Portland, Oregon

We arrived in Portland yesterday afternoon.  After getting settled we went downtown to check out Voodoo Donuts, a local donut shop that’s gotten lots of attention on the Food Network.  Their creations are unique (Captain Crunch on donuts!) and quite good.  In keeping with one of our new trends, the donuts served as appetizers for a late lunch at a local Tex-Mex place.  The burritos and such were great!  They were also huge, and the big lunch late on a hot afternoon put us away.  We went back to the hotel and crashed early.

This morning I dropped Paul off at the airport.  We’re traveling separately for the next six days – I’m visiting with friends in Portland and Sacramento while he catches up with a buddy in the Bay Area.  We’ll join up again next week and complete the trip back east together.  We’ll keep you posted on our separate adventures as they unfold.

Only in Seattle

I’m not making this up: on the way to Mass this morning we were passed by a jogger carrying a cup of coffee.  Not a guy running to work, but a guy in full running gear - with the same Garmin GPS watch I use - running down the street with a cup of coffee.  I knew they were serious about coffee here, but wow.  Just, wow.

Ah, Sunny Seattle!

The ride from Spokane to Seattle was yet another experience of contrasts – from the vast high plain of eastern Washington to the jagged Cascades east of Seattle. We briefly caught a glimpse of Mt. Rainier, which was extraordinary! It was a real ‘fish or cut bait’ moment for me, because we had a view of Mt. Rainier on the left and a huge wind farm on the right! I hope we see more of Mt. Rainier on the way to Portland tomorrow.

And before you knew it we were in Seattle. If the weather was like this every day in Seattle I’d be moving here (well, you know, if things were different and all…). If the weather was this nice in Seattle all the time we would have completely missed grunge music in the 90s – nobody can be sad or angry on a day like this!

We arrived in the early afternoon, and after checking into the hotel we got our bearings and headed out to see the city. Actually, we headed down, because our hotel is at the top (or very nearly) of a very steep hill. Possibly a mountain. I’ve never seen a city road so steep; it makes the 10% grades we encountered in the Big Horn Mountains look like the beginners’ slope at Massanutten. And they have traffic lights at every corner! If I lived here I’d open a brake repair shop at the bottom of the hill.

Our first stop was the Seattle Public Library, a somewhat famous building by an interesting and obscure (at least in the U.S.) architect, Rem Koolhaas. This being my first Koolhaas I had to get some pictures and go inside. The building is ugly as sin, and saying that probably wouldn’t upset Mr. Koolhaas, who is too much of a vanguard to care about appearances, despite the fact that appearance is one of the cornerstones (thank you – it just came to me! I’m here all week!) of his profession. It might be a good library – don’t know, neither of us needed a book – but as a building it’s a stinker.

Then it was off to Pike Street market – about the coolest place around. It’s a wild, crowded, exhilarating public market where folks are selling everything you can imagine, but the best part is the fish market. They’ve got every kind of seafood there is (fresh whole squid anyone?), and it’s all ready for you to take home for dinner (or take on the plane – they boast being able to pack fresh fish in ‘smell proof’ containers that are good for up to two days and airline-friendly). It was fascinating to see, and even more entertaining when the guys started throwing fish to each other. They were very entertaining and worked the crowd like pros. I think Paul and I briefly considered buying a big tuna just because it looked like so much fun. In addition to fish there were several flower shops, produce shops, and even a few butchers. It was great fun to walk through.

Next we walked halfway up ‘the hill’ to catch the monorail to the Space Needle. The monorail was fun; the park it took us to is wonderful. The monorail actually passed through the Experience Music Project, a rock and roll museum. The museum was designed by Frank Gehry and is really wild looking – possibly ugly but more funny than anything. It looks right at home surrounded by a monorail and small roller coaster. But I digress again. We didn’t go up in the needle, but spent about an hour in the surrounding park. In addition to the amusement park rides there are several other museums and theaters and a wonderful fountain that was getting plenty of use on this hot day.

