Campgrounds – Riveted

Sun! We’ve got sun!!

Laura Domela — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 01:22:27 +0000

Woke up this morning to a clear blue sky and this hot bright thing poking through the blinds! Such a nice surprise. Similar to yesterday, we did a bunch of work in the morning, and then headed out for a late breakfast and a little exploring.

Today’s destination was the town of Seaside.

It’s been ages since we’ve been to Seaside. We grabbed some food at the Firehouse Grill (where “late breakfast” didn’t turn into lunch because they serve breakfast until 3!) and then walked down to the beach.

We decided to check out the Seaside Aquarium today. The Seaside Aquarium has been open (in this same spot) since 1937.

The building was constructed in 1924, and was originally a saltwater bath house and swimming pool called the “Seaside Baths Natatorium”. The natatorium closed in the early 1930s, underwent major renovations, and in 1937 opened as the Seaside Aquarium. Here’s an early pic of the building:

The aquarium experience was better than we’d expected. As you enter the building, there’s a pool off to your left where maybe a dozen harbor seals hang out waiting to splash water onto the guests be fed by the guests from small trays of herring pieces. For two bucks you can get your own tray of herring (comes in a red/white checked take-out dish, very similar to what you get fish & chips in, for example, so pay attention). Anyway, I thought the whole “seal feeding” gimmick was going to be obnoxious, and it was…a little bit. But it was also kinda fun. The seals work hard to get your attention and are pretty good at clapping, barking, splashing, and looking cute so that you’ll throw some fish their way.

One seal got an eensy bit impatient, however, and could pull some pretty big water with those flippers…throwing it directly at the guests, right through the fence (no glass). Kinda makes you NOT want to give that particular seal a treat, but hey, it apparently works for him.

Anyway, there are a bunch of tanks with cool fish and anemones and eels and other neat things in ’em. Here’s a closeup of grumpy wolf eel:

This octopus was my favorite though:

Its eyes were closed and you could watch (close up in this open, no-touch tank) its breathing. We could look straight down into its gills as they opened and closed, and as water pushed out of the funnel/siphon (the tube on the left, near the “neck” of the octopus in the photo). It was super cool. (Would have been cooler had the octopus been awake and climbing around the tank, but we’ll take what we can get!)

Still sunny outside!

Walking back through town:

From the bridge that crosses over the river at Broadway Street, we could see a bunch of pedal boats shaped like giant swans…which was quite a fantastic image (just google it, you’ll see what I mean). They were all clumped together at the dock, but I had only my wide wide lens with me, we were too far away, and I apparently didn’t want the photo badly enough (but now I wish I’d made the effort).

On our drive back down to Nehalem, we pulled over and got a couple of nice shots back toward town.

Our campground is down there somewhere, hidden behind the dunes:

We got back to camp and took off on our bikes for a nice ride out to the boat launch and beach…a little over 5 miles. And guess what? It’s still sunny!!!

Ev Henry Point, Sucia Island

Laura Domela — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 21:29:00 +0000

We cruised the short cruise from Patos Island to Fossil Bay on Sucia Island this morning. (We never saw those Carhartt guys again, by the way.)

It's just us and two sailboats on the mooring balls, and one power boat over at the dock. I can't even imagine this place in the summer, with every mooring ball filled (sometimes with more than one boat each) and every campsite occupied…that place is probably a zoo!

Once moored, we did some work for a bit, had a little lunch, and then went ashore for our favorite Sucia Island activity: hiking.

Fox Cove:

We decided on the hike out/up to Ev Henry Point. This is a gorgeous (short and steep…maybe 2.5 miles?) hike. The last time we hiked up here we surprised a couple of eagles that were in the trees just 20 feet above our heads or so. No eagles this time, but what a beautiful day.

You can see on this map, Ev Henry Point is at the bottom of the map:

Looking back towards Fox Cove:

Ooooh, artsy:

Moss-lined trails:

Nice of this tree to grow a little arch over our path, huh?

The view from Ev Henry Point:

The bark of a madrone tree:

Back at Fossil Bay:

We may stay here another night and do some more hiking tomorrow. Dinner tonight is either going to be chicken curry, or spaghetti squash spaghetti with a bolognese sauce. Haven't decided yet.

Happy Wednesday!

Airstreamin’ in Wine Country

Laura Domela — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 14:49:27 +0000

We dusted off the Airstream on Thursday morning and headed down to the Willamette Valley wine country (only a little over an hour from our house in Portland) to meet up with some friends for the weekend.

When we got to our RV storage unit, everything was just as we'd left it and there were no big issues. Pretty good after sitting for a year in storage! The tires needed a little air, the clocks needed new batteries, and the fridge light needs a new bulb, but other than that everything was ready to go.

