Archive for June, 2010

Travel Tuesday is upon us again and this time I am taking us to the Oregon Coast; Cannon Beach to be exact.
This beach town is quiet and quaint with eccentric art and glass blowing galleries, surf shops and an extremely walkable beach, especially when the tide is out.

The Pacific Ocean is cold though — not much swimming goes on here, even on warm days, but its hard to resist wading in and looking for the many starfish and sand dollars.

Seaside and Astoria are nearby towns that cannot be missed if traveling the Oregon Coast. Seaside has the arcade games, the rides and tourist shops that don’t quite fit the higher end theme Cannon Beach represents. Astoria is a logging town, very blue collar, but touristy in its own right as it is where much of the movie Goonies was filmed.

Cannon Beach is recognized instantly by images of the picture I am attaching: Haystack Rock.
In the old days you could climb on it, or even in it when the tide was way out. Now climbing is prohibited but just getting close to the rock is an experience not easy to duplicate.

With Wimbledon still in full swing I can’t help but be excited that the US Open will be here before I know it!

The US Open occurs in Flushing Meadows, Queens each summer beginning in August and I can honestly say that it is THE best sporting event I have ever been to (and I have been to what I think are some epic sporting events in the past). It is extremely organized, clean, open and feels like a festival of sorts–often compared to an Olympic village atmosphere. Tickets to the day or night matches are available to see the main matches that take place in the Arthur Ashe stadium (the main arena there) but the tickets also allow free roaming ability to walk the grounds to shop, see tennis auctions, eat, visit and witness all of the constant action on the other 15 courts on the grounds. Aside from the “official” courts–there are practice courts on each side of the grounds and watching the tennis greats warm up up close is my favorite part of the Open.

At the practice courts, all of the players, ranked and unranked, practice for their matches side by side-like at a park or high-school. I am in awe for days after seeing Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal (RAFFA!!!) and Venus practice from front row bleacher seats.

Tickets are available here for the 2010 season that runs August 30- September 12 and here is a tip: if you go a week prior to the Open starting, you get on the grounds for free and can watch (and maybe meet) all of the tennis greats practice up-close.

My friend Cora and me at the Open last year. Love that blue court!

me and Roger

Nadal up close at the practice courts

Venus & Roddick practicing

the globe outside Arthur Ashe Stadium. Originally constructed for the 1961 Worlds Fair.

some of the practice courts

NYC from Arthur Ashe

While away for the past week visiting my hometown of Seattle, WA, I labored daily on the sad fact that I had not posted much on my site in a while. My trips back home always keep me busy with seeing friends and family and visiting my old hangouts (the University of Washington district, Capitol Hill and this time up north in Bellingham, near the Canadian border, where my very adorable (and very loud) niece and nephew live).

Lake Washington near the U of Washington

At a beach in Bellingham, WA looking across to British Columbia, Canada

An old boat at the Semiahmoo Resort just outside Bellingham

Unlike most of my visits back home, not to mention like most days in general in Seattle, the weather was nice this time, yes–nice. It wasn’t the 90+ degrees that I have been used to the past couple weeks here in the NE, but it was in the low 70′s and not a drop of rain fell (I know, pinch me, right?) These “dry spells”–even the short ones– I think apply some sort of magical spell on the locals and expats like myself because during them, one questions why they would ever complain about Seattle. Surrounded by a natural fortress of mountains in every direction with the ocean and lakes populating the city and surrounding suburbs, the air is clean, the people are friendly and the atmosphere feels organic–as though you can’t imagine NOT buying your veggies, fruit and even meats fresh from the local markets while dressing in your Birkenstock’s and fleece (& I am so not making fun-this is a very comfortable attire, one I had to sort of give up when moving back east to save myself from the horrified looks and assumptions that I was some sort of modern day hippie–a label I was quite proud to have while living in Seattle).

view of Mt Rainier over Lake Union. Photo credit: Tim Knight

Of course, these moments of sun are short lived and even the most die-hard Seattlite will tell you that at times, the weather can be a real downer. Many of my friends have been inflicted with severe vitamin D deficiency requiring prescription level meds (and if you are reading this right now and finding yourself getting angry at this statement–don’t blame me, blame the lack of sun and get thee to a doctor for some prescription Vit-D pills) and large vacation bills to take them away from Seattle to seek sun (a Seattle local and friend of mine told me on this recent trip she wished her family could go geo-caching (a very popular hobby/sport in the Pacific NW) for Sun).

So–to celebrate the nice weather while I was there I felt it only necessary to broadcast that fact to help offset the common belief that the sun doesn’t come out much in my home town.
In fact– here is the weather forecast for the next few days. Is that partly sunny, or partly cloudy? I never did learn the difference of this common Seattle forecast.

well– this is a somber post.

As you know, I am a writer (well, an inspiring aspiring one, but actually calling myself a writer in a public forum is the right thing to do from a motivational standpoint) and as a writer, I pitch several ideas for articles to many different publications.

Recently I pitched an idea to a famous Newspaper that is read all around the world and makes its home in Manhattan. This publication shall remain unnamed in this post as the journalist society is a small one…

Anyway– my pitch, to this world famous newspaper (that makes its home in Manhattan and who everyone I am sure can guess its name) a few months ago, to the very specific regional section in the Weekend edition, centered on a specific artsy town near Princeton, NJ. My pitch, very concise yet detailed (which is possible), was sent to them in time for the Spring/pre-Summer rush for their readers to benefit from the small town community, historical sites, antique shops and art gallerys (as well as the best pet shop you’ll ever visit in the NE) before the Summer crowds take residence. I did not hear back from the editor (of whom I had his direct email address AND name) even after I pinged him a couple of times–which is how it sometimes goes in this “business”. I was not discouraged– I just assumed that this was not the time for this type of article.

