O Pioneers!

Nothing like celebrating the foundation laid down by our forebearers by drinking homemade rootbeer, eating pie, and watching the Duke get things done. We all got together to watch "Rio Bravo" of Peru and "El Ponderosa" ranch fame. I said it a year ago and I'll say it again. If you only see one western in your life, which as an American you are honor bound to do, you should see this one. Ricky Nelson, Dean Martin, John Wayne, and a girl named "Feathers" makes it a classic. Here's Tenaya showing off her homemade cakes. But for "homemade" for Tenaya would be professionally bought for the rest of us. She's a pro, literally.

Moose and Bison and Bears, OH yeah!

This morning we headed up out of Cody, WY to get to Yellowstone Park early. If any of you have been to Yellowstone, but don't remember it, it's because you were asleep in the back of the car. Nothing happens there unless you are standing at a stinky bubbling pot of mud (fun) or seeing wildlife (fun!). So, if you go, go early . . . or just look forward to smelling. We got really lucky this time. REALLY LUCKY. The first thing we saw was a yellow-bellied marmot that I almost ran into, swerved, and had my epinephrine levels jump to 36 kg/mL. Stupid rodent thing. After that, we slowed down because there was a cow moose. You might want to blow up the picture a bit by clicking on it. Then, less than five minutes later, we came around the corner and saw about four cars stopped. When in Yellowstone, it's best to stop too. We were looking at our window trying to figure out what everyone was looking at. It took us a while but we finally spotted it. A seven foot long black bear . . . about eight feet from our open car window. I don't know how we missed it. I also don't know why I'm taking so many blurry pictures on this trip. This is from the driver's seat and is not zoomed in. Didn't need to get closer folks. Then about four minutes later, we saw some bison, which if you have forgotten what they look like, please refer to my South Dakota posts. They're pretty but I want to save visual bang for the Inn at Old Faithful. I had no idea it was this cool inside. It's like Swiss Family Robinson up in there. I'm definitely going to come stay at this place in the winter sometime. Amazing. Then we went to go sit out at watch Old Faithful blow off some steam. Before picture with me: And during picture: And the after picture of Megan and Emily shielding from the bright non-Seattle sun since it was a little toasty for being ten in the morning. Then it was on to one of my favorite places on earth, Grand Teton National Park. Here's a picture for my family to show how high the water is at Colter Bay. Crazy!!! Then, it was down to Jackson Hole and up and over the mountains into Idaho. Here's us at the top of the pass. Megan's doing well, Emily is toasty warm, and I'm sleepy sleeps. Then, I'm just going to post a bunch of pictures showing how beautiful the drive from Jackson Hole to Idaho Falls (via Rexburg) is. Look at that sky, the clouds, the land!!! And the Rexburg Temple. We also got to see that they're now sending 14-year-olds to college. Amazing!

The Jay Poole Memorial Highway and Bang Bang!

Today we got up in Billings, drove by the beautiful Billings temple where poor little four year olds were wandering around in their jammies out front waiting for the bridal party to come out and then headed south to Cody, WY. We wanted to get there around lunchtime since Emily's family had been in town for a few days already. Speeding down the freeway to Wyoming, the last souvenir we picked up was a ticket from the sheriff. Had I been driving, well. Had I been driving, I would have been going at least 90 and that's really bad. But had I been driving, I would have panicked and it may have led to an unsightly car chase on Billings 911. So good thing better drivers were at the wheel Jay Poole (the officer in charge at the moment) gave us a ticket for going twelve over. Deep whistles of dismay are appropriate at this point since we all know that if you aren't in the 1-9 mph category, you're going to get a pretty pricey citation. But, this is Montana, land of land and other good things. So Emily tossed over $40 in cash and we were on our way. Can you believe it? You can just pay at the curb. No hassle! Once in Cody, Emily's super-generous uncle got us free passes to this place: Where we definitely had to get our picture taken in front of this: Once inside, we saw lots of guns (over 1500 with 1600 more downstairs), lots of paintings, lots of earth lodges and tipis, lots of dead animals stuffed (maybe by the "Keeping It Real Taxidermy" of Cle Elum, WA), lots of cowboys, and lots of wild west souvenirs. Here's Claire (Emily's sister) and something that looks like it belongs in the Addam's Family Mansion. Here's one of the paintings. Look what cowboys do to bears that get in their way. I would have voted for "hit the gas". They also had Buffalo Bill's cuff links, jacket, pocket knife, hat, and probably long red underwear if I had been looking long enough. It's amazing. Wyoming definitely rocks the socks on museums. And in the lobby, I found a car that I could really love. It's a 1954 British MG something or other. After this, it was time for a swim at the pool at the Buffalo Bill Cody Village and a wedding. The wedding was up the canyon to the west of Cody. I really should have brought my camera.

