A Week on the Gulf Coast

Since summer in the Gorge is so perfect, we thought we'd take a week of it and go someplace else. ;)

Every year, we have planned some sort of get together with a group of friends from our MIT days. And now that the entire group isn't as concentrated in the Northeast as we once were, we've starting planning a trip together. This year's just happened to end up on the gulf coast of Florida, in August. (Yes, we're crazy.)

The house was right on the beach in Destin, FL, and as it turned out, the weather the week we were there was much less oppressive that we had feared. And for a week (or part thereof), the 12 of us just did whatever we felt like: rented jet skis, walked on the beach, played lots of games, golfed, bowled, cooked, or just talked and relaxed in each others company. A perfect vacation.


Jet skis in the bay.


View of the beach at sunset.


Malinda and Jean, preparing a gourmet meal. Each day for the week, a different couple was responsible for breakfast and dinner. That way, you only had to 'work' on one day, and on the other days, food was just prepared for you. Worked great, and the food was wonderful!


Corinne, pool shark. There was a pool room in the house. Can't get much better than that.


Corinne and Judy, relaxing on the screen porch, now just a porch. Hurricane Dennis arrived several weeks before us, knocking out all of the screens and destroying the walkway to the beach.


Remnants of the walkway from the house to the beach. (Thank you very much Hurricane Dennis.) As a result, we had to walk a block down the street for beach access.


Brian, Judy and Corinne (and me taking the picture), wading in the surf. Brian got some saltwater in his eye, so he decided to cry. We had to watchout for jellyfish in the water. Several of us were stung, but Brian got stung on his back the worst.


Golf lessons from Brian at the driving range.


Becky & Gordon, enjoying the fruit of their dinner labors.



Looking forward to the next trip together!

- Mike (& Corinne)

Summer Fun! Parties, Poker, and Ultimate frisbee

Everyone in the Gorge says basically the same thing: There's no place they'd rather be in the summer than here. The summer weather is predictable and perfect for Jul/Aug/Sep: 80s, not too dry, and not a cloud in the sky. So anyone who is planning a party or event just picks a weekend day, knowing that there will inevitably be another event scheduled for the same day. There are only so many weekends, after all.

And that's just the weekends. On Wednesdays (or sometimes Thursdays), we play ultimate frisbee, often followed by a BBQ at brother Leif's. Many Thursdays, it's poker with Mark, Andrew, and a host of others. There seemed to be a get together of some sort several times a week. If only we didn't have to go to work...

- Mike (& Corinne)

Woodinville & Pickles

Well, now that summer's almost over, I can finally begin to catch up here...

When we last heard from our intrepid ruralites, they were enjoying beautiful weather and lots of company in the Gorge. At the end of June, Corinne spent a weekend with Malinda at Willows Lodge in Woodinville, WA. Several times a year the lodge hosts a "Girlfriends' Weekend" full of wine, food, tours and lectures. Several of the wine-makers were on hand to showcase their wines, most of which come from the Yakima Valley, about 2 hours north east of the gorge.


Corinne & Malinda at Willows Lodge in Woodinville


The following weekend, Donna came down to visit us to celebrate the 4th. What else could we do but make pickles?

For years Corinne has talked of the "watermelon rind pickles" from her youth, a sweet, sometimes cinnamon-y concoction that I had never even heard of, let alone actually tried. Hermiston, Oregon, about 200 miles east of us, has the hot dry summers that make it prime watermelon country. So after some keen Internet scouring by Donna, she uncovered what she thought was a reasonable facsimile of the famed recipe. And to balance out the sweetness of the rind pickes, we also chose a spicy dilled green bean recipe, to take advantage of another in-season vegetable. (We were a few weeks early for the traditional "pickling cucumbers".)


Spicy dilled green beans in-progress. The beans took only a few hours, at most, to complete; the watermelon, on the other hand, was a multiple day affair.


The Picklemakers and the finished beans.


