025 Port Townsend, WA

October 31, 2008 – Friday
Port Townsend, WA

I arrived in Port Townsend yesterday and drove directly to the hostel to find out where it was. The office din’t open until 5pm and it was only about 2, so I found a café which had internet access and hung out for a little while, grabbing some lunch while I was there. I had half of a BLAST sandwich which is a fancy BLT with herbed mayo and slices of avocado. Absolutely delicious! Courtyard Café, was very cute and had delicious coffee. Around 4pm when I finished with lunch, I decided to find a place to have a glass of wine since I had about an hour left until the hostel office opened and I wanted to check out more of the town anyway. With the recommendation from the people Courtyard Café (which closes at 5pm every day), I went to The Fountain which didn’t open until 5pm. After stopping into The Upstage and finding
that they didn’t open until 5 either, I finally found myself at The Public House which was lively and operating! Just like the Courtyard Café, The Public House was very cute with a lot of character. I brought my journal in with me to do some writing and had a wonderful glass of white wine. After writing for a while, it was finally after 5pm so I left to check into the hostel.

I have to admit that I have really enjoyed having a GPS with me to help find my way around the US. When I got into my car to find my way back to the hostel, I came to find that my GPS wasn’t functioning. I turned it off and on a couple of times to no avail and then had the “smart” idea of hitting the reset button. Now what I have is a GPS that will turn on, want me to set all of my preferences, but is unable to load any maps of the US. It’s a really good thing that I pay close attention nowadays when I drive around; I was able to find my way back to the hostel without any trouble. The GPS still isn’t working now and I can’t find my cable to attach it to my computer to see if there’s anything I can do to fix it. Well, this will definitely make everything more of an adventure!

Chris was at the hostel when I arrived and provided me with info on the area, and I met Charlie who has been staying there for a while and will probably stay there a while longer, until he gets bored and wants to move on. I love meeting people like
me! I was the only girl staying there for the evening so I had the womens dorm all to myself. Since I had looked into the area to see what was happening that evening and found some live jazz, I changed into some less ragged clothing, heels and light leather jacket. I rarely get the chance to dress up these days. As soon as I was changed, I went upstairs in the hostel and paid for another evening; I decided I would like to stay in town for a couple of nights before moving on. Also, I found an event that I think I’ll enjoy attending for Halloween! Something about a masquerade ball in a castle?


Anyway, I took off and found my way to the Upstage where I grabbed a spot at the bar (often the best way to meet other people when traveling alone). Next to me was a nice guy named Dean who I started chatting with. Turns out he has been traveling much like myself; he dropped off his son in Chicago, coming from Maine, and then
decided to just keep driving. He took the ferry from Seattle to Port Townsend and found himself in this very cute town at a spectacular hotel named the Palace Hotel. The jazz was very enjoyable, with the theme of Miles Davis music. When it was finished, Dean and I decided to split a spinach and gorgonzola pizza, yummy.

I’ve been finding that I am having a hard time pressing on right now, I really enjoy being in these small cities and exploring; actually I enjoy exploring these more than large cities right now. I think the thing that’s going to get me moving again is the cloudy skies and cold weather. It’s raining today, too; cold and wet. Bleh. Not even good for sight seeing in the national park (however still gorgeous in a way)! Sometimes I wonder if I will get lonely and miss my friends and communities of which I have been a part of. Most of the time what I have found is that I just try to create a bit of a community wherever I am, through the new people who I meet along the way. It requires an interested mind, a curious spirit, to meet people and share yourself as well. A spirit that tells you to find out who these people are, what their stories are; how they ended up in the same place where I find myself. It’s often quite interesting, or can be if you want it to be. The more that I’m on my own, the better I tend to do, meeting people and putting myself out there; and it occurs to me that what I really need to do next is work up to asking people to join me in whatever I’m doing. I should have asked the people at the Courtyard Café to join me for a drink when they were finished with work; who knows what might have happened, maybe they would have said yes and I could probably have learned quite a lot. The other thing that I want to do is create some traveling cards – like business cards, but I’m not really in business right now… So they’ll have my blog on there in case anyone wants to keep in touch after I leave their area.


