Arrived

We made it!!!! Thank goodness. Here is a picture of me in the car (fearful) and in my new apartment (happy):


The first thing I noticed about New York is the Snow! It's everywhere! Thank goodness they let me out of the Buick before they tried to park it. It's slippery out there! Our new apartment is ok - but I was actually QUITE happy at Dave and Beth's house in Williamsburg, Virginia. Here there is no piano for me to play and no flowers on the dining room table for me to de-construct, but it is better than the Buick.

We had a long day on Saturday. After leaving Dave and Beth's after one last delicious home-cooked breakfast (thanks Uncle Dave!), we stopped in Alexandria, Virginia to see Shannon, Paul and Guyer, who Martin and Erika last saw at their wedding in Prague. In June they will have yet another family member - we are very much looking forward to meeting Baby Kopplin this summer. Shannon made sure that we celebrated St. Patrick's day properly, in the local Irish bar where Ronald Reagan once tossed back a Guinness or two. We made it through Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and the Lincoln Tunnel in time to meet cousin Andrew for much schlepping (we are in a 4th-floor walk-up) and a bit of drinking (thanks Andrew!) and eat a late-night Indian food dinner with the local Pakistani taxi drivers.

Sunday was spent getting Martin ready for the New Job (new wardrobe, hair cut, delicious Afghani luncheon) that he started today. I tried out various napping locations (in front of the front door, under the down comforter, in the sunny spot near the window), and tried to communicate with the pigeons on the window sill, to no avail. I have a few months to work on this - stay tuned...

Week Two

Gee, another week has gone by already and I've just been too busy napping and helping Martin and Erika drive to write anything at all. Here's the re-cap:

Saturday, March 10 - Austin, Texas
Our opinion of Texas has changed for the better after experiencing the best ribs EVER at Cooper's Old Time Pit BBQ in Llano, Texas (about 75 miles NW of Austin). This is how it works: You point to what you want on the giant grill, and pile ribs, brisket, sausage, chicken, and whatever else you want high on a plastic tray that you take inside a warehouse-style building. Inside, the men behind the counter slice it up, you pick out your sides and fill up a cup of sweet tea, and then join lots of other BBQ lovers on long picnic benches covered in plastic sheets and rolls of paper towels. Dee-lish! We arrived in Austin just before sunset and managed to fit in just one more meal at Chuy's Tex Mex, which is a lot like Chevy's but with Really Good Food. Unfortunately we were too tired to check out Austin's legendary music scene - that will have to wait for another trip. The most "Texas" sight we saw: a HUGE RV towing a Hummer as their "roundabout town" car.

Sunday, March 11 - Austin to New Orleans
We did, however, get to experience Gospel Brunch at Stubb's BBQ in Austin - a live gospel concert while you feast on a southern cooking buffet. It was inspiring! Good thing, because we were in the car for almost 12 hours after that due to an accident that closed the freeway outside of Baton Rouge for the entire afternoon and evening. After a quick snack of alligator boudin and a tour of Louisiana backroads, we finally made it in to New Orleans at midnight, where special kitty snacks were waiting for me on a china plate at the Five Continents Bed and Breakfast. What a treat! This B&B won our prize for Best Place to Stay Between Portland and New York When Traveling Via the South. I didn't get along too well with the resident kitties (Jean Pierre and Beauregard) but Erika certainly enjoyed their company.

Monday, March 12 - New Orleans, Louisiana
After a gourmet breakfast of Pain Perdu and Sausage and a fascinating overview of New Orleans history from our host, Jess, Martin and Erika took a long walk through the French Quarter and down to the Warehouse district to lunch at Cochon on alligator, oysters, and pulled pork. What a meal! E&M spent the rest of the afternoon walking around New Orleans, which turned out to be our favorite stop on the trip. We need at least another week to explore everything the city has to offer. We were both amazed at how much of the "touristy" parts survived Katrina intact, and by how much was destroyed.

Dinner at Commander's Palace was a cultural and culinary adventure - after enjoying the well-paced smorgasbord of a tasting menu, Martin and Erika again swore off food for a week and pledged to return in order to enjoy some of that famous New Orleans jazz. Most bizarre sight in New Orleans: a cowboy sitting at a bar on Bourbon Street with his miniature PONY on a leash. Everyone who walked by did a serious double-take.

Tuesday, March 13 - Atlanta, Georgia
Today we drove through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and part of Georgia. We were surprised at how beautiful Alabama was - we take back all the nasty things we assumed about the South. Especially after the smoked BBQ we enjoyed at The Pit in Mobile, Alabama. Completely different from Texas BBQ, but equally delicious. And the banana pudding was to die for. We reached Atlanta around 9pm, and ate dinner at the Waffle House - another truly Southern experience that we liked so much we repeated it the next morning for breakfast. The Waffle House gives fast food chains a good name. The servers were pleasant, the food was fresh and good, and the juke box was rockin!

Wednesday, March 14 - Atlanta, Georgia to Copper Hill, Virginia
Another long day of driving, but I am used to it now. I'll even jump into my carrier without too much prodding and just go straight to sleep for the bulk of the day. It's not too much different from my routine at home. Today we drove through both Carolinas, with a stop in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina for lunch. That town is a lot like Portland! But with more mansions. Definitely a yuppie/hippie enclave. We drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway and made it to the Bent Mountain Lodge, a 15,000 square foot "house" in Copper Hill, just before sunset. Again, the resident cats (four of them!) tried to be polite but I preferred to retire to our room and watch Martin beat Erika (finally!) at Scrabble.

