road trips – Riveted

Why do you guys move around so much?

Laura Domela — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 16:35:48 +0000

After following out boating adventures for a couple months, one of our friends (a friend who travels frequently in an Airstream) asked us that question. It's a good question. From the perspective of RV travel it probably seems like a lot of moving. When we're on the road with the Airstream our goal is usually to travel to a great spot, set up camp and enjoy that new place for a while. Driving from campsite to campsite is not really the best part of road travel. Sure, it can be scenic and pretty, but I believe that the majority of our enjoyment on the road is getting to set up camp and stay put for a few days, exploring the new place by foot or bike or car while our cozy little home awaits in the pretty spot we found for it.

With the boat, so much of the enjoyment is moving and being on the water. I'd even say it is often the best part. Yes, finding the cool anchorage or quaint marina and exploring the harbor or hiking the hills is also great, but…well….whales, and seals, and eagles, and the sound of the water swishing past as we navigate to the next place, the motion of the boat and the smells of the sea…it makes the place-to-place travel SO enjoyable. We love it. (Can you tell?)

Also, while under way by boat we aren't 100 percent captive at the helm as we travel, like we are at the wheel of the truck. The autopilot on the boat reduces the second-to-second workload, and we can walk around, make a cappuccino or some lunch, go to the head, etc. It's easier in to be traveling for longer periods of time by boat than it is in the truck towing the Airstream, so it's easier to be moving more often. (Don't worry, one of us is always at the helm watching out though.)

Here is every place we've stopped or stayed overnight since we got our boat at the end of September (several places more than once):

1. Fidalgo Island (Anacortes, home base)
2. San Juan Island (Roche Harbor, Friday Harbor, Griffin Bay)
3. Orcas Island (Deer Harbor, Rosario Resort, West Beach Resort, Massacre Bay, Skull Island)
4. Patos Island (Active Cove)
5. Sucia Island (Fossil Bay)
6. Matia Island (Rolfe Cove)
7. James Island
8. Shaw Island (Blind Bay, Blind Island)
9. Jones Island
10. Lopez Island (Fisherman Bay, Spencer Spit State Park)
11. Stuart Island (Prevost Harbor)
12. Whidbey Island (Coupeville, Langley)
13. Port Townsend
14. LaConner

There are so many more places we want to go!

Newcastle Island, British Columbia

Laura Domela — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 22:36:48 +0000

This afternoon after finishing up most of a work day, we headed by bike back into downtown Nanaimo and took the little ferry over to Newcastle Island. That's Newcastle on the left, and Protection Island on the right.

Newcastle Island is a marine provincial park just across the harbor, and has 22km of hiking and biking trails, a pavillion with a snack bar, and a tent campground. You can bring your camping gear over on the ferry and use one of their wheeled carts to tow it over to the campground. Pretty sweet! Here's the ferry we took on the way over:

The ferry ride costs $9 Canadian per adult round trip, and the bikes are an extra buck.

Here are the bikes bungeed to the upper deck:

The Newcastle Island ferry landing:

Looking back across the harbor to Nanaimo:

From the Newcastle Island website, this'll give you a bit more info about the island:

A significant place utilized by the Snuneymuxw people for thousands of years and traditionally known as Saysutshun, Newcastle Island is a wondrous escape from the bustling urban center of Nanaimo just across the harbour. Alongside the strong First Nations presence and culture on the island, it is also home to many rich histories which include coal mining, a sandstone quarry, and herring salteries, all of which make Newcastle Island a must-see eco-tourism destination for those visiting Nanaimo.

There was a sailboat regatta happening out past the island:

The bike path is much more of a mountain bike style path than a road bike style path, but our bikes handled it just fine:

This is Mallard Lake, in the middle of the island:

Bike Fridays are such great travel bikes!!

Back to the ferry landing:

This is the cute little tiny ferry we took back across the harbor, with 5 bikes and 12 passengers!!

And here are some of the bikes strapped onto the port side and stern, for scale:

Here's a map of our route from the campground and back:

We're doing laundry now and grilling some tuna for fish tacos. I think we're going to do a little day trip up to Courtenay tomorrow. There's an annual (annual! not weekly!) (the 44th annual) Saturday market going on that sounds interesting. Then on Sunday we'll head over to Tofino! We're having a blast up here.

Highline Trail at Glacier National Park

Laura Domela — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 22:03:32 +0000

Today was the day it was supposed to be clear up at Logan Pass. A little bit of fog in the morning, then sunny by mid day. Perfect. We worked until about noon and then set out to give the Highline Trail a second shot today.

Not looking so clear and sunny, is it?

