Visit to the beautiful Columbia River Gorge

Inspired by an article in the New York Times and glorious sunny weather on Saturday we decided to drive down to the Washington-Oregon border for a visit to the Columbia River Gorge. The brilliant foliage and views of the gorge made the three hour drive absolutely worth it!

We started on the Washington side, winding our way east along the river and drove along Highway 14 through cottonwoods, gold-colored bigleaf and fiery-red vine maples, groves of lichen-covered red alders, and a smattering of ash, wild cherry and white oak. We stopped at Cape Horn viewpoint, a a massive basalt cliff where the above photo was taken, for a breath-taking view of the Columbia River Gorge and again further down at the towering Beacon Rock, before heading over the Bridge of the Gods, appropriately named, given its stunning panoramic views of the gorge. On the Oregon side, we made our way west toward Portland on the Historic Columbia River Highway (Highway 30) winding its narrow, twisting way through deciduous canopies so dense that it feels like perpetual dusk, the road, lined with old, moss-covered stone railings, passes by no fewer than seven waterfalls (we stopped at Horsetail falls, Multnomah falls, Wahkeena falls and Latourell falls).

Afterwards we made a detour and drove to the top of Larch Mountain, stopping on the way at Crown Point for another breath-taking view of the Columbia River Gorge (this time from the Oregon side), then proceeding to the to the summit for a short hike to Sherrard Point and an amazing 360-degree view, which since we were lucky to be there on a clear autumn day included the peaks of Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson. As the sun moved lower toward the western horizon, Mt. St. Helens faded into dusk followed by Mt. Rainier while Mt. Hood's snow covered sides towering in front of us were set ablaze by the setting sun. A treat indeed!

We had clear skies into the night and a full moon followed us all the way home. Later in the evening we noticed that it had a surreal halo and as the temperature dropped nearly to a freezing point we stood in the backyard for just a few minutes longer, mesmerized by its silvery glow.

Fabulous performance of Iphigénie en Tauride at the Seattle Opera

Iphigénie en Tauride (Iphigeneia in Tauris), an opera by Christoph Willibald (von) Gluck in four acts, premiered in Paris on May 18, 1779. The French libretto was written by Nicolas-François Guillard. Although, Gluck produced a German version in 1781, this somewhat altered version has generally been seen as inferior, hence the Paris 1779 version has been the one usually performed and recorded.

Soprano Nuccia Focile (Iphigenia), tenor William Burden (Pylades) and baritone Brett Polegato (Orestes) delivered beautiful and powerful performances. The set, mainly consisting of the temple of Diana with dark red walls, wall torches casting dancing shadows and a long bas-relief, along with simple but highly effective lighting design and colorful costumes, again mostly in deep reds and golds, and the addition of the dreamy sounding harpsichord made this a captivating and thoroughly enjoyable performance.

The much neglected Iphigénie en Tauride premiered in Seattle last weekend to rave reviews. It is a co-production with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, which gave the opera its first American performance in 1916. Following the run at the Seattle Opera, it will travel back to New York (literally in five semi-trailers) and opens at the Met on November 27. As Seattlest put it: It's going to be a hot ticket in Gotham, and we saw it here first.

Read the synopsis, view the photos or a preview.

Orhan Pamuk in Seattle!

It was an absolute treat to attend a lecture by Turkish writer and 2006 Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk on Monday at Seattle's Bennaroya Hall, which kicked off the 20th anniversary Literary Lecture Series from Seattle Arts and Lectures. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience - a combination of prepared remarks and readings, spontaneous and often humorous stories and colorful responses to audience questions. Pamuk is one of my favorite writers and I discovered him a few years ago, first through Snow and then through My Name is Red. I enjoyed both books immensely. The newest addition to my bookshelf is an autographed copy of Istanbul which is now patiently waiting its turn. Since then he has been awarded the the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature and became much more prominently known in the West.

He also gave an interview to the local PBS station KUOW (you can skip the first three minutes or so, it was during a "begathon").

Hiking, Mozart and Utsav all in one weekend!