Smokejumping, Art Deco, and Really?

This morning we woke up in beautiful Missoula, Montana. After a delicious breakfast of a giant English muffin (a theme of the trip was England and Oxford . . . two words we saw EVERYWHERE), we wandered off to the Smokejumpers Academy. This is where the derring-do of young men and women comes in handy in order to protect the forests from thoughtless people that throw lit cigarettes out of airplanes into the middle of remote areas. Or, from lightning strikes. Basically, these people jump out of planes and hack out firelines. Most of the equipment was designed right there in Missoula. Hurray for the United States Forest Service and Smokey Bear! Here are Emily and Megan enjoying the thrill of real smoke jumper footage. And this is us driving by and enjoying the thrill of real smoke jumpers. After Missoula, where I somehow got lost in the Walgreen's, we headed towards Butte, taking the scenic route through Phillipsburg and Anaconda (formerly known as Copperopolis) where Lucille Ball used to live. Here's the scenery. Aren't those clouds lovely? In Phillipsburg, we stopped at a legit soda fountain for lunch and grabbed some candy and the largest southwestern Montana candy store I've ever been in. Unfortunately, we were a little to early in the year for what must be the social event of the season: In Anaconda, we stopped at the Washoe Theatre, one of the top five architectural buildings in the US. Radio City Music Hall and Washoe Theatre are the only original art deco theaters left in the nation. We stopped by to see if it was open and the guy let us wander around. It was stunning and definitely worth the three minutes. After a busy morning of detours, we cruised through Butte, Bozeman, and Billings. Before this trip, I had sunshine and lollipop views of Bozeman. Um, it's nice. But really small. I think Missoula is where it's at. Billings is right out, although the beef was delicious (not sure I ate all day except for that fudge and root beer float in PBurg). It was an educational day. I love Montana, I'd love to live here someday, but that someday is not in the nearest future.

