Final OregonTravel Update, Thursday last ride

Thursday's ride was from Salem to Beaverton, just on the outskirts of Portland. The temperature was kindly down at least 10 degrees putting us in the low 80's vs the low 90's we'd been experiencing. Since we no longer had tickets to take Amtrak back from Portland, and we had a deadline to return the rental SUV, we decided that we would skip the Friday city streets ride in favor of heading back to Sacramento.

The morning ride was going to be a 20 mile jaunt to one town but after we were underway for a bit we realized the Bikeway didn't take us that way. So lunch would be in Newberg at mile 30-ish. We ended up all riding at different paces for a bit and getting separated. After a short while of riding on my own, I had Lisa collect me.(only about 5 miles from lunch) 

Lisa and I rode in the car to the B&B and checked us in and unloaded the luggage. Meanwhile the boys did the last stretch of the ride...which turned out to be the hilliest and the most vineyards too, but was also a very small shoulder of road and heavy traffic too. I was not bummed that I skipped that bit. 

Overall a great week of riding and eating and socializing. Nice vacation all around....we are thinking perhaps France next year!

Pics: Ride photos
We found a minion!
Steve catching us fishwatching in a stream
Huffing up a rise
Kim finally spots some grapes on our last day of riding!
Barry's so proud of his new Minion Friend
Hanson Country Inn
Lisa and I posing in front of the Oregon State Capitol Building in Salem
Walking around the Capitol Building
One of the evenings playing games (Innovations, which I dubbed "Flux on Steroids")
On the coast, lovely evening view of the bridge
In Salem at BiBimBapHouse where Kim makes the owner double over laughing at the sight of him in her apron!
Cornerstone B&B in Beaverton outside Portland
Breakfast there before departing for Sacramento
Puzzling everything back in for Friday's long drive back home.

Day 4 Wed, Corvallis to Salem

Woke up and geared up to do the long day of 57miles. Turns out there was an alternative route that dropped 20 off that. Steve, Kim and Barry had decided that would be good considering the 90°+ temperatures. I certainly didn't object. Since we had been particularly unimpressed with the scenery along the "WVBikeway", I didn't feel like we'd be missing out. And the views were better today anyhow....still not a single winery or Vinyard along the route. We saw a sign for one though so that's an improvement. We saw many farms and orchards still....and more blueberries and blackberries than you can imagine. Kim feels we should nominate the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway Chamber of Commerce for an award in light of their exaggerated promotions for this ride. The pitch made us all think we'd be riding through an even more lush and prettier Napa-like Valley. I'd compare it closer to riding the backroads of Lincoln through farmland, pastures and orchards. Or say from Roseville out Baseline and Elverta with some small bits of the American River Parkway tossed in for interest and authenticity.

Now don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed this week immensely and the rides  have been good..it's just not the bill.of goods we were sold originally.

We finished up with a total of 37miles, done in 3 hours. Our ride ended mid afternoon right in downtown Salem not far from the capitol building. We are at our first big hotel...the Phoenix Grand Hotel. It is very nice and has a pool and Jacuzzi! (Which I just used...hence why I'm falling asleep trying to write this.)
We played games,innoventions and pirate flux, for a while in the afternoon. Then walked a ways around the capital buildings and past the university, all while scoping out dinner options. We narrowed the choices down to Bistro, Korean and Middle Eastern. Korean won, and was awesome! Unfortunately I'm certain I consumed way more calories at dinner than I burned off during the ride. Ah vacation...always tough on the scale!
Thursday is our last ride...44mi Salem to just on the outskirts of Portland.

Photo: Kim and Barry having a yummy lunch in Monmouth

Fairly typical view:

Day 3 Brownsville to Corvalis

Started the day in Brownsville. The loft was great, town super cute but no breakfast anywhere. So I ran to the grocery and made us all eggs, biscuits and bacon! That fueled us for the ride which was just about 27 miles today. Lots more farmland, hazelnut trees and empty fields. We crossed a few nice rivers and some small creeks where I saw trout and some huge carp.
We rode into Corvallis along a paved bike parkway path and ended up in a very hip brewpub area along the river for lunch.
Our B&B is a few miles out but also very nice. The Hansen Country Inn...each bedroom has a sitting room and bathroom too...it feels like each one is an individual apartment.
After checking in we decided to drive to the coast, just under an hour's ride. The beach was cold and foggy but the sand was so silky soft!
We ate the best meal so far at Ocean Bleu in Newport . Mmmm....fresh halibut picatta with asparagus and spinach bacon risotto. Clam chowder you could eat with a fork and...well you get the idea. Tomorrow we ride to Salem which is 57miles...I've decided that if I get too hot or tired of pedalling I will go hang out with Lisa in our air conditioned sag suv!

