Elsewhere – Riveted

A Week in Texas

Laura Domela — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 22:40:07 +0000

By now it’s probably become apparent that we’ve moved all our boat-related updates and travel to our other site, Slowboat, and since most of the travel we do during the summer is by boat, there hasn’t been much news here on Riveted. But we spent last week on business in Texas and visited a few cool spots while we were there, so I thought I’d share!

We started in San Antonio and had a quick visit with Kevin’s mom. We usually try to take her out to dinner someplace cool when we’re in town, and since we’d gone to Cured the last two times we visited, we opted to try a new place this time — Clementine. It’s small and bright, the food was creative and delicious, and the service was spot on. I took no photos, but we’d definitely go back.

In the morning, we headed back to the airport to pick up our rental car and drove into Austin for our first set of meetings. Road Trip!!! I’d found us a little boutique hotel (which turned out to be absolutely lovely) called Austin’s Inn at Pearl.

Austin’s Inn at Pearl

The inn is actually several small buildings that each contain a few rooms, each distinct in their decoration. We were early, but were told our room was ready and directed to this room below, which turned out not to be our room, but was very cute. (It’s called the Library Room and is located on the ground floor of the main yellow building. Our room was actually the Bombay Room, and was on the second floor of the blue building behind, and was wonderful, but I took no photos of it.)

The Library Room at Inn at Pearl

For dinner, we returned to one of our longtime favorites in Austin, Uchiko. We had the chef’s tasting omakase, and again, took no photos, but it was incredible, as usual. Just check out some of the gorgeous food photos (from their website) and you’ll get the idea:

While in Austin, we also tried a new taco place, just down the street from where we stayed, called Keso’s Tacos. We shared a handful of tacos so we could try more than two. Along with the usual carnitas (great), barbacoa, and fish, they have fried avocado tacos, brisket tacos, and one of our favorites, the “Fire Chick” which has hand-battered fried chicken (fried in their Fire Red salsa), lettuce, pico de gallo, and is topped with cilantro ranch & queso, served on a flour tortilla. Delicious!

Next, it was on to Dallas on Thursday. Dallas is about a 3.5 hour drive from Austin, but we had no meetings on Thursday so we took our time and decided to stop in Waco for a little exploring. If you ever watch HGTV you probably know who Chip and Joanna Gaines are. If you don’t, they’re a couple with an extremely popular show called Fixer Upper, which has morphed into a gigantic successful brand that now has its own television network called Magnolia Network. They specialize in turning what starts out as kind of a crappy house into a farmhouse chic, magazine-photo-shoot-ready abode, and they do it well with a fairly specific aesthetic. (Shiplap!!!)

Anyway, we stopped in Waco and decided to check out the Magnolia Market at the Silos (because old silos! turned into a market!), which as it turns out, is a boutique home decor market that is also part of the Chip and Joanna Gaines thing). However, there was a big event going on there on this day and all the roads adjacent to the market were blocked off for event parking and tour buses and such. We googled and learned the event was called Silobration, which was basically an expanded home decor fair with local artisans in matching white booths lining the street out in front of the Market at the Silos, plus a handful of food trucks, and a stage with live music. We parked a few blocks away and made our way to the entrance, through security (yep, security, with scanners and everything). We walked the street/aisle flanked by several dozen booths where artisans displayed their clothing, leather bags, candles, jewelry, etc., most of them with the same color palette as everything else in the Magnolia Market. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very nice aesthetic, it’s just strange to see almost everything in the same place, from different designers, all with the same muted palette. Even the attendees had a themed similarity to them! Mostly young 30-something women, often with kids, many with long hair all curled with the same curling iron tecnique, all carrying stylish little bags with perfect little goodies inside. It was pretty great, actually.

Magnolia Market at the Silos, during Silobration 2019

Silobration, with people taking photos out front with Chip’s parents (yes, really)

Silos Baking Company, Waco TX

Silos!

We walked around for a bit, went in and out of the market, and then headed the several blocks back to our rental car and moved on.

Mural near the silos

We parked down by the river and took a walk along the waterfront, and then across the Brazos River and back via the Waco Suspension Bridge. Here’s some info on the plaque at the base:

Waco Suspension Bridge with several of the (many) bronze cattle sculptures leading up to it

The Waco Suspension Bridge was built as a way to get cattle across the Brazos River. It was part of the Chisolm Trail, used during the post-Civil War era to drive cattle overland from ranches in Texas to Kansas railheads.

