Aluminarium – Riveted

Barleans Fisheries in Bellingham

Laura Domela — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 17:34:26 +0000

Yesterday we headed over to Barleans Fishery with Leigh & Brian to stock up on some local seafood. We picked up some fresh Dungeness crab and Manila clams for dinner last night, and for the freezer, flash frozen fish and shellfish including: scallops, spot prawns, jumbo prawns, halibut, tuna steaks (3.99 each!), smoked salmon, and several filets of true cod. We also got a few cans of smoked tuna and regular tuna.

It's all seafood in there, except for the silicon ice trays and a couple bags of fresh/frozen blueberries from our trip to the berry farm near Champoeg just before the 4th of July. Should last us a bit!

Our Awesome Group of Airstream Friends

Laura Domela — Mon, 26 Aug 2013 12:58:40 +0000

I know, this has been all over facebook already, but I'm still going to post it here. John of The Democratic Travelers, took this fabulous group photo of us the night before we left Leigh & Brian's at Aluminogan. I love it.

L to R: The Works (Josh, Jack, Jessa), The Watsons (Amanda and Tim), Mali Mish (Luca, Ava, Mila, Marlene, Dan), The Democratic Travelers (John and Laura), Weaselmouth (Tiffani and Deke), Aluminarium (Leigh and Brian), Riveted (us), Advodna (Dave and Ann — Wynne was napping and they voted it was not worth waking her for this photo. Gotta trust the parents there.)

Yesterday we just got settled here at our new spot and explored the beach a little. We all made whatever for dinner and gathered at our long long picnic table for more fun conversation and food. After dinner was just chill. Some wine, some beer, and then the Works brought out this crazy bottle of "Iceland's signature distilled beverage" that they brought back from their trip to Iceland, called Brennevin.

Today is Brian's birthday and part of the group will go help him celebrate with some lunch and some wine tasting, and then I think tonight will be just a repeat of last night (perhaps without the Icelandic liquor) before we head to Glacier tomorrow.

Eight Airstreams: from Aluminogan to Kelowna

Laura Domela — Sun, 25 Aug 2013 20:12:54 +0000

This morning everyone hitched up and was ready to head out by about 9:30 am. What pros!

Heading down the driveway:

Stopped at the bottom of the hill for a couple photos:

John from Democratic Travelers gettin' tricky with his shots:

Fun seeing so much silver in the rear view on our drive today:

Border crossing:

Almost everyone made it through super fast and easy, but two of our clan were "further inspected" and so we all waited on the other side for 'em.

Almost there, with a gorgeous drive along Lake Okanogan:

We're in the Okanogan Wine Country, which we plan to take full advantage of tomorrow with a little wine tasting in Kelowna.

Here's our new spot at the West Bay Beach Resort:

And bonus: there's Wi-Fi!! (The woman who runs the place at the front desk told us not to get on it today though…that we should go out and have fun! Bunch of bloggers, not gettin' on the internet. Imagine that!)

Aluminogan Day Two

Laura Domela — Sun, 25 Aug 2013 03:30:01 +0000

Today was spectacular. We did an awesome group hike up the road, around the back and to the top of the mountain, and then back down the front to our campsite (about 4 miles). Some shots from the hike:

Interesting sign at some of the neighboring property:

Zoom in here:

Evidence left from a lightning-caused fire:

We hiked about 2 miles to the top of the hill overlooking Leigh & Brian's property (and our very tiny, far away enclave of aluminum…right in the middle tiny dots of gray):

Looking back toward the top of the ridge:

Back at camp we showered, prepped some food for our group dinner, played guitars, sang songs, mixed drinks, played with sticks, and took tons of photos. Here's Dave and Ann (and THOSE CLOUDS!):

And after dinner:

Dinner was fabulous. Everyone just made stuff to go with a "taco night" theme and it worked out beautifully. We had pulled pork (three different varieties), grilled zucchini, guacamole, salsa, corn salad, black beans, delicious homemade sauces and salads and cheeses and, well, a big bowl of bacon thanks to Dan of Mali Mish…a great hit, actually! Amanda (Watsons Wander) made two pies for dessert…both vegan, both amazing: chocolate, and peach, with vanilla ice cream.

And here are a bunch of pretty shiny trailer photos (L to R: Watsons, Mali Mish, Works, Riveted):

And here's everyone:

(L to R: Watsons, Mali Mish, Works, Riveted, Democratic Travelers)

Tomorrow: Canada!

Aluminogan!

Laura Domela — Sat, 24 Aug 2013 13:02:05 +0000

We're now parked up at Leigh & Brian's property up in the Okanogan area in Washington state for a little gathering of Airstream travelers/bloggers. Tomorrow we'll caravan into Canada: Kelowna, Glacier, and Banff (where we'll meet up with Kyle and the Wanderly bunch), but for now we're all just spending some quality time getting to know each other better. Fun group!

This is what it looked like as we approached:

We're almost all here! Left to right: Watsons (Amanda and Tim), Mali Mish (Dan, Marlene, Ava, Mila, Luca), The Works (Josh, Jessa, and Jack), Riveted (us), Democratic Travelers (John and Laura), and the Zimmermans (Dave, Anne, and Wynne). Out of frame: Aluminarium (Brian and Leigh). We'll get some good overall photos as soon as Weaselmouth (Tiffani and Deke) arrives.