Portland, Oregon's Namesake

Sunday, we returned from a week-long exploration of the northeastern Atlantic coast. First up was a short stint in Maine. We flew into Boston and after a brief detour in the tacky tourist spot of Salem, MA (Andy's teaching The Crucible this year and was hoping for some cool photo ops), we headed north to Vacationland.

Sunday was a foggy day of wandering and tasty eats. We started with breakfast at Hot Suppa, which pleasantly filled our tummies with blueberry pancakes, bacon, and porridge (yes, Andy did order porridge and bacon). We lunched on a lobster roll on the waterfront followed by some of the ever present Maine ice cream. Ice cream and lobster are everywhere in Maine; you'd think that there was a state law requiring that you sell one of the two (if not both). Note: I am not compaining! You can buy lobster rolls from street vendors in Portland! We celebrated my birthday a night early with an amazing dinner at Street and Company. We both had grilled lobster (in the shell) over linguine tossed with olive oil and garlic. It was amazing!

Monday, we headed to Acadia National Park. We drove through a number of seaside towns on the way, including the LL Bean-dominated Freeport, stopping along the way when we spied a sign for old fashioned donuts. Acadia was, as advertised, beautiful, but we didn't see as much of it as we would have liked....due to the crazy fog. We loved the Gorham Mtn/Cadillac Creek hike but sure couldn't see anything from the top. On the way back, we stopped in Bangor (but didn't run into Stephen King) for dinner at the Sea Dog Brewery. Also notable on this day was this hot dog sign outside of Bar Harbor.

Coming soon...part 2 of our trip: Nova Scotia.

No More Mix

As previously posted, our trip to Seattle was great. That said, we did see something disturbing: the replacement of the Green Lake location of our favorite Seattle ice cream place, Mix, with a much more corporate (if relatively environmentally friendly) Ben & Jerry's. We hoped that the original U District location had survived, but alas, after some internet searching, the whole operation is kaput.

Mix was a marble-top ice cream place where you add your own toppings. Unlike Cold Stone, there was no singing and they were never were stingy with the mix-ins (though I found the dudes that worked at night were more generous than the ladies in the daytime). I tended to get "healthy" frozen yogurt and then add cookie dough, twix, and other assorted items. I liked to get Mix and then walk over to Green Lake and eat it in front of all the runners.

Mix, even though you were 2,249 miles away, you will be missed.

Ramona Crosses the 'Ultimate Line.'

Of all the bad things Ramona has done since she was a puppy, until Sunday she had never gone into the basement. We had never allowed it, and as far as we knew, she did not even comprehend of the possibility. We were outside doing yard work and I came inside the back door to see Ramona trotting through the basement toward the steps. She had done it! She had crossed the 'ultimate line.' She does not seem to have done anything she shouldn't down there (cat box, extra tennis balls, trash can all seemed unmolested), but it is still not a good sign.

Coast to Coast

It's high time that the picture of my blue foot be removed from the top of our blog, so I'll take this opportunity to blog about our recent trips.

First, we spent the week of July 4th in my home state of North Carolina for Kathy's wedding. We started the week at Wrightsville Beach...


and then headed back to Carrboro/Chapel Hill for the wedding, which was beautiful, happy, and fun, like a wedding should be.
Next up, after being home for a total of 3 days, we took a trip back to our most recent previous home, Seattle, for a quick visit with friends.

We visited old haunts and restaurants including Chinooks (for alder planked king salmon that melts in your mouth), Circa (for brunch, where Andy started the day with a Mannys and a coffee), and Maneki (for some traditional Japanese). We also checked out a new favorite of Shawn and Heather's, the Lunchbox Laboratory, which specializes in truly amazing hamburgers. Check it out, Seattlites!

It was fantastic to see everyone (and meet baby James), but I left with a feeling of homesickness. Our trip was influenced by the fact that I've had a rough time at work recently (mostly because Indiana environmental policy is moving in the wrong direction, even as Obama is pushing EPA forward). Nevertheless, I just can't help but feeling like Seattle fits who I am so much better that anywhere else I've lived, at least as an adult. There are lots of things I love about Indy, and I certainly love being so much closer to family, but I keep feeling this tug westward. We'll see how I feel as time passes...I may post on this again.

For the meantime, though, I am going to focus on our final July trip, Maine and Nova Scotia!

No More Swirls

With Andy out of town*, I decided to tackle a long delayed home project....painting book room. We bought paint for three rooms last April but only ended up painting two. So, opening the paint can (technically plastic jug...) was like a surprise b/c I had more or less forgotten the color we had chosen except that it was blue.

Painting took most of yesterday and nearly turned me into a smurf...but I am happy for our house to be swirl-less.

Before















After (it's not quite as bright as the pictures make it seem)

*at the National Forensics League (the other NFL) National Tournament. Go Ben Davis!

Music Video Shoot on the Monon

Not surprisingly, the Monon Trail is one of my favorite dog-walking spots. Yesterday, Ramona and I headed out. There's a nice spot north of Broad Ripple where you can go off into the woods and walk beside a creek. Most days, it's uncrowded and Ramona can run free.

Yesterday, I noticed there was a group of people dressed all in white right the south entrance to the wooded trail. So, I stayed on the Monon and decided to head in at the north end. I let Ramona off leash and we were walking along, when all of a sudden I noticed that there were about 8 people all dressed in white Tyvek suits with these odd white cones on their faces, and some of them were carrying what looked like objects from an old timey sci-fi movie. I got Ramona back on her leash before she noticed them (sometimes it's great she's so obtuse). Then, I noticed a camera man and quickly realized we were in their shot. I hopped off the trail (with Ramona) and heard someone yell "Keep Going" to the white-suited folks, one of whom apologized to me (I apologized back). There was a song playing this whole time. Finally, they yelled "Cut," and the suited folks let me by. The production team apologized to me, and I asked what was going on. It turns out they were shooting a music video!

In my bewilderment, I neglected to ask what band it was for. As I was kicking myself on the way home, I realized that I recognized the song but couldn't place it. After talk to Andy, we named off the Indianapolis bands we know and like: Red Light Driver (didn't sound like them), Loretta (broken up), Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos. Andy put Margot on, and 15 seconds into the first song, I said, "this could be it!", and then it kept going, and I excited declared that the song I'd heard was definitely "A Children's Crusade on Acid." So, I am totally disappointed that I didn't talk to them more, but I psyched that they were filming nearby!

What's Six Years of Benzene Releases Among Friends?

BP announced that it had been releasing known carcinogen benzene into the air for the last SIX years. Check out this post from the Huffington Post: BP Has a Deal it Hopes We Can't Refuse. Their argument reported in the Gary Post Tribune article about not causing harm to human health or the environment is particularly frustrating given the amount of time it takes for cancer and other chronic health problems to develop.