Idaho: Gem of a State, part deux

Sorry to backtrack, but here was the view from our bed in the tent, at Lake Owyhee:

Oops, it's upside down. Please turn your head. (yes, that is my foot).

And here's a series I call "Love at the Lake: Selfies for 2"

1: Wallowa Lake

2: Lake Owyhee (same hats, different day--story of our lives)

OK, back to my post on Idaho. Famous for its potatoes, so we had to get some. Went to the farmers' market just down the road from our hotel. Got some potatoes, still have not eaten them. See future post for a report on how legit they are. As for Boise's Anaheim peppers, we know they are legit. This guy knows what's up:

Last dinner in Boise was at Bar Gernika, a Basque place with killer lamb grinders. I got mine spicy, Sarah played it safe. So delicious. Plus the Basque Block where the restaurant is has a lot of history, including a recreation of the tree graffiti the lonely Basque shepherds scratched into the bark:

We walked back to the hotel in time to catch the end of the Boise St. football game on TV. Glad we weren't still out and about when they fumbled the game away. Not that Boise strikes me as a rioting town, but you can never be too safe.

Saturday we hit the road and passed this sign, which says "Emmett Next Right," in case you don't have your glasses on. They even spelled it right. Later, when I showed him, his eyes lit up. Big smile.

We drove to Sun Valley to meet up with Larry and Linda and the boys. As we arrived, the Welcome Wagon came out:

(Your speakers are fine. It's just that I rolled up the window.)

We have enjoyed seeing Sun Valley live up to its name. Lots of walks, biking, some tennis (STILL got it!), football catch, and swimming at the awesome YMCA pool. The slide goes so fast and has like 3 wicked turns in a row. We had a blast.

But it's not all fun and games, there's also "school." But wait, why not encourage learning and fun at the same time? We had packed Story Cubes, but didn't get them out until yesterday. With a little prompting, here is what the boys did:

It's fun to see them combining their talents on a project. This year will make me a better teacher, if I pay attention to what works. If not, then it's gonna be Ken Burns all day every day! :)

So, today we roll out of town. The plan was to head north to Stanley, then Salmon. From there to Montana. But then, this forecast for Stanley:

NO THANKS.

So we are turning south, chasing the sun. Skipping Craters of the Moon (gotta save SOMEthing for later in life, right?) and heading to see our friends Chuck and Jen in Logan, Utah. After my (and the boys') first visit to Idaho, we all make our Utah debut. Feel free to add Utah-related advice in the comments below! 

PS Breaking news from Shanghai: Luke and Alyson had a baby! Welcome Pearl Abbey Macbride! You are in good hands, except for the whole Blue Jays thing.  

Hi all...before we leave the land of wifi, I wanted to do a big picture upload of our first week on the road.  For those of you who know about my low frustration tolerance and lack of computer savvy, please give me big ups for persevering.  

 When you wonder what we're doing, or where we are, here's the picture.  We try to limit this to about a 3 hour drive, every couple of days. And yes, as much as I can, I drive.  I have, what we call, control issues.











Our first stop was in Eugene, and Chris and Sally Bell took us in, even though they'd just moved in and were having their house painted.  Ever flexible friends!  Please note the steepness of their driveway, not accurately captured in this picture.  The neighbors enjoyed watching Gary and I navigate, so lovingly to each other, backwards up this driveway.  He did recommend that they grab a beer and pull out some lawn chairs, as it took a while.  And he did it!

We picnicked (how do you spell that?) on the U of Oregon campus with dear friend and Katie's college roommate, Kaarin Knudson, her hubs Patrick and lovely sprite Elizabeth, who at 3 1/2 liked to tell the boys exactly what they were doing right and wrong.  Luckily, the Pearlz boyz are used to bossy ladies.

Bobby Branch, this one's for you!

Next stop was the Willow-Witt Ranch, outside of Ashland.  Luckily, right before launching, I'd read of this place in the Portland Monthly magazine.  This picture is dark, but we tent camped here for three nights, and attended plays in the evening in Ashland at the Oregon Shakespearean Festival.

 Here's our campsite during the day.  Not bad.  The goat herding dogs of the Ranch took us in and guarded us by night, as they'd decided the boys were part of their pack.

Here's the drive to and from the plays.  

Luckily John P. broke Desi in to Midsummer Night's Dream last year at SAS, so that's what we saw at the open air Elizabethan Theatre, which was phenomenal.  This night, however, we saw Robin Hood, in which Marion was the heroine to beat all.

Here's the view of the stage

And, back to the ranch.  Why leave, when you have buddies like this to play with?

These puppies were born 5 weeks earlier, and were the sweetest puffballs you've ever seen.  Daily puppy trips for Emmett were a must.

We also loved the pigs!  Stefan Fisher, the bacon and pork chops were TO DIE FOR.  

Here's Emmy helping Jake out with the chores

.

Emmy and Gary are exhibiting how to use the goat milking apparatus.  

 Everyone should visit this farm.  Everyone, kids or no.  The owners and staff are so friendly, Des followed the farmhands around, peppering them with questions.  We ate from their frozen meat and veggies, which were fabulous.  We woke up each day excited to see what was happening on the farm.  Can't wait to come back in January and see how it looks in the snow!

Emm and the pack goats.  Gar and I were skiddish (they follow you around!), but Emmy jumped over the fence and made friends. 

Gary was proud of his pork chop and peaches on the griddle.  They were, as Emmett is keen to say, amazeballs.

 Next was Crater Lake, where Gar and I went for our honeymoon, 14 years ago.  Still a little bit pretty.  Emmy quotes: "I've seen a lot of things, but never anything quite like this," and "I didn't know you could say beautiful this many times a day!  My mouth is tired from saying beautiful."