Unfortunately, it would be many weeks before we could validate our efforts; such is the conundrum of pickling. But while we couldn't partake of our newly-created delicacies, we did enjoy a lovely evening sitting along the Columbia River watching the fireworks (from a distance) over Hood River.

- Mike (& Corinne)

Sheila, Chris, and the Rodeo

In the middle of June, our friends Sheila and Chris came to visit us from San Francisco. As luck would have it, it happened to be the weekend of the Ketchum Kalf Rodeo in Glenwood.


Here we are at the rodeo in Glenwood, about 30 miles north of our house. (Chris missed the rodeo, as he didn't arrive until that evening.)


This was a "real" rodeo, complete with calf roping, bronco riding and bull riding, as well as the more commonly seen barrel racing. We even saw a cowboy from Sheila's hometown of Coupeville, WA, 300 miles away!


Glenwood is a small town of only a few hundred people, but it is beautiful country, full of farms and ranches. Here you can see Mt Adams beyond the rodeo grounds.


Since I didn't get any shots of Chris while he was here, I figured I'd toss in this one of the two of them, from their wedding last August. (We had a great time there, too!)

It was a short, yet relaxing and enjoyable visit. Come back again (and stay longer!)

- Mike (& Corinne)

Spelunking with Fred

In early June, Fred DiPrizito came down to visit from Seattle. He moved from Boston shortly before we did, but this was the first time our schedules coincided.


To start, we did a "waterfall tour," from which there are many to choose in the Gorge. We chose Horsetail Falls (above), and Multnomah Falls.


That evening, we took Fred on the ever-popular hike on Condit Dam.


The following day, Leif joined us for a trip to the Guler Ice Caves. There are caves just north of us where it stays cold all year round, and winter causes interesting ice formations. April/May is apparently the best time to visit, with the most formations, but it was still fun in June.


One of the ice formations, with back-lighting via a flashlight. The caves are not only cold, but dark. Very dark. So we came pretty well equiped with warm clothes, gloves, and plenty of headlamps and flashlights.


Portrait of the wanna-be spelunkers.

- Mike (& Corinne)

Do they eat sausage in Denver?

For Memorial Day weekend, Corinne took a trip to Denver to visit her aunt, uncle, cousins, but primarily her grandmother, who was recovering from a stroke. Her mom was also there, visiting from Seattle.


The Denver branch of the Massman clan.

While Corinne was in Denver visiting family, I stayed home to finally make sausage! As it turned out, I should have made twice as much as I did; the 4 pounds of Italian sausage I did make was gone within the week, including half that very same night at a BBQ at Andrew and Amy's, friends of ours from work.


Boy, doesn't that look appetizing? In case you were wondering, I bought the sausage casings from Whole Foods in Portland; I ground the meat (beef+pork) myself using the meat grinder attachment for our KitchenAid mixer; this particular sausage spice mix came from Penzey's; then stuffed the sausage using the sausage stuffer attachment.

- Mike (& Corinne)

Becky & Gordon's wedding

On our long trip East to Amsterdam, we went by way of our old homestead, Boston. And coincidentally, it happened to be the weekend of Becky's bridal shower! So Corinne spent the weekend partying with Becky (while I spent the weekend visiting Stef and Serg and their new baby, Diego! Photo to come later.)

Here's the motley crew that was up all hours of the day and night.


...and 3 weeks later, it was time for the wedding! Here are the lovely bride and her matron of honor, "relaxing" before the ceremony. Lots more photos from both the shower weekend and the wedding can be found in the "MasterWong" albums on Flickr.com.


Bride, groom, and matron of honor

- Mike (& Corinne)

Hike on Mitchell Point

In between the various May trips (Boston, Amsterdam, Boston, Boston), we did manage to sneak in one weekend where we were both home. To take advantage of the opportunity, we went for a short hike on Mitchell Point, a hiking trail just west of Hood River which follows part of the old Columbia River Historic Highway. It was a nice spring day, and the viewpoint gives both eastward and westward facing views of the gorge. We didn't hike for more than about an hour and a half, and given that we didn't get started until 3pm on Sunday, that was just fine.

