Lava Caves National Monument

We took a road trip over July 4th weekend, north to the Ca- Oregon border to go spleunking in the lava caves.



On our way we stopped by to see the town of Klamath Falls in Oregon. The town was having a July 4th street fair and parade. Stopped by in one of the street side cafes that was selling home made ice cream sandwiches specially for the occasion. It was the best ice cream sandwich ever- warm ginger snap cookie fresh out of the oven sandwiching cold vanilla ice cream! It was huge and just $1! I love small towns- you can always find some little surprise there.



AT the street fair, the wild bird rescue people of oregon were there - we almost visited their sanctuary a few years ago during our road trip to OR but unfortunately the sudden snow storm on Grant Pass precluded our visit.



Lava Caves is a pretty special place. You go to the visitor center to get a map and check out some lights. Then you get to explore the multitude of caves all by yourself!




Some of the caves are big and wide and you can just walk in. Other require you to get down on your hands and knees to crawl through the narrow tubes. All the caves are lava tubes, formed by the hot flowing lava in this volcanic area eons ago.



Some of the caves were circuitous and maze like- you really have to pay attention to where you are going or you can get lost in the cave and never find your way out again- sometime it felt like we were going in cirlces.



In the back of some caves, there is hydrophobic bacteria on the walls that shimmer in purple and gold when you shine your light on them- beautiful! Some caves had old Indian paintings in them. It was bat breeding season when we were there and some of the caves were closed for the breeding bats. Nevertheless there were more than enough for us to explore.



We also visited Captain Jack's stronghold in the area and took a drive around Tule Lake to check out the wildlife. Saw many water birds including there beautiful white pelicans and also one bald eagle on the lake.



One July 4th night, we had BBQ ( trip tip) at the Fairgrounds and then watched the fireworks show at the fairgrounds in the very small town of Tule Lake. Surprisingly decent fireworks show for this little town. After that we set off our own fireworks that we had purchased in OR on the road outside of Fe's B&B where we stayed the night.
On our drive home ,we drove through the mountains past Mosquito lake and the Mount Shasta vicinity. What a beautiful area! Mount Shasta is truly an impressive sight on a clear day. I definitely would like to came back here to go camping one day.

On the morning of the last day, we visited the Giorgi Ranch. Mr Giogi took us out on his quarter horses to visit his ranch land. I rode City Girl who was a great horse- very responsive. I got a feel of what a cattle round out might have felt like when I sent City Girl off in a canter towards the herd of cattle.

The French Laundry Restaurant

Ah the coveted reservation at the French Laundry restaurant- finally got one at 9pm on a Wednesday, 2 days before my birthday. 9 courses- Every item was cooked to perfection. Every little vegetable on the plate was so sweet and the meats and fish so fresh.




You experience the root taste of every dish: for example, the seared foie gras is cripsy on the outside and warm and pink on the inside, the Maine lobster tail is cooked to perfect sweetness and tenderness, the duck breast & beef medium rare yet tender.




However, as perfect as the 'cooking' was, the dishes lacked creativity. There were no mind blowing sauces, no imaginative constructions, no perfectly balanced pairings. If anything, some of the pairings & constructions seemed incongruous. For instance the cheese course paired the fried bacon bits was odd.




The wonderful caviar with oysters sat on a bed of smooshy tapioca balls- texturally this just did not work. The flounder sashimi with cucumber was very mild and subtle- it needed somethin' somethin' more to bring out the flavor. The duck breast, the sturgeon and beef as perfectly cooked as they each were, they could have used a more exciting sauce pairing (this is French cuisine after all- it's ALL about the sauces- oui?).





As for constructions- the sweetbreads stuffed in the rabbit shoulder was unique. The most memorable course ironically was the nectarine sorbet- I could have eaten a whole bowl of that- it was such a concentrate burst of nectarine flavor- YUM! 2nd most memorable was the lobster in the carraway sauce- I love lobster what can say!





The deserts were disappointing- nothing special there. And the foie gras terrine was OK- certainly not worth the $30 supplement.




Service was impeccable as it should be expected. The interior decor suprising bare bones: white walls, low celings, no paintings, no floral arrangement beyond the little posie of white flowers on the tables. All I can say is- yes finally, I've been there and ate that and now it's time to move on.

My clumsy cat

I have been very sick the last 2 weeks. Severe sore throat, incessant coughing, hoarseness. Daxy is the Best companion for the sick me. He doesn't care if I can't carry on a conversation. He lets me cough in his face. And he can't catch my germs. And he's loving it that I am home with him because I am too sick to go out.

