Salt & Fog

The Art of Veronica Casson

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One Week in Portland

illustrationVeronica CassonComment

I have been doing a piece of art everyday detailing our Portland adventures.

snowalk

After having been snowed in since we arrived, we decided to walk to Barbur's, a market about a half mile away. What a great place! Like an independent much less expensive Whole Foods with a Mediterranean slant. Luke ate snow and talked the whole way. 

breadgift

Snowed in again. Julie and Luke made homemade bread and I made pickles. Luke wanted to bring one of the loaves to the neighbors sharing the other side of our duplex.

street sledding

Street sledding! 
We are still snowed in. Tried getting our truck out, but no luck. Luckily the disappointment was tempered with finding a discarded sled and boggie board in our neighbor's driveway.

Bus Stop Snowmen

Making a snowman while waiting got the us into town. During the ride we received an ice storm warning so decided only to stop for lunch then return home.

books_w_pictures

We finally got our car out of the snow. A good thing too, as we were invited to a "talk with pictures" event at a fabulous comic store. Books with Pictures was one of the most welcoming kid-friendly, LGBT inclusive, feminist comic stores I have been too. Our family is sure to be regulars.
Luke also found a new favorite comic Ultracat.

Foodtrucks

Finally got out to a food pod -the first time of many I'm sure. (a food pod is a congregation of different food carts that often have facilities, a fire pit, picnic tables, and a roof).

 Before we moved here we knew that would be one of our favorite things from our visits. It was Luke's first time and he sure loved being able to run around in between bites of his amazing burger from Burger Stevens Julie had some ramen from the adjacent cart. Both were so good!

WomensMarch

All three of us marched in PDX's Women's march last Saturday. Such an inspirational and empowering day. And everyone was SO kind! Which is a Portland thing in general though I expect it was the same at all of the Women's marches.

cloudcap

And finally we spent yesterday play board games and drinking beers at Cloud Cap games. Such a warm inviting space. $5 gets you all day in a charming game room with a great selection of family and euro games. This one is Dead of Winter. (Our son was not there when we played this one, Zombie apocalypses are no place for a three year old).

California Zephyr Sketchbook & Journal

Adventures & Parenting, Pen & PaperVeronica Casson1 Comment
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Last week we took the full three-day ride, from California to Chicago on the famous California Zephyr. And for you, dear reader, I documented the heck out of it.

Day One

Julie and I at the emeryville station.

Julie and I at the emeryville station.

Train arriving in SF/Emeryville early Friday Morning  

Train arriving in SF/Emeryville early Friday Morning  

The train was 30 minutes late and we were very eager to get on board when it arrived. After checking our bag, we raced down the corridor to our cabin.

Quick sketch of train hallway. 

Quick sketch of train hallway. 

Our cozy cabin. 

Our cozy cabin. 

The cabins were way smaller then we expected. Still, I liked  them and was impressed with their economic use of space.

Room features: 

 

Antiquated Control panel above my seat. 

Antiquated Control panel above my seat. 

Control above Julie's seat. 

Control above Julie's seat. 

The rooms temp control, which only kind of sort of worked. And the cabin's only outlet which red "120 volts- Razors Only." We went ahead and charged our phones anyhow.

We were very excited to see the view out the lounge so we quickly deposited are bags then headed to the "Sight Seer lounge" car.

The sightseer lounge, Julie on the right. 

The sightseer lounge, Julie on the right. 

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Well the train moved along California and sketching the scenery. I have never had to draw so fast and it was an interesting unique challenge that I came to really enjoy. 

 

Martinez & Vacaville  

Martinez & Vacaville  

Julie and I in the sihtseer lounge
Colfax, Donnor Summit, Trucker and Lovelock

Colfax, Donnor Summit, Trucker and Lovelock

After watching the view for awhile it was time to head to the dining car to get lunch.

Dining car

Dining car

An odd thing about eating on the train is the communal tables. Each one is a four-top and they fill every seat in order of arrival. Every meal we were placed with two strangers. Often, but not always, another couple.

The first time we got Lucky  

Our first lunch table mate. 

Our first lunch table mate. 

Her daughter  

Her daughter  

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The staff was generally super awesome. Most hailed from Chicago. This is Al who was our attendant. 

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Then back to the dining car for dinner. 

 

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That was followed by cards in the lounge and then we went back to the room. To try and sleep. It did not go well.

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I slept on the top bunk. It was very cramped, and the bed was above the window so there was no view (except of the ceiling). Large straps came down from the top and latched on the bottom to keep you from falling out. The bed was sturdy but as hard as a floor. I slept not at all. 

