Posts In The “Destinations” Category
Autumn is fresh hop beer season in the Pacific Northwest. Most beer is made from dried hops, while fresh hop beers are made from hops that have never been dried. The beer must be brewed very soon after the hops are ripe, so can’t be made very far from the fields. Since over 77% of…
September was warmer than usual for Seattle, with the temperature frequently above 80°F (27° C) even late in the month, more than 10 degrees above average. The warm, clear, and dry weather was ideal for camping and we made two multi-night trips. The first was a three-night stop in Gifford Pinchot National Forest with a…
In the decade we spent traveling around the world in Dirona, we visited some remarkable and memorable places. Many destinations, such as Fjordland in New Zealand, had been on our list of special places to visit for nearly as long as we’d been boating. Others, such as Western Australia’s famed Kimberley region, we learned about…
In what would turn out to be our final camping trip of the year, we found a fabulous site at the end of a road with a sweeping view southeast across Kachees Lake. We’d been improving our skills in pre-scouting online for a campsite, and drove straight to this one without investigating any other potential…
Naval Base San Diego is the second largest surface ship base of the United States Navy and the main home port of the Pacific Fleet of over 50 ships. On a recent trip to the city, James got some great views to the naval base, San Diego Bay and the city skyline as his plane…
The Seattle Seahawks opened their season with a Monday Night Football home game against the Denver Broncos. Making the game even more exciting, this was the first where quarterback Russell Wilson was playing against the Seahawks rather than for them. The Seahawks won in an exciting and closely-contested match that we were expected to lose,…
The Portland Dragon Boat Festival was well underway as we departed our hotel on Sunday morning with a Portland fire boat demonstrating prior to the start. On our way to the train station, we stopped at Jake’s Famous Crawfish for a great seafood lunch with craft IPAs in view of the historic Weinhard Brewery Complex,…
Portland, Oregon is a major craft beer center full of many excellent pubs. We’d last visited in 2012 on our Columbia River trip in Dirona and recently decided to make a quick overnight trip by train from Seattle. We booked a cabin on the Starlight Express train, a 35-hour overnight train from Seattle to Los…
We finished our four-day Labor Day weekend camping trip with a tour through the area near our site in search of other campsites and found several good possibilities. Our plan after that was to have lunch at the Packwood Brewing Co. But the road into town was jammed for the annual Packwood Flea Market, one…
Our initial plan for the Labor Day long weekend camping trip was to camp at two or three different sites. But we couldn’t imagine finding a better site than the one along Forest Road 8430, so we stayed put. After two days at camp though, it was time for a real test of our Kradl…
Mt. Rainier, and pretty much everything in between, was obscured by low clouds when we got up on our first morning at camp in Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Over the course of the day, however, the clouds cleared and our wonderful mountain view returned. We were camped along Forest Road 8430, that extends several miles…
In September, we went on our longest wilderness camping trip to date, of three nights over the Labor Day weekend. Since we had a more time than usual, we ranged a little farther near Mt. Rainier. We started out at Elbe Hills State Forest, one of two state forests in the area. Unfortunately the State…
With generally clear skies, warm weather, and wildflowers in bloom, August is an excellent month to hike in the Cascade Mountains. And hike we did. Early in the month, we returned to Mt. Rainier for three fabulous days of summer hiking. The trails were bursting in color during the short wildflower season and “The Mountain”…
The hike to Granite Mountain Lookout is not far at just under four miles (6.2 km) one-way. But with an altitude gain of 3,738 ft (1,139 m), a maximum grade of 39%, and an average grade of 18%, the hike is considered challenging. The trail is very popular though, with wonderful scenery along the way….
We’d been really wanting to grill at camp, but an entire barbecue is more extra gear than we want to carry. So we instead tried an All-Clad non-stick grill pan. In a first test on our apartment stove top, the grill pan distributed heat well and reached an impressive 346°F (174°C) . The next test…
Over the course of the summer, we’d become progressively more daring on the terrain we would tackle in our little SUV. Jennifer often was out of the vehicle to direct us through areas with deep ruts and large rocks, to ensure our front bumper or spoiler didn’t catch. The most challenging conditions we’ve taken on…
The Borup Loop carries trains between Borup and the Stampede Pass Tunnel en route through the Cascade Mountains. Between Borup at 2,270ft (691 m) and the west entrance of the Stampede Pass Tuneel at 2,900 ft (883 m), the elevation difference is 630 ft (192m) over a distance of 2.3 miles (3.7 km). Clearly visible…
The trail to the summit of Mt. Si in North Bend ascends 3,100 feet (945 m) over a distance of just under 4 miles (6.4 km). Despite the steepness, it is one of the most popular trails in Washington state, with about 100,000 climbers annually. Part of the draw is its proximity to major urban…