I guess it reminds him of his kitten days, just him and his mommy with the broken back laid up at home in bed.

But seriously , he really is too clumsy. He will make a flying leap onto the bed or the tub and totally miss and crash land. Today he was on the bathroom counter. I was fooling around with him and he fell into the sink managing to turn on the tap in his fall. Water shot out of the tap with great force, drenching him. Boy did he freak out!

Daxy's old nemesis

So I finally found the photos from last summer. Daxy had an evil cat friend who would come to visit at our front door. Daxy, being the curious little thing he is would come running to the door when he saw his friend arrive.



This huge black cat was twice Daxy's size and was prepared to do anything to eat Daxy alive. He'd throw himself at the glass door trying to attack Daxy. Daxy, being the chicken that he is would crouch, cower and sometimes run away. But he would always come back for more.



Strangely, we have not seen his nemesis around this summer, but I never know who comes to visit when I am out!

Heaven is where the horses are

I have a postcard in my office pinned with a pushpin to the wall. There are 2 white horses in a meadow of tall green grass & yellow flowers. And at the bottom there is a caption: "Heaven is where the horses are".
I think I was there this weekend: Heaven, you know, where the horses are.
I went to Tennessee this past Memorial day weekend, to look at some land. But really out of curiosity. I'd never to Tennessee before. And hey, if Tennessee Recreational properties wanted to put me up and let me go horse riding, then why not check out a new nook in the world. The Cumberland plateau was where we were, 2800 feet above sea level, 2 hours drive from Nashville. No mosquitoes but unfortunately the locust were everywhere. Apparently, they emerge once every 17 years- just my luck. They were harmless but really scary ugly looking creatures. Freaky!




We went riding with southeast pack trips the first 2 mornings. I rode Tennessee walkers both days but they were really lame. Slow plodding along. First day we did Spruce Creek trail which was not very scenic. 2nd day we did the Cumberland trail which did go into Big South Fork state park. It was quite pretty at some points , along the creek and past the bluffs and giant rocks.

During our tour of the gated communities with Blaine, we also visited the East Fork stables campground. The scene was truly inspirational. I was so delighted to see that there are still so many horse lovers in this world. There were so many people and horses there. All sorts of horses! And huge motor home/horse trailer- in-ones! What a life. I can only imagine it. I couldn't live it- there are to many other things in this life I am bound to. Owning horses is a full time hobby. I would love it, but I would hate what I'd have to give up.



On day 2, Mike & I drove up to Kentucky and took the scenic railway to an old coal mining town. We also did a short hike to Yahoo falls in the northern most part of Big South Fork.



On the 3rd morning, Blaine took us out on 2 privately owned horses own by their builder Scott and his wife. We rode for 2.5 hours on the trails around the Highlands. I rode Jake and Mike rode Reagan. Jake was the most amazing horse I'd ever ridden. So incredibly responsive - always listening to the signals. It's like he could read my mind. In dance, we would compliment a great follower for being able to follow any lead. The dance was perfect. And when the Tennessee walker really gets down to do their walk, it is the smoothest gait I've ever experienced. I'm hooked- I must one day have a Tennessee walker! When Jake was in his gait, it seemed like he was tireless and as for me, I could have braved any tight turn & still would have felt secure. But I am told that it's just the tip of the 'gaited horse' iceberg. Apparently ,there are also Paso Finos and other amazing gaited horses to experience. And these horses are so loving. They are affectionate and they really do want to please you. I've never known horses to be like this. In my experience with horses, I have always known it to be a power struggle: my will is greater than yours, so you will listen to me. I suppose horses can be loving when they are loved by their owners. Just like cats.



I don't know if I will buy land there- but I hope that they will be successful in building their equine community. I plan to go back there this Thanksgiving- to experience another taste of Heaven: where the Tennessee horses are.

Honduras

We went to HOnduras in April (2-12). Our purpose was to go to Utila during the whale shark season to see the whale sharks. But guess what, we didn't see any!
We spent the first night at Bannarama dive resort. It was a pretty basic, inexpensive room. Comfortable for what we paid. The diving was good but we only got 2 dives in. The highlight was the huge & very curious black sea bass that I saw. On the morning, we dove a site called Spooky channel- basically it is what the name implies- "Spooky channel"! Yes, narrow crevass & so-so visibility makes for one spooky channel.



