I’ve left Mattapoisett after successfully consuming two and a half pints of lobster meat along with a significant amount of fries. I have to thank the Oxford Creamery for my success, for their lobster rolls are second to none and highly addicting. One may assume that I got sick of lobster rolls after eating them for five days straight, but it’s actually quite the opposite. I’m still craving the utter pleasure of the Oxford Creamery lobster roll, for nothing else brings me the same unique tastes. I wish we had an Oxford Creamery in Seattle because any time I’m feeling a little bit down, I could have Mom just drive on over and I could scarf down a couple lobster rolls. I never appreciated the raw power that the Oxford Creamery held because my taste buds hadn’t quite matured, but with a year of traveling under my belt,  I understand why my parents constantly obsess about the Oxford Creamery lobster roll.

While we were in Mattpoisett, Terry and PopPop arranged a party with an exclusive visit by the Oxford Creamery, Oxcart, which is their version of a food truck.  This was encouraged partly by Wescott’s Great Wall Of China Blog Post with his wise comment: “My eyes have sampled holy lobster rolls from the Mattapoisett Oxford Creamery, and now just roll their eyes (pun intended) whenever you say, ‘We’re going to go down to the xyz restaurant and get some lobster rolls.’”    The Oxcart is a small trailer hauled by a pickup truck that holds a great amount of cargo considering it’s size. The Oxcart set up shop in Terry & PopPop’s driveway and we had a bash with all the blog followers that were on the east coast.  So there I sat, on my grandparents’ deck, enjoying my lobster roll and fries while looking out to Cape Cod across the wide Buzzard’s Bay.  It was at that moment that I finally understood that while I saw many things traveling,  it still can’t get much better than enjoying time with family and friends with a lobster roll in hand (and mouth)

Mom and Dad hanging out in the Oxcart

YUMMMMM!

Mom, Dad and Yve with Mom’s cousin John, Aunt Muffin and my great-grandmother, Grandfan!

Views from our table!

Outside Deck

Nepenthe is a greek word meaning anti-depressant drug. So good news depressed people, this restaurant is the cure!  But seriously, their hamburgers are in fact sublime. The fluffy bun is baked to perfection and practically melts in your mouth while the patty oozes it’s flavorful juice onto your tongue. Every bite reveals a new flavor, triggering sheer pleasure to arise. benin As your mind experiences emotions you had never discovered, you look out to the beautiful view of the open sea beyond the crackling fire, and realize the name, Nepenthe, fits this place as much as “awesome” fits Otto.

The Nepenthe Burger, worth the trip!

 Sushi Heaven. That’s not a way to describe the restaurant, that’s literally the name of it.  Maybe they just figured they’d save the trouble of describing it by making the name of the restaurant the description of the restaurant. After a plate of five rolls, my sushi pallet was broadened greatly along with my stomach.  What iI love about sushi, is the amount of flavor that is packed into one roll and Sushi Heaven took that to whole new level. Usually, all sushi, to me, tastes pretty similar, but not Sushi Heaven.

 It just so happens that we also tried making sushi ourselves in Carmel. I am still a newbie in the sushi making world, but I plan on being a master sushi chef by the end of the year.  Anyway, we made some mean rolls with the ingredients: nori, rice, carrot, cucumber, tuna, salmon, and crab.  We rolled them up in a disorderly matter with our ingredients of choice. They tasted great, but not particularly restaurant quality from the display side of things.

 We also visited a stupendous sushi restaurant in Sausalito, Sushi Ran, for Wescott’s B-day that offers Sushi Heaven some stiff competition! I’ve learned that California is, in fact, the place to go if your looking to get a killer sushi meal!

If you are near Carmel, CA, make sure you stop by Sushi Heaven on any day but Sunday!

Yve especially gets her share of the action. Everyday, at one point, she is spread out on the carpet with a sweatshirt and book. In fact Yve, the fuzzy carpet connoisseur herself, is here to tell us a bit about her profound love with the Carmel floors.

