Gage's Pacific Northwest Adventure - Pt 12

Finally, we arrived at beautiful Seaside Oregon.

And of course, the girls wanted to stop for lunch. They're like that. While they grazed, I looked through the tourist flier to see what there was to see.

Miranda said she didn't care what there was to see, and that she was not going anywhere NEAR the ocean.

I tried to talk her out of it, pondered if it was too cold to go surfing, and stared out the window while the girls continued their grazing.

Miranda and I talked a bit more about the sea, and she told me that it was part of why she'd moved to Colorado in the first place. Her pixie tribe were at war with the ocean pixies and had been for years, and years, and years. No one even remembered why anymore, they just hated each other.

I told her that was a stupid reason to have never seen the sea, and she kicked me in the shin, climbed back into Wendy's purse and wouldn't come out.

Pixies are weird.

Of course, we couldn't immediately go see the ocean. Oh no. We stopped for salt water taffy at the Seaside Candyman. And while their taffy IS really good, I think it's horribly cruel to make your employees listen to the song "The Candyman" over, and over, and over, and over. They seemed very nice and not nearly as crazy as I would've been after that, though.

Finally, wandering down the main street, the world just seemed to end past the overlook.


This was where Lewis and Clark stopped. Good thing, since there's an ocean in the way and all.

And they have been immortalized in metal, staring out forever across the ocean that they fought so hard to reach.

And what a view they have too!

Beach Bunny! Though it was a little too chilly to really work on my tan or swim or anything. So on we went, driving down the Pacific Highway!

(P.S. There might be another interruption of this blog. I think I've convinced Wendy to go out and catch some live music this weekend! I'll let you know!)

Gage's Pacific Northwest Adventure - Pt 11

LadyDragonfly said the best view of the ocean was in Oregon, not Washington, so off we went to beautiful Seaside Oregon.

So we drove.

And we drove.

And we drove. (Miranda: "Are we there yet?" tapping on GPS system in car)


And listened to some tunes in the car... while we drove. And before we even got to the ocean, we saw something that had a very strange effect on Miranda.

Miranda is not known for being a particular morose Pixie, but something about the "wounded giant" seemed to make her very, very sad.

He is the largest Sitka Spruce in the United States. The oldest tree in Oregon and most like the oldest living THING in Oregon. They estimate that he is over 500 years old.

But a little more than 50 years ago, he as struck by lightning which caused a spiral wound, opening up the tree to disease and bacteria. He's a very, very sick tree.

Miranda got very quiet as we left the site of the tree... though I thought I heard her sniffle a bit. I don't know why it upset her so. I thought that her sadness over the tree was the reason when she said she didn't really want to go very close to the ocean... but that was not the case at all...

Gage's Pacific Northwest Adventure - Pt 10

Day four was a pretty big deal, because Wendy was finally going to get to see the ocean. But for all that, everyone but me seemed to start out with all the energy and pep of wet noodles.


Since everyone else was moving kind of slow, I took my camera out to the backyard, and took some pictures of just what a backyard in Washington is like.

Which is very...

...very...
... different...

... from MY backyard in Colorado.


One big difference - I have never met a slug in my own back yard. This little guy was quite willing to have his picture taken, but not especially interested in chatting. (shrug)

Something about the call of "Hey! There's a slug! Come look you guys!" seemed to have the effect of driving the girls to want to leave, and off we went, on our way to show Wendy the ocean!

BEEEP! Another Interruption! Presenting - Ridge of Romance!

Okay, it wasn't romance for me, but certainly my Estes Park/Trail Ridge Road adventure today was chock FULL of romance for others. Kind of sweet and all that.

Wendy, Hitty Rosabelle, and I headed off to Estes Park with Wendy's Aunt Linda. I should've known the day was going to end up weird, because when we went to Molly B's for breakfast we met a girl TERRIFIED of rabbits. Seriously, terrified.

I didn't take her picture because, well given her story, she might have been in the witness protection program from rabbits or something. Um... so she told us that she was attacked by a pack of wild rabbits when she was ten. She said that they scared off her friend who went for help, and turned on her. They bit her and scratched her and even bit her on the face! So, she's scared of rabbits. Even rabbits like me. Really, should've known the day was weird already.

Off we went to the Stanley Hotel. Me and Hitty Rosabelle, taking in the sights.

Very pretty hotel, even if it's apparently got some Bunny Haters visiting it.

I remember this elevator from the TV version of The Shining!

Our romantic troubles really started when we went into the Gift Shop.

There they were - pig and bear, madly in love. Wendy said something like "What a darling bear!"

And her pig protector spun to defend her from us! "You cannot take her! I beg you! Please part us not!" he said in old Stuffglish (which I translated for Wendy). I told her it would be really sad, and that the likelihood of the two of them being bought by the same person were nil, and their love would be lost for all time.

