My Cousin's Wedding

My cousin got married in Las Vegas in October.  (As a side note this is my second cousin to get married in Vegas).  It was a nice opportunity to get out of town and visit somewhere other than Colorado, I LOVE Colorado, but like to visit other places also!

Here are some photo highlights:

First dance

This is what happens to your feet when you don't wear shoes.

My brother and his friend enjoying the festivities.

My other cousin and I.

While we were in Vegas we also did a lot of walking, some gambling, rode the New York, New York coaster, and went through the 13th Floor Haunted House at Circus Circus.

We also spent some time with my friend, right in time, just a week before she moved to San Diego.  We enjoyed some all-you-can-eat sushi, yumm!

At MGM we played in the lazy river, watched Ka (amazing!) and enjoyed some time watching the lions.

Two visits to Portland in one month!

The second weekend in March we went down to Portland. We were lucky enough to enjoy another Winterhawk game. The Winterhawks beat the Tri-City Americans and we enjoyed some good BBQ and beer. After the game we went by the normal after game spot (for Big B's aunt and Uncle), Chez Jose. Chez Jose has a pretty good happy hour menu and good deals on beer.

The next morning we had breakfast at Stepping Stones Cafe, which is known for their Man-Cakes...very, very LARGE pancakes. I ordered the cinnamon roll french toast which was good, but not nearly as tasty as Silver Grill's Maxie French Toast. Plus I missed having the french toast with eggs and hashbrowns.

After breakfast we went up to Pittock Mansion where there is a great view of Portland.

Although it was a bit cloudy on this particular Saturday.

Two weeks later we went down to visit Big B's aunt and uncle again, but also his sister and her boyfriend. Big B had to work most of Saturday, but luckily we made it just after the Winterhawk's game began. It was a play-off game and they played Spokane, but unfortunately they lost the game. However, they are playing the seventh game tonight and hopefully will win! Again after the game we went to Chez Jose.

Big B  and I spent the night at the Hotel Lucia since the spare bedroom at Big B's aunt's house was already reserved. It was a really nice hotel, actually reminded me a lot of the hotel in Lucca. The hotel also seemed to be in a good location with lots of bars nearby, although the only parking available was valet.

The next morning we met Big B's aunt, sister and her boyfriend and then headed to breakfast. I had a scramble with salmon, cream cheese and dill. It was served with potatoes and a choice of bread, I chose the vanilla scone. Very tasty!!!

After breakfast we drove up the Columbia River Gorge to Multnomah Falls. The falls were beautiful, but I didn't do much hiking because for once I had not packed to be prepared for anything. It was also pouring!!! But Big B, his sister and her boyfriend hiked to the top and Big B was nice enough to take photos for me.

Bottom of the falls.

I hiked to the bridge.

The top of the falls.

View across the Gorge as the clouds were starting to lift a bit.

I had to head home shortly after the hike while Big B stayed another day. Luckily I knew someone who needed a ride back to Federal Way, so I had some company for the drive back.

Birthday Surprise

For my sister's 30th birthday I flew to Colorado to surprise her. It is always great to visit family! I especially miss shopping and working out with my sister, so of course we did some of each. The weekend was also full of eating...

And surprises....

And snow...

But no sun like I had been missing and hoped to soak in. Notice the sun Mars is basking in when I arrived home to the apartment in rainy Washington.

New Years Eve and Vancouver

Big B's mom and step-dad came out for his birthday. They arrived on New Year's Eve. We grabbed some dinner at Duke's Chowder House and rang in the new year playing Rock Band.

The next day we drove up to Vancouver, BC. Big B rented a car and we ended up with an Armada. It seemed a bit large at first, but ended up being nice because there was so much room for all of our luggage.

The plan was to grab breakfast at Beth's Cafe, but we didn't consider the crowd that would be excited to eat off their hangover, there was a line out the door! We finally found Scott's Bar and Grill and the food was pretty tasty. After eating we continued driving north.

After arriving in Vancouver we checked into the hotel and then wandered into the downtown area. We walked and window shopped for a while. Eventually we all worked up an appetite and decided to eat at Joe Fortes. There was some great local beer and lots of local food choices, I had mussels and frites.

After dinner we walked around a bit more and visited an ice rink constructed in honor of the Olympics.

