Happy New Year!

Robby has left for East Lansing, Michigan, while Atticus and I remain in California. A few more weeks with my family, & it's goodbye! I can't describe how much it will ache to be apart from them, but making a new family means letting go of the old one.

Here's to a new year of drastic change and begrudging acclimation...

Choo-choo train!

Day Three:

We missed our 8 o'clock train from Portland to Seattle, and the seats on the 12 o'clock train were booked, but we were content taking the 3 o'clock since it meant more time in Portland. We wandered back up to the Pearl District to search for Tanner Springs Park. Then we headed back to the hotel, put down Atticus for a nap, packed, and took the light rail to Union Station in Chinatown where we'd catch the train.

Atticus was super-excited to take the train. I couldn't count the number of times he said, "choo choo train!" But he was a handful. He wouldn't sit still, so Robby walked up & down the aisles of the train cars to keep him occupied. It was a beautiful three-hour ride up to Seattle - deer, lakes, steel bridges, even a sunset. We were busy keeping an eye on Atticus most of the time, but it would have been nice to sit back & watch the passing scenery.

Robby's relatives took us in when we arrived. They took us to the Space Needle to see the New Year's fireworks, which were shot out of the sides and top of the Space Needle. It's so comforting being with family after a few days of trekking through a new city and returning to a sterile room.

Whoa, facial hair galore!

Day Two:

Today, we decided to be more Atticus-centric and vowed to return from our first outing by 11:30am, so that he could get an afternoon nap.

We took the light rail & bus to the Hawthorne District, the so-called hippest neighborhood in Portland right now (comparable to Williamsburg, Brooklyn). We had breakfast at Jam on Hawthorne, another well reviewed breakfast joint on Yelp (275 reviews; 4 stars), which also had a large children's play area. We chatted with some table neighbors - a couple with baby girl. They were super-nice and told us all about their experience living in Portland. Atticus kept himself busy in the play area until breakfast came. The waitress served him water in the coolest sippy cup, and there was a stand with white paper & scissors, where patrons were encouraged to cut snowflakes (the entire restaurant had patron-made snowflakes hanging from the ceiling).

We hopped back on the bus & continued down Hawthorne Blvd. until we got to the Baghdad Theater. The street was line with vintage clothing stores, gift shops, & boutiques. We moseyed around until Atticus got annoyed having to sit in the stroller for so long...and headed back to our hotel. We got lunch from some food trucks near by (I got Pad See Ew, while Robby got Stir-fried Ginger Tofu with Rice) & ate in the hotel room before Atticus napped.

In the afternoon, we headed south to Portland State University. Robby wanted to peek around the campus to get a feel for it. It's an urban campus (as urban as Portland can get...not really, that is). But it did feel a little like NYU, where the university's buildings are intertwined with the city itself. There was no campus wall or entrance...no pedestrian quads.

We met Robby's friend for dinner at the hotels restaurant Red Star. This is the worst restaurant I've been to since we've arrived to Portland. It was over-priced & the food was mediocre. I ordered a side dish of short ribs, garnished with cucumber & yogurt & roasted hazelnuts. The hazelnuts were so hard that they were inedible. The ribs were too fatty & chewy that I spit out nearly every piece that I had eaten. Atticus's homemade chicken noodle soup was too salty & its tarragon flavoring was too strong. I was even more disappointed when I got the check. I don't even want to think about - it makes my heart hurt to think we wasted money on such a crappy meal. I wanted to each their for convenience - we could put Atticus to bed quickly if we ate near by - but I should have looked at its reviews first (mediocre: 166 reviews, 3.5 stars).

_________________________

The most definitive, appealing aspect of Portland that both Robby & I noticed:

PEOPLE IN PORTLAND ARE REALLY, REALLY FRIENDLY.

We have not met one mean person in Portland. We've had friendly banter with bus drivers, waitresses, fellow restaurant patrons, parents, old people...

