I was exhausted on Monday night, New Year’s Day, and decided to read in bed until I fell asleep. I returned to the murder mysteries set in Canada:
I woke this Tuesday morning at 4:30 and then again before 5AM. I gave up and got started at 5AM. It is still dark out.
Going backward, before that, I was in the home office paying bills and surfing. I watched a good video on pizzas by Joshua Weissman, my favorite new chef and cookbook writer. He found the best pizza in NYC’s Scarr’s. On my next trip to NYC, I must validate this conclusion!
I also watched another set of videos on Battleships. Battleship Texas, in dry dock, has been painted and looks better (it is over 100 years old and quite rusty inside, I understand). Battleship New Jersey had some more short videos on findings on how more areas of the ship were used during the 1980s. I also napped (explaining why I was up early on Tuesday).
Before this, I made a Caesar salad from a bag and then added smoked salmon leftover from New Year’s and cooked a few smoked scallops to try. The scallops, quite expensive, were too salty for me. I will wash them next time and see if that helps–the usual solution for frozen chicken (often packed in salt water). The salad and salmon raised my dining to a restaurant level, a high-end restaurant.
I reached the house from the beach in Air Volvo. The Smiths and I conveyed back from the Oregon Coast at about 3:40, and I reached Beaverton as the skies started to darken. New Year’s Day was a surprise with the sun out and the rains stopping; even the mist from the ocean waves was light. The sea was boiling with what looked like twenty-foot waves here and there. I saw a massive wave near Haystack Reef.
Aside: Wave size, when published, is the average wave, and thus, a three-foot sea can have five-foot waves.
We encountered an elk on the trip from The Smith’s Beachhouse to a pizza place in Seaside. High on the cliff on Highway 101, The Oregon Coast Highway, I saw cars turning off and on their headlights–meaning ‘slow down’ and look out. We were on a blind turn. As I turned the curve, a large elk with a rack on its head was calmly walking alongside the road. It suddenly seemed to want the road or to wear a Volvo; my slow speed and the emergency lights prevented me from enjoying an elk-close encounter, and no vehicle rammed Air Volvo from behind. We all were slow and had blinkers on. I could not drive and take a picture at the same time. It was a beautiful creature.
Arriving safely, we enjoyed one piece of pizza each at the pizza place. It was Thai and basil pizza with a soft crust- not my favorite, but it was still good. I stayed to one piece as I had ninty minutes of driving. I had a Diet Coke for the bubbles (my tummy and colon have been uneven these last few days) and the caffeine.
The trip on Highway 26, The Sunset Highway–it points west, was mostly uneventful. On the last third, we came to a near stop as folks turned off or other causes, and I did have the emergency lights on to prevent someone from hitting me from behind who did not see the slowing. Other than that, it was an uneventful trip for Air Volvo.
The mist and clouds in the Coastal Mountains did not dissipate today, so white mist hung in the air even over the highway. Some dramatic music and a few good video shots of the fog hanging over the forest and road could have made a good mood shot for a horror movie. Still, it was a pleasant drive, and since I had done it twice this week, it was familiar, too.
I wrote the blog Monday morning, rising early at the Smith’s beach house in Manzanita, Oregon–two houses from the dunes that lead to the beach. I was up after 7:30 and before the sun rose. The Smith stirred after 8ish. I continued to write and talk about Michelle and my experience with Agile development. I packed up and loaded my overnight bag and a few games into the Volvo cargo bay, already stuffed with board games, and prepared to leave.
The Smiths had large luggage and had to wrangle the cats. Michelle successfully acquired the larger cat, but the cat left Michelle bleeding from a small swipe when it resisted the travel box. With the cats boxed, and remaining items were bagged and arranged. The Smiths loaded up the jeep. I mostly stayed out of the way.
We then conveyed to Seaside with David leading and driving us through Seaside instead of using the slow and elk-loaded Highway 101. I drove and took peeks at the sea while being safe. It was an excellent drive.
David and I then searched Seaside for parking, finally finding a public parking area with two spots, Volvo and Jeep-sized. There, as aforementioned, we consumed pizza.
And that takes me full circle. Thanks for reading!
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