Tug of War

The smallest dog toy we have in the house is a thin plastic hot dog, which was Toby's very first toy. I bought it for him on the way home from picking him up at the breeder. When Toby and Tillie play Tug of War they often choose the hot dog. They must really like playing up close and personal because they can only get a few inches apart when they are each holding on to the toy.

Ellensburg Trip

Last Sunday we drove to Ellensburg to look at the furniture on sale at Fitterer's. Fitterer's is an upscale store that has been selling quality furniture since 1896. Better yet, the store delivers furniture for free anywhere in Washington State. While we didn't buy anything, we did see some items we would like for our new office/craft room.

While we were in town, we ate breakfast at the Yellow Church Cafe. As you can see, the cafe was originally a church.

They have a web site where you can check out their entire menu.

Susan ordered Cat's Creation Casserole, which is eggs, feta cheese, artichokes, tomatoes, cashews, green peppers, kalamata olives, and onions all blended together and baked. I tried Kerri's Omelet, which is eggs, smoked salmon, cream cheese and green onions. The food was fabulous, and as usual, we took enough home for another meal. They serve biscuits shaped like stars. The also sell bakery items and we brought home the sticky bun and the Heavenly Loaf - a garlic bread and cheese combination. YUM!

We were just driving down the street and come across Dick and Jane's Spot. This is an art site but also a home. Dick and Jane collect art and made most of the items seen in the yard, but the works of over 40 artists are on display. They have been working on the site for 27 years. There are over 10,000 bottle caps and thousands of reflectors. The pieces in the yard are always changing. Old pieces decay and new ones are added.

You can visit their web page at http://www.reflectorart.comfor/ for more history and photos, but if you are in Ellensburg be sure and stop by - this place is unique.

We came home by way of the canyon road, which neither one of us had been on for quite some time. There wasn't hardly any traffic so we could go slow and take in all the sights. The trees are just starting to bloom, people were camping and fishing and it was just gorgeous.

Great Grandparents and a red truck

Shortly after moving to Pittsburgh, Adam met his great grandparents for the first time.

His great grandpa made him this red truck, which he just loves. Julie says he can't play with it yet by himself because there are opportunities for squished fingers. By the look of Adam's face, he is happy enough with the supervised part.

Spring is Coming!

It might not be spring yet (tonight it will be 21 degrees here) but it is definitely getting closer. Susan bought these Daffodils over the weekend while she was out running errands. They are so beautiful, and bright; I can't help but smile every time I look at them.

Camelot & The Taj Palace

Yesterday was a busy day for us. We tried a new restaurant and went to The Capitol Theatre to see Camelot. Camelot is one of my favorite musicals; I love the songs. This was the last performance of the Best of Broadway Series this year in Yakima. As usual, the singing was beautiful and the costumes were magnificent.

Before the performance, we went to the Taj Palace for lunch. This restaurant serves traditional food from India, cooked in a Tandoor, an Indian clay oven. We went to the buffet on purpose so we could try a variety of foods. We sampled the Chicken Makhnwala, Curry Chicken, Palak Paneer (Spinach and Homemade Cheese), Aloo Mattar (Green Peas, Potatoes & Spices) and Naan among others. The food was very good.

We looked at the regular menu, which was far more extensive than I expected, offering a wide variety of dishes. Food off the regular menu can be ordered to taste as far as the spice is concerned. If you are visiting Yakima or live here and want to try something a little different, please try this food.

Homemade Baby Food

Julie used her Beaba baby food maker for the first time last weekend. She made zucchini. Julie said that the zucchini tasted very good, almost buttery. You can see the pretty green color in the photo and Adam clearly liked it.

Nanaimo Bars

During the Winter Olympics, our local paper published a story about Nanaimo Bars. We made a batch of them yesterday and they are quite tasty, but very rich. This dessert originated in Canada and is named after the West-Coast city of Nanaimo, British Columbia. The bar originated in Ladysmith, South of Nanaimo in the early 1950's. The traditional bar consists of a wafer crumb-based layer, topped by a layer of light vanilla or custard flavored butter icing, which is covered in chocolate. Variations of the traditional Nanaimo Bar involve mint or mocha flavored icing. We made the traditional version.
Similar desserts are found outside of Canada, particularly in New York City. Nanaimo Bars can also be found in Austrialian coffee shops in large cities.

Geocaching in 2010

Susan and I combined our trip to Suncadia (see previous post) with our first Geocaching adventure of 2010. Before leaving for Cle Elum, we printed out two caches that were located close to the resort.

The first cache, named Fork in the Road was the furthest from the resort so we found it before meeting Bruce and Marie for lunch. This hill is located near the cache. There is still snow melting along side of the roads near Cle Elum.

We saved the second cache for after lunch. This one was a little more difficult to find as the signal was not as strong, but in the end we prevailed. This cache is named Broadcaster Fish and it is located just of the John Wayne Trail shown here.

Suncadia Resort

Susan and I met Bruce and Marie yesterday at Suncadia Resort for lunch. It was the first time any of us had visited the resort, which opened in 2008 and is located near Cle Elum, WA. When the resort is fully staffed, there are five dining options. This is the off-season so our options were narrowed to either the bar or dining room in the lodge. We ate at Portals, the lodge dining room. The lodge is beautiful and the views of the surrounding mountains are stunning.

I could only get a very small section of the lodge in the picture. Guests can rent rooms in the lodge, which has 254 suites and penthouses, and one or two bedroom units. Guests can also stay at the Inn at Suncadia or rent condominiums or vacation rooms.

It would not be difficult to find something to do at Suncadia. There are two award winning golf courses at the resort with a third currently under construction. There are miles of hiking and biking trails, swimming pools, fitness center, spa treatments, ice skating (winter only), boat and scooter rentals, fly fishing excursions, river floats and much more! We stopped and watched some little kids try to ice skate. You can rent skates right next to the rink.

We checked out the Swim and Fitness Center (shown below), which has an indoor pool, rooms for classes such as Yoga, a water slide and a large fitness center.

There were several outdoor fire pits located around the resort, all with some type of seating available.

I would like to go back and visit the resort in the summer time when they have an outdoor concert and cinema series.