Sniffling and making little "aww" noises, Wendy did the only thing a stuffie loving human could do...

She bought them both and took them out for their first breath of fresh air!

They said their names were Lance and Gwen, and they'd fallen madly in love in the box on the way here from the company where they were made. They quickly realized, there was a lot of world for them to see.

Though I mentioned that they might see more of it if they weren't snuggling all the time.

So off we went to see the part of the world that is Trail Ridge Road.

Pretty scenery, and a beautiful day to drive the road, though it was pointed out to me it isn't ALWAYS so nice up here.

I asked Linda about the sticks on the side of the road, thinking maybe they were just really, really skinny trees of some kind. Turns out, they're put there before the snows so when the plow come up they can tell where the road is. This left me contemplating the need for a 9ft stick and THAT left me thinking 1) No wonder this is one of the first roads to close every winter and 2) the fact that they've put them up now, at the end of August... well, Frank may be right about his early Winter this year theory.

It was about when we reached Treeline that Linda's little companion from the gift shop, Horatio, started freaking out. All he seemed able to get across was that he wanted to talk to Hitty.
Hitty is an awesome listener. While I couldn't understand most of what he said (more old Stuffglish, and really, really FAST), she seemed to follow him completely, nodding occasionally and saying "Oh Dear".

She asked him to speak slower, and then asked him to tell me what he'd told her.

Horatio was freaking out because we left his WIFE at the Gift Shop! D'oh!

We promised Horatio we would get turned around and go back for her, but we were stuck in traffic because they're doing road work on Trail Ridge Road. He sat, staring out the windshield, saying "Helen, we're coming! Hang on, my Love!"

While driving back down, I learned some interesting things that I thought I'd pass on to you.
*****
1) Want to meet an EMT? Here's a fine way to do it -

*****
2) Lance, lovely guy that he is, is not a photographer -


*****
3) Travel companions come in all sizes.

So I can't say it wasn't an educational trip.

Anyway, we got back to the Gift Shop and they were strangely not surprised to see us. Nice ladies, and maybe they speak Stuffie and heard Helen weeping in the back? They didn't say.

The couple were reunited. Hitty gave Helen her shawl as a "Wedding Present" (Wendy doesn't seem to mind. Oh, she twitched a little when Hitty first told her, and kept muttering something about "hours... it took me hours" but she snapped right out of it, and said it is the sweetest thing she's ever seen a doll do. And I believe it knowing the herd of ruffians she lets live here.)

Anyway, Horatio took his beloved Helen home to begin a new life with Linda. Gwen and Lance are still snuggling like mad, and so deliriously happy knowing that they will be together forever now. Hitty, Lance and Gwen are all downstairs chatting as I type this entry. I think I'll go join them.

Tomorrow, more about the Big Pacific Northwest Adventure!

Gage's Pacific Northwest Adventure - Pt 9

We woke to a rainy, Washington morning. Miranda said she was shocked at how much louder the rain in Washington was than the rain in Colorado. Yeah. So then we were off to the doll meetup.

I don't know why Wendy wanted to go. I don't know why Miranda wanted to go. _I_ have never gone to one of the Colorado BJD meetups, though Kumo has, and ... well, I'm not a huge doll fan, really. But the people seemed nice enough.

The dolls were mostly a quiet bunch, and we didn't talk to very many of them. Something about the whole situation seemed to bug Miranda. She kept pulling my fur. I think it may be just as a very wise rabbit once said...

"The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land."

Some of the things we'd seen seemed pretty darn foreign, but I think they guaranteed that when we got home, the dolls we lived with would look different to us. Much more ordinary, which is a rather foreign idea once you meet some of them.

The meetup was fun, food was yummy. It was a laid back and easy day. Checking e-mail, hanging out. And then we went off to dinner at McMenamins.

Miranda and I were both in a strangely subdued mood, and still full of snacks from the meetup. Everything and nothing sounded good.

I sipped my diet Coke, while Miranda just stared out the window, watching the rain on the river, and the boats come and go.


Neither one of us was feeling particularly touristy, and so I asked her if there was anything she felt like doing, and the two of us, Wendy and LadyDragonfly all decided to go home and watch a movie.

There are no pictures of this next part. Well, not pictures I could post and survive to tell you about.

We watched "Pan's Labyrinth" which I won't tell you about and ruin, except to say that you should watch it for yourself and that it was a great movie. But apparently a great movie that reduces women to tears.

Wendy cried her eyes out. Miranda was right behind her, and they sat snuggling each other and crying. LadyDragonfly got all misty too. And me... well, I think I might have some mold allergies, and as you know, the Pacific Northwest is full of mold and stuff. So I'm pretty sure that's why my eyes got all watery.

Darn mold allergies.