NZ - Day 2 -Glowworms

** Written by Guest Blogger - my man Gregg! **




For our second day in NZ we were off to Waitomo to see their world famous glow-worms. Even with turn-by-turn directions by Google we managed to get a bit off course. Luckily we had given ourselves plenty of extra time, and decided to stop in a small town for coffee. Stepping out of the car we were immediately greeted by the smell of roasting coffee. The smell led us to the Otorohanga Railway Station. Well, it used to be a railway station...now its home the Origin Coffee Company. We drank some very good coffee while the sounds and smells of coffee roasting filled the room.

There are several guide services in the Waitomo area; we chose The Legendary Black Water Rafting Company. Our guides, "Monkey" and Brydie, equipped us with thick wetsuits and helmets, and gave us a quick lesson on how to our use our gear to descend into the caves.

We Rappelled ("abseiled" over here) 35 meters into a small dark hole, our headlamps trying to illuminate as our eyes adjusted to the abyss. We explored an amazing new world, saw incredible limestone formations, stalactites and stalagmites, took a "Flying Fox" (zip-line) ride in the dark, met "Cecil" a fresh water eel who lives in one of the many water holes and has become quite accustomed to the many tours that wade through his little home.

We climbed up tubes in the rocks with water rushing down, squeezed through tight passageways and jumped, up to 15 ft in one case, into pools of dark, cold water. And sometimes we just floated on our backs, in silence, with helmet-lights off looking up at the roof of the cave watching what look like green stars in the night sky.

When the adventure was over we took a different route back to Rotorua. It was longer, but easier to navigate. and made for a very scenic drive back. And no big surprise, we saw LOTS of sheep.

A quick stop in town for some take-away Thai and we were back at our hosts home. We wrapped up the evening by sharing stories about our caving adventure, and the mountain bike ride they had just returned from.

NZ - Day 1 - We've arrived in Rotorua!

Apologies first .... we've forgotten the USB cord for the camera. So pictures will follow, but possibly not until we get back!

We arrived in Rotorua a few minutes early, at 8:30 am on Monday. If you're trying to figure out the time conversion, NZ is 20 hours ahead of the U.S. West Coast. Here's how I think about - in practical terms, that means that NZ is 4 hours earlier in the day, but a day ahead. So as I write this it's 9 am here, which means it's 1 pm for most of you. But since it's my Wednesday, it's your Tuesday. See? Pretty, easy, right?

Marcello VERY generously offered to pick us up at the airport to help us transfer bike boxes to his home, where he'll store them for the duration of our trip. What a tremendous relief! It's absolutely fantastic that we've been able to get her with our own bikes, but dealing with the bikes and those big boxes for three weeks was going to be kind of a nightmare.

So Gregg reassembled bikes at Marcello & Heide's place. We had a moment of worry when my headset wouldn't work properly. Apparently a seal had cracked (oh no!!), but Gregg was able to put it together without the seal (yay!!!). It's not a permanent solution, but it'll be fine for the amount of riding we'll be doing here. Good enough!!

So we drove a few blocks to meet our Couchsurfing hosts in Rotorua. We spent a bit of time with Ben, and the house dog Flo, and then took off on our bikes to find some lunch, and more generally to find our bearings. Rotorua is a pretty small town, and both Marcello and our CS hosts live very near to both the forest and the center of town.

Once downtown we went straight to Zippy's Cafe. The food was good, the coffee was pretty good, and there were a LOT of Single Speeders there. After all the hype over this place I'll admit that I was expecting more, but I can see why it's a popular place. Among the SSers hanging out in front of the Cafe is Jacquie Phelan! I still owe her $3 for a patch she gave me at the Single Speed World Championships (SSWC) in Durango last year! She says she'll take a beer at the Pig & Whistle. Sounds good to me.

We exchanged some cash (FYI, no fee if you do this at the Bank/Post), picked up a phone, got some groceries, and then took the scenic tour back to our temporary home. There is a lot of thermal activity around Rotorua, and our scenic route back took us through several bubbling mud pools. Have you ever seen the old David Bowie movie "Labyrinth"? Remember the Bog of Eternal Stench?

And to cap off our first day in Rotorua, we spent a fantastic night with ALL of our hosts. Tracy & Ben are officially our hosts, but Ron & Jason have also been great company! And I can't forget to mention Flo & Nick - the dog & cat ... also pretty good company! We probably won't see everybody in the same room again while we're here, and we missed the opportunity to capture the moment on film. But we're really enjoying their company, and we're so glad to be able to spend this time with them rather than in a Hotel!!

And that's a wrap on Day 1!

San Juan Island for Christy's birthday

As always, I'm a "little" tardy writing about my life. So, a little over a month ago, on July 3rd ...

Gregg and I hopped in the car to drive up to Seattle. What on earth were we thinking, driving to Seattle on the 4th of July weekend! Traffic sucked! Bad, messy, horrible traffic. But Christy's birthday on the 5th was a persuasive reason to put up with it. And it was worth all of the traffic headaches to be able to enjoy an adventure with her on her birthday.

We started by meeting up with Christy and Hathan in Bellevue. We loaded everybody in our car and made our way to Mukilteo to catch the ferry to Whidbey Island. Carol & Bill have a new place now, a little further south on the island ... as I hear it, they're "livin’ in the free-land" now :)

Since we got there the evening of the 3rd we had a full day on the 4th to just hang out on the island with the parents, go for a walk, lounge on the deck, drink, watch fireworks ... an AWESOME way to start a vacation.

We got up early on the 5th to head up to Anacortes, and took the ferry from there to San Juan Island. Not surprisingly, random misadventures and poor timing left us running for the ferry. Again. This is beginning to feel really familiar. No matter how well we plan to arrive on time, we seem to be doomed to be the poor saps running for the ferry.

When we got to the island we grabbed a bit of breakfast, and then wandered around looking for the moped rental place. More misadventures. But we finally made our way to the mopeds!

We got quick lessons on riding a moped, a brief overview of the driving tour of the island, and we were sent on our way. These women have their routine perfected, right down to the drawing of the identical whale that they draw on each of the maps. It took less time to get through this process than it had for us to find their shop in the first place, and it's located about two blocks from the Ferry!

I was under the impression that since San Juan Island was so small, we'd burn through all the tourist opportunities quickly and end up with time to kill at the end of the day. I was surprised at how much there was to see. It would be easy to spend a couple of days there. More if you added a sea kayaking adventure.



