iSawNEWS » Oregon

Couples Retreat – The Case for Vacation Therapy

Admin — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:27:39 +0000

Couples Retreat may have topped the box office with $35.3m over the opening weekend, but it doesn’t really make the case for vacation therapy.

In fact, this Vince Vaughn starrer goes the other way – and suggests that the best way to save your marriage is to escape from the wacky Couples Retreat staff and the weird yoga techniques (filmed at the St. Regis Resort in Bora Bora). You end up at a singles resort instead, get sloshed, scream and shout at your spouse and then a round of make-up sex solves all your problems.

The movie is barely worth the price of the ticket, but don’t let it change your mind about vacation therapy, which is actually quite effective. Much more effective than endless visits to a therapist in the city or getting a Maine Coon as a therapy cat to keep you calm.

Vacations are by definition therapeutic – since you get some change and leave behind your worries and daily duties. But what we’re talking about here is something more than an ordinary vacation. We’re talking therapy sessions, mind-body cleansing, healthy food and a retreat from the rat-race and the wired world.

Take, for example, a company named Cornerstone Vacation Therapy. Cornerstone offers a weekend of professional therapy with your counselor and family, combined with a getaway in Government Camp, Oregon. Michael Strub, the Principal behind the service, has over 20 years of experience counseling adults, couples, families, and children.

In real life, here’s where the stars in Hollywood go for effective ‘vacation therapy.’

Canyon Ranch Resort & Hotel, Miami Beach, FL - In their own words, ’it’s a state of mind and a way of life.’ Relax and find greater balance in your life through fitness, nutrition and healthy lifestyle. They also have sister properties in Tucson and in Lenox, MA.

Cal-a-Vie health spa vacation retreat, San Diego, CA - An exquisite oasis sheltered from the rush and competition of daily life, Cal-a-Vie is a serene French village in northern San Diego County, nestled away on 200 private acres.

Rancho Valencia, Rancho Santa Fe, CA – Year-round retreat from the conventional routines of everyday life. It’s no big deal to find A-list Hollywood celebs and their guests enjoying the discreet luxury in one of the enclosed poolside cabanas with the outdoor grill, fireplace and table for eight.

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Oregon suspends RB LeGarrette Blount for season (AP)

Admin — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 01:55:48 +0000

AP – A day after Oregon’s college football season opened, it ended for running back LeGarrette Blount. Blount was suspended for all remaining games on Friday for punching Boise State defensive end Byron Hout in the jaw following the 16th-ranked Ducks’ 19-8 loss to the 14th-ranked Broncos the night before.

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Video: Some of the best punches in sports history (Los Angeles Times)

Admin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:55:02 +0000

LeGarrette Blount of Oregon is the talk of the sports world today thanks to his sucker punch of a Boise State player during Thursday night’s loss.
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Pac-10 reviewing Oregon RB Blount’s actions (AP)

Admin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:54:59 +0000

AP – The Pac-10 Conference will review tape of a punch thrown by Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount following the Ducks’ loss to Boise State in the season opener Thursday night.

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Tempers flare as Broncos bully Ducks in 19-8 win (AP)

Admin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 11:53:45 +0000

AP – Four quarters of getting flustered by the guys in blue finally made Oregon’s LeGarrette Blount snap.

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Negotiating Vacations with Adult Children

Admin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:03:15 +0000

When our kids were small, there was no question about who paid for stuff. Air fare, entrance fees, food, lodging, and “Can I have it’s,” all subsidized by dear ol’ Mum and Dad. We made sure the budget accounted for that, so we tended to head toward less exotic destinations, which were less expensive to achieve. A trip to Maine, where we stayed with my family. A long weekend in Utah for some epic skiing. Road trips over to San Diego for three or four days. And we went camping a lot.

Me and the kids in Maine in '98.

When our son entered the military, and it was just me, my husband, and our daughter, we were able to branch out a little more. The three of us took a trip to Vancouver, BC, we spent a week driving up the Pacific Coast Highway from LA to San Francisco, and we spent ten days in Hawaii.

My husband, parasailing in Hawaii in '03.

Then our daughter moved out, too, and my husband and I indulged in a couple of lovely vacations, just the two of us. A trip to Maine, where we stayed in the Old Port section of downtown Portland. A long weekend in Oregon. And, this summer, our Epic Road Trip to Yellowstone and surrounding destinations.

Me and my husband in Maine, '07.

Lately, my husband has been waxing nostalgic. The kids are grown, and we don’t spend as much time with them as we used to. We see them less often (as in, a couple of times a week – they each live within a few miles of us), and we have fewer opportunities to make family memories. So we’ve been talking about planning a family vacation, with our now-grown kids, and their significant others.

The company I work for very kindly offers its employees a two-month sabbatical every seven years. Mine (my second!) is scheduled for next June and July. My husband and I have started conversing about what we’d like to do during that time. I know for certain that I’m making another trip back home to Maine, and we’d both like to get back to Hawaii again.