View from the suspension bridge

The Brazos River appears to be home to some cool-looking water birds, some biggish fish we didn’t get more than a quick glance at as they briefly splashed the surface, as well as a whole lot of red-eared sliders (turtles!)

Red-eared sliders and birds in the Brazos River

After our walk along the river, we continued on to Dallas. We checked into our hotel and did some work for a bit, and then we headed off to another restaurant I found that sounded interesting, this one in the Deep Ellum neighborhood of Dallas. It’s called the Purepeche Room, and is in the back room of a spot called Revolver Taco Lounge.

Revolver Taco Lounge wall paintings

Revolver Taco Lounge, bathroom graffiti

The Purepecha Room has two seatings per night, holds 14 people max, and the menu is a fixed price tasting menu prepared by the chef and his mom in the kitchen that opens right into the seating area. (On this night, it was the chef’s aunt filling in for his mom while she was out of town.)

Kitchen, from our table

The place is small and quaint and feels a little like you’re hanging out in someone’s home while they cook for you. We had the early seating (6:00pm) and as it turned out we were the only ones there. The food was fantastic and I actually did manage to take some photos this time.

Chef Regino Rojas puts the final touches on what turned out to be my favorite dish of the night (ceviche, pictured below)

Ceviche with spot prawn, grapefruit, cucumber, leaves and flowers, salmon roe, fresh fish (I forgot what kind) and a little bit of puffed rice for texture. The flavors in this dish were amazing!

This was a braised lamb dish with rice and potatoes and homemade tortillas, with a delicious broth

I think this was pheasant mole, with rice and a grilled fig

Pork carnitas and quail with salsas

Everything was wonderful, and we’d definitely come back, but I’d like to see them slow down a bit. There was so much food and we were completely finished by 7:30pm. We could definitely have benefitted from a little more time to breathe between courses. Since the second seating isn’t until 8:30pm, seems like there would be enough time to spread things out a little better. Also, the waitress was exceptionally sweet, but seemed very new. She recommended we have white wine with the first four courses and red with the second four, but then recommended a bottle that was $105, which didn’t come by the glass. What would we have done with a whole bottle of wine for the first four courses that came out so rapidly? Anyway, we did some by-the-glass wines that worked out great. Dessert was wonderful (traditional flan and a small slice of local pecan pie), but the coffee!!! Oh my goodness the coffee was fabulous. Café de olla is a traditional Mexican coffee with panela (whole cane sugar) and cinnamon, cooked on the stovetop and served in an earthen clay pot. Super yum!

We walked around the neighborhood a bit after dinner, gave the guy who promised to “watch our car” a few bucks, then headed back to our hotel.

Friday after the rest of our meetings, we caught our evening flight back to Portland. We’re now home and in the middle of a gigantic purging push, which consists of cleaning out the garage, closets, and other hidey-holes, getting rid of stuff we don’t use anymore, and many, many, many trips to Goodwill. We seem to do this every time we get back from a summer on that boat (just not as well as we’re doing it now), when we are once again reminded just how little we need to be happy — in fact, it’s the opposite. The “stuff” eventually becomes the boss, and gets in the way of so many things. It feels good to be getting rid of more. I’d like to be able to relax and breathe at home as well as we are able to do on the boat!

Catching Up | Seattle Boat Show, Snowpocalypse, and the Grammys

Laura Domela — Fri, 15 Feb 2019 21:32:39 +0000

We’ve been busy! (New) Airship was out of the water for two months getting new floors, new upholstery, new electronics, and a handful of other fun upgrades (if you want to take a look at some before and after photos, click here). We finally got her back in the water just in time to cruise down to the Seattle Boat Show.

We got a nice view of the Super Blood Wolf Moon from Airship in Anacortes before we headed south

We took two days making our way down to Seattle, stopping in Oak Harbor for (cheap) fuel and staying overnight in Langley. It’s so nice to finally be on the water in our new boat!

Airship at Bell Harbor Marina

Kevin presenting “WiFi in the Wilderness” at the Seattle Boat Show

Our Slowboat seminars all went great and were well-attended–another successful boat show in the books!

A few weeks back, we learned that Kevin’s brother, Craig (a classical trumpet player) was nominated for a Grammy in the “Best Instrumental Classical Solo Performance” category, for his solo trumpet recording “Glass: 3 Pieces in the Shape of a Square” of music by composer Philip Glass. We were super excited about his nomination for this album, and then just as we were heading to Seattle, he told us he’d been invited to perform at the Grammy Premiere show, and he was inviting us to come join him! We quickly scheduled ourselves a little shopping party in Seattle to find something to wear, and planned a trip to Los Angeles!

