Well, not ME, per se… a big ‘ol ball of dough killed it.  Turns out, if you google “KitchenAid Mixer Broken” the first result details exactly what happened to mine (and how to fix it).  This post by Tammy of Food on the Food is also incredibly helpful, as well as entertaining.

So what happened?  I was happily into my third batch of perfect homemade pizza dough when the dough hook attachment got stuck and the motor made an awful “zipping” sound.  I discovered that my cheap-o KitchenAid has a plastic failsafe worm gear that will strip if the motor is overworked, rather than burn out your motor.  It’s actually a good thing - I’d rather replace the broken gear than fry the motor anyday, but it was still cause for panic and tears in my kitchen at the time.  Apparently this is a common thing, and the lower model Artisan KitchenAids just aren’t meant to handle dough very well.  Just about every other incidence I found online with the same problem was due to kneading bread.  I’ve made pizza dough in mine many times before, but it’s always struggled with kneading due to its modest 300 watts.  I guess it was inevitable that with all the bread-making I do, this was going to happen at some point.

I’ve had my trusty old KitchenAid stand mixer for 8-9 years, and in all that time it’s gladly obliged with every task I’ve asked of it without ever putting up a fuss.  It makes me so sad to see it sitting there in pieces, but at least I now know how to fix it up on my own.  I  followed the dismantle instructions via the first link above, and then cleaned out the mechanisms as much as I could (I had no idea it was packed with so much gunky grease in there – I’m talking a few cups of the stuff!)  Then, after confirming that the worm gear had been shredded up, I ordered a new part online.  It cost about $13 with shipping.  I also ordered a tube of food grade appliance grease as well, to replace the big black gobs that I took out in order to see what was going on in there.

My new parts should be here in a week or so, which won’t help me finish up my pizza dough today… guess I’ll have to go back to the old-fashioned knead by hand method.  Or maybe it’s time to upgrade!  (Of course, I’ll make sure my old one finds a good home.) 

Henry’s initial reaction was that I should get the cute orange one to match our kitchen – but I’m of the belief that KitchenAids should WORK rather than look pretty… so I’ve had my eye on a KitchenAid Pro 5 plus, which has a stronger motor and is supposed to be better for bread (comes with a nifty spiral dough-hook and much better reviews).  I figure, I do use it enough that it would justify investing in the better model instead of end up having to replace the gears in my old one over and over again.  The pro model has a bigger bowl, doesn’t have a ”locking bowl,” has a better dough hook, all metal internal parts, and should have a much more powerful motor.  I’m on my way to check it out today with Bed Bath and Beyond coupons and a limited-time special rebate form in hand – in all that should save me around $100.  Merry Christmas to me!

The first thing you see when you walk in the entrance is their massive produce department, which is about 1/4 the size of the store.  Filled with all kinds of interesting and exotic ingredients, it’s a sight to behold.

We found a cart piled high with brussels sprout trees,

and then came across our fist persimmons of the season!  We bought five.  The first persimmon I ever tried was at Central Market a few years ago, and after I tried it I think I said aloud “how have I lived my whole life without this!?!”

Beautiful tomatoes and chanterelle mushrooms were on display near the cooking demonstration area (you can see that in the background).

We found some tiny seckle pears on an end aisle and brought home a pound or so of the little guys.  In the exotic fruit area, we found these “Buddha’s Hands” in a basket.  They’re oddly shaped and smell like lemon zest.  I’m not sure what they taste like or what to do with them, but we found them interesting to look at.  After we passed that section I heard a woman who appeared to be in her 70s look at the basket and ask her husband “what do you think those are?”  The sweet older couple walked over to investigate them in the same exact fashion as Henry and I.  We both looked at each other and said, “awww… that’s us!” 