The kids when they were little.

It’s the Hawaii trip that my husband wants everyone to go on, together. If he had his druthers (and if we had a bottomless bag of money) we’d pay for everything and treat the kids and their SO’s to a great and memorable vacation.

I, being the money mistress of the household, am rather more pragmatic.

It’s my intention to have the kids pay for some of the expenses, themselves. The question is, how much do we cover to ensure we all get there and have a good time, and how much do we make them cover so that we don’t break our bank account? It’s a delicate balance between my husband’s, “We’ll take care of it,” attitude, and my own, “They’re grown-ups, they can pay for their own stuff,” frame of mind.

The kids skiing in Utah in '99.

So here’s what we’ve decided. My husband and I will pay for airfare for ourselves, our son (who is 26), and our daughter (who is 21). Our son’s girlfriend and our daughter’s boyfriend will need to cover their own airfare. My husband and I will pay for the lodging for all six of us (a condo, we’re thinking, so we can make our own meals), one rental car, one fancy dinner (I’m thinking a luau), basic groceries for the week, and one activity we can do as a family (para-sailing, snorkeling, etc).

If the kids want a rental car for themselves, they’ll have to cover the expense. If they want to do activities every day (shopping, a helicopter tour, etc. etc. – there’s fifty million ways to spend money in Hawaii), they’ll have to cover the expense. If they want to eat out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it’s on them to pay for it.

Basically, we’ll get them there, and we’ll put a roof over their head, but they’re on their own for everything else.

Maui Palm Trees, Big Beach '03

So here’s the process we’re going through, to handle the negotiations with the kids.

1. Plan as far ahead as possible. Notice that it’s July 2009, and we’re planning our trip for June 2010. This gives the kids nearly a year to save or otherwise prepare for the trip.

2. Make sure they understand and agree to the plan up front. If they don’t save enough money, they can’t go. Simple as that. They’re getting a smokin’ deal and they need to be aware of that. They need to be mature enough to understand that Mum and Dad can’t subsidize them forever.

3. Figure out a conservative budget. The kids need to know how much savings they need to shoot for. A plane ticket can be upwards of $800. A car rental for a week can go for $600 or more. Food is incredibly expensive in Hawaii – you can spend up to $100 a day per person.

4. Plan status checks on a regular basis. Make sure the kids are marching toward their savings goal. You know how they tend to save everything for the last minute – well, they won’t be able to save what they need in a month’s time. You might even want to consider (as I am) holding the money FOR them, as they save it.

5. Be prepared to say, “No.” If, after all of your planning and checking and reminding, the kids still aren’t stepping up to their monetary responsibilities, you might have to have a tough conversation with them. Perhaps their boyfriend or girlfriend can’t afford the airfare – the kids will have to decide if they’ll go anyway, or stay behind. Or, perhaps one of the kids arrives in Hawaii to find they have no extra spending money whatsoever. Well, then, they’ll just have to plant their butt on the beach and enjoy the free sunshine and swimming, while the rest of us go off and do the stuff we saved our money for. Poor, neglected darling.

My husband and daughter

That last one will be hardest for my husband to stick to, I think – all our daughter has to do is bat her pretty green eyes and call him “Daddy”, and she gets pretty much anything she wants. I can see it happening – oh yes, I can. But, hopefully, with a little luck and a lot of planning, we can pull of a great vacation with our grown-up children, with no fighting and no drama, and everyone pitching in to cover their share of the expenses.

Okay, make that, “…with a LOT of luck”.

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What I learned while planning our road trip

Admin — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:21:32 +0000

I’ve written four entries over the past couple of weeks that detailed the experience I had planning our Epic Summer Road Trip. During the course of my planning I learned some things that I’d like to pass on to you, gentle readers.

Plan your route. That may seem a bit obvious, but while a favorite saying of my home state of Maine is, “You can’t get there from here,” there are actually a LOT of ways to get EVERYWHERE. So know which way you want to go. And consider taking a different route coming home than you took getting to your destination.
Buy an actual physical map, or a road atlas, so you can see both ends of your route at once. GPS is all well and good, MapQuest and Google Maps will get you there (usually), but it’s always best to have an actual map of the state you’re travelling through. Especially for taking scenic detours.
When on-line reservations fail you, try picking up an actual phone and talking to a real, live person. As was the case for my Old Faithful Inn reservations, even if the on-line system says the place is fully booked, often times you can still reserve rooms directly with the reservations representative.
Consider renting a car instead of driving your own. If your vacation budget allows for it, renting a car can save a road-tripper a lot of anxiety. If a rental car breaks down, the rental company obliges with a Brand! New! Vehicle! And you can continue on your merry way, with the merest inconvenience to your plans. If your own car breaks down on you, well, you’re stuck with trying to get a tow, get a repair, and/or get an alternate means of transportation SMACK in the middle of your much-anticipated vacation. Said vacation may be derailed entirely, even. Another thing to consider is gas mileage and gas prices. My personal vehicle requires premium gasoline and gets MAYBE eighteen miles to the gallon (no Green lectures, please!). The one we’re renting for our road trip gets 25 miles to the gallon and takes regular unleaded. I’m thinking the expense will be a wash, in the end.