While we were wondering around we found a place with blueberry pancakes. So the next morning we went to breakfast there. Our waitress was great and said that the nicest people she meets are always from Colorado or Calgary...that is always nice to hear!

After breakfast we headed to Chinatown. We went through the gardens, which very peaceful

We stopped by a coffee/tea shop so that we could warm up. There were a lot of different items, but the thing I thought was the most interesting was the smelling bar to pick out your tea.

We did more window shopping, went by the triangle building, ate and had a beer at Steamworks Brewing Company, and walked past the steam clock.

We also watched a Omnimax movie about called Adrenaline Rush: The Science of Risk, which was about skydiving at the Science World at TELUS World of Science.

We ate at a Chinese restaurant, Big B's pick for his birthday dinner, and then walked around some more. Below are some of the sites we saw.

There was a variety of eagles throughout Vancouver, similar to the cows, this one was a reading eagle.

Sunday was the clearest day, so I took a photo of the view from our hotel room.

Before we had to head home we went and shopped at Granville Island. There is an open farmers market and several small shops.

Portland in November

The first weekend in November Big B and I drove down to Portland to visit with Big B's aunt and uncle. The drive down and home were not very fun because it was pouring, but Big B did a great job driving.

Both times we have visited Portland I have really enjoyed the city and and would encourage anyone to visit it!

While we were there we ate some Chipotle, watched the Portland Winterhawks play the Seattle Thunderbirds. Normally I would cheer for Seattle, but since Big B's uncle works on putting the game on television for Portland, and got us great seats, we cheered for them instead. The Oregon Humane Society was there and received numerous donations and recognition, what a creative idea (more information is available about this if you click on the humane society name). Also during one of the breaks there was a game called Dash for the Cash, individuals won money they collected off the ice. It was pretty funny watching people try to pry frozen coins off the ice and stuff as many as possible down their shirts. The Winterhawks ended up squeeking out a win after overtime and a shootout. After the game we had an opportunity to look behind the scenes for the taping of the game.

The next morning we had breakfast at The Industrial Cafe, which was delicious and had too many good options...it was a hard choice on what to order. We then visited Voodoo Doughnut, YUMM! The line was too long at the original so we actually bought our donuts at their new branch. Later the men watched some football while the women went on a walk with their basset hound before it was time to head home.

Trip to Savannah

I had a whirlwind trip to go see Big B this past weekend.  It started bright and early on Friday with a flight through Washington DC (Dulles) to Jacksonville, FL.  From there I rented a car (a Chevy Malibu which I would not purchase) and drove to Brunswick, GA.  I was so glad to see Big B!  We ate at a Sushi place (Fancy Q in Redfern Village) in St. Simons Island, went and watched Watchmen (I would not recommend it) and then headed to our not-so-nice Microtel hotel.

Saturday we drove up to Savannah.  I gave Big B the "tour" of the city, although he may disagree on my definition of tour.  We finally found a place to eat and grabbed lunch at Cafe Ambrosia.  My panini was good, but the coffee really hit the spot.  After that we drove down to Tybee Island.  

We strolled on the beach (it was very windy)   

and then enjoyed a St. Patty's Parade...even Big B
 got beads despite his best intentions.

After the parade passed us we headed to our hotel the Hilton Garden Inn (much better).  

After a shower, rest and applying our festive tattoos (unfortunately I did not capture our lovely art work) we headed to dinner at the Boar's Head.  The food 

was delicious although our waiter was a 

bit slow and the appetizer was a total of one crabcake.

After dinner we took part in the Creepy Crawl Pub Tour.  It was a good time, but we had a group of party hardy college students who interfered a bit with our enjoyment.

  

First bar was The Six Pence Pub.  This pub is supposed to replicate an English Pub.  It seemed like a nice place and they serve food too.  I had a Blue Moon because the original beer I wanted had run out.

The second bar was McDonough's.  I did not go into this bar because I didn't need a drink and it was so crowded.

The third bar was 17Hundred90.  By far my favorite bar, it had 2 large fire places, nice seating areas and beautiful decor included old exposed support beams.  Plus it was not very crowded and had a nice local (not super crowded, touristy, drunk college student celebrating St. Patty's Day) feel.  The only drawback of this bar was that they did not serve beer on tap, so I had a bottle of Yuengling.