Leaving Seattle

We stopped in Langley again on our way back north. The weather was supposed to get nasty (35-45mph winds, more snow) so we stayed two nights and let the wind pass.

We woke the next morning to snow-covered docks, and spent most of the day cozy inside

It was windy enough to blow a bunch up snow up against the cockpit door, even!

Icicles on the scuppers!

When we got back to Portland, there was a bit of snow as well, and the forecast was for it to dump more starting the night before our flight to L.A., so we opted to stay in a hotel at the airport to ensure a higher likelihood of catching our flight. In the morning it had snowed a bit more, but there were probably only 3-4 inches. Our house is at about 1000 feet and we normally get a bit more snow than the lower elevations, making our steep driveway not so much fun, so we were glad for the easy commute!

View from our hotel

Flights were all on time with no issues.

Portland Airport

We arrived at LAX and grabbed a Lyft to our hotel. I found us a cool hotel online without knowing anything about it, and it was even better in person! We stayed at the Mayfair, not far from Staples Center. I chose the hotel because it was convenient, and because it looked like a boutique hotel with some fun L.A. style. We were pleasantly surprised and would definitely stay here again if, for instance, someone was nominated for another Grammy and invited us to come back.

View from our room

One interesting thing about this hotel that I learned after I’d booked our room was that they had a fantastic art and music program:

“Artist-in-Residence, internationally renowned artist Kelly “RISK” Graval has curated a multi-million-dollar collection that beautifully reflects L.A.’s vibrant and invigorating contemporary art scene. The extraordinary art collection on display at The Mayfair was curated by legendary artist and illustrator RISK, in collaboration with artists Shepard Fairey, Geoff Melville, Richard Mirando, and more. From his early days as a USC Fine Arts student and pioneering graffiti artist, to his celebrated gallery and museum showcases around the world, RISK has left an indelible mark on the contemporary art world and become a hometown hero of the Los Angeles art scene.” [from the Mayfair website]

The really cool thing about this is that I know RISK’s work from back when I lived in Long Beach and Los Angeles in my 20s, and in fact for a number of years there was a large 4×4 foot piece of RISK’s work hanging over my sofa in the house I shared with my then-boyfriend. Said then-boyfriend was a director and he’d done a short segment on RISK for a television show, and RISK had given him/us the colorful, spray-painted 4×4 ft piece of plexiglass he’d made during the filming of the show. I drilled holes in the corners, bolted it a few inches off a piece of painted black plywood, and hung it in our living room. Of course when we broke up, then-boyfriend kept the artwork (as he should have), but I was happy to learn RISK was still working and thriving in the Los Angeles art scene.

Artwork in the lobby by RISK (Kelly Graval)

As we checked into our room and I posted the photo below on Instagram, up came a little pop-up notice on my phone that there was a “RISK Pop-Up Print Sale: Out of the Vault” going on downstairs. Craig had invited us to go to this Grammy rehearsal with him, and we only had about 10 minutes before we needed to be in the lobby, but we hustled down to the gallery and in less than 5 minutes I found find a print I liked, purchased said print, and took it back to our room. Total score!

Lobby of the Mayfair hotel

And off we went to Grammy rehearsal!

Craig and Federico going over their music

The piece from Craig’s album that the Grammy committee wanted him to play was the most complicated piece (of course), and is actually a duet where Craig recorded both parts. Easy to do on an album, but much more difficult to perform in person — so he sought accompaniment from his student and TA at University of Miami, a talented trumpet player named Federico Montes, originally from Columbia. Federico is a wonderful trumpet player and a super nice guy, and they made a great team.

Setting up the music stands, all twelve of them, in the shape of a square

Craig and Federico getting mic’d up

Empty stage with lighting

Rehearsal went great! Craig and Federico played through the piece three times, and they were both extremely pleased with how it sounded! You can hear Craig’s original recording here, if you’re interested. We think it’s pretty cool!

Teleprompter

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Teleprompter in mostly empty theatre

On Sunday morning we arrived early for the Premiere show and hung out in Craig’s dressing room (next door to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ dressing room) until it was time to be seated. The Premiere show was great, and Craig and Federico’s performance was fantastic. What a treat to be able to experience this with him!

Audience, with Craig and Federico on the big screen as they made their way around the square of music stands, playing as they went

Craig did not win the Grammy, but having the opportunity to perform was a pretty big deal, and I doubt this will be his only nomination.