Instead of buying a Buddha’s Hand, we decided to bring home two cactus pears to try because Henry remembered eating them fresh out of the desert when he was a kid visiting family in Mexico.  He thinks his cactus pears were different though, because these were green, essentially flavorless, and full of big seeds.  That was one experiment that didn’t really pay off, but at least I can say I’ve tried it.

Near the wine section (which is also fabulous) Central Market had a large seasonal display of all types of fall nuts, ornamental gourds, and dried fruits.  While there, we picked up some Japanese Sweet Potatoes to bring home for dinner, which were pretty good cooked up with some of Henry’s Yakima apples and the local blackberry honey that we picked up at the market that day.

Central market also has a large asian food section within the store.  While most stores have a few shelves devoted to packaged asian meals, noodles, and canned foods, Central Market has an entire two aisles including a sushi bar and a huge frozen food section – where we found this fully vacuum-sealed squid.  Who’s hungry?

In the asian food section we came across an interesting package simply called “Banana Flavored Snack.”  It was $1, so I figured it couldn’t hurt to try.  As promised, they were definitely banana flavored, but the “snack” itself was like a cheese puff.  Kind of an odd texture… but still good.

I think Henry’s favorite section of Central Market might be the beer aisle.  They import an amazing amount of beer – including many things we’ve never seen anywhere else.  As luck would have it, they had one six pack of my favorite Sam Adams Cherry Wheat (it seriously tastes like cherry, and not in a bad way), so we snatched it up before it’s gone for the season.  While looking down the aisle I also found a six pack of 21st Amendment Brewery’s Hell Or High Watermelon wheat beer, which piqued my interest.  I had to take a six pack home to try.  The beer itself was interesting, but didn’t have a watermelon flavor like I expected, it tasted more like the white part of the watermelon close to the rind (the part you don’t eat), but it wasn’t so bad.

After we were happy with our interesting mix of exotic groceries to try, Henry noticed a coupon on the back of our receipt: Free coffee with the purchase of two doughnuts at Frost Doughnuts, right across the road.  So we figured, hey - let’s try another new thing!

Frost is a super cute doughnut shop – and nothing like the typical Winchell’s or Dunkin’ Donuts (for one, they spell “doughnut” correctly, which I greatly appreciate).  Since it was Halloween day we got to choose from some special options.  The doughnut I picked was a pumpkin cheesecake doughnut topped with candy corn… and it was amazing!

Henry, on the other hand, decided that he had to stick to his guns and get the bacon maple bar.  He said it tasted a lot like the VooDoo Doughnut from Portland, but it was cuter, and a lot less mysterious.

We came home and had a feast of sweet potatoes, cactus pears, and banana flavored cheese puffs while we watched a scary movie and waited for the Trick-or-Treaters to come.  All in all, it was a fun day full of welcome surprises.

In all, our costumes ended up being pretty cheap (thanks to the perfect $6 dress I found at Ross – the most expensive part were the boots at $20), comfortable, and cute!  We had a lot of fun and can’t wait for next year!  We’re already starting to think about what we should be…

When we walked back to the car we noticed a speckled appearance on the front bumper.  Remember the swarm we drove through the night before?  It was total carnage!

We headed south on our way to the redwoods, and after no more than 30 minutes we started to see the first giants on the side of the highway.  Henry and I must have looked like total tourists pointing at each tree as we passed by… “look at that one… no wait, look at THAT one… whoa – there’s a bigger one!”

We stopped to check out the biggest [and by biggest we mean hugest] tourist attraction in the redwoods: The Trees of Mystery.  It’s a large park where adventurers of all ages can lead themselves on a self-guided hike past some of the most unique redwood formations all in one spot.

Out in front of the entrance, guests are greeted by a giant Paul Bunyan with Babe the Blue Ox.  Paul Bunyan actually talks, and interacts with the people down below.  We stood back and watched as kids ran up and shouted questions up to Paul, and then Paul would give them a funny answer over the loudspeakers.  It was kitschy, but cute.