The Great American Road Trip

Since in Seattle, we're bounded by water and mountains on all sides, it's difficult to muster up the energy to drive anywhere. Previously, driving fifty miles to go somewhere (Orem to Salt Lake) seemed like nothing. Of course I'll drive up there. After all, it's just over there. But here, traffic precludes any sort of wanderlust nonsense. Even a trip to CostCo (even in the land of CostCos) which is only seven miles from my house means a minimum of twenty minutes sitting in traffic. And if you're even thinking about going to the closer one (five miles in Kirkland), it's across the bridge so that means forty minutes if you're lucky. In fact, I don't have a CostCo membership for this very reason. Well that and the fact that I can't make it through six gallons of ketchup fast enough to make it worth my while. So when Emily invited me to go to her cousin's wedding in Cody, Wyoming . . . YES PLEASE! After an overnight stop in Moses Lake (move over Disneyland, this is one of the greatest places on earth), we headed out to Ritzville. Yes Ritzville. Home of . . . That's right! Quilting is a chore no more! It's also home of maybe not the best grocery store, but you know, it's . . . After Ritzville's highlights, it was on to Spokane. Here's Emily and Megan at the waterfront. We were on our way to ride the carousel. It's out of focus but I think you can still see how excited I am to be riding this thing. The great thing about the carousel is that you can grab brass (plastic) rings from the dispenser as you ride past. There was something so supremely exciting about whizzing around at breakneck speeds and reaching out for a piece of plastic. Rather, something really satisfying about reaching out for something and getting it. Again and again and again. After the ride ended, we walked into historical downtown Spokane and The Davenport Hotel. Built in the early 1900s and entertaining guests such as Amelia Earhart, Clark Gable, Lawrence Welk, and Bing Crosby, it has been voted one of the top ten hotels in the world by some people. Here's why. This is the lobby. Here's upstairs at the "Palace of the Doges" And here's the ballroom right next to it. This is where we're going to have Megan's wedding reception. Pretty sure we're going to be able to get Celine Dion to perform for the celebration. Maybe sing "My Heart Will Go On" from one of those balconies. Back outside on the street. We saw this. So . . . in eastern Washington your choices are either quilting and booze or knitting and cage fights. Wow. Leaving the great state of Washington, we cruised past Coeur d'Alene and stopped in beautiful Wallace, ID where "Dante's Peak" was filmed. For those of you who have forgotten this film, it's the one where the volcano blows up, destroys the town, the tires melt, the boat dissolves and sinks, the grandma dies, the car gets stuck in the river, and the scientist snaps is arm in half. Here's me excited to be where Pierce Brosnan may have stood (just down the street from the "Bordello Museum" and "The Little Hair House Salon".) This town also has lots of antique shops with old posters. Here's one of the boys, apparently busy building a better America through clean living and proper manners. Meanwhile, this is what the girls are doing. That's right. Good girls by day but brazen hussies by night. Good thing they had canoeing at girls camp. There's no telling what might have happened to me otherwise! After wandering up the hillside to look at a house that was falling off the mountain, we drove on to Missoula, MT. What an incredible city!!! We went out to dinner at the "Bite of Missoula" that takes place every Thursday night all summer long. They had a band going and lots of vendors selling deliciousness for dinner. Here's a picture of the crowd just so you get an idea that things are really happening up there in Missoula. For dessert, we walked over the bridge to the Big Dipper Ice Cream Parlor. This is where the Maggie Moon's lady in Seattle used to work. Emily did the ground work to find this place so big thanks there. And then all three of us. Naturally you'll understand that I'm leaving out about three or four pictures of the crowd (ahem, hot Montana men wandering through the crowd) for space considerations. And this was just the first day!

out with the old, in with the new.

I'm here at Suzallo this afternoon (the famous location of where I wrote the bulk of my doctoral dissertation) debating on how much longer I can procrastinate starting to write a review for Roland. Turns out, twenty-seven minutes and counting. I was re-reading my post on the casserole and was definitely sickened by the gamishie pic. It really did taste good. Well fellow Americans, you know what a casserole is so I shouldn't have to excuse it's poor behavior to you. Any way, I realized that I need to re-name my blog. "pre-doctor mcbeth" was a perfect name before because it captured the essence of what was going in my life at the time. Scilicet, that I was in graduate school and that it was a temporary condition, something else was coming. But now that that big thing has happened it loses all its panache. "doctor mcbeth" sounds too stuffy. It's fine if I have some over-anxious undergrad pestering me about their two points on the last test but not for a blog name. So friends, I need suggestions. If I were a golfer, I think I'd name my blog "urban fouristry". In fact, if I had any penchant for business or talent for clothing design, I'd create a full golf clothing line for the 18-35 market under that label (patent pending, patent pending). I know the real golf term is "fore" but that looks dumb and I'd make sure the "four" was way cooler. Well, I can't put off my afternoon any more. I'll have to think about this later.

The casserole that could survive a nuclear winter.

Oh man. I wish I could fully post about the casserole I made for break the fast this afternoon but I can't. Let's just say that I hadn't gone shopping on Saturday. (Oh yikes, I can hear the raccoons chittering outside my window . . . they nearly attacked us Friday night at the movie but we had some brave people (thanks Sarah, Ken, Emily, Justin, and Aimee!) on the front lines protecting the group.) Sorry, back to the story. By the end of the afternoon, after working literal magic on soups and pastas I found in my pantry combined with cheeses found in the fridge, and chicken and vegetables found in the freezer, it was actually pretty good--if you prefer high fat/high salt melanges in the middle of the summer rather than at a ski lodge in January. I should have just gone with a fruit salad instead since I had strawberries and bananas on hand. But I was worried that we wouldn't have enough main dishes since we sometimes don't. So I went with this. At the potluck, Justin said, "This is good. What is the sauce in this, I can't quite place it.". Well Justin, I don't think a team of analytical chemists could place it. Here's what it looked like. Remember how casseroles always look sketchy? How does "Taste of Home" do it? That's rotini and penne pasta, chicken, asparagus, broccoli, and carrots in a creamy cheddar base. I think it looks gross and is hardly a credit to the wizardry that went into it. It really did taste like what a delicious casserole should taste like, if you like that sort of thing.