The proper way to do this hike is to park your car down at the Loop, then take the shuttle up to Logan Pass and start there. It's 12 miles back to the Loop and though long, it's mainly not much elevation gain (overall it's downhill, actually). Unfortunately for us, the shuttle stopped running about a week ago, just after Labor Day. We opted to park at Logan Pass and just do an out and back.

Within the first half mile the trail cuts alongside a giant craggy rock wall and you get a cable to hold onto if you feel the need. It was super foggy and kinda eerie (and after our return trip with the sun out, we can say that it's much scarier in the fog).

It's a fairly far (and steep) drop off the edge, and if you fell it would be seriously bad, but somehow not being able to see just how far down it is makes it MUCH further.

The hike out in the fog and clouds was actually quite nice, even though we couldn't see any of the "breathtaking views, expansive vistas, and glacial glaciers" in the distance as promised:

But we did see a friendly little hoary marmot:

The extreme slope of the landscape, plus the trail in the fog made it a little disorienting at times:

We stopped for lunch and enjoyed the view as the fog and clouds started to burn off.

Hey look! Expansive vistas!

That's the Going to the Sun Road way down there:

Blue sky!

And see….this is the part I showed you first, with the fog:

This is a spectacular hike. It's impossible to capture in photographs the vastness of the landscape you're hiking through. There are enormous mountains surrounding you, and on one side huge rock cliffs, and on the other side steep green slopes. We saw mountain goats and big horn sheep (and chipmunks and squirrels and a couple marmots).

Next time we'll get here before Labor Day and do the whole 12 miles down to the Loop. We did about 8.5 miles today.

I think we're going to go back to the Belton Chalet for dinner tonight after we finish up some more work — because we're mostly out of groceries and because we're tired and don't feel like cooking (and because it was so good the last time).

Athabasca Glacier and the Columbia Icefield

Laura Domela — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 20:45:11 +0000

We left Banff the other day and drove the Icefields Parkway toward Jasper. We decided to stay at the campground/parking lot at the visitor center for the Athabasca Glacier and it was one of the coolest views ever.

We got (kinda) level and then headed up to the glacier in one of the Ice Explorers. What a blast! When Kevin and I were here before, we hiked up onto the glacier from the bottom and that seemed pretty cool, but nothing even close to as cool as what we did yesterday. I'm about to post far too many photos. Oh well.

Tiny black dot at the end of the road is one of the Ice Explorers on the glacier:

Kyle trying the glacier water:

Kevin walking around on the ice (looking back down at our tiny tiny Airstreams):

Tiffani and Deke:

We took a bus from the visitor center to this spot where we transfered to the huge-tired Ice Explorer to go out onto the glacier. You can see one here about to head down the hill.

We all had a BLAST! We got back to the trailers and set up our chairs and the little propane heater and had dinner and watched the stars for a bit. It was lovely.

I'll post more photos from the drive later.

Our Airstream in Nature

Laura Domela — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 17:54:45 +0000

Here’s where we keep our collection of travel photos of our Airstream looking pretty in the environment.

Athabasca Glacier, Canada

Icefields Parkway, Canada

Bodega Bay, CA

Calistoga, CA

Porto Bodega Marina, Bodega Bay, CA

Skamokawa Vista Park (WA) dry camping

Hobuck Beach, Makah Bay, Olympic Peninsula

South Beach Campground, Olympic Peninsula, WA

Stub Stewart State Park, Oregon

Skamokawa Vista Park, near Cathlamet, WA

Champoeg State Park, OR

Price Canyon Recreation Area, Utah

On the road somewhere, no clue

Southwest corner of Kansas

Biloxi, Mississippi

Grayton Beach State Park, Florida panhandle

St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, Port St. Joe, Florida

Long Key State Park, Florida Keys

Curry Hammock State Park, Florida Keys

Somewhere in the Florida Keys

Passing Pigeon Key, Florida Keys

Curry Hammock State Park, Florida Keys

Bluewater Key Resort, Florida

Bahia Honda State Park, Florida Keys

On the Kentucky River, Frankfort, Kentucky

Churchill Downs parking lot, Louisville, Kentucky

Hwy 101, Oregon Coast

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Rapid City, South Dakota

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Missoula, Montana

Lookout Pass area, between Missoula, MT and Spokane, WA

Lake Pleasant RV Park, Bothell, WA

Armitage Park, Eugene, OR

Champoeg State Park, OR

Stub Stewart State Park, OR

Sea Perch RV/Campground, Yachats, OR

Bob Creek parking lot off of Hwy 101, Yachats, OR (shooting for Coastal Living Magazine)