As the Grammy Premiere show was wrapping up, we were driven (via black SUV) over to the red carpet for the telecast show at Staples Center.

Waiting in line with all the other black vehicles

Attendants with mirrors checked underneath the cars for bombs (really)…

…and police officers with canine help kept a nose out for drugs.

Red carpet chaos

Craig and Federico live-streaming the red carpet

Photographers work hard to get J-Lo’s attention

Don’t let Ashanti’s dress touch the ground!

Don’t let St. Vincent’s dress touch the ground either!

The red carpet was enormously fun to get to do. Somehow (probably because we had credentials that said “Talent” on them) we were able to walk through with Craig, and it was a blast. We saw a ton of musicians and actors we recognized (Fred Armisen and Natasha Lyonne, Cardi B., a Kardashian or two, St. Vincent, Ashanti, Jennifer Lopez, etc.), and I’m sure many others we should have recognized but didn’t.

Once inside, Craig and his wife Karen went to their seats on the floor (down there by the circular stage) and we went to ours (see view from our seats, below). When you aren’t nominated for a Grammy, your seats are not quite as good, but no matter…we had a blast.

One benefit of seats up high — we could see down into both performance areas as they were preparing/building the stages for each performance! That’s the stage for Janelle Monae being set up on the right.

After the show, we wandered next door to the official Grammy after party (our tickets got us into both shows and the after party).

“Transforming the LA Convention Center into “Grammy Land,” which emulated the spirit of the classic children’s game, “Candy Land,” oversized candy displays, enchanting water features, and grandiose design elements were brought to life by a troupe of live entertainers, dancers, acrobats, and aerialists to amplify the visual projections. Equating to over three football fields in size, the official Grammy After Party encompassed more than 600 catering and service staff, 400 production team members, 60 dancers and acrobats, and four live performances as it hosted over 5,000 attended guests.” [source]

We had some food, some drinks, and socialized a bit, taking it all in, and then headed back to our hotel to change (SHOES!!!!) and then wandered down to a local bar for a nightcap and some quieter conversation. What a fun night!!

We’re back at home now and after one more business trip we’ll head back up to Airship for some more projects. We need to get the dinghy off the top deck (and decide if we want to keep the Boston Whaler or sell it and get a RIB), finalize the stern davit installation, clean out and organize some lockers, and just generally start getting ready for the summer of cruising to SE Alaska. May isn’t that far away, and we still have a lot to do!

Here are a few photos of Airship in the snow that our friend Glen sent. Sounds like they eventually had about 8 inches up there, but here in Portland, we have zero.

Ten Days in Yelapa, Our Shower Iguana, and a Bigger Airship

Laura Domela — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 02:15:39 +0000

A lot has happened since I last posted (in May!) We lead the first flotilla from the San Juan Islands to Juneau, Alaska, then met our next flotilla in Port McNeill and headed down the west side of Vancouver Island, then made one full flotilla circle around Vancouver Island starting in Roche Harbor and ending in Victoria, BC. We had a blast, and we have five more flotillas planned for the summer of 2019.

Toward the end of our last flotilla (while on the outside of Vancouver Island), we learned of a Nordic Tug 42 for sale out of Sidney, BC. Photos looked good, specs sounded good, and to make a long story short, we sold smaller Airship (our Nordic Tug 34) and have now moved up to a 42! If you want more details and photos, here they are.

We sold the airplane before we left for Alaska, and we’ll be selling the Airstream any day now (2010 27’FB International CCD with a ton of upgrades — let us know if you’re interested…it’s not listed yet but will be soon). So we’re putting all our eggs into the boat basket, since it has proven to be the vessel of choice these days. We spent over 900 nights aboard Airship/34 in the four years we had her, and I know we’ll keep up the trend on the new Airship, so why not streamline?

But right now, we’re back in Yelapa, Jalisco, Mexico, enjoying the sun and sea (and tequila). Our friends Tiffani and Deke met us in Puerto Vallarta about a week ago and we water taxi’d to Yelapa where they spent a week with us (left yesterday, sad face). We’ll spend four more days before heading back to Portland and then up to the boat to help with upgrade projects that are happening now!

For Thanksgiving, we had the cooks from a local cafe (Cafe Eclipse) come to our casa and cook dinner for us: homemade guacamole and salsa, margaritas, carne asada, grilled fish, veggies, homemade tortillas, and coconut and chocolate pie from the Yelapa pie lady. It was delicious, and we even watched two humpbacks breaching out in the bay right from the dinner table. Pretty great!

