Portland – Riveted

Sightseeing at Home

Laura Domela — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 21:31:33 +0000

We had some friends in town a few days ago (hi Sam, Anna, and David!) which as most Portlanders know is a great reason to head out into the Columbia Gorge to get another look at Multnomah Falls:

We took I-84 out of Portland and then exited to take the Old Highway 30 scenic route the rest of the way so we could drive slowly past a number of waterfalls, slot canyons, and viewpoints.

Here's the view from the Vista House, looking east:

Inside the Vista House:

I don't remember which waterfall this was:

My favorite spot out here is Oneonta Gorge: a moss-walled slot canyon where fairies and unicorns live. Later in the summer when it's warmer, you can hike (through water and over a big log jam that wasn't there the first time I came here, but has been the last several times…it's a fun climb-over) all the way to the Oneonta Falls (and if it's really warm, go swimming!). There's no real trail…the river is the trail, so warm weather (or really tall rubber boots) are recommended. We did see a few brave souls wading through in tennies and shorts and no shirts, however, so suit yourself.

Oneonta Gorge Tunnel:

Log jam in Oneonta Gorge:

For a whole lot more photos of this incredible place, check out this link.

After exploring the waterfalls, we stopped at McMenamin's Edgefield to grab a bite and a beer cider (pomegranate cider…so summery!) The weather was gorgeous (as you may have noticed from the above photos) so we sat outside and soaked up the sun.

On Saturday we all went to breakfast over on Mississippi Avenue…a new spot we hadn't tried before called Gravy. Delicious (especially the gravy!). Super fun weekend with super fun friends!

Today we both did rowing workouts in the morning (because, gravy!), and then we headed out to Fisherman's Warehouse to pick up what I'm pretty sure is the Chuck Norris of coolers: the Yeti Tundra 50. We've been using a little Igloo that doesn't keep things cold (or ice ice) for very long, and when it rains, water gets inside. Then we switched to using our shiny metal Coleman that we use with the Airstream, but it's not all stainless steel so a couple of small spots on it are starting to rust. People talk about the Yeti like it's the holy grail of coolers, and so far, it seems to be. For a longer trip (like, Alaska) it's nice to have the extra space for produce and stuff when you need to stock up every couple of weeks.

We're picking up our lithium batteries on Tuesday in Eugene at AM Solar and then will head up to the boat to install them on Wednesday. We've got several more projects we want to finish before heading to Alaska (batteries, removing the last of the carpet and replacing it with Amtico, making sure we have all the spare parts we need, fixing the shower want holder, and oh yeah…attaching our new ring buoy!

This is much cuter than the blue throw cushion, for sure.

Hiking in our Backyard

Laura Domela — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 14:23:39 +0000

One of the nice things about being home in Portland is how close we are to miles and miles of hiking trails. And by close, I mean roughly 200 yards from the nearest trail.

Fall is a great time on the trails because, well, trees! Look at the richness of color in this one shot:

When the petals from the flowers on a Magnolia tree drop, the center of the bloom transforms into a giant fuzzy seed pod.

Magnolia leaves:

The Magnolia leaves are huge. Here's a shot with my muddy trail shoe in it for scale:

I've got a few photo shoots at my studio in town over the next week or two and then we'll be heading up to the boat for a bit. Yay winter cruising!!

A Visit to the Nordic Tug Factory

Laura Domela — Sun, 21 Sep 2014 13:33:00 +0000

A couple months back while we were looking at boats and trying to zero in on which might be right for us, one of the things we did was get a tour of the Nordic Tug factory in Burlington, Washington. These are very well-made boats (as are the American Tugs, made in nearby LaConner, Washington — our runner up) and you couldn't go wrong with either boat. It was great to see the process, and we're very happy with our choice.

I didn't show you these earlier, because, well, it was a surprise (and we hadn't decided yet)!

Early on Tuesday morning we'll be heading north to close on the sale of our boat, and then starting right in with a few days of on-the-water training. We want to learn as much as we can (while there's someone right there to answer questions) before we strike out on our own (where we have to look things up on the internet).

