saturday - you've GOT to be kidding me

our flight home the day before had been flat-out canceled. and now on saturday ...

• travel woe: our new flight would be delayed just enough to cause us to miss our connection home!!!!
• on a positive note: we found my snowboard in the mounds of luggage in portland - guess it didn't want to divert to seattle. not that we have any plans to use it in the near future.
• options: southwest said we could stay another night in portland, and HOPE to get on a flight to chicago the next morning (sunday), or go to vegas and be confirmed for seats home to chicago on sunday at 11:15am. ugh.

friday - flight home CANCELED

we were set to go home friday. we checked our flight - delayed two hours. which was actually kind of nice since it gave us a little more time at nana's house.

dad drove us up an hour to the airport.

after two more delays, our flight was CANCELED!!

ugh here we go again.

we didn't want to make dad do the drive so we put ourselves up in portland for the night
(an hour to retrieve us, an hour back to salem, plus two more hours the next day, which was to be his last day with his mom before embarking on his own two-DAY drive back to irvine).

there were two reasons i was particularly upset about the fact we were no longer going to get home on friday night (now to return saturday at midnight):

• the next morning was to be our longest training run of the season, and i'd miss it
• we were also planning to have friends over for a s'mores roast on saturday, except now we wouldn't be there to let our friends in
  

so we invited the little bro to borrow dad's car and come hang out with us up in portland overnight, if he wanted.

merry christmas (re-posted)

this was right after i fell FLAT on my back in downtown seattle by pike street market. hence the christmas elf look (reddish eyes, pointy ears).

christmas eve and such

a few photos from our few days with family

it really made it feel like christmas to be around kids. there's my dad with our little cousins. and then the kids trying to play a game with us, the bigger kids.

this is alexandra ... i am obsessed with her. she is 3 and completely into fashion. she will model her outfits for you. she'll switch her coat twice before going out. she will show you how cute her boots are.

this doll looks just like alex.

and this is big brother max:

look how much patrick wants that transformer!

tuesday: nana's house

nana's is on the left

monday: drive, drive

so little miss monday rolls around, and this is the day i finally and totally lose it: including outburst, slamming of the bathroom door, and sitting in the empty tub.

we spent all morning on phones with: southwest (still no sign of bags), priceline, hotels, car rentals (while on hold for 20 min. at a time, i was able to sneak in that first blog post), and dad nunes . my dad had driven to salem from southern california and was at my nana's house. while we were on the phone with agent after agent (trying to get money back for cars and hotel rooms we couldn't use), dad reserved a car for us at the sea-tac airport.

we started research online with washington dept. of transportation, and oregon dot, to see if the 5 (i guess most of you would say I-5) would be operable today. our cell phone, however, was only working near the window, and patrick was looking at the website at the desk on the other side of the room. with my father on one ear telling me the video in the upper right on the second page looks clear and patrick telling me from the other room that video labeled A213 on the first page looked bad, i couldn't understand why the two would not just speak to each other instead of trying to go through me, who could not see the webpages at all. i hung up with dad, collapsed on the bed, yelled at patrick and had it.

five to six minutes later i had recovered and we decided to order room service.

through another weird mishap of events we took an suv to the airport and then picked up our rental car, deciding to upgrade to an all-wheel drive for our one-way trip, which of course cost more than the week-long rental we had orginally reserved in portland!

phew, while at the airport we found our bags in the mounds and mounds of lost and un-scanned baggage!!

good thing we got all wheel drive because the freeway was closed to those without all-wheel, 4-wheel drive, or chains (which the rental company does not rent out; we asked).

it was even a little less cloudy (we saw the sun!) when we left seattle...

but by southern washington, the weather started to suck again.

in our first hour of driving we counted 30 lost chains on the road.

that's 1 every 2 minutes!

when we got into town, it was dark and empty, but there were still a few cross-country skiiers out (sarah, did blake see lots of skiiers?):

image from portlandmercury.com

image from cocktailatlas.com

we got to portland, dropped off the car downtown, grabbed a local beer and a house made hot-buttered rum, hopped in dad's car, and drove slowly, slowly, slowly down to salem. the freeway was in terrible shape. but i was happy to have tried another christmas-y drink. not happy about the literal ingredients. though the few people at the bar were really cool and totally made up for the fact i was drinking butter.

someday lounge image froim internet

and ... finally, to nana's house!

sunday (continued)

our bartender hooked us up with a great rate at hotel 1000. when we checked into our room, i was tipsy enough to make a video of the room. we were ecstatic to have been cut a break by at least someone. we had no luggage, but we had a fun little place to stay. i'm a bathtub person, so i took a bath right away:

i was like a little kid, so excited about the water coming out of the ceiling.

you can hear the tipsy in my voice, but i really do want this tub/ceiling spout installed at home.

