December Days - 12.27.10

On many occasions I have made my affection for Tillamook Cheese widely known.  I've been a Fan of the Month, blogged numerous times about my favorite varieties, and even been a Tillamook Cheese evangelist in the midwest where most think it's best origins lie north in Wisconsin.  In my world though, nothing beats  Tillamook Cheese.

This post isn't about cheese though.  I want to dedicate this post to another Tillamook Creamery favorite, their ice cream.  In my experience, this has proven much harder to find outside of Oregon, it certainly isn't available in Indiana.  So on our annual trips home to Oregon, a healthy dose of Tillamook Ice Cream is a must.  The words on the label call it 'Premium Ice Cream' but that may not say enough. I would suggest that it change to 'SUPremium Ice Cream'.

Here are my top ten favorite flavors (in no particular order) from their nearly 40 to choose from, you'll notice none of these are types of cheese so you can hold back your cheddar flavored ice cream jokes....

Oregon Strawberry - I'm drawn to this one in the summer months. Not your typical strawberry pink strawberry ice cream, this one has big chunks of real Oregon strawberries.  Want a taste of Oregon in the summertime? This is it!

Old-Fashioned Vanilla - totally lives up to it's name.

Caramel Toffee Crunch - First time I had this one I thought 'Heath bar and vanilla ice cream, ok.' Wrong!  Yes, the vanilla ice cream is the base, but mixed in are caramel, cookies, coconut, chocolate, toffee, pecans, and almonds.  Goes best with a good cup of coffee.

Udderly Chocolate - I grew up knowing this as Brown Cow. It's my father-in-law's favorite and a staple in my in-laws home.  White Chocolate, Milk Chocolate and chocolate flakes - YUM!

Rocky Road - They use Almonds in this favorite!  Ok, maybe this one is my father-in-law's favorite....

Mint Chocolate Chip - It's a classic flavor done just right.

Marionberry Pie - A combination of two flavors from home: Tillamook Ice Cream and Marionberries. Even has chunks of pie crust in it to wound out the experience!

Peppermint Candy - this is a holiday favorite in our family.

Coffee Almond Fudge - The name says it all.  My favorite amongst the favorites.

Chocolate Peanut Butter - Maybe this one is my favorite...Creamy chocolate ice cream with ribbons of creamy peanut butter flowing through it.

If you've never had this ice cream and the opportunity comes knocking on your door, do yourself a favor and answer that door!  

December Days - 12.16.10

Homecomings are always interesting events for me. There is a lot of anticipation leading up to the trip, stress around getting ready to travel (especially with four kids in tow), and then the emotion of seeing family again that you've been missing so much. We love living in Indiana, but being separated from all our family is tough.

It's family that make coming to Oregon so great for us. Yes, the landscape is beautiful (we
appreciate that much more since we've been away) and I look forward to visiting McMenamins for a pint of Rubinator and a Captain Neon burger, but our homecomings are entirely about family. Marcy and I have talked about how we want to take the kids on vacations to new places, but all they want to do is come to Oregon to see family. It isn't lost on me how blessed we are to have a situation where our families (both sides) are so close and important parts of our lives where we want to be with them.

The party began tonight when we arrived in Oregon and will continue for a week or so while we're in town. I am sure that eventually we'll look forward to going home to Indiana, our dogs, and the comfort of our own beds but for now there is a great peace and comfort in being back amongst our family.

December Days - 12.14.10

In our house, when we have some exciting event to look forward to we don't measure the time in a 'days until' fashion.  It's always measured in 'sleeps', that is the number of times we will go to sleep before the anticipated day or event.

For the last couple weeks, we've been counting down sleeps until we get to go home to Oregon and visit family for the holidays.  This countdown has been especially tough on Kyron and all he has been talking about for the past 3 days/sleeps is when we get to go to Oregon.  He's even been in tears because he doesn't think it is coming fast enough.

He gave his mom the solution this morning though when he wanted to continue sleeping at nearly 10am in the morning: "If I just stay in bed I can sleep until we go to Oregon, then it's only 1 sleep!"

You've got to love the mind and reasoning of a 5 year old!

It's all thanks to Twitter...

Last week Wednesday we had a terrible experience at the airport. My wife and daughter were scheduled to fly to Portland via Denver on Frontier Airlines for a family wedding this weekend.  When we got to the airport, there was a surprisingly long line at the counter. The girls got in line but then became suspicious when they noticed it wasn't moving at all.  Eventually a counter agent came over the speaker to explain that due to weather they had cancelled all remaining flights into Denver for the day and furthermore every flight the next day was overbooked so passengers could contact customer service for a refund of their tickets.  That was it. No assistance to transfer travelers to another airlines, that isn't their policy since the cancellation was due to weather.  When we dug deeper they told us the soonest they could get the two girls on a flight to Portland, was next week Wednesday.  I have never experienced or heard anything like this. Both girls were very upset and my daughter started what seemed like 5 hours of constant crying and complaining.