Thursday, March 15 - Copper Hill to Williamsburg, Virginia
Virginia looks pretty much the same throughout the state, but the highlight of today's trip was a stop at Polyface Farm outside of Staunton. We took a quick tour, met the pigs, cows, and color-coded chickens, admired the egg mobile, and picked up some grass-fed treats for Uncle Dave and Beth - steak for dinner and sausage for breakfast. It sure was nice to see family after a long road trip, and Uncle Dave and Beth treated me like a queen the moment I entered the house. Martin BBQed the steak and Uncle Dave fixed the rest of a delicious home-cooked dinner. And I ate my first full bowl of nibbles since we started the trip! I must admit I look much svelter after losing a few pounds, but I do still love my cat food...

Today was also the birthday of Baby Eisele, Sean and Devon's little girl, back in Portland, Oregon. We are all looking forward to meeting this brand new baby and welcoming her into the world!

Week One of the Grand Road Trip Adventure

Well I have not written a thing because we have been so darn busy. Also, I've been trying to get used to riding in the car. It's not my favorite activity. Every time they stick me in that darn cage, I *really* get the urge to use my litter box. I've gotten used to the routine now, though, and things are much calmer. So, this is where we have been so far:




Saturday, March 3
Scheduled departure time: Noon
Actual departure time: 5pm
We drove straight to Mt. Shasta and went straight to bed, after a very long day (week!) of preparing for the move.

Sunday, March 4
Met Sue, Craig, Lynne and John for a Fabulous Oyster picnic at Hog Island in Marshall, California. Moved on to dinner at Pizzetta 211 (finally!) with Bent, Will, and Cyndi.

Monday, March 5
I *loved* Bent's sunny Marina apartment and wanted to stay there in the sun on the hardwood floors forever, but Martin stuffed me into the cage when he came back from a lovely walk near Ocean Beach, and off we went to Chinatown for Dim Sum (I stayed in the car). Martin and Erika loved Bent's apartment too and the gorgeous SF Spring Weather, and hesitated momentarily while Erika racked her brain for reasons why she left San Francisco in the first place. On to Pescadero - I stayed at Chris's house/bird farm/Alpine Learning Center in La Honda while E&M took a walk with Uncle Bill and then came back to prepare dinner for Chris, Uncle Bill, Madhavan, Cheryl, Deanna, and Scott. I checked out the goslings who were hanging out just outside the kitchen and spent the rest of the evening napping on the sofa while everyone else talked and ate and drank a *really* nice Ravenswood Zin (thanks D & Scott!).

Tuesday, March 6
We were off bright and early to meet Kristina and Hirotaka for breakfast at their beautiful home in Santa Cruz, where they spoiled us with tea, biscotti, and wedding presents! Too soon we had to get back on the road to drive down 101 to Los Angeles, where Frankie and David made us a delicious lamb dinner, complete with secret recipe flourless chocolate cake - YUM! I had to stay in the hotel room for that one, unfortunately.

Wednesday, March 7
I got a real treat today as I got to hang out outside on the patio of the Rose Cafe for several hours while Martin took the Buick to the local Venice Boulevard chop shop to get the U-joint preemptively repaired. We got back on the road that afternoon and zoomed off to Phoenix, Arizona, where we met cousin Clifton for the best pizza M&E have *ever* had at Pizzeria Bianco. No kidding! I stayed in a luxurious room at the Honey House B&B and even managed to escape onto the patio in the middle of the night to check out the nocturnal birds.

Thursday, March 8
After a breakfast made with love and blessed with prayers by Jeanette, the bundle of energy who heads up the Honey House, we were off to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico or "ToC" as the locals call it. A brief phone call with Wendy, the inventor of Swap O Rama Rama (the event that Erika produced in Portland in February), we were directed to some decent Mexican food, our amazing B&B (The FireWater Lodge), and Kirtan at the local fancy hotel. Kirtan is a gathering where people chant Sanskrit prayers to Indian music, and this one included a group of extremely talented musicians. It was quite a change from suburban Phoenix, and E&M loved it. The day was complete with a soak in the in-room hot springs bath at our B&B (I investigated the water, but didn't actually soak myself).


Friday, March 9
Wendy and her partner Mikey gave us a tour of the mobile home and hot springs resort that they recently purchased and are in the process of converting into a completely "green" facility, complete with "papercrete" insulation. They also gave us a brief tour of ToC. M&E fell immediately in love - this town has everything they are looking for. It's in the desert, the weather is fantastic, there are hot springs, and there is a burgeoning art scene that is just beginning to take off. The downtown is in the process of being completely revitalized and converted into hippie heaven with art galleries, cafes, little clothing stores, yoga studios, a tiny movie theater, and charming hot spring hotels like the FireWater. The people are down to earth, smart, and creative (at least the ones we met). And it is affordable! Stay tuned...

After the tour, we got back on the road and stopped for a stellar 8-dollar Mexican lunch in El Paso, Texas and then started driving through Texas. It really is all of those awful things people say it is. El Paso was crowded with "Jesus Saves" and "Lose Weight Fast" billboards, and scary border patrol SUVs, and once you leave El Paso it's nothing but smelly, sulphuric miles and miles and miles of ranch land and oil fields. The speed limit is 80 mph, but you can't get through it fast enough. After a surprisingly delicious dinner at The Hitchin' Post (pecan pie, woo hoo!) in Ozana, we settled in to the Day's Inn in Sonora, Texas for bad TV and a much-needed break from driving.

Saturday, March 10
Off to Austin, Texas!

Goodbye Portland

In an hour or two, thanks to good friends Neil, Ryker, and Roger EVERYTHING will be packed up, sold off, given away, or otherwise disposed of. The Buick is still missing a hood ornament, but we are confident that the right one will present itself along the way...

Let the adventure begin!