First half of vacation
We left on Saturday (10 days ago now), somewhat later than I'd hoped so I was kind of grumpy about that. It was a pretty basic driving day; we stopped a few times to "rest" and gas up and so forth, and bought some french fries to go with the sandwiches we brought. Juno is a good car traveler. She mostly naps - her harness clip gives her just enough slack to lie down - and she quickly learned that when we stop she gets a short walk and a chance to piddle, and a drink of water. She doesn't much like the hotel rooms though. Understandable; we check in, unload the car, take Juno for a walk, feed her, and then disappear to go find our own dinner, so she's left alone in a strange place that smells of lots of other people and pets under the cleaning products. That first night there was a great park nearby and we had a nice long second walk with her after our own meal (local steakhouse, chosen largely because it was next door, but quite good).
Sunday was mostly a repeat, again leaving a little later than I'd have liked, except that having no more sandwiches we stopped for lunch at a restaurant that was mostly a breakfast place - one of those only open until 2 pm, serving breakfast the whole time and lunch after 11. Dinner that night was at a place that had Thai, Japanese, and Chinese food - SO speculated that the owners were from Singapore. *g* We shared a veggie tempura appetizer and then I had soba noodles (more spicy than I expected) and SO had a Thai noodle dish (not pad Thai, but I can't think of the name now) which was very good.
Monday we left a bit earlier so I was happy about that. Lunch was just Arby's - eaten in the car - as we wanted to get in early to the ranch, and succeeded in doing so.
"The ranch" is what the family has always called it, but that's kind of a misnomer. It's a piece of property less than 30 minutes from Boise, up into the mountains a bit, and was originally about 1 mile by 1/4 mile. Much is now under the Nature Conservancy, since my grandparents died, but it was never a working ranch while my grandfather had it, just a place he could go out to and relax and do some physical work. He had various horses and llamas and goats and guinea fowl and chickens and other livestock at different times, and over the years planted a lot of pine trees on the lower part. There's a cabin dating to the previous owners, a barn, the "steel palace" which is basically storage (tractor & other equipment and tools), a tack shop, the studio, and a blacksmith's shop. The latter two buildings mostly house the large collection of antiques my grandfather amassed over many years, mostly gifts and some purchased IIRC. It's all organized and a lot of it labeled, and it is frankly as good as most small town museums.
Anyhow, the cabin and the property normally have running water from a spring, but something went wrong right the day we got there, so no running water. We showered at my aunt's - who lives across the lane in a neat house she and my uncle built (a work in progress for 17 years now) - whose water is from a well so didn't have a problem. And SO hauled large buckets of water so we could flush once a day once it was clear that the water problem was not going to be easily fixed.
While we were there we worked with my dad (also visiting), his wife's grandson who was there the first several days (and then went on to Seattle), and another uncle who lives in the area, for Tuesday through Thursday. Uncle used a chainsaw to trim the low branches from all those pines Grandpa planted, and the rest of us hauled the boughs to piles around the outskirts. The piles will be chipped in several weeks by someone they're hiring to do it; it's way too much to go in the annual burn pile. There was also sagebrush digging, and other pruning and clearing up. Friday it rained so we went into town that day, but Saturday after another uncle and his wife, two of his sons and the wife of the older, arrived seven of us mended a fence - removing old barbed wire and resetting posts, then replacing with barbless wire. Sunday was a family reunion/potluck, and then SO and Dad and I did a little last cleanup work on Monday. Really we got a tremendous amount done overall.
I should say a bit about food. We brought some beers from where we live for my aunt and uncle and those were well received. One evening we went to town for Chinese (PF Chang's) and another night for pizza, a local place which was just fantastic, wood fired and authentic and wonderful. Friday night I made chicken kebabs (with help from SO) for everyone, plus rice and salad. The big family potluck had lots of good food; my aunt and I collaborated to make spicy grilled shrimp and a strawberry-rhubarb pudding cake (her recipe, found on Epicurious). My cousin's wife liked the shrimp well enough to get the recipe. So much good food, which was only to be expected in that family. Heh.
There was also game-playing on Sunday night, after the local folks left but leaving 11 of us at my aunt's still. That was fun. Skittles, and something that I want to say was called Blokade, and then a trivia-type game called Smartass.
We left quite early on Tuesday - I wanted to leave at 7 and we actually got out at 6:45!, having packed the car the night before and not eating breakfast (no water, after all) (although we stopped for gas and SO got a latte and a scone, and I had a sandwich I'd made - we had more sandwiches for lunch). That day's drive went much faster than I'd thought, since we also stopped fewer times and for shorter times than anticipated, arriving at my mom's about 3:30 when I'd figured not till 6 or later. Which was fine, because I had time to do a couple much-needed loads of laundry. (We'd done a couple at my aunt's, but needed it again.)
Juno and my mom's dog are getting along okay, though not great yet; there's been some snarling and growling but nothing more serious, and they seem to be gradually becoming more accustomed to each other. Right now Clio is on my mom's lap snoozing, Juno is snoozing on the floor, SO is just off for a run, and we will start making dinner shortly (salmon, YUM). My cousin and her younger son (the older was in school) were here for lunch, and my aunt and grandmother will come for dinner tomorrow.
