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Rocky Mountain high

23 Aug
We are in the Wild West now my friends. We find ourselves in beautiful Durango, Colorado for the final stage of our U.S. Megatrip. We wrapped up our Seattle visit to the tune of a rare thunderstorm, returned to Portland for some final errands and socializing, and moved on to the great state of Colorado. (Hover over or click on each picture for the caption.)
The Pacific Science Center features some over-sized instruments. Here William plays the guitar.
Elizabeth on the giant chair. The Pacific Science Center is a great way to spend a rainy afternoon.
I feel terrible that in my last post I neglected to mention Susan & Larry and Gayle & Dennis with whom we also enjoyed terrific meals during the first Portland segment. We ate our way through the city.
Upon our return to Portland for the second visit, we picked up awesome new eyeglasses – my first non-red glasses in about 30 years – and enjoyed a few more dinners with good friends. We’ve had a Lebanese mezza, Northwest salmon barbecue, sushi, more brew pub lunches, and breakfast at a very hip Portland spot, Tasty and Alder. Thanks to John & Janet, Diana and the fabulous Femmes, Jim & Wanda, and J.C. & Maarja! Notice we have not had Italian food at all (except the pizzas previously reviewed at Our Weekly Pizza).
Our temporary home, an urban apartment on the Willamette River. The Steel Bridge is incredibly busy.
Looking northeast from the apartment it was a little more serene.
I love the public art in downtown Portland. So fun to wander the streets after 3 years away!
Durango is high-altitude living. My brother’s house in the valley sits at 7500 feet/2286 meters above sea level. That takes some getting used to. That is higher than most of the hiking we do on the ridges and high meadows in the Dolomites.
We needed to spend a couple of days getting used to the elevation in this high valley with little energetic exercise, so we took a ride on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.  Thirty-one years ago Ric and I had our first vacation together and it was to Durango to ride the D&SNGRR. I am delighted to say the railroad has endured as fantastically as our relationship. The ride is a trip through time with authentic coaches, a coal-fired steam engine from the 1880s, and a narrator in character that relates stories of the era. It is an exceptionally beautiful ride through the mountains.  I am pleased to say the Animas River is more-or-less of normal color after the toxic spill a few weeks ago, and is expected to recover.
The D&SNGRR chugs along about 200 feet above the Animas River.
My rail fan companion of 31 years enjoyed the trip.
Amazing that this railroad was built in the 1880s. Maximum speed on the route about 15 mph.
Once acclimated to the altitude, my brother and sister-in-law took us on a high-elevation hike to Engineer Mountain. For the record, we hiked to “Bus Stop” which is known in our family as “The Lunch Log.” Friends, this hike started at 10,660ft/3249m, and we climbed to 11,617ft/3541m. The round trip was about 5 miles, so not a bad climb, except for the fact that these flatlanders were hiking to an elevation higher than the peak of Mount Hood in Oregon (11,250ft/3429m). We feel pretty pleased with ourselves that we did it without fainting or hyperventilating.
Engineer Mountain looms above the trail. Beautiful walk through piney woods.
Mountain lake along the trail to the ridge below Engineer Mountain.
Today we took a Path to Breakfast, enjoying a 4-mile jaunt through the valley and down into the city of Durango where we indulged in an American-style breakfast. We were fortunate to have the company of Australian Shepherds, Quip and Millie, as well as humans Jane and Susan. We have not hiked with dogs in years and it added a lot of fun to the hike. Jane spotted bear tracks on the trail – a sizable bear with a paw as big as a small human foot – a reminder that this land is still wild. Even more fortunate, we were given a ride home from Durango.
Milly and Quip on the path to breakfast, Durango.

Milly and Quip on the path to breakfast, Durango.

We have a few more days stateside. You’ll hear from me again, no doubt, as I get my head around the inevitable compare-and-contrast Italy and the U.S.
Sharon and Catherine photo bomb me.

Sharon and Catherine photo bomb me.

