Blog du Wren

Oregon Coast

Alas, 2010's New Old Time Chautauqua is over. But instead of returning to the real world, I've opted to let the fun and magic continue, albeit in a slightly different form. I'm currently enjoying all that the Oregon Coast has to offer, and believe me, it has lots.

The past 2 nights have been spent at Nehalem campground, a small county park up Nehalem River that is exactly what we were looking for (after being hugely disappointed by the commercialness of Oregon State Park campgrounds).

During the day, entertainment has been found in the form of on the beach, exploring the quaint little towns, and visiting the cheese factory....twice*. On the possible agenda for the rest of the time is sea lion caves, more beach time, and maybe, just maybe, another visit to the cheese factory.

This little vacay to the coast has been just what I needed to buffer re-entry into the real world. Back to back vacations is really the way to go. Dare I try back to back to back? Stay tuned to see.

Thursday July 8 2010

File under: travel, USA

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Familiar Giant

Familiar giant (remember?) with a familiar goober in front.

Friday June 18 2010

File under: travel, USA

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Canyonero

This road trip has been a great one for outdoor places. Sure I've seen some cities (or at least little bits of them): San Antonio, New Orleans, Vegas, El Paso, etc. But the parks have been the real stand outs. In each of the 3 main parks we've visited, the best scenery in my opinion has been the canyons.

* Big Bend National park in southwest Texas: I would love to spend more time there. It's really got some geography.

* Red Rocks near Las Vegas: a great scenic drive even if you don't get out of the car. If you hike around a little, it gets even .

* Death Valley National Park: lots of desert, but some of the narrow canyons are pretty freaking too.

Tuesday January 5 2010

File under: travel, USA

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Another Roadside Attraction

Traveling the back roads of America far outweighs interstate travel, if you ask me. Sure it is a little slower, but seeing real towns instead of exit ramp after exit ramp of the same chain stores makes it all worth it. Passing through Eastern Oregon on a small back road recently, I came across this gem that I just had to share.

There was no plaque or explanation. Just a bunch of license plates nailed to a fence and . Upon closer inspection, I noticed there was a can of nails and a hammer for anyone to add their own contribution. and both did our part*.

When we stopped in the next town*'s little cafe*, we asked about the art installation up the road. They didn't have much to offer in way of explanation but did point us to another similar in the next town over.

Yep, back roads America: I'm a fan.

Sunday January 3 2010

File under: travel, USA

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Two Tales of Two Cities

NORLINS

What do you do if you have 5 hours to see all that New Orleans has to offer? Well, I did what I could. I saw Bourbon Street, tried to take some artsy , watched some street performers, ate some beignets (YUM!), in line for a fancy restaurant, ate crawfish etouffe, gumbo, and jambalaya, and drove around looking flood damage.

Yep, if I go back, I will do it in a little more organized fashion, and maybe even have a plan, but until I do make it back, I've at least got a frame of reference for when all those saints go marching in.

SAN ANTONE

I last went to San Antonio 22 years ago or so. Needless to say, I don't remember much (except some vague recollection of the movie Cloak and Dagger). Luckily, I had the chance to refresh my memory with a quick visit. We saw the Alamo* and the .

Then someone on the street looking for a fight decided to punch me in the face 2 times. That's a first. It turns out that it doesn't feel so great. Luckily, San Antonio's finest* were right around the corner, so Mr. Firsticuffs shan't be bothering the nice River Walkers any longer.

Tuesday December 29 2009

File under: travel, USA

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Bike Trip Recap

Start point:	Pensacola, FL
End point:	Slidell, LA
# of day:	5-ish
# of nights:	4*
Total miles travelled:	200
Average miles per day:	40
Actual mileage breakdown per day:	18, 82, 28, 40, 30
# of states visited:	4
# of geocaches found:	4
# of all you can eat buffets:	2
# of all you can eat buffets that were a bad idea:	1
Ratio of angry horn honks to supporting honks:	3:1
# of abondoned water parks explored by cover of darkness:	1
# of days until my knees are regularly functinoal again:	5? 15? 50?
# of photos taken:	Not nearly enough
But still: x-mas beach fire, giant gorgeous tree in Bay St. Louis, frontage roads make me happy, drying clothes after a storm, on a ferry, biking rocks.

