Summer Vacation 2006: A Beautiful View (Part 3)

Here are the views from our hotel rooms.

In Portland I had intended to take a picture of the outdoor swimming pool, which shared the same view of Interstate 205 with our room. However, two teenage girls were in the pool the first evening and I didn't want to risk spending the night on a hard mattress in a jail cell. I just plain forgot to follow up the next morning. But a traffic cam view should suffice.

Spectacular! I'm mildly dishevelled, having just completed a 25 minute run along the beach.


Florence, Oregon.


The Bellevue view.

***

Betty walked into the bedroom yesterday, saw that I had changed into my tee-shirt and shorts for our workout, and proceeded to greet me with a "Hello, Bozo the Clown."

The kids caught wind of the above exchange and became curious about Bozo—who he was, what he looked like. Perhaps I'm the odd man out here, but because I didn't have a single graven image of Bozo in my extensive collection of books (which, BTW, includes an obscure art book whose cover is probably the only full-frontal nudity image at Amazon.com), I was momentarily pedagogically stumped. Well, wikipedia came to the rescue with this entry. In a previous age, this sort of situation would've required a trip to the library or pooh-poohed with insubstantive information. Ain't the internet great, wavy orange sideburns and all?

Summer Vacation 2006: A Beautiful View (Part 2)

A "beautiful view" in French is une belle vue. Here are some shots of downtown Bellevue, WA.

Bellevue is one of the rare cases when "East" or "Eastside" means a good neighbourhood. Seattle looms from the west.


Lincoln Square. I'm not entirely clear if what's being erected is the tower to the left depicted here.


A good-looking anonymous tower. In my younger days, I would've walked up to it to investigate. But thrills are few and far between these days.


The brand-new Westin. A co-worker had a good stay there.


The two towers of the Hyatt Bellevue.


Looking west to Seattle. The shopping mall in the left foreground is Bellevue Square.

Summer Vacation 2006: A Beautiful View (Part 1)

This storefront is typical of those found in "downtown" Seaside, touristy, but the real deal.


Looking at the highrises in the next two shots, you'd think that Seaside was a large city. Actual resident population: 5,900.



Explorers Lewis and Clark ended their journey west at Seaside. Below is a monument marking the "End Of The Trail".


Two not-so-exciting shots of the beach at Cannon Beach. I'm in dire need of a new digital camera, possibly an SLR, that has a decent zoom ratio. The big rock below, known as Haystack Rock, is purportedly the fourth largest monolith in the world, third being the zit currently gracing my upper left thigh.


Unlike Seaside, Cannon Beach presents a very clean and pretty face. The main drag is lined by little shops with flower pots. Below is a small path wending away from the street.


US 101 as it is through the heart of Lincoln City.


I still chuckle each time I look at this shot.


The beach near our hotel in Lincoln City.


Sister-in-law relaxing on the morning of our departure to Florence.


US 101. Fatal if you're crazy—note the cars hugging the hillside.

Double Eeeek!

Before leaving on our eight-day vacation to the States, I declared to Betty that we were going to finally catch the rodent or rodents responsible for the dry little pellets we've been finding on our linoleum and carpet, in the pantry, and on the shoe rack, by means of the half-dozen or so glue traps I had strategically baited and set out on our kitchen floor, the rationale being that the cessation of human household activity will embolden the sly little critter to rear its head and then, too late, to plant its feet onto one of the many sticky surfaces. [A 100-word sentence!]

Herewith, the culprit and the disgusting collateral damage (in front of the forelegs). Click on the image for a blowup if you're not squeamish.

It took Betty quite a while to calm down—she discovered the mouse first—especially after it moved. I'm still freaked out by the crumpled brown exoskeleton. Get rid of all the spiders, I say, we'll worry about the ecosystem later.

Heard, Seen and Realized

Heard (at Pike Place Market):
Lady 1: I'm on a "Lose 30 Pounds" diet.
Lady 2: How's it coming along?
Lady 1: Well, so far, I've lost 15 ... [pause] ... days.

