Cycle Oregon

This year's Cycle Oregon was again headquartered at Western Oregon University in Monmouth. The weather was in the 70s which is perfect for a pleasant day biking. We did an easy 45 miles the first day and 39 the next. Afterwards we camped on the Willamette River in the beautiful Champoeg State Heritage park biking all over this historic area. On the way home, just a few miles from the park, we stopped to pick 23 pounds of fresh blueberries. Bonus: We searched for and found some beautiful agates in the Willamette.

Croatia

Tom and I spent three glorious weeks in Croatia, all on the Dalmatian coast. We had signed on for the Vermont Bicycle Tours (VBT) 10-day excursion. We took advantage of a 7-hour layover in Zagreb to visit that city and were lucky enough to view traditional musicians and dancers in an event honoring their annual international footrace around the city. Then Dubrovnik, "pearl" of the Adriatic and really one of the prettiest places I've ever been, then on to Split where we met our wonderful guides - Marko and Mattej -- for a trip to the islands of Brac and Hvar for some of the most spectacular rides and views anywhere. Back to Split for one night more with our group (incredible people, very compatible, total fun) before they departed for home and we for an additional eight days, starting on the island of Vis, then Korcula (on both islands we rented motor scooters for an easier way to hit those hills) and points inland. More photos and information on my travel/food blog, www.themeanderingfork.blogspot.com.

California bound

We had a great week plus road tripping to Tom's nephew's wedding in Mammoth Lakes. We took our time and had a relaxing journey.

With no definite plans we decided to head over to the Eastern side of Oregon along the Umpqua River route and that landed us at Diamond Lake for the night, an unexpected jewel. We walked the bike trail that goes all around the lake (almost 12 miles, though we only went about a quarter of a mile) and met some great people who we ended up talking the night away with around their campfire and then headed back to our room in the dark.



This was my first time at Crater Lake and found not only the lake to be incredible but the surrounding terrain, including the Pumice Desert. We hiked up to the fire lookout and was lucky to have the fire patrol ranger let us into the lookout hut and provide an overview of his fire detection techniques.He demonstrated the purpose of the rubber souled stool in case of lightening saying that he kneels on the stool and "assumes the position" (praying for his life).








Finally, the purpose for the road trip -- Chad and Oona's wedding at Mammoth. We headed to our cabin at Convict Lake where the wedding, reception and festivities took place. It was beautiful and the weather was picture perfect. See those blokes on the bikes at the 11,000+ foot summit of Mammoth -- they're friends and we thought crazy fools to ride down the mountain on dirt bikes until we decided to do the same our last day at Mammoth. It was harrowing, albeit exhilarating and I'm glad no body parts were broken in this pursuit of adventure. (Note: We did not start from the summit)











A week of dinners, barbeques, hiking, biking and gondola's to the top of the mountain concluded with the wedding of Chad and Oona in the most beautiful setting on Convict Lake. Our cabin faced the party cabin (among the pictures below).






We headed West from Mammoth through Tioga Pass and Yosemite National Park with all of its fantastic rock formations (lots of rock climbers), Alpine lakes, John Muir/Pacific Trail, and overlook into the Valley floor to the famous Half Dome.

Thanksgiving in the city of our founding fathers

We spent Thanksgiving week in Philadelphia. We've spent many Thanksgivings there, in Center City, and being in the historical city of our founders, combined with the 18th century houses, Independence Hall and other historic buildings, the City Tavern, the horse carriages, the large city park squares...all make it an ideal place to spend the holiday. Sure, a friend of a friend of my son's was in the hospital from gun shot wounds after a 2:00 a.m. botched armed robbery on their street corner (a seemingly peaceful neighborhood we also visited) but the City of Brotherly Love has always lived up to its reputation where we are concerned.

We started off with dinner at a terrific French bistro, Creperie Beau Monde, followed by Peter's cabaret (www.cabaretredlight.com) at the restaurant's upstairs stage, Le Cabaret Francais L'Etage, where we were reunited with lots of Peter's friends and a racy night of songs, music and skits.

The next day we joined Peter at a music studio where he recorded several songs on his accordian for a Broadway (?) musical. Spent an afternoon walking around the beautiful Halvorford college grounds while Peter taught a class. Went to an opera by Peter's students at Curtis School of Music, Don Giovani, that was so superb I couldn't believe these were all college students.

We stayed in a wonderful suite with a kitchen bigger than ours, a living room, and bedroom full of antiques (Oasis Room, Philadelphia Bella Vista B&B, 752 South 10th Street, www.philadelphiabellavistabnb.com) 2 blocks to the Italian market and our favorite fresh torrone maker and bakery, Isgros, over 100 years in continuous operation with many of the women working behind the counter there for almost as long!)and 2 blocks to Philadelphia's Magic Gardens, a wonder of imagination in mosaic (www.philadelphiasmagicgardens.org). I cooked a complete meal in kitchen's small stove and only set off the alarm once, though we were lucky not to set it off more times as the stove chugged out smoke.

We visited Peter's new studio for launching his million projects, center for his graphic design business, art projects, and band and performing troupe rehearsals housed in a fantastic, large space hidden in an old dairy factory.

We breakfasted at Carman's Country Kitchen, a wonderful breakfast in a tiny diner made my a saucy Carman who considers "special requests" an insult. Having been warned, I barely whispered my request for bacon cooked hard, but added "only if that's okay." I had the unlikely combination of a sweet corn, kale and smoked Gouda omelet that was really incredible. Tom had waffles topped with cooked, mashed carrots and Peter French toast with beets and raspberries on top. Carman doesn't have a website but she has an army of loyal fans. So if you go to Philly, get there early; there's only four tables.

We were then joined by Peter Neu and his girlfriend Allie who drove down from Manhattan. Esther, Peter and neighbor Ginny made a traditional turkey dinner we all enjoyed. Before dinner we had visited the city's oldest inn, the City Tavern (est. 1773) where our founding fathers lodged,imbided, dined and held meetings, while working on our nation's founding. There we also imbided in traditional drinks of the time -- Wassail, spiked apple cider, and beer from the original recipes of Washington, Jefferson and others.

Finally, on our last day in town we ate at Parc, the wonderful French restaurant on Rittenhouse Square (really, you would swear you were in Paris). The best moment of the entire trip -- Peter gifted me with an antique violin and case that he had purchased for me in Prague this summer and saved to give me until our last hours in Philadelphia. It was more than I ever expected. Glad to say, the violin and we had an uneventful and relaxing trip back to Seattle. Now for the lessons.

Photos of our trip follow. More information on Phillie food at my new food blog, The Meandering Fork (www.themeanderingfork.blogspot.com).