On the Virtues of Meeting Old friends for the First Time

Mark (L) and Rodger

My trip to the Pacific Northwest took me from Portland to Seattle. Driving north from our detour to Cape Disappointment, Vincent and I ended up at our hotel in Seattle, just a few blocks from Pike Street Market.

The fish stall at Pike Street Market This picture is especially for Celeste

We visited Erin at Woodland Park Zoo. They and the Oregon Zoo collaborate on rearing Oregon Silverspot butterflies. Their techniques are similar. They house the females in paper bags where they lay eggs. We had the opportunity to view their procedure for feeding them.

Each bag contains one gravid female who will lay up to 500 eggs

A silverspot inside of the egg laying cage

Feeding the silverspots. The feet are first diped in water (petri dish on the left), then the butterfly is placed on a cotton ball soaked in sugar water. Note that her proboscis is extended into the cotton ball.

We visited the insectarium at Woodland Park. It's a very nice facility with interesting insects that are well displayed.

In the Insectarium.
Vincent interviews a walking stick.

After learning all that we could about breeding butterflies the Pacific Northwest way (and having our world rocked in the process), Vincent and I said goodbye to Erin. I jumped on the evening train back to Portland, where I spent the weekend with blogging friends Mark and Rodger. I've known them since I started blogging. Rodger commented on my very first post, and Mark showed up shortly thereafter. I've wanted to meet them in person since the outset, and now I finally have.

They picked me up at the airport and whisked me up to their beautiful home in the hills above Portland. We spent the evening drinking wine and (inspired by a comment from Homer) gossiping about other bloggers, especially UrSpo, about whom they now know everything.

On Saturday Morning, we walked through the foggy hills of Forest Park. There were lots of cool mushrooms.

Portland shrooms

For the afternoon we headed towards the coast and Tillamook, famous for its cheese. We bought cheese curds, and really good ice cream. I had huckleberry, Mark had German Chocolate, and Rodger had something with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in it. The cheesemaking operation was interesting, but didn't teach me much that I could apply to my own work. I'm not planning on industrial-scale cheesemaking any time soon.

After cheese, we went back to the river. I photographed insects, including a really cool woolly bear, while Mac the wonder dog swam and chased sticks. He's a total sweetie.

West Coast woolly bear

Mac!
He's more fun to pet when he's dry.

Saturday night it was back home for Mark's amazing egg enchiladas, more conversation and more wine. On the way to the airport on Sunday, I realized that not only was I sorry to be parting company so quickly, I felt as though I have known Mark and Rodger a lot longer than the two years I've been blogging. They are wonderful people and excellent hosts. I've grown very fond of them.