Seen (on a tee-shirt of somebody at the Richmond Night Market):
I'm Tri-Sexual—I'll Try Anything

Seen (across the Knight Street Bridge):
Two young males in a black soft-top Ford Mustang doing the speed limit.

Realized:
I don't like abalone. Tastes like how I imagine raw land-animal organs to taste.

Realized:
Must be a pain being a resident of Vancouver, Washington. Outside of the Portland, Oregon area, the city must be qualified as being Vancouver, Washington. And outside of the Pacific Northwest, Washington must be qualified as being the state.

Realized:
More often than not, I don't like myself.

André And Ray

If a white lie is an unimportant lie told out of politeness or tact, then the tactic I use to discipline Matthew ought to be called a "grey" lie. Grey lies abound:

• If you don't finish your bowl, you'll marry an ugly ...
• You'll go blind if you...
• You better not pout, you better not cry ... because Santa Claus [himself one great big grey-bearded lie] is coming to town ...

My Santa happens to be policeman Ray Brown, a name that came to me probably because I was listening to a Diana Krall CD when the idea struck—he was her mentor.

Each time Matthew acts up, it's me "on the phone" with policeman Ray Brown, or that Ray Brown is coming by the house to check up on things.

Yesterday I made Ray Brown incarnate while at the recreation centre. I noticed that a co-worker—let's call him André, as in André the Giant, owing to his stature and build— was there poolside with his family. I told him about the lie and asked him if I he could play the role of Ray Brown. He was more than happy to. I went to tell Matthew, who was sitting with Betty in the centre's glassed-off pool viewing area, that I was with Ray Brown and that I was going to point Ray out to him. I returned to the pool deck and stood beside André and waited till Matthew looked our way. I saw him glance over at us and then quickly turn his back to us and then tuck his head under Betty's neck.

Better yet, André the Giant got into the swing of things on his own accord and later walked over to the three of us and introduced himself to Matthew and said with a completely serious face, "Your dad tells me you've been a good boy, right?"

Hey, I've got to get as much mileage out of this while Matthew's still too young to know any better. But he's already catching on; he asked Betty about Ray's civilian clothes, and noted that Ray didn't appear to be carrying a gun. As a final note, Matthew commented that "Ray wasn't that scary." [The co-worker is really a gentle giant.]

Summer Vacation 2006: The Food (Part 3)

Day 7, @ Starbucks, Seattle, WA
Nanaimo bars in Nanaimo: check. Buffalo Wings in Buffalo: been there, done that, bought the tee shirt. Starbucks coffee in Seattle: I can now proudly strike that off my petty life list as well.

I ordered my signature beverage from the Starbucks located on Alaskan Way near the foot of Columbia Street, a tall decaff, nonfat, no-foam latte. Maybe it's all in my head, but I thought the latte tasted better than the equivalent drink back home. Shaula got a Vanilla Bean Frappucino.

The area had the loudest noise level anywhere I've been. Most of it came from the traffic on the elevated double-decked viaduct you see in the background which runs parallel to Alaskan Way.


Day 7, @ P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Bellevue, WA
I wouldn't call it authentic by any measure, but, like The Cheesecake Factory, a very busy place with long lineups. The shrimp and General Chao Chicken dishes (in the foreground) were my faves. A foodie co-worker informed me, belatedly, that P.F. was famous for its lettuce wraps. Damn!


Day 8, @ Our Hotel, Bellevue, WA
Just add oatmeal to the mix, and you have a perfectly healthful meal! This was breakfast on the morning of our departure. All of our hotel stays included a decent continental breakfast. Lox You, man.

- Finis -

Summer Vacation 2006: The Food (Part 2)

Day 5, @ The Cheesecake Factory, Bellevue, WA
There are several wildly popular restaurants in the heart of Bellevue. One of them is The Cheesecake Factory. It's much more than desserts, offering over 200 menu items, bottomless drinks, and excellent limitless bread (especially the pumpernickel). An appetizer is a whole meal unto itself and an entreé can feed two adults. The cheesecake slices aren't behemoths, but most people won't have room for any and opt for a takeout dessert. The photos here are deceiving—the portions are huge—once you realize that the dinner plates are the size of serving plates. Needless to say there were leftovers. We passed on the dessert.