On this hike, we learned several things:


Sometimes none of the photos you take turn out well (this was the best one)...


... and this is what poison oak looks like. In large quantities. It's all over the Gorge, but this trail was the worst so far. Thank goodness for Tecnu.

- Mike (& Corinne)

Boston (again), and Husum scenery

So things are getting a bit out of chronological order here, but I'll try to keep things straight.

We were in Boston on our way to Amsterdam, the last weekend in April; then we spent a week in Amsterdam. (See previous postings). The very next weekend after we returned to the states, Corinne was back in Boston again for Amory & Brian's wedding reception. (She didn't take any photos - so now I don't feel so bad about not taking any photos of Diego!)

While she was gone, I took some artsy photos of the scenery around our house.


The roadsides are full of poppies; they add such bright colors, you sometimes forget they grow wild.


Now I know what people are referring to when they talk about "western skies".


The windmill in front of our house. Apparently, it used to pump water; but there's nothing attached to it now.

- Mike (& Corinne)

We Are Not Dead

I have no excuse. (Actually, I have several excuses, but I'll spare you.) It's been 3 months since my last post, and quite a lot has happened in that time. And I need to go all the way back to January to catch up! As such, I'll keep the summaries short.

Donna and Vivian - early January

A week after returning from the holidays, we decided we needed to see family again. So we had a relaxing long weekend in Husum with 3 generations of Massman's. There was much knitting. And I learned how to tailor my own shirts!

Visitors from New Jersey - mid January

Drew, Michelle, Beverly and Jorge visited all the way from "Back East", staying for a week in early January. Unfortunately, the winter weather was pretty bad... at least for a group who were expecting to ski and snowboard all week! Snowfall was at a record low on Mt Hood (only 30" of snowpack). They did manage to get one good day in on the mountain, and had lots of fun exploring the area. Come back soon!

Malinda and Jean - late January

Due to Microsoft overworking their employees, Malinda and Jean were only able to stay for about 24 hours before they had to head back to Redmond. But at least a 24 hour trip is possible now that we're only 4 hours away!

Sometime in January, we managed to go to work, too. But unfortunately, due to weather and scheduling, we weren't able to use any of our new snowboarding gear.


- Mike (& Corinne)

Flowers, Beer and Flying

Yes, folks, Mike has finally been to Europe! (And it only took 33 years)

Corinne's AIAA technical committee meeting was in Amsterdam during the last week in April, so of course I went along and we took a few extra days on either side to explore. And as it so happens, April is the PERFECT time to visit The Netherlands.


Keukenhof! 32 hectares (that's about 80 acres) of perfectly groomed flower beds, full of the most amazing bulb flowers you've ever seen.


More Keukenhof. Some ridiculous percentage of the world's flowers come from Holland. Keukenhof may be the centerpiece of the "tourist" flower industry, but the rest of the country is filled with fields and fields (and fields and fields) of flowers. I guess it helps that most of the land is below sea-level - certainly helps irrigation!


More beds at Keukenhof. The park is only open from late-March to late-May, so we were there at exactly the right time.


Motion platform. Wed through Fri we toured various facilities involved with motion simulation technology in The Netherlands. (We were here for "work" after all...) The actuators on the bottom are arranged such that the platform on top can be moved as smoothly and freely as possible.


Me, inside a simulated cockpit sitting atop a motion platform. (Unfortunately they didn't turn the motion on for that particular flight, though, so it was just a very expensive video game.)


In Delft, enjoying the local flavors. Yum... raw herring! (It actually was good!)


Sitting outside a cafe in Leidesplein, Amsterdam. Drinking Heineken and cappuccino (not at the same time).


Flowers, flowers everywhere. This was in an outdoor flower stand in downtown Amsterdam. I wish we had flower shops like this at home!