DAY TWO

Tired of trying to sleep I got up at 5:30 AM. I climbed out of bed and walked down the hall to the coffee machine (which was also usually stocked with orange juice and bottled water) .

 

The always on coffee maker at the end of the hall. 

The always on coffee maker at the end of the hall. 

Breakfast is served early so we headed to the dining car around 6;30. We were not so lucky with table mates this morning....

 

Breakfast day 2. 

Breakfast day 2. 

The first man was polite enough, though not interested in talking. The second we had seen the night before passed out on the table in the lounge. He had a gray hood covering his face and never looked up. He would alternately be shaking and start falling asleep- leaning against me. He smelled very sour. 

I shoveled my food in as fast as I could and  gave Julie the sign to hurry out into the lounge. 

 

Good day 2

Good day 2

More painting as the world brushed by. Having all of the sketching time throughout would be my favorite part of the train trip. 

 

Sketching Utah

Sketching Utah

A quick moment of fresh air as the train had a brief stop.

A quick moment of fresh air as the train had a brief stop.

Then it was back to the room where we tried to nap.  

 

Julie train napping

Julie train napping

I wasn't quite able too, but Julie was. Instead I did some more window sketching. 

 

Colorado at night & Nebraska

Colorado at night & Nebraska

It was about this time that the landscape started to settle into a similar pattern for the rest of the trip. Cornfields mostly. 

 

Then our last dinner in the dining car. 

 

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This night, knowing it was going to be a long one we set up our laptop and watched Darjeeling Limited in our cabin (we wanted to watch a "train movie while onboard."

darjeeling

 

DAY 3   

 

It is possible for me to fake being social for a bit, but after a while my introvert tendencies take over and I crave solitude. 

That, coupled with the uncomfortable breakfast the day before, we decided to eat breakfast in our room the last day. 

Day 3 food. 

Day 3 food. 

The train had been running late since the beginning of the trip. At every stop it seemed to get a little further behind. One of the consequences of this was at big stops we were not allowed to walk around the town for 30 or so minutes, like we had been told.

instead, we were allowed to stand out on the platform near the train for two or three minutes to get a breath of "fresh air"."

Julie on one of the many station platforms we hoped out at.

Julie on one of the many station platforms we hoped out at.

 

During consecutive stops I did this drawing of the coupler/passageway between each car.

 

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Later I drew the same area from the inside. 

 

Passageway between trains. 

Passageway between trains. 

At this point of the journey it was extremely rocky for the rest of the third day. Which ended up making reading tricky and my sketches to get even more jittery than normal.

 

 

Farm house. 

Farm house. 

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That was the last sketch I drew, at one of the stations before our final destination in Chicago. 

There were still a few hours left to go, but the train was rocking at such a capacity that we were no longer able to do anything except watch out the windows. All of the delays added up to the train arriving at our final stop in Chicago five hours late. We pulled in at 8:00 instead of 2:00 a very big difference when you have been on a train for three days. 

The tragic part of that is the extra time really soured us on the trip towards the end. A pity, the first two days felt like such a fun grand adventure. I would still recommend anyone interested to go ahead and book passage– But maybe only for two days/one night, not three.

 

 

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A toddler in Times Sqaure

Adventures & ParentingVeronica CassonComment
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At the end of last month we had a crazy long multi-part trip. The first part was visiting family in New Jersey, followed by five days in New York and ending at Disneyland in California. Knowing all of the challenges involved both with family and having a preschooler at Disney I had assumed that the middle leg of the trip, visiting my old stomping ground of New York City, would be the easiest. I was totally wrong.

luke_v_stairs

Turns out living in New York, single and in your twenties, is wildly different than being in your thirties, on a budget and having a toddler. Huh.

 

The Challenges

Over-stimulation

The hardest part was that Luke was always immediately overwhelmed by the city. The noise, amount of energy, people and activity was too much for him. Part of this, no doubt, is that we were staying in Time Square one of the most lively and bustling places on earth.

Moments after stepping outside of the hotel Luke would curl into our legs and not move until we picked him up and carried him to our destination. He can sometimes be shy in large groups but generally he is a fairly outgoing kid with way too much energy so that fact that he refused to walk anywhere at all was surprising. And really hard on my back.

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Dashed Expectations

His terror of the city as well as the physicality of carrying a three-year-old everywhere made it hard to do very much. Luke mostly wanted to stay in our Times Square facing hotel room and watch everything out the window.

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My biggest challenge was letting go of attending all of the events and locales of my youth and resigning myself to a trip spent mostly indoors with one or two excursions a day.