Bicycling Begins Eug-Brownsville

After a good night's rest and lovely breakfast at the C'est la Vie Inn, we spent much of the morning getting organized to ride out. Today's jaunt was getting out of Eugene and through farmland for most of the ride. Near the end it got prettier but also hillier. This week's ride is following Oregon's Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway. 

After 32 miles pedalling in the heat with no lunch other than Gatorade and powerbars we were a bit of a cranky bunch. Nothing a shower, a big Mexican food meal and nap couldn't fix. 

We are staying in Brownsville in a place called The Historic CJ Howe building. Downstairs is a yarn store(closed unfortunately ) and we are upstairs in what they call the loft. It is the entire upstairs and has at least 5 beds. Town is vintage cute and only about 3 blocks total.

Panoramic pic is the common area of the loft with Kim, Lisa and Barry.

A pretty old (1887)bridge over the McKenzie river.

August Bike trip Eugene to Portland

Many years back, after one of the AIDS Lifecycle charity rides, Kim and I took the Coast Starlight up from LA. On the train we met our friends Steve and Lisa. Since then the 4 of us have done at least two more ALC rides from SF to LA as well as DC to Pittsburgh just for fun.

This trip is Eugene to Portland. We were supposed to take the Coast Starlight from Sacramento to Eugene and ride to Portland where we would catch the train back to Sacramento. Amtrak had other plans for us. Our 11:55 pm departure was pushed to 2 then 4 then 5. We made our way to the station for a 5:30 departure only to find out that it was still in Oakland, and due to the 6.1 Napa earthquake, wouldn't be moving for a while. Bridges and track needed inspecting after the quake. By 9 am we'd had enough of the station(4.5hours waiting on less than 3hours sleep that night) and found an SUV to rent that we could all fit in. With the bike rack we could carry the bikes too. So almost exactly 12 hours after our originally planned departure we got underway. After a dinner break at a lovely old train station in Medford(see pic) called Porter's, we made Eugene by 10:20pm. We were so grateful for the lovely B&B shower and bed by then. Our host at the C'est la Vie Inn was great and it was a shame we didn't have more time to enjoy the gorgeous place.

Wrapup final post from D

To wrap up this segment of our travelogue I'd like to thank you for coming along, being supportive and for the little notes you all sent back here and there along the way. Please subscribe to this blog so I can take you with us on our next adventure!

Thanks also to Chris and Emma for looking out for our house so well. It was a joy to come home to.
Anyone else looking for a good reliable house-sitter in the next year let me know and I will put you in touch with the sweetest couple...they are doing this to save up for their own trip to Asia!

So our journey to Asia covered 4 countries and spanned 5 weeks.

We enjoyed the sights, meeting up and traveling with our friends Joe and Katie, getting to know their great group of friends and seeing our friends in Thailand as well.
But....Without a doubt the positive images (not the war and genocide ones) that stand out as the highlights of the trip are the gorgeous Halong Bay outside HaNoi, Vietnam and Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia.

It was enjoyable, stimulating, challenging, educational and a lesson in gratitude.

Our guide Phaly in Cambodia is exactly my age and her story is one that is both heartbreaking and happy. She managed to survive during the time of the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot's Genocide. She spent several of her preteen years in an internment camp working in the fields 18hours a day on next to no food and split up from her entire family. Before being interred she watched her brother beaten to death by soldiers in their small village. After being liberated by the Vietnamese she managed to be reunited with her whole remaining family (a miracle for that time!) Since the regime had killed off anyone with an education or wealth the entire country has had to start from scratch. She secretly learned English from a schoolmate which has allowed her to succeed as a guide and to do good charitable works in whatever small way she can. She helps coordinate the English school sponsorship of over 50 young kids from a village close to where she grew up in the hopes of giving them more opportunities than they have now (work in fields, sell produce on the street for barely enough to feed themselves)
Our travel group collectively pitched in enough to cover at least one child's classes and uniforms as well as the required uniforms for another little girl.

Thanks to Katie and Joe for inviting us along on the Cruise along the Mekong Delta that inspired the whole thing! And for introducing us to all our fantastic new friends :Yvonne, Aileen, Nelson, Julie, Julie, David, Winnie and Stephan!  And thanks Joe for always providing a good laugh when we are out and about since your innate charm makes everyone comfortable regardless of culture or language barrier.

And a huge thanks to my most patient, handsome and the awesomest travel/life partner ever! Kim I love you and can't wait until our next fun jaunt together be it across town or across the world!

Hugs and bye until the next trip.....