Koninginnedag. Aside from the flowers being in full bloom, the other reason this was the perfect time to visit is that April 30th is "Queen's Day", aka Koninginnedag. 36 hours of a giant street party in the whole country. The orange you see everyone wearing is the color of the royal house of The Netherlands, The House of Orange and Nassau. We were forewarned about bringing something orange to wear (Thanks Greg!), so we fit right in. Sorta.

- Mike (& Corinne)

Happy Birthday to us

Since we were in Tulsa near my birthday, they decided to have a "surprise" birthday party for me and Taryn, who also has a March birthday. The surprise was spoiled shortly before the party, but it's the thought that counts, right?


Blowing out the candles on our "cakes". And yes, we did have our own - Taryn didn't get to blow out my candles.

- Mike (& Corinne)

Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain

Tulsa wedding - Mid-March


The first of Corinne's cousins is married! Tor and Clare were married March 11 in Tulsa, OK. It was a fun wedding; we had a great time with all the relatives (as always), hanging out in Tor's coffeeshop, Nordaggio's, meeting many of Tor and Loren's friends, playing basketball, ultimate frisbee, etc.


Kransekake, a traditional Norwegian dessert made from almond paste, was served at the reception. (These came with "some assembly required".)


Loren & Corinne, relaxing outdoors after the ceremony. Loren went on to do a fabulous job keeping the party hopping at the evening reception.


Two proud dads. :)


A "behind the scenes" shot

I have lots more photos from the wedding, of course, but the Internet is a small place. I wouldn't want to clutter it up.

- Mike (& Corinne)

Ma & Pa Daly visit "The West"

Early March
The first weekend in March, my parents came to visit! It was great to finally be able to show them first-hand where and how we live. We went to brunch at Skamania Lodge and toured the Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center, but I think the most enjoyable and interesting part of their trip, at least for us, was when we took a drive towards Mt Adams. We followed the map for a while through the remote town of Glenwood ("Where to these kids go to school way out here?", asks Dad.) It wasn't until about 5 minutes after we left the area covered by our maps that we realized that we had entered the Yakama Indian Reservation. We drove for another half-hour or so until it was clear that the road we were on wasn't going to end anytime soon. And once we lost sight of Mt Adams - a pretty obvious landmark - we decided it was time to turn around. Maybe getting lost in an Indian reservation wasn't the best way to welcome my parents to our new home. :)


Mother and son. (All of the good "family photos" were on Mom & Dad's camera, and I haven't gotten a copy of those yet...)



Remnants of "the old West". This cabin is over 100 years old, and was recently relocated to its current location, for preservation.



Oops... after enjoying a fried meal at "The Logs", a local restaurant, we discovered a flat on the rental car.

- Mike (& Corinne)

That's Entertainment

It seems strange to be posting winter pictures when it's 70 degrees outside, but I guess that's what I get for being 3 months behind.

January snowfall
Here's a picture our neighbor Jeff took after the snowfall we got in early January. Our house is just out of the frame to the right of those incredible walnut trees. The majority of the snow was gone within a week, unlike the storms our former home, Boston, got this winter. Looks like we picked a good time to move!

Train to Seattle
In early February we took the train from Portland to Seattle, and then took Donna and friends to a Christine Lavin concert in Olympia for her birthday. Very funny humorist, folk singer, and just generally entertaining performer. Definitely more geared towards the "fairer sex" (Leif and I stuck out a bit), but very funny.
BTW: We're big proponents of Amtrak, and mass transit in general. We need to be spending more money on our trains and less on widening highways.

Piano
We returned to Husum in a rental truck filled with items from a long-term storage unit in Seattle, including Corinne's great aunt's piano! So after convincing several guys from work to help me unload it, we now have both digital and analog entertainment in our entertainment room. :)

Leif Time
Towards the end of February, we were able to spend some "quality time" with Leif. We work in the same office, yet we rarely see him. (He spends most weekends in Seattle visiting with his S/O). So we took him on one of our favorite walks, Condit Dam. I figure we should get in all the walks we can before the dam is demolished. Here are some of my faves from that walk:




- Mike (& Corinne)