Inside the “Trees of Mystery” tour we followed the path and saw a ton of interesting trees like the contorted Elephant Tree…

We went under Nature’s Underpass…

Stood in amazement at the Lightening Bolt Tree…

Paid our respects at the Cathedral Tree… (they actually hold many weddings here every year.)

We saw some absolute giants…

And a Candelabra Tree…

Then we rode in a gondola through the forest and up to the canopy lookout (me with a white-knuckled grip on the grab bars the whole way up.)

Up at the top we got a bird’s eye view of the redwoods – which went on and on for as far as we could see.  Henry picked up a pair of binoculars to check out an osprey nest and I cracked up at how he looked like Johnny Five.

After we got back down to the bottom (safe and sound) we continued on the hiking path to the “Trail of Tall Tales,” which was a silly walk of carved figures accompanied by a story.  At each station you push a button and listen to a lumberjack tell the tale of Paul Bunyan.  It was cute, but there were a bunch of kids running around that made it hard to actually listen to the story, so we moved through it pretty quickly.

At the base of the trail was a big tree stump turned on end with markers for historic events.

This tree was about 1000 years old and dated back to the time of the Crusades!

The Trees of Mystery had a pretty neat gift shop that included a Native American artifact museum in the back that was well worth the time to check out.  Henry really liked looking at all the old photographs, and we spent quite a bit of time in there learning about the history of the area.  In the gift shop I picked up a stuffed Babe The Blue Ox toy (for Ozzy – and he loves it!), then got back on the road.

Through Redwood country, Hwy 101 is sprinkled with all kinds of kitschy roadside attractions, which were a lot of fun to see.  It’s all total Americana at its best, and I half-expected a family of singing cartoon bears to come out and start singing, playing banjos, and dancing in the road as we went by.

To get the full experience, we decided to take an off-shoot of Hwy 101 called the “Avenue Of The Giants” which runs parallel to 101 but winds and turns through the redwoods at a leisurely pace.  The road actually curved around trees with little to no shoulder, and on more than one occasion I was afraid of losing a mirror to one of those monstrous trunks.

Toward the end of the Avenue Of The Giants we stopped at the Shrine Drive-Thru Tree.  It’s another kitschy tourist attraction, and in all it only takes a few minutes to pass through – but since we were there we just had to do it, otherwise our Redwoods experience would not have been complete.

It was a tight squeeze, but the Scion made it!

Further down the road we stopped at a roadside gift shop with promises of “Redwood burls,” carved tchotchkes, and the famous One-Log House carved from a single Redwood trunk.

We paid one dollar inside the gift shop and got the access code to go inside the house.  Would anyone care for a spot of tea?

Across from the One-Log house was the “Grandfather Tree” – and man was this tree huge!  It’s the widest tree we saw while we were there.

At the gift shop I found a small hand-carved Redwood pony for Haeley, which she appropriately calls “Red.”  When we got home we showed her the pictures of Uncle Henry and I in front of the “big trees” and told her that the pony was made from big trees too.  I’m not sure if she understood it or not, but she did understand that Red was special.

Back on Hwy 101 we saw signs for a “Mystery Spot” called Confusion Hill.  Never having been to a mystery spot before, and not wanting to ruin our streak of kitschy attractions for the day, we decided to pull over and check it out.  As luck would have it, this mystery spot was also home to the rare, elusive chipalope!

I think his hat looks nice, no?

The mystery spot is said to be a vortex where the laws of gravity don’t apply.  It’s just a funny crooked house full of optical illusions, but I love a good illusion as the next person – so I checked my skepticism at the door and went for it.

Here a level shows that golf balls roll uphill!  It was silly, but it was fun.

We left the mysteries and chipalopes behind and hit the road once again.  As the afternoon waned on we enjoyed a beautiful drive through Sonoma (too bad the wineries were all closed) and stopped for Mexican food in Cloverdale – which was pretty much the only town around when we decided we couldn’t go without food any longer.  Not very authentic, but it was food and it was there.  After that we continued straight into the evening until we arrived in San Francisco. I think this was the sight Henry was most excited to see, and we spent about an hour or so checking it out from all angles and getting some really neat shots.

