Red Hats vs. Brew Pub Guys...what a fun ride!

What an amazing ride! Almost a full year down with these NOSH tours and they just keep getting better, more fun and whole lot more interesting!

Picture this...a room full of ladies that are "Red Hats" and in walk about six very cute, young men. Well, needless to say, this NOSH tour began with laughter and ended...well...exactly the same way.

All aboard the trolley and thanks to Bill our trolley driver, we were on our way. First stop was Sybaris which is always an elegant, tasty and divine stop. Matt, Janel and Jesse are amazing and as always our premier "1st stop!"

Cappies as always keeps the beer pouring and this time our glasses were full of "Arrogant Bastard!" A little bitter filled brew with hops and the perfect pairing for the oysters Chad made for our group. Empty plates...empty beer glasses and it was time to head to Novak's.

Thank you Karen and the Novak team and family for once again reminding us just how great Novak's is. It's no wonder people drive several hundred miles just to dine at your restaurant. Stuffed cabbage...ah the childhood memories and the scents of home.

Our next stop always amazes me. Paul is the marketing manager for Calapooia Brewing Co. and he just makes me laugh every time I see him. He is probably the happiest person I know and it shows. But seriously...why shouldn't he be. He works at Calapooia...you know...where they make beer!

Taste Of Italy/Pizza King... Ruby...even though you weren't there in person this trip out, you were there in spirit. Thanks Megan for that pizza and spumoni ice cream cake! Oh and that karaoke guy...he sang pretty darn good! What a nice surprise!

Brewster's as always...a very sweet stop. Got my Brewster's Punch some homemade chips and ranch dressing and I am very happy this evening. Stacy you are the sweetest and always make this stop fun!

And no...it didn't end there. The trolley took us over the our darling...The Albany Carousel and Museum on 1st Avenue. Chocolate Cake with Ganache and Orange Layer Cake drizzled with Orange Icing courtesy of moi, totally fit with that sweet ride at the carousel! Thanks to Wendy and staff for making the end of this tour so great!

I'm pooped, my tummy is full and I will sleep like a baby tonight. Another awesome tour, delicious tastes, hilarious and fun tour guests and it all happened today right here in Albany!

We are awesome that way!

A Bicycling Princess and Her Prince on The Oregon Bed and Breakfast Guild Trail!

It's that time of year when hard core bicyclists brave the Oregon Spring weather and just get out there and ride. Unable to put it off any longer, they put up with whatever the Pacific Northwest brings and take their ride come rain or shine. These nice folks pictured here took that ride and are enjoying the scenery, the quintessential valley villages and towns that speckle this part of the country with a sweetness not found anywhere else!

He is used to riding the wilds on his mountain bike but she is calling this a "princess ride!" Very compatible and enjoying the hot shower and comfy bed every night is quite a treat after those miles of riding no matter what the weather or road conditions are like. So, where did this princess and her prince stay each night?...and this is where the pot gets even sweeter...let me tell you!

The Oregon Bed & Breakfast Guild has almost 100 membership inns all over the state of Oregon. Our guests come from all over the world to ride, to taste our wines, to explore our mountains and lakes and so much more. Providing all of our visitors the best in "inn" stays is a priority to say the least. So, if you wanna ride and stay whether your a "princess" or not, you can begin at Champoeg State Park and for that "ride" info, please check out Travel Oregon's link here. Your ride through the valley begins there at Champoeg and takes you to three of OBBG's membership inns!

Feller House B & B, Independence House B & B and The Pfeiffer Cottage Inn can't even begin to tell you how much they love their cyclists. Beginning on your journey can take you right to the Feller House just outside Champoeg. Spending the first night on the first leg of your bike trip when coming from British Columbia or by train up from Eugene will give you a head start early in the morning and plenty of fuel to begin your trek. The Independence House makes for the perfect "stop" spot for your weary bones and second night stay along this route. It has been said that Cheryl is quite a lot of fun and even made lunch for a few of her cyclists to help them along on their ride! Wanna park your bike and walk to dinner?...well, The Pfeiffer Cottage Inn is perfectly situated in gorgeous downtown Albany, Oregon. Just a few blocks to some of the best dining digs in the entire Willamette Valley. Sybaris Bistro, Vault 244 and Calapooia Brewing Co. just to name a few are host to bicyclists all summer long as well.

One very cool ride, a princess and quite possibly her prince, three cozy places to bed down after that ride and it's brought to you courtesy of The Oregon Bed and Breakfast Guild! Yes...we are just that awesome!

Albany NOSH Tours!

Albany NOSH Tours!

I'll Give You One Paris and One London for Your England Countryside!

Have you ever thought you wanted something so bad until you got it then realized what you had before was so much better? Well, I realized that last week on the second half of our trip abroad.

