Coffee Break

In Ritzville.

A Two-Day Adventure

A few weeks ago I was trying to think of what to get Lyle for his birthday. Anything he really needs or wants (that I could afford) he usually buys for himself. He's been working way too hard lately, so I thought of a weekend getaway instead of a gift. First, I was trying to think of somewhere nearby... I mean, we do live in a resort area, so it wouldn't be hard to find a cozy little bed-and-breakfast or something. But no, he would actually rather drive to relax, than sit around doing nothing. So I started thinking further afield. How far could we go in one day, and then turn around and come home the next day? Well, the coast, of course!

I planned a route in my mind to head down to the Columbia River Gorge, over to Portland, and then visit the Tillamook Cheese Factory. I picked out a cute little coastal motel for the night, and then decided to let him plan an alternate route home.

Before I made reservations, I thought I better check with him to make sure he would enjoy it. His immediate response: "Sounds good to me!"

Shortly after that he sent me the above map. So that's our itinerary for this weekend. I don't know where we'll be when, but it's sure to be an adventure. I think I've figured out how to blog from my phone, so I'm going to try doing mini-posts along the way.

Camping Adventures

Last weekend we went camping for the second time this summer. We intended to go to Priest Lake. Actually, we did go there, but all the campgrounds were full, so we drove across the state into Montana and ended up at Yaak River again. (Granted, the state is only 90 miles across the panhandle, but it seemed like a long way when we thought were There, and had to go Someplace Else.)

I spent much of the weekend doing this:

With this close at hand:

And actually got up the energy to do this a few times:

 It was a relaxing weekend.

I was buzzing around the campsite Sunday morning taking pictures while Lyle was cooking breakfast. After I snapped a couple pictures of the fire he asked, "Are you gonna blog about the way I cook eggs?"

"Why, I hadn't thought of that! But what a good idea. Sure! Hold out your 'grabbers' so I can get a good shot of them."

He thinks I'm nuts, of course, but my blogging amuses him, so he obliged:

 See? Here's how he cooks breakfast. First, the bacon in the skillet (with the toast in a grill basket on the side), using tongs from his grill utensil set.

 Then, he removes the bacon and drains most of the drippings out of the skillet before he scrambles the eggs, using his "grabbers" to stir with!! (That's what he calls the tongs: grabbers.)

For some reason, that strikes me funny. I don't know why.

Just for the fun of it I kept tallies while we were camping. One of my blogging buddies, Keetha @ The Eclectic Company, did that on her recent vacation, and I thought it was so fun, I decided to start the tradition in our family.

So, the tallies for last weekend include:

• Campgrounds that we had to pass up because they were full -- 7
• Deer we saw along the road -- 2 live, 1 dead
• Snakes the kids saw -- 1 live, 1 dead
• Snakes I saw -- 0 (Thank goodness!)
• Squirrels in our campsite -- 2
• Meals cooked over the fire -- 3
• Hands of Skip-Bo played -- 2
• Laps around the loop on my bike -- 6 (but not all at once)
• Books read -- 3
• Crochet projects completed -- 1 tote bag, 2 washcloths

Celebrating

Happy Birthday

to my Favorite Man!

I've got a fun expedition for us planned in celebration this weekend. If I can get the Instagram app on my phone to talk nicely with Facebook, I am hoping to post little updates along the way. Wonder if there's a way to make it post directly to my blog? I betcha there is. Maybe I'm smart enough to figure it out.  But then again, maybe not. We'll see.

Speaking of the Man, his injured finger is healing nicely. We're hoping the nail ends up closer to normal length than this eventually. And it may.

But if it doesn't, we are still very grateful that it wasn't worse, and that he didn't lose the whole end of his finger.

Love that man!

Anchovies

Laura has a wacky sense of humor. I can't imagine where she gets it.

One day last week when I was at the print shop she called me from home. "Mom, when you were at the grocery store earlier, did you happen to get... anchovies?"

Say what? I had never bought, or even tasted, anchovies before in my life. I had tasted caviar, once, many years ago. Anchovies, never.

"Um. Yeah. Of course. I make sure we're always stocked up on anchovies," I told her, wondering what she really wanted.

She giggled and said, "I was really wondering about jalepenos. I want to make a dip and it calls for jalepenos. I don't think we have any."

I was planning to stop at the store anyway, so I told her I would add jalepenos to my list. Lyle was with me, so I repeated the conversation to him. "I've always wondered what anchovies taste like. If they aren't too expensive I think I'll get some just for a joke... since she asked for them!"

Turns out they were $1.78 for this little tin, which is not exactly tuna-fish price, but still cheap enough to try something new and get a laugh out of the deal.

I gathered up the rest of my groceries, and as I was checking out the cashier asked what I was planning to make. I tried to explain that my daughter had asked for the anchovies, but I was really getting them for a joke. She looked at me like I was crazy. "Oh, she's going to make something with them?" she kinda mumbled, and then didn't make eye contact with me any more. I'm sure she thought I belonged in the loony bin or something.

I carried the groceries out to the car, and gleefully showed my pretty little box to Lyle. He doesn't care for any kind of fish in any way, shape, or form, so there was no way he planned to try them. He just had one question for me.

"Did you get the jalepenos?"

Um.

I couldn't believe it. I had totally forgotten the jalepenos. And they were on my list.

When I got home and presented Laura with the tin of anchovies, she looked a little startled.

"You do know that was a joke, right?" she asked. I can't figure out why everyone thought I was crazy.

So I told her the story of why I decided to buy them. Once she understood she thought it was pretty funny. And she was curious to taste the anchovies, too.

We pulled the top off the little tin to find them floating grotesquely in olive oil. Can't say they looked all that appetizing. At least it wasn't fish oil.

I drained the oil off, and patted one of the little fillets dry with a paper towel, then popped a small piece in my mouth.

Salt.

That's pretty much all I tasted. Just super salty, and not all that fishy.

I had the rest later on crackers with cream cheese. It wasn't nasty, but it was way too salty to be much of a delicacy.

That may come from buying the cheap brand, though. I don't know.

Have you ever tried anchovies? What is your opinion?