After the pictures were over and night was falling, we did some driving, circling, and questioning where we should stay (including unintentional tours of two of the three bridges), we finally turned to yelp for answers.  I sorted by price and top rating and came up with the Mayflower Hotel, highly recommended as a “best kept secret” in San Francisco, and music to our ears at only $125/night.  I gave the hotel a call, told them we’d be there in 20 minutes, and turned the car around.

When we found the hotel we noticed that the sign says “With Garage” – so we drove past the entrance to find the garage… but there was no garage.  We figured we must have missed it, so we circled the block and searched all four streets… no garage entrance anywhere!  We circled one more time (avoiding the CRAZY San Francisco drivers) and then finally pulled the car over while I ran in to ask the front desk.  Instead of telling me where the garage was, the front desk man asked “what kind of car do you have?”  I thought it was an odd response, but I figured maybe he needed to know for security purposes so I told him.  He thought for a second and then said “okay, that should fit.  Follow me.”  He led me out the front door about 20 feet from the entrance, where he pulled out a key and popped open a wooden door.  Behind the door was a skinny ramp that resembled more of a hallway than anything else, leading down to a lot below the building.  I signaled to Henry that the car needed to go down it.  He looked back at me a little confused, and then slowly took the car down the ramp.  Along the walls of the ramp were huge scrape marks where other cars obviously hadn’t made it, but ours managed to squeeze through with inches to spare.  Getting through the drive-thru tree was actually easier!

With our car locked up safe and sound in the lot, we checked in to the “Ferry Building” room (each room was named after a famous San Francisco landmark), and then headed out to Polk Street to check out the action and pick up some late night food for Henry.  After what I’m told was a tasty pork sandwich at Hank’s, we decided we were too tired for the busy bar scene and walked back to our hotel where we spent a little time mapping out the San Francisco attractions we wanted to see the next day and then crashed for the night.

Under cloudy skies we passed through farmlands and dense forests that fell to complete darkness in less than five trees deep.  After twisting and turning through miles of drizzly “bigfoot country,” the woods suddenly opened up to the Tillamook valley.  Our first stop was a quick tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory, and being a fan of both cheese and factories, I have to say I was quite excited, with visions of some sort of wonderful Willy Wonka style cheese paradise…

Inside we stopped to pose for a photo, and then we proceeded on the track to take the tour.  (Can you see the sheer excitement on my face?)

The first stop on the tour was a buffet set up with cheese samples.  Basically we got to choose from cheddar, sharp cheddar, and flavored cheddar… nothing really out of the ordinary.

So we ate our samples and then moved on to the next part of the tour… which was the gift shop?!?  I thought, no way, this just CAN’T be it! I saw some stairs leading to the upper level, so we followed them to see what other surprises the factory had in store for us.

Unfortunately, all we found upstairs were some cheese facts and windows for viewing the cheese-making operations below.  That is, if you can call those neon yellow squares cheese... There was no Willy Wonka, no Oompa Loompas, and no magic.  Just a few samples, a room of windows, and a big gift shop.  Just so the trip wasn’t a complete loss, we both got a scoop of ice cream (which was much better than the cheese).  I decided to try something new – Black Walnut  (which was fantastic!)  Henry, on the other hand, chose chocolate.  Just chocolate.  Out of all the chocolate flavors there, like German Chocolate Cake, Tillamook Mudslide, Udderly Chocolate, and many others… Henry chose chocolate.  Oh well, I guess you can’t beat a classic!

With cones in hand and disappointment on our faces, we left the factory and got back on the road.  That’s when I saw the next sign – another cheese tour!  Screech went the brakes as we pulled the car over and hoped to have better luck at this one.