We stopped at the Pelindaba Lavender Farm first. There were some really cool sculptures in the middle of the lavender. My favorite was a giant Pi! I love random math. And I've never seen as wide a variety of lavender products as they had in their gift shop. I was pretty curious about the lavender ice cream cookie sandwiches, but wasn't hungry at the time, and ice cream doesn't travel well. So I'm still curious.

The next stop was the Lime Kiln Point State Park. We watched the sea kayakers and the sea lions, and hiked out to the lighthouse. And for a while we lost curious Christy.

Having never operated a moped I at first assumed they all ran as badly as mine. They are under 50 cc, after all, so I wasn't expecting much. But judging by how difficult it was for me to keep up with the rest of the crew I was getting increasingly suspicious that I had a lemon. So my amazing guy swapped machines with me as we left the park. We pretty quickly proved that it was in fact the bike, so Gregg heroically decided to put up with my finicky steed for the rest of the day.

We went a little further down the road to the Alpaca Farm, and stopped for a picnic. There were some new alpaca babies in one of the enclosures ... completely adorable.

While we watching them the most interesting thing happened. All of a sudden all of the Alpacas started clumping together into a mob, and rushing toward the fence. We turned around and noticed that the alpacas in the other two enclosures behind us were doing exactly the same thing. All the alpacas in each of the fenced in areas was clumped together, and rushing the fence nearest the parking lot. They didn't make any noise, but they acted like they were all on the same page about something.

Apparently someone had brought a dog on the premises. We were told that the alpaca's are very frightened of dogs, and from what we saw they seem to react in an aggressive, violent, "we're gonna kill you to protect ourselves" kind of way.

There wasn't enough time left in the day for us to visit Roche Harbor, but we did want to visit the sculpture park just outside of town. We were expecting something pretty small, and were pretty surprised when we saw how big it is. I'm not sure how much of it is populated with the sculptures but apparently it's a 19-acre park. The walking tour of the sculpture garden probably covered a couple of acres, and we could have spent quite a bit of time there if we'd had any time left.

But it was starting to get late and we needed to get the mopeds back. We made a quick stop to on the way back to see Mona, the Camel. Apparently she's often near enough that you can feed her; a tourist tradition I'm sure she loves. But when we got there she was fenced in away from the road. We'd forgotten to get anything she could eat, but it would have been kind of cool to pet her.

This is the second trip I've made to San Juan Island. And again, the ferry ride from Friday Harbor to Anacortes was awesome! Somehow it's better on the return trip than it is on the way out; it's a relaxing 45 minute cruise after a long day ... made more relaxing, because we didn't have to start the return trip by running for the ferry!

Spring Break 2007 (catching up)

I can't believe I didn't write anything about this at the time. This is one of the bigger things that Gregg and I did in 2007, and I didn't realize I hadn't written about it until I started writing up the "Holiday Letter". Of course I was studying for an exam at the time, so I guess it's not entirely surprising that blogging was low on my list of priorities. Anyway, so that this doesn't take over the holiday letter, here's a quick "catch-up" post just about Moab ...

Gregg and I traveled to Moab, Utah during Spring Break this year, for the wedding of some friends of ours. Gregg has fond memories of Moab, but I'd never really been. It was a great opportunity to go out with a group of friends, and share the cost of a vacation rental. By pooling our resources we were able to get a big house with lots of room, and a good sized garage. Which was a good thing. Everybody in the house went with the intention of getting out and enjoying the area as much as possible, either on mountain bikes (our mode), dirt bikes, or 4x4. So the garage was packed!

The wedding was off-road, and accessible only by one of the above modes of transportation. There were a couple of 4x4's taking the parents and some family out to the site, the bride and groom and a couple of friends went out by dirt bike, and Gregg and I rode mountain bikes out with the groom's brother.

Without going into a lot of detail, we (just the group on mountain bikes) got lost on our way to the wedding. We made a wrong turn, and ended up riding through some really deep sand, and hiked up some pretty steep rocky stuff. Not really the ride we'd planned. The phones didn't work, and radios didn't work ... so we weren't able to contact the rest of the group to let them know we were off-course. We caused a bit of a delay for the rest of the wedding party, but the best man was finally able to reach us by motorcycle, and get back to the wedding to tell them to just go ahead without us. We completely missed the ceremony, but definitely had some adventures. And we were able to get back and cleaned up in plenty of time for the reception. What's a wedding without misadventure, right? I'm a little disappointed that we were the cause of the misadventure, but I think it was a fantastic trip even with our stumbling.
Here are wedding day photos we took.


My favorite event of the trip was the Porpucine Rim ride. We had a good group. We had the bride and her dad, the groom's brother (also a co-worker of Gregg's), and me and Gregg. I was still the slowest person, as I usually am in any group, but it was a good pace, and a TON of fun. I can't even describe how much fun I had. We've got to make the time to get back out to Moab and do that again. Here are some photos of the Porcupine Rim ride.


And here are a bunch of photos that Gregg took of his Slickrock ride, and another ride he went on while I was studying. Cool photos, but you'll have to ask Gregg about the details.

What is "travel"?

Is it the act of physically transporting yourself to a different location? Technically I guess you could make that argument. Or is it the experiences you have when you go somewhere new? I guess I feel it's the latter. So do I "travel for work"? What does that mean?

On this trip, I kept encountering those little travel inconveniences. So this is mostly a rant. Directed toward nobody in particular.

On the flight out ...
The plane for my connecting flight was three hours late arriving in Denver, due to mechanical issues. Not too bad for me. I was able to spend the time working. And my ride in wasn't too worried about the delay, and we were still going to be able to get into Princeton by about 10 or 10:30. So not too late.

We finally boarded the plane and started taxiing toward the runway, and then inexplicably stopped on the runway. We were probably only stopped for about 15 - 20 minutes when the captain told us we weren't going to be able to get the OK from Philadelphia for at least an hour, so we were going to return to the gate to de-board, "and, uh, maybe you can make other arrangements". Yikes. Not a minute later we were heading down the runway, and the flight attendant was saying that the captain had just been informed that we had the OK to depart. And apparently he wasn't going to waste a moment taking advantage of that window.

Philadelphia was socked in with fog, so when we finally got there they put us in a holding pattern. They did tease us a little ... we started to come in for a landing, and then abruptly pulled up again. When I finally got off the plane and picked up by my co-worker it was 11pm, and we were about an hour's drive from Princeton.

I really couldn't tell you anything about Princeton. And that's what actually bugs me the most! I love traveling. Not the packing to get through security, or physically sitting in an airplane for hours. I enjoy exploring new places, people, food, music, whatever.