There is definitely a fashion sense unique to Portland. Men with all sorts of facial hair, pea coats, tight jeans & either fashionable sneakers or large boots. Women layered in woolen skirts, knee-high boots, scarves, and cross-shoulder bags.

We also noticed that the city seems empty. Robby's friend informed us that most people go home for the holidays, so people don't come visit this time of year. Also, he enlightened us about this bit about Portland: people don't come for jobs because they're aren't any; they come because they want to live here...they like the lifestyle. So, people here tend to be like-minded. I can imagine one giving up a lucrative career in a big city in order to live a peaceful life in Portland. It's got a sense of community that I've never experienced anywhere. Robby is completely enamored with this small city, so maybe in the future we'll find our way back to the West Coast via the Northwest.

Portland, OR

It's been four months since I've written a blog posting. We have been busy with everyday life and packing for Michigan. We are finally out of our apartment in the lovely Culver City (sniff sniff), and our plentiful but humble belonging are en route on a move truck to East Lansing, Michigan.

Before we make the big move eastward, we are visiting the coolest town in the northwest: Portland, OR. We've heard so much about it from others & from the NY Times, that we decided to take one final hurrah trip before settling in the Midwest far from West Coast culture and family. We'll be here 3 days and in Seattle 2 days.

We're staying at the Hotel Monaco in the City Center. It looks upscale, but we got a suite for $150/night. It's got both modern and baroque-style furnishings, kind of Z-Gallerie-ish. It's a dog friendly hotel, so dogs stay with their owners in the rooms. & there's free wine tasting from 5-6pm every night, including live piano music and a painter's corner (with easel, acrylic paints, and canvases).

Day One:

We headed out of the hotel at 9am northward toward Mother's Bistro & Bar, a well-reviewed (700 reviews on Yelp - totally unheard of...700+ reviews?! - 4 stars!). The decor was amazing - like a tea room...chandeliers, vintage mirrors all over the walls - the whole place had a warm glow to it. Plus, there was a children's play area. This aspect of the restaurant was key because if Atticus hasn't eaten by 9am, he is a huge, grumpy monster, so the play area took his mind off his belly. We were amazed (second time I've used this word in this paragraph) by the idea of having a kids' play area in a restaurant. Where else would a business be so considerate? It would be totally unheard of in LA, where child-friendly & child-unfriendly places are clearly demarcated.

After breakfast we walked through Chinatown, a desolate, empty neighborhood with many boarded up windows. Our desination: Lan Su Gardens - a Suzhou-style garden with stone mosaic walkways, water fountains, coi, rocks & water, & a Tai Chi class going on on a terrace. It was a peaceful sanctuary in the middle of an already peaceful city. The only question that circled through my mind was WHERE ARE ALL THE CHINESE PEOPLE? The streets of Chinatown were vacant of businesses and residents, none of the tai chi practitioners were Asian, & the instructor wasn't Asian either. So What's the deal with Chinatown? & why does it still exist if there aren't any Chinese people to occupy it?

After meandering through Lan Su Garden, we wanted an after-breakfast dessert, so we searched for Voodoo Donuts, a popular local donut joint that has over 1,700 reviews on Yelp & gets 4 stars! It got some publicity from the Food Network show called Man Vs. Food. We waited in line for about 15 minutes then chatted with the man behind us from Costa Mesa. The pink interior was partnered with an upbeat Kanye song, so we were especially excited when we got inside. Voodoo Donuts has an array of unusual and creatively named donuts: bacon maple bar, voodoo doll (in the shape of one & filled with raspberry jelly), Optimus Prime (shaped and frosted like the Transformer), donuts topped with cereal, like Captain My Captain (Captain Crunch) & The Loop (Fruit Loops), Tangtastic (topped with vanilla frosting & Tang, & Old Dirty Bastard (Oreos & peanut butter). Robby ordered the famous Cock and Balls (basically a Boston Creme in the shape of a you-know-what) and I ordered a chocolate frosted and a Mexican Hot Chocolate cake donut, which was much spicier than I expected. We were pleased.