After the 29th, we'll be having a few upgrades done to the boat, and once those are finished we'll probably explore the San Juans a little bit (if the weather's still decent) before bringing Airship back to Portland for some Columbia River time.

Morning at Cap Sante Marina, Anacortes:

I've already purchased a couple of the things from my Airship Decor post yesterday and I'm excited to see how they look on the boat. (I just want to be ON the boat already!) I'll wait to decide what else we want/need until after we've actually lived on the thing for a little bit. The boat is coming to us already outfitted with so many things we won't need to buy (fantastic!) but we know we're going to want to personalize the look and feel with our own bedding, throw pillows, towels, etc.

That pillow with the woodblock print of the giant octopus attacking the boat? Yeah. I got two of those.

Work Work Work

Laura Domela — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 20:23:45 +0000

Work work work work coffee work work working more work a tiny break then more work. Morning hike, back to work, work work, shower, food, work work work work work work more coffee then more work.

Hey look, a deer is eating my plants!

Back to work work work then dinner then some work and oh just a bit more work and then what do you know it's bed time?

So, we're home for a bit and this is what it's like. Not too exciting to write about, huh? (But hey, we have slammin' fast internet at home, so there's that!)

All of the Bridges

Laura Domela — Sun, 10 Aug 2014 19:00:22 +0000

This morning we got up at 5am and headed down to the Fremont Bridge for the start of the 2014 Providence Bridge Pedal. This is a super fun ride (we've done it once before, on the tandem). There are several options for this ride. There's a 10 bridge option (33 miles), an 8 bridge option (24 miles), a 6 bridge option (13 miles), a kids pedal (3 miles over two bridges), and "Stride" which is a 5.5 mile walk over two bridges).

There's also the Fremont Express option, which is 36 miles, does 10 bridges, but gets to start just after sunrise from the middle of the Fremont Bridge. This is pretty cool because the Fremont Bridge is normally closed to pedestrians and cyclists — only cars allowed. So having a half an hour or so up at the top of the bridge was really neat!

They had water stations and a bunch of food laid out on tables for the riders (bananas, donuts, bagels, etc.), along with a string ensemble playing music for us as we waited for the start time (6:45am).

And we're off:

It's super fun to ride through the city on bikes with the freewyas and bridges all (or mostly) to yourselves.

We met a family who said they do this ride every year together and have done the last 10 in a row. There are friends, couples on tandems, parents with kids on tandem trailer-cycles, kids in Burley trailers, dogs in baskets…as well as quite a few of the "serious cyclists wearing logo jerseys" Geico!!!!! (Okay so what about the jerseys that have written on the back: www.cyclingjerseysdirect.com? That's it. The name of the online store where you buy this logo cycling jersey? I don't get the whole logo jersey thing for regular people who aren't sponsored. I don't. I'll admit it. But the logo for the store where you got it? It's one level removed from Nike, even. Weird.)

Anyway. This is a very well-managed ride. There are several different routes, several starting times and places, with routes merging and peeling off from each other like diagrams of DNA strands, and there are so many helpful volunteers and policemen working the traffic and the cyclists…it's pretty fantastic how smooth it flows.

At the start of the ride, the administrators reminded everyone (several times) to remember, "It's a ride, not a race." For some people though, those are just words. There are "those guys" in every ride like this (all levels, all ages), who just can't help themselves.

At one point when it got a little congested downtown and cycling traffic slowed, two guys in red jerseys (matching) came up on the left and I heard one say "Really? REALLY??" as if he couldn't believe there was congestion during a ride with OVER 10,000 RIDERS. Then his red jersey twin yelled out "On your LEFT PEOPLE! On your LEFT!" What a dick.

Beautiful morning view of downtown from the Marquam Bridge:

View from the Sellwood Bridge (back toward downtown, far in the distance):

On the Hawthorne Bridge:

View of the Marquam Bridge from the Hawthorne Bridge:

Riders on the Hawthorne Bridge:

Next up: the Ross Island Bridge, then the Marquam Bridge (again!), and then Burnside. The new (not yet finished) Tilikum Crossing, taken from the Burnside Bridge:

(Next year's bridge pedal will get to ride across the Tilikum Crossing before it's open to the public.)

