OUR TOP - and not so hot - FOURTEEN

Here they are, our personal Top 14 (of whatever) from our trip:

Best Seaside Resort: Ironically, it's SEASIDE, Oregon

For it's charming little village, extra-ordinary shops, fine beach, promenade and overall flair!

 Dumpiest RV Resort: SUNSET LAKE, Warrington, WA State

Best Detour: LOON LAKE, Oregon, off Hwy 101, 7 miles west of Reedsport

RV ground right next to the beach, quiet, quaint, a location straight from a Stephen King novel.

Most Amazing Nature: SAND DUNES off the Oregon coast . Here is the Wikipedia link

Second Best: REDWOODS, Northern California

Quietest Spot for a Good Night Sleep: Mill Hill, California right in the middle of the Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park

Most boring Boardwalk: EUREKA, northern California

Seriously, it's a dump. Approximately 300 meters of Nothing, no shops, no entertainment, no atmosphere.

Best Strawberry Ice-Cream: Funny enough, in EUREKA at LIVING THE DREAM!

They marinade their strawberries in balsamic vinegar for extra flavour extraction. You need to taste it to believe it! The best ever! ( I am a self proclaimed expert in this flavour- it has been my favourite since I can remember....).

Best Marketing Ploy: ASHLAND, Oregon
Ashland brings Shakespeare to the masses; they make it easy for all of us to understand, sit through and enjoy old English classics. In a nutshell, old English translated into common English!  
This town created their whole existence around Shakespeare , sort of! 
Let's be all honest here, only the most hard core of English literature fans can sit through a proper production of e.g. Hamlet -  It takes full concentration on your behalf to understand old English, patience and a soft cushion for your butt. This whole spectacle takes 4 hours! Yes, I 'suffered' through it. I had the privilege of watching one of England's finest live and in action: Mr. Kenneth Brennagh, Gods gift to the stage!  Therefore, I have to give this clever town my thumbs up!

Alfresco Live entertainment for the masses, lots of fun shops, a well designed park, plenty of parking and an easy going attitude towards arts! Well done Ashland!

Most adventurous, fun activity we did as a family: WILD WATER RAFTING down Rogue River in Cold Hill, Oregon

Coldest Water to swim in: The PACIFIC, brrrrr

Biggest Disappointment for Fish & Chips:

 In Newport at the highly acclaimed LOCAL OCEAN!
The presentation was fabulous, the chips were ok, the fish was fresh with no season, spice and / or taste! Oh how I dislike a chef who plays it safe! Put your finger into the pot of seasoning and show me what you stand for!

Best Shopping Deal: Adidas soccer cleats for $ 30.00 a pair for the boys at SEATTLE'S OUTLET VILLAGE!

Best Deals: OREGON! NO SALES TAX! The price you see is the price you pay! Hurrah!

Best people to hang out with:
Our own family! Yes, it can be done, 24/7 for 14 days straight!
 Apart from hanging out with the family, we met quite a few very nice RVers along the way. We had  a nice chat, exchanged information, shared stories - and waived good-bye. No obligation, no promises, none of the 'let's stay in touch, drop by when you are in the area" kind of talk.  Because we know by now this ain't going to happen anyway! Magic moments and fun memories, that what they are!

Overall Rating of the trip: 10 out of 10!

10-10-10

This is my tenth blog, this is our tenth month in Canada and here are 10 wonderful adjustments we made to our previous, European life:

                      

No more random ‘drinking’!

I am still not over it and have to stress it over and over again: The liquor prices are ridiculously high!  Just looking at them makes my eyes water! If we want to stay on track with our immigration fund, we have to suck it up: Intoxicating liquids are for special occasions only.  Luckily, there is always something to celebrate! On the other hand, the big bonus is when you have a spontaneous get together, everyone brings their own grog!

Coffee – to – Go! 

“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” True to this saying I am blending in: My thermos filled with delicious home brewed blend follows me wherever I go.