We were staying in a hotel near(ish) the office. The hotel and the office were in an area that looks like a suburb, with nothing but office buildings. Nothing at all within walking distance. And for food we were referred to the mall food court, or other chain restaurants outside the mall across the highway from us. So, no exploring in the two days I was there for work. And I'd failed to take the time off to explore on my own. That was my big mistake. I don't get to travel as often as I'd like, and I just shouldn't let these opportunities slip by. Now my (probably mistaken) impression of Princeton is that it's just another suburb. Lots of traffic, office buildings, malls ... nothing unique or interesting or really worth taking the time to see.

The trip back was less eventful. I took the train from Princeton to the Newark airport. The conductors were very helpful, and advised me to get off the train I was on, as it wouldn't actually be stopping at the airport. (oops). But I still managed to make it to the airport with time to spare. Got through security and looked around for food. What a pain. Security in the Newark airport is very near the gates. By the time you've gone through security your food options are pretty limited.

Naturally the Newark to Chicago flight was running late. And I was one of the last groups to board. So by the time I got on the plane there was no more room in the overheads for my carry-on bag. Usually the take your bag below, and hand it back to you as you get off the plane. For some reason they wouldn't do it this time, and the woman at the Newark airport was pretty surly about it. She just kept repeating "not gonna happen". Nice. Thanks. After getting in to Portland, and waiting for every last bag to come around the carousel, I discovered that my luggage hadn't made it on to my plane. Grrrr. Stupid Newark airline employee.

All things considered, the trip wasn't that bad. I did get to meet up with some of my co-workers. Something I don't often get to do. And it was really helpful to get training in person, rather than trying to do the same thing using documentation and telephone calls. And I came back in one piece. Really, if I'd had a chance to do any exploring I would have been pretty happy. And if there hadn't been people relying on me I wouldn't have been so anxious about the delays.

It could have been worse. And none of the inconveniences were really worth getting hung up on. I did, but I shouldn't have. I should consider my experiences to be another reminder that there's no point in getting hung up about things that you have no control over. Just let things follow their course, and don't engage in the drama. And next time ... take another day or two to explore, and make the most of the opportunity!!!

Halloween Cross 2007

Traditionally the Halloween CX race is held at the Flying M Ranch. We went for the first time last year, and had a blast. I wasn't racing last year either, but it was totally fun to watch. And the Flying M was a GREAT venue. I loved that it was so heavily forested. There was plenty of room for camping, racing, and 'spectating' (I use the form of a verb, because in this case it actually implies doing something active). So we were a little sad that the Flying M was shutting its doors, and Halloween Cross would be relocated.

The new venue, for 2007 at least, was Astoria. One of my old haunts. I taught high school in Astoria for a few years, many, many years ago. Almost a decade ago actually. I was surprised to realize that! We weren't able to leave Corvallis until late Saturday morning, and with the schedule of 'cross related events that didn't give us much time to explore Astoria and visit with old friends. We did manage to sneak in dinner with an old friend of mine though. John, it was fabulous seeing you! And I know you didn't want very badly for us to show up at the Talking Tombstones event on Sunday, but we LOVED it.

You're awesome John. You do the COOLEST stuff :) Our camera died after the first picture, so we didn't get a very good picture of John (no, that's not John playing death), but Gregg did run back for batteries (and jackets ... damn it was cold!) so we did get a few pictures of other players.

Anyway, I digress. Halloween Cross in Astoria was different, but totally fun! I don't think it had quite the energy that last year's event had, but it was great. And this year I rode in the Poker Ride the day before the race. I have several physical issues that make things like lifting a bike and running really painful (and not in a good way). The poker ride was just a pre-ride of the race course for a couple of laps. They didn't have the barriers up yet, and everything was rideable. So I was able to stay on the bike the whole time, which totally met my needs (a.k.a. physical limitations), and it was really fun! I'm hoping to race next season, and I can see already that being on the course with a bunch of people is going to completely spook me. But I've been told I'll get used to that.

Here are some photos we took of Halloween Cross

Vegas, baby! (part 4 of the working holiday)

Vegas is always a bit of a misadventure. Neither of us is well suited for Vegas, but this is where Interbike is, so here we go again.

I was super excited to see Gregg again, after a week and a half of roaming around. And I have to admit I was a little sad to touch down in rainy, dreary Portland only to fly out again without ever leaving the airport. A little sad to leave home I guess, even when the cold gray weather.

Anyway, we had a pretty comfortable and uneventful flight to Vegas, easily and quickly got our luggage and caught a shuttle to the hotel. Too good to be true, right?! Totally!!! They booked us into a room on the strip, directly over an incredibly loud, open door dance club. I got so desperate to sleep that I was trying to hide out on the bathroom floor with the door shut. Still no good, and I was about 30 seconds from sleeping in the hall outside my door before the noise finally went out around 4 am! Grrrrr.

I really wanted to come to Interbike again this year, so that I could get out to Bootleg Canyon for the outdoor demo. I want a new bike. I love my current bike. I really do. In fact I attribute my new-found love of mountain biking to my lovely Niner ... but I'm ready for some squish. I was completely exhausted for Tuesday's outdoor demo day, but totally looking forward to trying out some FS bikes.

The first booth we hit was Salsa. I checked out a Dos Niner, and Gregg picked out a scandium frame Mamasita. I can't speak for Gregg, but I really liked the Dos Niner. I felt totally comfortable on it instantly. It took a little bit to warm up my legs, but the trails out there are great! Clearly designed to make you fall in love with whatever bike you're riding. And I did love the Salsa. But I didn't think it much (if any) of a step up from what I've already got (again, really love my Niner) ... If you're in the market though, I'd highly recommend a ride on a Salsa.

We realized we were going to run out of time if we tried to hit up everybody, so we went 'directly' to the Niner booth. I've been dying to try out the R.I.P. 9 for quite a while now. The guys at the Niner booth were incredibly nice, and I got a lot of sympathy while I waited for HOURS (I do think I was waiting for at least an hour and a half) for a RIP 9 in my size to roll back in. Apparently the shorties who'd already checked out the small RIP 9's were out there having a great time! And I can see why. What a blast! I'm not used to FS bikes, so the travel on the Niner was a little plush for me ... it felt a little weird. But it practically pedaled itself, and the fit was instantly near-perfect. And on those rolly, banked trails, the plushness was juuuust right. Since leaving the demo I've thought more about it, and I'm not convinced that I actually want that much travel and plushness for the more slow and technical stuff that I'd normally ride. Now I'm thinking I'll wait another year, save my money for New Zealand, and check out the J.E.T. 9 at next year's outdoor demo :)

I barely had any juice left, and it was getting pretty hot, but we both wanted to get out on another bike before we left the demo day. So we hit up Lenz for a couple of FS bikes. I really hated the geometry. Felt like I was perched up over the handlebars. I think it's pretty typical for a DH/Freeride position, which I think is their typical audience. But it makes me feel totally unstable on the bike. I really like my seat to be further from my bars. I was totally impressed though with the feel of the rear suspension. And Gregg totally loved the bike.

