iPhone photos – Riveted

Airship to Alaska | Day 3 | More from Lund BC

Laura Domela — Tue, 10 May 2016 21:30:25 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska 2016

I know, I already posted about Lund. Whatever. I think you'll like these extra photos.

We walked over to the Boardwalk Restaurant to check it out and ended up having dinner there. We shared some fish tacos and some fish and chips. Both things were fantastic, but the fish and chips stood out. SUPER yum.

Boardwalk detail:

The "Welcome Pole":

After dinner we headed back to Airship to watch the sunset and chat with neighbors. It's a fun bunch here! Some are on their way to Desolation Sound or the Broughtons, and some are on their way to SE Alaska, like us.

Paul & Janet's S/V Talos IV, in gorgeous sunset light. They're on their way to Glacier Bay…so I'm sure we'll cross paths again!

Tomorrow our thought is to head up to Toba Inlet and maybe stay at the Toba Wildernest Resort. But our plans change all the time, so I guess we won't really know until tomorrow!

San Juan and Sucia Islands

Laura Domela — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 21:58:46 +0000

Sunrise at Friday Harbor this morning:

We left Indian Cove at Shaw Island yesterday morning and did a little sightseeing and whale watching searching. Sights were beautiful, but no whales. We arrived at Friday Harbor on San Juan Island right around 1pm. We had a Thanksgiving dinner reservation for 3pm at the Coho Restaurant. Last week when we figured out we'd be up here in the islands, I called to see if they had any availability for Thanksgiving. They said they had a waiting list, but that they did have one last table available and it was a table for two at 3pm. We took it, and our 3pm Thanksgiving dinner was delicious! I started out taking photos, but only got as far as the amuse bouche (meaning, I took one photo of the very first thing and then spaced on all the rest…oh well). That first thing was really good though: a deviled egg with smoked salmon on top. Delicious!

The next courses were a sweet potato ravioli with brown butter and sage sauce, and a crab cake with a pomegranate and citrus chutney (they were both great), then a soup and salad (the soup was the winner: a truffled celeriac soup with bacon…delicious), and the entrees were turkey (white and dark meat, perfectly tender and juicy) and pan-seared trout, with sides of cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, and brussels sprouts. (There were two options for each course, so we ordered one of each and tried everything.) Desserts were many, and we chose apple pie and bourbon chocolate pecan pie (the winner). The wine pairings were great and it was a very nice meal.

We got back to the boat and after a while noticed an email from some folks who follow our blog, Chuck and Connie (in Friday Harbor from Bellingham with their Grand Banks). Turns out they were up at the Coho Restaurant for dinner also (with friends Bob and Jill, also from Bellingham and also with a Grand Banks), and were wondering if we were still there at the restaurant. We told them we had done the early shift and were already back at Airship, and invited them to come by the boat after they finished dinner if they wanted. They did, and it was super fun! New boating friends!

The docks were frosty as we headed up to the market this morning for some groceries before heading out:

Bob and Jill and Chuck and Connie had invited us to stay for a second Thanksgiving today (Friday) consisting of Bob's deep fried turkey on the dock, and as seriously tempting as that was, we opted to head over to Sucia today. We were really itching to be out on the water (because it's just so gorgeous out still) and also wanted to get in some hiking. We all exchanged info though so we'll plan another meet up, for sure!

We moored in Fox Cove on Sucia this time, between Sucia Island and Little Sucia Island. We've never moored here before, and figured we could get the sunset and the view through to Fossil Bay from here. It's gorgeous. We put out some crab traps (cuz, you never know) and then dinghied around to Shallow Bay, where we beached the dinghy and then hiked out around Echo Bay.

I know, I've posted many photos of this place in the past, but man it's gorgeous!

There were no boats at all moored in Echo Bay when we started our hike (around 2:30pm).

As we were finishing our hike (around 4) there were two boats. That's it. On a holiday weekend. Where are all the boats, people??