On Saturday we were off to a great start - excited to get a break in the weather and a gorgeous autumn day, we decided to go hiking. First we hiked the quiet Preston-Snoqualmie trail, culminating in a spectacular view of Snoqualmie Falls from the opposite side of the gorge, followed by a visit to the falls and a steep trek down to the lower observation deck, along with herds of tourists (it's not one of the most popular scenic attractions for nothing!).

On Saturday evening we attended a performances of Mozart's Requiem, one of our favorite classical pieces. Omoni (Hoon's mom) is still visiting and we decided to treat her to a performance at the Seattle Symphony. As with all great choral pieces, it is an amazing experience to hear such a hauntingly beautiful masterpiece in a powerful live performance.

And then there was Utsav 2007, Seattle's 4th annual South Asian Performing Arts Festival. Although we didn't make it to any of the free performances at the Seattle Center during the weekend, I convinced Hoon to accompany me on Sunday evening to Utsav's concluding performance at the MOHAI McEachern Auditorium.

First we enjoyed a very interesting performance of Carnatic music of South India entitled Tala Vadya Kacheri by a drum ensemble led by Ravi Balasubramanian with Vinod Seetharaman and Kuntal Roy. The performance was not only enjoyable but very educational. We learnt about various percussion instruments including ghatam (an earthenware pot), mridangam and tabla, as well as Carnatic violin and tambura. It was very helpful to hear the detailed explanations regarding raga (melodic modes), tala (beat), sruti (melodic pitch) and swara (solfege) used in Carnatic style of Indian classical music. It was interesting to see Ravi play ghatam not only as a percussion instrument as is traditionally done, but also play seven different ghatam in combination, using them in an innovative way as a musical scale. We enjoyed a number of spirited improvisations culminating in a thunderous finale.

Following a short break we enjoyed a fantastic performance of Indian classical dance in the style of Odissi by Sreyashi Dey and her twin daughters Ishika and Kritika Rajan of Srishti Dances of India, a Pittsburgh based dance company. Sreyashi's performances were mesmerizing particularly because this style of dance is marked by sensuousness and lyricism, further accentuated by her soft, graceful and flowing movements and incredibly expressive facial expressions. We were treated to six incredible performances beginning with Naba Durga then continuing on to various pieces ranging from pure classical Odissi to new and innovative choreographies drawing from the old traditions.

Mt. Rainier at sunrise this morning

Absolutely loved this!

A few of my other favorite in PEMCO's new ad campaign... Enjoy!
#17 - Obsessive-compulsive recycler
#78 - Gluten-free no-refined-sugar lady
#12 - Ponytailed software geek
#56 - Sandals and socks guy

Our parents finally visit Seattle

It's hard to believe that just a few hours ago I put my parents on a return flight to Ithaca! These five days passed by so quickly but as they say time flies when you're having fun. It was good to see them after such a long time. Apart from a short one-day visit while I was in Montreal on business in July, it has been just over a year since we had all last seen each other. Hoon's mom is also visiting us now and they had not seen each other in a few years. This was a first visit to Seattle for all three of them so we spent most of the time visiting Seattle's landmarks, such as Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, Seattle Asian Art Museum, and of course strolling around the city. We also went for two excursions outside of the city: a four hour adventure to the Tillicum Village which included a cruise on Elliott Bay, traditional Indian-style salmon buffet meal and Northwest Coast Native American dance performance, and a visit to Leavenworth Bavarian Village for the annual Autumn Leaf Festival, complete with a parade, traditional Bavarian costumes, dancing and a delicious lunch of Bratwurst and Sauerkraut. It made the Slovenian side of the family remember the countless "veselice" (literally "festive celebrations" in Slovenian) we had been to as children.

Hoon and I are adventurous in a culinary sense as well so we shared with our parents some of our Seattle favorites... Dahlia Bakery for bread and pies, Caffe Ladro for coffee, Etta's for seafood, Shiro's for sushi, Spice Route for Indian. I'm still very excited that my dad, who is still to a large extent a "meat and potatoes" kinda guy tried sushi and enjoyed it!

See more photos here.