Once here and able to check my email, I was able to get the GPS working and SO used it to navigate to a coffee shop this morning (Mom and I were having coffee with one of her friends, so SO was on his own). So that's good! On the down side, my iPod would not work yesterday, and we are going to take it to the Apple store tomorrow to see if it is fixable. Hope so, since otherwise we will have no music all the way home. Just NPR if and when we can get that. The iPod is something like 6 or 7 years old, but bah.
Friday we'll be going over to the coast, but since there is wireless internet both here and at the coast place, I think I will stop now since I can post whatever else happens after it does. Phew. My fingers are getting tired anyhow!
Sunday was mostly a repeat, again leaving a little later than I'd have liked, except that having no more sandwiches we stopped for lunch at a restaurant that was mostly a breakfast place - one of those only open until 2 pm, serving breakfast the whole time and lunch after 11. Dinner that night was at a place that had Thai, Japanese, and Chinese food - SO speculated that the owners were from Singapore. *g* We shared a veggie tempura appetizer and then I had soba noodles (more spicy than I expected) and SO had a Thai noodle dish (not pad Thai, but I can't think of the name now) which was very good.
Monday we left a bit earlier so I was happy about that. Lunch was just Arby's - eaten in the car - as we wanted to get in early to the ranch, and succeeded in doing so.
"The ranch" is what the family has always called it, but that's kind of a misnomer. It's a piece of property less than 30 minutes from Boise, up into the mountains a bit, and was originally about 1 mile by 1/4 mile. Much is now under the Nature Conservancy, since my grandparents died, but it was never a working ranch while my grandfather had it, just a place he could go out to and relax and do some physical work. He had various horses and llamas and goats and guinea fowl and chickens and other livestock at different times, and over the years planted a lot of pine trees on the lower part. There's a cabin dating to the previous owners, a barn, the "steel palace" which is basically storage (tractor & other equipment and tools), a tack shop, the studio, and a blacksmith's shop. The latter two buildings mostly house the large collection of antiques my grandfather amassed over many years, mostly gifts and some purchased IIRC. It's all organized and a lot of it labeled, and it is frankly as good as most small town museums.
Anyhow, the cabin and the property normally have running water from a spring, but something went wrong right the day we got there, so no running water. We showered at my aunt's - who lives across the lane in a neat house she and my uncle built (a work in progress for 17 years now) - whose water is from a well so didn't have a problem. And SO hauled large buckets of water so we could flush once a day once it was clear that the water problem was not going to be easily fixed.
While we were there we worked with my dad (also visiting), his wife's grandson who was there the first several days (and then went on to Seattle), and another uncle who lives in the area, for Tuesday through Thursday. Uncle used a chainsaw to trim the low branches from all those pines Grandpa planted, and the rest of us hauled the boughs to piles around the outskirts. The piles will be chipped in several weeks by someone they're hiring to do it; it's way too much to go in the annual burn pile. There was also sagebrush digging, and other pruning and clearing up. Friday it rained so we went into town that day, but Saturday after another uncle and his wife, two of his sons and the wife of the older, arrived seven of us mended a fence - removing old barbed wire and resetting posts, then replacing with barbless wire. Sunday was a family reunion/potluck, and then SO and Dad and I did a little last cleanup work on Monday. Really we got a tremendous amount done overall.
I should say a bit about food. We brought some beers from where we live for my aunt and uncle and those were well received. One evening we went to town for Chinese (PF Chang's) and another night for pizza, a local place which was just fantastic, wood fired and authentic and wonderful. Friday night I made chicken kebabs (with help from SO) for everyone, plus rice and salad. The big family potluck had lots of good food; my aunt and I collaborated to make spicy grilled shrimp and a strawberry-rhubarb pudding cake (her recipe, found on Epicurious). My cousin's wife liked the shrimp well enough to get the recipe. So much good food, which was only to be expected in that family. Heh.
There was also game-playing on Sunday night, after the local folks left but leaving 11 of us at my aunt's still. That was fun. Skittles, and something that I want to say was called Blokade, and then a trivia-type game called Smartass.
We left quite early on Tuesday - I wanted to leave at 7 and we actually got out at 6:45!, having packed the car the night before and not eating breakfast (no water, after all) (although we stopped for gas and SO got a latte and a scone, and I had a sandwich I'd made - we had more sandwiches for lunch). That day's drive went much faster than I'd thought, since we also stopped fewer times and for shorter times than anticipated, arriving at my mom's about 3:30 when I'd figured not till 6 or later. Which was fine, because I had time to do a couple much-needed loads of laundry. (We'd done a couple at my aunt's, but needed it again.)
Juno and my mom's dog are getting along okay, though not great yet; there's been some snarling and growling but nothing more serious, and they seem to be gradually becoming more accustomed to each other. Right now Clio is on my mom's lap snoozing, Juno is snoozing on the floor, SO is just off for a run, and we will start making dinner shortly (salmon, YUM). My cousin and her younger son (the older was in school) were here for lunch, and my aunt and grandmother will come for dinner tomorrow.
Once here and able to check my email, I was able to get the GPS working and SO used it to navigate to a coffee shop this morning (Mom and I were having coffee with one of her friends, so SO was on his own). So that's good! On the down side, my iPod would not work yesterday, and we are going to take it to the Apple store tomorrow to see if it is fixable. Hope so, since otherwise we will have no music all the way home. Just NPR if and when we can get that. The iPod is something like 6 or 7 years old, but bah.
Friday we'll be going over to the coast, but since there is wireless internet both here and at the coast place, I think I will stop now since I can post whatever else happens after it does. Phew. My fingers are getting tired anyhow!