Chinatown was pretty depressing, so we headed to Powell's Books in the Pearl District, one of the largest, most well-organized independent bookstore that I've ever been to. It's enormous. One entire floor is dedicated to children's and young adult literature. I felt happy supporting a local business...after having made so many Amazon purchases for Christmas this month.

Robby suggested that we check out snow boots for Atticus, so we went to REI, which gave us a chance to walk through the Pearl District. Robby said that the reviewers on Yelp either loved or hated the Pearl District. Some people complained that it was too bourgie and expensive. The streets were lined with yoga studios and well-manicured boutiques.

We spent too much time at REI. We found great snowboots for Atticus, but we started looking through the sales racks for ourselves. Atticus was bored and hungry, and he hadn't gotten a proper nap (only an hourlong nap in the stroller at Powell's). We were being selfish parents at that point, dragging him to dressing rooms & making him wait while we fished for the right sizes. By the time we left REI he was livid. When we got to Lovejoy Bakers to get him some food, he exploded into a million pieces, yelled at the top of his lungs, rolled all over the floor.

We hurried back to the hotel, realized that we needed to eat, so we stopped by a parking lot lined with food trucks. Unlike Los Angeles food trucks, these were anchored to these parking spots and were housed in little trailers. They weren't actual trucks. We quickly bought food & returned to the hotel room...with Atticus screaming all the way there. Nothing appeased him, not even the pacifier. I couldn't blame him for being angry with us.

Robby ordered a pesto chicken sandwich, which he raved about, I ate an Indonesian tofu salad, & Atticus had a pork bun. All the food was delicious, & I was especially impressed by the large portions. After the early 4pm dinner, Robby urged me to go to the free yoga class in the hotel. It was pretty good, and there were only 2 students. I wore the yoga pajamas that Robby gave me for Christmas. It's got stick figures doing yoga poses on them. Super-adorable.

We turned in early, having put Atticus down to sleep at 7pm, watched a few episodes of New Girl, and called it a night. An eventful - later parent-centric - day in a wonderful city.

Day Two: East Lansing visit

I took Robby to Kellogg Conference Center for his new faculty orientation today then drove around East Lansing a bit. Someone had recommended living in the Bailey area, which is the neighborhood directly north of campus (north of Grand River Road). It's a cute little neighborhood with small, old houses. I saw a few people taking walks & walking their dog. It reminded me of Havertown, Pennsylvania. I drove up to Burcham Ave., where Deddy once lived for a month, until I hit East Lansing High School. It has an enormous campus with a student population that's half of most high schools in Los Angeles. It has large playing fields and a state-of-the-art football field (of course). I also passed a large middle school with a football field (oh brother). Burcham eastbound became windy and residential - condo complexes & tract housing. Then I came down Okemos Road and returned to my uncle's house.

The streets here are surprisingly empty. As I drove around at 8am, I was surprised by how few cars and people I saw on the big and residential streets. I hardly saw anyone leaving his house for work. I have a feeling that when next Wednesday arrives and students return to Michigan State University, the streets of East Lansing will be bustling and noisy. Still, I'm surprised to see so few residents of East Lansing out and about.

Touching Base: LA > SF > LA > HI > SF > LA > MI

It's been a long time since I've written in this. Life got kind of crazy at the end of June. My last day of teaching was on June 24th, and on that day we bolted to Napa Valley, California, for a wedding at Cornerstone Winery. We spent a few wonderful days living in North Beach (Little Italy) in San Francisco, where Atticus got to watch old Chinese people do calisthenics at Washington Square Park, we weaved through the congested Stockton Avenue with the stroller to get some good dimsum, & we saw boys plankingat Union Square in downtown SF.