(Full disclosure, three days in we went ahead and bought an umbrella stroller as the effort of carrying him and our stuff everywhere became too taxing.)

vee_luke_stroller

 

The good stuff
 

j_v_parks

Parks and and Playgrounds

One thing that was super cool about the slowed down pace was being able to see the city in a way I never was able to before. I honestly had been through Union Square, and Washington Square park a bajillion times but do not think I sat and really explored the parks the same way as before. They are gorgeous.

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Libraries

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New York City library interiors were also new to me. I had scoured every bookstore in the city when I was younger but would rarely enter the libraries (in retrospect I really should have as I made so little money then).  This trip, when Luke was feeling over stimulated, we would duck into one of the darkly lit temples of books and stone and read some Adele & Simon. We would probably use the bathroom and water fountain too.

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adeleandsimon

Our favorite was the Jefferson Market Library  I used to walk by on my way to get a Cafe Au Lait and lox bagel at French Roast and think, "Hmmm that’s pretty."

jefferson lib
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Times Square Toy R’ US

Have you seen this thing? There is a Ferris wheel going through the center of the store. A ferris wheel! We mostly stopped in to get the aforementioned stroller. They had bins by the front door. I guess we were not the only ones who mistakenly thought they would not need a stroller in Manhattan.Aside from the ferris wheel, there are a bunch of play areas allowing children to interact with toys and many cool displays including an enormous Tyrannosaurus Rex. It has a roar so loud it shakes the nearby shelves (parent’s of easily frightened kids beware of floor three).

 

The American Museum of Natural History:

We were lucky enough to spend the last few days in the area with two of our closest friends and their young son that we could not wait to meet.   We all met near another close friend’s house in uptown that was just across the the NHM. So after burning energy at the playground for a little while we went.

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You really cannot beat NYC’s Natural History Museum. It was one of my faves when I was young and still is. We were worried the kids would be too young, and while the two year old was not as interested, Luke was enamored with the exhibits. Their unparalleled dinosaur collection was the biggest hit. I suspect that is true for all ages. Luke still talks about the Wooly Mammoth, Triceratops and T-Rex.

mammoth

 

If you are in new York on that day you should really go.

 

Restaurants

Nourish

No more waiting on long lines for our favorite eateries. The eaters I loved that hadn’t closed often had non-kid hours. So even though we did not get to Tea & Sympathy we discovered this awesome local cafe nearby called  Nourish.


The restaurant was small but open and sunny with jars of pickles and fresh ingredients on the wall. The friendly staff happily called back to one another as they cut and chopped local seasonal ingredients. The food was fresh and beautiful. We were able to sit at a bar along the kitchen and watch the chef cook. Luke loved that. We chatted up the cook while he worked and learned he and his wife had  moved to NYC from SF for him to cook and she to be a stylist.

It was still essential to visit one of our favorite bookstores in the world Stands. We just had to. We took turns reading to Luke in the kids section on the second floor while the other Mom would do some browsing in the stacks.

Le Midi

 

After leaving the store Luke was totally hungry and needed to crash soon (the time change issues never really went away). We found a french restaurant with no wait nearby that was super good (previously we would have walked over to St. Marks for drink's at Angel’s Share and dinner at Yokocho).

 

It was only around 5:30, early for city eating which meant our server was attentive and there was no wait. I love a restaurant experience that is transportive. The rich scarlet walls, French decoration and handcrafted cocktails bought me instantly back to our Paris Honeymoon. Except now there was a tiny human next to us begging to play Crossy Road <link> when he finished his entree.

 

The meal was great and I recommend it to anyone as a Union Square alternative.

 

Marriott Marquis Breakfast buffet

luke_ina_marriot

 

I usually skip the fancy hotel buffet due to the price (and I don’t usually dig the food at buffets) but Luke really wanted to go. I made a special event of the whole thing — letting him ride down the glass elevator in his PJ’s and pick anything from the many tables of food that he wanted.

 

The price was totally worth how hassle free and fun this was.

 

Luke picked fruit loops, chinese dumplings, and french toast for breakfast. As one does when they are three.

Denouement

We had nice times. We found cool things. It is always great to see old friends. It was challenging.

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It did cure my, 'I kinda wish I still lived in NYC’ thing that has always been at the back of my mind. I think I may have changed but I think the city has changed too. It will always be great to visit though. And no matter what age I am New York will always have a piece of my heart. I’m so glad I get to share that with Luke.



*Luke is actually a pre-schooler but “toddler in Times Square” sound better. Alliteration, yo!