Solo Snowshoeing

Bennet Pass Trail

Suz took Tuesday off and we went back to the Mt Hood area. She went snowboarding, but I don't do that. So I went to the Bennet Pass Trail to snowshoe. This was my first solo hike in I-can't-remember-how-long. Went about 4.5 miles total in around 2 hours. and there was hardly a soul in sight. Passed two cross-country skiers on their way out and a couple walking their dog once I was nearly back to the parking lot. The weather was very nice- at least on the Mt. Hood side of the trail. On the Badger Wilderness area it was fast moving fog with a light rain. [...]

Naked Snowshoeing

Matt, Suz, and I went snowshoeing with Naked Winery on Feb. 9th. We met at the White River West Sno Park with a bunch of winery members. Just like the winery- all the members are fun-loving and easy-going too! This was our first event with the winery outside of tastings and wine pick-up parties. Matt and I went to REI and rented the gear. It was a lot of fun and my first time snowshoeing in years.

We trekked and along the way dug up previously buried bottles of wine. They were marked with fake red roses- easy to spot, right- but apparently someone not in our group thought they should collect them. We spent some time looking for two of the bottles after the roses went missing, but we found eventually! If only they'd known there was wine underneath! We maybe went 1/2 a mile to a mile the whole round trip, stopping every 10 minutes of walking to uncover another bottle. It was a blast and I wasn't the only one who wished they'd eaten a bigger breakfast.  [...]

Turkey Meatloaf Muffins

Yesterday I ventured into the meatloaf making world for the first time. I essentially combined two recipes. The original one where I got the idea from Jamie Eason here and the meatloaf recipe from our Cooking with Beer book by Paul Mercurio. Most recipes call for a cup of oats, but we don't have rolled oats in the house (just steel-cut), so I substituted short grain rice. 

Free form cooking is our general method and involves taking whatever veggies are in the fridge and spices that sound good and for the most part ignoring that part of the cookbook recipes. All of the ingredients below are approximate measurements and done to taste. Essentially this recipe is 2 pounds of ground meat, chopped veggies, and spices. Also, I suggest taking a bit of the mixture and frying it in a pan and adjusting the spices as you see fit. 

These turned out fantastic. I am glad I tested bits in the frying pan. I ended up adding more chipotle spice and some apple maple bbq sauce to balance the heat with sweet. They are pretty filling too. I had one for dinner last night and one for breakfast this morning. They heat up nicely in the microwave. [...]

McMinnville

Matt planned a really fun winery weekend to celebrate my birthday. I was very grateful to get out of town! We went to McMinnville and stayed at the Hotel Oregon and toured 3 wineries: Youngburg Hill, Yamhill Vineyards, and Amity. It was incredibly foggy all day, but it made beautiful hoar frost. 

The itinerary: Text from Grape Escape Winery Tours with italics comments from us. We are not expert wine tasters and we didn't take notes, so I will put down my amateur comments for what I remember.  [...]

First Anniversary

Pulled out the camera to play with it today and realized there are quite a few pictures from earlier this year that never got downloaded.

Our anniversary was way back in April- 9 months ago! We went to Hood River and stayed at a B&B. It was our first time exploring the area and it quickly turned into our favorite local getaway. I don't have my editing program on my laptop anymore, so they are unedited and uncropped.

The B&B

[...]

Tea and Targets

    

We started out with stardard police 
targets, but moved on to the fun 
zombie targets.

Suz and I bought these Groupons last month for a basic pistol safety class for women only at the armory nearby. What better way to spend the day of the world's demise than shooting guns?! The first hour is a classroom portion (and yes, we did drink tea) where you learn about what type of guns and ammunition fall into this category, rules for safety on the gun range, in public, and in your home, parts of the gun, etc. She had several models for us to handle and get a feel for. Even though they weren't loaded (there's no live ammo allowed in the classroom) I think we were both pretty nervous about handling the pistols. It did help a lot to be doing this before we went into the range. 