The Blue Heron French Cheese Company is just a few blocks down the road from the Tillamook Cheese Factory, and boasts a warm reception from the resident farm animals.

(You can make your own caption for that last picture.)

After petting a few goats and llamas, we went inside the big barn to check out the cheese inside.  Again… a big disappointment.  The barn was essentially one big gift shop, and in the back was a refrigerated case with mostly imported cheeses (although nothing that we couldn’t find in our local grocery store), except for the three types of brie they make there (which was okay, but didn’t blow me away).  To the left was a large wine section, so we moseyed over to check out the tasting, hoping that it might salvage our Tillamook experience.  The wines I tried were so-so, but I was more excited to find a bottle of “Pug Pear Wine” on the shelf:

I bought two bottles (how could I not?), wrapped them up, and headed back on the road.  On the way out Henry hopped out of the car to take a picture of this cool rusty old fire truck out in front of the cheese barn.  I just love that grill on the front.

At this point our original itinerary had accounted for a trip north to spend the afternoon in Cannon Beach, but since the weather was so miserable we decided to save the Cannon Beach trip for another day (we live so close we can go anytime) and instead powered on through the Oregon coast.

On the way out of Tillamook we passed by the Tillamook Air Museum, which is touted as the largest wooden structure in the US.  This thing was massive!  We drove up close but actually had to go all the way out to the road just to get the whole building in the shot.  Inside you can take a tour of old fighter planes (which we didn’t do, but might do next time, as I’m sure it would be a much better use of our time than the cheese tours.)

We traveled south on winding coastal roads until we found the ocean! At the first observation point Henry braved the chilly winds to jump out of the car and snap a shot of the Pacific:

This observation point was called “The Lookout at Cape Foulweather” and the weather was… well.. quite foul.  I guess we should have taken a clue and stayed in the car!

After getting our first coastal ocean pictures we ran as fast as we could back to the warmth of the car.  From there we wound down Hwy 101 past rocky cliffs and coastal waves.  Along the way we passed by unusual looking trees that had been twisted sideways by the effects of these strong winds over time.

We drove through Lincoln City, OR and thought about stopping for lunch – but the town looked too “touristy” so we decided to keep going through small towns until we got to a restaurant recommended by our guidebook: LeRoy’s in the quiet town of Yachatz, OR.  LeRoy’s was a typical diner with typical diner food and somewhat confusing decor.  On each table were placemats that had different stories from the wild west, and a far wall was covered in a giant airbrushed whale mural.  Decor aside, my diner-style grilled cheese sandwich was just what I needed to get back on the road again.

Somewhere in one of the Southern Oregon towns we passed over this bridge where Henry snapped this really neat architectural photo.  I love the cool angles and the way he cropped it off center.

As we got closer to the California border, Henry really wanted to go check out the infamous Oregon Dunes, so we followed a small road off Hwy 101 for about a mile until we came to a totally alien landscape.  The Oregon Dunes resemble a barren Sahara, dotted with little 4-wheelers zipping up and down the massive hills.

If we’d had more time we might have rented some 4-wheelers and given the dunes a try, but the weather was rainy and cold, and it was starting to get dark – so onward we went.

As night fell we gassed up in the town of Banden (I was afraid we might run out of gas if the stations closed, leaving us stuck in Oregon unable to pump our own gas!)  We kept winding down the coast and drove straight through a giant swarm of bugs – our windshield was covered in bug bodies and we could hear them smacking against the hood of our car… it was pretty gross but there was nothing we could do to prevent it.

Just before the border we passed by one of the quirkier roadside attractions on our trip: Prehistoric Gardens.  It’s a collection of massive concrete dinosaurs created by the park’s owner.  During the day tourists can pay to go inside and view the attractions, but since we passed by after hours we had to settle for a quick photo with the big T-Rex out front.