Eventually we made our way back to the Pike Street market for dinner. We found a small restaurant with windows facing the Bay and had a wonderful seafood dinner. The restaurant was about 100 yards from the fish market, so there was no questioning the freshness of the fish. Paul’s mixed seafood plate and my salmon were both amazing (see the pics – they were beautiful, too!). It was a great meal in an unpretentious environment; it was the perfect end to the day. It was followed by a long walk up a steep hill, but who cares? I’d have dinner there again in a heartbeat.

Paul will be back tomorrow with fewer architecture lessons and more of his mouthwatering restaurant reviews.

MT-ID-WA

We drove across a large swath of Montana yesterday and across the top of Idaho to get to Spokane. We attended Mass in Bozeman and stayed for lunch (not at the church, though we were invited to their parish picnic later that afternoon). It was another beautiful church and great Mass. Bozeman was having a car show downtown yesterday, so we strolled a few blocks of Main Street among the cars before landing at Plonk, a very cool wine bar and restaurant. We both had a great tomato basil bisque and a funky but good pizza. The soup was just what we needed as our bones were still a bit chilled from the night before. The pizza was based on a thin “cracker” crust and had pesto, cheese, some veggies (including red onions, much to Paul’s consternation), and some sort of meat (that doesn’t sound right – it was legit meat, I just can’t remember if it was ham, salami, pepperoni, or what). It was good. The only problem was they dumped a salad on top of it. It was a great salad, but I prefer my salad and pizza separate, so I ate them that way. Paul seems to think this is a trendy thing right now; I think lettuce on pizza is goofy. (This is why Paul writes the food reviews.) Anyway, fat and happy we hit the road.

It was a driving day – we covered about 450 miles. There was one quick diversion in Butte, Montana when we stopped to see the visitor’s center for the statute of Our Lady of the Rockies. The statute is 90 feet tall and stands on a ridge overlooking the city (she sits on the Continental Divide, according to their literature).

It takes several hours to visit the actual monument because they drive you up and back, so we settled for the shop in the mall where they explain the statute and how it got there. It’s pretty amazing, particularly the shots of the various pieces being flown by helicopter up to the site. The picture of Mary’s head flying over the city of Butte was pretty cool, if a little odd. Butte itself looks like a very humble town, and calls itself as a mining town. There’s a huge copper mine that dominates the landscape to the east of the city. There’s also a University, too, so it’s probably more of a college/mining town. The visitor’s center info suggested building the statute was a community effort, and they had shots of regular folks (including off-duty police officers) mixing concrete and assisting with the construction. Pretty cool.

Montana was nice. It definitely has a Big Sky, and while I see what they mean I have no idea how to explain it. The weather was funky – sunny and rainy all day (sometimes simultaneously). The mountains were beautiful, and the ride was pleasant. Weird western trend: putting huge letters on hillsides/mountains outside of cities. Both Butte and Bozeman had big “M”s on the hillsides, presumably because they both have campuses of the University of Montana. Another town we passed had a huge “F” on the hillside behind it; the letter was nearly bigger than the town (the name of which, of course, starts with a “F” Frenchtown). Not waiting for this to catch on back east.

We crossed into Idaho and the Pacific Time zone. Somewhere in Idaho I looked up and saw a jet contrail, which was slightly startling. We haven’t seen anything in the sky since South Dakota, so it’s been several days since the sky’s had anything but clouds in it. We’re so used to seeing the lines across the sky in Northern Virginia – the last time there were no jet trails back home was in the days following 9-11, and no one wants to see that again. So, I guess we’re getting closer to civilization again, or at least in between two points of civilization!

An hour after crossing into Idaho we were in Spokane, Washington. We were both pretty beat, so we dumped our stuff in the room, Paul started a load of laundry, and we ventured out for food. Our hotel was adjacent to the University of Eastern Washington campus, and the first few restaurants were college dives. I liked the one with the sign on the window that read, “High Prices. Warm Beer. Lousy Food.” We passed that one by and ate at a local joint. We both had pub food: fish and chips for Paul and a chicken wrap for me. The food was fine. No pictures, no review this time, though. It was a nice night so we ate outside. Afterwards we walked back to the room and crashed. The trip caught up to us a little last night.