Being from Alaska, I've had the opportunity to shoot quite a few guns, but never regularly or the same type of gun. I'm not comfortable being around them or handling them. I'm not comfortable with other people, even if it is their gun, handling them either because you don't have to know about guns to own one and clearly there are a lot of people who have a lot to learn about the responsibilities of owning a deadly weapon. This is especially relevant in light of the recent shootings here at the Clackamas Town Center and Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut this past week. Personally, I think one should have to show proof you've taken a basic pistol/ gun safety class before you can buy. [...]

Xibalba

Day 4: Monday, December 10

The ATM Cave entrance.
http://mayawalk.com/

This morning we met at 7am down at Mayawalk for a quick breakfast before we load up. We're heading out on a full day trek to Aktun Tunichil Muknal or the ATM. Brian isn't feeling well and has to back out. So, there's 10 of us plus 3 guys and another girl who aren't with our group. From the time we load up into the vans, the story is solely from the perspective of the part of the group who rode with Aaron and went into the cave with him. The other guide, who was amazingly knowledgeable, was Gonzo. Both are caving buffs who worked with and led the original archeologists when the artifacts were first discovered. They have a long history with the ATM. Some people may have been with both people throughout various parts of the journey. 

It takes about 45 minutes to get to the parking lot where we will unload and pack out the food and gear to the start of the cave. Part of it is paved, but a better portion of it is unpaved and quite a bumpy ride in a 9 passenger van. Every now and then a dinging warning alarm like the one you'd hear to fasten your seat belts goes off. Aaron, the owner of Mayawalk, has decided to be one of the guides to lead us on this adventure, and he lovingly pats the dash and tells the van "It's going to be okay, baby." Apparently one of the other guides drove too fast through a muddy hole on the way to the cave and it got the sensor wet. They had ordered a replacement, but something was the wrong size so they had to send it back, and were still waiting on it to arrive. He is really hoping that we don't dock the company in a review for the sensor going off about every ten minutes. The other van has no air conditioning and a few other minor problems aside from just being old. He said he's had plenty of people give poor reviews based solely on the transportation to and from the cave. This is utterly unfair. It's Central America and you're out here to be on an adventure. This is all a part of the whole wonderful experience. We gave them good reviews. [...]

Cayo

Day 3: Sunday, December 9

Today is our first official day and we're heading to San Ignacio in the Cayo District near the western border with Guatemala. We are incredible excited to get rolling to the jungle! Belize City was an interesting time, but after two days, it's time to move on. In my opinion, if you are ever in Belize City all you need is 2 hours. One hour to see the sights and shop the local crafters- they're all within half a mile of the Swing Bridge (most are far less than that) and an hour to eat (I recommend Neiri's). Then move on to the Cayes or the Cayo. 

Sam and Louise in San Ignacio

We were told breakfast would be at 7am, but when we got upstairs to eat we were told breakfast was now at 7:30. All fine and good; we are quite alright drinking coffee and chatting on the balcony. Take that! The bus we wanted to catch is at 8:30, so we did the after-breakfast dash to get our bags and get to the station. The hotel called 4 cabs for 12 people. They all showed up in under 60 seconds and not everyone was ready. The first cab drove away with 3 people in it. The next had 2 people. (We're off to a great start here.) The had the remaining 2 cabs wait which had 3 and 2 people, not counting Emilio was at the front desk making sure everyone had turned in room keys and checked out (and also getting scolded AGAIN by the owner). Wait a minute, that's only 10 people total. We're missing 2 people! But we only just met everyone, how are we supposed to figure out who's missing? After consulting the girls in the other car and trying to remember everyone, none of us can remember seeing the two blonde girls from St. Louis get into any of the cars. They were in the lobby with their bags right before the cabs came and Gail said she saw them walk to the back of the hotel. No one has seen them since. Emilio was leaving to join us in the cab and we're trying to tell him what we think going on. It doesn't look good to lose two people on the first day. We searched the hotel, recounted in our heads, and still couldn't figure out what happened. [...]

