Into the Wild

Hey, so I hiked out to here



and skied out to here



all in the same week! I am a lucky gal!

The hike was up the old road grade behind our little neighborhood. It is just ablaze with wildflowers right now but unfortunately the trail seems to fizzle to an end after less than an hour. One fork of the trail does lead up to a rickety plank walkway that might be neat to explore later in the season, after the furious white water and 40 foot waterfall below it dry up. heh heh.

The ski was a bit of a Crashfest '05, but with such a lovely day even I couldn't get cranky. It was a distinctly back country ski, and I was on decidedly non-back country gear, so in parts it was sort of like taking my cross country gear for a nice walk in knee deep snow. But even so, I still beat the snowshoers (slow-shoers) back to the parking lot. Yay for me!

Visual Aid

Leftover purpley goodness.

Move over Bridget Jones, Here I Come!

So we've moved into the new-temporary apartment, and what says "I'm home" more than a roast chicken? So we crisped up a nice little hen in the new-temporary oven. (Sorry Laura and Erik, try not to think about Christine the late pet lap-chicken.) And the next day I did what one is supposed to to with roast chicken leftovers: I picked the carcass down to a bony nub, boiled it up with some herbs and veggies and let it simmer for an hour or so, creating a nice, hot, rich chicken broth to stave off the monsoon weather we've been having. I fried up some onions in butter for extra flavor, cut up some carrots, potatoes, and garlic and on a whim threw in some rice that my friend Lisa had given me.

This is where I went wrong. This was no ordinary rice. This was Trader Joe's Black Japonica Rice. I thought it would lay there in the bottom like regular rice adding some chewy goodness, but black, you know like those long grain wild rice thingies. Just as I tossed it into the pot I hazily remembered Lisa saying something about " vibrant purple" and "water." Eeeeek. No Wait! Ack.

Purple Soup. Instantly. My lovely deep yellow broth, hearty earth tones of chicken and carrots. All Gone. All Purple. It's the new fad, ya know, disguise your chicken meat as beef! Who needs those fancy red potatoes when you can have purple potatoes? So come on over and enjoy your very own aforementioned TWIN BED and assloads of frozen purple soup! Hospitality galore!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (But In Reverse Order So as to Not Leave Everyone Too Depressed)

And yet again I am absolutely horrified by my (our? the? I don't want to claim any responsibility for them) government. It seems if you want an unpopular piece of legislation to pass all you have to do is bring it up again and again. So we will now be drilling in ANWR. Yipee. Now we all can burn multiple 100 watt bulbs in our houses instead of opting for 40 watts. My life is so much richer. What's a wild life refuge for any way? Certainly not the animals! And moving on to the horrible Terri Schiavo case where our sensitive and caring president can't stand to allow a poor woman who's been in a vegetative state for over seven years die with any shred of dignity intact and has to step in to get yet another judge to rule on whether her husband would know her wishes or not. I can't describe how safe and protected I feel.

So I have done what any sane person would do. I have run away to here.

Here We Are!

Alrighty, we are finally fairly settled here in beautiful downtown El Portal, CA! Unfortunately it has been raining cats and dogs for the last two days, so the whole getting into the park thing and exploring has been fairly minimal. One tiny downside of this small town living is that we are currently on, GASP, dial-up internet access! So if you try and call us on our brand new phone number you will most likely get a busy signal. We will try and deal with this in the future. Perhaps a second line... It seems that the whole satellite dish idea is out the window since you need approval of the park superintendent and by the time we get that we'll probably have to move out of the temporary housing. Rats.

OH, btw, did I mention that said temporary housing is actually a TWO BEDROOM apartment? So friends and family, come over QUICK, and luxuriate in your VERY OWN twin-sized bed! Hurry hurry, before they kick us out! As soon as the rain dies down a bit I'll post some pics of the valley in bloom, lush verdant hills and red buds galore. It is really rather nice here!

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Program...

This is our last night in a hotel (in lovely downtown Elko, NV where there are slot machines in every public space) which also means that this is our last night with internet access until we get our own satellite for El Portal. So talk amongst yourselves for a day or two and I'll be back in a jiffy!

The Road (a photo essay by Suzie)...

This one is left over from the last blog post...
So much on the surface, and yet so much more!

(Note: Dramatic reflection of myself and stunning objet d'art beside me.)

P.O.'d kitty, hating her prison, me, and anything else within claw contact.


Kansas, hot and dry.


Colby? From Kansas? Hey I dated him!


Cuddly kitty, resigned to her fate.


Breakfast of champions, and "No officer, I wasn't speeding."

Hmmm, this display may be too small to see the incriminating evidence...)

Colorado, cold and dry.


Adorable Connor in Denver and my husband acting precocious.

Do You Want Any %$#@ Mustard With That?

So we are currently in beautiful downtown Effingham Illinois. Due to two crack-of-noon starts we have just managed to eek out 720.19 miles in two days. This being the first time I have stayed in hotels while driving across the country, I need to mention how much I'm enjoying the Holiday Inns that we've stayed in! I never knew there were hotels that would let you bring your pets in with you! AND we just gained back an hour! Now as long as Molly doesn't scratch my eyes out when I try and shove her, YET AGAIN, into that dreaded pet carrier, we'll be golden!

Moving Across the Country, Take Two...

So the Moving Across the Country that was supposed to start today didn't. The Poor Husband came down with food poisioning or something (oh-so-early) this morning, and was left shivering, writhing, wharfing and running. bleah. He seems to have stabilized as of about noon, and can now keep a half a cup of water in his system. In an hour or so we'll see how he does with gingerale and dry toast. Stay tuned for all of the enticing details... And then, if all goes well, we'll try this MAtC tomorrow.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow...

Hey, Its Winter Here!

Dude! What's with all this cold, and traffic and stuff? Where's my peaceful summer? We are valiantly fighting off the post trip-, post party hangover-, pre moving and leaving the entire family behind- blues. Eeek. Thanks to everyone who came over and welcomed us back/sent us off with such a nice boozy bash. Special thanks for the rousing rendition of "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and the special guest appearance by Robert Goulet! GOUUUULAAAAYYY!