Travel pet peeves

While on my travels back and forth to Portland, I re-discovered pet peeves I have of traveling, especially relating to air travel. In no particular order:

* Loud talkers - This is especially annoying on the airplane, as you're in a tight space with no where to go.

* Expensive airport food - Again, there is no where else to go, so it's either pay $8 for a yogurt parfait or starve. I was shocked to find that a fruit cup at Portland's airport Starbucks was actually more expensive than LAX's airport Starbucks. The only thing I could figure was that the fruit came from California, and was therefore cheaper?

* Delayed flights - This one isn't so bad when you're traveling with someone else, but when you're on your own, it's a bummer because you have no one to talk to and no one to watch your luggage while you use the bathroom or want to take a short walk.

* Cell phone users - I don't mind cell phone users in general - I am one, after all. However, it always makes me wonder what is so important that people have to pull out their cell phones the minute it is okay to do so when the plane lands. Even if you've got someone waiting in the "cell phone waiting zone", they'll still have plenty of time to get to the curb if you call them from inside the airport terminal, rather than from the airplane.

There is 1 perk of traveling and being stuck in an airport for endless hours, and that would be People Watching. I love to watch people, and due to "loud talkers", you often don't have to wonder what kind of person they are - you can usually find out just by being in the same general area.

Fieldtrips

On Friday, Ken and I went tip-toeing through the tulips . . . okay, so it's not tulip season here, so we actually went to the Dahlia fields. It's free to "tip-toe", so we enjoyed our stroll through the endless varieties and colors of dahlias.

And on Saturday, we did my favorite field trip - the Oregon Coast. Our first stop was Cannon Beach, where we stopped to play with the sailor . . .

and took a walk on the beach . . . I don't care what the weather is like, I love the beach!

And then we drove along Hwy 101 down the coast, stopping along the way for scenic shots, and ending up at one of the happiest places on the coast . . . the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Ice cream, squeeky cheese, and smoked cheese - oh my! We were tempted to try the 38 Flavor Tour of Ice Cream, but I just couldn't get myself to spend $27 for ice cream . . . besides, I can't imagine how long it would have taken us to eat all of that ice cream.
Sadly, my vacation has come to an end, so Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, it's off to Flagstaff I go. I'll say good-bye, try not to cry, just 5 more weeks to go-oh!

Things I love about Portland

Since Saturday, I've been in Portland visiting Ken - and loving every minute of it. Besides the obvious of being with Ken, I decided to list some of the other reasons I love Portland.

* Picking blackberries for FREE - they grow wild everywhere around here, which can be a problem if you don't maintain your yard, but otherwise, it's a great bonus.

* Making blackberry pie from above mentioned FREE blackberries - Yummy! (And better still, Ken made it without my help and it turned out wonderful.)

* Not having to pump your own gas - as I always used to say "Oregon is a full-service state".

* Eating all the wheat products I want - gotta love the lower elevation (less gain, less pain)

* The rain - it rained for the first 2-3 days of my trip, but I didn't care.

* Roses - amazingly the roses are still in bloom here . . . maybe that is why they call it the City of Roses.

* The ocean - I've been "ocean deprived" for 2 years, and am looking forward to going on Saturday to see the sea. (Hopefully pictures to follow)

* Friends and family in the area - I've spent the week visiting friends and family and past co-workers, feeling the love and getting caught up on everyone's lives.

* A beautiful temple close by, and being able to go with Ken . . . and because it was so close, once again on my own.

Old stomping grounds

For the last few years, every time Ken sees a pond in someone's yard, he says "I miss my pond", which is quickly followed by, "I wonder what it looks like now." Four years ago, Ken sold his house with his beloved pond when we got married. I have promised Ken that someday, we'll have another pond - we just need land to put it on. Now that Ken is in Portland on his internship, I told him he should drive by his old house and peak in the backyard to check out the pond that he spent so many hours digging, planting, and maintaining. Tonight, Ken and I decided to drive by his old house and take a peek.

The new owner of the house was outside with her daughter, so Ken introduced ourselves and told her why we were there. Amazingly, not only did the lady chat with us, but she also invited us in to check out the house and backyard. I thought that was way above and beyond politeness. I wondered if I would be willing to do the same. The house has been well maintained, but the pond - well - it could use some tender loving care. It wasn't bad, but it did need some attention. Admittedly, the lady who bought the house, is a single-mother, with a now 5 year old daughter, so I'm sure taking care of a pond is probably fairly low on her list of priorities. I think Ken took it fairly well, but I wonder if I would do so well seeing something I had created looking a little worse for wear.

Thanks

Thanks to everyone for their comments about "Labor and Delivery". There is obviously lots to think about and consider, and your comments made me aware of different things I need to ask and think about. Thank goodness time is on my side :)

Labor and Delivery

I got a question for y'all, but let me set up the situation first. I have health insurance, but I have a $5000 deductible (horrible, huh?). And I find out that baby delivery, hospital stay, etc. is not covered initially, but is covered once the deductible is met. My Dr. told us that here in Flagstaff, the average cost of delivery is about $6600, which means I have to pay all of the deductible before anything else is paid. Ken and I thought we'd talk to the billing dept. here and offer to pay cash up front if we could get a discount, but our Dr. told us they probably wouldn't help us, seeing that they are the only hospital around for miles, and can charge whatever rate they want. My Dr's suggestion: Have the baby in Phoenix. There are plenty of hospitals there, and she was certain we could cut a deal at at least one of them. The only problem - Phoenix is 2 hours away, on a good traffic day. She says - that's no problem for the first baby. But I'm not so sure.

I'm not looking for scary stories, but practical comments. Is it feasible to drive 2 hours to have the baby in Phoenix? How soon would you want to drive back to Flagstaff after having the baby? Is it worth it to save a few thousand dollars?

Neighbors

I've always wanted to be the type of neighbor that welcomes move-ins into the neighborhood with a fresh batch of cookies . . . but, alas, I am not that type of neighbor. The condos around us are finally starting to sell, and we've had quite a few neighbors move in. I made Ken come with me to meet the first set - Jon and Ann ( I can never get their names straight though - I always call them Jan and Bob - but at least we don't see them often enough for me to make this mistake to them in person.)

Then we had neighbors move in next door - but I had just started getting sick, and I barely felt inclined to talk to people I knew, let alone be overly-friendly and meet the new neighbors next door. So instead of meeting the neighbors, Ken and I sit at home and try to figure out their story. What do they do for work? Who REALLY lives in the condo? It's taken us a few months, but we have guessed that our next door neighbor works nights, presumably at the hospital, and lives by herself, but frequently has friends over. Now that I think about it, it's probably pretty creepy that we have "guessed" that much about her, without meeting her. I'd really like to formally meet her, but how do you introduce yourself to someone you've seen come/go for 3 months? Any ideas?

We have other neighbors too. There is the family in the next building over that has matching cars - not just the same make, but same model AND same color - weird! Then there is the "group" of people in the 3-bedroom condo on the other side of us. I have yet to figure out who REALLY lives there, but at least one of the "visitors" is a police officer on the K-9 unit (unless he got the shirt at Goodwill or something). Ya know, I think Ken and I might be disappointed when we actually "meet" our neighbors, because then we won't be able to make up stories about them anymore. I wonder what kind of stories they've concocted about Ken and I? Or maybe we're the only ones that "play" this game?