Here are some photos from the past week:

Leaving Puerto Vallarta by water taxi

The view from Casa Pericos

After getting settled, we headed into town to grab dinner at one of our favorite eateries–Taqueria Los Abuelos. Tiffani and I had tacos (very good), and Kevin and Deke both ordered the special, which was a Chile Relleno con Camarones. It was extra delicious, and I wish it was on their permanent menu!

Sunset from Casa Pericos, first night in Yelapa

Path through town as it crosses the river

Local signage

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Local signage

We picked up a few things at the market for breakfasts and snacks (eggs, chorizo, stuff to make salsa, coffee, tortillas and chips), as well as a bottle of the locally made raicilla to try (which comes in this fancy bottle):

Raicilla is made from the agave plant, but is less of a mezcal or tequila, and more of a local “moonshine” specific to this area of Jalisco. Until recently, buying it here from the locals is the only way to get it, but there is now one distiller, La Venenosa, that has started to market a legal brand of raicilla. It got an interesting flavor and some definite similarities to mezcal, but it’s for sure its own thing (and there’s no way we’ll be able to really even dent this bottle we bought, so we’ll find someone to pass it on to before we leave).

Tuesday was the first of our two charter outings with Garcia Charters.

We trolled for about five minutes before we caught our first fish (a bonito). Today brought in 3 bonito, and about 30 skipjack. (We kept one skipjack that Juan Carlos made ceviche with, and threw the rest back.)

The lighthouse at the southernmost tip of Banderas Bay.

Back at Casa Pericos, we learned that we had a shower iguana (he’s still here).

The next day we thought we’d wander over to La Playa (the more touristy area of Yelapa). The moon is nearly full so the tides have been high, which means shoes off to wade across this area to the beach.

Heading to La Playa

We sat at a table and had some lunch, while this big iguana came a little too close to Tiffani’s shoes

Back at Casa Pericos, Tiffani and Deke heading out for a paddle (photo taken from our room).

We went out again with Garcia Charters on Friday after Thanksgiving: fishing first, then a stop out at Islas Marietas

Geared up and ready to swim through the sea cave/tunnel into “Playa del Amor” — a white sand beach inside a crater! Tiffani and Deke on the left, and one of our charter guides, Jonas, on the right.

This is such a cool thing to do from Yelapa (or Puerto Vallarta). Next time we may spend the first part of our charter snorkeling at the islands instead of fishing, since there’s much to see out here, but today we just had a quick swim into the crater with a great view of the local blue-footed boobies. (Two of them were positioned right at the sea cave opening, showing off their bright blue feet, just like Disney would have designed if this was a ride!) If you want to get a good overview of what this place looks like, check out this image search result.

Late morning view from Casa Pericos

On Saturday, we headed back over to La Playa and the far side of town. Deke decided that since Tiffani had never parasailed, today was going to be her day.

Making our way through town. We rarely get lost now after a few days navigating the winding cobblestone paths.

Looking down into the village/bay from the path above town

Local foliage

When we arrived at the spot to cross the river, it was WAY higher than it was the previous time, so we walked further on the path up river and crossed at the bridge.

Looking up river, taken from the bridge

The bridge across the river

Love this cool structure

Wood slat details

Kevin, Deke, and Tiffani

We arrived at La Playa and found the parasail guy, who he quickly got Tiffani ready, called the boat, and made it all happen!

Getting instructions for take off

There she is, flying over Yelapa

Coming in for a landing

Tiffani said she was super scared at the beginning, but that after she relaxed into a little bit that it was really fun and the view was amazing.

We had such a nice time with Tiffani and Deke, and we’re enjoying the last few days here just relaxing and cooking and watching the sea life from our balcony–the other day we watched a manta ray jumping out of the water over and over again just out near the rocks in front.

A Few Days in the Bay Area

Laura Domela — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 02:19:49 +0000

We left Anacortes on Friday morning (after returning from The Willows Inn on Lummi, and after stopping to look at a couple more boats) and drove back to Portland. We didn't get in until about 10:30pm on Friday night, and as Kevin brought in the last of our stuff from the truck, said "Please tell me you already brought my laptop bag into the house."