I got up for a short run this morning, and discovered that Spokane actually has a very nice downtown. There’s a river running through town, and they built a beautiful bike trail along the banks (it goes for miles – I passed mile post 22 on my run). There’s a great park downtown where the Spokane River drops in elevation (they call it the ‘Spokane Falls’, but think ‘Great Falls’ not ‘Niagara Falls’). There’s a carousel, a Ferris wheel, an IMAX theater, lots of trails and benches, public art and fountains – it’s really quite beautiful. We caught daily Mass at St. Aloysius Church on the Gonzaga University campus across the river from us. Another beautiful old church (built in MCMIX according to the cornerstone – need a little help here!) and another great Mass.

Sorry, not many pics of Spokane. No camera on my run, and no camera at the church. Took a few shots downtown while we were circling madly looking for a Post Office on the way out this morning.

We grabbed breakfast at a local(ish) place this morning. Paul had something that closely approximates a Cheesy Western, so he's in his happy place again (though they need "Mojo Sauce" according to Paul). We’re on the road to Seattle right now. It looks like we’re back in the Plains again (flat and brown as far as the eye can see), though we have to cross the Cascades to get to Seattle so there are more mountains in our future!

Ugh, gas is $2.99 a gallon. Ouch.

Recent Mass Intentions:

Friday: YA Community at Mt. St. Mary’s in Maryland

Saturday: our families

Sunday: personal intention for a friend

Today: GMU, VT, and Marymount College Campus Ministries and their staffs as they prepare for the new school year

Wonder Fatigue

The past two days took us across Wyoming, through Yellowstone and the Grant Tetons, and into Montana.  The scenery has been spectacular and the contrasts are amazing.  We went from desolate to lush, flat to mountainous, from shear rock cliffs to tree-covered vistas.  You couldn’t buy a tree in most of Wyoming, while Yellowstone is populated with wonderful Ponderosa pines, whose verticality is peculiar (but beautiful) to my East Coast eyes.  In Yellowstone we also saw bubbling pools, hot oozing mud, geysers, steam beds, rivers and waterfalls, and everywhere mountains – smooth and jagged, small(ish) and massive.  Don’t like the scenery?  Wait a second: it’s bound to change.

All this eye candy has been such a treat, but I worried that I might become dulled to its beauty.  Can you get used these magnificent mountains, beautiful rivers, and gasp-inducing views everywhere?  Do you reach a point where you fail to see them anymore?  Is there such a thing as ‘wonder fatigue’?

I think the same question applies to those of us who live in Northern Virginia.  My daily commute for the past year took me down the GW Parkway past the Lincoln, Washington, and Jefferson Monuments, views of the Capitol dome, the Pentagon, and Arlington Cemetery.  Fortunately, those never cease to induce awe for me.  But I know it’s easy enough to forget how lucky we are to live near such a special city, and that most of the people out here (for whom these mountains might or might not be invisible) may never see those sights many of us take for granted. 

Paul started this blog out over a month ago by answering the “big questions”: the who/what/why/when/how questions.  I deferred on the “Why?” at the time, because a month ago all I could think about was getting away from the crazy for a month and clearing my mind before my life moved into it’s next exciting stage.  The past 2,500 miles have given me a few opportunities (!) to think more about why this trip is so important to me now.  Paul and I were talking the other day and he pointed out that part of it is patriotic – to appreciate the purple mountains’ majesty and fruited plains it helps to have seen them (though it’s clearly not a requirement).  Agreed.  And wow!  Talk about majestic.

I still don’t have a concise answer, but the past few days have taught me a lot about humility.  Humility first in the presence of God’s magnificent creation – to see this is to scratch the surface of His extraordinary power and His love.  You can’t look at all of this, not just the beauty, and not even just the size of it, but the variety – the ‘all’ of it – and not see an Awesome God.  And in that moment, I challenge you not to be humbled.

For me, a similar sense of smallness, blessedness, and humility accompanies my upcoming consecrated commitment.  I am amazed and overwhelmed that God is calling me – me! – to serve Him in such an incredible way.  I can’t do it, not on my own, anyway.  Only through Him is any of this possible.  That call humbles me.  I know this isn’t something I just dreamed up; I joke about this being my mid-life crisis – my convertible – but I know it is something much more than that.

