Columbia Gorge – Riveted

Sunday in the Columbia Gorge

Laura Domela — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 21:11:37 +0000

Today we hung out for a bit at a morning campfire with the Weaselmouth clan before they headed North, and then we headed out to pick up some supplies for the rest of the week.

Here at the base of the Bridge of the Gods at Cascade Locks every day there's a tent/stand where Native American fishermen/women sell fresh and smoked fish. We picked up some smoked salmon last week and it was fabulous so we went to go back and get some fresh salmon for filets and smoking.

You can see them here in the right of the image:

Cool Lewis & Clark mural under the bridge:

We got half of a salmon ($10/lb) and some fresh organic cherries from the tent next door, then drove over to check out the Sternwheeler down the road at the Cascade Marine Park:

They do sternwheeler sightseeing cruises on the Columbia River (as well as dinner/brunch cruises) and we also learned that there's a little campground there on the river.

The view is pretty nice (partial parking lot with people fishing, but still pretty). The train is nearby, so it could be a little loud at night. Here's what the campsites look like:

The marine park has a lot of riverfront here and it's pretty and looks very nicely maintained:

We headed back across the river, picked up a few things at the market in Stevenson, and on the way back decided while we were scoping campgrounds we'd scope this place we kept noticing: Skamania Coves.

From the road we could see campsites with little decks and although it's between the road and the train tracks, it still could be really nice with this great view:

We've been really happy here at Timberlake Campground this past week or so and I know we'll definitely be back. The staff is fabulous, the sites are gorgeous, and it's really peaceful out here.

These solar lanterns we picked up at Ikea look so great at night hanging in the trees:

We're having grilled Chinook salmon for dinner tonight, of course. We cut two filets for tonight, cut four more to freeze for future dinners, and we're brining the tail section to smoke on the Traeger.

Tomorrow we're heading up to the Olympic Peninsula to explore for the week!

We Hiked Up Beacon Rock

Laura Domela — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 21:27:15 +0000

This morning after breakfast (spinach blueberry smoothies) we headed over to hike Beacon Rock.

From the Washington Trails Association website:

Beacon Rock earned its name when Captains Lewis and Clark camped in its shadow on their way to the Pacific Ocean in 1805. The rock is an 848-foot basalt column that formed the core of an ancient volcano. It towers over the Columbia River, and its sheer walls were unscaled until 1901-the date of the first recorded ascent of the rock. Notably, that first climb followed the route now covered by the intricate system of paths, bridges, and stairs that make up the trail today.

The hike begins as a gentle walk through the forest as the trail leads hikers around to the southern face of the rock. Then the climbing begins. Traversing and climbing sheer rock walls, the trail is daunting to consider but easy to hike. The ironworks that make up the bridges and stairs are solid and well braced on the indestructible rock face. The trail was built between 1915 and 1918 by Henry Biddle, who owned the rock and all the land about it at the time.

It was a gorgeous hike, and not at all as difficult as it looks like it might be as you're standing at the base of the rock.

We finished up the afternoon with a little blind beer tasting down at the clubhouse as part of the Brewfest here at Timberlake Campground. (We liked the homebrewed Bourbon Vanilla Porter best, of course!) We really love this place. There's live music going on tonight out on the lawn, and there are three other Airstreams in the park. We recommend this campground highly!

Late Sun Through the Trees

Laura Domela — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 02:07:56 +0000

From my Airstream office window at Timberlake Campground.

Today’s Happy Little Airstream Office

Laura Domela — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 15:24:35 +0000

We're still at Timberlake Campground & RV and it's lovely. There's not a lot to do right AT the campground, which is mostly fine, because I have a boatload of work to do today and can't really afford any distractions. I could afford a bit of a walk away from the dinette, but I'll get to that later on…it's quite hot outside today!

Walking Man Brewing in Stevenson, WA

Laura Domela — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 14:20:43 +0000

Yesterday our friend Sharyn (and her fluffy dog Astro, too) visited our campsite and we took a late break and headed over to Walking Man Brewing in Stevenson for some late lunch/early dinner (and beer, of course).

Walking Man has some good craft beer with funny names like Knuckledragger, Homo Erectus Imperial IPA, Pale Strider, Crosswalk, etc.. I was pretty fond of their Black Cherry Stout yesterday. They had about ten on the menu, and we wanted to try a few. On the menu it said "Can't decide? Try a beer flight." Cool! When I asked how many were in the flight, our waitress replied "All of them!" Okay then! (These glasses are smaller in person than they appear in this photo.)

We ordered some cilantro jalapeno hummus (SO good), a burger, and a Cubano pizza (pulled pork, mustard, pickles) to try and everything was really good.

The place is popular on the weekends. There's a nice outdoor seating area with hops growing up to the balcony and shaded patio tables. Some people brought their dogs in with them and it was just generally a really chill place to have a beer and a bite on a Sunday afternoon.

