Bike Friday – Riveted

We Took the Airstream to the Oregon Coast

Laura Domela — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 19:22:07 +0000

We’re at the Oregon Coast in the Airstream this week. (That shot above is looking back toward Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock.) Remember the Airstream? It’s been so long, but we seem to have retained the skills necessary for hooking the trailer to the truck for towing, running all our systems, and remembering where things are.

We got settled in our campsite yesterday afternoon (arrived around 4pm) and then got out our bikes for a nice bike ride. It was right around 60 degrees F and we rode for an hour or so (without jackets, even!) There’s a nice loop that takes you around the airport and out to the beach…

So pretty!

Last night it started raining and hasn’t quit since (it’s after noon on Monday now). Accuweather shows nothing but rain rain and more rain today (well, and also tomorrow, and maybe Wednesday too), and we’ve got a nice moat developing around the Airstream. Upside? We’re getting a ton of work done here.

Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the day we got married! On March 14, 1997, we drove downtown to pick up our judge, brought him back to our house, and got married in our living room in front of a fire, with our good friends Jake and Patti as official witnesses and Larra and Christy (daughters from Kevin’s previous marriage, then 8 and 10) as unofficial witnesses. We poured champagne, went to lunch downtown after delivering our judge back to his office, and then had a fantastic trip to Costa Rica. Seems like just yesterday, and seems like forever ago. Best 20 years ever!

The nice restaurant in town wasn’t open tomorrow, so we’re having dinner there tonight. Tomorrow I’ve got a massage scheduled, and if it stops raining, Kevin’s going to fly his new Mavic on the beach for some drone photos. I think we’ll cook dinner for ourselves and open a good bottle of champagne and maybe play some scrabble or something.

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.

Downtown Nanaimo

Laura Domela — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 18:05:53 +0000

We rode our bikes into town late this morning and did a little sightseeing and picked up a couple Canada pins for our collection. Check out my bike bag now!

We rode all over the waterfront, and stopped and had some gelato and some fish & chips (in that order).

Great fish & chips at Troller's! We had halibut and salmon and both were great. (Not as good as the Bandon Fish House, but still quite good!)

Here's our route:

We rode just over 10 miles. Now we're headed down to Ladysmith to meet a guy about a boat.

Comically Bad Service at the Taproot Cafe

Laura Domela — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 15:01:49 +0000

The morning after our incredible meal at the Willows Inn we got up, showered, dressed, then headed downstairs to the Taproot Cafe for breakfast.

This is a cute little cafe with inside and outside seating. We walked inside to ask about breakfast and the gal at the counter told us they had two options: A fritatta, or the Willows Inn breakfast which included a soft boiled egg, a biscuit, a bowl of sauteed kale, blueberries, and a small charcuterie plate. We ordered two Willows Inn breakfasts. When she asked us if we wanted coffee, we ordered two cappuccinos. She got our room name (Sunrise) and told us to sit anywhere we liked and they'd bring out our coffee.

We chose an outside table for two, where we sat for about 20 minutes before anything happened. We could hear the milk frother going inside…over and over again, but not for us. After the first 20 minutes the same gal came out and asked us if we wanted coffee or anything. Um, yes, we still want coffee. I said "Yes, we ordered two cappuccinos when we first came in." She said she'd get right on that, sorry.

About 15 minutes later (still, no coffee), one breakfast arrived. She was explaining what each thing was on the plate, and I interrupted quietly and said "We ordered two of these…" She said "Yes" and continued with her explanation and then walked away.

We had no silverware or napkins still, and I wasn't sure she'd registered the second breakfast reminder, so when I went inside to get silverware, I clarified… "Just to make sure…we're waiting on one more Willows Inn breakfast, right?" She said, "Yes." Okay then.

About 10 minutes later (and after far more milk frothing sounds than two cappuccinos would ever need…where are all those containers of frothed milk going, anyway??) we got our cappuccinos. Still only one breakfast on the table.

I urged Kevin to start on this breakfast and I'd wait. We both picked a little at the sharable things while he had the egg and the kale, since they were warm. So the first breakfast was completely finished (even though we lagged a lot while we waited for the other one) and 15-20 minutes later, the second breakfast arrived. She said they were sorry for the wait, and that they would be sure to give us a 10% discount. Whoa. A whole two bucks off.

