Theo Chocolate Factory Tour - Seattle, WA

June 14, 2012

Monica always has fun things planned when I visit her in Seattle. Well, truth be told we're both big on planning activities ahead of time and have a running list of things to do in Seattle when I get to head north.  In the first few years we did all the typical Seattle stuff - the Fremont Troll, Gas Works Park, Pike's Place Market, the Underground Tour... There's still a few things to cross off the list, like the EMP and taking another trip up the space needle (which was something I did while in junior high before Monica and I became friends). But we've started to branch out and explore lesser known things.  Like the Theo Chocolate factory.

The factory is located in the Fremont neighborhood. It's not all that big, but word on the street is that they are the only organic, fair trade, bean-to-bar chocolate factory in North America. That means they buy sustainably grown beans directly from the farmers for a fair price, then process the beans in the factory to make the chocolate bars. And when you take the factory tour you get to learn all about the process starting at the farms, all-the-while tasting different types of chocolate. Then you get to walk through the factory and see how the beans are processed and wave to all the workers who will wave back at you. The confection room was probably my favorite though. Because who doesn't love confections?! I got to taste a mint one, which was a bit too minty for me, and a raspberry one, which was divine.  The tour is then concluded and you're let loose into the store, where you can try all the different types of chocolate, and buy as much as you'd like (or that your bank account will allow). This is where I instantly fell in love with the Chai Tea Fantasy Bar. I had to restrain myself and only buy one though so I could splurge a little on caramels and confections, like the Big Daddy. I may have to beg Monica for a package of them for Christmas. They are amazingly delicious!

I almost forgot to tell you about the best part of the tour though! You get to sport very sexy blue shower caps, as modeled by Monica below. Unfortunately I didn't take very many photos during the tour because most of the time you're in a little glass room looking in on the factory, which just creates a reflection when you try to take a photo. They kinda push you through the actual factory into the confections room, so I wasn't able to take any pics while we walked through, and then there wasn't anything going on in the confections room while we were in there that was photo-worthy. So I suppose you'll just have to go check it out for yourself. And if you do....bring me some chocolate, k?

Monica's Sexy Hat

Bean Roaster (I think)

Rattlesnake Lake - North Bend, WA

September 4, 2009 & September 2 & 3, 2010

Rattlesnake Lake is a medium-sized lake just south of the town of North Bend in Washington. I've now been to the lake twice while visiting Monica.  Both times we stayed at her co-workers house, just outside of town, so we could puppy-sit sweet Luna dog. Before I get to the lake, I must tell you how much I love that house! It's right on the Snoqualmie River with no neighbors on the opposite side of the water, so you can sit on the back porch and watch for osprey and hawks and other critters. nearly the entire back side of the house is windows or large sliding glass doors, so you can open it all up and still feel like you're outside even while you're in.  There's also a little cottage with a living roof that hangs out over the water with just enough room for one people bed and one doggie bed. Unfortunately, Monica has claimed that as her own and doesn't like to share. Ok, so on to the lake. 

We reached the lake in two ways, twice by car and once by biking up the Snoqualmie Valley Trail that runs right past the house.  Ann joined us for one of the car trips and we brought along dinner and some light cocktails for an evening picnic. The biking trip wasn't too difficult, despite the fact that I hadn't ridden a bike in years and I have asthma.  A few stops along the way and I was good to go.  In 2010 we stayed on the shore and picnicked and hung out, but in 2009 we spread out on the beach and played in the water a little.  The water was much lower in 2009 than it was in 2010, and we were able to see the stumps of old trees that had been cut. The water was even low enough to walk out to one of the larger stumps and climb around without getting too wet.  We never ventured up the Rattlesnake Mountain trail, which leads to an awesome (as evidenced from pictures) overlook of the Lake; however, I did take a short walk up a tiny part of the Iron Horse Trail (which seems to go all the way to the eastern Cascades as far as I can tell from Google Maps) through the Iron Horse State Park, which was a nice little stroll. We never did see any rattlesnakes though. I'm not sure whether to be upset by that or glad...

2009

Rattlesnake Lake

Rattlesnake Mountain

Luna says "Throw the ball Monica!"

Luna also says "Now YOU go get the ball Monica"

Total relaxation 

2010

 Osprey

Luna likes the lake too 

Magnuson Park - Seattle, WA

September 3, 2008

This is yet another post from a long ago trip. My first trip to Seattle, in fact. The main mission of this adventure was to go check out the Sound Garden (for which the band is named, no lie), but we also strolled through the Fin Project.  The sound garden is an installation of these tall modern weather vane-looking structures that play like an organ in the wind. Slightly eerie, but so incredibly cool! The Fin Project is an installation of the fins from decommissioned 1960's nuclear submarines that resemble a pod of orcas.  A pretty clever way to recycle!

Natural Bridges State Park - Santa Cruz, CA

February 5, 2011

Since it's been more than a year since I went to Natural Bridges I can't remember what exactly inspired the trip. I think possibly Ann was visiting prior to moving back to the area and we took a day trip up to Santa Cruz.  That seems plausible. But I suppose how I got there isn't really that important.

Because we visited in February it was a bit late to catch the Monarchs, but there were still a few there and we spent a bit watching them from the viewpoint at the end of the little boardwalk.  Then we took the easy hike on the Monarch Trail to the Moore Creek trail down to the beach, where we checked out the tidepools and Ann dug for sand crabs.  We didn't find many critters that day, but there were some spectacular anemones with their tentacles spread wide, a snowy egret, and a couple oyster catchers and it was a beautiful day with sailboats and surfers in the bay. Oh and the bridges! Sadly there's only one left, since the other two were worn away by the ocean and weather, but it's still pretty incredible sticking out of the water like it does.

Monarch

The Arch

Snowy egret

Oystercatchers

Anemones and hermit crabs

 Surfers

Tidepools

Chimineas Ranch - San Luis Obispo County, CA

April 20, 2012

You've never heard of Chimineas Ranch? Yeah, me neither. At least I hadn't before I had the opportunity to visit during a Flora of San Luis Obispo County workshop that I participated in through the Jepson Herbarium. Chimineas is waaay out in the middle of nowhere in SLO County.  It's southwest-ish of Soda Lake, which is part of the Carrizo Plain (I was sooo close!). We were lucky to have THE Chimineas biotanist with us (whose name I simply CAN NOT remember at the moment, big surprise), and he led us along the main road through the ranch to some interesting spots with fun wildflowers. 2012 was unfortunately a "bad" wildflower year; however, we still got to see some beauties.  While there we stopped for bathroom breaks and lunch at the ranch house, which I got the impression is available for retreats and the like. Would be a fun place to stay. There's a very inviting pool! And swallows! So many swallows! They were building their nests in the eaves of the house and flitting all around. We also saw a couple coyotes, a ton of meadow larks, and a pair of burrowing owls (proud to say that was my find on the way in). Unfortunately, I was unable to get any pictures of these critters since I was in a group setting and had no control over the stops that we took. Plus, we were on a mission for plants, not animals.

Ranch House

 

Ranch

Plant Nerds in their Element

Clarkia sp.

Delphinium sp.

Southern Chaparral

Ceanothus sp.

That's a long road 

The Carrizo Plain is out there...