South Padre Island

SPI

As the locals call it.

Its tempting to think of SPIs as just a trashy spring break place, and it is that, but thankfully spring break is only a few short weeks out of the year.

OK, its still a little trashy but they clean it up pretty regularly. Seriously, like every day. But someone is paid to do this, and this is good.
This was another trip for Quincy. We took her along because we were reminded, as we were three years ago, that she was getting old but she is STILL going strong.


Really strong.

Yea, I was too tired for that. So clearly, Quincy at the equivalent of about 80 in dog years is besting mom at 40 human years. Maybe I should give up pizza and start eating their kibble.

Quincy loved the beach but her favorite part was the seaweed. Eating the seaweed, rolling in the seaweed, smelling the seaweed, climbing on the giant piles of seaweed raked up against the dunes.

In addition to taking quincy to beaches and
restaurants, we visited the South Padre Island Birding center.

This is how you know you are getting old: you vastly prefer the birding center to the bar next door to your condo. We're ok with this. It really was cool. SPI has an amazing role in the lives of birds in the western hemisphere during their annual migrations from the southern americas to the northern americas; it is only one of nine worldwide locations that has a unique World Birding Center.

We also visited the turtle rescue center (both the turtle center and the birding rescue center were across the street from our lovely condo).


Turtles! They have a really rough life. Seriously, like .03% of them survive...some don't even make it to the water, so make sure to recycle everything so they don't eat it and turn your lights off at night when you stay on a barrier island because once it gets into the ocean they might think its dinner.

We ate at some cool places but I save that stuff for yelp. Read about it there!

Summer in Colorado 2012- Day 1

This post is so overdue...we went to Colorado last summer and never blogged about it.

Arrival was a nightmare. We got into Denver at 4 and had about 4-5 hours to kill before we picked Ed (Robin's brother) up at the airport. We got a cab into Denver and grabbed dinner at Dazzle, which was a really cool place in SW downtown Denver. They were doing HH when we got there, but knowing better than to drink during the first 48 at altitude, we skipped booze and instead got a few entrees (steak: apparently a bad idea) and some coffee (also bad idea). Then we went to see Prometheus, which was weird and not worth recounting.

Danny got altitude sickness from the rather heavy dinner. I had no appetite, and hadn't eaten, so was fine, but Danny could barely walk by the time we left. A kind pedicab took sympathy on us and drove us all the way from the entertainment district (I know it has a name but I don't know what it is) to our car 20 blocks away. We headed toward the airport with plans to pick up water on the way.

Well, not only were there no gas stations apparent from I-70, but the road was closed down except for 1 lane for at least 70% of the way. Danny was progressively sicker, Robin was in irritation due to being late picking Ed up and at the horrendous traffic...it was generally a bad experience. We got lost once at the airport because the DIA is the Suckiest Airport Ever.

We finally got Ed and headed on to Boulder. Luckily things picked up immensely there! Robin and Ed got to catch up in the car, Ed explained to science-tard Robin why altitude is colder, and we made it to our rental easily. 

We were all exhausted but super-excited to be in Boulder....

Final days of Asheville

End of the Asheville Trip. This is sure to be boring for onlookers.

So...Tuesday we went downtown. Brunch at Carmels (best bloody mary ever!) and an afternoon at the Gallery district- dog friendly of course. Visited one amazing painter who was inspring (Jose Girard). Had coffee. Quincy got bath in clawfoot tub at an interesting dog wash. Went home and had dinner at Tupelo Honey. Wednesday went hiking at the major falls in Dupont State Forest. Came home and mom made brunch. Got the call about Angel. Thursday went ziplining and Angel was put down at 12. He said goodbye in the clouds at 5:00 that afternoon.

Walked downtown with Quincy- went to the Mast General Store. Quincy was in heaven- is that candy for ME??!!

Cold front! Went to a place that had an outdoor patio and had the best tomato soup ever. Met a beautiful dane wearing a thundershirt, and also met his family. It was darn chilly. From Pittsburgh. Who knew?

Took Quincy home and had dinner at Curate for our last night.

Friday drove to Charlotte. Surprisingly cute city. Had a great time. Went for some walks:

Ate hot buttered fried corn on the cob. that's right!

Had way too much fried food for dinner. Then walked next to the rail.

Then went home. Last day went to the festival and had crummy Thai food. MMMM. Thai. Am hungry.

Ducks!