after bath time, i put back on my same clothes and we headed out to pick up a few necessities. there was a macy's nearby, so we picked up socks, tee shirts, a warm hat, and i got my make-up done. we went to northface and patrick got some waterproof shoes.

we walked around just a tad, but the sun was already setting. the day had escaped us, since we spent the better part trying to find a way out.

this is two minutes before i fell on my back in front of everyone outside in the snow.

we went to CVS, which was closing early. the manager was kind enough to let us in after hearing our sob story (we whined) and we bought a comb, brush, toothbrushes, tampons (woo hoo), toothpaste, etc. SHE TOLD US SHE WAS SLEEPING IN THE BACK ROOM BECAUSE SHE COULDN'T GET HOME DUE TO ALL THE SNOW. by the way, there were shops and businesses that never even opened up that day.

we dropped off our goods, and went to dinner. i had an assortment of washington oysters. where was holly when i needed her?

we went back to boka, for the most amazing dessert: house-made graham cracker ice cream with toasted marshmallow topping and chocolate sauce. though i did want to try the sundae with the candied bacon - it was patrick who drew the line and i'm the one who doesn't even like bacon.

we took our wine upstairs and stopped by a fire place along the way.

seattle: sunday

we awoke to more snow and hoped that the people we met the night before were able to drive safely to portland. we were very worried since they had no chains, and imagine that it must have taken them at LEAST six hours in that weather.

back to the phones to see if we could get a car. we'd use avis since patrick could get his corporate rate, but they weren't answering the phones.

flights into portland were all still canceled.

walking to breakfast: i was running to catch up with patrick

we ventured out for breakfast and after a dud breakfast joint, we found a sleek little spot with an amazing jalepeno and cilantro bloody mary. even patrick ordered one. i had mini crab cakes skewered on sugar cane and patrick had a salmon hash.

photo from flickr

we researched other ways to get out of seattle. even though we had already checked trains for sunday, we thought maybe we could get a train for monday. upon calling, we found out it wasn't that amtrak was sold-out, their portland lines were CANCELED. same with greyhound -- when we called, every busline into portland had been canceled indefinitely!!!

• no planes
• no cars
• no trains
• no busses
• canceled, canceled, canceled (which, by the way, i can't decide how to spell)

our bartender comped us a couple of mimosas. thus far, we'd spent the entire day figuring how to get out of seattle, but it looked like we were stuck again.

we we asked our bartender if he could get us a refugee discount at the attached hotel.

seattle: saturday night

after our saturday of travels, we dropped off our stuff at the renaissance hotel and treated oursleves to a lovely meal at the purple cafe and wine bar:

• red pepper-pomegranate-and-hazelnut spread with pita
  
• fresh grilled salmon sandwiches
• gorgonzola-stuffed dates topped with pine nuts
  
• alongside a few local washington wines
  

photo from flickr

on a whim, we swung into the hotel monaco and sat at the bar. we sat down next to a guy who spent most his life in chicago and he and patrick talked for a long time. i thoroughly enjoyed a delicious spanish coffee inspired martini with a flame-caramelized sugar rim. it tasted like christmas.

photo from flickr

exhausted, we trekked across the snowy streets back to our hotel and crashed:

that is patrick as we were walking home from dinner.
we so badly wanted to play in the snow like little kids - but had NO spare clothes to change into.

saturday = seattle

(try reading "the plan" and "saturday the cancellation" posts for context)

instead of crashing in kansas city, we decided to try to get at least closer to portland and then rent a car and drive in the next day. we were still headed into another storm, but had hopes the weather would clear the next day.

the conclusion to saturday:

• drive with strangers? while waiting for the seattle flight a youngish couple with a little boy overheard us talking to some other people and asked us if we wanted to go in on a car rental and all drive to portland together later that night. we decided to play it by ear since we had just booked a hotel room in downtown seattle and were planning to do the drive on sunday once we were refreshed.

• NO LUGGAGE. when we arrived in seattle NONE of our bags made it.

• no car. turns out we ourselves could not get a hold of a rental car (the nice couple had one of their mothers working on it while we were all in the air, but she could only get a sedan, which would not fit all of us plus our luggage).
  

• airport workers sleeping at airport. while we filed our luggage claim, which took forever b/c everyone who originated in chicago was already in line ahead of us, we overheard the workers talking about how they would have to sleep at the airport hotel because they had no way of getting home due to all the snow, like most of the other airport workers. we didn't really know how bad it was outside until we heard this.

• share cab downtown. we headed out to the cab line, which was a mile long - airport workers were urging folks to find alternate transportation b/c there were hardly any cabs willing to work in this kind of snowstorm. it was snowing like crazy. and there were no other forms of transportation. we figured we'd be waiting in the cold for about half an hour to forty minutes before snagging a cab, when someone near the front of the line wanted to do a rideshare with passengers headed downtown. we rideshared with two other guys. i was so nervous to get on the road with a stranger driving us in a car with no chains.