Finally, we arrived at the California border where we stopped to assure the border guard that we did not have any produce in our car (unless they count Pug Wine), and got a handy map of Northern California along with some brochures of the major Redwoods attractions that I slipped into my guidebook.  What a nice welcome!

The first big city south of the Oregon/California border is Crescent City, where we did a quick survey of the roadside hotels and decided to stay at the Bayview Motel right off Hwy 101.  It wasn’t the nicest hotel, but it met our requirements: it was clean, it was cheap (only $75/night), and it was open.  Being that it was already 11:30pm and we’d had an early dinner/late lunch, Henry was a little hungry – so we picked up some late night food from Safeway and then crashed back at the hotel for the night.

In all, we covered around 375 miles of Oregon coast, used up just one tank of gas, and got drenched by several gallons of rain.  Weather aside, the Oregon coast is a wonderful drive and well worth the time if you can take a leisurely pace and enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way.

A few weeks ago, Henry declared that he needed some space.  Hard drive space, that is.  Since getting his fancy new camera, his computer hard drive has been filling up fast.  With each pic he takes weighing in at around 25MB each, and with each day he shoots averaging around 50-100 new pics, you can see how it adds up pretty darn quick…

In the past, Henry had been burning his most important files to disks, and used a simple external hard drive to store the bulk of his pictures - but those are not really the most reliable methods of storage.  Disks have limited space and can be easily damaged, and external hard drives can up and die.  Trust me, I know first-hand…  An innocent mix up of similar looking power cords between my higher voltage laptop and lower voltage external hard drive resulted in a power surge and ultimately, a completely fried hard drive (I lost everything!)  That was quite a sad day, indeed.  Because the pictures Henry takes are irreplaceable, it’s super important that he makes sure wherever he stores his stuff is on par with Fort Knox.

Introducing: THE DROBO…. [*cue the choir of angels singing*]

We first heard about Drobo through a photography podcast that Henry listens to religiously (This Week In Photography – or TWIP.)  In fact, as I type this, the latest TWIP podcast is playing in the background… kind of an obsession for him.  The TWIP guys all swear by Drobo and it also came highly recommended through photography and tech blogs, so the more I researched it, the more I decided that it was worth the investment.

What is Drobo?  Well, I’m not really an expert on what exactly goes on inside it, but from what I understand, the Drobo is an iron-clad expandable storage solution which double-secures his pictures.  If one hard drive fails, a second one jumps in and takes over so no data is lost – ever.  It’s the safest and easiest way to protect Henry’s files.  To start with, we got two 1TB SATA drives (energy efficient too!), but we have the ability to swap them out for larger drives or add more (our Drobo has 4 drive slots) at any time.  Which was a major plus for me because I wanted to invest in something that would be able to grow with him.

If Henry wanted to, he could stick a 4TB drive into each of those spots and have more storage than he could anticipate needing for quite some time.  Drives are relatively inexpensive (right now, a 2TB drive will run you around $100 on Amazon… but prices are constantly dropping as the technology evolves), so upgrading  one pair of drives at a time in the future won’t cost us too much at once.  The Drobo itself retails for $300 to $1,000+ depending on the model you get (that’s without drives), so it is a bit of an up-front cost – but we think it’s a small price to pay for peace of mind.  I cut a check for $450 every six months for my car insurance (which thankfully I’ve never had to use), and this is no different.  The Drobo is like insurance for Henry’s photography career – except it’s more of a one-time cost.  

We’ve only had the Drobo set up since Wednesday, but so far it’s been working like a charm.  The sleek black box sits on Henry’s desk and just does its thing without any effort on our part.  (It looks kind of cool, too.)  Now that he knows his files are 100% safe over there, Henry is able to free up more space on his computer, making everything run smoother and faster.

Different Drobo models have bonus options like networking and sharing between computers, but we opted to keep the Drobo on Henry’s computer only.  At first, Henry thought it was important to hook my computer into it too, but the difference in price between the models was more than I could justify spending to save my work on it as well. 