I'm really hoping to get out on a Titus, and maybe the Specialized and Gary Fisher. And next year, fingers crossed, I'll ride the JET 9 at the Bootleg Canyon demo day. So, all that effort and I still don't know what I want. But it was an awesome day, and I can't wait to do it even better next year.

The other major highlight of our trip was Wednesday night's Cross Vegas! (Check out this cool YouTube video) It was a great race for Oregon. The Kona duo of Ryan Trebon and Barry Wicks dominated the whole men's race, with Ryan taking first. And Molly Cameron was in great form. Not great cycling form, per se, but she put on a great show ... beer in one hand, bike in the other, hopping over barriers. We were ringing bells and shouting like crazy during the entire thing. We were also lucky to get a ride back to the strip with some friends of friends ... saving us about $25 in cab fare. It was a great night.

Other brief highlights of the Vegas trip

• Meeting up with Chip and Andrea (friends from Denver) before their Cirque show (Ka) Thursday night. They taught us how to gamble :)
• Seeing Cirque du Soleil's Zumanity at New York New York, Friday night
• Hanging out with Chip & Andrea in their fantastic room at the Bellagio, overlooking the water show in the lake ... and then winning some $$ in the penny slots downstairs before heading back to our hotel. I actually won $15! Can you believe it?!

As usual, Vegas was a mixed bag. Noisy, smelly, and too many people. Good shows, overpriced bad food, great bikes to ride, bike events, huge amounts of cool bike stuff ... I still wish it weren't in Vegas, but I can't wait to go to Interbike again (wherever it is).

The French part of the working vacation (part 3)

Man, it's been AGES since I've been able to spend time with Delphine and Brett. And I hadn't even met Mason yet!

We had a little misadventure Friday night. The frazzled mom in Delphine took over, and she rushed out of the office to pick up Mason at day care ... forgetting me at the office. I ran to Union Station just in time to catch her bus. Whew! We met up with another friend of hers, and went to meet a bunch of French (and French-Canadian) women. She gets together with them once a month, I think, theoretically to speak French, but also I think to stay connected to these women with similar backgrounds and experiences. They were all incredibly nice, funny, generous ... and most of them were very French. Boy did I feel inadequate. The only second language I've ever tried to learn was German. Not that it would have helped in this situation, but after the maybe three years of lessons (twenty years ago), I don't even remember a word of German.

On Saturday we packed up Mason, and the four of us headed up to Boulder. We stopped for breakfast at The Original Pancake House. I'd never heard of it, but apparently it was founded in Portland! Who knew. We spent the afternoon cruising Pearl St, where I picked up a journal (which I'll never manage to fill) and some fabulous gourmet dot cookies (to ease my guilty conscience), and Delphine picked up some CDs to start replacing the collection that had gotten stolen from her car. It was a great, lazy afternoon. We rounded out the evening by taking the dog for a walk, eating take-out, and watching an episode of Psych (which I forced on them). I wish I had more time to spend with them. By the time I get around to visiting Denver again they'll be living in France. You may have already heard that our next planned travel will be to New Zealand ... but it looks like France (precise location TBD) and Manchester may follow.

The working part of the working vacation (part 2)

What a blur. I didn't take any pictures, or keep up with the blog ... but here are the highlights:

• Happy hour on Tuesday with Paul, Chris, and Ryan, at Dazzle. Anectdote: Gregg and I came here with the Turin crew one night for Martini-making lessong. Totally cool place.
• Tuesday's happy hour was followed by dinner at Le Central ... which became dinner around the corner at Little India when we realized Le Central was closed for the evening (remodeling or something). It's all good. They were both old favorites.
• Wednesday's drive through the old NW neighborhoods. Not much has changed there. Dinner at Trattoria Stella, which still has the best bread pudding ever!
• Lunches with Deb at Palomino; Susan, Heather, and Delphine at BDs Mongolian Grill; Coffee breaks with Ryan and Paul at Starbucks; Coffee with Marlise at Starbucks; and many other happy moments reconnecting with friends and prior co-workers

Aside from the walk to and from Ryan's (gorgeous and well-located) condo to the office downtown, I didn't get any exercise! Yikes. But it was fantastic being able to see old friends again. I'll have to get out there again for a working holiday ... and maybe before another three years have gone by!

My working vacation - part one

I'm skipping ahead a bit here. I'll circle back a bit later to write about the events between July and now.

I've gotten a lot of "why" questions about this trip. So ... I decided a while back that it was just WAY past time for a visit back to Colorado. I still love the place, and miss all my Colorado friends. Colorado, and Denver, will always have a special place in my heart. But things are as they always are ... not enough vacation time, Gregg can't get away, and too short of money for a full blown vacation.

So I decided to fashion myself a little working holiday.

Here's part one of the working holiday ...

Gregg and I drove up to Portland after I got off work on Wednesday. We went to the IKEA to pick up another light fixture for the bathroom, and a couple more DVD storage boxes. We also picked up some treats ... salty black licorice fish and cloudberry (?) jam and stuff. IKEA rocks! Gregg dropped me off at a budget hotel near the airport and left to get home to Demi.

I woke up at 3:30 am (what on EARTH was I thinking scheduling such an early flight), caught my airport shuttle at 4 am, and made it through security in about 20 minutes ... plenty of time to catch my 5:44 am flight to Denver. Again, what was I thinking. Well, I know I was thinking of a cheap ticket ... but how cheap is it really if I have to stay in a hotel in order to make my flight.

Two valuable travel lessons learned:
Printing out the boarding pass in advance saves a TON of time.
The flight isn't that cheap if there are add-on expenses (like lodging).
Early morning wake-up calls totally suck.

After arriving in Denver I dropped in at the Denver office to store my luggage, and had a chance to say "hi" to a bunch of old friends and coworkers. I can't believe it's been THREE YEARS since I left the Denver office. Time flies!!!

I worked downtown at the Starbucks for the day and took the light rail south to Geanie & Travis's place. Wow! Their new place is walking distance to the light rail station, and the house is huge and gorgeous, the backyard is landscaped with grapes and apparently a plum tree, and aspen, and a fountain, and the deck has a pretty decent view of the Rocky Mountains. It's absolutely gorgeous.