[crickets]

Well shit. Guess where Kevin's laptop was? Waiting patiently in the pilothouse of Airship, back in Anacortes, four and a half hours away. We had a flight to San Francisco on Sunday morning, a birthday party for a good friend in SF on Sunday night, and then starting Monday mid-day in San Jose: meetings meetings meetings for two days. The presentation we'd been working on was on Kevin's laptop and we couldn't make do without it. So, guess what we did on Saturday? About nine hours of driving to go get that laptop (and give Airship another little pat on the bow). It was super windy and pouring rain for most of the drive, to boot! (See, it's not all rainbows and unicorns around here.)

We made it fine to SF and had a great view from our room at Hotel Nikko (above). The birthday party for our friend Tad was a wonderful evening with an incredible group of people. I've known Tad Savinar since I graduated from art school when, based on a recommendation from one of my professors, I became Tad's studio assistant for a few years. Tad is many things…among them, a visual artist. Now days we are friends, and I help him realize his work using some of my skills…photography, Photoshop, some printing. He's inspiring to work with, but more importantly he is one of the most wonderful people I've ever known. Everyone at the party last night had something amazing to say about their friendship with Tad, and it was a beautiful thing to experience. The party was in the Salesian room of Original Joe's in North Beach. What a great venue! Upholstered walls and cool old signage…dinner was delicious, and the service was impeccable, but really it was all about the people.

There were a few people at the party with late November/December birthdays, and Tad made sure to recognize each one of them by giving out beautiful flower leis. This was Kevin's:

We gave Tad (and his wife, Kate) a portrait session in the studio. I said they could choose the style of their choice, but that I had some suggestions, and that dressing up was a must. (This will be a fun one!!)

(Side note: Tad and Kate are the couple who got married in Florence, Italy in May of 2014, and were the reason we went to Italy in the first place last year.)

This morning we drove into San Jose for a couple of meetings and presentations, and then I Yelp'd us a cool place to grab some dinner afterwards. On a previous trip I found a little place called Kenny's Cafe that had a delicious bibimbap (among many other things), but Kenny's closes at 3pm. We had a little bit of a jones for bibimbap, and I found a new place not too far from where we were called Mixed Roll & Bop, a new Korean Asian fusion spot with (from the reviews) the BEST bibimbap, as well as good spicy chicken wings, and sushi. We tried the stone pot bibimbap with spicy pork, some spicy chicken wings, and a spicy tuna roll (yeah, spicy seemed to be the theme, I know). It was all great, but the bibimbap!!! It was THE BEST! (Preparing it in the stone pot gives the rice some crunchy goodness on the bottom.)

This is their funky little sign out front:

Highly recommended. It's very small, and the environment is definitely on the "fast food" side, but the food was delicious and we'll definitely go back!

Tomorrow is another day of meetings and then we'll fly back to Portland tomorrow night.

Last Day in Cary, NC

Laura Domela — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 13:24:47 +0000

Those are called "American Redbud" and they're all over Raleigh and Cary, in multiple shades of pink. I took these on our walk yesterday to the Fortnight Brewing Company along the Cary Greenway:

We've had such a great time visiting Tiffani and Deke. It's been a pretty chill visit, with much eating and drinking, some video games, a couple movies, an Alt-J concert, and a nice walk yesterday to a brewery (and then more eating).

Alt-J at the Red Hat Amphitheater on Friday night (great show!):

On Saturday afternoon Deke cooked up some wings on the Traeger. We had four different kinds, with several dipping sauces, and they were ALL fantastic. Yesterday we went to Beasley's Chicken & Honey for chicken and waffles (sides: creamed collards, beets, and mac & cheese):

Deeee-licious! And when we get home, we're starting back on the salad-fish-veggies-chicken diet. OMG seriously.

Also, while we were here, we PLANNED FOR ALASKA! Tiffani and Deke are going to meet us in Juneau in June and cruise Southeast Alaska with us for two weeks. We're ALL so excited! Together we'll see Juneau, Petersburg, and Sitka, and tons of stuff in between!

Eating and Drinking in Raleigh, NC

Laura Domela — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 12:11:14 +0000

We're visiting our friends Tiffani and Deke in North Carolina this week, and besides visiting and catching up and helping them watching them move into their new place, we've been checking out some of the local spots for food and drink. We went to a great spot for Mexican food the other night called Jose & Sons, and last night we went to a place called Trophy Brewing & Pizza for (duh) beer and pizza:

The beer taps are all trophy tops…cute!