Oh yeah, and here's Astro by the fire:

So fluffy!!! Astro is one year old. He's a Golden Doodle (mixed with a mythical cartoon creature). He's awesome.

Hiking, Beacon Rock, Free Food

Laura Domela — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 16:03:14 +0000

Great visit with our friends from Holland the past couple days. Friday night we cooked some halibut en papillote with yams and asparagus soup and spent the evening out by the campfire roasting marshmallows on our new cool telescoping roasting forks.

These are the roasting forks. We picked up four of them from REI last week:

They extend to 42 inches (!!!!) and have a little wheel on the grip that you can turn to rotate your marshmallow or whatever you're roasting. They work great, and come in multiple colors. Find them here.

Yesterday I cooked up an egg scramble with veggies for breakfast and after a while of lounging in the sun we headed out for a hike down near Beacon Rock. We decided on the Pool of the Winds hike, and as we got closer to Beacon Rock State Park we thought we maybe should have lunch before the hike rather than after, but by that time we were too far past any towns that had food. Also, we didn't really bring any water, so we filled up a bottle we found in the car at a drinking fountain and headed to the trailhead. There was an employee at the front of the parking lot greeting people and Hey Guess What? Today they're celebrating 100 years of Washington State Parks and there's a barbecue up in the upper parking area with free food and cake (and it turns out, bottles of water!)

So we sat here and had lunch before our hike (view of Beacon Rock in the background):

The hike was beautiful:

We stopped a few times to smell the wildflowers:

After our hike we stopped again at Carson Hot Springs for a soak and a wrap (since we were going to pass right by it anyway….) :)

Here's a nice view of Bonneville Dam on the way back to camp:

The weather has been gorgeous out here, as you can tell. We live so close to this area and we hardly ever come out here, so it's nice to be getting the time to explore a bit.

Afternoon on the Columbia River

Laura Domela — Thu, 30 May 2013 21:15:41 +0000

And now, with some color:

After we finished up the bulk of our work for the day, we headed into the town of Carson and over to the Carson Hot Springs for a mineral bath and wrap (20 bucks). The main building is the Hotel St. Martin, finished in 1901. It looks pretty much the same today as it did then.

The building on the right is the bath house (built in the 1930s), and has separate sides for men and women. In each side there are dozen or so antique clawfoot tubs (huge, long tubs) where the sulfur-enriched mineral water is piped in from the riverbed of Wind River nearby. The water is about 117 degrees Farenheit, and you can add as much or as little cold water as you want to that. You soak for about 25 minutes, and then move over to the room where they wrap you up in soft sheets and cover you with wool blankets for another 25 minutes. The wrap is always the part I underestimate (and by "always" I mean the two times I've been here). Being forced to just lay still all swaddled up in a quiet room after a hot bath is pretty amazing. The wrap lasted about 30 minutes. There are showers, a changing room, a sauna…all for $20. They also offer massage (by appt, additional fees of course). Maybe next time.

After our baths/wraps we took a short drive East along the river just for a little sightseeing. Highway 14 ran parallel to some train tracks for much of our drive. I love these side-by-side tunnels (especially how the train tunnel is just blasted, with no finishing touches of concrete):

There were severa; windsurfers on the river as we neared Hood River area, and we watched this guy here cut right in front of this barge. He started to do it again and the barge honked loudly and the windsurfer turned back toward shore. Not too smart, buddy. Not too smart.

We're pretty chill right now. Kevin just got the Traeger set up and we'll be grilling salmon and roasting some broccoli for dinner tonight. We've got firewood, fully charged solar tiki torches, and we may even break out the vodka for a pre-dinner martini. Cheers!

Houses Are Big

Laura Domela — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 22:55:03 +0000

Yesterday we headed to Portland from our last night's stay at Maryhill State Park. It was just a two hour drive and let us get into Portland with plenty of time to unpack, clean up the Airstream and get it ready for our next trip.

I love coming into Portland from the East, through the Columbia River Gorge on I-84. The change of the scenery is dramatic, as are the views of the Columbia River.

Plus, it goes from being very dry (brown, rocky) to lush green forest in what feels like no time at all. Turns out we've still got some fall colors here!

Hello green hills! See ya later, sun!

Actually yesterday alternated sun with rain and clouds…not too bad. Here's a view of downtown Portland from the Markham Bridge:

It's nice to be home for a bit. (The rooms here are enormous! And it takes forever just to get from bed to the kitchen!) I do think we need to work on our timing for the next road trip though. Getting back to Portland just in time for the worst weather of the year (and missing late summer and fall, when it's so gorgeous here) wasn't too bright (and also wasn't really our plan when we set out for Alumafandango in August!). Maybe we'll go South for a bit in January…skipping some of that lovely gray drizzle.