After working from their house (and the nearby Starbucks) on Friday, Geanie & Travis & I met up with Donata, and Chip & Andrea for dinner. Donata's just had another baby ... less than two weeks ago ... and she looks absolutely amazing!!! I also had a chance to get to know Andrea a little bit, and get caught up with Chip. I can't believe I forgot my camera for this get-together! Dang! Well, I'll just try not to let another three years go by ...

On Saturday Geanie and Travis took me (and the dogs) up to Keystone for the day. I really wanted to get up to the mountains, just for a little hike or something. Anything. Of course the elevation completely kicked my @$$! I completely forgot what it feels like to be struggling for oxygen before any of your muscles feel engaged. But it was so beautiful! The Aspen are just beginning to show color. Within a couple of weeks they're going to be in full glory.

In the evening we opened up some wine and took the dogs for a short walk, and Travis made us a great meal. Tons of veggies. Exactly what a traveling girl needs!

After getting back to the city this afternoon, Geanie and I walked to the mall (a.k.a. "Lifestyle Center") ... did a little window shopping, had some noodles, and I got a pedicure! First time ever. What luxury. I mean, my feet were looking a little worked, and I'm wearing sandals all week. So there was (arguably) an actual need. But it was also an absolutely cool experience. They started with a little whirlpool bath for my feet, lotioned the feet, massaged the feet, exfoliated and massaged my feet and calves, moisturized feet and calves, hot wax on the feet (surprisingly not unpleasant). What an experience!

And after coming back to the house I got to see another fall lightening storm. Man, I've really missed those. The lightening in Colorado is so amazing! Unfortunately Geanie was out running at the time, and got poured on. But (once she was safely home) it really capped off a great weekend for me!

This morning I took the train up to Downtown Denver, and checked in to the office. More on the work week later ... in part two.

Wait ... stop the train ... let me off!!!

What a weird week it's been.

Gregg and I drove up to Portland Monday night to see Rasputina in concert at the Hawthorne. We've seen Rasputina a few times. Love them. Melora comes across as kind of cranky and eccentric ... much like one of our favorite authors, David Sedaris. Apparently we're a big fan of the cranky eccentrics. Anyway, Rasputina played several of their new tunes. Loved them all. Gregg thought they were selling out a bit ... one of their songs was less discordant, more of a "mainstream pop" sound, than is customary in their music. I still thought they kept close enough to their unique style and sound, and loved it all. And they played several old favorites. The Hawthorne was a bit smaller than we'd expected, and had absolutely no ventilation. A girl could pass out in that much heat and humidity.

We had a nice walk back to our friends' home, which we were house sitting. And the next morning realized we'd lost their house key!!! And I actually mean Gregg lost their house key!!! Freakin' stunning! Gregg is my finder of all things lost ... he doesn't lose things, he finds them.

I had a pretty good couple of days working in Portland. Stopped at Pix Patisserie on my way to the Portland office Wednesday, to pick up some goodies to bring home to Gregg after work. I was introduced to the place once, and have absolutely fallen in love with it! Since I don't have regular access it's going to become an obsession I can't indulge in; I'm going to start having dreams of their desserts. Can't help myself.

I mistakenly thought I'd be able to walk from the Portland office to the train station, to catch my train back home. Started walking, and realized that not only did I not have a clear picture of the distance, I couldn't find a taxi?! I don't know where the downtown Portland hotels are. There are always taxis in front of the hotels, and I figured I'd come across one at some point. No luck. I ended up ducking into a Starbucks along the way and asking for the number for a taxi. Got to the train station in the nick of time! And the train was delayed. Only about 15 minutes, but with the wait for the taxi and the 15 minute delay, I actually could have walked the distance. Ah well.

So then ... this is where the week got even weirder ... I got into the train. Stashed my many bags in and around my seat. Set up my computer, and got some work done. Grabbed a mini bottle of mediocre Chardonnay and some equally mediocre Madelines, and read the Willamette Weekly for the rest of the ride home.

I love taking the train. For $15 one way it's barely more than gas, and less than gas + parking. A lot of people complain about delays, but in my experience I've only once been more than 15 or 20 minutes late. I don't even consider that late for public transportation, and when I take the train I plan for the lateness. In fact, as a rule I never take the train when my arrival is time-sensitive ... when I need to make a travel connection or a close meeting time. The way I see it, if I plan it properly, it's less stressful and much more productive than driving. I gain an hour and a half of usable time since I can actually work, play, or relax on the train.

So after working and relaxing, we approached Albany. I got all of my bags in order, ready to grab the moment the train stopped. Train stopped. I grabbed bags and stood up ... looked to either end of the car to see where the door was going to open (they only open certain doors at the stops). Saw the door open at the far end of one of the attached cars, and immediately headed toward the door. As I approached the door, it started closing!!! I stuck my hand against the door hoping to trigger it open (like an elevator). Doesn't work like that! So I started yelling at the conductor who was on the other side of the door ... and then banging on the window of the door. "Hey ... I'd like to get out here ... hello!" No gold. The only "official" I could get to immediately was the cafeteria woman ... and as I was talking to her the train started to leave the station! I'm sure if I'd been more composed I'd have seen an "emergency stop" button or cord or something. Never actually looked for one. And at this point I was beginning to wrap my head around the fact that I was headed for Eugene, and was going to need to call Gregg to let him know where to pick me up. Somebody more together than me must have noticed my predicament, because the train stopped shortly after leaving the station. The conductor said that he couldn't back up the train (okay, hadn't even considered that he could), so did I want to get out here and walk the track back to the Albany station, or go ahead on to Eugene. I'll walk, thanks!

Wow. What a trip. So I walked the 100 feet or so back to the station parking lot. Weird!!! I think it was a combination of me sitting in the "wrong" car (I wanted to use the tables to set up my laptop), and the fact that the conductor who'd checked my ticket and knew I should be departing in Albany was a new employee in training, and she wasn't the one who opened/closed the door at the station. That's never happened to me before, or to anybody I've spoken with who's traveled by train. Still, next time I'll be a little more proactive about avoiding this sort of FU.

And the kicker ... and what really bugs me still ... is that I forgot those damned desserts under my chair!!! Walking along the railroad tracks carrying all my bags ... actually kind of a laughable, "oh yeah, this is my life!" sort of thing. Losing the desserts ... that's just so typically me, and so entirely disappointing!