The pizza there was fabulous. We ordered a "Daredevil" (ghost chili pepper salami, fire roasted tomato sauce, mozzarella blend, fresh jalapeno, caramelized onions, sriracha) — so hot and SO good, another called "Local Celebrity" (sweet potato puree, smoked gouda, country ham, swiss chard, spiced apple reduction), also SO good, and the "Most Outgoing" (local mushrooms, caramelized onion, fresh arugula, brie, mozzarella blend, tomato sauce). All three were delicious and different.

The first night in the new place was without power, so we hung out by candlelight last night, and this morning Deke went to get coffee and breakfast for everyone (North Carolina style):

The power's back now and we're just working here while they settle in.

Venice, Italy – Day 1

Laura Domela — Thu, 08 May 2014 20:21:58 +0000

On Tuesday night we attempted to get our suitcases all nicely packed with (1) stuff to wear cycling while in Italy, (2) stuff to wear sightseeing and hiking around and touring while in Italy, and (3) some fancy duds to wear to our friends Tad & Kate's wedding festivities at the end of the month in Florence. We also took apart our bikes and packed them up in their individual suitcases (so cool!) It turns out, however, that trying to pack three different sets/types of clothing, plus a bicycle and all its accessories into two suitcases that have to be under 50 lbs each is no small feat. Good thing those Kryptonite U-locks we're bringing are pretty light, right?

After quite a bit of removing, repacking, weighing, and reweighing, we worked it out!

We rejiggered many of the smaller heavier things into Kevin's regular (smaller than mine) suitcase (locks, some bike tools, etc.) and then took everything else that pushed the bags over 50 lbs and put it all into a giant computer bag I used a few times for my 17" Macbook pro (before I realized it was too heavy a computer to carry as a shoulder bag) and carried that on as one of my "personal items." So now, I totally look like one of those old ladies who carries a handbag the size of a suitcase as her "purse." And it's heavier than my big laptop, by far. Oh well.

We'd had such grand ideas of stuffing all our cycling-related clothing items around our bikes in their suitcases as padding and storage, therefore freeing up our regular bags for other clothes, but it turns out that the bike plus all of its accessories plus heavy-duty suitcases weighs in at about 52 lbs. Oops.

We left our house with more bags than we've ever traveled with, ever (but cool! a bike is part of that!!) on Wednesday to catch our flight (Portland-Amsterdam-Venice). Our friend Kyle (Where is Kyle Now?) is having his Airstream worked on in Portland and hanging out at our house while we're in Italy and his home is in the shop. He's soaking up some super-fast Wi-Fi, cable television, and an address to ship things to! Kyle was sweet enough to also give us a ride to the airport.

Here's Kevin, with two bikes in hard-sided heavy-duty Samsonite suitcases, two regular suitcases, two laptop bags, and one GIGANTIC old lady purse:

The flights were easy and the bikes arrived intact and we're now in Venice! Oh yeah, here's our stop in Amsterdam. We plan to come back here with our bikes next time and stay a bit longer than 2 hours:

Okay, so back to Venice. We took a taxi to our hotel (Hotel President, on the mainland in Mestre), checked in, and took two trips up the tiny elevator to our room (one person/one bike suitcase/one regular suitcase per elevator ride) and then decided to put our bikes together to make sure everything traveled nicely. No issues at all!

We cleaned up a little and headed out to explore. The island of Venice is about 6km from our hotel, so we hopped on a bus and were on the island in about 15 minutes. We purchased a couple of 36-hour tourist passes so that while we're here we can hop on and off all busses and vaporettos (water taxis) as often as we please (25 euros each).

We got on the #2 vaporetto that travels up and down the Grand Canal and headed toward San Marco and wow! A lot of people say "Oh, Venice, yeah, it's cool, but it's touristy and you really can just see it in a day" but we loved it, and had such a wonderful afternoon and evening just wandering by boat and on foot exploring this magical place. So, I have a TON of photos for you guys (and this is after paring it down…and I'm usually such a good editor!) But you said you wanted photos, so here they are:

We got off here at the Piazza San Marco and explored the square and took photos of cool stuff. The Basilica was closed so we'll try to pop inside tomorrow when we go back by there.

I can't tell you how many times I saw photos of this building (the Palazzo Ducale, or Doge's Palace) in art history classes:

After San Marco we opted to just get lost a bit. You can't get too lost though on an island. Some shots from the wanderings:

Texting gondolier:

Follow the signs to get back to the vaporetto:

Fancy gondolas:

We stopped for wine and snacks at a bacaro called Bancogiro. The back door opens to outside seating on the Grand Canal, and it had this view:

A glass of wine, some prosciutto, several kinds of cheese, smoked tuna carpaccio, and some gnocchi with duck and greens — it was all good but the atmosphere was incredible, and that's just fine because that's what we're in Venice for: the atmosphere. After what ended up being dinner, we explored a bit more before hopping on a vaporetto headed back toward the start of the Grand Canal.