As we came around a bend, I noticed a large blue heron sitting in a tree. I took a quick shot, and then moved quietly along the path to see how close I could get to him before he took off (and made that loud cranky sound they make):

Dinghy ride back to Airship as the sun sets:

Sunset from Fox Cove:

We hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, wherever you are!

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!

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!

More Banks-Vernonia Trail

Laura Domela — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 19:16:55 +0000

After we finished up some work today we headed out on the bikes and decided to ride to Banks (the other half of the Banks-Vernonia Trail ride that we did yesterday). This is such a great trail. These are all taken with my iPhone right from my bike-mount while riding (with the exception of the railroad bridge one, cuz…well…you'll see):

That railroad bridge was super fun to ride over. It's SO FAR DOWN when you stop and look over the edge! Oh yeah, the trail from Stub Stewart to Banks is ALL downhill. You know what that means…not so fast on the way home!

We had a nice frosty coffee concoction at the Banks Trail Cafe in Banks and then headed back to camp.

Now were going to work a bit, shower, and then meet up with Aluminarium (they're a few spots down from us tonight!) for some happy hour and dinner (and a lot of catching up!)

Here's the map and elevation of our ride: 21.5 miles

Stub Stewart State Park

Laura Domela — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 17:22:17 +0000

We grabbed the Airstream and came out to Stub Stewart State Park yesterday afternoon to meet up with some friends. After stopping at Trader Joe’s, Camping World, and suffering the world’s longest wait for propane at the nearby Pilot (they’re not usually that bad), we were on our way and had camp set up by about 6:30pm.

Our view through the trees at the back of our spot:

This morning we got up and decided to ride into Vernonia for some breakfast. It’s about 11.5 miles from here along the Banks-Vernonia Trail…a gorgeous ride!

We locked up the bikes and had breakfast at the Black Iron Grill on Bridge Street. Kinda dark inside, but our double cappuccinos were great and so was our breakfast! Also: every single song ever remembered from my childhood…ALL of those songs played during breakfast. Horse with No Name, Hotel California, Wildfire, Band on the Run, Go Your Own Way…well, you get the idea. It was kinda great. Also, this.

Sunny ride back to Stub Stewart after breakfast:

Back at camp now working for the rest of the day after a 23 mile bike ride! Here’s the map with elevation, if you’re curious:

Orcas Island with Tiffani and Deke

Laura Domela — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 00:55:17 +0000

Today we busted out the flying RV to go say goodbye (temporarily) to two of the coolest people we know. Tiffani and Deke are moving from Whidbey Island to North Carolina, and although we're happy for them, we're bummed for ourselves. We love these guys!

We flew up to Whidbey Island to pick them up and take them flying (and we got to see Kyle again, too! — Kyle stayed at our house for the several weeks we were in Italy, but we only got to see him for two days when we were home before he headed North.)

Taking off in Portland (this is what happens in photos when the prop is going around):

The flight up to Whidbey was incredible. We could see Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, and Mt. Jefferson all at the same time. Crazy!

Mt. Adams behind Mt. St. Helens, off the wing:

Flying into Oak Harbor. This runway is 3200 feet, but look how narrow it is…it's only 25ft wide (with a 1.6% downward slope the direction we were landing). It's there, right off the wing, running perpendicular to the shoreline (Tiffani took this photo when we came back, so I'm cheating and putting it out of order):

We were greeted enthusiastically at the Oak Harbor airport by Tiffani and Deke and Kyle. See the three of 'em there? (This photo was taken after the waving and jumping up and down had stopped):

"Take Tiffani and Deke flying" was still on our "Things To Do with Tiffani and Deke" list and we're SO happy we got to do this before they left! It was a blast!

We headed up to Orcas Island and parked in the grass area for visitors at the Eastsound airport. Kevin and Deke talking planes:

We walked into town and decided on a spot called The Madrona Bar & Grill (no idea how the food was going to be, but they were waterfront, and that's what mattered). Turns out the food was quite good!