Catching up on Philadelphia

So I arrived in Philadelphia at around 6:30 am, found a payphone (boo! not used to using those anymore) and called Debbie. Poor girl. Quite an early wake-up call after a Friday night out with friends. She was a total champ, and showed up in about 20 minutes to pick me up.

We were too early for breakfast anywhere, so we went back to her place, had a little breakfast, took showers, and got ready to go touristing.

There are lot's of MAP murals, as well as many independent (non-MAP) murals. "Theatre of Life" on S BROAD ST & LOMBARD ST was my favorite, hands down, but it's difficult to see how magnificent it really is from the photos. Anyway, after a little touristing for murals we got a little bored with the process, and decided to head on down to Reading Terminal Market. Huge, and very cool. Of course I have a love affair with food, so I thought all the fresh ingredients and homemade Amish goods were really wonderful. Before getting back to the car we'd also managed to walk some of the area near my hotel and have an excellent cup of coffee at nearby La Colombe Torrefaction, and do a little shopping at Anthropologie. Usually way overpriced, but I managed to get a gorgeous skirt on sale for 75% off. Awesome. Anyway, after a couple of errands and a driving tour of more of Philadelphia, we went back to debase place in Germantown for some down time.

Later in the evening we walked down to one of her neighbor's homes for a night in with friends. Since my memory is so completely awful, I'm not even going to attempt to remember everybody's names, but they were all really great. Very interesting, funny, and friendly. I begged off playing games on my own, but since we were odd-numbered anyway Debbie and I paired up as a team in a game of Catch Phrase. Loved it! Want it. Next time we show up at your house we may just be bringing the game with us.

And, after sleeping like a rock for the night, and taking our time getting around in the morning, we decided to hit the mall. And hit it I did. You've never seen me have this much fun shopping. And I spent way too much money. But as Debbie continued to point out, I didn't buy anything that wasn't at a great deal. Everything either on sale or at H&M (my favorite simple t-shirts, and everything always at reasonable prices, but not many of them in the U). Still, you've never seen me with so many shopping bags!

Debbie and I also got together with another friend of her's on Monday night for dinner. I have to say I've never had so much fun with her. Astoria was really a difficult time for both of us, and I think neither of us was on our game back then. These days we're both happier, and it really shows. She looks really great, and it felt like after 8 years apart we were more similar than we'd been after spending 2 years together. I was honestly pretty surprised at how easy and fun it was to be with her. And all of her friends were fantastic too. She's planning on coming back to Oregon for a visit in July, and I'm hoping I'll have a chance to visit with her some more then.

Working with the crew in Philadelphia was great. It's nice to be in the same office with co-workers, even for just a few days. It really is easier to have your co-worker located just over a cubicle wall or behind a door. It's all psychological I think, because it's not that hard to pick up a phone or NetMeeting with that same person to get help or to collaborate. But it's really nice to be able to go out to lunch with them, or take advantage of a free moment just to chat. Does it go without saying that everybody in the office was super friendly and helpful? I love my job.

Well, there were some rough spots in this trip (including an eventful and unpleasant cab ride back to the Philadelphia airport), and I seem to have returned with the flu. I'm feeling a little better tonight, and hopefully will continue to improve, as this is a critical week for work. I don't even remember when I had the flu last, but I've gotta say it's entirely unpleasant. By Friday night I had a fever, and was alternately shivering and sweating, had a horrible headache, and my lungs were completely congested. I guess it should have occurred to me that with all of the traveling I was doing this season, a flu shot might have been a good idea. I've never had one before, but next season I'll have to think about it a little more carefully.

All things considered though, it was a really great trip. I did find my cell phone! Yeah, Gregg knew all along I'd find it in the back of the car. Smarty pants. I'd apparently put it down when I went back to the car to grab my gloves and hat. And it was fantastic hooking up with Debbie again. I had a great time with her. And working in the office with Jon and Dmitri, and chatting with Rob and Ross, was productive and fun. Not sure when I'll have another chance to go back to Philadelphia, but I'd jump at the chance. Even considering all the pitfalls, and the flu, it was a great trip!

On to Philadelphia

Barely a week home from Australia, and I'm on my way to Philadelphia. I've never been, so I'm excited to see a new place, and meet up with an old friend. Debbie and I suffered through our first years of teaching together at Astoria High School. It should be apparent from my current job that I wasn't clearly not cut out for teaching, but Debbie's stuck with it ... modified the career a bit both in geographic location and specialty, but she's still teaching.

So, the trip is off to a pretty horrible start. The flight I'd chosen left PDX at around 10 pm, and arrived in Philadelphia at around 10 am, and ... quite importantly, didn't lay over in Vegas. But, when I went to book it there was a cheaper flight available, cheaper by around $70 ... $70 that I didn't want to pony up. So instead I chose a flight that would be a little more tight to get to, but still possible. I should also mention that I've never driven myself to the airport, and therefore never needed to park in the long-term lot.

Naturally it took longer to get to the airport than I'd anticipated. Because I'd stopped to return a borrowed dvd recorder at Rie & John's place in Portland, I tried to find the parking lot from the directions I'd printed, and got lost. So I ended up coming into the airport from a different direction. The only sign I saw for the long term parking pointed in a direction that didn't take me anywhere. Eventually I found the budget parking ... and happily the shuttle bus came immediately! ... but I was still in a huge rush. No line at security, so I breezed through in minutes. Got to the gate just in time ... and couldn't find my cell phone to turn it off! Yes, I've lost my cell phone.

Just overheard a conversation in this horrible little smoky bar in the Vegas airport ... in which a belligerent American (oh my god, he just said he was from Oregon ... he's really embarrassing) asked a Canadian guy "so what's up with Canadian TV. I mean, Kids In The Hall, Strangers With Candy ... That's not funny!" And I just have to take a moment to strongly disagree. With that, and pretty much everything he said after that.

Anyway, things to learn from this experience:

• Don't cut travel deadlines so close. Leave earlier if necessary, don't plan on running errands when you really don't have the time, if you've never been to the (airport, parking garage, etc.) allow a little extra time.
• Never layover in Las Vegas. Unless you're both a smoker and a gambler.
• To soften a little on the previous statement ... if you're going to be in need of free wireless, and don't mind the smoke, there is a bar in LAS ~ The Budweiser Brew House I think ~ that has free wireless.
• Don't be so cheap. I could have saved myself a lot of grief for about $70.

And now, on to Philadelphia from Las Vegas.

