Happy Holidays to One and All!

Happy December to all our friends and loved ones across the world. 

We wish you good health and happiness throughout 2013!

Change of Plans

Superstorm Sandy: New Jersey, New York, East Coast Feels Hurricane's Wrath

The wonderful NASCAR trip has been cancelled due to the wrath of two storms; first Sandy and then a wicked Northeaster with snow. 

The Mars Corp., sponsor of the prize,  has it's headquarters in the path of both storms and the travel company they use is located in New York. No power, no communications and no more trip. No hard feelings on my part! 

Photo Courtesy of the American Humane Association

Mars has a pet division. They make the Pedigree dog food that I feed my dogs. Mars made a generous donation to the Humane Assoc. to help storm victims care for their pets. Please support Mars and the efforts of the American Humane Association. 

From the AHA: 
In another great effort to help animals left homeless 

or lost in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, the American Humane Association 

has has mobilized its 82-foot rescue rig, which will serve as a base and housing 

for its specially trained staff and volunteers, to help save animals. Their efforts 

were aided by Mars Petcare, U.S., but they still need your help!

The team is on a mission to deliver more than 80,000 pounds of food, medicine 

and supplies to shelters in Atlantic City, N.J.; Bergen County, N.J.; and Staten 

Island, N.Y., and other locations that were hit hard by the hurricane. 

Kyle Busch driver of the #18 M&Ms car

Start Your Engines!!

Mark your calendars for The Sprint Cup Finals held November 18, 2012 at the Miami/Homestead Speedway

Yes, I won another trip. M&Ms randomly chose a winner for the NASCAR/Sprint Cup Finals and it is ...........ME!!

My favorite travel companion is already booked, so my sister, Susan will not be joining me at the track.  I will have the great pleasure of spending time with my oldest child who has agreed to keep a close eye on his Mother. Hurray! More details soon. Stay tuned!

Bye-bye kids!

It's the most difficult time of year for me; the day we say good-bye to the calves. They were taken directly to the shipper/broker yesterday and are on their way today to Oklahoma via a cattle big rig.

                      

The calves will overwinter on wheat fields in Nebraska or Oklahoma. 

Oh, no! I forgot to pack their winter coats! 
Now I am left with Mama cows searching for their lost calves by mooing non-stop. I mean all day and all night and all day and on and on. 
We go through this every year. I went out this morning to hand feed the girls oranges and comfort them.  Alice and I have been through this 9 times and she still yells every year to remind me that she is THE best mother in the herd. 

The cows had a nice little chat with me about their children leaving and how this is what we all want; for our babies to grow strong and tall and go off into the world on their own. 

It is what we do. 

We have hay!

      It is haying time in our county and on the ranch.
These are the first days of perfect hay weather that we have had all summer. Today was our first cutting and usually by now, we have already had one or two cuttings. Thank goodness for several dry days in a row over Labor Day week-end!

John Deere tractor with baling machine in tow

   Most farmers bale round bales here for cows and square bales for horses. We grow cow hay - Coastal Bermuda mixed with some Bahia. The really good news? We got 94 bales today! Fingers crossed for a good second cutting soon before we lose the heat. 

Yee-haw!

 

The Fray Meet & Greet 8/21/12

Here is the photo they took of Mary and I meeting The Fray at the official Meet & Greet after the concert. Band Members are (from left to right) Dave Welsh, Ben Wysocki, Susan, Mary, Joe King and Isaac Slade. They were very nice and took a long time meeting the winners and taking photos with 75 people!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85543752@N05/7839906300/" title="Diet Coke Fray Private Event by Meet &amp; Greet, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8284/7839906300_d901e99e07.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Diet Coke Fray Private Event"></a>

Thank you Diet Coke, 7-Eleven, Live Nation, The Fray and Kelly Clarkson for a great trip and concert!

I even won a texting contest with Live Nation at the concert - $50 I used on their website.

Trip to Jones Beach, Long Island, NY : The Fray and Kelly Clarkson

Our hotel - a very nice Hampton Inn

The best fries you will EVER eat!

Through Urban Spoon and Yelp, we found this great restaurant

called Press 195.

Excited fans on the bus to the concert

Mary and Susan on the boardwalk at Jones Beach Theater

The Fray in concert

We had great seats!

Kelly Clarkson on the big screen

Posted with Blogsy

Four Days to Departure!

         Kelly Clarkson & The Fray - Aug 21, 2012

Only a few days to go until we board our flight and head off to JFK Airport. 

This short trip looks as though it will be a budget vacation. We are flying in economy class ( ahhh, First Class to Seattle - I remember you well) and will take a shuttle van to the Hampton Inn.

The contest awarded a trip a day for 30 days so there will be approximately 60 people on the bus heading out to Jones Beach to the Nikon Amphitheater. Something tells me we might be the oldest ones on the bus!

We will probably get nosebleed seats but that's OK. We 'll have a grand time no matter what. And, you never know who we might meet along the way!

Stay tuned for photos!