Apparently, this blog is one of rambling thoughts. I think I have discovered partially what I want to do during my travels. I want to fall in love – with an area, with a place. I want to discover the many different kinds of places there are in the US and then find which works best with who I am and what I want to do. It’s amazing to me how many people don’t do that, check out different areas of the world to find one that gels best with themselves. But I suppose, not everyone is like me. And what is me? Me is finding that out and enjoying the journey quite a bit. What I have been able to admit so far is that I definitely like living at a slower pace, allowing me to truly experience life, observe life around me and see things much more fully for what they really are. I feel as though I have squandered a lot of time away, rushing from place to place and hurrying from event to event. Even in my spare time, I have done very little. I may want to stay in a smaller town for a time, or in a place that is hardly a town which would allow me to do so many more things with my creative self. I need time and space to feel comfortable doing that; being around people and buildings and cities simply distracts me constantly. I’m good at being social, sometimes a bit of a butterfly, but I can’t hold back the other side of me, the side that doesn’t want people around all the time, but instead more earth, nature.

Ok, enough of that for now… The final event of last evening was when I was finally back to the hostel and went back out to my car for my water bottle which I had forgotten. After I found it, I turned around to go back inside and stopped dead in my tracks. A beautiful deer was standing about 15 feet away from me, staring at me. I said “Hey, how’s it goin’?” and continued inside. The deer watched me as I passed, then I did the same with it. When I passed it, before I was back inside, I turned around and watched it meander off across the yard. It was a spectacular end to a great day.

024 Halloween, Flowers, and Washington

October 29, 2008 – Wednesday
Bremerton, WA

Last Monday I finally got around to figuring out what to do for Halloween and bought some materials to construct my costume. Since I decided that I was going to be a flower, I needed to pick up some “flowery” items so that I could create a hat. The thrift stores didn’t have as much as I would have liked in the way of fake flowers, so I ended up at Michael’s where they had some gorgeous red prettiness waiting for me. On the way back home I stopped for happy hour at my local hangout, the Red Dog Depot. I have claimed this as “my spot” and I believe I know most everyone who works there now. It’s nice to be able to have a place where “everyone knows your name…” when you don’t know many people in the area.

Back at the ranch, I spent a couple of hours constructing my costume. With wire, an underhat, some butterflies and the flowers and leaves from Michael’s, I created a lovely headpiece for Halloween. Somehow I ended up not getting a head to toe body shot of the costume, from the stem (trusty brown boots), on up (green dress) to the flower hat, which is not to be forgiven, but the headshot that I ended up with was really pretty darn sweet. Thanks Dennis!

Speaking of Dennis, Tuesday night, after packing my car nicely full of camping gear and everything else I own right now, I drove up to Portland and stayed with my friend Dennis for the night. When I got there, we took some time to catch up, then I changed into costume and had a documented (Dennis and his photos…) makeup application session with bright red lipstick makeup, shimmer and all. Luckily, the weekly Tuesday Blues dance was Halloween themed that week and we attended, in costume. Before the dance, we went to Crush for some dinner and drinks with Karissa and Joshua; they also brought Dennis his costume for the night… Which he changed into (after some prodding) in the photobooth that was right next to us. It isn’t every day that someone gets to pull a superman move!


It was great fun at the dance, since I hadn’t been dancing in months before this time. Cid was up from San Fran and had a great DJ set; it was lovely seeing him again, it’s been too long. I danced my buns off, loved dressing up (Halloween is my favorite holiday) and had a wonderful evening. In the morning before I left town, Dennis and I had brunch at the Tin Shed; a fabulous restaurant in Portland. I highly recommend it.

Finally, it was time to take off for Seattle where I met an old friend, Sara, for dinner at the Coastal Kitchen. They had a new themed menu that evening, based on Brittany, France. It was pretty delicious, but we would have preferred if it had come out in courses rather than on one large platter. Some of the food got cold before we could get to it! Of course, I think that had something to do with the fact that we hadn’t seen each other in something like 5 years and had a ton of juicy stuff to catch up on. After a 3 hour dinner and great company, I took off and drove to the other side of Puget Sound where I found myself a hotel room for the evening. I had wanted to stay at the hostel in Puget Sound, but it was too late in the evening by the time I got there. So, I cheated. The good thing was that I was nice and rested for the rest of my time in WA.

023 Digging Trenches

October 24, 2008 – Friday

Redmond, OR

Still learning about things around the ranch; I have so many questions and am always asking why.  Why do you have those Alpacas over there?  Why are those separated from the others?  Why are the kids (young Alpacas) kept all together, separate from the Girls (the girl alpacas)?  Etc, etc…  This time, I’m preparing because they’re going to leave me in charge for the weekend while they’re away.  It’s test time!