I wanted to go to England and experience the country that I had read about and learned about in history classes. I wanted to see London, the "tower," the abbey, the castle where the Queen resides but I really desired, yearned and ached to see Paris! After spending a whole week lulling about the England Countryside and after two days exploring London, we finally headed to there via the chunnel. One day, one "fam" tour and a once in a lifetime experience...maybe.

Ticket for four on the Eurostar took us to Paris for a day. First on the agenda, a pastry of course. It had to be in a French cafe along the walk then we were off in one direction heading for the Eiffel Tower. We walked past tons of even more French cafes, cheese and meat shops and we ogled more beautiful French pastries through bakery windows. The latte and pain de chocolate gave us a taste of France but seeing the Louvre, strolling the Seine and standing face to face with the Eiffel Tower left me speechless. We took lots of photos and took in the whole experience. Eventually it was time to move on and walking the streets past lofty abodes and making our way back to the Eurostar, I couldn't help but turn around for one last glance at the tower.

On the ride home, it was easy to fall asleep after walking miles in the city but one thing kept coming to mind as I drifted. I think that I am lucky to have experienced Paris and see everything I have always wanted to see but little did I know, the days I spent anticipating it was the best part of the trip. During that week of anticipation, even though I didn't realize it then, I was falling in love with the countryside of England! Maybe I am more of a country girl at heart or maybe my contentment of just walking in to a 500 year old church and perusing headstones in a historic graveyard went unnoticed until I had experienced the entire trip.

It's amazing how we can even surprise ourselves. It must have been the miles of hedges that line the narrow lanes that crawl through the green hills of England or could it have been the sweet English villages that exude "cottage" and surely helped me define that word. Or, it could have been the cafes that provided our daily dose of coffee in the form of a latte' of course served with a cake or scone. But, maybe it was quite possibly that the slow easy stroll along the beach of the North Sea while breathing in the fresh air knowing you will sleep in that inn made of flint and brick in that countryside you have come to love in just a few days that clinched it. Taking those walks among spring grasses and flowering lanes where kings have ridden and peasants have farmed in the days we only get to read about makes one wish they could go back a few centuries just to see what it must have been like.

Of course it must have been romantic and beautiful. Reality check time and way too many viewings of "Ever After," and it was over so quickly. We're home safe and already planning our next trip abroad. It's Germany next spring and talking about the UK again the year after that! Ray wants to distillery taste in Scotland and I want to ride horseback through the Scottish countryside and go from farm to farm. I guess if I get him drunk enough I can get him on a horse. It could be a fun ride!

London...two days, a ton of tea and not enough time!

I cannot even begin to tell you about the past two days. I have seen photos of London, I have seen movies and tv shows about London and if I remember correctly, the "I Love Lucy" show even went to London at least once. I think I remember Lucy trying to get a reaction out of the guard and of course we all know where that probably led. Anyways, we only had two days but man oh man...what a very nice "fam" tour!

I will know next time we visit this city that is home to over 11 million people exactly what to do. First of all, you have Robin and Patty with you cause apparently Robin is an expert on what to see in London and Patty, well...let's just say...I love this woman! She has become a very dear friend, my partner in tons of crime and she makes me laugh so hard I almost...well, never mind. We just have way toooo much fun!

If you have been following us via Flickr, you know where we have trod in these parts and what we have seen. The most amazing so far to me about London is just walking for two days and getting the vibe of the city in my bones. The history is amazing, the architecture is unbelievable and always...the food...delicious! We had tea this morning at Harrods of London and truly enjoyed spoiling ourselves a bit before spending over an hour perusing the department store and found it so hard to leave, we almost had to have ourselves pulled out screaming. I could seriously spend one whole entire day just at Harrods. The market, the bakeries, the chocolate, the meat, the bread and again...I could go on and on. However, what made me the happiest was that Ray found his Cuban. Harrods has a walk in humidor and he walked out with his find and I can seriously smell wafts of it blowing in our inn window at this moment. Hope you are enjoying that with your English whiskey honey.

I could go on forever about the past several days but I gotta go to bed. We are off to Paris tomorrow via the Eurostar. Gosh...life is hard so tomorrow I will take it easy sipping French wine, eating a fresh baked croissant with fromage' and fruit with my honey and our friends in a sweet little cafe somewhere in Paris!

Cheers from the countryside of England!

I don't know where to begin! We have just had the most amazing week! We spent the last evening in South Creake in a pub called The Ostrich. Dining with a few pups lying at the bar while the pub filled with locals, students, friends and a duck was quite the ending to this perfect story. They say they believe in serving their food fresh but seriously, a waddling duck wandering in to the bar may be taking it just a tad too far. Hilarious and the butter cream icing on the cute cupcake, the quacking duck made the evening and made us laugh till we almost cried.

