snow – Riveted

What a Difference a Day Makes!

Laura Domela — Fri, 16 Dec 2016 02:23:00 +0000

Lopez Island was sunny and bright, and SO calm on Tuesday morning!We dinghied over to Sam’s boat and had breakfast with him and Anna, and then headed back to Anacortes. The wind picked up a little and Rosario Strait was, um…fun? Yeah. It actually was kinda fun. Wind was NE 25-30kts gusting to 38kts (we only saw that once), with a fairly strong flood current.

We got back to the marina all salty and…awww….the water is turned off. Hope it rains soon!

In the morning we left Airship and headed back to Portland. We knew there was more snow coming and news/weather was saying 4pm. Our ETA in Portland (according to Google and Waze) was 3pm, so we were feeling okay about it all. The further south we went, the grayer it got, and eventually we had snow on I-5:Portland: Not looking too bad, but the closer we got to our house, the slower we went. Our ETA pretty quickly went from 3pm to 5pm as the snow fell and people left work to try to get home. We spent about 3 hours right IN town just trying to move toward home.After inching along until about 6pm, I called and made a reservation at The Benson hotel downtown. It still took us a while to get there, but at least we were waiting in a line of 85 cars to do so:Ahhhhh.View:The folks at the Benson were awesome. They gave us a discounted rate, then upgraded us to a suite and threw in free valet parking. It was lovely. We put our few things in the room and walked across the street to have dinner (and a cocktail) at Imperial. Also fabulous. The service, the food…all spot on. And this cocktail was amazing:New Money…with smoked vermouth and a giant, super-clear ice cube. Delicious. (We’re suckers for smokey bourbon drinks.)

In the morning, Kevin took the hotel’s airport shuttle to PDX for a quick business trip, and I did some work in the room before heading downstairs for some breakfast.

Morning view:Breakfast view: This is a gorgeous old hotel and the rooms are very nice. My waiter at breakfast was named Bobby and he has been working at The Benson for 36 years. He was fantastic, and so was my breakfast/brunch.

After food, I got the car (we were driving the Toyota Camry Hybrid…not the truck) and headed for Les Schwab to procure some chains. I figured the main road our house was likely plowed and sanded by now, but at almost 1000ft, our steep driveway was definitely going to be an issue.

Heading west on Burnside: The smaller streets were still not awesome, but not terrible:Les Schwab (on NW 19th) put my chains on while I went next door to Pro Photo to look at the new Fuji X-T2 (mistake).

Okay, chains on, and I’m ready to head up the hill!! People out retrieving the cars they abandoned last night: Big tree break at the base of our driveway: Awww, the oldest and gnarliest rhododendron that hung out over the driveway eventually gave out from the weight of the ice and snow and snapped: On the back patio, another casualty. This one was leaning onto our roof, but luckily caused no damage that I could see.

I got out there with the chainsaw and made a huge mess, but there are no longer tree branches leaning on the house. The temperature is supposed to stay below freezing until Sunday, so the driveway will probably be chains-only until then! Always an adventure!

Aw, bummer. The Snow is melting.

Laura Domela — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 21:21:02 +0000

I really REALLY like hiking in the snow. I think this means we need to get ourselves some snow shoes so we can do it more often (for more than three days a year) up at Mt. Hood!

Today's hike looked like that (above) and hiked mostly like this (below) — like hiking through a Slurpee. It was pretty hard work, actually. We did just under 4 miles in an hour and a half.

It's about 35 degrees out now and the snow is melting off the trees, but it's still quite pretty out.

Looks like the forecast for the next couple of weeks around here is just rain, rain, and more rain. Our week up at Silver Falls State Park might be a soppy one!

Another Snow Day!

Laura Domela — Sat, 08 Feb 2014 20:19:21 +0000

(I know, "Yawn" from all you people in the North/Northeast…sorry. It's rare here in Portland.)

The road inside the arboretum where we hike most mornings:

We went on our hike before breakfast today — four and a half miles this time (in my Bogs!). The main road from our house to the park is all snowy and has hardly any traffic right now, so we've been just walking down to the trailhead straight from the house. (Usually it's a bit dangerous to walk…no sidewalk, and you have to walk in a ditch right next to fast-moving traffic, so we normally drive the 30 seconds down the hill.)

This is our driveway yesterday (there has been another 4 or 5 inches of snow since then):

It snowed during most our hike today but we were bundled up and it was not annoying, just pretty:

There were a few people on the trail…dog walking, running, snowshoeing, skiing, sledding…we're so glad we live so close to this beautiful place!

Snowy branches:

Me being arty in the front yard:

After our hike we put the chains on the truck and headed down the hill (driveway was pretty squirrely) to get some brunch and some groceries.

Besaw's down on NW 23rd was bustling and cozy:

Heading back up the hill to our house:

We're all stocked up with groceries now (more snow and ice on the way) and Kevin's reading up on sous vide techniques for the various proteins we picked up at the store, so we'll keep ourselves busy cooking, reading, watching movies, and probably another hike in the snow tomorrow morning. Love it!

Snowy Hiking

Laura Domela — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 19:45:31 +0000

I've been wanting some snow forEVER, and here it is! These are from our daily hike when we're home in Portland. Looks a bit different in the snow:

In the sequoia grove:

Snowy archery range:

Okay and here's a shot I took this morning:

And here's almost the same shot I took three days ago because of how crazy green it was:

We got about 4 inches yesterday afternoon and we're supposed to get about 4 more today/tonight. Sweet!

Beautiful Snowy Morning

Laura Domela — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 12:58:55 +0000

I'm concerned about our neighbor. The truck is still there, so maybe he and his dog climbed in the truck. Or maybe a friend came and got him. I hope he's not under the tarp.

Update: Neighbor is fine.

Spring: Tulips Inside, Snow Outside

Laura Domela — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 23:25:13 +0000

Kevin's grilling some barbequed chicken outside on the Traeger, and I'm puttin together a hearty salad thick with veggies and green beans, and some BBQ pinto beans inside. Easy and good.

(Posted by Laura)

From Champoeg to Silver Falls State Park

Laura Domela — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 22:21:21 +0000

Today we headed for Silver Falls State Park, outside of Silverton, Oregon. It snowed and slushed and sleeted this morning at Champoeg, and just as we were thinking about packing things up to head out, it cleared and our drive to Silver Falls was so pretty. Apparently overnight they got a bunch of snow.

We're almost there, and the road was still looking pretty good. Mostly the snow was melting off of the trees and just blapping onto our truck as we drove in.

We got to the campground and the loop that was open had been plowed, and there were maybe 5 spots that had been plowed as well. No one here but us and the hosts.

We chose this spot:

I made us some lunch while Kevin prepped some baby back ribs to go on the Traeger.

Yes, in the snow…we are cooking ribs.

I'll probably make some kale and some sweet potatoes to go with 'em. Kevin's out flying the hexacopter over our setup to get some more aerial video, and I'm sure he'll be posting that later on (I just saw it fly over the back skylight!), as well as info about his super special best-I've-ever-had ribs recipe.

(Posted by Laura)