Today we used the bobcat to dig a trench for a pipeline to get water that drains from the roof away from the building where it tends to gather in large puddles making everything quite messy.  There is a large amount of very solid lava rock in the ground here and some of the chunks are quite huge.  We ended up having to dig three different lines of trench before we had one that was without rock the entire way to the new water hole.  When we finally got the pipe down, we covered it all up and then I used the quad with a palette and some wires attached to drag behind and smooth out the ground.  Basically, I drove quickly in circles for about 10 minutes or so.  Entertaining, I guess!  And afterward, you couldn’t even tell we had just dug up the ground all over the place.  Like magic…

In the afternoon, we decided to have some playtime and hopped on our bikes to visit Grandpa and Mary in Bend.  Just a short visit, but one that was appreciated nonetheless.  When we came back to the ranch just after dark, I helped put “the girls” into the barn for the evening, to complete the chores for the day.  Finally, it was time for a big, delicious dinner and some wine.  You know, it’s simply a healthy thing to do to have 3 glasses of wine a day…  I like the sound of that.

022 Settling in a bit...

October 23, 2008 – Thursday

Redmond, OR

I’ve been settling in just a bit here at the ranch lately.  The last few days have been spent without too much adventure but with much relaxed enjoyment.  Thumbing through thrift stores for treasures and finding deals at the grocery outlet (later known kindly as the used food store) have been keeping my mom, aunt and I busy.  I have found many empty frames from the thrift stores to fill with paintings, in the hopes that it keeps me painting anyway!  It’s been fun hanging out with my aunt, getting to know her a bit more than I have been able to so far.  Yesterday us girls stopped for happy hour at the Red Dog Depot after shopping, had a yummy hummus and pita sort of appetizer and a drink.  As you will possibly find out, it was the first of many stops for me at the Red Dog Depot.  A very cute place on the outside, it was an old rail station that was relocated and redone.  Now, it’s a restaurant/bar with photos of dogs in red frames all over the walls.  Hundreds of them.  And a goat.

I finally have been feeling better, so it’s been time to learn how to do the “chores”.  I really dislike the word chores and prefer to say “feed the animals” or “take care of the animals…”   But people understand the word chores and it’s shorter to say, so I guess I use it sometimes as well.  Anyway, there’s a whole lot to learn about around the ranch.  Especially for me, since it’s a completely different kind of life than I am used to.  So far, I love it; it’s wonderful learning so much about something new, especially hands on.  So, in the morning I hopped on the four wheeler (quad), loaded up the back of it with hay and delivered the delicious stuff to the Llamas & Alpacas, Mini Horses & Ladybug (the big horse).  Patty showed me how she feeds the chickens & doves, cats, dogs, fish & bird.  I took pretty good notes on it all so that if I forget, I can run down the list and figure things out.

Overall, it’s been a nice time.  A bit of a slower pace from running around the country (to say the least) and kinda nice now and then.

021 Riding along the coast...

October 19, 2008 – Sunday

Florence, OR

Another incredible way to start out a day is riding a motorcycle along the coast while the sun is shining down on everything around you.  Even though I didn’t ride my bike to Yachats yesterday, I made up for it today.  Uncle Lyle, my Mom & Dad and I took our bikes along the coast, one of the most incredibly beautiful rides yet, but I’m a sucker for the ocean.  We had coffee in Yachats at the Adobe Resort and Restaurant, at a table overlooking the crashing ocean waves.  

We didn’t spend too much time in the town since we planned on heading back to Redmond when we finished our ride, but I showed everyone where I had spent my time yesterday.  On the way back to Florence, my parents and I decided to stop at the sea lion caves; supposedly the largest Sea Lion Cave in the world.  Since it was a gorgeous day, however, all of the sea lions were out sunning themselves on rocks a couple of clicks down the road instead of hanging out in the cave.  I know I would be if I were them!  We found them there when I stopped to take a couple of coastal photos at an overlook.  There were hundreds of sea lions, swimming, sunning & playing around.  After we left the cave, we finished our ride back to Florence to meet Aunt Patty & Lyle again.

We packed up our things and headed back home to Redmond, stopping on the way at the small restaurant previously mentioned in yesterdays post.  I picked up some literature on the place and took a few photos of it myself.  What a fabulous spot.

And now, we’ll be back in Redmond for a while but my parents swear that they’re really heading back to Minnesota this time…   So, we’ll see!

019 We’re all here cause we’re not all there...

October 18, 2008 – Saturday

Oregon Coast/Yachats, OR

A great way to start out the day is a hike down to visit the ocean.  Even though it was cold and windy, it is most certainly wonderful and beautiful.  After getting back from the hike, I drove my car up to Yachats for the mushroom festival.  I actually turned back once while I was on my way there, to get my bike instead…  But then I turned around again and continued along the road since I knew I’d want to drink some wine while I was there.  It was a gorgeous day, however, and it would have been an incredible ride along the coast.