Lists are your friend. I’m a tried and true, enthusiastic, veteran list maker of epic proportions. And I still manage to forget one or two things on every trip we go on (fortunately, none of them have been vital). Keep your list handy and write things down as you think of them. That’s how I remembered to buy a backup battery for the camera, and call our insurance company to make sure our rental car was covered under our policy. And put a stop on the mail and the newspaper delivery.
Print out e-mailed confirmations, and bring proof of pre-paid arrangements. Once or twice on a trip I’ve run into a hotel that has tried to get me to pay in full, when I’d already pre-paid one or two days in advance to hold the reservation. It’s handy to be able to whip out my credit card statement and say, “See? I already paid.” Debating with a front desk clerk when you’ve been on the road for twelve hours and JUST WANT TO GET TO YOUR ROOM ALREADY is never a fun way to kick off your vacation.
Consider the gear you own vs. the gear you’ll likely need for your activities. For instance, we’re going to Yellowstone and plan on taking a lot of pictures (A. Lot.). We have a lovely camera with a couple of good lenses, but nothing that great for telephoto or wide-angle shots. Since we know we’ll want to take photos of wildlife without, you know, sitting on the very laps of the said wildlife to get a good shot, we decided to rent a good lens from our local photography shop (a 35-350, $60 a week, if you’re curious). We also picked up a pair of binoculars from B&H for a very reasonable price. And, since our hiking boots are in a sad state, we visited our local Columbia outfitter for new ones.
Fill your prescriptions before you go. My husband and I both take a couple of prescriptions that we wouldn’t want to run out of in the middle of our trip. So I’m making a stop at the pharmacy the day before we go.
Locate the official road conditions telephone numbers for the states you’ll be travelling through. It’s nice to know in advance if there’s detours in the road ahead of you.
Trust the locals. If you’re not sure of the area and want to make the most of your experience, talking to the local residents is a great way to find those “can’t miss” opportunities. While it’s never a good idea to paint a big ol’ “tourist” target on yourself, for the most part people are trustworthy and more than happy to extol the virtues of their particular piece of Paradise.

(Photos are of some sights I’ve enjoyed on recent road trips. Hover over the pictures to read about their locations.)

My Epic Summer Road Trip series:

My fellow UpTake writers have written other excellent posts with advice and details on road trip planning:

How to Amuse Yourself on a Long Drive Alone by Britt Reints.
Eight Free Travel Games for Road Trips With Kids by Britt Reints.
Planning for a Successful Road Trip With Kids by Ed Lamaze.
Where to Pee on a Road Trip – A Survival Guide by Whit Honea.
18 Travel Tips for Planning a Road Trip by Britt Reints.

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Ore. investigators: Woman cut open, baby taken (AP)

Admin — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:23:34 +0000

AP – A once-pregnant 21-year-old newcomer to Oregon who was found dead in a crawl space of a home had been cut open and her baby taken from her womb, investigators said Monday.

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Oregon mom accused in river drowning of 4-year-old (AP)

Admin — Sun, 24 May 2009 07:14:42 +0000

AP – An Oregon mother was arrested Saturday in the drowning of her 4-year-old son after the boy and his 7-year-old sister ended up in the chilly Williamette River.
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Drinking In Elementary School

Admin — Mon, 18 May 2009 00:24:21 +0000

“And back there is the soaking pool,” said Tim, continuing the tour.

“Where?”

“Walk past the theatre and take a right,” he said, motioning with his free hand, the other holding one of the beers that they make on site.

I walked by a restaurant, pub, hotel rooms and an old meeting room before getting there.

This wasn’t your regular trip to the movies, the wood-oven baked pizza on our laps and pitchers of golden pale ale underneath the retro couch hinted at that – but then again, Bend, OR, isn’t your average town.

The McMenamin Brothers knew that. They were good at finding places like this old Catholic school. Or sheds. Barley mills. Chapels.

You get the idea.

For more than 30 years, the Portland-based duo have been taking old run-down locales and transforming them into what they call ‘Kingdoms of Fun’ – historical buildings remade into pub-based spaces that usually include three-to-four star accommodation, breweries, conference halls and more. In fact, as long as it’s ‘not too formal, too complicated or too orthodox’, they’ll probably be interested.

So should you ever be passing through the Pacific Northwest, give one a try.

Chains? Well – in theory, but it won’t be long before you – like the others before you – consider experiencing the other 44.

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