Toward the end of our second round of single breakfast plates, our waitress came over and asked if we wanted more coffee. Kevin said he would like another cappuccino (he was almost done with his first one), and she said she'd check back in about 5 minutes. I guess he needed to have an empty cup in order to get new coffee. At least she didn't completely forget about it, like the first time. About five minutes later she came back to see if he was ready. He said yes, but asked for the coffee to-go. (It still took ten minutes before said to-go coffee arrived.) Crazy.

Part of the deal was how incredible and perfect the service had been the night before for dinner (upstairs, different restaurant, same Willows Inn). It was spot on…friendly, fast, efficient. This was in SUCH stark contrast to that, and so spectacularly bad, that it became comical. (The food was actually quite good though!)

After breakfast we checked out and headed out to the courtyard to work for a bit. Here's a shot of our "office" from our room:

The smokehouse out behind the restaurant:

Down on the Sunset Beach in front of the Willows. Looking left:

Looking right:

After work and a quick walk on the beach, we took off on the bikes and did this ride:

As we were riding along the shore at Legoe Bay (or near it) there were some cute beach houses on the left, driftwood beach on the right, we were again laughing about how bad the service was for breakfast. We came around the corner as I was saying the words "spectacularly bad service" and two ladies on the porch of a beachhouse on the left yelled out "Are you talking about the Taproot Cafe??"

What the heck??? Yes! We slowed and stopped the bikes as they both gave us air "high 10s" and said "we hear ya sister!!" They'd apparently been there this morning too (inside at the counter) and had terrible service (even sitting right there at the counter!) and they'd been talking about their experience all morning, flabbergasted. However, they said the service was always that bad, and that perhaps it's even gotten worse over time. We told them about our experience, and they told us about theirs, and we laughed and shook heads and said "Nice commiserating with you" and headed back to the road. So funny!

We stopped at the Otto Preserve at the Lummi Island Heritage Trust for a short hike and a water refill, and continued on around the island. It was a lovely ride.

We returned to the Willows Inn and back to our patio spot to do some more work, and the concierge said if we wanted any lunch, we could order it from the Taproot and they'd bring it out to us in the courtyard.

And yet, for some reason, in we went. We ordered two dry sodas and two salmon paninis. They brought our food out to us promptly, and the service was lovely this time. The sandwiches (served with a side salad) were delicious.

I'd love to think the service fiasco at breakfast was just a fluke, but as we've heard from the locals — it was not.

Bellingham to Lummi Island

Laura Domela — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 18:34:05 +0000

We left our placeholder RV Park in Bellingham (aptly named Bellingham RV Park, nothing special at all to speak of here…full hookups, Wi-Fi, narrow spots, no scenery, near the airport…you get the idea) and rode our bikes over through the Lummi Nation reservation and down to the ferry terminal.

Totem pole art:

Look at all those crab traps!

A month or so ago, we made a reservation for dinner and a room at the Willows Inn on Lummi Island for the night and decided to bike it from Bellingham with our overnight stuff in the panniers, and we hopped on the Whatcom Chief ferry over to Lummi Island. Turns out the ferry had been down the day before for 26 hours due to an engine emergency something-or-other, so the traffic lineup to get to and from Lummi yesterday was more than usual.

There were a couple of ferry management types there at the entrance having a very funny conversation:

Her: Motorcycles get on before cars, which sometimes really bugs the cars. Bikes get on last, because they can put them in anywhere.
Him: What if there are 37 motorcycles?
Her: They still get on first and how ever many cars can fit after them…that's how many cars get on.
Him: What if the motorcycles take up the whole ferry?
Her: Same rules. If the entire Hell's Angeles showed up, they'd all get on and they could fill up the whole boat and no cars would get on. (Looking over at us) And bicycles still get on last. The boss makes the rules.
Him: Does the boss ride a motorcycle?
Her: No, he does not.

They were hilarious.

Bikes on the ferry:

Arriving on Lummi:

Off the ferry we turned right and took the route around the top of the island to get to the Willows Inn on the northwest side. Great ride with nice rolling hills and gorgeous scenery.

