Tag Archives: Corvallis

A Delightful Discovery, Part 2

11 Jul

It is when one travels that one finds treasures and delightful discoveries. Besides the Hasegawa EggPlane that I found, I found a couple more things.

Discovery # 1: a Waldo book entitled ‘The Totally Essential Travel Collection’. Yes, I am fond of Waldo and this book totally has me absorbed looking for him whenever I need a breather from staring at my monitor for too long in the office.

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Discovery #2: paint brushes from Michaels. I was like a kid in a candy store browsing the aisles looking longingly at all the art supplies. In the end, I opted for value, variety and quantity, and picked up these two packs of brushes which will come in super handy to use after the carving process.

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With such delightful discoveries, it’s no surprise that I started carving a new piece last night so that I can use the brushes. As for Waldo, staring at the monitor is now not so tedious. Life is good!

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A Delightful Discovery

8 Jul

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When I was young, I used to build hobby model aircrafts because my only sibling was into Tamiya models. I guess his interest rubbed off on me. There was one series that I particularly like which was the Hasegawa EggPlane series because they were very cute unlike those macho Tamiya aircrafts.

So it was with utter delight that I discovered an EggPlane at a hobby & craft shop in Corvallis during our recent trip to the US. I am definitely looking forward to assembling my egg-shaped plane soonest possible.

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Oops, The Bags are Not Here

1 Jul

It’s mind boggling when I look back now at the total time of the whole journey inclusive of the car rides. So from the time we left Corvallis for the airport, the flights, transits and our taxi ride home, it was 43.5 hours! Goodness gracious me.

The delay of the bags added to this and it could have been worse if the delayed flight departures were longer. But being under half an hour each time, the flying itself made up for it.

Yesterday when we touchdown at KLIA, all I was thinking of was a nice cold shower and a good sleep to start my recovery from the jet lag. But our checked-in bags never arrived. With this clouding our minds, how to sleep snugly?

We stood at the baggage conveyor belt for more than half an hour and our two checked-in bags never came. They are still in Amsterdam, along with the bags of several other travelers who transited at Schiphol Airport.

Some of them were connecting from Paris and Japan, and us from the US. Like them, we lodged a report and this took time too as the office was packed. Initially I thought we had to go to the airport this evening to get them but hubby said they will be delivered to us instead. I await anxiously for them.

This morning I woke up at 6.20am. I had a good eight hours sleep with four and a half of it being deep sleep. That’s good, maybe a faster recovery but the nagging headache is still there, I don’t know why. Hubby on the other hand, woke up every two hours. He said he was still in airplane sleep mode and each time, he was expecting to be served a meal or ice cream! Hahaha…

We jumped right into work this morning, not wasting any time to rest.

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Willamette Valley Vineyards

27 Jun

We drove to Willamette Valley Vineyards after having lunch with M1 and joined their 2.00pm daily tour. It was a really small group, just us, our guide and three new employees.

The weather was lovely to be outside too as we toured the grounds. When we were indoors, we saw all the facilities, from the lab, bottling and packaging sections to the cellars.

After our tour, we stayed on for wine tasting. We tried the two choices on their Tasting Flights menu which consisted of the Daily Tasting and the Reserve Tasting. Basically the difference being the former had more whites and the latter, more reds.

Both choices had very nice flavors, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. So much so, we bought two bottles from the list – the 2016 Pinot Blanc and the 2017 Tualatin Estate Semi-Sparkling Muscat; and we will drink them this evening.

Willamette Valley Vineyards is a must-visit if one ever visits Oregon. They get my thumbs up.

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Feeling Sore

27 Jun

I didn’t think two days of golf, using rental sets could result in sore arms and upper torso. Have we both lost our touch playing golf? Or was it the putting woes that caused this? Haha… Then I remembered it was the rock climbing! That must be it.

Since the both of us are feeling sore, we decided not to play a third round of golf which was the intended plan. We will do a vineyard tour after visiting downtown and checking out the stores.

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The Greens are So Tough

26 Jun

We played another round of golf today. But tee-off was 12.24pm as there was a big group already out there when we arrived at ten. So we were advised to tee-off later which we were agreeable. It worked out better because it was chilly again.

But was it better?