Since then, I had gotten married, vacationed in paradise and worked very hard at my “real” job.
Upon returning back from a vacation, I was reading the above unnamed Sunday paper, as I always do on the weekend, and when my eye caught the front page of the local, regional specific section it felt as though my body forgot how to breathe. On the front page was an entire article featuring THE SAME TOWN I had pitched with the SAME EMPHASIS on the art galleries and town charm.

Now, I beg of you, please make your own call on this predicament that I find myself in:
Is she just being arrogant to think that it may be possible that her story idea was so perfect and so wonderful that it was bound to be “professonally borrowed” and given to a staff writer at this famous publication in order to save money in this dying newspaper print world?
or
Is she being naive to think that surely she can’t be the only person to have thought about this town and its artsy ways and that this is just bound to happen and that surely another person would have known the newspaper lead time and the editor’s info (which honestly–is very possible) and the draw this town has to all people in the NE region?

To be fair to myself, I have not yet made a decision on where I feel I stand on this issue. My friends and colleagues have been kind enough to throw their hands in the air and cry “thief” (thanks guys) and tell me that my idea was “stolen”… but I am not as quick to jump to that conclusion.

As it is, the only conclusion that matters is that the story has been written and I need to keep plugging away with other inspiring travel articles about areas both near and far to pitch to the many publications out there. Oh yeah, and maybe get an agent (I can dream).

Thanks for your sympathy in advance.

** the image appearing in this post is both fitting and also found on the blog Bits n Bytes of Life of from which I borrowed it…

Today’s Travel Tuesday photo takes me back to Belize… Caye Caulker to be exact. Here I happened upon some sort of unofficial cat hangout. Aside from the few cats you see in this shot, there were about 10 more lurking around. I love the one approaching the camera. The cats followed Caye (pronounced ‘key’) Caulker’s slogan of “go slow”. They, and everything else on this island off of mainland Belize-including me, operated on island time (read: slow motion).

Now is the perfect time to go to Caye Caulker as their Lobster Fest begins June 15th and runs through July. Lobster is abundant locally here so the prices are far less than you’d expect to pay.

If you need a place to stay, Amanda’s Place is one to look into. You will feel like you are staying at a friend’s house (a nice friend that is clean and considerate). The rooms are not too crowded nor too spacious and there is a pool just steps from your door.

Caye Caulker is 5 miles long and very pedestrian friendly–especially since there are no cars allowed and can only be reached by water taxi from Belize City or Ambergris Caye. It is situated 1 mile west of the 2nd largest reef in the World: the Belize Barrier Reef. Rent your diving or snorkeling gear at Frenchie’s- or even get certified here to scuba.

The reef is protected as a reserve and therefore is quite clean and full of colorful sea-life. While there, I swam with (and petted) Nurse sharks, friendly turtles and eagle rays.

Here is a pic of me with one of those friendly turtles.

Get there and be prepared to acclimate quick into relaxation mode!

This third Zion post (read one & two) brings the trip to a close, at least the documentation of it on this website; the memories of course will live on.

I mean really, three high-school buddies meet up and road trip for a long weekend? How could that not be a great time! I am so thankful for Rachel and Jean, for the laughs and hot tamales, for the wacky pictures and wackier people in some of the establishments we frequented, for the bonding time we had in that amazing scenery, and for Melissa; another dear friend who decided to get married in this gorgeous spot!

Below are the remaining pictures I’d like to share.

The Emerald Pools Hike
There are three pools reachable on this Hike: Upper, Middle & Lower.–each reached by a different trail that included waterfalls both large and small, narrow paths and sheer drop-offs.

Jean & Diana across the canyon at the Upper Emerald Pool–about to be hit by the waterfall spray.

the view when looking up

Diana at the middle pool

one of the stealth waterfalls

gorgeous views at every turn

After the Emerald Pools, we hiked through an area that was more desert than anywhere we had seen so far. Hardly any trees and not as many high peaks. The riverbeds were mostly dry (we were warned about flash floods though) and we were convinced that episodes of Star Trek or Land of the Lost were filmed in the exact spots we were standing!
side note: after getting home and looking up some of the areas we were in, I found that this area of Utah as well as the Eastern part of the state was used for many episodes in various Star Trek seasons.

Rachel’s glamour shot

Diana getting a little running in on the side of the mountain

Made it!

catching some rays

A nearby elk farm

and, the beautiful bride

Today’s Travel Tuesday picture is in honor of Memorial Day which occurred yesterday here in the States. It is a day of remembrance for all who have served or currently serve our country in the military. The focus of today’s post is more of a time-Travel Tuesday post that focuses on a man, instead of a place. This man is a military hero I never had the chance to meet: my grandfather, Grant Wahlquist.

Grant served in the Korean War and WWII where he received a Purple Heart among other medals. After his service he was a school principal in Washington State and a husband and father to 3 children (my dad being one).

Grant died of a heart attack at 45 when my dad was just 11. I have heard many stories about this man and my dad always spoke of him — making my siblings and I feel like we did know our grandfather–and we hoped, he knew us.

my grandfather back row, 2nd from left on his war time basketball team.

my grandfather with his kids, holding his new baby (my aunt Julie). My dad is the shorter boy standing in front of my uncle Jeff.