Highway 101, Southern Oregon Coast

Nehalem Bay State Park, Manzanita, OR

Skamokawa Vista Park, near Cathlamet, WA

Stub Stewart State Park, OR

Billings, Montana

Bahia Honda State Park, Florida Keys

Champoeg State Park, Oregon

Oklahoma Joe’s in Kansas City

Laura Domela — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:32:01 +0000

We seem to be continuing the barbeque smackdown. Last night we went over to Oklahoma Joe's. Oklahoma Joe's is a barbeque joint inside a gas station in Kansas City, KS on the corner of Mission and 47th. It's not quite as gritty as it sounds, though it really is a barbeque joint in a gas station. But it's Zagat rated (28/30) and it's on Anthony Bourdain's list of "13 Places to Eat Before You Die" so for that, we figured we'd extend the barbeque contest just one more meal before we go back to fish and veggies.

When we walked in there was a long line all the way to the front door of the place, but it moved fast and was no big deal.

We ordered ribs, pulled pork, and burnt ends. The ribs were the best. They were fantastic, though not clearly superior to the past two rounds of ribs in St. Louis. They were less "falling off the bone" tender than the ribs at Shaved Duck, but more tender than Pappy's. They had a bit more smoky flavor than either Shaved Duck or Pappy's, but the best bark of any of the ribs we've tried. The batch we got at least, was a tad too salty for our taste. Just a tad. Apart from that: nearly the perfect rib.

Today after we finish up some work we're heading out to see Kansas City in the daylight. On our agenda: the Steamboat Arabia Museum, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and wandering around wherever looks good in between.

Bayou Teche Scenic Byway

Laura Domela — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 11:30:00 +0000

We drove the Bayou Teche Scenic Byway yesterday from Lafayette to New Orleans. SO glad we didn't just take I-10. These first few shots are around New Iberia, LA.

Apparently the Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival is going on in New Iberia right now.

We were driving down one of the main streets through New Iberia and we heard a bunch of sirens and realized it was coming from behind us. We pulled over, and three or four motorcycle cops and a couple of SUV cops were escorting a school bus through town, fast! with sirens and lights going. We figured perhaps it was Sugar Cane Queen and her Court.

Gator on a stick. We don't have that at home.

We turned off the main road and headed over to the Tabasco Plant on Avery Island. There's tons of great information here on their website. Here's a quick bit about Avery Island though: Avery Island is one of five salt dome islands rising above the flat Louisiana Gulf Coast. These islands formed over the eons when alluvial sediment covered a vast plain of salt left behind by an ancient saltwater ocean. Surrounded by low-lying swamps and marshes, Avery Island stands at 163 feet above mean sea level.

The Tabasco Country Store here is killer…tons of fun Tabasco sauces and things you don't find in regular stores. They make jalapeno ice cream and raspberry chipotle ice cream and both are pretty good and interesting. We picked up a couple bottles of sauce and some spicy green beans that we had tonight in our martinis and they're good…and spicy.

More shots as we continued:

Downtown Franklin:

We had a little bit of rain, which resulted in the Airstream getting a bit of a wash (yay) and a cool double rainbow:

This was one of my favorite shots and it was good in color, but better in black and white:

We're crossing the Mississippi!!

Here's our new spot at Ponchartrain Landing:

Oh yeah…I forgot to tell you that yesterday as soon as we entered Louisiana, I saw an armadillo (road kill)! But still!! I thought it was cool. Kevin (from Texas) was not so excited about it. Whatever.

Dude, It’s a Gas Station

Laura Domela — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 11:00:00 +0000

We stopped to get gas on the way from Austin to New Braunfels the other day, and Kevin says to me as he's getting out of the car: "I'll pump the gas, you check us in" [on Facebook].

Me: "Um, dude? It's a gas station. I'm not going to check us in."

We had a pretty funny exchange on Facebook about it after we got home. I posted our little bit of dialogue above, and Kevin responded: "It's a gas station" could be counted as an understatement. We were at the world's LARGEST gas station (with 60 pumps). They claim to be the world's largest convenience store as well, at over 67,000 square feet, it is 20-times the size of a 7-11 (more like a large WalMart). With 80 soda dispensers, 31 cash registers, 23 flavors of fudge, and 84 toilets… 'It's a gas station' indeed!"

Where I then added: "Ooooooh, 84 toilets. Might have been worth checking in for huh? No."

——————

We'd been hearing about this "Bucky's" place between Austin and San Antonio. Turns out it's not "Bucky's" but Buc-ee's. Apparently it's a bigass gas station/convenience store that does advertising along the lines of Wall Drug. HUGE convenience store. 20 gas pumps or something (okay, 60, whatever). Gas is 10 cents a gallon cheaper than the neighbor gas station. (Oh, and Buc-ee is a giant beaver.)