You better Belize it

Day 2: Saturday, December 8

Today is our first full day in Belize. It's also our monthly date anniversary! We ate breakfast at the hotel for $6 BZ each. I forgot to mention anything about currency. Here they take U.S. and Belize dollars. One Belize dollar is two U.S. dollars- the easiest conversion rate ever. If you've never traveled outside the U.S., aside from Mexico and Canada, this area is a great place to start. They speak English (and Creole and Spanish), have the same standard wall outlets- no converter needed!, and they take U.S. money with a very simple conversion to Belize currency.

On the way to the zoo. West of Hattiesville.

The hotel called us up a cab to take us to the main bus terminal in the sketchy-don't-walk-there part of the city. I'm sure we would've gotten lost anyway with all the not-street streets and road construction. The bus station is hectic with food stands, people coming and going and hanging out, taxis, and buses. There isn't much of a solid bus schedule- everything runs on Belize time. I think it took us about 10 minutes to get a handle on what was going on. We asked at least 2 people, who were standing by the gates where passengers load and unload from the buses, if that bus was going to the zoo. We thought any bus heading west would stop there, but determining which bus that was proved challenging. Neither of them were much help. Finally, a random old man came up and pointed us to a counter where we bought our tickets. We were supposed to get on the West Line bus in terminal 1. All the buses are school buses like we used to ride as kids- Blue Bird- but now they've been painted rasta colors and fly down the road making stops whenver someone wants on or off. There are official bus stops, but if you're just on the side of the road and flag one down, they'll pick you up. It was $3BZ each to the zoo and ticket attendant on board let us know when we were there. [...]

Destination: Belize

Day 1: Friday, December 7

For our wedding, we didn't ask for traditional wedding gifts. We're both adults who have been living on our own for years, and pretty much owned all the basics. Instead, we asked for contributions for a honeymoon trip. I don't recall how exactly we decided on Belize. Matt had traveled through Central America several years before. I think I wanted to see that part of the world and visit Tikal. This past June, Matt found the Land of Belize trip that Intrepid offers, for half off. We immediately booked it. There were limited dates, but they worked out. We picked December 8- 15. It's a slow time of year for both our jobs, but not so close to the holidays that traveling on standby would be impossible. It was also key that our vacation to the Maya holy grail wasn't overrun by crazy apocalypse freaks. Traveling with Intrepid takes and draws a certain type of person (usually). We only packed overnight hiking packs. You're traveling with a group of people (up to 12) and a local person who will be your guide. The guide's job is to tell you about the area, give you recommendations on where to eat and what to do, but most importantly, make sure you have transportation and sleeping arrangements taken care of ahead of time, so you can focus on the journey and having fun. We were very much looking forward to this trip's itinerary because we get to see the city, the inland Cayo district with jungles and caves and ruins, Tikal in Guatemala, and end with a few days to unwind and work on a tan in Caye Caulker. It has everything we're looking for in 8 days. [...]

Wenatchee, Tehaleh, and Trial

Last week of November 2012. Matt was in trial and I was in the field. Only one of us was able to take pictures. These are my favorites.

Our work took us through an orchard.

[...]

Brewista

It's a slow week at work, so I have the pleasure to have a full week off for Thanksgiving including the weekend on either end. Yesterday I moped, finally forced/ guilted/ relented into doing a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout for 14 min. 10 minutes in, I thought I was going to either pass out or throw up. I managed to attempt to do the last two exercises before I collapsed in a sad, soggy heap on the floor praying for mercy. It has been too long since I last worked out. I think the last thing I did was run the Color Run with Suz at the end of September. For the rest of the day, I continued to read A Dance with Dragons and sip whiskey. 