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Our trip so far

14 Aug
We have our Elective Residence Visas! We applied at the Italian Consulate in San Francisco on July 29 and they arrived August 3, much faster than we anticipated. We organized this trip for a month in the States to ensure there would be enough time for the visas to be processed and sent since we can’t get too far without passports. Of course, they arrived immediately. It is a relief to have that process over (although more processes await) and we are thoroughly enjoying time with family and friends.
Click on any photo in any of the following galleries for a better view or slide show.
We have been in the U.S. for almost three weeks now. Sometimes living in Italy seems very remote to us having slipped back into the American lifestyle. I am becoming used to enormous stores and selection and have enjoyed shopping for clothes in stores where I am familiar with the brands and sizing.  We run errands in borrowed cars. As it is time for end-of-summer sales, we have scored some good discounts.
Dining out continues to amaze us. We are loving the selection of ethnic and Northwest cuisine. We’ve had Thai, Peruvian, Japanese, and Mexican food, as well as fresh salmon and halibut, and the best hamburgers. I have not found halibut in Italy and I do miss it.
Prices are very high. When did it become so expensive in the U.S? It seems like a huge change in only three years. Add tax and tip and lunch or dinner out becomes an a line item on the budget. At lunch, the by-the-glass wine options are $11.00 and up. Seriously? And yet restaurants are full and reservations necessary. 
As you can tell, our visit has been a flurry of meals with friends and family.  Our Portland schedule was packed tight, but still we had time to help our son with the initial stages of his move to a new home. I did not take nearly enough pictures, at least until we got to Seattle, where we are currently wrapping up a stay with family. Mount Rainier National Park was beautiful and busy. Unfortunately, there are no rifugi to hike to and no strudel as we have when hiking in Italy. Rifugi are so civilized!
Thanks to John & Janet, Carolyn, Julie, Bernie & Peggy, Will & Gracia, Sander & Amethyst, Veronica & Barry, Susan, John & Debbie, Heather & Chris, and finally Derek for the glorious meals and good times! I highly recommend the Dale Chihuly Glass Gardens at Pacific Center in Seattle. Sono bellissimi! I will leave you with some photos from the Seattle portion of our trip. 
 Alla prossima!

 

 

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Land of giant everything

2 Aug
An embarrassment of riches aptly describes the retail scene in the U.S. What an amazing thing it is to walk into a Safeway store after 3 years’ absence and see aisle-after-aisle of options! Acres of wine, miles of frozen foods, yet a rather humble selection of pasta types. The Safeway was at least five-times the size of our “big” neighborhood grocery store, DOC Parioli, but DOC has five-times the pasta.
The wine aisle in a Safeway store. Una scelta imbarazzante! (A selection so grand it's embarrassing!)

The wine aisle in a Safeway store. Una scelta imbarazzante! (A selection so grand it’s embarrassing!)

Going for coffee at an independent coffee house in Portland, we chuckled over the large cappuccino one patron was nursing. Ric took a picture with her hands and laptop in view for perspective. I was excited to get espresso over ice without the barista cocking an eyebrow and looking down her nose at me. It just isn’t done in Italy. You can have a shakerato or a sweetened caffe’ fredo, but over ice? I had more ice in my single drink than I can even fit in my Roman freezer.
Iced, iced iced! In the foreground my iced espresso, which is a sacrilege in Italy. Ric's "small" iced coffee (rear) was not only huge but undrinkable due to a burned taste.

Iced, iced iced! In the foreground my iced espresso, which is a sacrilege in Italy. Ric’s “small” iced coffee (rear) was not only huge but undrinkable due to a burned taste.

Coffee in the U.S.  is even more expensive than I remember, and it takes a long time to make an espresso. In Roma, from ordering to drinking is the blink of an eye. At Starbucks the other day I waited at least five minutes. What takes so long to pull a shot?
Land of the giant everything, a "bowl" of cappuccino at neighboring table.

Land of the giant everything, a “bowl” of cappuccino at neighboring table.

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Taking leave

14 May

14 May 2012. The past few days we visited Minnesota and Nebraska to see family before we take off for Rome this week. Funny how when we go back in the lovely spring or fall weather you forget how brutal the weather can be in this part of the country. We always manage to get to the Midwest when it isn’t 10 below zero or 98 with matching humidity. Good planning on our part.

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Honor guard at Mom’s interment. Veterans and active service-persons participate.

Held an interment service for our Mom, who passed away last fall. These days you cannot always bury someone right after they die. Mom was a veteran and wanted to be buried in Fort Snelling National Cemetery. It takes a couple of weeks to get an appointment for a service because of the high demand for military burials right now, so her cremated remains were held by the funeral home until we could reconvene for the interment (notice we waited for good spring weather). The ceremony was quite touching. It is conducted by a group of retired veterans and they do an impressive job of honoring the deceased veteran. I suspect some of them were nearly as old as Mom would have been. There was a 21-gun salute, presentation of the flag, and lovely sentiments expressed. Very fitting, very honorable, very moving

Graduate Zachery with Grandpa and me.

Our Nebraska stop was motivated by the graduation of our oldest grandson. Both of Ric’s kids and their families were present for the festivities, so a terrific chance to see everyone in one place. Graduating senior Zachery is the second-highest rated batter in the high school league in Nebraska, and we were able to see game one of the tournaments Saturday night. Zachery had 4 hits and the Skyhawks shut-out the opponents 6 to 0. Somehow fitting to spend an evening at an all-American type of sporting event just days before we leave the U.S. It was a lovely spring evening, surrounded by family, a hawk circling the sky over the diamond.

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My little spruce became a giant in 28 years.

Of course visiting places one has lived before leads to reminiscing. We drove by our old house in Omaha, which I purchased as a single mom in 1984, a year before Ric and I married. I had a little Colorado blue spruce planted in my yard that spring. It was so small – maybe 3 feet tall – that I, at 5’2”, towered over it. The first Christmas I was able to decorate it with a string of only 25 lights. Now look at it! Nice to see that tree has endured.

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