Phaly our guide singing us a farewell song

Nelson, Julie, Joe and Katie dancing!

Man oh man those ladies loved to feed you 'like big baby!'

Back in Sac

Well, we are back home again after 6 weeks of Southeast Asia. Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Hong Kong. Dana and I will post pictures and more soon to tell you all about this trip!

Hong Kong and Home!

Day 1 HK
Arriving Hong Kong. ..we laughed at the size of our room.Space is a premium here. Our room is smaller than a cruise ship cabin! The footprint of the bathroom would fit in that of a small bathtub.
It is chilly and grey here, basically what I'd consider San Francisco summer weather. We have done hardly anything but eat yummy food and walk around and ride the tram from one end of HK to the other.
Day 2.
Walked from hotel to the central area where the ferries are. Took the slow one to Cheung Chau island, one of the outlying islands of the Hong Kong group of islands. We paid an extra dollar to be in the deluxe area of the ferry ...I can't tell the difference other than more windows but with this weather the grey mist outside doesn't allow for much of a view. There was a beat up dance floor. . No we didn't entertain the other passengers, although it crossed my mind.
We walked along the water and up a hill at the end for views of the reclining rock and went through a pirate cave. While waiting for the next ferry back we snacked on street food dim sum... the best was a soft mochi filled with nothing but perfectly ripe mango...delish!
After a little rest in our tiny room we headed off to Central Hong Kong for dinner and an evening of dancing to end our trip off. Dinner was stellar at Crystal Jade where they hand make all their noodles. Then off to an Italian restaurant for the Wednesday night with Hong Kong Swings. The group was very warm and friendly, with many visitors like ourselves from out of town.

Last day of the trip...airports and airplanes:
A nice smooth and uneventful day that lasted FOREVER! Got up at 8 for breakfast and pack up, left hotel for the airport at 10 am and after 19 hours of travel made it home. Neither of us got to sleep much on the plane as we were right next to several screaming (and I mean top of their lungs screaming 2year olds)
As soon as we were showered a 5 hour nap was in order then dinner and grocery shop in Sacramento. Our Thursday technically lasted a total of 36 hours thanks to crossing the dateline.
Both of us are happy to be home and excited to see family and friends and get to dance and play on this side of the world for a bit!

'Love is all you need'

Adventures in Medical Tourism for those who are curious...

Before leaving the States I decided not to change off the insurance I'd had for over 20 years figuring that I may be paying a few extra dollars a month over the Obamacare options but my coverage and out of pocket when seeing doctors is much lower. Turns out I should have just gone ahead as they are raising my rates 80% to the unmanageable next month. Sigh...I know, same story for most.
While in Thailand I took care of a few things that would otherwise have cost me...well.. literally many hundreds of dollars.
I spent an afternoon at the Ram Hospital in Chiang Mai. From 2:30-5:30
During that time I got to see a Dermatologist who looked at a few questionable spots (all fine), looked my face over carefully and examined a bite, prescribed some cream for the bite and nitrogen zapped some annoying tags (something my Auburn Doc here won't do because they are harmless despite the discomfort...and if she did I'd have to pay about $130 per zap (in the past I insisted she do one that I kept cutting while shaving, boy did I regret it when I saw the bill)
After that I saw the Endocrinology specialist who did the familiar annual exam I usually have done here in Sacramento. He sent me upstairs and the pic is of the two ladies who managed to get blood for the thyroid panel from my ultra dehydrated body (forgot to bring water to the hospital and by 5 when they tried it was almost impossible...this is not unusual for me I always over-hydrate if I know I'm giving blood) I swear I almost made the one on the right cry. She brought in her friend to finish the job and I chugged a liter or more in between attempts. I would have been prepared except in the states it takes days for the order for blood draw to go through and several more for the results. Here it all happened in one place and they emailed me the results the next morning.
So all told....2 specialty doctors, cream for my bite, zapping, blood tests and delightful service $93.75 US.
My copays to see two specialists is more than that and then there's usually a sizable bill in the mail in a month for what the insurance didn't cover.

Also, Kim and I went back to the UCLA trained dentist we'd seen years ago in Chiang Mai. We had a full cleaning, polish, floss, full state of the art x-ray exam and analysis. For the two of us for all that it was $90 USD (less than what we pay for a cleaning alone for one!)
We still love our Mary at Dr Zendner's in Colfax but this time we spent the money on travel instead and I know she'd understand and take us back in 6-8 months when it's time again!

Warning large page may take a while to load! Random Pics to round out the trip

Here is a random selection of additional photos from more recent at the top to the early part of the trip at the bottom. Enjoy and hopefully this will fuel your wanderlust to get out there and do your own adventuring.