BUT, I realized that I couldn’t go without my own backup either.  At the recommendation of a co-worker, I ordered a copy of “My So-Called Freelance Life“ - a book all about successful freelancing for women… and one of the first chapters stresses that rather than set yourself up with cute desk calendars and fun mousepads, your first priority should be securing your work.  After reading that, I felt a little guilty looking at my side of the office… with my cute lamp, fun storage boxes, artwork, and other cool personal effects – I realized that I’d done myself wrong.  My office looks pretty cool, but what matters most is what I do there.  (I’m only about halfway through the book, but I highly recommend it for anyone trying to balance life and work at home – whether full time or in your spare time.  It’s a good read with a lot of humor and some very practical advice.)

As luck would have it, that same day the Amazon Gold Box deal happened to be a 1TB external hard drive, on sale for $20 off.  Score!  Not wanting to be outdone by Henry’s Drobo, I promptly claimed my order before the deal expired without a second thought.  It arrived three days later, and now it’s hard at work backing up my computer automatically as well.  While it’s not nearly as secure as Henry’s Drobo (if it fails, it’s curtains for whatever was on it), but it’s better than nothing.  And you can’t beat the price at only $60…

(Oh yeah, and don’t worry – I took the time to label all of my cords so I know what’s supposed to be connected to what.  …I shouldn’t ever have another cord mix up again.)

I guess you could say this week we’ve cornered the market on “synchronized geeking” with our excitement over dual backup investments.   Sure, they’re just storage devices – but given my affinity for safety and organizational systems, I couldn’t be happier.  So now it’s time to wrap this up and get to work!

From the outside, the Kennedy School stands exactly as it did when it was opened in 1915, and from the inside it’s mostly intact as well (as I understand from all the old photographs on the walls) - except no more pencils, no more books, and especially, no more teachers’ dirty looks. 

After closing down in 1975, The Kennedy School was purchased and reopened in 1997 by none other than Portland’s own McMenamin’s.  The school has been converted into a geeky traveler’s dream complete with 35 classrooms-turned-guestrooms, an onsite Brewery, a full restaurant, a movie theater showing second-run movies (tickets are free during your stay), an outdoor saltwater soaking pool (where the old teacher’s lounge stood), large meeting spaces (there were private events being held in the “gymnasium” while we were there) - oh yeah and not one, not two, but FIVE bars.  Yep, this is one cool school.

When we first arrived at The Kennedy School I felt like an excited kid on the first day of school.  The entrance from the parking lot greeted us with a painted welcome sign that set the tone for our stay.  So many bright paintings covered every wall that my eyes didn’t know where to look first.  I was totally overwhelmed by the fun of it all.

We wandered the halls with our bags, admiring the artwork along the way, and wondering where we were supposed to go to check in.  After a few wrong turns we rounded a corner and I saw the sign: Principal’s Office… well of course! 

Our room was the school’s original music room!  Quite fitting for the basson-playing high school band geek that I once was.  All the 35 rooms at The Kennedy School are themed – some are named in honor of teachers who taught there for many years, some are named after the room’s purpose (like the music room), and some are just themed historically to match the old school theme.

Our room came equipped with an old chalkboard that spanned the entire far wall… and we just had to leave our mark.  Another cool feature of the room was the absence of the TV – which we didn’t miss at all.  Who needs a TV when you have a chalkboard for playing hangman and 5 bars right outside your door?

The room was also furnished with really neat vintage accessories like a pair of these cool fringed lamps.

Another surprising detail I found in our room: two pint glasses and a mason jar for water – so offbeat and cute.

My new “Mary Poppins Bag” fit in so well with the decor of the room that I had to have Henry snap a quick pic.  It was the perfect traveler for our trip… and even though it looks small I was able to pack more in my bag than Henry could fit in his suitcase.  After all my clothes and three pairs of shoes, I think I still had room for a hat stand and a floor lamp.

