Esteemed guests.

Hello Blog World, Baxter here.  Just preparing for our esteemed guests arrival with a few of the Christmas stuffies.  We have a little bear who has a Santa complex and Monsieur Mouse another Christmas stuffy.  These two are my welcoming comittee.

"Argg, my back".  

"I know, I know.  Where is Little Fox?  The customs agent told us to wait here and Little Fox isn't anywhere to be seen".

"Hiya gang, a little trouble with customs for me but I made it through without any problems.  Welcome to the US."

"Let's see where my pals are.  Baxter texted me and said he was planning a little arrival party."

Baxter here, let me do some intros.  I'm Baxter, this big mouse is Monsieur Mouse, and you must be Cocoa and Navy Beanie.  

Baxter here. I have been slaving away at a welcoming gift.  First is the cheese course. I hope you like it.

"Is that Tillamook cheese and Rogue Creamery Blue Cheese?"  
"Let's dig in," said Monsieur Mouse. 

 

After the cheese course we went straight to dessert.  Lemon Poppyseed Cake. 

Baxter went to get the ice cream while he made the rest of us wait for our dessert.

Holy Cow, they are arriving early!!!!

 Baxter here.  What is going on with Canada Goose Air?  Little Fox's plane is arriving soon.  I thought he would be spending more time in LA on his way back home, but just the weekend.  Time to get this place cleaned up.

Okay team, let's divide and conquer.

Drunk Fox: Clean up the kitchen and stock the fridge with healthy snacks.

Reindeer: Get to the store and get some good cheese. I hear LF is bringing some friends and they like cheese. 

Raccoon, Moose, and Bear:  Our visitors experienced trauma many years ago during a tsunami so I want you three to be on your best behavior.  Got it?

Me, I'll go back to the vacuuming and general cleaning.

Time to get the house in shape as the party is set to begin.

A quick downtown exploration

 Hiya Gang,
Baxter here today.  The weather has been so cooperative and downtown is so festive for the holidays it seemed like a natural activity.

First up is checking out the Christmas displays at the fancy hotels.  This is a nice tree. 

Every year the baking crew at the Benson Hotel do an elaborate gingerbread scene.  This is by far my favorite.  

Anyone recognize this castle?

Pioneer Courthouse looks majestic. 

The cities tree is decked out to the nines.

Of course no trip to downtown would be complete without visiting the roommates favorite public art. 

Hope your holiday preparations are going smoothly. 

Baxter's adventure in Tacoma (part 2)

 Hello Blog readers, as you might remember my plan to look for free public art by Dale Chihuly was not as fruitful as planner.

That's ok, this bear can readjust.  First, take  a brain break, time to play some pinball.  That ought to take my mind off of the failed exploration.

Ajdin would like this machine.

I decided to continue looking at free art and went to the Mcmenamins Elks Lodge in Tacoma.  McMenamins is know for lots of art to look at in their restaurants.

Ooh, a scavenger hunt.  This is right up my alley.

Nope, this isn't it.  Comfy chairs in the lobby :)

Nope, no little green men but I like the animals in the upper left corner. 

Argg, someone save me. 

Maybe I should go outside to explore. 

Aha! Found it. Time to celebrate with a beer. 

Wait, where the pictures? Well, you know....humans do I need to say more?

What a nice day, time to take a walk back to the bus station and head back to the cottage.

If you ever get a chance to vistit Tacoma you have to go. It's a beautiful city. 

This fox is hungry.  Perhaps the humans will stop at Burger Ranch for dinner?  According to this sign they have the best fish (makes sense, right???)

No Burger Ranch but we did get some great Vietnamese food at a local spot in town.  Plus saw some cool glass (not Chihuly) art lit up at night. 

Thanks Tacoma for a great weekend.  

Baxter's adventure in Tacoma

 Hiya Gang,
Baxter here. This post is a tad outdated (shocker) but I'm in Tacoma for Veteran's day weekend. First up is a night of German beer and food at a new German based beer pub in town.  I like the mugs but my roommates said they were too expensive to buy me.  Hmm, maybe after a few drinks they might change their minds....

Nope. No mug for me.  The next day we started bright and early and took the bus to downtown. The bus was pretty empty but that works for me as I got my choice of seats.  Today's  adventure is to find all the public (I.e. Free) Dale Chihuly glass around town.

Chihuly grew up in Tacoma and studied extensively in the area.  He has been instrumental in getting more glass artists to the area.  He's definitely a local icon. 

The humans found the tour online from many years ago.  It starts at the Tacoma Art Museum and I know this isn't a piece of Chihuly glass but it certainly speaks to me.  

Stop 1 is the Union Station.  There are like three or four installations inside but it's no longer a train station (it's the federal courthouse) so unfortunately it's closed on Saturday. 

The back of union station looks cool.  This bear wishes it was still a train station.

The bridge of glass is pretty amazing.  There are a few Chihuly installations. 