David Gallo, the person we met in the Atlanta airport, turns out to be a very interesting person - more than we thought! He studied geology and oceanography and has traveled all over the world.

http://www.ted.com/speakers/david_gallo.html

Check out these TED talks.

TED Talk David Gallo 1998

TED Talk David Gallo 2007

Interesting articles about his work at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

www.whoi.edu

http://thenews.choate.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1387:woods-hole-project-oceanographer-dr-david-gallo-shares-new-findings&catid=19:news&Itemid=43

Wow! We ended up talking about traveling, gardening and looking at photos on his iPad. He's a really funny guy - as in comedy!

Announcing...........Trip # 2

                                    Susan has won trip number two! 

The third week of August we are flying from Ft. Lauderdale to JFK to attend a concert at Jones Beach on Long Island. This is a picture of the           Nikon Amphitheater. Two of those seats will be ours! Yippee!

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Create a gorgeous, high quality photo book at Shutterfly.com.

I was able to order an 8"x8" hard cover photo book of our trip to the PNW and 100 4"x6" photos for only shipping and handling!

Saved almost $53!

I had a code for free 8x8 hard cover photo book, 20% off extra pages (good until 7/18), $10 off any order over $10 plus a code for 100 free photo prints. It let me apply all of them. I love Shutterfly!

This is a VERY short video of the Seattle Space Needle as seen from our helicopter ride.

Video of Deception Falls, WA

Deception Falls, WA on Route 2 on the way to Steven's Pass.

All Good Things Must Come To An End

Monday 6/25/12

The highlight of today was going to hear one of Susan's favorite authors, Ridley Pearson, speak while on a book tour for "The Risk Agent". We drove to the nearby town of Beaverton, which is about 15 min. from the Residence Inn in North Portland. The famous bookstore, Powell's Books, hosted the event and 40 people attended. He went around to every person there, shook their hand and thanked them for coming. It is very unusual for an author to do that. He spent about an hour speaking and personally signing books. We were very lucky to get to see him and even got a photograph with the best selling author of 42 books. One of his books, "Peter and the Starcatchers", co-written with Dave Barry, has been turned into a play and is currently on Broadway. The Flanagan Drama group (including Susan and daughter Lisa) saw the play in NYC at the end of May and loved it. Ridley is a fascinating energetic speaker and has had a very interesting life.

 

Tuesday 6/26/12

We drove back to Seattle with no detours today. It rained off and on for the drive so this was a good day not to be outside. After checking into the Hilton Bellevue, we returned to the Sea Star in downtown Bellevue and enjoyed a delicious lunch. Susan ordered Sockeye salmon and Mary had Steelhead salmon. Both were heavenly. We REALLY like the Sea Star restaurant! Many thumbs up for excellent food and outstanding service.

 
 

Wednesday 6/27/12 Travel Day Home

Mt. Rainier on a rare clear day

We splurged and ordered a Town Car service to the airport. We appreciated the door to door service during rush hour traffic. We very reluctantly checked our bags at the Delta counter and boarded our B767 to Atlanta, with the final destination of Daytona Beach. The weather was as perfect as it could be for flying. The skies were crystal clear which made for amazing views of the mountain ranges. On take off from SeaTac Airport, we could see six mountain peaks at once - all were covered in snow! What an ending to our incredible journey though the Pacific Northwest.

 

 

 

 

Snoqualmie National Forest

Little Kachess Lake with Mt. Rainier

Observations

We have noticed that the weather in the PNW is quite different from Florida's weather. That is especially obvious now with Tropical Storm Debby pounding the Sunshine state. Parts of Florida have received two feet of water in a few days and here in Portland they are making a big deal about having the 4th rainiest June on record with a whopping 3.72 inches for the entire month! Locals have told us that there is a constant fine mist and sometimes a bit of a drizzle but that's about it.

We have watched dark ominous clouds roll in that would be real frog pounders in Florida and yet here they don't get a single drop. Tonight on the local news they reported that there have been twice as many days of 80 degrees this June as compared to last June although they keep saying that the 30 days of June 2012 has been one of the coldest on record. We have been exceptionally lucky and have had good weather all but two days in the PNW. Even then, we didn't complain because we came here to experience cold wet days.

The air out here is clean and crisp and surprisingly dry. Mornings dawn cold in the 40's and slowly warm up reaching the high temperature by 6 pm. Days are very long with sunlight until 9:00 pm and sunrise at 5 am. They warned us that it is the opposite in winter and quite depressing. That's probably why everyone is outside every second they can get during this very short period of decent weather. We are terribly spoiled in Florida.

Seattle is known as the connected city and we did get terrific Wi-Fi almost everywhere in Seattle. Vancouver's Wi-Fi internet service was so-so and Portland has poor/weak coverage. It's strange that the very high end hotels do not provide free Wi-Fi for their guests or even plastic liners for the room trash cans. You have to pay extra for every little thing. The middle to lower end hotels have plenty of amenities like free Continental breakfast, free internet and computer usage, free Wi-Fi and friendly satisfied customers. We enjoyed the Hilton Bellevue and Residence Inn by Marriott the most and give both chains great big thumbs up for making our stays exceptionally good.