The third bar was WG's, again I did not go inside because I didn't need a beer and it was crowded.  However, I guess it is a local favorite and they have great live music.

We ended at Moon River Brewery (I heard the beer was good, but we were unsuccessful in getting served).  

At Moon River we went upstairs to be one with the ghosts.  Supposedly they have tried to renovate numerous times, but they cannot get the crews to stay long enough to finish the project due to the hauntings.  I took some photos to capture the "ghosts" but that only led to more screaming by our drunk and jumpy tourmates.

On Sunday we grabbed lunch at The Pirate House and then toured 

Fort Jackson. 

Big B standing by one of the doorways in Fort Jackson.  Hotel/living accomodations don't look so bad after checking out the fort.  Although we still had some stuff in common, such as one soldier's wife sent him cake and pie.  The pie was dry and stale and the cake was moldy.  I have tried to send Big B cookies and brought some with me on the trip.  I am sure the carrot cookies and mint chocolate chip batch were dry because they took almost 3 times longer to get there then expected.  And the other merengue cookies did not do well on my flights.

Later we drove and then walked around a bit.  While driving we saw this green fountain in one of the many squares around Savannah, so we had to walk back to snap a picture of it.  After walking we enjoyed Leopold's, yumm!  

On the way back to the car we encounted a horrible dog fight.  My conclusion of the situation was that a small dog was off leash and growled/snapped at three big dogs walking by.  Those dogs, or dog, reacted and bit the little dog.  We heard the screaming (if you have worked at a humane society you probably have heard this sound....it was/is horrible and usually means the dog is VERY hurt).  Then we heard the two owners screaming at each other and then the walker took off.  I wish I could have helped more...or hadn't heard the whole situation...it brought back a lot of bad memories from LHS and Brewster's last month.

After walking around we drove back to Brunswick, ate at Shane's Rib Shack, visited Lover's Oak (although we were not able to get a photo with both of us by it since no one else was around. Big B had to go back to the academy, so I drove back to Jacksonville.  I stayed the night at another Hilton Garden Inn and then headed home through Chicago.

Thanksgiving in Sun Valley

I am a little behind on the blogging.

My parents and I (plus the dogs) drove up to Ketchum, Idaho (or Sun Valley) to visit my brother for Thanksgiving.  My brother doesn't have much vacation time, so we thought we would bring Thanksgiving to him

 The first morning we were there Sadie was trying to get a burr out of her coat and ended up scratching her throat on it.  She was coughing and carrying on enough that we ended up taking her to the vet...two pills later she was feeling better. 

The original plan was for me to join my brother at Masters Swimming and for my parents to work out at the YMCA.  Due to the unexpected late morning we decided to take the dogs on a walk along the bike bath, it runs from Ketchum to Bellevue.

Later that night we went to Frenchman's Gulch, a winery in Ketchum.  They had some delicious wine, my favorite was the cuvee.  After the tasting we went to a joint Thank You sermon at the Episcopal Church in Hailey.  It was really interesting and had lots of different churches present.

After the sermon we enjoyed some cookies and cider before we headed to the Sun Valley Brewery for dinner.  The pizza was delicious, but being the beer snob that I am, their beer was a bit diluted.                                

                                                                                  

This is a chair that was outside of the brewery and is made by a man who has an arit gallery in Ketchum.  He makes furniture and his wife does watercolors.

Thursday morning we woke up and I went to Masters Swimming with my brother and my mom went to Roger's (without Roger) Yoga.  This is the group during Thanksgiving.  My brother's neighbor, two Columbians who are doing an internship at Albertson's in Hailey.  The big two Leonberger's seemed to like Haley...even though she wasn't too fond of them.

On Friday we hung out a bit, worked out at the YMCA, shopped a bit and then went on a Gallery Walk.

Saturday we went to Stanley to check out the beautiful scenery my coworker told me about.  Unfortunately it was very cloudy, but still a nice trip.  We went to the hot springs...which were really hot (you can see the red line after only a few minutes).  We also visited Stanley Lake, which would probably be so nice in the summer.

Saturday night we went to Papa Hemi's.  They had some better beer and very good food.

Sunday, my mom and I went shopping and then we played some Nerts...my dad and I won.  A great trip overall and nice to spend some time with my brother in a town that I have never visited.