The dive trip to Honduras is my first time diving with UW camera & strobe. I've discovered the photos are even more beautiful that what you see UW with your naked eye. The strobe brings out colors that get lost in the ocean. It's a little disappointing to realize that UW photos you may see in a magazine may not really represent what you may see when you dive. The strobe brings a little piece of sunshine into the ocean. Writing about the underwater beauty of Utila is pointless. You have to see the photos:



A word about Deep Blue. I wouldn't stay there again. The rooms were clean ,comfortable and aircon was powerful. BUT... the food was sometimes unpalatable, esp at dinner time. The hostess Jasmine was very moody and very self righteous. She went on a long rant about how we should not eat lobster because lobster is being overfished. The divemasters were nice enough, but not always considerate. For instance, we were taken to the same not so exciting dive site Little Bight twice. There are so many dive sites in Utila, there was no excuse for them to take the same group of people to the same site twice. Apparently, one person asked to have the site repeated but the dive masters did not bother to ask the rest of us if that was acceptable. Secondly, even though we had 2 divemasters diving with a group of 14, both dive masters would be at the front of a dive. On one drift dive, I was last in the group and got left behind. I lost sight of everybody, had to to a drifting saftey stop by myself and to surface by myself to find the boat. The divemasters did not even realize I was missing.

5 Days in Aspen

Day 1 at the Aspen Highlands was about learning to ride down a mountain of ice. Apparently it hadn't snowed in Aspen in over a week. This is me about to go down Gunbarrel.



We had dinner that night at Olives, the restaurant at the St Regis. Best meal of the week. We had the mountain chowder (made with smoked trout), steak crudo ( their version of steak tartare), smoked peasant ravioli ( best and most unique tasting ravioli I've ever had), duck with lentils and the best vanilla souffle ever!



Luckily for us, I started snowing. And it snowed and snowed and snowed....!
Day 2 we went to Snowmass and spent most of our time at the Elk Camp area of the mountain. The trail down Bear Run is really pretty- a very wide run with interspersed trees. It gave the feel that you were going through natural country, not an artificially cleared ski slope.



Night 2 we had dinner at Pinions. Actually there was dinner served with my conference at the St Regis and we stopped by and had some appetizers first- the salmon sashimi was very good. I think Pinions is way over rated! Both the fried oysters and the elk was very disappointing. They were not very interesting preparations and the oysters were all batter, no oyster!



Day 3 we went to Aspen Highlands in the morning and then to Buttermilk in the afternoon. It was a beautiful sunny day but turned quite windy in the afternoon. It was my favorite day of boarding. That evening we went to Little Nells Montagna for dinner. Loved the chicken liver pate ( was a good as any foie gras torchon I've ver had)! The aggplant that came with the home made mozarella was very yummy ( the mozarella itself was so-so). We then had a sampling of their homemade pastas, one ia an elk bolgnese sauce and the other in a cream sauce with crab and Maine lobster. Their pasta dishes were good but did not equal the ravioli at Olives.



Day 4 was blizzard day. We went to Snowmass. Spent the morning at Elk Camp again. In the afternoon we took Park Avenue across to the Naked Lady area. It was snowing so hard that when I fell I was afraid to sit too long for fear of being buried in the snow. Had my first experience of boarding in deep deep powder down Naked Lady. Lessons learn- get speed or you'll get stuck, don't fall or you'll never get up, and just keep you body and knees really loose and go with the flow.
On the way down the mountain, go stuck in waist deep snow and took me forever to dig my way out Bear Grylllis style!



Had dinner at Matsuhisa on that last night. The sashimi dinner was delectably presented in and igloo! The miso black cod and miso eggplant was yummy and so was the new world style wild salmon sashimi ( where they pour hot oil over the raw fish). Nevertheless, I'd still take Ebisu over Matsuhisa if it was to be my last meal ever.



Last day in Aspen: went to Buttermilk. The landscape at Buttermilk is rather different. There are fewer pine trees and many bare branches of deciduous trees. A very barren landscape that has a charm of its own. At times I felt like I was snowboarding in a desert. Spent the morning in West Buttermilk ( the easy green runs). I took advantage of the fresh snow and spent most of my time going down the ungroomed powdery green trail that ran right under the ski lift.



For lunch , we went over the the Highlands to eat at the Cloud Nine restaurant. We had the elk ragout and buffalo tenderloin. It was the best stew I've ever had, and I normally don't even like stew. The buffalo tenderloin was also delicious but how could it not be with the creamy cheesy sauce they poured over it.
The is the view from the deck of cloud nine restaurant.



After lunch, I went back alone to Buttermilk as Mike was too tired. Spent it exploring the Blue trails on the Tiehack side of Buttermilk. Great mountain views on this side and quiet trails with few people. The blacks on this side look pretty easy. Maybe I will try them the next time I return to Aspen.