I think I could take a tour of England and just enjoy the churches, graveyards and cathedrals. Oh, and of course the pubs and cafes. Our friends said we pretty much just had a week long NOSH tour. Quite an observation and very true. A taste of the tea, the scones, the cakes and the beer of course from all the bakeries and pubs that dot this English countryside has convinced me that a NOSH tour would be a great addition to any ones visit to England. I cannot tell you how many scones we have devoured exactly or how many different kinds of cakes we have tasted or how many pubs we tasted pints in but I can say that we have enjoyed every moment of it!

Thanks to our friends, Robin and Patty for teaching us, guiding us, driving us and showing us this part of England. We are already thinking about our next trip here. And...we look forward exploring London, Paris and the Coast of France with you both over the next week. Thanks for all the wonderful and fun memories!

Nous aurons toujours Paris!

Cozy in the English Countryside!

Yes we are enjoying the English Countryside. We were told yesterday that many people that visit England never make it out here. They enjoy London and some the more visited areas but don't get to experience the quintessential sweet villages, coffee and tea houses and little pubs that populate the winding roads through this area. That is really too bad because to me...this is the best part and the part I wanted to see. I am looking forward to London and Paris of course but we wanted to do the every day stuff people that live here get to do too. Hence...stopping for a scone, a latte, tea and even the occasional English beer. Ray has been enjoying that the most I think. We counted three yesterday and I was told I enjoyed two but who's counting?!

Life is slower here than in America for sure. There are no fast food stops here, no "to go" cups or a rush to do anything. I could get used to that for sure. That and the green rolling hills that seem to dot themselves with Stately Homes or just sweet English cottages for that matter. Have you seen The Holiday? Well...yes...that is the true English countryside in all it's innocence.

Already planning our next trip here and Ray wants to go distillery tasting in Scotland and I want to ride a horse from farm to farm. Let's see who wins this one! We'll just have to make sure the saddle bags can hold their liquor as well as Ray does.

England's Villages and Small Towns!

It's Spring in England and we are having a sort of heat wave. They say it's unusual for the weather to be as warm as it is this time of year. I say...that's ok!

After spending the month of March dodging the rain in the Willamette Valley, enjoying the sunshine and heat on the back of my neck during our daily excursion it is quite a treat.

In this photo, Ray and are visiting with our friends Robin and Patty as we enjoy a drive through even more of England's countryside. We are standing on the edge of the North Sea but the tide is about 1.2 miles out. It will begin to return about 7pm and it's a real good idea to be out of the way when the sea decides to take up residence at it's usual shoreline.

We have a lovely itinerary made by Robin and get to see as much as possible every day. I love that it's not so jam packed and it has been exactly the way I wanted to explore this region. Driving through small villages and towns, stopping for photos of 11th century churches, perusing the old church graveyards, sipping English tea and tasting the sweets of England has been a delight. A very relaxing and "real" British experiences this week. Hopefully the jet lag ends soon and we'll be set to enjoy the rest of our trip here without a bit of weirdness that is way beyond my norm.

I love the inn where we are residing for our first 6 nights. The Leicester Meadows Bed and Breakfast has been the perfect spot to unwind and refresh each day. Bob and Sara have enjoyed renovating this historic home that I think once was part of a Stately Home property. I cannot wait to see the before photos. We enjoyed our light breakfast of muselix and homemade spelt sour dough toast with three homemade jams and butter. I am also learning that tea in the morning is quite nice and a good substitute till I can get my caffeine fix in the afternoon. Ray will experience a good example of a true English breakfast on Saturday when another guest arriving will expect the norm. Well, minus the black or blood sausages that is. Sara is not a huge fan of preparing that and works well in talking her guests out of it. I have a feeling the fresh donated eggs by her happy hens sided with a simple sausage of sorts and toast with potatoes will suffice. Lucky Ray and too bad I am so happy with cereal and toast!

Back to sleep now and wait to listen for the geese, the birds and the other countryside residents to gently wake me to another day of seeing the sights and tasting yet another English experience.

Only in Portland!

Someone said they thought I was already in England when they saw this photo of me. We were only in Portland and I was showing off my new scarf that my sister made for me. I told her exactly what I wanted and she made it for me. "I want a green one and it has to loop in to itself." She found the pattern and with the help of a few friends, made it for me.

Now I think we've started something. Evidently my request and her nimble knitting fingers have spurred an idea and she will be busy making these scarves in "Breast Cancer Awareness" pink! The perfect pink ribbon shape and she's almost a pro already after making my scarf.

What a great idea and it will surely keep her busy and her mind sharp. Don't they say that when you find a new craft, take a college course or try new things that it lessens your chances of dementia? Well...too late for that...not really but between her jobs, raising her awesome boyz and her new knitting fetish, she will be sharp as a tack!

Thanks Donna for "Fracs," my scarf and I am going to wear it faithfully throughout Europe. Let's see how many photos it's in!

If any of you want to pre-order this scarf in pink...let me know! I am sure I can get you a great deal!