Portland gets extra gold stars for being the City of Roses. Rose bushes and rose shrubs are used extensively along highway medians and road hillsides and in parking lot strips. Everywhere you go you see beautiful blooming roses. They use roses for landscaping the way Florida uses palm trees. The soil here is a rich black color and full of nutrients. I had people tell me that they just throw something in the ground and it will grow without any help. No wonder the roses are so happy!

It was fun to see the giant log trucks rumbling down the highways on their way to the sawmills. The speed limit on the freeways ranges from 55 to 60 and people actually stay within that speed! We've noticed that the drivers are very polite. People in the PNW as a whole are nicer and more trusting so it feels safer here.

Our overall impression of the PNW is: a land of skinny pale people who spend a lot of time outdoors doing insane things like running up and down mountains simply because they can. Lots of people in the cities have cups of coffee in one hand and a cell phone in the other while walking down the sidewalks. They wear dark dull colors and wear outdoor gear as every day clothing choices. Not much color out here. It is common for women to wear yoga clothes to every event. At the finest five star restaurant, it is not unusual to see customers in yoga clothes. Definitely more eco-consciuous and health oriented. Markets and grocery stores are more like Whole Foods. There are more Farmer's Markets with local produce. The eating sure is good out here and the people are very friendly and kind.

Day 11 & 12

Saturday June 23, 2012

We enjoyed our time at the Ace Hotel in downtown Portland. It was VERY different from any other hotel and quite the experience. We tried fine dining and found our one experience a bit lacking. We then tried The Pita Pit - a very casual dinner - and loved it... so you just never know.

Ace Hotel from Stark Street Corner of our hotel room 409

Portland has left us unimpressed after two days. Public transit is a well kept secret here unlike Vancouver and Seattle. There are no maps to be found and no signs to be seen. We have used the car or walked to see sights in Portland unlike the other two cities where we parked and bought day passes to easily travel using public transportation.

Saturday we dedicated the day to driving Hwy 84 along the Columbia River Gorge to view waterfalls. Did we ever see waterfalls! Oh my! We climbed and hiked and viewed and admired the falling waters and lush green rain forest growth until we were exhausted. Wahkeena Falls was first along our route.


Wahkeena Falls

Two sisters taken by two sisters from New Hampshire

with Multnomah Falls in background

 

Multnomah Falls was next. This is the most visited attraction in Oregon. Multnomah Falls is the second largest most continuously running falls in the United States. These waters fall 620 feet and combine Susan's two favorite types of falls; plunge and block. We hiked up trails and had incredible close up views of the falling water. The fine misty spray makes a wonderful arctic facial treatment. Refreshing!

Horsetail Falls

We viewed Horsetail Falls on the way back to Portland. And, surprise!, this is a horsetail type falls. Each stop was spectacular and special. A wonderful train rumbled by as we were getting ready to leave. We waved and the Engineer blew the horn nice and loud. It was a special bonding second.

Train heading to Portland on a rare sunny day

Oregon has no sales tax at all. And, it is the only other state besides New Jersey where you cannot pump your own gas. Other taxes in Oregon and Washington are high but it really shows that you get what you pay for. Infrastructure and support for the citizens is superb out here. Florida could really learn a thing or two from these Governors. Thumbs up to Oregon and Washington for incredible parks and first class public transportation along with the many other benefits of residing here.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

The day dawned bright and sunny so we walked to a Starbucks and enjoyed Blue Java coffee, Portland coffeecake and blueberry scones while reading the Sunday paper. Good thing we were fortified because we tackled the Portland Arboretum and the International Rose Test Gardens. Both are free and supported by the city of Portland. The Arboretum is over 200 acres and we could drive through the whole thing.

The International Rose Test Gardens have to be the finest gardens anywhere on earth. Portland is known as The City of Roses. Beware that we may be posting hundreds of rose photos because every single rose we saw was spectacular. Please go to www.rosegardenstore.org/thegardens.cfm to read about the fascinating history of the gardens and to view their photo gallery.

Early in the morning, it rained so many of the roses were still covered in rain drops making for some spectacular rose gazing. We spent the entire day strolling though acres and acres of over 8,000 rose bushes in picture perfect rare sunny weather. Each rose was better than the last and there is no way anyone could choose their favorite. The long wait and hassle in the Atlanta airport was well worth it just to spend the day in paradise.

We very reluctantly left the gardens and headed out to the Portland Marriott Residence Inn in the northern section of Portland. We have a full apartment with a big kitchen, living room with fireplace, bedroom and separate large bathroom. We are lving in luxury now! I am writing this from the desk in the office of the suite. Now the hard part is deciding which of the over 200 rose photos Susan took today, should we post and share with you. Oh my! That's a lot of rose pictures.

One more day in Portland and one more day in Seattle before we fly home. Gonna be VERY hard to get on that plane!

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