Today, I went with Matt to BNI, a professional networking group. They are serious stuff there, but I have to say it was the liveliest, varied bunch of folks for 7am. It works well for small businesses, but there I am introducing myself as a guest and telling them... "Well, we our target market is with large entities, be that private, public, or government, where we can secure very large and multiyear contracts in landscape architecture, construction management, land surveying, and engineering services. But I do know several small land surveying firms who would greatly appreciate smaller scale business such as property surveys, as-builts, small construction management, and topographic surveys." **trying not to panic at totally not being the type of professional who could make use of this type of networking group** Quick stop by the municipal court for Matt's short hearing and then back home. 

I decided I was going to look for my steam curlers, so I can figure out new, not-so-boring things to do with my hair. Looked all over and can't find them. In the process of going through all those unpacked boxes in the guest closet, I decided now would be a good time to pull out the keyboard and try to play or learn a new song. I realized I have no idea where the power cord is. So, I decided I would try to take some pictures because I haven't done that in a long time and the battery was dead (it's charging). So, I was going to make gluten-free biscotti to take with us for Thanksgiving, but I found out it was already made (where's the fun in that?!). After deciding to finish the Daenerys chapter (she finally flies on Drogon! That earned her some very much needed cool points, because for a while she was so annoying I was hoping someone would kill her off.) I decided I might try my hand at brewing. [...]

Chalkboard Paint Labels

This is a repost of sorts. I originally had this on a different blog, but decided to copy it here. It's saturday night and I'm watching the Walking Dead by myself. I have nothing better to do.

For some time I've been collecting and cleaning up used wine bottles and glass jars. I recycled a bunch of them when we moved here so I'm starting over again. I use the wine bottles for smaller grains like quinoa, soft white wheat berries, bulgur, flax seeds, etc. and pasta sauce jars are perfect for dried beans.

I debated on printing out cute labels for the jars, but I don't like being committed to only using them for one item. What if I want to put something different in there next time? I had this idea to use the chalkboard paint to create labels on my food storage. I still have the quart of paint and supplies from my deck table adventure. I searched the internet for any tips on painting glass and found another woman who'd had the same idea for her kitchen.

I started with the masking tape to mark of the area, but the tape is a real pain to work with. And like she discovered you really need to take it off after the first coat. By doing 3 coats in varying directions you can get the same uneven edge effect without the hassle of tape. I also decided to paint a large swatch onto my laundry soap bucket because the permanent marker was, well, not so permanent as it turns out.

A positive week

Well, I had Monday off (6 free days off work in a row!). I spent the day tediously gathering information for pre-approval on a mortgage loan. We had a meeting with a loan guy on Wednesday and while he was getting us approved he was also giving out really helpful advise on paying down debt faster. The concept is pretty simple and after researching it and crunching numbers we realized I could pay off my school debt in 5 years instead of 11 and he could have his paid off in 12.5 years instead of 30! Currently we both pay our school debts separately, but out of curiosity we decided to see how it would differ if we started paying off our debts together using the same concept. Turns out we can pay off 120K in combined school debt in 8 years! I don't want to bore folks who aren't interested in the details of how it works so all that is at the bottom of this post. [...]

Two crazy weeks

Disclaimer: It's been a month of long hours outside, so I apologize for the rather dry dialog.... my brain is running on fumes. Also, I really wish I had taken more pictures in Anchorage, but I was having such a great time with all my friends, that it never crossed my mind!

While I was out working on the bridge (see previous post) I got a call about going to Alaska with Gabe! Really, that was all I needed to hear before I as nonchalantly as humanly possible said "Sure" while inside I was jumping up and down with excitement. This would be my first time back in state since 2010 when Matt and I went to Megan and Aaron's wedding. 

The job was up at Eielson AFB in the Interior about 30 min SE of Fairbanks. The project itself was simple enough- getting vertical and horizontal data on over 200 water quality monitoring wells. We worked with Chris from EA Engineering who was a huge help and the unofficial third person on the crew. I wish I could have taken more pictures, but the military frowns on that. We watched F16s all week. No matter how many times you see them screaming overhead it never gets old! [...]