I need to print a series of cards next time and hand them to management at every place we eat:
1) There are sources of carbohydrate other than potatoes. You should try rice or pasta sometime - you might like them.
2) It's possible to cook chicken without dipping it in batter or breadcrumbs and frying it. No, really, it is.
3) There are more kinds of vegetables than the onions on your burger. All those burgers and steaks that make up 90% of your menu could be offered with something green alongside the chips/fries. I'd pay extra!
After three days eating in towns like Packwood and Carlson as we wandered round Mount St Helens, I had cravings for rice, and Canada was like salvation. Every roadside eatery has some variety in the menu, and every one-street desert town has a Japanese or Chinese restaurant. It's only the US interior locals who think that people can live on beef and chips.
The wildlife have invaded again in our absence. Last time we were away for a few weeks, the mice had moved in when we returned. No sign of them this time (yet!), but we've acquired a wasps' nest in the garage, and the SO was stung while we unpacked the car. We've lived perfectly happily with a wasps' nest in the tree right outside the window before, that we walked under every time we left the house, but the garage is a confined space for a lot of sleepy, dying wasps, so the exterminators are coming to commit insect mass murder this afternoon. Clearly it's a sign that we should never travel!
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no subject
Date: 2007-09-01 06:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-02 04:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-01 09:37 pm (UTC)I agree about the weather. What is up with this? At least it appears to be a nice weekend, so far. I'm off to CA next week (ok, the SF Bay area so not blazing hot) for a taste of summer!
we've acquired a wasps' nest in the garage
I've got yellow jackets in the ground near the side of the house. They stung the gardener, which is how I found out about them. Fortunately they're not close to any sort of human traffic so I'll just let them be. My arachnophobia is on high right now though--big, creepy spiders everywhere! Makes me a nervous wreck.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-02 05:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-01 10:22 pm (UTC)Hey, as rustic as we are around here, you'll always find several varieties of rice and pasta as well as the requisite potatoes. Mama-san calls potatoes, the 'American' rice. XD
Found a huge, thankfully dead mud dauber on our deck the other day. I'm glad it wasn't buzzing around inside our house... >_<;
So, when's the next big trip, or are you home for a bit now?
no subject
Date: 2007-09-02 05:05 am (UTC)Potatoes are at least theoretically more flexible than rice, though you'd never guess it from the majority of US cafes, who only know how to make them into chips!
Just had to google a mud dauber. Got large wasp XD
I'm home for a bit. I've got a 4-day weekend planned with the mad birdwatchers later this month, but not much more in the immediate future.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-01 11:18 pm (UTC)Anywho, now that you're back, would you like to go running around next Tuesday or Wednesday? We could do ye olde shopping thing, or explore parks, or something ... ^___^;;
no subject
Date: 2007-09-02 05:09 am (UTC)My Tuesday's busy, but I could do part of Wednesday, if I'm back for my physio appt at 3. How much do I owe you for services rendered?
no subject
Date: 2007-09-03 12:05 am (UTC)As for the print--I actually forgot what I told you at the con! >__>;; When I check my paperwork, my base price at Sakuracon was $25--would that be OK? If you remember I told you something different, by all means let me know ... I have a mind like a sieve, I swear.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-02 05:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-02 05:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-02 04:39 pm (UTC)What are you up to next weekend?
no subject
Date: 2007-09-02 10:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-02 01:58 pm (UTC)*giggles madly*
I'm glad you had a great trip, know how to circumvent the problem with the Seven, and it's great to have you back!
no subject
Date: 2007-09-02 04:13 pm (UTC)