Steel Bridge from the Burnside Bridge:

Ooooh, arty:

Burnside Bridge heading west:

After the Burnside Bridge, we crossed the Broadway Bridge, then the Fremont Bridge again, and headed out Highway 30 to conquer the St. Johns Bridge:

View back toward downtown from the St. Johns Bridge:

Details, looking down:

Steel Bridge:

The finish line was after the Steel Bridge, down at the Portland waterfront:

The Bite of Oregon is going on down at the waterfront this weekend (see below, food booths, music), and though we did get free admission tickets with our ride registration, we opted to ride back to our car (a few miles away at the base of the Fremont Bridge) and go home for a bite instead (crossing the Morrison Bridge on the way, since it was the only one we didn't do as part of our official ride).

Oh yeah, here's our route:

Ten bridges (two of them crossed twice!), 42.9 miles. Finished and home by noon. Nap time!

Sauvie Island Bike Ride

Laura Domela — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 00:22:58 +0000

This morning we did our usual hike in the Arboretum (about 4 miles), but we figured we should really get a bike ride in too, since we're doing the 36 mile Bridge Pedal route next Sunday (one week from today) and we really haven't been riding that much lately. So this afternoon we loaded the tandem into the back of the truck and headed for Sauvie Island.

We've had our tandem for about 9-10 years and it's a great bike. (Notice, it's ALSO aluminum!!) It's a Santana Sovereign.

There's a really nice 12 mile loop around the south end of the island that looks like this:

Sauvie Island is the largest island along the Columbia River at 26,000 acres, and is predominantly farms and wildlife refuge. It's flat and has fairly low traffic so it's a great place to cycle.

Here are some photos of our ride, and oh yeah, it was 90 degrees out. Hot!!

There are several farm markets out here where you can get fresh produce and/or pick your own berries and flowers.

Corn maze and pumpkin patch opens on Labor Day:

I saw these cows. They were eating grass, just like it says.

Hiking and Cooking at Home

Laura Domela — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 16:58:39 +0000

We've gotten back into our morning hike routine while at home and we love it. Our normal route is just under 4 miles in about an hour and it is gorgeous! We feel pretty lucky to live this close to so many miles of beautiful trails.

We also replaced our Fitbit Force fitness tracking bands. Kevin lost his sometime on a trip, and mine was starting to give me a little skin irritation so I returned it for their voluntary recall/refund offer and we picked up a couple of these Withings Pulse O2 trackers instead. I love having all my data again! This new one also does heart rate and blood oxygen level, comes with a black wristband and a clip and so far, I dig it! The wrist band is a standard 18mm watch band with the springy things so you can use whatever style of watch band you like.

Oh yeah, and the other day on our hike, we came around a bend on the trail and surprised a pair of woodpeckers on a tree, right about at eye level. It was so cool! We stopped and tried to move around the tree to see them after they'd scooted around it and out of sight, but they kept going around and around as we went around…like playing hide and seek with a little kid! The male had a really bright red feathered head, and the female's was kind of dusty rose colored. They were cool! And we saw a bunny! Today though, no woodpeckers and no bunnies. Just trees.

Anyway, we got home and I made us a frittata for brunch.

Here's what I did:

One bunch of kale, chopped
About a cup and a half of baby shiitake mushrooms, chopped
5 slices of cooked bacon, chopped
Some leftover cooked chicken breast, chopped
A few tablespoons of salsa
A dozen eggs
Fresh Oregon Star tomatoes
Super Greens
1/2 an Avocado

Cook the bacon, set aside to cool. In the same pan with a bit of bacon grease, saute the kale and shiitakes until soft. Chop the bacon and in a large bowl throw in the bacon, kale, shiitakes, salsa and chopped chicken. In another bowl, crack eggs and whisk together with some salt and pepper, then add that to the other mixture of veggies and meat. Pour this all into a greased glass dish. I use a rectangular 9x13ish one, because the frittata normally tends to cook more evenly.