The green speed was just so fast! I think it’s at least an 11, and this is a public course. Very well maintained. Although I came back with a slightly better score than yesterday, the putting was just very demoralizing.

Yesterday I three-putted seven holes! Seven holes, so that’s at least an extra seven strokes. Today, I three-putted one hole less. Just can’t handle super fast greens.

Sigh and double sigh… or maybe cry.

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A Tad Cold for Golf

25 Jun

The golf course, Trysting Tree Golf Club was not too far and we got there within minutes. We rented sets and teed off at ten. As I don’t wear golf gloves to play, I had to sit on my hands several times to keep them warm because the morning was rather chilly. It took a couple of holes to warm up to get used to the weather.

It was quite a challenge to look for each hole as the golf course is not like what we’re used to – trees lining the sides and clear cut buggy paths to indicate and separate. The tee box markers were very obscure and we had to really look to find them. But the condition was superb for a public course, both on the fairways and on the greens.

I couldn’t get the hang of putting because the green speed was so fast, something I don’t get often when playing back home. As a result I had many three-putts.

We even had buggy problems after we crossed over. By the 14th Hole, the buggy was sputtering and dying a slow death. When we reached the 16th Hole, it died and we had to call in for a replacement.

Despite the putting woes and buggy issue, we had an enjoyable outing, so much so, we will play another round tomorrow. As we now know what to expect, I am sure we will fare better tomorrow.

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Farmers Market

23 Jun

It was interesting this morning to check out the Farmers Market akin to what we have back home, the ‘Pasar Tani’ which means the same thing. The only difference is the produce of the stalls.

Back home it’s more of daily vegetables, food and made in China gadgets, here I see things like unusual mushrooms, seasonal fruits, exotic jams, honey, cheese and organic produce. Besides these, there were also crafts, plants, flowers, some clothes and coffee.

I bought a jar of Chardonnay Pear jam after taste-testing a couple of exotic combinations. We also bought a pound of roasted hazelnuts, some pastries and a tray of fruits (Mulberries, Golden Raspberries and Gooseberries) to eat in the car.

After trying out the other berries, I think I like the Mulberry best. The Golden Raspberry are a bit mushy in its overall texture and the mini Gooseberries are almost like grapes, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside but not as sweet though.

By noon, we made our way towards Crater Lake.

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Greetings From the US

13 Jun

Finally by noon, we arrived yesterday after that delayed last leg departure and what a long and tiring trip it has been for us. If I counted from the time we left home for KLIA at six in the evening on Tuesday, and arrived at PDX airport by Wednesday noon in the US, meaning it’s 3.00am Thursday back home (not including the journey thereafter), the total travel time would be 33 hours. And during that time, hardly any good sleep, one can only imagine the tiredness.

The A330 aircraft being readied for the journey

Crying toddler who sat in front of me in the plane could be heard in the Immigration Hall when we all got there. And he cried all the way pass the officers. Poor little fella. Passport clearance was slow because there was only one counter opened for International passport holders but customs was a breeze because we declared everything. When we stepped out to greet our firstborn, all that traveling time and tiredness were forgotten. The family unit was complete again and the heart felt whole. What a feeling!

Then when we stepped out of the terminal, a wave of hot air greeted us. Dang it was hot! 37 degrees. Are we in the US? It felt just like arriving at KLIA only that it’s not but it’s PDX.

Our first stop was Woodburn premium outlet to keep us awake, to walk and adjust to the local time. But it was too hot to walk around outdoors so the outing was shortened. We decided we needed to eat and opted for Jack in the Box. And the premise was equally hot because there was no air-conditioning. Only the bathrooms were air-conditioned but can’t stay in there! Haha…

The food portions were huge especially the chicken fingers! Can’t be fingers when they are so huge as I don’t remember them being this size before from our last US trip. We couldn’t finish and saved them for later.

Jack in the Box

M2 and I succumbed to our tiredness and had a good power nap in the car on the way to Corvallis. But it was still early, and we had to still stay awake, otherwise it would take longer to adjust. The town is typical of any college town and it reminded me of Flagstaff and my college and those dinosaur years.

We settled down quickly, unpacked and made ourselves comfy in her room, big enough for the four of us. But by nine, after dinner we were ready to crash. Might as well for the exciting days ahead await us and we need to adjust and be ready to enjoy ourselves during this time together.

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