Here are a few professional pictures of the bridge. 

Next stop is the University Library to see a chandelier that he created.

Hey, where's the picture?  Well, of course the library is closed today.  Off to the Swiss Restaurant.  Rumor has it that when  Chihuly was installing some features nearby he and his team would eat lunch or have a drink after work at the Swiss Restaurant.  He liked it so much that he gave them some of his work to display. 

 

Hey, the restaurant closed during the pandemic.  Sigh, no glass art to view.

This bear needs to rethink his Tacoma adventure. Stay tuned. 

Baxter's choice part 2

 Hello Blog World.

Baxter here again.  Hope Halloween treated y'all well.  As you might recall my last adventure took me to the Tillamook State Forest and a nice fall hike on at the forest center.

30 miles west is the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  Here's the old building (before the remodel). The Co-op has been around since the early 1900s and still owned by about 100 farmer families (wouldn't it be nice to be one of those descendants???).   

Goodbye old building, hello new. Of course there were a ton more people than this picture shows. The new building is nice, it focuses on 4 things: 1) Cheese making process 2) Ice Cream Sales 3) Food sales (think cheeseburger, grilled cheese, mac and cheese) and 4) Tillamook products to take home.

They were packaging cheese today which is unusual on a Saturday. Today they are packing their cheddar and their sharp cheddar. 

The line was moving pretty fast till break time at 2pm when the floor emptied.  That's ok, cheese workers need their breaks too. 

The pandemic has changed a few things at the tour.  Now the cheese samples are pre-packaged but they still have the free samples.  The humans and I were too busy collecting the cheese samples that they were not able to get any pictures of me. 

The line for the food was crazy long but the line for the ice cream was super short.  The heck with lunch, time to get some ice cream.  They have a ton of flavors but I settled on a 3 ice cream "flight" with Oregon Dark Cherry (gotta support the home team), Monster Cookies (think Cookies and Cream with M+Ms candy) and a seasonal flavor Campfire Smores.

No more time to blog, must eat before it all melts.
Baxter out. 

Baxter's Choice part 1

 Hiya Gang,
Baxter here in charge of the blog for a while while LF is off visiting his pal up north.   Sandy and him have been having lots of fun adventures....enough about them today is all about me.  

First up is a hike along the Wilson River in the state forest.  Ok, this day is partly orchestrated by the humans but the last part is pure Baxter.  A nice fall day at the forest center but in reality the forest center is just a starting off point for our hike. 

Fall is short in Oregon but the colors never disappoint. 

The forest center had a mushroom class going on today, maybe I should ask if this is an edible one.  I'm guessing no.

Can you see the river in the background?

During the right time of year this section of river is full of anglers looking to get some fresh seafood (Chinook Salmon). A few anglers out today but we are a little too far from the Tillamook Bay where most of the action is. 

.

A little waterfall along the way back. 

Onward to our next stop.  Hint, it involves cows, cheese, and ice cream and it's near the Tillamook Bay.  Any guesses? 

Jerry and Ben's Halloween Contest

 Hiya Gang,

Time for our entry to the annual Halloween Contest hosted by our friendly Midwestern bears Jerry and Ben. 

Baxter here and my co-host today is the one and only Easter Bunny.  Since it's near Halloween the Easter Bunny doesn't really have much to do so he's decided to help out.

The treat for the contest is going to take some time.  Our goal is a candy corn martini.  

This is the professional picture off the website, we'll see how ours compares.

As any good mixologist knows a perfect cocktail starts off with only the best ingredients.  Brachs Candy Corn.  

So far so good, that is until the Easter Bunny pulled out the vodka.  As you can see we have Burnett's Whipped Cream vodka (this drink is going to be sweet). 

Apparently, this whole jug of vodka only cost $10.99.  Well, at least the candy corn are good quality.

Ok, let's get down to business.  5 ounces of vodka, plus 1/4 cup candy corn (plus a little extra to satisfy the bartenders) and we're off. 

As you can see, the Easter Bunny really likes candy corn (makes sense being a bunny and all).  Infuse the vodka with the candy corn, wait 24 hours and then start making the drink. 

Fast forward 24 hours:  The candy corns have dissolved in the vodka.

"This drink is going to be sweet, not cool but sugary" Easter Bunny replied.

"Yep" agreed Baxter.

Time to layer 2 ounces of the vodka mix with a couple of ounces of pineapple juice.

"Looks like carrot juice" 

 

"What is the final step again Baxter?"

"Whipped Cream!!!!" 

Of course it's time to compare our concoction to the picture from the internet.  

"Our layering is off and we need more whipped cream.  But not a bad first attempt eh Easter Bunny?"

"More whipped cream for sure and a scattering of candy corns might help."

Editor note:  The humans consumed the rest of the candy corn with glee. 

Thanks for hosting the contest Jerry and Ben.  Please accept this cocktail as our entrance into the snack division for the 2023 content.
Baxter & Easter Bunny.