Still alive, hanging in the freezer, now sporting a flat top hair-do due to some desert thawing. We've decided more photos will come forth from our West Coast adventures. Stay tuned.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Butter Lamb Lives!
Still alive, hanging in the freezer, now sporting a flat top hair-do due to some desert thawing. We've decided more photos will come forth from our West Coast adventures. Stay tuned.
Scenes From Nevada and First Steps Into California
The BBQ restaurant outside our hotel in Winnemucca, NV. Open for breakfast and offering video poker.
Our first San Fran road sign on the twisting, turning road through the Sierra Nevadas.
Our official introduction to San Francisco - driving into the city via the Golden Gate Bridge. Wild and beautiful.
Our official introduction to San Francisco - driving into the city via the Golden Gate Bridge. Wild and beautiful.California Here We... Are, Part II
That's the Pacific. Within walking distance of our apartment. Whoa.
The view down our street.Since landing yesterday in California, we've accomplished the following:
- Moved into our sublet in the Outer Richmond, a mostly residential neighborhood just blocks from the Pacific Ocean that has beautiful views of the Ocean, more beautiful views of Golden Gate State Park, lots of delicious looking dim sum and Asian restaurants, cold temperatures (no, seriously. You cannot walk around past sunset without a good coat.) and fog. As we were walking back to our apartment from getting groceries this evening, we stopped and watched the fog start to roll in.
- I had two interviews today, both completely different, both pretty good. Fingers crossed, everyone.
- We figured out neighborhood essentials like groceries, laundry, the nearest post box, etc.
- Made good attempts to understand a new city's bus system.
- Got connected to the internet in our apartment. Seems like a ridiculously trivial thing but hey, Butter Lamb Must keep going.
In other news, Dan has an interview in Oakland tomorrow, and gets to drive across the big, bad Oakland Bay Bridge by himself. Keep the good thoughts coming.
Monday, July 2, 2007
California Here We... Are
All I can say is wow. Wow. We are in San Francisco, having come into the city, rightfully so, across the Golden Gate Bridge. This is a short post, as our friends Joe and Jasmine have made an incredible dinner for us at their equally incredible apartment, and we are hungry for homemade food and good friends.
We will post photos from the last part of our trip soon, but we must get ourselves together for our interviews in the next few days. I think we're going to to keep on blogging away from this coast, so stay tuned.
We miss everyone on the East Coast, so stay in touch. And to our West Coast comrades, we're so happy to be here.
We will post photos from the last part of our trip soon, but we must get ourselves together for our interviews in the next few days. I think we're going to to keep on blogging away from this coast, so stay tuned.
We miss everyone on the East Coast, so stay in touch. And to our West Coast comrades, we're so happy to be here.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Butter Lamb Gets Religion
Salt Lake City is of course, the center of the Church of Latter Day Saints (The Mormons). We toured the Temple Square, which is essentially the Mormon Vatican. As you enter, some very perky young women meet you and ask where you're from, why you're there, etc. This general theme continues throughout the grounds, and the later tour. Young perky women asked us where we were from, and why we were there. Perhaps it's important to remember that the tour guides aren't just tour guides, they are also missionaries. Their friendliness makes more sense then.
Here are a couple photos of the Temple Square and the very famous Tabernacle. We decided it would not be very respectful to bring Butter Lamb out. Plus, it was really hot.
On our way out, we took a stop at the Great Salt Lake. Yes, it is salty. It's quite pretty, and a bit surreal. Butter Lamb was getting a bit stir crazy in the cooler, and begged to come out. However, he could only stay in his box. It's a desert! Deserts are not good places for young lambs of butter!
Here are a couple photos of the Temple Square and the very famous Tabernacle. We decided it would not be very respectful to bring Butter Lamb out. Plus, it was really hot.
On our way out, we took a stop at the Great Salt Lake. Yes, it is salty. It's quite pretty, and a bit surreal. Butter Lamb was getting a bit stir crazy in the cooler, and begged to come out. However, he could only stay in his box. It's a desert! Deserts are not good places for young lambs of butter!
Entering Utah...
If you ever have the inkling to visit Echo, Utah, here's what you can expect.
Unbelievable scenery.
Unbelievable scenery.
See Frank in the cafe for gas.
Yup, that one.
When In Nevada...
Internet here in Winnemucca is very slow, so the promised thoughts and photos from Salt Lake City will be up sometime later.
If you're living in Utah and want a break from the morally upright lifestyle, luckily, there is a den of sin close by: Nevada. Las Vegas is its capital in terms of temptations, but other towns come close. As we neared the Utah/Nevada border yesterday, signs promised thousand of dollars in slot machine fortunes, ladies ready to love you (but for a price), free casino drinks and all the prime rib you could eat at a $3.99 buffet. The border towns are packed with small-time casinos and folks meandering away from their cars at gas stations to take advantage of the fun. We quickly got gas and were more intrigued by the Basque food and western outpost kitch of Winnemucca.