Wrap-Up & Kudos

To summarize the whole trip in one entry would be impossible, but needless to say we had a great time. It was the trip of our lives, we saw amazing new places and tried some exiting new things. But best of all were the people we met. A place is just a place, what makes it really special to me is the people...and we met many memorable people in Australia. Our Couch Surfing/Global Freeloader hosts, the bus drivers, tour guides, even the locals on the street, all made our trip a great one. We need to thank so many people. Lets try chronologically starting with my Mom and Johnny, for driving us to/from the Airport (and washing our filthy car! Obviously embarrassed of it sitting in their driveway). Leave it to a mom to drop everything for her kids.

Next, Sandy and Tony...our first friendly faces in Sydney, who got up at a very early hour to pick up two strangers up at the airport, and invite them into their home. While they were accustomed to the "freeloading " experience, Stephanie and I had no idea what to expect. Needless to say we would have never expected the kind of warmth, and hospitality they offered. Sandy's wonderful home-made vegetarian lasagna, Tony's kickstart coffee, rides into town or the train station, meeting their kids and great stories of their trips to America...started our trip off right. Thanks.

Next, Tom in Katoomba. Again great hospitality. We arrived in Katoomba with a vague idea of where he lived, we called to get confirmation and next thing we knew he was pulling up to the curb. He lives just a tad bit out of town, but the view more than makes up for it (and this way we were closer to some of our planned activities). Partly because we weren't actually staying in his house, and because we kept pretty busy, we did not get to spend as much time chatting with Tom. Steph did get to go up one night and hang out, while Gregg took a nap. Tom was great, even let us borrow a couple of bikes ! Good luck Tom, enjoy your adventures.

From Katoomba we made our way to see Loren and Yvette (and Kya). They also helped to make our trip the best possible. From picking us up from the Airport, to driving us down the Mornington Peninsula, taking us to their favorite restaurants, a bike ride for Gregg and thanks to Yvette taking Stephanie to the chemist several times. We were very lucky to see so much of them, with Yvette still recovering from her shoulder surgery, and Loren having a somewhat flexible work schedule, we had a great time staying with them. (and hope to meet up with them on their next vacation, wherever that may be...)

That brings us to Shane and Fiona, the horse people. Stephanie met them through one of the global freeloader sites, and we were honored to be their first guests ! They welcomed us in and made us feel at home. They are very nice couple, and so very active. BOTH were very accommodating and took time to drive us wherever we needed to be. I learned the basics of cricket, and Stehanie pet a goat and we had fun playing with their dogs. Good luck selling your place, and on finding the ranch of your dreams.

We need to say a special thanks to Dad and Ielean for watching Demi while we were gone. We left for vacation knowing she was in very good hands. Demi is of course spoiled, and we were worried how she would adapt to a new home and a different schedule. Apparently she did fine, even learned a new phrase " go to the beach?". We still need to get over to their house and get the whole story. Despite being slow to recognize us when we got back (to be fair we did smell very different) she has adjusted quickly to her regular routine. She does however keep a little closer watch on our movements, like when Stephanie was recently packing for a business trip to Philadelphia...but that's another entry alltogether.




It was great to meet and stay with Australian families.

Australia ~ Hoo Roo, Australia

Getting back to Tokyo Village Youth Hostel late Tuesday night meant it was tough getting up Wednsday morning. ( does staying IN a youth hostel mean you're young ? I hope so ). But we checked out with time to walk to Darling Harbour for breakfast. Darling Harbour is one of our favorite spots in Sydney. It was a area of run down docks and abandoned wharehouses for years. But in 1984, after about after 150 years of industrial use, the NSW State Government decided to redevelope the Darling Harbor area and to "return it to the people of Sydney". It is now a vibrant combination of boat docks, shopping, outdoor parks, museums, resturaunts, hotels, the Sydney Aquarium, Chinese Gardens, IMAX....and a wonderfull 104 year old swing-span bridge. One of the oldest electrified swing-span bridges in the world, it once carried thousands of cars a day, but now is a pedestrian walkway with an elevated monorail track. It still opens on weekends several times a day. Sydney has great public transportation; trains, busses, monorail and the trams (but only a few, most were removed in the 1960's....Melbourne wisely kept their's and now the monorail is one of that city's most famous landmarks). We ate breaky sitting at a second floor cafe overlooking the harbour...perfect. Hopped the train to the Airport, boarded the plane, and settled in for a 13 hour ride (thats just to San Fransisco) then a couple hours layover, and a final flight to Portland. Coming in for landing at PDX Stephanie looked out the window at the grey drizzle and said "Despite the weather,I really do love Oregon" We were both glad to be home...living out of your suitcase for three weeks starts to get old.

Australia~Back in Sydney

Tuesday morning Loren drove Stephanie, Yvette and I to the depot just in time to catch the train to the airport. Quick goodbyes. Yvette was going up to Wollongong to see her parents (Loren would be coming up later) and was even on our same flight. When Steph and I got into downtown Sydney, we walked to a Youth Hostel where had reservations. It was very hot, and we were carrying our full load...you can imagine our feelings when we arrived at their doorstep and were told to come back in a few hours. While it is normal for Hostels to close mid-day, we had specifically asked if we could come by to drop of our bags before going into town for our Sydney Harbour Bridge climb. So we had a bite to eat and did a little reading. At 4:00 we got checked into our room (3 flights up), and left for the harbour. We had 5:15 pm reservations to climb the Harbour Bridge, and did not want to be late. LOOK CLOSELY AT PIC...SEE THE PEOPLE ? The Bridgee climb starts in The Rocks district, Sydney's oldest and most historically intact. Narrow cobblestone alleyways and old stone buildings are nestled on a small hill looking down on the harbour and up at the bridge. We checked in for our climb, signed waivers, took the requisite breathalyzer test (we passed!) and suited up. After donning the snappy jumpsuits, we walked through a metal detector, to insure no foriegn objects that could be dropped were brought along (no cameras allowed). We then put on our climbing harnesses and radios. Lastly a quick practice climb on a simulator to check the gear and we're off. The walk was great, with some behind the scene looks at the bridge and its construction (for example did you know the large concrete pillars under the bridge are just for looks? the steel span is completely self-supporting) As we are standing 400 feet above the water below, our guide Simon starts telling us about how many construction workers died...(only 16, and 6 of those were not actually ON the bridge when they died) or the story about the one worker who fell 150 feet into the water and lived. By making himself as small as possible and landing feet first he survived. But the impact burst both his eardrums and the soles of his boots had to be surgically removed from his feet. They gave him a gold watch. We got down the regular way and recieved nice certificates and a great picture. By the time we got down it was dark, and we were hungry. Luckily we found The Orient, Sydney's oldest pub. Great food and plenty of old world charm. The perfect way to end our last night in Australia.