And so, driving along the Gallatin River this morning, watching the steam rise off the water as it ran down the mountain (trust me: rivers in Montana run, there’s no meandering around here), seeing the mountains cloaked in fog yet sparkling in the golden glow of the early sun, and enjoying each new view as it takes my breath away again, I am humbled.  I am thankful.  I am amazed.  God is good!

Post Camping Report

Well I feel I have to say something about last night b/c I raised the white flag to the cold and retreated with my bed sheet and thin blanket between my legs into the GOLF cart. I wasn't exactly ready with what I packed for this kind of weather in the middle of August. It was 35 degrees this morning with ice crystals on the tent and I just realized I forgot to mention that it SNOWED as we were leaving the park yesterday. Yikes!

Chip was better prepared with a sleeping bag and roughed it the entire night. I on the other hand had enough nights a couple years back of sleeping in a house in the middle of winter with no heat, so if I'm freezing and there's a warmer spot near by I'm going there.

Today we'll be driving up to Bozeman for Sunday Mass and then on towards Missoula through the Rockies breezing through Idaho and into Spokane, Washington for the night.

I really wanted to use that John Denver quote from Dumb and Dumber today, but the mountains really are that big! Today also marks the beginning of week 4.

A River Runs Through It

I'm blogging tonight from Big Sky, Montana which is situated along the Gallatin River in the Rocky Mountains. It was awesome to drive north on highway 191 with the river running right along next to us the whole time and have mountains surrounding us on both sides. It's quite a view from out here as you could probably guess from the name and there are plenty of guys out here spending their entire vacation camping out during the evening and fly fishing during the day. It feels a bit like camping out in the Appalachians in the late fall considering it's in the low 40's right now and it's suppose to drop in to the low 30's tonight. However, we do have hot chicken and vegetable soup in our bellies and a fire to keep warm by.

Today was another awe inspiring day of nature and I got to reflect on a few different things about her. Her majesty, power, history, periods of recovery, beauty, and also how ugly and smelly she can sometimes be....seriously some of the off shoots off the geysers like the mud pots and the sulfur pits were just nasty to look at and smelled like rotten eggs. Most of it however was just beautiful and breath taking.

We left Cody in the late morning and came into Yellowstone from the east through the Shoshone National Forest and had a great view before we even got to the park. We decided that since Obama was going to be in the park at the same time as we were (I think he's been stalking us on this blog) we probably wanted to stay as far away as possible considering it was already free admission to National Parks this weekend on Saturday and Sunday. We passed along the southern loop along the Yellowstone Lake to the Western Thumb Geysers and then on down South of the Park to the Grand Tetons National Park.

It wasn't suppose to be such a haul down to the Grand Tetons as they are only about 60 miles south of Yellowstone, but we came to find out that 30 of those miles is under construction and the asphalt has been ripped out and made for a much bumpier and slower ride. They love to rip out the asphalt around here and rework the roads for some reason; my only guess is that the winters are pretty rough on the pavement and it's hard to make a Superpave  ® binder that can handle the swings in temperatures. (I appreciate when I get to use my undergrad knowledge for something)

We ended up stopping at the first overlook and got some great pictures and then had a simple lunch. PB&J for Chip and Ham and Cheese for Paul along with some tasty snacks that Helen packed for us before we left. Thanks Helen.

After lunch we headed back up into Yellowstone a little quicker than the ride down and made our way over to Old Faithful. Throughout the day I was pretty surprised at the lack of people in the park...you would see a car pulled over here and there and there would be some slow people driving around in RVs but all in all there weren't quite the amount of people I was coming to expect when I heard today was going to be free. That was until we pulled off the road to the "Old Faithful Village"....you would have though we were pulling into the County fair with the amount of people running around and then gathering along the boardwalk to view the geyser. After about an hour of very patient waiting and some more waiting and then about 20 more minutes of waiting Old Faithful finally decided she was in the mood and put on a very impressive show. Then after about 4 minutes of waterworks she calmed back down and people scattered and the park emptied out.

Since it took so long to get to and from the Tetons we only got to see the bottom loop of the park, which is HUGE (about 220 miles round trip), so we had to be satisfied with the pictures in the brochure of the northern half of the park. I'll try and post a part of the Old Faithful video later, but for now here is some bubbly from the Western Thumb Geysers.