Not birds. The boats. On Monday we went rafting with quite possibly the coolest rafting company on earth, Blue Heron Whitewater. Here's how cool they were. We were the only people on our tour, and somehow showed up at the entirely wrong time for our trip, but they came to the shop and took us out anyway. Then they upgraded us to ducks since we are semi-"skilled" rafters. Ducks are the tiny boats you see the real kayaker types head downstream in. Like this.

Ok, perhaps they don't get caught on rocks. But their boats are like this. Anyway, they upgraded us to ducks which I am sure most rafting companies charge extra for but they did not. Quincy did not come along but apparently dogs sometimes do. One of the guides came down behind us just this day with their dog.

Our guide, Fritz, was awesome. They apparently filmed a purina commercial on this river. Guest was a filmmaker at purina...and well, you can imagine how that goes. There were FOUR rafting dogs in the boat.

This was tiring, so it was pretty much the entire Monday of our trip. Quincy stayed at the house with gramma and grampa.  Here we are looking more rafterly.






Larry made us an excellent local, free range steak for dinner that night. It was delicious. On to Tuesday!

'Shrooms

I'm not sure I would have put mushroom foraging on our vacation roster were my Dad not meeting us, but he was, as such, we booked a day with No Taste Like Home. My dad likes to forage. My cousin Julia has taken my dad foraging a few times, as he will let you know at least 25 times whenever you mention the word "mushroom" or "forage" or...really...anything. 

I digress into personal baggage. Foraging is, indeed, awesome.

About two minutes after this and about 26 more photos, Alan, our host, pulled up. Good vibes right away- Quincy all but threw herself at him which is entirely unlike Quincy, so we definitely felt we were in good hands.

I learned a lot from reading Alan's book and from the trip. In order, here is what I learned at mushroom camp.

• Many mushrooms defy cultivation: boleets, morels, mytsotake.  This is why foraging for them has taken on a mystical quality. Its also why many are excessively hard to find: so many foragers.
• There are probably hundreds of species of Rosella mushrooms.
• Certain mushrooms in their raw state are rocket fuel.
• Most mushrooms are like corn unless you cook them (input=output). 
• Deadly lookalikes sometimes sneak in amongst yummy shrooms.
• As it turns out, most mushrooms really aren't deadly.

Oh, and mushrooms like to hide in the most transcendental places. 

"No, don't eat that one!"  said Alan. I didn't really try. Just kidding.

In addition to his worldly skills of mushroom identification, I think Alan is perhaps in his sixth or seventh cab ride on this planet. He could probably walk over hot coals without feeling pain. He lives in a state most of us can only dare to dream of. I think I might be close to where he is in five lives. He runs The Real Center. He also has a charming earthly presence. Along the way, the earthly Alan entertained us with fables, poetry, and friendly conversation. He  shared his lunch. He told us it was chicken loaf but apparently also occasionally dines on roadkill (swear).

Oh, through this all, Quincy was kind of bored. We'd walk a few feet and find a fungi and discuss. It probably wasn't her bag, but I bet it was better than waiting for the mailman.

At the end of it all, Alan went to film a local TV show and dropped our findings at Zambra, a local tapas restaurant, who made us a divine set of tapas that evening that integrated our findings. The food was great, and soon enough I'll write a review of that too.

We got a great night's seat to prepare for our next day, which turned out to be a superbly fun day of rafting the French Broad River.

Asheville, next

I'm going to avoid making this entire trip about "what Quincy did." But...we recently realized Quincy is losing her hearing, and it was a startling reminder that while spry, Quincy is getting into her golden years.  Quincy has a better life than probably about 100% of dogs in the world, but that doesn't change the fact that, like most spoiled household dogs, most of her days are spent doing not much more than watching out the window for the mailman. So we largely thought of this as "Quincy's" trip.

Day 2, in the AM, we decided to check out downtown Asheville. We started at The Green Muse cafe. If I had a million dollars and I lived in Asheville, I'd eat here every meal. Everything vegan, gluten free AND organic. Digression: I used, like many, to think gluten-free was a fad, until a friend convinced me to try. I challenge you to take gluten out of your diet for a month and see what ailments leave you. I'm not vegan, but I love animals, and if I'm eating them I want to know they were happy while they were in the world. And well...I place my bets on organic produce when possible.

Then we went and saw the Basilica of St Lawrence, which I found an impressive little anomaly in such a small town. I guess those vanderbilts had a lot of cash.