Australia~ Great Ocean Road

An early start (6:30 am) was necessary in order to get through Melbourne before traffic, and because it was going to be a long day of driving (for Loren). The Great Ocean Road awaits. The first couple hours was just to get from the east side of the bay, through Melbourne, to the west side where the Great Ocean Road starts. Combine the Aussie driving style with a curvy road and then sit in the backseat...I'm getting a little queasy just thinking about it. Stephanie brought ginger tablets, sat in the middle, and we took frequent rest stops. Luckily the coastline was quite beautiful and distracting. First stop was at Bells Beach, a world famous surf beach. No big crowds, just big waves. At one point the road curved inland a bit to climb a large cape. Amazing how the quickly the foliage changes from beach to rainforest. A short detour brought us the to Otway Fly, an catwalk 75 feet off the floor of the rainforest. Walking along 75 ft off the ground among the giant trees was amazing. A spiral staircase took us to a small observation tower 135 ft high, and the trees were still towering. It swayed a bit, and the tight spiral coming down was harder on the tummy than the car ride. The trees are truly amazing, only the Californian Redwood grows taller. The area is home to platypus and echidnas, the worlds two only egg laying mammals...not that we saw any (they are nocturnal). Back on the road, we reach our destination...an amazing collection of limestone rock formations up to 100 feet high. The Twelve Apostles, Razorback, Island Arch, The Blowhole and London Bridge ( used to be a double arched peninsula, one arch collapsed back in 1990 leaving some tourists trapped 50 feet from shore, 40 feet above the sea. They were rescued by helicopter) to name a few. The Australian south coast has been responsible for many shipwrecks, one of the most famous was the Loch Ard , our final stop. Only two people survived, a small graveyard on the bluff holds the few recovered bodies. At this point we need to get heading back, its getting late. Up to the Princes Highway for a more direct return trip to Melbourne, and we're home by 9:30 pm.

Australia~ Mtn Biking & Melbourne

Sunday morning Gregg (Me) and Loren got up to go mountain biking. Of course it turns out to be the ONE day it rains...Loren had borrowed a Specialized Epic from his friend Marcus, who was also gracious enough to toss in some clipless shoes and helmet. We drove about 30 minutes to Lysterfield Park, the sight of the upcoming Commonwealth Games Mountainbike Race. There we met up with Loren's buddy Jason. Since they were both riding singlespeeds, I tried to be fair and match their gear size, (but still shifted occasionally). The trails were rolling, twisty, and lots of fun. Kangaroo hopped and lounged nearby, most were hardly bothered by our presence. And despite the drizzle, it was so warm I had to ditch the light jacket. Some say no ride is complete without a little blood...Loren complied with a quick fall on the loose dirt, resulting in a scraped-up elbow and calf. Didn't look too bad, but then I didn't have "Grid-Iron" (American Football) practice after the ride like he did.

Getting back home, Loren made the mistake of mentioning we saw Kangaroos. Stephanie was a little jealous that I saw 'roos in the wild, so while he went to Football practice, Yvette took Stephanie and I back to Lysterfield Park for a hike. The rain had stopped, but the 'roos were hiding. We walked some trails and on the return loop we finally found some hangng out in the woods. They were very casual, just laying around and not jumpy like deer.

Australia ~ Grape Grazing in the Yarra Valley

Yesterday we decided to do some wine tasting in the Yarra Valley, about an hour from Melbourne. There was an organized event, so several of the wineries had live entertainment, and were offering food. The first winery was really nice. Not too crowded. We tasted and liked the some of the wines ... but I wasn't ready to committ at the first winery, and we headed on to the next. Chandon. A favorite of Yvette's. Chandon was so crowded we could barely get in, and they weren't actually offering any wine to taste. You could buy by the glass, but you couldn't try it first. So we went on to another winery. And another. We got pretty tired pretty quickly of the huge crowds, so we went out to the nether-regions of the valley and hit a winery that wasn't so centrally located. Finally, we had some peace, and we had lunch while we listened to some jazz. The wine was really not very good at all, but it was excellent to get away from the crowds.

In the end we decided to shelve the passes and festival glasses, and go to the wineries that weren't on the tour. We found a couple of pretty good wines, had some time to talk to the people at the wineries, and had a much better time of it. And the Yarra Valley is really very beautiful.

Australia ~ back in Melbourne

The return trip on the ferry was uneventful, and we managed to smoothly make one connection after another to get back to Mordialloc. Yvette was out walking Kya, so she met up with us and walked us home. After we got settled in, Yvette drove me back to the chemist (pharmacy) to have a look at the creepy rash on my leg. The chemist looked pretty horrified (and yet professional, all at the same time). He gave me a topical cream, told me to keep taking the antihistamine that I'd gotten for the earlier reaction to a bunch of bug bites, and told me to either stay out of the bush or to wear long socks and tie down my pant legs with a rubber band.

We took it pretty easy during the day. Later in the afternoon we all piled into the car and drove up to the Dandenongs. We stopped briefly at the William Ricketts Sanctuary. It's a great combination of cool and a little creepy. A short hike through a rainforest area, with Ricketts art placed throughout the paths.

After touring the sanctuary, we drove on to Sassafras. We were arriving at closing time, so we had a little trouble finding a place to have some scones. We finally tried the church at the top of the hill. Brother Jon's Holy Scones, I think? Anyway, it was manned by a cute old Scottish guy. It is a church, but it's also a restaurant? It looks like it's permanently set up for a wedding. Brother Jon (I'll correct the name later if it's wrong) was dozing at the counter when we arrived. I asked him if he was still open, and he looked at the time and said yes. I think he was really closing, but hadn't gotten around to it since he was dozing, and since we were there ... a very nice old guy. I asked if he had iced coffee, and he said not really, so I said just water. So he made up an iced coffee for me. He brought Loren's tea without the teabag (yes, a pitcher of hot water), and when Loren said something he said "Oh, good lord ... Scottish tea", and laughed, and went off to bring back the teabag. Gregg and I had never had the Devonshire Scones experience, so it was pretty cool to try something new. And the view couldn't be beat. We decided to bus our own table ... poor guy seemed a little shaky after his nap, and we were a little concerned he might trip over one of those steps. Anyway, he invited us to tour the gardens out back. Very well manicured and maintained, and very Brittish looking. There's probably a lot more to see in the Dandenongs, but it would definitely mean renting a car and staying in B&Bs, and that sort of thing. It's a very nice getaway though, and very near Melbourne.