“I like carpeted floors because it’s like a cloud. Wherever you are the cloud is there, unless you have a hard wood floor somewhere. If you’re aching for a fuzzy blanket, just let your legs loose and fall to ground and the cloud will catch you!” Yve says.

Floor to floor carpeting also has its downsides. The fact that you can just lie down on the floor at any time can be a bad thing. Your laziness level at least doubles. It is almost like gravity is stronger and it’s hard not to drop to your knees and give into the power of the fuzzy carpet gods. Nice to be almost home!

Tuck and Jones spent hours playing with paper dolls they made on the carpets in Carmel!

 Jet Lag. What does that mean? When I think of jet lag I think of my sleep pattern. I’m guessing that’s what most people think of also. It was until I flew from Australia to Los Angles that I thought sleep was the only victim of a time switch.

I came to Carmel feeling normal. I had a lot of energy; I went to bed on time, and I woke up at a reasonable hour. The next day was the same way: I had a lot of energy and excited to be back on American soil. I watched Chasing Mavericks on the couch, and went to bed; although this time there was no sleep involved. I lay on my bed with my eyes forcefully shut. For some reason this guitar riff at the end of Chasing Mavericks was stuck in my head for the whole night and trust me, that’s annoying!

For your information, don’t watch any movies while recovering from a jet lag. They violently adhere to your brain, and it keeps you awake whether you liked the movie or not. I fell asleep at around five in the morning and woke up at noon. Surprisingly, I also had diarrhea. I didn’t know at the time, but this was actually linked with jet lag too. My digestive track was thrown for a loop when I ate at different times during the day. Yve even pooped whole blueberries… a fact I would have rather not known! I also had a dull, annoying, persistent headache.

So with diarrhea, a pounding headache, and a screwed up sleep pattern, 48 hours had gone by and finally I recovered so I could experience Carmel!

After the jet lag, I was psyched to head to the beach for some skim boarding!

I wasn’t kidding when I said a well-trained dog. Just stick your arm out and Wally will approach looking to get a slippery brush across the side of his blue scaly body.

I, personally, was obsessed with this large tropical dog like fish. When I first offered him a pat he swam to my hand, but rather than letting me give him a brush across the side, he wrapped his lips around my now, very tense hand. I’m all too lucky he didn’t take a finger along with him, for Wally does have some teeth. Thankfully with all my digits in tact, I would follow him up and down the reef looking to get another encounter; but he was bored with me and swam to give some other snorkelers a chance to pat the famous Wally.

Try and search Wally the fish on the Internet and you’ll get a bunch of images of this extraordinary animal. Or better yet, come visit yourself in Wally’s fantastic home.

Dad and Tuck hanging out with Wally!

Wally likes to get really close to everyone!

Cliff: ” My camera because I have had so much fun using it.”

Yve: ” My pajamas because I often end up using them as pants.”

Yve and Dad cruising around Ubud…Yve is wearing her PJ bottoms

Tuck: “Broccoli!”

Tuck and Broccoli in Santorini, Greece!

Wescott: ” My Lacoste shoes.”

Jones: “My Barbie!” …what else is new?

Lisa: “My Mophie iPhone charger because my cellphone/camera would have never lasted the entire day on its battery power alone.”

For me, it is my flip-flops which I almost didn’t bring. I am sure you are wondering why I love my flip-flops so much. First of all, I adore the luxury of slipping on a shoe with no need to bend down to tie or adjust the tongue.  Also, they are outrageously comfy so it’s never bad to have the bottom of my foot cushioned by the bed of my rider flip-flops.

But one day in Bali, my left flip-flop suffered from a brutal injury on it’s toe thong, after stubbing it on an uneven side walk crack (let’s just say the sidewalks in Bali need a touch-up.) So, it was a trip back from the Monkey Forest bare footed that day.  I plan to repair them at our local shoe repair up the street on Mercer Island but for now, I had to buy new ones  I’ve owned those flip flops for 3 years and I’m not ready to lose them to the trip!

Check out my bottom treads!