We are camping at the Willamette Wine Country RV Resort and so far, we have mostly remembered how to do everything. Campgrounds are definitely noisier than anchorages and mooring buoys, but it's still fun to be out in the trailer. (And there are no ferry wakes tossing you awake at 7am!)

Kevin and I had a reservation for dinner on Thursday night at the Joel Palmer House (thank you to Kevin's mom for the sweet gift card!)

The Joel Palmer House, in Dayton, Oregon:

Our table:

Because this is truffle country, we did the Mushroom Madness tasting menu, and because we're in pinot noir country, we shared a bottle of Methven Family Vineyards Pinot Noir. All was delicious and it was a nice evening.

In the morning, we met up with our friend Kathy Hardersen and her son Kyle. (Kyle just bought a new Airstream International 25' and is parked right next to us, and Kathy left her Airstream at home and is staying here in one of The Vintages.) We had breakfast at our trailer, and then went over to Sokol Blosser for some wine tasting on the patio.

Sokol Blosser has a gorgeous tasting room and patio, and we couldn't ask for better mid-October weather!

We were there for a couple hours just visiting and playing cards and tasting wine. Kathy is a wine club member at Sokol Blosser, so we got a nice complimentary charcuterie tray during our card game:

We brought back a deck of cards from the Trickster Company in Juneau, Alaska. This is the Tlingit language edition, and they're fabulous to play with!

We had some lunch at the Red Hills Market, then went to Penner-Ash Wine Cellars for another tasting (and met up with more of Kathy's family). I didn't take any photos at Penner-Ash, but they too have a gorgeous place up on the hill with a fantastic view of the valley. We really enjoyed several of their wines, and left with four bottles: a 2013 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, a 2014 Viognier (served at the White House State Dinner a few weeks ago), a 2013 Oregon Syrah, and a 2013 Rubeo (70% pinot noir, 30% syrah).

We decided to finally let Kyle have something HE wanted drink, so we stopped at Deception Brewing for a bit. (Kevin and I didn't try any of their beer though…next time!)

Dinner last night with the entire Hardersen family (table for 9) was at Ruddick/Wood in Newberg and was a blast. We always have so much fun with these guys. So. Much. Laughing!!

We started with a Honey Badger and a Whiskey Sour, and shared the duck confit hushpuppies (the winner) and a grilled octopus salad for starters, and the Fishermen's Stew and the Chicken Roulade (the winner) for entrees.

Today, we've got some more friends (Lisa and George, in their Argosy motorhome) joining us here and we'll probably visit two more wineries today…maybe ride our bikes around a bit, and just spend more time visiting and catching up.

It's definitely nice to be back in the Airstream, but I miss the boat and the water a little bit (and the rocking!). I think we're going to need to revisit the boondocking side of RV travel a bit more next time we set out for a longer trip…get away from the traffic noise and the leaf blowers and lawn mowers.

Lakebay, WA

Laura Domela — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 14:23:50 +0000

This is one of our new favorite spots in the South Sound: Lakebay and Penrose Point State Park. This is where we moored last night, on a marine state park buoy, and it looked JUST LIKE THAT. Amazing isn't it? It is so very still here.

We took the dinghy into shore (past the marina and cafe, closed during the week in the winter) and tied up to the state park dock so we could go take a look around.

That's our dinghy out there at the end of the dock:

Before we went to the dock, we headed for a shallow cove, but it proved too shallow (and too COVERED with oysters and shells) to nicely beach the dinghy.

We walked out on the beach a ways and I've never seen so many sand dollars (alive!) in my life. I think I only recently learned what they looked like when they're alive (at an aquarium on the Oregon Coast)…they're dark purple and covered in fuzz. Here's one:

(Though I can't be certain of its aliveness since it was on the beach, and not underwater.)

Many sizes of sand dollars (those little ones are about the size of a quarter):

The rocks on this beach reminded me of the show we saw at the Glass Museum in Tacoma last week. The colors and textures were endlessly cool:

We returned to Airship and took the chairs to the upper deck, popped open a beer, and just sat mostly in silence as we took in the beauty and stillness of this place.

Here's what it looked like early this morning:

It's starting to burn off now, and we're off to hike some trails.

Here's our track from yesterday – 36 nautical miles total. (Our friend Cari drove out to Jarrell Cove and we took her on a short cruise down to McMicken Island and back. The mooring buoys at McMicken looked great, but I'm glad we decided to go further on to Lakebay.)

Jarrell Cove State Marine Park

Laura Domela — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 01:26:29 +0000

After we left Allyn, WA, we headed for Jarrell Cove on Harstine Island, with an ETA of about 5pm.