Winnemucca is a good stop-over point between Reno and Salt Lake City. Tons of out-of-state license plates, more small-time casinos, more promises of sinful delights. We restricted ours to eating at the historic Martin Hotel, whose family-style restaurant boasts (and rightfully so) the best Basque food around. The Basques came to Winnemucca in the 1800s and because of their sheep-hearding heritage, prospered in the hills of Nevada. The town now boasts more Basque people than anywhere else in the U.S.
The Martin Hotel was a traveler's dream: for approximately $22.00 per person, you are fed an epic feast of an entree, then you share with the rest of your long table all you can drink water and wine, bread and butter, salad, french fries, navy beans, cow tongue (we passed), spciy green beans wth bacon bits, meaty and spicy rice, sausage and vegetable soup and finally, bread pudding. For entrees, we had a massive seafood stew and a lemon and dill salmon. Our fellow table mates, including some widowers from California, a couple from Washington state and a guy from the Sacremento aea, all dug into the food like it was Thanksgiving, and you felt as if you were at an adult hostel in Europe.
To work off dinner, we decided to hit one casino. Unfortunately, because photos are not welcome in casinos, Butter Lamb stayed in the hotel refrigerator. We stuck to the one across the street from our hotel, and played the slots for awhile until we lost a collective sum of udner $2.00. Yep, big night in Winnemucca. Instead, we played Big Buck Hunter for awhile, then watched Law and Order re-runs at our hotel, followed by an edited version of Showgirls on TNT. Yes, they cut out the best parts. Still, much better than watching old ladies pump away their pensions into slot machines.
This is our final day of traveling which seems crazy. We talked yesterday as to how weird it is that nope, this isn't a vacation. This is permanent. Yeah, we've known that for awhile, but it's starting to sink in. (When you start seeing chili and lime-flavored junk food in convenient stores, you know you're in Western Massachusetts anymore.) We're excited, we would have regretted never living in San Francisco, so off to more new adventures. We'll post once we officially hit the coast.
If you're living in Utah and want a break from the morally upright lifestyle, luckily, there is a den of sin close by: Nevada. Las Vegas is its capital in terms of temptations, but other towns come close. As we neared the Utah/Nevada border yesterday, signs promised thousand of dollars in slot machine fortunes, ladies ready to love you (but for a price), free casino drinks and all the prime rib you could eat at a $3.99 buffet. The border towns are packed with small-time casinos and folks meandering away from their cars at gas stations to take advantage of the fun. We quickly got gas and were more intrigued by the Basque food and western outpost kitch of Winnemucca.
Winnemucca is a good stop-over point between Reno and Salt Lake City. Tons of out-of-state license plates, more small-time casinos, more promises of sinful delights. We restricted ours to eating at the historic Martin Hotel, whose family-style restaurant boasts (and rightfully so) the best Basque food around. The Basques came to Winnemucca in the 1800s and because of their sheep-hearding heritage, prospered in the hills of Nevada. The town now boasts more Basque people than anywhere else in the U.S.
The Martin Hotel was a traveler's dream: for approximately $22.00 per person, you are fed an epic feast of an entree, then you share with the rest of your long table all you can drink water and wine, bread and butter, salad, french fries, navy beans, cow tongue (we passed), spciy green beans wth bacon bits, meaty and spicy rice, sausage and vegetable soup and finally, bread pudding. For entrees, we had a massive seafood stew and a lemon and dill salmon. Our fellow table mates, including some widowers from California, a couple from Washington state and a guy from the Sacremento aea, all dug into the food like it was Thanksgiving, and you felt as if you were at an adult hostel in Europe.
To work off dinner, we decided to hit one casino. Unfortunately, because photos are not welcome in casinos, Butter Lamb stayed in the hotel refrigerator. We stuck to the one across the street from our hotel, and played the slots for awhile until we lost a collective sum of udner $2.00. Yep, big night in Winnemucca. Instead, we played Big Buck Hunter for awhile, then watched Law and Order re-runs at our hotel, followed by an edited version of Showgirls on TNT. Yes, they cut out the best parts. Still, much better than watching old ladies pump away their pensions into slot machines.
This is our final day of traveling which seems crazy. We talked yesterday as to how weird it is that nope, this isn't a vacation. This is permanent. Yeah, we've known that for awhile, but it's starting to sink in. (When you start seeing chili and lime-flavored junk food in convenient stores, you know you're in Western Massachusetts anymore.) We're excited, we would have regretted never living in San Francisco, so off to more new adventures. We'll post once we officially hit the coast.
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