• worst storm since 1990. the highway was coated in snow, there were no lanes, and we went about 15-25 miles per hour on the freeway all the way to downtown. i was very relieved to be traveling so slowly on the roads. surprisingly, we only saw a few cars that were stuck in the snow, and only one wreck that was already being cleared. the weather and conditions really were terrible. on top of it, some towns were preparing for power outages due to wind and ice potentially bringing down power lines.
  

• downtown nearly shut down. once downtown, several roads were shut down and there were very few people or cars out.
  

• we'd have to walk the final block. we got dropped off a block and a half away from our hotel because of the snow. this wasn't so bad, considering we had no luggage to tow.

the actual: saturday ... the cancelled flight

try reading the plan post first for context:

saturday did not go quite according to plan. when we left for our flight everything looked fine, granted we did know that there were storms in the pacific northwest.

when we got to KANSAS CITY for our layover, our connection to portland was CANCELLED. in fact, everything to portland was cancelled until the next day due to severe weather. and those flights the next day, of course, were almost already booked. we scrambled to figure out what to do and were shuffled from desk, to phone numbers, and so forth.

the next flight to portland would get us in at midnight sunday, practically monday morning by the time we would get anywhere, pending weather.

we had flight decisions to make, many calls to make, reservations to cancel, postpone, etc., with a PRICELINE that would not answer the phone.

when we went to check out our luggage situation, one important piece was missing: THE SNOWBOARD BAG!! but since we decided to pass through kc, we could not make a claim until we arrived at our final destination.

slava! december 19th

to come

super productive trip-planning day off of work: the plan

where and how do i start? i'll start with ... the plan ... and get to the rest later:

after my productive "winter day" (day off of work) on friday, i was REALLY looking forward to a great saturday, as well as the following five days, in oregon with my nana, dad and brother driving up from ca, family members visiting from england, and the hubs.

the plan: we'll have a rental car waiting for us in portland. we booked the first four (out of six) nights of hotels, with awesome deals from priceline, and plan to play the last two nights by ear. there is not enough room at my nana's for everyone to stay, so that's why we booked hotels.

saturday: portland

saturday schedule: winter warriors in the a.m., go home and shower and throw last items into suitcases, leave for airport by 10:45, get there by 11:30, for departure at 12:30pm. layover in kansas city. leave for portland at 3:00, and get there at about 5:00pm. pick up rental car and stay at the hotel lucia downtown. venture out to our fave portland spots saturday night.

hotel lucia, courtesy flickr

sunday: portland and salem

find brunch on sunday morning before heading to see family in salem (45 minutes south). after a day with family, we'll go back to portland again on sunday night for some more wintery alone time.

monday: portland, salem, and bend

we'll do some last minute christmas shopping on monday morning before heading down to salem for more family time. after a few hours of quality time with the nunes clan, we'll scoop up the little brother and head to bend, up in the mountains. we might even meet up with milena and riler (nikolai's sister and brother in law) to catch up at a brewery before crashing at a less expensive hotel for the night. in the morning, we'll hit the slopes!!

tuesday: bend/sunriver/mt. bachelor

mt. bachelor, here we come!! and after an exhausting day of snowboarding (the nunes kids) and skiing (the orginal larkin), we'll crash at the sunriver resort.

wednesday: sunriver and salem

we'll wake up in sunriver and grab grub before making the 2 1/2 hour drive back to salem. it's christmas eve!! suppose we'll stay in salem, but have not even booked yet!

thursday: salem

we'll head over to nana's house for another day of time with the family.

friday:salem and head home

we'll have one last morning with the family before heading back to PDX, to fly home to chicago. we won't get home until late friday night.

my husband, the baker

From: NASH, DAVE



To: LARKIN, PATRICK



Cc: BARTOS, JEFF



Sent: Thu Dec 18 15:55:24 2008



Subject: Please sir, may we have some more!

Hello Pat,

Found out through the grapevine that you are the creator & artist involved with the Pecan Pie esque, bake pan of delicious carmelized, goodness. After snapping two spoons, I was able to pry a small amount away from the pyrex to sample, when after tasting and running back for more.... to my horror, the pan was gone!

Myself and Mr. Bartos have a special sort of slobbering/drooling desire for pecan pie, if you would be willing to part with the recipe, we would be most grateful. Thank you.

David Nash

(pre-oven)

From: LARKIN, PATRICK



To: NASH, DAVE



Cc: BARTOS, JEFF



Sent: Thu Dec 18 17:49:15 2008



Subject: Re: Please sir, may we have some more!