Heeding advice from a well-travelled co-worker, I shared a "Steak Diane" with Betty. Mmyah!


The kids shared a "Crispy Chicken Costoletta".


Day 6, @ Ruth's Chris??, Bellevue, WA
One of my goals is to dine at a Ruth's Chris. As you can see from the picture, I was right there in front of one; I even went inside the previous day (Day 5) to entertain making a reservation. Very high-end décor, but casual attire was welcome.


So this is what we ended up eating on Day 6:

Chicken and Spinach pizza, at Pagliacci, the restaurant next door to Ruth's Chris Steak House! I just couldn't part with the big bucks, plus the menu wasn't kid-friendly. Maybe in my next life (and with my luck, I'd probably come back as a single-diet panda bear).

Day 6, @ The Cheesecake Factory, Bellevue, WA
To make up for the letdown, we splurged on some Kahlua Cocoa Coffee Cheesecake, to go. We took it back to the hotel to eat. Admittedly very good, but I can give it a run for its money with my creations.

To Be Continued...

Summer Vacation 2006: The Food (Part 1)

This is the first in a series of entries about our summer vacation to the Oregon Coast and Bellevue, Washington.
The itinerary we followed, by day, was:

1. Leave Vancouver, shop at the Seattle Premium Outlets, stay overnight in Clackamas, a suburb of Portland, Oregon
2. Visit the towns of Seaside, Cannon Beach, and Lincoln City, Oregon, stay overnight in Lincoln City
3. Shop at the factory outlets in Lincoln City, beachcomb, relax, stay another night in Lincoln City
4. The Oregon Dunes, stay overnight in Florence, Oregon
5. Drive to Bellevue, Washington
6. Shop in Bellevue, visit the Boeing Plant at Everett
7. Visit Seattle's Pike Place and Pioneer Square, shop some more in Bellevue
8. Leave Bellevue, shop at the Seattle Premium Outlets once again, drive home

With the preliminaries out of the way, this blog entry details my foray into gluttony. Much like those ladies who lucked upon a rented houseboat of partying rugby players celebrating the end of their tournament over a long weekend off the shores of Shuswap Lake, every rule in the book was broken. Instead of six smaller meals low in simple carbohydrates and saturated fats, I gorged three times a day on starchy and deep-fried food and topped dinner off with dessert.

Day 2, @ Sam's Seaside Café, Seaside, OR
I had the tuna sandwich lunch platter with tomato soup. Good ol' American fare.

Matthew couldn't finish his burger platter, so I lent a helping mouth.


Day 2, @ Kyllo's, Lincoln City, OR
We went to a funky, dimly-lit restaurant with an ocean view. They had kidney-shaped wooden tables for larger parties (my family and my brother's family made for eight). The restaurant would fare well in Vancouver, let alone a small town like Lincoln City (population 7,437). And the building is on stilts!

I ordered the Seafood Fry, thinking pan-fried, but no such luck. Gulf Shrimp, oysters, scallop, halibut, cod, squid, all deep-fried. This shot is out of focus, a small bout of personal incompetence.


Day 3, @ Momiji's, Tanger Outlet Store, Lincoln City, OR
It's one of those "authentic" Japanese places that also serve Chinese. For lunch, we ordered some maki rolls and the General Chao/Tao (whatever they call it) chicken. Darn tasty until the mishap: somehow, a whole dried chili pepper ended up in one of the chicken pieces. It took, and I swear, 15 minutes for Betty to regain her composure. She even resorted to sticking her tongue into the ice cubes in our water. And just prior to this, Matthew put a whole spoonful of wasabi in his mouth thinking it was avocado.


Day 3, @ Kyllo's, Lincoln City, OR
The Italian place recommended by the hotel attendant was closed, so we ended up at Kyllo's again. This time, I ordered the Salmon.

To Be Continued...