We took a quick self-timer group photo (nice reflection in the wing!) before taking off for a bit of sightseeing around the San Juan Islands:

Tiffani and Deke each got some front seat time with a bit of flying. I think they dug it. (I'm sure of it, actually.) Eastsound Airport on Orcas, right off the wing:

We had such an amazing day with wonderful friends, good weather, beautiful scenery, and not enough time. We dropped Tiff and Deke off back on Whidbey Island and flew home, talking about our next across-the-country Airstream trip that will include North Carolina. We DO still have that whole upper right corner of the United States to explore!

Around Florence

Laura Domela — Sun, 18 May 2014 16:52:28 +0000

Yesterday we moved over to the Oltrarno area of Florence into to the apartment we rented for the next two weeks. (That's our new neighborhood, above.) We're on the other side of the Arno river from the center of town, and it's a bit quieter here than say, over near the Duomo. It's fantastic! We rented this apartment through a company called Windows on Italy and if you're visiting Florence and want a sweet spot to call home, we highly recommend this company. Here's the inside:

It's got gigantic high ceilings, a loft bedroom with a queen bed (not two twins pushed together like everywhere else has), a full bathroom, laundry, nice dining area, small kitchen, two story windows that open out onto the street, Wi-Fi, A/C, bike parking downstairs (inside the courtyard)…and tons of charm. (Oh, and frescoes in the loft!) Here's a bit of info from the Windows on Italy website about the building:

The apartment is located on the first floor with lift of an impressive building dating back to the XVI century, called Palazzo Medici, which represents a typical example of true Florentine architecture. The palazzo is now home to 8 luxury apartments thanks to a recent restoration programme which has skilfully combined modern comforts and quality furnishings whilst preserving the building’s original historical features. Palazzo Medici can sleep up to a total of 35 people and is therefore a great option for large groups or families who wish to visit Florence and stay altogether in one building.

We settled in a little and then headed out to explore a bit. Hey, look at that!

The Ghiberti Gates, (dubbed by Michelangelo as the "Gates of Paradise") on the Florence Baptistry. The Baptistry building is undergoing renovation right now, but the gates were still viewable:

We'd planned to see the Florence Cathedral and the Duomo on a different day, but the lines weren't too long and we opted to go up into the Duomo. It was supposed to be a day of rest after 6 days of riding and all that climbing the previous day, but what's another 463 stairs to the top of Florence?

People just can't help themselves. The walls were covered, the whole way up. Eventually you get to a spot up high inside the dome where you get a pretty great view of the ceiling frescoes:

Here's a composite we made from our ledge inside the dome:

A few more stairs (okay, more than "a few") and you're as far as you can go, and you pop outside, and there's this view of the Campanile di Giotto:

And the city below:

I love the long shadows:

Detail at the top:

We took in the spectular view of the city for a bit and then made the trek all the way back down those 463 stairs. We paid way too much for an espresso and a snack across the square (1 Euro for the coffee, 3 Euros for the view/location) and then decided we needed a few more stairs, so we climbed up into the Campanile (412 steps, I think):

Inside, looking up:

Another (two photo) composite, inside the bell tower:

And then, from the top:

We were right over there with those people, just a few minutes ago!

View of the under construction Florence Baptistry:

And more great views of the city. The prominent building in the left of this photo is the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella:

The old center of the city:

Sunset over the Arno River:

Last night we had dinner at a spot right around the corner (literally, about 100 feet from our front door…we can see the tables from our window). It was fantastic: Il Santo Bevitore. We will definitely be coming back here during our stay.

