Nine times out of ten, when I mention Macalester College people’s response is “where’s that.” I can confirm after visiting the school today that it’s in a very nice area of St. Paul – in fact I must have driven by it several times during past visits and didn’t notice. Small liberal arts college – we found it pretty impressive.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Goodbye Oregon
We arrived in the rain and left in the rain – but in between, we had a surprisingly amount of sunshine and warm temps during our 10-day visit to Oregon. Yesterday morning in Portland, we walked over to Kenny and Zuke’s Delicatessen – in the trendy Ace Hotel – for breakfast that could tide us over into dinner while we flew back to Iowa. That it did – I had a large plate of scrambled eggs with carmelized onions and large chunks of lox, served with a flavorful chewy onion bagel. D was happy with his eggs, very crispy bacon, well-seasoned hash browns, and authentic rye toast. And just to make sure we didn’t starve, we got one of the deli’s “big as your head” corned beef sandwiches to go – which we shared about six hours later in the Denver airport during our long trip home.
As always after a trip, there are places I wish I’d gotten a chance to visit so here they are: Astoria, Bend, Mt. Hood, Hood River, the southern coast, and specifically in Portland – the rose garden in Washington Park (when in bloom); the Japanese Garden in Washington Park; the Chinese Garden (we forgot to visit it on the waterfront); the Mississippi neighborhood. Next time.
Filed under DINING, Oregon, Portland, Uncategorized
Unplugged on the Oregon Coast
Oops. For anyone who was enticed by the title of this post and found it empty, I apologize. A friend called just as I was starting to blog and I inadvertently pressed the “Publish” key rather than the “Save draft” key. As it turns out, my friend was calling for some advice on starting a blog. (Not sure I’m the best source on that…)
Anyway…we are heading to a quaint inn in Newport, Oregon next month that is unapologetically unplugged – no radios, tvs, or phones. (There is apparently one public phone in case of emergency). Instead there are books, conversation, and really good food. All of which sounds very appealing to me – except that I do need to blog (God forbid you all go without my daily post) and I also need to be on call should my two teenagers – who won’t be with us (one will be in Spain, the other in Arizona) – need to reach us. So we’ll see how this works. Or doesn’t work.
I have never been one of those people who had to be plugged-in during a trip. Sure I need to be accessible to editors I’m working with on various projects and I am by cell phone. But part of vacationing for me has been about NOT having to check my email constantly and NOT having to drag all my word files. Alas, this seems to be changing – in part because of this blog and also because new technology (like my new Netbook, I hope) makes being plugged in while on the road easier and even cheaper. Again, we shall see.
Filed under On the road, Oregon, TECHNOLOGY/GEAR, Uncategorized
A Report from: San Francisco Part. 2
Soon after it dawned on me today (apropos of nothing) that I last visited San Francisco almost exactly two years ago, I got another email from my NYC friend who recently visited the beautiful city by the bay with her teen-age son. She offered more details on her trip that are well worth sharing. I know I’ll be using them some day (soon I hope ). Here they are:
Hotel Vertigo: awesome helpful staff, lovely hip lobby, great beds with all white comforters, pillows…good bathroom with big strong shower head, big tub, yummy spa-like products, dock station, free wi-fi, flat screen TV, convenient location to union sq (our BART stop). loved this place. and for $79/nite (did I get some special online rate?) I sorta couldn’t believe the price.
Dottie’s: 522 Jones St; a tiny coffee shop located in a run down hotel in the tenderloin hood, felt like the Bowery in NYC former days. Expect to stand on line a long time, we had a one hr wait, but my cool cuz suggested it and 3 guys we met the day before said we had to have breakfast at Dottie’s!…I never would’ve have waited otherwise, but ok sooo worth it. the best cornmeal blueberry pancakes, non-stop coffee refills, great french toast with fresh fruit, cuz some big egg dish with yummy homemade corn bread…even with it being packed, never felt rushed except our waiter spoke at the fastest speed I’ve ever heard! tourists just need to be prepared for this hood.
Alcatraz, so worth it. I wasn’t into a touristy tour thing but that self guided tour with actors’ voices was really well done. the whole experience felt like theatre. it is depressing but they make it alive and real.
Slanted Door: yummy Vietnamese fusion CA food…in lovely Ferry building, overlooking water, we sat at the bar, weeks booked up for reservations, tattooed Aussie bartender talked us thru the whole menu with suggestions, all great. you can order almost any dish for half amount/$ so you try more items. busboy almost knocked over my delicious Calif. white so he gave me another free glass, B. had a jasmine tea, a flower that blooms in the hot water in a wine glass. sophisticated and grown up and not stuffy.
Cafe Tartine – another hour wait! but those pastries…
we love the BART
Cable car. they smash those tourists in. we rode on the outside. our driver was also a stand up comic, or so he thought. oh man, a long ride!
walked up Telegraph Hill then Lombard st. our legs ached by then but so worth the views.
Filed under San Francisco, Uncategorized
TakeBetsywithyou 