Kevin mentioned it to his mom on the phone before we left Austin and she sounded kinda shruggy about it: "It's a gas station, isn't it? There's one on the way to Houston, right?" We kinda didn't think we'd stop but when we were about to pass it we had half a tank and decided we might as well fill up and see just how huge this place was.

Glorious, isn't it?

I still don't really see the appeal. Maybe if you're coming from the west and you've been driving through one little crappy tiny West Texas town after another (separated by miles and miles and miles of flat nothingness between each town), this place would feel like a joyous oasis filled with unicorns and rainbows and calorie-free candy and OMG would you look at all them gas pumps??? But we came from Austin — Austin, where there are stores and stuff.

Cripple Creek and Victor – Colorado

Laura Domela — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 20:07:11 +0000

Today after we finished most of our work we headed out for some lunch a little exploring. We backtracked a few miles to Divide, CO to check out a spot we'd seen on our way to Mueller State Park. The place is tiny — called Smokin' Q, and advertises smoked trout tacos and barbeque. Tough to pass up, so we didn't. We had a smoked trout taco and some pulled pork but the smoked trout taco was the clear winner. Tortilla filled with smoked trout, slaw, pickles, jalapenos, and some cilantro/tomatillo salsa. Delicious.

Then we headed to Cripple Creek.

This is a place Kevin's family used to come visit (from Texas) when he was a kid. They'd stay in Woodland Park in their camper and drive in with friends to Cripple Creek to explore a bit, check out the mining stuff, and go to a melodrama at the Imperial Hotel. Boy have things changed since then. It's really mainly a casino town now, and although it still has the look of an old mining town, almost every single storefront houses a casino inside. There were only a very few shops and restaurants. We walked around a little bit and took some photos to show Kevin's mom (and you, of course):

We continued on to Victor (apparently both Cripple Creek and Victor have started gold mining again) and I took these shots of the mining area on the way to Victor:

Kevin said Victor (today) is much more the way he remembers Cripple Creek being (when he was a kid): dirt roads, antique shops, mining stuff, no casinos:

And look what I found:

When we left this afternoon, it looked like this:

But just as we were getting back to the Airstream, there was a bit of thunder and some rain. No matter: we're cozy and have more work to do.

Price Canyon UT to Ouray CO

Laura Domela — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 01:09:07 +0000

We left our little isolated perch on the edge of Price Canyon this morning after trying to work with VERY clunky internet for far too long. We had a tiny bit of Sprint data service (whoa! the card that never gets ANY service ANYWHERE) and a tiny bit of Verizon data service and no AT&T cell or data. It was frustrating for a work day, for sure. Too bad, because the place was gorgeous and we had it all to ourselves. Last night before I went bed I stepped outside to look at the stars…it was pitch black outside with a clear sky and loads of stars. Super cool.

View from a rest stop near Moab

We drove a bit and stopped at a cool rest stop just before the turn off for Canyonlands/Arches/Moab, made a little lunch, did a little work, and fended off hoards of Italian tourists (a whole busload!!) who wanted to take photos of the Airstream. We didn't really fend them off…we invited them in, actually. One guy told us he saw a 1940 something Airstream one time, but only in a magazine.

More snaps along the way today:

Okay and this place: The Pillow Talk Motel. I saw the sign and thought it was funny, but when we passed and I could see in to the actual "motelage" there was a guy with shaggy hair and tan skin wearing jeans and a wifebeater, smoking a cigarette, sitting in a chair outside a room beside a truck with its hood up. I asked Kevin if he could please turn around so I could take a photo, but by the time we got turned around the guy must have gotten back to working on the truck (or gone inside, for a little pillow talk). Either way, disappointing. Here are the shots…you can imagine what it could have been:

Highway 550 as we get closer to Ouray:

We're staying at the Ouray RV Park and Cabins right along the Uncompahgre River. The owners are very nice, the spots are super close, but the scenery can't be beat. I'll take some photos tomorrow. We plan to stay here two nights, then either (a) stay here or another spot near here a couple more nights and do day trip(s) to Silverton, or (b) drive the Ouray to Silverton/Million Dollar Highway and see if we can find a spot to camp in Silverton for the weekend. Since we've already done that part of twisty winding highway with our other Airstream, we kinda know what that's like…and a driving with just the truck (23 miles from Ouray) to explore during the day sounds pretty nice, actually. Last time we were in Silverton we stayed at a place called South Mineral Campground…just off of 550 a few miles before Silverton (coming from Ouray). It's free, and you camp right on the edge of the river with amazing views. It's tempting to tow the Airstream down there to hang out for a couple days.