You can buy the recipe, or take advantage of our lease w/ option to buy (better for those hit hard by these difficult times):

- Purchase: $1,141,890 Zimbabwean


- Lease: $126,560 Zimbabwean/mnth

I take cash, credit cards, or office supplies of equal or greater value. Absolutely no personal checks!

Upon payment, the recipe will be transmitted in a word document, complete with actual estimates of the ingredient quantities, baking temperatures and times used for this particular pie, along with the guarantee of a substantial possibility for baking success maybe!

Act within the next 24 hours, and I'll throw in my 'Tips for Greasing Pie Pans and Biting Off Bottlecaps' absolutely free! Just mention the promo code 'pickles' when ordering...

Reply to this email, or call now - x864. My voicemail is standing by!

Hurry - this offer won't last!

which should be whose?

i sewed patrick and i some stockings. which one is more boyish (the less girlish?) of the two?

i threw them on the balcony for that snowy winter look.

ps trish - yes, well, some of it is amy butler. if you're quilting, you should check out kate's blog (on right) for ideas!

the field museum?

earlier in the week i told p that the only thing i wanted to do on sunday was hit a museum. so sunday morning we hopped on the train toward the field museum. the closer we got, the more densely the train was filling with bears fans. the field museum happens to bes right across from soldier field. apparently it was game day. i could tell that patrick hated being on a train with people that were going to the football game, while he was obligingly accompanying his wife to a frickin' museum.

we departed the train and walked with the hordes of bears fans filing through the park, but were the only ones who branched left to the museum while the thousands of others marched merrily along to cheer on their home team.

as we approached the steps to the museum, i handed patrick the envelope with the tickets and complained that my mitts were preventing me from taking the tickets out. so he took out the tickets, which were folded against each other. he led the way inside, toting me along, through the lobby to the admission line and handed the tickets to the lady, "two for jersey boys." of course his remark only added to the confusion when the lady unfolded the tickets and said, "umm, these are for the bears game."

patrick immediately turned to me and asked, "why are these for the bears game?!" merry christmas! we then left the museum for a different kind of field:

chicago at the holidays AND flashback to high school

above: for as much as i beat up on the temps, it really is beautiful here in the winter.

during the holiday season, michigan avenue has a 'christmas lighting' celebration with a parade (magnificent mile lights festival). as the parade progresses down the avenue, all the holiday decorations light up in time with the procession. despite the cheesy-factor of parades, for the rest of the holidays the mag mile is twinklingly festive.

now for the high school flashback part: if you've ever marched in a parade, you might know that sometimes practice has to take place while stationary. that is exactly what i ran into the friday night before the parade -- practice. this appears to be a high school's color guard (flags and rifles -- the rifles were all guys, they were up in front, and you really can't see them in the video) and dance team doing a run through of "that's what i want for christmas" (it will get stuck in your head).

watch the girl in the white coat on the right, she really gets down:

i could not stop laughing while recording this, because it was just so reminiscent of how i spent freakin' 4 years of my life. i get SUPER embarrassed when people find out that this is what i did in high school.

whaaaa?

it was 7* when i left for work today? it's 9* now????

ha ha haaaaa....this place is ridiculous.

(yes sarah, that's degrees! and i don't understand, either)

ok, will try to keep temperature rants to a minimum for the rest of the winter.

mendon ponds park

patrick's family's home is just south of a HUGE natural wildlife preserve. patrick and i walked through the trails three years ago, the last time we were in his home town.

when i was looking to figure out where to do my saturday run, as i was missing the group back in chicago, patrick suggested that i do it through mendon ponds. i mapped out my 9 mi route. it looked great on paper (err - screen). but the screen forgot to remind me that the place is super HILLY! a little tough for me, but it was really, really pretty and peaceful.

(at one point, a car stopped up ahead of me on the road. i calmly unzipped my pocket so i could access my cell phone in case they were trying to kill me. turns out, they were just watching some of the passing deer.)

"Mendon Ponds Park's unique complex of glacial features helped to make it a National Natural Historic Landmark in 1969. There is a 550 acre nature preserve, and 30 miles of self guided trails full of wildlife. "

the largest pond at mendon ponds park - hundred acre pond. frozen. we threw a big rock into it, which didn't break the ice. mind you, this was about 2:00 in the afternoon. look how DARK it got.

so, patrick and i both went to the park together the next day, such a gloomy day and i never really woke up. unfortunately, because it's already really cold up there, it was pretty brown at the pond-front. click here for an autumn shot found online.

testing the frozen-ness of the pond via the rock throw method. listen for thud.

and this is basically what it looked like when i ran through the park. the snow and constantly shifting weather made it quite pretty. until it started snowing ON me. not as pretty.

honeoye falls: the larkin home

the larkin home

the back yard

patrick in the side yard

the falls of honeoye