So, let's talk about this island. I'd been writing it "Hartstene" when emailing with friends, but then on the chart I noticed it said "Harstine". Oops. My bad. So Harstine it is. Wonder how that happened!? Then today, on one chart (the Garmin on the boat) it says Harstine and on the other chart (on the iPad) it says Hartstene. When Kevin checked us in with a photo earlier, it pegged us at Hartstene Island. But when I looked something else up, it was Harstine Island. WTF? I Googled it, and look what I found on its Wikipedia Page:

"For most of the island's history, there wasn't a single standard spelling of its name. Even today, several different spellings are used.

"Of the several possible ways to spell the name of the island, Hartstene and Harstine are the most used and most popular. Both have been used nearly interchangeably in many published references including Wikipedia, and (http://www.co.mason.wa.us/). Alternate spellings of the name include Hartstene, Harsteen, Harstein, Harstene, Hartstein and Harstine. In 1997 Washington State Legislative action resulted in the name officially becoming Harstine Island."

So there it is. The reason for my confusion is clear.

Anyway, tonight we're moored at Jarrell Cove State Marine Park and it's lovely. There's no one here but us. We walked up the dock to register and explored the campground and cove a bit:

The campground is empty, but there are some gorgeous spots up there!

We got back to the boat and decided the weather was nice enough for a glass of prosecco and some cheese on the top deck. I made the cheese board while Kevin set up the chairs. Awwwwww, would you look at that!

View across the cove:

Oh yeah, and check out this cool boat over at the marina that we passed on the way in (Jarrell's Cove Marina, only open Memorial Day to Labor Day):

And here's our route from today (35.2 nautical miles):

Blake Island State Marine Park

Laura Domela — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 17:07:20 +0000

Yesterday was our day to move from Elliott Bay Marina over to Bell Harbor Marina. We'd planned to go back over to the boat show and hit three more short seminars, but then this:

Get a load of that weather! We decided we'd rather go out cruising around a bit, so after we finished up a bunch of work, we headed out to Blake Island Marine State Park.

Blake Island State Park is a 475-acre marine camping park with five miles of saltwater beach shoreline providing magnificent views of the Olympic Mountains and the Seattle skyline. The park is only reachable by tour boat or private boat. Indian-style salmon dinners and demonstrations of Northwest Indian dancing are offered at Tillicum Village, a concession on the island.

Seattle in the rear view:

Approaching the little marina at Blake Island:

Airship, at the dock:

We went for a little hike around the island, checking out the beach and the wildlife:

Nice fort!

Tribal decor:

Downtown Seattle is just over to the right of this photo:

Many, many deer and geese in this open grassy picnic area:

These are beach front campsites, with Seattle just off the left edge of the photo:

Once back at the boat, I made us a couple of salads and we sat on the top deck and had lunch in the sunshine. It was probably 65 degrees F and it was just fabulous.

We circled Blake Island before heading back toward Seattle and our new moorage at Bell Harbor, and passed a couple of container ships anchored out near the island:

Here's our route…about 20 nautical miles total:

We just couldn't get over what a glorious day it was yesterday. Sunny and warm and JANUARY!!

Good Morning Port Townsend

Laura Domela — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 15:15:53 +0000

It was a gorgeous foggy morning in Port Townsend early this morning. Now, it's just all purple and silver. (iPhone photo, no filter, taken from the boat at Point Hudson Marina and RV Park)

We're working while breakfast is in the oven, and later today we'll probably go wander around town some more. Tomorrow morning our plan is to head out (early) north to Rosario Resort on Orcas Island (weather permitting) for Thanksgiving dinner in the Mansion Restaurant. We'll likely stay put there for a couple days and take advantage of the fitness room and spa included for our $34/night moorage fee (and the fact that the forecast for the islands is a few days of heavier winds and wind waves).

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Langley to Port Townsend

Laura Domela — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 00:55:49 +0000

This morning we got up early and worked a bunch, had some breakfast, and then decided to take one more quick walk up the hill into town before heading for Port Townsend. Langley is such a cute town, even in the drizzly gray.

On the way out of the marina, more of these cool birds. If someone knows what they're called, please tell me. I googled up a storm and still didn't find them. Found the Mergansers, but the ones I saw had different markings:

Here's a blurry closeup of the one with the cool paint job:

The trip around the southern tip of Whidbey and up to Port Townsend was calm and uneventful. A little rainy and gray, but calm waters and beautiful scenery.

Update: Thanks readers! It's a Barrow's Goldeneye!