We came back down to LA and spent a few weeks recuperating. I

successfully defended my dissertation proposal on July 27th, and when Robby spent a week in Germany, I went to live with my parents for a week.

Everything has been all fun & travel since the dissert

ation proposal defense. I had a girls' lunch date with Rebecca and friends in Villa Blanca, a restaurant in Beverly Hills owned by a participant in "Real Housewives of Orange County." The food was all right, every dish was chipped, the flowers in the centerpiece fading, and the menus falling apart.

Then I went to

a Japanese salon in West LA and cut 24 inches of hair. The stylist convinced me that I shouldn't get a boy cut, so I got a bob. The next day Robby went to Beverly Hills for a cut & shave, & he cut his 24 inches of hair too.

Then we drove up to San Francisco for a 1 week trip to Kauai with my sisters and t

heir families. I forgot about this blog (forgot that it was part travelogue), so I'll have to make my comments about Hawaii brief. I haven't been to Hawaii since 1987, & I've never been to Kauai before, so it was a

ll a new experience for me.

We stayed in Po'ipu, the south part of Kauai, at the Wyndham Resort (Koloa Landing). They had good airfare & hotel dea

ls, and we rented 3 condos for 3 families. There were 9 adults and 6 kids in total. Our condos faced a large children's pool that was no more than 4 feed deep. Atticus played in the 1

-foot area. Brenneker's Beach was the best place to go snorkling. Sheraton Beach was a great place to learn how to

surf. Spouting Horn was a quick, fun trip. Lydgate Park had an awesome baby beach. Tip Top Cafe for breakfast was good. We couldn't go far because the babies had to take their naps

every afternoon. This meant no long drives to the north side of Kauai nor long car trips to Waimea Canyon nor long hikes.

On the day

of our departure, United had a problem with our plane that it ignored in Los Angeles. As we sat on the plane and waited to depart, the flight crew had to decide whether to ship the missing mechanical part from Honolulu or fly us all to Honolulu & leave from there. After a few hours of waiting at the gate, United canceled our flight & sent us to a Marriott for the night. It was a huge headache, especially with small children, no milk, butt wipes, or diapers. I am still pretty irate about United's failure to fix the problem in Los Angeles, where airplane parts are plentiful.

We took a 9am flight the following morning. Atticus was wonderful in the plane, so time went by quickly. As soon as we landed in San Francisco, we hopped in our car and drove down to Los Angeles. We stopped at Harris Ranch for dinner and arrived to our home at 10:30pm. It was quite a doozy of a day.

Two days later, we drop off Atticus at my parents' and hop on a plane to Michigan.

I learned that Spirit Airlines really sucks. DON'T fly Spirit Airlines. Sure, the flights are cheap, but it charges passengers to choose seats ($10), for carry-on baggage ($35 online, $40 at the gate), and to print boarding passes at the airline counter. We didn't see anything of this coming, so we were totally taken aback by all the charges.

Now we're in Michigan to drive around and look for potential neighborhoods in which to live. Robby had a new faculty orientation tomorrow, and I'll hang out with my uncle all day.

Latest photos (kind of)

Atticus is a little sponge when it comes to verbal language. He is constantly imitating us. This evening, I said, "See?" to Robby to reinforce how right I was about something, & Atticus stood behind me and said, "See?"

Besides, his usual "baba," "mama," & "agua", he also says...

"up": Robby taught him this one

"po po": maternal grandmother

"bubble"

"scheisse": German for "shit"

"Chapu": our babysitter Liliana's son's nickname, which means grasshopper in Spanish

"dirty": for his diaper

Below is a picture of us at Robby's graduation. He hadn't officially finished his dissertation yet, so it was a pretty anti-climatic day for him. But he'll be uploading in the next day or two. Then the diploma will arrive in a few weeks. Then we'll be cutting our immensely long hair. My hair is so long that it drapes down to my butt and sometimes I tuck it into my pants by accident. I'll be very relieved to cut it short short.