Once I arrived in Yachats, I found the city hall where they had signs up promoting the mushroom event.  There was a farmers market with some creative goods, canned foods & mushrooms for sale and inside was a setup for the Mycological Society with tons of different kinds of mushrooms on display with detailed info.  While I was there, I decided it was time to pick up a book on mushrooms.  I figured that the people working there would be a good source for helping me figure out which book to start with.  I had a good laugh at one of the signs in the room, “Who says you can’t eat poisonous mushrooms?  You can eat any of them once…”

Before I left the City Hall, I decided to buy a basketful of fresh Chanterelles from one of the vendors who had picked them by hand earlier that day; they looked spectacular.  Also, I asked around to find out where I should go for some dinner, a glass of wine and a special mushroom dish.  On the way to the next venue, I passed by a thin, small guy with a leather jacket on, big grey beard & huge knife sheath who was leaning against a phone booth.  I didn’t make eye contact.  I did make eye contact with some people in the Yachats River House where I went for a glass of wine.  It was a very cute little place with a gorgeous deck and amazing view of the ocean and some city countryside.  While I was there I visited with a couple of people who were also there for some food & wine as well as a couple of people who worked there.  It was quite enjoyable meeting them and sharing stories of where we’re from, where we’re going, and what everyone knows about the town…  Again and again, I love meeting new random people in the different places I travel.

After I finished my wine, I decided to see what else the town had to offer, so I went across the street to the Drift Inn which had been recommended to me for dinner.  The only seat open at the bar was right next to the phone booth guy who was quite excited that I was going to sit by him.  I guess he was smitten from when I passed by him earlier and was happy to have the chance to chat with me.  It was probably the motorcycle jacket that I had on, as well as the big sunglasses, polka dot scarf in my hair and heels that got him.  I was looking pretty styling actually…  He mentioned that he had seen me earlier when I passed him but I probably hadn’t wanted anything to do with him because I saw the big knife.  I wonder if that happens to him often?  We did end up chatting for a while and it was entertaining; Beau was his name and he lives in the mountains, hence the big knife.  Living in the middle of the mountains, he keeps the knife for protection, instead of a gun.  Overall, his life is yet another that is quite different from what I’m used to and it was really interesting talking with him for a while.

When he left, I went back to my car to grab my notebook so that I could catch up on some writing and note-taking.  As I waited for a pick-up to pass by, the driver stopped for me to cross.  When I arrived at my car, I found out that the pick-up driver happened to be parked right behind me.  I smiled at him on my way back to the restaurant and he smiled brightly and got out to say hi to the girl he just let pass in front of him on the road.  I told him his dogs were beautiful and he asked me if I wanted to meet them.  Of course I had to say yes!  Mark’s dogs were Misty and T-Bone, both rescued and now loved.  Mark, with a large reddish colored beard, wearing beige overalls and a plaid shirt, was just starting his own business in the area and calling it Stonewood Creations.  He’s a welder and makes creative stone sculptures.  He didn’t have any cards on him but I’d love to see some of his work!

Back at the Drift Inn, I ordered the special, a mushroom crepe with a spicy pepper sauce which came with a salad that had the most incredible ginger dressing, and I ordered a fabulous glass of white wine with the recommendation from the bartender.  A couple of new guys come in and sit on my right, Matt & Geoff.  They had been out hunting mushrooms earlier, Geoff teaching Matt about them.  Matt ended up giving me a large amount of Chanterelles and told me how to cook them for the best results.  Geoff and I talked a lot about traveling, he was excited about what I was doing and happy for me to be taking notes and writing about it so that I could consider writing a book some day.  He’s taken trips on freighters which excited me since it’s something I want to do.  I wish I had some business cards with my blog site so that I can share it with strangers who I meet along the way.  I chatted with another couple at the bar for a while as well who were also out of town.  Overall, there are very friendly folk in this area and I’ve been quite comfortable!

A band played later that night, led by a young fiddler player with lots of curly gorgeous hair and tons of talent.  His backup was a trio of older, white-haired men who were fantastic.  I guess most of the locals in Yachats were hiding away during the mushroom festival weekend; I can’t wait to go back again sometime when they’re out and about as well.  Besides Beau, I met only people who didn’t actually live in Yachats.

Finally, it was time to move on.  I had heard that the nighttime venue was the Landmark,  so I finished out my night there.  Another live band, this time some great blues & rock, in a dark dive bar atmosphere.  There, I ended up chatting with Matt from Fresno, CA who has traveled a lot, also has a motorcycle, and was there for the festival.  We danced with some other folk in the place to some of the music, though nobody there was partner dancing and it drove me crazy on the great blues songs.  After a while, I decided that it was time to head back and call it a night, so I drove back to Florence on the dark twisty, curvy coastal roads very carefully.