We're waiting for our boat ride; Emm, as always, prepared. 

Devil's Backbone in Crater Lake

We took the kids on three hikes in one day: breakfast, lunch and dinner.  This is the ranger-led sunset hike up the Watchman Trail. Get ready!

Wizard Island from Watchman's Tower

Still crazy after 14 years

Note the Watchmen: it says .7 miles, not 7 miles!

End of the sunset

Next stop, Bend.  We stayed with Susanna, Pat, Andrew and Reid Abrahamson.  Susanna and Gary used to teach together at Beaverton High, which has seemed to churn out a lot of amazing people.  Susanna has had the good fortune of befriending many Gervaisians, Steve Saalfeld from UPS and Heather Melcher from Bend days.  She gave us the full Bend experience!

We spent a couple of hours looking at frogs and playing in the water at Todd Lake.

1

Emm and the frogs.  So tiny!

We capped it off at 10 Barrel Brewing.  I would recommend the Sparkle Party!  Don't let the name fool you (or do....)

Up next this week, the Fossil Beds, Pendleton Roundup, and Wallowa Lake!

Bend is beautiful

http://youtu.be/R5EawMrL_MA

Lovely walk today

Rockets and Why Batting Cages Have Doors

The YouTube Capture app I just got helped me upload these. Enjoy!

Camp!

Here's Desi's take on the last week+:

Yesterday was Gary's B-day we had cupcakes and pizza.We played in the park it was so fun. We set up are tent trailer it was Super cool then My dad called me Jack Monkey. Then we played kickball again It was super fun after that we went home.

Blog post#2

Last Friday I had an awesome sleepover with my cousins.The next day we had pancakes for Breakfast. Then we went to the batting cages I did 55 slow pitch. I also did 40 baseball. We went to Bergerville and I got a milkshake and a burger then we said bye and went home.

Blog post#3

3 days ago I went to OMSI camp I did Rockets Away. Then on Friday we launched our rockets at Conestoga middle school in Beaverton. 

Then when we were done With that. We drove back to OMSI to watch Emmett's claymation video. After it was over we drove home.

God Bless (the libraries and parks and water fountains in) America

Since we have been back in the states (one month!) I have re-learned to re-appreciate the things that make life in America so grand. As I sit here in the library, hogging free wi-fi, thinking back on Desi's epic 3-point barrage on the court at the park on Tuesday, I count my blessings as a 'Mercan.

Then I get up for a drink at the fountain. Clean water, served ice cold. People, this is huge! (Of course, in Portland, it has no fluoride in it, thanks to the crazy hippies. But that's OK because democracy is, um, pretty good too.) Coming from China, where water and air and food

Anyway, enough politics. You all already know that this place rules. Now, on to the specific parts of it that ruled in the last couple weeks.

IN ALASKA:

We hit Juneau for less than one day. Flew there in a plane that was half-cargo. First row for humans was row 17. Kinda neat.

The main attraction for us was Mendenhall Glacier. Which sits in the largest national forest in the US: Tongass.

The water you see Emmett testing here used to be glacier. Thirty years ago, it would have been almost close enough for him to touch. (or was it 50 years? anyway, not that many). Before too long, the glacier (which is miles long) will be invisible from the visitors' center.

We walked and took the public bus, which was fine until it started raining. Which prompted us to go into the bus shelter, which smelled strongly of pee. I was jumping around to dodge mosquitoes, and in and out of the shelter to balance staying sorta dry while breathing non-pee-reeking air, and I thought: Mother Nature bats last. Nevermind the melting glacier I had just seen, which is as good a demonstration as any of how ocean levels will keep rising and drown us all!!! (Not that humans are, ahem, responsible for global warming, mind you. I promised No More Politics).

Nature could very well kick my ass in the next year. Which is why we went to the army surplus store today and tried on... 

a sweet flight suit... 

...and head to toe camo. Neither of which we actually bought. 

("Playing dress up in a store and then putting the clothes back 

on the rack is more fun than summer camp!" 

--Gary Pearlz)

RANDOM STORY OVER NOW

Anyway, Juneau was cool, and super small. Nice people, too. And that makes 2 state capitols we have visited so far, after Ho-HI.

From Juneau we boarded a ferry and had a great time floating down to Washington.

Here we are about to board. (Stefan and Jen--Note the duffel bag that saved our marriage. Thanks again!)

The views were gorgeous. 

We had lots of time to play. We did our new puzzle.

Saw a few other boats.

Helped out with the safety demo.

Gazed wistfully at the many islands in the Alaskan inside passage.

Did the puzzle again.

After we got off the boat, 3 nights later, we drove to Portland. Some of us tried to fight off the nap.

But sleep won out in the end.

Coming soon: Tales from the beach trip! Love you all.

Hawaii is pronounced "Huh-vye-ee"

We came to grandma and grandpa’s condo

then we went to the beach for 4 days. The car was packed with stuff so the car was almost over flowing with stuff. We drove to the beach when we got to bellows air force station and there was no electricity because a tree fell on the only solar panel (the person there told us that at least).

We saw a bird that had A orange head.

We had s’more the bigger then Emmett’s fist and they melted so much we got them all over our faces. [Dad's note: We had s'mores twice, once at night and once during the day, to make the most efficient use of our lunch campfire. Also for research purposes. Turns out, Day S'Mores are really tasty.]

On the first night there were these people and they were very loud and one guy said “this is the best guitar solo ever” and we woke up at 11:00pm. It was so annoying. Almost every day I went boogie boarding. It was very fun. 

Dinner at Buzz's in Kailua:

Then last night my brother and I slept on the floor. 

[Dad's note: Off to Alaska tonight!]