Not surprisingly, Bali had some very different birds then the Pacific Northwest. So, I was on a quest to find the ultimate exotic bird experience, and I found it…The Bali Bird Park . It is a bird sanctuary where they take in endangered species of birds, as well as feed and take care of many other birds like macaws, cockatoos and hornbills.

Mom, Tuck, Jones, Yve and I all made a day trip to the park. At the main entrance, some artfully colored macaws aggressively greeted us while perched on long branches looking over the pathway. About five minuets into our majestic stroll,  a man who worked at the park offered us a chance to hold a few macaws and some other exotic birds. They were surprisingly light, by the way.

We also came upon the endangered species of birds that were kept in an aviary. We walked in a circle around the aviary and were stopped by a flock of small parrots looking for some food. One was perched on the railing of the bridge and I stuck my hand out to offer him a ride. He hopped on, but he insisted to do so on my head.  I was later supplied with some pear to feed him and another bird hopped on the free pear express.

After we made our way out of the aviary, immediately outside, we saw a large group of ginormous storks cleaning the restaurant’s floor. I got the chance to throw them a couple of fish which they quickly scooped up into their large bills.

The Bali Bird Park was an experience that will stay with me beyond Bali, so I can tell Perry and Blizzard, my parakeets back home,  that they’re not the only colorful birds in the world

So, our story begins at a sickening hour in the town of Ubud at the Rumah Cinta. At the spike of 2 o’clock in the morning, a powerful voice bellowed towards a boy of the name Otto Sharples. The voice came from a man named Dad. “Wakey Pakey”, the voice spoke in a melodic fashion, the same tone you would use to shout “yodale heehoo”. Otto, laying in his bed, in a deep, deep slumber was all too annoyed when the blade of his father’s voice pierced into his sleep. He was especially flustered due to his lack of shuteye. He folded his thin layer of covers away from his legs and swung his weight over the edge of his bed, simultaneously letting out a low grunt. His face formed into a hefty scowl. He expanded the crack in his white mosquito net and walked out in a wobbly manner. He slowly stomped his way down the tiled staircase holding onto the wooden rail, still displaying an angry face. He saw Dad, Yve and Wescott waiting at the front door of the house already prepared with shoes and daypacks. Otto had his clothes on and his backpack pre-packed, anticipating his mood the day before. Slipping on his mud stained green and black sneakers without untying the laces, he hopped on one foot over to his string bag filled with snacks and tightened the opening at the top.

Otto and his family rushed out the door without conversing and walked through the oak entry gate of the villa onto the walking streets of Penestanan. They hustled down to the main street of Ubud, not surprised to see Juli, their driver, waiting with his car. They exchanged greetings and got in. Otto immediately continued his sleep with his head pressed up against the glass window. While Otto slept, the car stopped at David’s hotel. He was a friend visiting Project Equator and wanted in on the volcano climbing action.

“Otto we’re here!” Otto’s eyes opened to a blinking rhythm while they adjusted to the LED lit parking lot. He crawled out the car and spread his arms wide causing a gliding yawn. Some anxious tour guides quickly targeted Otto and his family, haggling with them to try and be their guide for climbing the volcano. One tour guide was selected and escorted the group of volcano-bound adventurists to a room with a small plastic table lit by a single bulb that attracted hundreds of bugs.  This is where they would pay for the tour and get the down-low on what type of hikes they could chose from. The hike that really caught their attention was the 5-hour hike. “The five hour hike is the longest. Your guide will take you up to the rim of the volcano and cook you breakfast. After you watch sunrise, you’ll hike around the rim for a little bit and then check out the volcano which erupted in 2000. You can still see bubbling lava and steam coming out”, the man lecturing in the room explained.

With visions of lava and steam, the group unanimously decided that they would take the 5-hour hike and they were on their way. As they all started to walk onto the trail a pleasant surprise excited them.  Juli, their driver was walking along with them. “Juli your coming!” they all exclaimed. They tried to convince Juli days before to come with them but he didn’t want to commit for fear of being too tired after the long drive.