The Unofficial Slogan of Yachats: We’re all here cause we’re not all there.”

018 Finally, The Coast.

October 17, 2008 – Friday

Florence, OR

This last week has been a slow one; I am just recovering from a cold.  It’s been nice, having some time to relax and recuperate in a beautiful spot without many responsibilities to worry about while being sick.  Mainly my days have been filled with having coffee, breakfast, lunch, dinner, then doing some painting in the evening and occasionally at other times during the day.  My dad has been helping with the chores around the ranch, my brother left last Monday but he was quite a ranch hand as well.  It was really fun having him out here, even though it was really cold a lot of the time.  We did get in a few rides, but at some point I had enough of my fingers falling off and I skipped out on a couple.  When my brother got back from one of them, he said that his glasses had salt tears frozen to them from his eyes watering and getting onto them.  Yes, it was cold.  Yesterday when it was finally warmer and we were heading to visit Grandpa & Mary again, I stopped to buy new gloves for cold weather.  I’m excited to wear them, they look spectacular!

Speaking of my bike, a few days ago, my Uncle asked me if I had a name for my bike.  I don’t, so I told him that.  He and my Dad had a lot of fun trying to come up with something clever, offering me suggestions all the time.  My Uncle thinks I should just call it “Bitch”.  My Dad, however, came up with “Independence.”  I suggested that I combine the two and call it “Independent Bitch.”  What do you think?  Actually, the latest that Uncle Lyle came up with was iBitch.  I kinda like that one, too.  It’s entertaining, and nice to know where some of my behaviors, actions and thoughts come from.  I’m definitely my Father’s daughter.

By the way, the snow did go away; it didn’t stick around for too long, but I didn’t care at all for it while it was here.  The mountains really look beautiful layered in fresh snow, but it’s not enough for me to want to be too close to it.  While I’ve been staying at the ranch, it has been wonderful to have some time to paint.  I made a larger version of a concept that I worked on at my time in the yurt and finished the other one that I started there which I don’t care for much.  However, I painted one more that I actually do like quite a bit.  I may post it here, as well as its inspiration so people understand a bit more.

There are some kittens at the ranch that are growing up quickly; they’re leaving their basket just barely at this point.  Well, I’ve made friends with them and I just know that one of them wants to come with me and be my car cat.  He/she is adorable, black with bright blue eyes that look directly into mine.  He/she usually comes to greet me when I come to visit, scampering up to say hi.  I adore it.

This weekend I found a mushroom festival in Yachats, on the coast.  I was determined to attend some of it, and was trying to get well all week so that I was ready for the jaunt over to the coast.  By the time today arrived, my Aunt Patty, Uncle Lyle, Mom & Dad decided that they wanted to come with as well.  Originally, or at one point anyway, my parents had decided they were going to go back to MN today but my Mom really decided that she wanted to see the coast before leaving.  So, we packed everything up and headed out this morning.  My Mom, Dad, Uncle & Aunt took the motorhome, trailering my Dad’s scooter and my Uncle’s Harley Sportster.  I, of course, have my car with my bike trailered as well.  I packed everything up before we left in case I didn’t return.

What an incredible drive.  It was nice having a reminder of why I fell in love with Oregon years ago.  It’s gorgeous here and it feels like home.  I may possibly consider living here, away from things, people, life.  My Uncle Lyle knows this land pretty well, the people in it and the places also.  While we were driving through some small sort of village place my Uncle pulled over ahead of me, and I followed of course.  He told me that the restaurant right next to us, now closed, used to be one of the best places to stop for pie & burgers.  I blurted out, “I want it” and he said, “well, let’s put together a business plan…”  So, we’ll see.  I wouldn’t mind running that for a few months out of the year and closing down when it got cold again, actually setting up shop for a long period of time in one place…  Quite the concept for me!  I have already designed a bit of it in my head, and right now it’s called Reese’s Treehouse Café.  I’m sure that will change as the concept grows.

Eventually we made it to the coast, just in time to unpack our bikes and go for a short ride.  It’s nice to be next to the ocean again; I think I prefer the Pacific to the Atlantic but either is better than neither.  When I first laid eyes on it this time, I said, “I can’t live in Minnesota.”  Everyone laughed, but they know how serious I really am.

Tonight is nice and laid back; sounds of the ocean from only a quarter of a mile away, a movie in the RV with my Dad & Uncle while my Mom & Aunt went somewhere to play bingo.  I think I’ll try to get sleepy, maybe have another beer, then get to bed so that I can fully enjoy my day here tomorrow.  

Thanks for coming with me!