Arriving at Port Townsend:

We stopped at the Port Townsend Boat Haven Marina first and made a quick trip across the street to West Marine. (Oh, it was nothing, we just, um, lost one of our fenders somewhere between LaConner and Langley…oops!). We then headed north a little ways to the Point Hudson Marina (the marinas are on either side of all the downtown cuteness) where we'll stay the night. I took some photos of town from the water as we passed by:

Our new spot at the Point Hudson Marina:

So, we're back where the whole boat thing started, back in July. Maybe you remember this photo (and subsequent blog posts) of the cute Ranger Tugs that caught our attention in the marina. This was taken from the dinette of the Airstream:

And here we are now with our Nordic Tug, and we couldn't be more thrilled:

(A little less crowded here in late November, isn't it? Still completely charming though!)

Tonight we walked the length of Water Street a couple times, and then came back to the marina and had an early dinner at Doc's Marina Grill. Doc's is convenient because it's right here at the marina/RV park, but we'd eaten there before so we thought we'd go try the well-Yelped Cellar Door in town tonight. Unfortunately, it looks like they had some kind of plumbing emergency and are closed. The sign on the door says they hope to be open on Saturday. Doc's was a good backup.

We'll check the weather again tomorrow morning and decide if we're going to stay here one more night, or head north to the islands!

Here's today's map:

Hiking Around Sucia Island

Laura Domela — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 01:18:59 +0000

We took the dinghy ashore and did some hiking and exploring around Sucia Island today. First we headed over to Shallow Bay. Great rock formations:

This tree looked like it was standing upright (about 8' high) on the shore over at Shallow Bay, but it was covered in barnacles…which made no sense. I think it must have been some driftwood that turned a way to make it look like a shore-growing tree:

Here's a map of our route. We started at the green circle (as soon as we got to shore), headed to Shallow Bay, then around Mud Bay, to Snoring Bay, and out to Johnson Point:

Hiking trails:

Passing Airship (the furthest boat) on the way back out to Snoring Bay:

Nice bark:

Approaching Snoring Bay (this might still be Mud Bay, but look how Fall it is!)

Snoring bay, two mooring buoys, one boat:

After Snoring Bay we hiked on toward Johnson Point (the rocky formation on the left in the above photo). Here's Kevin, working on the trail (hey, gotta take the cell reception where you can get it!):

Cute little (dead, empty shell) crab we found on the shore. I call this shot: Zombie Fighting Crab.

One of the 60 campsites on Sucia Island (wait, this might be a picnic spot, but dude, the campsites all look like this, so whatever):

Airship from the shore:

We got back to the boat and worked all afternoon and evening (with a spritz break on the top deck at sunset to watch seals, otters, seagulls, and crows). Dinner was grilled salmon and sauteed asparagus…simple but good.

Tomorrow I think we'll head over to Stuart Island (after a morning hike to China Caves, which we hear is worth seeing before we leave Sucia).

Our First Night on a Mooring Buoy

Laura Domela — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 13:09:12 +0000

Our evening moored at Spencer Spit was great. A cocktail on the top deck, sunset, water, wildlife, trees…it can't get much better. A sailboat was anchored a ways from us, but there were still no other boats at the mooring buoys on this side of the spit.

We tried out our generator this evening (runs great, super quiet, even quieter outside). I'm glad we're adding solar and an inverter though…kinda nice not to have to turn on the generator when you're underway just to make a quick espresso.

The evening was pretty (the STARS!!). A little later the wind picked up, and the boat hook that hangs on the ladder to the top deck was rhythmically slapping the side each time the boat rocked, so Kevin went outside to move it to the floor of the cockpit. Pretty soon he says in the "loud whisper" voice, "Come out here!!!" It's dark except for the stars and the light on top of Frost Island reflecting in the water, but I can hear it: loud breathing to my left. I look over as my eyes adjust to the darkness and I start to make out a shape in the water where the breathing is coming from. It's a fairly good sized harbor seal (I think), light in color, and curious. I talked to him for sec and he quick swirled under the boat to the other side. We followed. It was so cool! We were out there for about a half hour hanging out with the seal and the stars. There may have even been a couple seals…or maybe that was just his bubbly underwater ghost. It was hard to tell.

The boat rocking in the wind and waves and current was so nice all evening, but what we didn't realize was that down in the stateroom, our heads are basically right against the front of the hull, where the waves are slapping the most. It's quite loud, and made it a little hard for me to sleep. (This is probably what all those boats taking up the mooring balls on the on the other side of the spit already knew.)

Because I didn't have a good image of what the boat was doing during all that slapping and rocking, I had some really crazy dreams — pirates in ski masks getting ready to board our boat, giant eels, tiny claustrophobic locks, etc. At some point I decided to go up to the pilot house to look outside. I could see our boat slowly swinging side to side on the buoy (and again! those stars!!). Once I had the visual of, well, no pirates or eels, I was able to get a bit more sleep, but we'll want to pay more attention to the local knowledge for next time.

This morning it's foggy and rainy outside, but we have work to do anyway. Happy Monday!