Our room at the Willows is rustic but nice and the grounds are beautiful. It's right on the water with lovely views:

Dinner last night was spectacular, and I'll tell you all about it in another post. I think it's our new No. 1.

More Port Townsend, Again

Laura Domela — Wed, 09 Jul 2014 02:37:44 +0000

I know you want to see more photos of Port Townsend, don't you?

After work we rode our bikes around some more, enjoying the gorgeous weather. Where we're staying (Point Hudson Marina and RV Park) is just beyond all those docks in the above photo, on the right.

Back at our campsite we grilled up some salmon for dinner with an arugula salad, and then headed back into town on the bikes to catch the movie Chef, playing at the Rose Theater. What a great theater…popcorn with real butter, and a little bar of seasonings to choose from. I put Parmesan, brewer's yeast, a little salt, and chili powder on mine. Kevin did Parmesan, yeast, and a hickory smoke seasoning. Yummy! The movie was super cute…we really enjoyed it!

After the movie (at 9:15pm) it was still light out, so we rode back to the Airstream to grab jackets and happened upon a couple from France taking a photo of the trailer. The man said they LOVE Airstreams in France and we invited them in to take a look. They were sweet. Also, just before we arrived there were apparently several otters right down on the dock! Dangit! We missed 'em! (The couple from France showed us photos though….they were right there!! So cute.)

We headed back into town and rode along the waterfront a bit…windy tonight, but beautiful.

Tomorrow we're off to Bellingham!

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!

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:

Chicken & Waffles on the Springwater Corridor Trail

Laura Domela — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 20:52:41 +0000

This morning we took our bikes down to the Portland waterfront (where there's all sorts of stuff going on…navy ships, dragon boat races, carnival rides, food booths, music, tons of people kayaking and paddleboarding…oh right, it's Rose Festival!)

We parked under the Hawthorne Bridge and headed South along the Willamette River for a bit before turning East via the Springwater Corridor Trail. The weather was gorgeous!! Under the bridge on the left is Waterfront Park, dragon boats racing into frame from the left, tents, people, lots of cheering:

Guy catching a sturgeon from the dock below:

Totally insane floating shack/barge on the river:

You can't really appreciate this thing until you zoom in though. It's got a water slide!! And a conga drum! And I assume that rusty barrel is for campfires:

We had a banana before we left the house to tide us over until we got to Cartlandia, where we opted for chicken & waffles from the Coop food cart for brunch. They were GREAT! You choose your waffle (plain, cornbread, or bacon, but the cook said bacon was best so we went with that one…not to tough a decision) and there are several combinations of multiple waffles with multiple chicken pieces, but we went straight with one (bacon) waffle and a chicken breast, with maple syrup of course. Delicious! And you know, kinda sorta mostly guilt-free since we were going to be riding 30+ miles:

After brunch we continued on the trail out toward Mt. Hood. There's one spot on the trail where you're riding with a gorgeous view of Mt. Hood (but I didn't get that photo, dur.) This is a great trail, and the further from Portland you get, the less crowded it is.

The weather was just beautiful again today! I think the high was about 78 degrees F. Here's a map of our ride (34 miles, click to enlarge):

Kevin's bike on the Willamette River:

Oh yeah, and we put our little country pins on our handlebar bags the other day. So cute! (Can't wait to get more!)

Venice to Florence Video Tour

Laura Domela — Thu, 29 May 2014 03:05:00 +0000

Kevin made us a cool YouTube channel playlist that has all the videos he put together of our bike tour from Venice to Florence (including the first couple days in Venice mostly on boats, but it sets a nice mood for the rest of the bike tour and it's one of my favorite, actually, even though there are no bikes). I thought I'd put a link to it here in case you wanted a convenient place to get to the videos (and also so I can find it later, because this blog is like my own personal notebook sometimes. I forget things and need to look them up. Whatever. Shut up.)

These videos are quite nice (and I plan to watch them all over again from the start the minute we get home, or maybe right now).

Coolest trip I've ever done. Honestly.

Oh yeah, also: All of these were shot on an iPhone, mostly while riding a bike!