Sunday December 27 2009

File under: travel, USA

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Travel Self Portraits

I've been criticized in the past for taking (or at least posting) too many self portrait style photos. I see the issue and how it can seem very egotistical. But I would like to make a defense.

Traveling alone means you are the only one taking pictures (unless you are the type to flag down a passer-by to take the shot, which I try to avoid but occasionally succumb to). So that means any photo of yourself is going to be self portrait style. I personally like photos with people in them more than just landscape shots or whatever. For example, I like better than , and better than . Furthermore, I feel the need less to explain a photo if I'm standing in it, as in the photo at the right: you can tell that I'm stoked to be getting fresh orange juice, eh? Just a picture of an orange pile wouldn't be the same.

Anyhoo, this was meant to be a dumping ground for a few of the self portraits I've taken recently, so here they are (with a mini-defense about their purpose): "hey look, I bought a " and "since sunset pics rarely turn out with my camera, maybe if I reflect it off my ".

I could go on about my defense of self portrait pictures, but I won't. Instead, I'll just concede; yep, I'm just that egotistical.*

Tuesday December 22 2009

File under: travel, USA

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Epic Wrong Turn

Just so you don't have to learn the hard way, like I did, when the National Parks Service calls a route "scenic", it actually means "you are goin' to see all there is to see because you will be lucky if you actually make it out alive." Just keep that in mind*.

So, through a series of unfortunate events, I find myself back in a rental car. The downside is that I'm burning through the old travel budget much faster than I had hoped*. The positive side is that I get to explore the non-greater Miami part of Florida.

Once such leg of this "exploration" came in the form of an epic wrong turn. It took about 1.5 hours to get through 10-15 miles of . Luckily, the scenery was . The wasn't so bad either. Now that I've survived the , the only thing I have to worry about is what the rental company is going to say. Perhaps it is time to look into a new form of transportation*...

Sunday December 20 2009

File under: travel, USA

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Southernmost Post in the USA

It has been 13 years since I was last in , FL, and from that last time, I don't remember anything except which Key Club girl(s)* I was chasing and who we dressed in drag and sent out on the town*. Fast forward 13 years and I've got a whole new impression.

Key West has a ton of lore associated with it in my life. First, there is all the Jimmy Buffett lore: , Duval Street, Capt. Tony's, A1A, *, etc. Then there is the street preformer lore of Mallory Square. I went to two sunset celebrations down there and watched quite a number of shows. Nothing totally blew my socks off, but it was fun nonetheless. Finally, there is fiction lore. My favorite genre of book is the South Florida action/mystery*. A number of the books have parts set in Key West. Roaming around the streets gave me a better feel for the setting for those books.

I have a bunch I feel like I could say about Key West and how much I enjoyed spending a few days here. Instead, I'll just post these two totally cliched pictures: and .

Friday December 18 2009

File under: travel, USA

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Cold vs Hot

COLD*

HOT*

On my drive from Pueblo, CO to the airport at Colorado Springs, it was -5°F. That's crazy cold. The night before, biking back from pub trivia, it was about the same. Riding a bike in that kind of cold is really cold. I quite literally had ice chunks in my beard when we got home, but I was still wearing a smile. (In fact, I was still game for a little experiment in alternative alternative . Check out Ryan's blog for a write-up soon.)

When I arrived in Ft. Lauderdale, it was 85°F with about 135% humidity. Quite a change. This means that activities (such as ) have to be planned at off peak hours to avoid the heat and time for an afternoon swim has to be taken into account everyday.

Life's tough...but fair. See:

85°+(-5°)
2

45° (an average December
day in Anacortes)

Saturday December 12 2009

File under: travel, USA

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