The whole experience was very strange to me so turned to twitter looking for some answers.  I knew Frontier (@flyfrontier) used and communicated with passengers via twitter, so I reached out.  In the mean time, my wife continued her efforts through the 800 number to customer service the ticket agent gave us at the airport.  Every person she spoke with gave her the same story: since it was due to weather they had a policy to not transfer passengers to other airlines and if we wanted to pursue another airline, the expense would be our own and they could refund our Frontier tickets.  The challenge with this, was that their refund process typically takes 15-20 days, according the the agents we spoke with, and same day tickets were 4x as expensive as what we purchased the original flights for.  The whole experience was more than disappointing and leaving me with a very bad perception of Frontier.

At the end of my wife's two hour ordeal on the phone with customer service (I'd like those cell minutes back, please) I checked twitter to see that Frontier had responded to my original tweet.  I began a conversation with @FlyFrontier about my our travel situation, the importance of getting back to Oregon for the wedding, and the all around dissatisfaction and disappointment we were having with their airline.  The responses to my tweets and direct messages was quick and helpful.  In the end, I got a message that said, "we don't usually do this, but how would a 7pm flight...." and a few hours later my wife and daughter were on their way to Oregon on a different airline, arranged completed by Frontier and through twitter.

What began as a terrible customer service experience ended with a great story and example for other companies to follow of how to connect with customers via a very effective and powerful communication tool.  Sure my wife and daughter lost a day off their trip, but we don't blame Frontier for the weather, we just expected the ticket agents and phone agents to provide the customer service experience the tweeter agent ultimately did.

Kudos to @FlyFrontier for saving a family of customers, providing a level of service to be mirrored, and thanks for helping my girls get to the wedding of the year.  For anyone who hasn't embraced twitter yet, hopefully this story demonstrates how valuable a tool it can be to connect with people and businesses.  If you're already tweeting, follow @FlyFrontier if you want an example of how to engage your customers and improve their experience with your business and brand.

Follow me on twitter - @rkaopuiki

December Days - 12.22.09

This afternoon, my brother-in-law (Jason) and I took all the kids up to Government Camp at Mt. Hood to go swimming in the snow. Jason's friend has a condo at the Collins Lake Resort and we just took a few hours out of the afternoon to experience a typical summer time activity in the middle of winter. It was sort of surreal to be in swimsuits outside with snow piled high around you and even more falling from above.

We all had a blast swimming, throwing snowballs at each other, and relaxing in the hot tub. The walk to and from the pool was a little rough through the cold snow, but the reward at the end of the trek was well worth it.

December Days - 12.20.09

It's a pretty exciting time in our family right now as the kids have two different Aunts that are pregnant and expecting babies next summer. Since we've been in Oregon the past few days and around these Aunts, there have been lots of conversations about babies and such.

So it really shouldn't have come as a surprise tonight that when driving back to Marcy's brother's house after dinner with my parents, Kyron dropped the big question: "Mommy, how do babies get in your stomach?" His question sent the other kids into fits of "Oh, no!", "Please don't tell him right now!", "I don't want to hear this again!" Marcy just smiled and reminded me that boys were my responsibility in this area of life.

I guess this holiday season we'll be answering more mysterious of life questions beyond just how Santa fits down the fireplace chimney.

December Days - 12.18.09

One of the great things about coming home is having the chance to eat at those places that I love and can't get back in Indy. One of those places is Burgerville! By most definitions, Burgerville is a fast food chain, but ask their employees and they prefer the term "quick service." They're all about the Pacific NW, using products that are specific to the region and as a result supporting local businesses, farms, and producers. Marcy and Makela love the milkshakes and I'll admit they're pretty good!

What I also appreciate about the company is how mission focused, or 'missional', they are. They put their mission on their food containers, and employees are ready to share and discuss it with you when asked. Tonight I put this rumor to the test and asked our drive through attendant about Burgerville's mission. She smiled and went into her explanation including recent examples of initiatives they had made at their store in support of the mission. I think that type of awareness and focus within a company is awesome!

The food is great, the Pacific NW connection makes it unique, and I have great admiration for their mission and commitment. The $31 for a 'quick service' meal for four....not so great.

Burgerville's Mission:

SERVE WITH LOVE

Be the Difference

Reach out

Start a Conversation

Share a Smile

Create a Memory

Inspire Hope