After we’d gotten settled in and enjoyed dinner at the somewhat nearby Le Bistro Montage (the best Mac n’ Cheese Portland has to offer, with leftovers wrapped into tin foil sculptures) we went back to go explore our home for the night. 

The halls of The Kennedy School are lit by authentic schoolhouse fixtures, topped with hole-y acoustical ceiling tiles (just like the kind kids at my school used to throw pencils at so they’d stick suspended from the ceiling), and accented with thick wood trim.  I’m not sure what parts of the school are original fixtures and what have been recreated or restored – but I don’t care because the whole place feels “right.”  McMenamin’s did an amazing job of giving this facility a quirky new life.  Not only that, but they collected historical materials like pictures of classes from the ’50s standing on the school’s front steps, with kids proudly holding the birdhouse projects they built – right there in the same spot I was standing, generations later.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that the price to stay here is LESS than most hotels in downtown Portland?  Yep, for just $130 a night you can stay in one truly unique place.  Sure, it’s outside of the downtown area, but with five bars, a restaurant, movie theater, and more – The Kennedy School has all you need for a fun night.

We thought about going to “Detention,” but the cigar smoking made us think twice… *hack, cough, wheeze* …no thanks.  Instead, we hung out in The Boiler Room, The Cypress Room, and the Honors Bar.  Every room of course has a blackboard menu for the day’s specials.

At about 9:30pm it was time for that night’s movie to start so we headed over to the old auditorium to catch our free showing of ’Hot Tub Time Machine.’  The cost of admission for locals not staying the night is only $3 ($2 on Tuesdays) - a steal as compared to the $10.50 per person that we typically spend on movie tickets. If we lived in Portland, I think I’d exclusively go to movies here.  The theater has its own bar and serves pizza, popcorn, and other snacks.  Inside the auditorium are rows of old vintage loveseats and antique sofa tables.  Henry and I snuggled into an oversized purple couch with our pints of beer and a little tub of popcorn.  The movie was funny and the ambiance was comfortable.  Why don’t more movie theaters serve beer?

The next morning, as we walked out of our room to check out, I just happened to look up and notice this pair of little paintings on the pipes along the ceiling. 

I think that’s what I loved most about The Kennedy School - their attention to every detail makes the place so special and fun.  All in all, our stay at The Kennedy School was a fantastic experience filled with surprises around every corner.  Henry and I can’t wait to go back someday! 

I did a quick google search for ways to say goodbye in many languages, and came up with a whole list from Russian to Chinese (but it’s all Greek to me.)  Then I typed the words into my cupcake flag template and started designing the new flags.

On the backside of the flags, I drew little suitcases, airplanes, and heart balloons.

Then I simply printed, sliced, folded, and glued the flags around toothpicks.  A super easy DIY project for any occasion.

Of all the ways to say goodbye, I think this was my favorite.  Star Trek and cupcakes… is there anything more nerdy/awesome than that?

If you’d like to make your own goodbye cupcakes, you can download a printable pdf of the flags right here!

Open The “Goodbye” Cupcake Flags PDF

And since I’m pretty sure the Live Long and Prosper cupcake flags will probably be in higher demand, you can download a sheet of just the Vulcan cupcakes right here!

Open The “Live Long And Prosper” Cupcake PDF

As always, big thanks to my wonderful husband Henry for taking the pictures!

Happy Shark Week everyone!  This year I decided to mark the occasion with some very festive cupcakes.

The fins are made from dark chocolate fondant, rolled to about 1/4″ thick and cut into shark fin shapes free-hand.  I laid the fins on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and popped them in the freezer for about 20 minutes to harden.  After they were good and solid, I took them out and brushed each one with silver and iridescent blue edible “pearl dust” (available at cake supply stores or in the cake aisle at Michael’s craft store.)

Why is it that Shark Week only comes once a year?…  *Sigh*

Big thanks to Henry for taking these pics!