Happy Independence (?) Day!

I spent both Independence Days (the Third Observed the Fourth Legit) in labikins working. I needed to use a piece of equipment and those were the only days it was available. Also, I kind of like lab when no one else is there. I can play my music as loud as I want, wander around in my jammies and slippers, and read fun books, plan travel, or surf the internet with reckless abandon. I was also thinking that as difficult some days are (for all of us, I think), it is because we work and are fiscally responsible/wise stewards of our resources that we can be Independent. So although the Fourth probably would have been more fun had I been home with my family (this was the first time in my life I haven't been with them), gone swimming, had a bbq, etc. In a weird way, I felt like I was celebrating my independence. Our freedom that because we work hard, we're not dependent on others. I also started musing on how exorbitantly high taxes and over-extensive governments worldwide cripple their people by placing heavy financial burdens on one section of the population and generate hobbling dependents of the other section. It's bondage for both groups. Would this be what those four men up top would have wanted for their beloved country--or any country for that matter? I don't imagine it for a minute . . . but as I couldn't do anything about that at the moment, I decided to go see some fireworks. They were spectacular. Here's the view from the genome sciences building at UW. Big thanks to our resident genome scientist, pre-doctor Nicholas.

Might not be able to beat Brazil but the universe was a piece of cake.

So tonight a bunch of my friends got together to celebrate the under-celebrated Third of July and watch "Independence Day" out on the back lawn. I really should have taken pictures. Hum. Well, maybe next time. We had red Jell-O, white Oreos, and blue soda. Just think, all things that the Americans invented. Well, not carbonated drinks but since those were invented in England in 1767 and we technically weren't a country yet, I think it's safe to say that we basically invented soda pop as well. We also invented the car, the airplane, the t.v., the telephone, the Internet (thanks Gore-ical!), not to mention jazz and the skyscraper and PCR (thanks illegal drug use?). Basically, the US rocks and in ID4, don't we know it! The funniest scene is towards the end where there's an Iraqi soldier and a British soldier racking their brains over what to do about the 15 mile wide saucer hovering above Baghdad. Then by Morse code (which we invented too by the way), the signal comes in that Jeff Goldblum has figured out how to save the entire planet. Iraqi: "It's from the Americans, they've figured out how to destroy the ships." Brit: "It's about time!" Uh, really? I think that this must have been written by an American. Well, as President Bill Pullman reminds us, isn't it time to put aside our petty differences and strive for the good of humanity as a whole? To make July 4th, the world's Independence Day? Gives me shivers, but so did that dreamy Jeff Goldblum striding through the whole movie saving the world. Just saying, this is a remarkable country because we're independent and because people are able to come here from all over their planet to pursue their dreams. Like a dream of meeting Jeff Goldblum. Or becoming a famous scientist. Or, just becoming a famous scientist in movies. That third one sounds easiest.

Two things about me you may not know.

I'm at work right now trying to remember that sometimes my number one problem is that I don't give up easily enough and it's time to give up on ITC.  So as I am sitting here quelling the desire to "try it again" which would be pointless, I remembered that I have two photos here at work that describe things you might not know.  First, I hate penguins.  I loathe them.  And I'm a little afraid of them too.  But really it's more that I find them repellent.  Let me show you how I really feel.   This started in high school when I was watching Wallace and Grommit's "The Wrong Trousers" and Andrew Penguin, who is an international jewel thief masquerading as a harmless chicken by the mere ruse of wearing a rubber glove on his head. It's really when he is padding into the house and W and G are sitting in the living room snacking on some cheese. He suddenly turns his beady little eyes on them. Also, when Grommit is out in the dog house and he is up in the house staring down through the storm. Also, when he pulls a gun on them all. It started as a joke and then kind of became real. But fortunately, fear has transformed mostly into loathing although I still don't like looking at penguins. Here's the second thing: I'm helpful. Here's me bringing out three bottles of scotch at our lab party. So maybe that's three things. One, I don't give up easily. Two, I abhor those nasty flightless birds of the south. And three, I'm very obliging.