 Anyway, Quincy was not permitted here so we moved on before long. Asheville is totally walkable (even from our cottage which was about a mile and a half up the side of the mountain, though we did that another day). The entire downtown covers about 25 city blocks, give or take, and most of the places are totally geared at loungey shopping. We moved on to..three dog bakery! I had to get a million pictures, but here's just one, with chef Larry.

Ok, maybe another. We got a bunch of dog cookies because that afternoon Quincy was getting a playmate that afternoon in the form of her cousin, puppy Abby. Unfortunately Quincy isn't much for young playmates, really *any* playmates except her sister, so this was more exciting to Abby than it was to her. I for one was so excited at Abby's arrival that I actually made a dog cookie platter. (Those are stella and chewys freeze dried sprinkled on top, not dirt):

Quincy's other cousins Quinn (they have never met!) and Trinity were going to make it but sadly Aunt Pat got stormed in with hurricane lee, so it was just for Abby, and Aunt Marsha and Uncle John. Or at least for Marsha and John's amusement. They got in early afternoon and we all jumped in the car for Mount Mitchell (I could segway here and talk about almost killing a jogger on the Blue Ridge Parkway but I'm just going to note it as a memory I'd rather not relive).

Mount Mitchell is in Pisgah National Forest about 45 minutes north of Asheville on the famed Blue Ridge Parkway. It lives in a veil of secrecy. Its the highest peak east of the Mississipi, but no one I talked to...ok, none of my family members knew this.  But its almost 7000 feet! Its no fourteener, but its half a fourteener, and that deserves bragging rights on the east coast. Oh, and the parkway was cool too.

Here's Aunt Marsha and Abby at mount Mitchell! It was pretty, and colder up there. Lots of pines dying due to acid rain :(. But we all had fun anyway, and Quincy totally enjoyed the drive back.

This very spot is pretty close to the location where they always take the photo of Asheville nestled in the trees, so of course I took a photo of Quincy.

Chris and Larry made lasagna that night and we got to have a really nice extended family dinner, which, living in Austin I never get to have, so that was awesome. Quincy and Abby got tons of treats, and then Quincy crashed for the day. Marsha and John packed up for an early morning departure and the rest of us prepared for our, ahem, next trip.

Asheville, part 1

I can't tell you how many times we were going to Asheville that I sort of said "we're going to Assville." I think I was just tired. But it is a hard city for your mouth to form...say it fast five times and tell me I'm wrong.
.

So first thing about Ashevile is that QUINCY came along. And we didn't just drive. Quincy went as carry-on luggage. Quincy was technically a little too big for her carrier by the airlines standard, but for three hours with a kong filled with food, Quincy would squeeze herself into a pez dispenser. As it turned out, the airlines didn't care anyway as long as she didn't "bother anybody."
We got into town on a Friday, having been up since 4. Quincy had already had more stimulation in one day than she normally gets in a week. We flew into Charlotte, and drove the last two hours so Quincy wouldn't have to go back into her carrier. Intermittently during the car ride, Quincy would look out the window and bark. The area kind of reminded us of where we found her in mid-Kentucky, so we wonder: did she think she was home? Or was she just tired of being in the car? Or...if only we could get one of those collars from UP.

The weather in western NC was perfect, at least by Texas standards. Anything under 85 and above 60 is perfect. I didn't take pictures of the drive but here's some surrounding area.

  Really that photo is from the top of Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Missisippi. We went there the second day. But back to the first. We drove into Asheville and stayed on top of tunnel mountain, on the east side. We checked into our super-cute dog-friendly cottage, among a bunch of little mid-century moderns collectively called the Asheville Swiss Chalets. Terrible name, cool place. And yes, they were pretty much perched on the side of the mountain.

Then went into town to this cute little place called Mayfel's that had really yummy all-day breakfast food, because travel makes you nothing if not hungry and we really hadn't eaten breakfast. Quincy was invited and people fed her there, to her utter delight. In fact, despite all the hiking we did on vacation she GAINED weight. but then again, so did we.

Ah, Mayfel's, with a lovely view of Asheville town center and appalachian mountains in the background. Nothing like that first day of vacation when you are just enamored with how cool the place you are is. How much it isn't home, how there is no laundry, no job, and you don't have to cook.

Speaking of cook, our chef, Larry called around this time to tell us he was lost. So we went to pick Larry and my Mom up at the Subway around the corner from our place, which admittedly was hard to find. Even our GPS got lost. Larry made dinner, and as always, Quincy helped with pre-wash.

Such was our first day of our trip in Asheville. Onto Day 2!