Mt Rainier
I really struggled with this week’s theme. I finally decided to select a photo of Mt. Rainier. It is our favorite place to hike. I love the high alpine area along the slopes. It sets my soul free. Enjoy!
Leadbetter State Park
The sun woke us by peaking in the skylight. A sunny day. Whoo Hooo! We planned on hiking so it would be a perfect day. I’ve found out that Cape Disappointment is one of the foggiest places in the US with 2552 hours (equivalent to 106 days) of fog so I’m very happy to see the sun.
You can not cook in the yurt so we got up and went out to start up our camp stove and boil some water for coffee. Dew still dripped from the trees but it was calm and pleasant. We had a hot cup of coffee and bowl of cereal before heading off to the end of the peninsula.
Cape Disappointment is at far southwest tip of Washington state. To the south is the mouth of the Columbia. To the west, the Pacific Ocean. Across the Columbia, is Fort Clatsop where Lewis and Clark wintered in 1805 after reaching the Pacific from their journey St Louis. It was named in 1788 by a British sea captain John Meares who took shelter in a cove from a sea storm. He was looking for the fabled great river but failed to find the Columbia River due to the treacherous bars at the mouth. A few years later in 1792, Captain Robert Gray would cross the bar and name the river Columbia after his ship Columbia Rediviva.
To the north is Long Beach Peninsula; a long finger of land and sand jutting up into Willlapa Bay. The beach goes for miles, in fact 28 miles. Washington State also allow driving on the beach so there are entrances along the way to drive out onto the beach. I didn’t have nerve to do it this time because I’ve done in the past and gotten stuck in the sand.
Our destination was Leadbetter State Park at the northern tip of the peninsula. Driving up the peninsula, you drive through the typical beach tourist towns filled with junky gift stores and weird museums. All along there are obvious signs that fishing and shellfish is a major industry. Boats in yards, piles of crab pots and mound of white oyster shells fill yards. Oysterville is near the tip, a sleepy Victorian town still known for Willapa Bay Oyster harvests.
We reached the parking lot at the park and pulled on our boots. We had several false starts at finding the trail we wanted but finally did. The trail winded along the bay and then across the edge of the salt marsh before crossing through the low spruce and shore pine forest.
The trees ended and we crossed grass covered dunes to emerge on a long almost secluded beach. The upper beach area was roped off to protect the breeding grounds of the snowy plover. We decided to hike a half mile down the beach to catch a different trail back to the parking lot. Along the way, we stopped to watch a large flock of plovers dancing along the edge of the surf. They were so cool undulating in mass with the surf.
Once back at the car, we headed back towards Ilwaco. We stopped in Long Beach to check out the condos along the shore in case we wanted to return in the winter. Along the boardwalk, we watched the kites flying the beach and a car being pulled from the sand. Oh yeah, I don’t want to drive on the beach.
We also stopped to check out the North Head lighthouse and the vista from the cliffs above the camp. Hunger was calling so we drove over to Astoria for a couple of beers and some good grub at Fort George Brewery.
The skies had turned gray and rain was immenant. We headed back to the yurt and relaxed for the evening. We listened to the rain on the canvas roof and it lulled us to sleep.
Here are the photos from our hike.
Along Willapa Bay at the start of the hike
The forest of scrubby pines along the trail
Salal berries
Salt Marsh
Camping at Cape Disappointment
The forecast was for rain. Not exactly what we wanted for a couple of days at the beach but at least we had reserved a yurt. We would stay dry and warm.
It was about a 3 hour drive which took us down I-5 through Olympic and then we headed out to the coast. It took us through the heart of the Washington timber country. We passed loaded and empty truck but more distressing the miles and miles of clear cuts. I realize it is a crop, an industry and more important the life line to this area of the state but it is needless to say very depressing to drive through areas that look like a war zone.
We reached Raymond and turned off to drive along the top of Willapa Bay to the town of Tokeland. We wanted to see what the area was like because there is another park with yurts in the area. It was sunny and we saw some wonderful flocks of sandpipers and sighted our first pelicans. We returned and continued around the bay to Ilwaco and checked in about 2:30pm.
Tokeland Harbor
The yurt was exactly as we expected. We opened a window to cool and air and then headed to the beach for a little bit of exploring. We returned and had our dinner. It looked like it was clearing so we headed back to the beach and caught a wonderful sunset.