Cycling

My bike has turned into a tool for recreational purposes only. Gone are the days when I used it purely for transportation. Blame it on the distances! The upside of conquering the steady inclines and steep declines? It beats an indoor spinning class any day!

Let it rip

Not any more- at least not on the Autobahn. The speed limit on highways is between 80 - 110km/h. No wonder it takes forever to get anywhere.  Surprisingly, hardly anybody drives within these limits, but still enough drivers do and it forces us to slow down!

Good-bye repairman / Hello handy husband

No more expensive maintenance and replacement costs for household appliances. Follow these simple steps to get your new part within 24 hours (written from the mechanically challenged woman’s view):

Let your husband find out what’s wrong with your dead appliance.                                                                                           

     Take out the broken part, find the serial number, order and pay for the item over the phone, pick it up the next day and let your husband finish what he started!  

The following is the Dutch or German protocol for getting an appliance fixed:                                       

  Make a phone call, stay on hold for at least 10 minutes, make an appointment, (lucky you if you  get a date within 5 working days) and receive an allocated time slot for the repair man to show up e.g. between 9-12pm. On day in question take time off to stay at home, (don’t leave the house for any reason whatsoever!), the repair man arrives (normally at 11.55am), he will fix the part - or order a new one- which can take up to 10 days and he leaves. If your appliance doesn’t have warranty anymore you are stuck with the bill for the repair man and the new part. Oh, and I nearly forgot: Ladies, no chitter chatter with the friendly repair hunk, keep to the bare minimum: Companies will charge you for every minute their representative spends in your house!

 

Asian Influence

 Our fourth official language at home is now Korean (next to English, German and Dutch).                                        

    We added chop sticks to our array of forks and knives.                                                                             

    Our children are getting a beating in the daily ping-pong tournaments. But in time they will get better and will be champions in their own (Caucasian) League.

Bargain shopping

As I mentioned in “The Move”, costs of living are high.  But here is another trick learned while being the conscientious housewife: Collect coupons and follow the trail of weekly deals!

 Value Village is a paradise found. It’s my favourite spot to go whenever I have some time to kill (a community charity store with everything you can imagine on offer - and more).

Shopping across the border is much cheaper in every possible category. If only the border control officials were friendlier...

Lessons learned: The local Farmers Markets are for treats and not for stocking up on fresh fruit and veggies! Of course you can buy your heart out if you truly believe in supporting the local producers of organic, pesticide free goods – bear in mind you will be charged up to 4x the common prices.

Emergency Help

If one of your children happens to break an arm (as our youngest son did), go straight to the Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. Don’t waste your time with any other hospital which doesn’t have a paediatric department! Simple reason: the anaesthetist won’t treat your child- the risks are too high if they are not trained and specialized. In our case we received calming (morphine), soothing pain relief (gravol) but had to travel to another hospital to receive special care (an operation on our son’s arm)!

Added sugars

When you take the time to read food labels you will notice that most pre packed food items have additional sugar added to it. In order to get back to my former, tight, 6-pack tummy I was forced to start cooking again with fresh ingredients only. I never said I am a Martha though...

TV in small doses

We stopped watching regular TV! The frequency of commercials is driving me crazy! I prefer Netflix: You pay $8.oo/month and have access to TV shows, movies, documentaries... whatever the heart desires. The disadvantage: They are not new, but the big Plus is, no commercials and no week long waiting time to watch the next episode. Our first addiction was “Prison Break”- (we are talking long, long nights, every night for three short weeks). To this day it still puzzles me how anyone could stand the suspense and wait one week for the next episode? Our next Netflix project is “Damages” – which falls under our category of “a great night in!”

These were truly 10 wonderful, extra-ordinary months. Have you made any adjustments recently? Do you have thoughts to share? Please let me know! I would love to hear from you!

Until the next time – with an update of one of my favourite events of the year: Halloween!