From the Rialto Bridge:

These dark shots are some of my favorites!

Here's where we ate dinner (outside there, on the left):

The Rialto Fish Market at night, all closed up:

Festive restaurants on the canal:

We're back at our hotel, working, looking at photos, and preparing for one more day in Venice. Here's our hotel:

Yeah, it's kinda boring, a little hot and at full blast the AC doesn't do much at all, but so what. We won't be in it much at all. (Plus, free Wi-Fi!)

A presto!

(p.s. Told you there were a lot of pictures!)

Also, I meant to post a link in this post to this article by our friend Barry Yeoman. Barry's writing is such a pleasure to read and this essay captures such a rich and authentic view of Venice.

The Mill PDX

Laura Domela — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 16:34:23 +0000

A few days ago we went over to The Mill PDX (at 2925 NE Glisan Street in Portland) and met up with Paul Sykes (of Sykes Wood Fenders) to pick up a wooden water bottle holder for Kevin's bike. (We got mahogany ones for both bikes and they're great! Here's a photo of mine, only now I've moved it to the spot on the seatpost by the back rack.) The Mill PDX is a maker studio and co-op, and the building consists mostly of workspace with a small shop up front where the makers can show and sell their work. There is some great stuff in here!

That circle ceiling lamp is one of Paul's newest pieces. There are LEDs in a groove in the top of the wood circle that creates a beautiful reflected light from the ceiling. He's got a few different sizes of these lamps and they are so elegant! If we had white ceilings (we have wood ceilings) I don't think we could pass this up!

Paul didn't make our wooden bike fenders, but he does make beautiful bicycle fenders (among many other things). He generously gave us a tour of his studio and showed us some of his work.

Almost finished fenders:

Paul (and Lindsay of MapleXO, also at The Mill PDX) are using recycled skateboards for some of their work. (Lindsay is all about the recycled skateboards, actually.)

Raw shaved skateboard veneer in several color themes:

Lindsay makes jewelry and other accessories and her work is fabulous…check it out here.

We picked up a new MapleXO bottle opener for the Airstream (made from recycled skateboards, of course):

Some source material:

I didn't get a photo of it in the shop, but check out this gorgeous lamp (collaboration between Paul and Lindsay) made from recycled skateboards.

This little set of 2 containers with twist-lock lids and a recycled skateboard tray looks like it would be perfect in the Airstream! (Image from the MapleXO catalog.)

Also at The Mill, Ascari handmade bicycles:

Look at this amazing detail work (image from their website):

I love finding these kinds of artisan/maker spots. Makes me want to make stuff!!

This is Why

Laura Domela — Sat, 10 Aug 2013 00:43:48 +0000

Dark Rye Productions did a fabulous film about our friends and fellow Airstreamers, Josh and Jessa Works, and their son Jack. It's a fabulous portrayal of why we all work so hard to craft this kind of life for ourselves.

New Spot at Champoeg State Park

Laura Domela — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 23:15:21 +0000

Well, we're here. We had a major hitch problem just as we were pulling out of Skamokawa, but we were able to MacGyver a fix that let us get to our next spot (whew!) and there are now parts on their way to us. Will break down the hitch issue in another post. Ah, the RV life.

It's 92 degrees Farenheit outside (7:02pm) and we're inside the Airstream right now in the AC (good to run it once in awhile anyway, we say) sipping a cold beer (getting less cold by the second though) and finishing up some work before we crack the fresh cooked crab we picked up yesterday in Ilwaco for dinner (will serve with a salad…no cooking tonight).

We went out to do a couple errands a bit ago and ended up stopping at the cute little historic Butteville store to get some marshmallows for roasting tonight (although it's a bit difficult to think about sitting in front of a fire right now, because it's So. Dang. Hot.)

Anyway. Here's the cute little historic Butteville Store:

How historic is it? 1863! That's how historic.

We got some marshmallows (non Jet Puffed brand – one strike against the cute little historic Butteville store) but we also got a teeny little container of salted caramel ice cream (one gold star FOR the cute little historic Butteville store) so we're set on dessert for a few days I think.

This is the inside of the store:

They've got some necessities, a few grocery items, ice cream, wine…they make great sandwiches, and it's just generally a cute spot to stop and check out if you're in the area.