Yurt at Cape Disappointment State Park
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Carson Pass
July 12, 2008 – Carson Pass
California Road Trip and Family GTG
Day 7. We had fun filled three days together with the family. Good times were had around the campfire. We also spent some time at the Buckeye Hot Spring. Black mud, hot water but lots of fun for the family.
We decided to drive back ourselves so we could stop and do a quick hike. I thought at first that it would be good to go back over Sonora Pass which was closest but after reading my hiking book, it said that the Pacific Crest Trail at Carson Pass – Hwy 88 – had the best wildflowers. Sold.
We stopped in Bridgeport and had breakfast at the Hays Street Cafe. Wonderful. G had an omelett and I had the usual eggs and hashbrowns.
We headed north back up Hwy 395 and turned off at the turn off to Monitor Pass. On the Eastern slope of the Sierras, it is a steep climb up rising often 4,000-5,000 feet in a few miles to the crest of the pass. Our little Honda Civic Hybrid did its best but I ended up having to shift down to second to climb to the top. The views were stunning back over the great basin.
Once over the top, we traveled through Markleville before turning on to Hwy 88 and back to the top of Carson Pass at 8,573-foot. We pulled off to the Meiss parking lot on the north side and pulled out our parking pass.
The flowers started immediately. There were also lovely craggy junipers (Juniperus occidentalis) among the boulders. Dust was everywhere. We meandered along to a stream where G was able to find some yellow penstemon. A bit farther, a stunning Monument plant. Here is another bit about the flora of the trail.
The clouds were gathering and the sky darkened. We expected thunder at any minute so we turned back. It was a quick trip down to the blistering heat of Stockton. We arrived just minutes after our parents.
Here are some more pictures.
At the foot of the old juniper trees
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PhotoHunt: Wrinkled
Wrinkly Swiss Chard
This week’s PhotoHunt theme is wrinkled. I only have to go as far as my back yard to find a wide variety of examples of wrinkled. Leaves come in a variety of wrinkled textures. The best one right now is the Swiss chard growing in my vegetable garden.
Another great example are the variety of hosta leaves. Here is a sample from the Hosta “Patriot”.
Computer crash again
It happened again for the third time. I bought this Dell Inspiron 530 at the end of November and it crashed two weeks after I got it. I try to boot the machine and it says “Loading PBR for descriptor 2”. Every time I’ve spent 2-3 hours on the phone with Dell. The first time, the tech was cool enough to help me try to save my data. We did disk diagnostics that ran so slow. It took over an hour to get 60% through the disk, then suddenly it started going fast and it booted. The second time was 3 months later, I wasn’t so lucky and we ended up reinstalling XP. And here it is another 3 months later and it happened again. The tech wanted me to reinstall XP right from the start. He wouldn’t even try any other option. He also wouldn’t think it was hardware. We started reinstalling XP and it was super slow. It took over 15 minutes to try to find a previous version. I bitched at him and he said if I wanted something faster – I needed a more powerful machine. Give me a break. Then we deleted all the partitions including the small little boot partition and started formating the hard drive. It was so slow. It would take almost 10 minutes to do 1% of the hard drive. Sure I have a large hard drive (320 gig) but it shouldn’t be that slow. After 1 1/2 hours, it was only 80% done. He finally agreed to send me a new hard drive. I’m not certain if that is the problem but after corrupting the primary boot record for the third time – I’d like to try it.
I got the new hard drive the next day. And it only took seconds to do a fast format and XP was reinstalled in probably 30 minutes. I’m starting from scratch again. Fortunately, I have a great spreadsheet that has all my software keys and information on what I have installed. I’m going to have to rebuild my Ipod library again. And yes, I did lose some personal data. The fortunate thing is I keep all my email and bookmarks on the web. My photo library and music library are on an external.
What is weird is my previous dell didn’t have any problems and I had it for 6 years. I never had any problem with the machines at work. I’m seriously considering HP and MAC next time.
Schmap Guides
I recently got an email from Schmap Guides asking if they could include one of my photos from Nice that I posted on Flickr. Cool! I checked out the site and it looked very nice. I retain rights to my photo so it was a respectful usage of my photo. I agreed and it was included.
I did some investigation of the web site and application. It is a map based city guide that takes content from W Guide and photos from Flickr and puts them all together on a map. It actually looks pretty useful for travelers especially the new option for downloading the guide to an iPhone or iPodTouch.
You can view the guide on-line or download a PC or MAC application to view it on your PC and make modifications. It also looks like you can customize and create your own. You can also get widgets.