Today I cooked this one at 350 for maybe 20 minutes, but the outside was too dry by the time the inside was cooked, so I'll try maybe 300 or 325 next time and see how long it takes. Or maybe I'll look at another frittata recipe to see what they do.

I served a piece of this frittata on top of some Organic Girl Super Greens with some sliced tomato and topped it with a tablespoon of salsa and a couple of avocado slices. Super yum (and will be for a few more breakfasts!)

And now, time to get back to work!

Nice Ride on the Springwater Corridor Trail

Laura Domela — Sat, 05 Jul 2014 20:05:55 +0000

We headed out for a bike ride this morning (while it was still cool out…76 degrees at 10am). We started down at the Portland waterfront where the Waterfront Blues Festival was getting underway. (That's it over in the park, behind all the boats parked out front.)

We rode up the Springwater Corridor, stopped at Cartlandia for a lobster sandwich, then rode further up the trail a bit before turning around and heading back to the waterfront, where the Blues Fest was in full swing:

We rode about 35 miles today. Hot (84 by the time we returned) but the nice thing about bicycling is that you make your own breeze.

Tomorrow early we'll head up to Port Townsend for a few days at Point Hudson Marina!

Swank & Swine

Laura Domela — Mon, 30 Jun 2014 13:25:18 +0000

There's a new restaurant in Portland (Swank) next door to a new whiskey bar in Portland (Swine) and together they're Swank & Swine, at the Paramount Hotel downtown on Taylor between Park and Broadway. They opened a couple days ago and we've been looking forward to this place! The chef (Daniel Mondok) is a longtime favorite of ours (since the days of Sel Gris over on Hawthorne) so of course our hopes were high. (Spoiler: we were not disappointed.)

We got an early reservation for Saturday night and decided to check out Swine for a cocktail and a snack first before heading over to dinner. The cocktails were great, and the salt & pepper calamari was gone in less than a minute. Delicious!

I took no photos next door during dinner at all and that's because it was too good. The service was fantastic (Joseph!), the food was creative and delicious, and the wine pairings recommended were spot on.

We ordered (from the "One" category) a lamb tartare with smoked feta, a quail egg yolk (fabulous), and a sunflower "risotto" with some hearty glazed mushrooms — no arborio, only sunflowers — the texture was great.

From "Two" we had the Salad Lyonnaise (with a perfectly braised pork belly, frisee, and a sous vide duck egg), and the crispy sweetbreads, accompanied by an aebleskiver with an egg yolk inside and bacon-maple syrup. Seriously good.

From "Three" we had the hamachi with squid ink noodle and pho, and the beef bavette with smoked potatos and duck liver-roquefort butter. Holy crap. I think this might have been our favorite dish (closely followed by the crispy sweetbreads).

We're total fans of this place and hope you get a chance to try it. Swine, the whiskey bar, has a smaller menu with some of the same items (and they do a good happy hour from 3-6:30 if you want an early light dinner.

Yesterday (Sunday) after a much needed and really hard spinning class in the morning at Revocycle, we headed up to my mom's with the Traeger and a cooler full of goodies and had a little backyard barbeque. We made some smoked burgers with chorizo, bacon, blue cheese, garlic aioli, tomatoes, lettuce, and pickles on brioche buns, and a caprese salad with bufala and heirloom tomatoes (and basil from her garden), along with some festive orange Aperol spritzes. It was a really nice afternoon!

Tomorrow we'll head down to Champoeg with some family for some more local camping, cooking, and bike riding!

Rainy, Rainy Portland

Laura Domela — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 18:31:00 +0000

The weather in Portland has been SUPER rainy the past few days, but it's fine with me because my plants are all doing well, and it's supposed to be in the 80s and sunny next week. We've been going to spinning classes in the morning down in the Pearl District at Revocycle (they are awesome!) since it's a little soppy to be biking or hiking.

This person downtown was walking with a full-on ducky head umbrella. I missed getting the face, but it looked like this. Oh Portland!