This morning we headed toward Michelangelo Florentine Leather to look for some, well, leather stuff. This place has great reviews (and the quality is far better than what you can find in the stalls on the street) but he wasn't open, so we had some coffee and wandered around a bit. Here's the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella that we'd seen from afar the yesterday, taken from our morning coffee table:

We'll go inside the basilica when we come back to Michelangelo's…today was Sunday and we figured it was likely off limits to non-Catholic tourists like us. We wandered back through town and passed by the Palazzo Vecchio (the Town Hall of Florence, where our friends will be married on May 29th! … the reason we're here!):

Heading back toward our apartment…the Ponte Vecchio (a "Medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge" over the Arno River):

Ponte Santa Trinita (the oldest elliptic arch bridge in the world):

We headed over to the nearby grocery store, but it was closed (oh right, Sunday) so we opted to stop at a little pizzeria near our apartment for a late lunch/early dinner. Inside the pizza joint:

Oh yeah, there are these "do not enter" signs all over the place at the one-way road intersections, and there's some fabulous grafitti on so many of them. Here are two right near our apartment, but I plan to gather more:

Tomorrow we're going to head over (by bike!) to the Mercato Centrale to gather ingredients for cooking and eating…one of the great things about having an apartment in another city/country: shopping for food!

Venice, Italy – Day 1 (video)

Laura Domela — Fri, 09 May 2014 04:18:09 +0000

Kevin made a gorgeous video from the iPhone clips he took yesterday as we explored Venice. I love it!!

Day Two in the Willamette Valley

Laura Domela — Mon, 05 May 2014 22:49:42 +0000

Yesterday we had a lovely breakfast the Lobenhaus B&B where we were staying for the weekend, in Carlton, Oregon. There were belgian waffles with fresh-picked strawberries, an egg frittata, sausage, juice and coffee (I probably forgot something). Everything was delicious! Lobenhaus is a fabulous home base for exploring this area and we highly recommend it — one of our best B&B experiences to date, actually.

The vineyards at Lobenhaus:

The winemaker at A to Z / Rex Hill winery in Newberg, Oregon, purchases all of the fruit grown on the property.

Across the street:

Our list of wineries for Sunday included: Coeur de Terre, Anne Amie Vineyard, and Monks Gate Vineyard. (Maysara was closed on Sunday, so that one is on our list for next time.)

We headed to Coeur de Terre first since it was the furthest. It was raining off and on (mostly on) all day, but it was gorgeous. Coeur de Terre is a ways off the beaten path and it was just lovely. Great tasting room with a spectacular territorial view:

Lisa, one of the owners, was there working and chatting with us and it was a fun and informative tasting. (We even ran into someone we knew from Portland but hadn't seen in about 10 years — right there in the tasting room. What a surprise!) Coeur de Terre practices sustainable farming, and they specialize in estate grown Pinot Noir.

Next stop was Anne Amie Vineyard.

As we drove up the narrow road and saw the steep hill up ahead, Kevin said "We've definitely been here before." I was positive we'd never visited Anne Amie before…they haven't been around all that long…but he was right. The driveway and that hill looked super familiar. Pretty quickly we realized we'd visited this vineyard back when it was Benoit, during a ride around this area on our tandem, and we'd tried to get up that hill and ended up walking to the top.

The other time we were here we tasted outside (it was summer, I think) but the view off the patio is still nice, even on a stormy day:

Third and final vineyard for the day was Monks Gate Vineyard. We had a delicious 2008 Pinot Noir with dinner on Saturday night at The Joel Palmer House and were looking forward to sampling more of their wine.

There's a great old barn on the property:

We chatted with Linda, one of the owners, who poured for us while she told us a bit of their background story (I love the background stories of the winemakers!) We brought home a 2012 Classic Pinot Noir and a 2012 Trinity Pinot Noir. (We're getting more and more versed in this pinot thing!)

We had a late lunch in between Coeur de Terre and Anne Amie, so when we finished up at Monks Gate we decided to stop at a market and just grab some snacks to have for dinner later on. We set up a nice plate of meats and cheeses and berries out on our deck and sipped some complimentary Argyle sparking wine and just relaxed for the rest of the evening. (We also caught up on Mad Men and Orphan Black, via the iPad/Slingbox/home DVR.)

We're home now and getting ready for our trip to Italy. I plan to blog through our tour as often I can, so stay tuned for that!