Juli, David and the Sharples trekked uphill, up a steep rock slope panting hard and every once and a while, taking a swig of water to make up for the sweat they had lost. Otto’s thighs were burning, but the image of a beautiful sunrise and a scenic view of bubbling lava kept him going. Finally, they had made it to one checkpoint where 50 others were resting as well. The benches were all occupied but they still had time to catch their breath and take a few gulps of water. After 5 mins, they set off again to get to the place where they would watch sunrise.

The group arrived at the next checkpoint 20 mins later and luckily they were the only people resting at that checkpoint along with the tour guides. They cooled down quickly because of the crisp cool breeze that skimmed the rim of the volcano. Eventually, they got cold themselves and were in search of warmth. All prepared with coats, they bundled up as much as possible but still couldn’t get warm.  Fortunately, they were on a volcano, and there is nothing hotter on the surface of the earth. The tour guides pointed out some steam holes that they could sit by to warm up.  Otto sat there for so long that when he left, he was colder than before because his skin and hair was moist to the point that it was dripping with moisture from the steam.

Many pictures were snapped at the sight of the rising sun over the neighbor island Lombok.  A horizon of pink, orange and red colored strips of cloud, with a glowing orb of light slowly warming the air, memorized everyone.  The sky was beautiful.  A cresent moon sat over head as the sun painted the sky with warm colors and a lightning storm flashing miles away.  The scene started to get more and more crowded during sunrise, but Otto and Wescott sat closely by the warm steam vents to get away from the crowd.

While Otto and Wescott bathed in the aroma of warmth, a hairy human-shaped creature passed right in front of them, only a couple of feet away.  Second later, many others creatures followed.  It was a pack of monkeys in search of a quick bite.  The pack of juvenile monkeys walked into the crowded area of the checkpoint.  The funny thing about monkeys is that humans are more scared of them then they are of us, so they’ll use fear to their advantage and frighten their way to a banana in their hands, no problem. The tour guides and terrorized tourists fed the monkeys many bananas and one monkey even snagged a person’s plastic bag filled with food. It was clear that these monkeys do this every morning, because they were pros.

With the sun glowing upon their faces, it was time for the humans to hike along the rim of the caldera. With a smile of joy on everyone’s faces, they walked along the crumbly path surrounded by tall golden grass. Every footstep was a crunch of the loose gravel. They looked down the steep slope of the volcano at the black hardened lava flow.

I’m grateful that my dad was blessed with the gift of persuasiveness, because I would have missed out on a killer sunrise, a high quality work out, and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And the fact that we saw monkeys even doubled the awesomeness factor.  If you didn’t notice Otto is actually me, the narrator. The goblin under the broccoli tree is another story

Our group at the top after sunrise! (left to right: David, our guide, Wescott, Juli, Yve, Dad, me)

Wescott and I enjoying some tea at the top.

Yve and David.

The monkeys taking off with some of the breakfast items.

The guides cooked the eggs in the steam vents.

Epic views in all directions!

We didn’t see bubbling lava but we did see a lot of steam holes which was super cool!

Crater rim hike….definitely worth doing the 5 hour version!

Wescott, Yve and I, as you know, are surfers. On this trip, we’ve been fortunate enough to surf in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Zanzibar (kite surfing), and now in Bali.

My mom and dad were thoroughly reading the Green School’s website when they were fantasizing a scenario of us going there for school. During their research, they stumbled upon an extra curricular activity that the Green School offers for their students…surfing. Dad contacted the mastermind behind the surfing academy, an Australian named Colin,  and told him we were interested in mooching off of there surf school…of course we didn’t put it that way  Colin sent a message back and said he was happy to guide us on the road of wave riding on the island, so we dove right in three days after we arrived in Bali.

Yve, Wescott and I with our Green School surf instructor at Serangan Beach.

When you surf in Oregon the water is pretty much freezing year-round, but Bali is the opposite. Board shorts, a rash guard and a surf board is all you need to shred the gnar.

Yve and I heading out for a lesson!