Anyway – here is link to my photo on Schmap and the widget below which circle through the museums and includes my photo.
Creamy Cucumber Soup
I’ve been saving cooking magazines for ages. I’ve got several boxes of old Bon Appetites, Gourmets, Fine Cooking, Sunset and others. I used to go back and re-read the older issues. But I’ve come to realize that everything I really need is on the web especially with Epicurious and Find.MyRecipes.
So I’ve been going through the old boxes and recycling the old magazines. I usually will go through and review a few that look interesting.
We have an abundance of cucumbers this year. We’re growing Orient Express and it has been producing like crazy. I came across this interesting recipe in Sunset for a cold creamy cucumber soup. I had this in France and loved it.
The recipe is very easy. I was surprised to see that it had celery but it added depth to the soup. I’m definitely going to make this one again.
Creamy Cucumber Soup
Sunset – July 2002
2 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 pound White Rose or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 cup thinly sliced onion
1 cup thickly sliced celery (about 2 stalks)
1/4 cup coarsely chopped parsley
1 green onion, rinsed, ends trimmed, coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon butter
1 English cucumber (about 12 oz.), rinsed, or regular cucumber, peeled and seeded
About 3/4 cup crème fraîche or sour cream
About 1/2 teaspoon salt
About 1/8 teaspoon hot sauce
1. Combine 2 1/2 cups broth, potatoes, onion, celery, parsley, green onion, thyme, and butter in a 5- to 6-quart pan; cover and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until potatoes mash easily with a fork, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature, about 1 hour.
2. Meanwhile, thinly slice a fourth of the cucumber; wrap airtight and chill. Coarsely chop remaining.
3. Working in batches, whirl potato mixture and chopped cucumber in a blender until smooth; pour into a large bowl. Stir in 3/4 cup crème fraîche, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon hot sauce. Cover and chill until cold, at least 1 hour, or up to 1 day.
4. Thin soup with more broth. If desired, add more salt and hot sauce to taste. Ladle into bowls and garnish with sliced cucumber and more crème fraîche.
The Omnivore’s Hundred
Several Slow Travel bloggers have been doing the Omnivore’s Hundred Meme started by Andrew on Very Good Taste. Krista was the first Slow Travel blogger to post the meme. Jerry and Kim were next. I love Jerry’s cartoon.
Clotilde got into the act today on Chocolate & Zucchini. It is a lot of fun. I don’t think of myself as an adventurous eater but I was surprised to see that I’ve tried many of these on the list.
Here are the rules:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.
The Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison (No but I have had gemsbok)
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (Everyone makes Blackberry wine in the PNW)
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes (We grow these ourselves)
22. Fresh wild berries (Yep, they are everywhere in the PNW)
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans (I had this this week!)
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper (habenaro yes- but I don’t think a scotch bonnet)
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl (long long ago)
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more (No but I have been to a tasting of 20 different single malts)
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine (no but I’m considering having it here in Seattle)
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian (Okay… well only durian candy in Singapore)
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare (does rabbit count?)
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake
Photohunt: Colorful
Dale Chihuly – Seaform and Persians glass ceiling
This week’s Photohunt theme is colorful. Nothing screams colorful to me than a local Pacific Northwest artist – Dale Chihuly. His work in glass is always a riot of color. The De Young Museum in San Francisco’s current exhibit is a collection showing his different styles ranging from glass baskets to large chandeliers. The rooms are dark with excellent lighting to highlight the brilliant colors. The photo above is a ceiling display of his seaform and persian glass. You feel like you are in an underwater sea garden when you enter the room.
Another great place to see his work is outside the Tacoma Glass Museum at the Chihuly Bridge of Glass. The pedestrian bridge over the freeway has a wall of his venetian glass, the icy blue crystal towers and a seaform pavilion similar to the display above.
Also check out the colorful Photohunt posts by other Slow Travel bloggers:
- Colorful Budapest Market by Deborah at Old Shoes – New Trip
- Multicolored Peppers by girasoli at
shave ice and mangoshave ice and gelato - Colors of the Luxembourg Garden in Paris by Kim at What I Really Think
- Colorful uniform of a Vatican Swiss Guard by Maria I at My Place in the Sun
- Colors at the Art Festival by Anne at Churches in Venice
- France Mayes’ Garden of Color by Leslie at Kaleidoscope
Below are two other shots from the Chihuly exhibit which runs until September 28, 2008. Enjoy the colors.
Mille Fiori garden of glass
Boat