Cape Disappointment, Astoria, OR & The 2012 FisherPoets Gathering

This past Friday post work I loaded up my tiny car and scooped up my friend Katie- we hit the road to Astoria, OR to meet up with Brittany who I hadn't seen in close to a year.

Brittany, who's also from Southeast Alaska, now living in Portland- always seems to find the most Alaskan-centered activities possible, and this trip was no different. We'd been talking about attending the 2012 FisherPoets Gathering since sometime in 2011 and it was the perfect excuse to get out of the city for the weekend and have a bit of a ridiculous adventure.

The drive down was a rainy mess, and I was beyond grateful to have Katie navigating while simultaneously feeding me pieces of quesadilla from the taco bus. We had decided to stay on the Washington side of the Columbia- in a yurt at Cape Disappointment State Park. It's about a half an hour drive between Cape Disappointment and downtown Astoria but it takes you through some sweet little communities with plenty of fun signs to read. Over and over again.

Our first night was fairly uneventful. There was a bit of miscommunication and a lack of cell service, but we all ended up at the yurt, warm and dry and safe from the freakishly aggressive band of park racoons. We somehow managed to bring enough food to feed about six people for a week, and regardless still ate mostly cheese and grapes.

Saturday morning we headed to Astoria- the plan being to check out a few of the FisherPoets events, and then to see what other sorts of trouble we could get into.

Our first stop was Pier 39, where we went through a self-guided tour of the old BumbleBee Seafood cannery. "Work Is Our Joy" was the phrase of the weekend- used in a lot of the poetry readings. I found it a little off-putting, but there's some really intense gillnetting history tied into it. More information via Salmon For All if you're interested.

 There had originally been a tour scheduled on one of the local fishing boats, but unfortunately it was moved due to the weather- you can't tell from the photo, but there was really intense wind and hail almost all day Saturday.

I'm pretty sure this was the entire old outboard motor show.

 

Huge, old, really neat canning equipment.

There were some beautiful old fishing boats on display as well- I couldn't get over how tiny the fish trap skiffs were!

From the waterfront we headed up a few blocks to the Fort George Brewery. February is stout month, and while I'm not normally much of a stout drinker- their Kentucky Tart Stout was absolutely phenomenal. We hung out in the brewpub for a good chunk of time, deciding to wait for their 1 PM brewery tour. We were very serious.

The tour was short and sweet, and the brewery smelled mysteriously of fresh oysters. I really love that so many small breweries are starting to can their beer. 

Brittany photo bomb!

Cutest hot water tank ever!

Post brewery tour we did a little bit of wandering, and ended up at the Astoria Heritage Museum. It was tiny and covered a lot of history in a few small rooms. My favorite was the upstairs- the largest room was nearly half full of vintage coin banks.

At this point we headed back over the bridge with the intention of taking a serious nap before our evening began. Easily distracted- we ended up instead at the North Head Lighthouse.

Once thoroughly napped and full of fruit and cheese, we headed back into Astoria for spoken word and music by The Ratfish Wranglers at The VooDoo Room, then finished out our night at the beloved Sea Hag.

On Sunday morning I decided that it would be fun to get the flu, and ended up cutting our plans for the day brutally short. A quick stop at the beach to check out driftwood, and we were back on the road fairly early.

All in all a great weekend, and much needed trip out of the city.

Homeland

I spent last weekend in Juneau- a very short trip, just barely three days for a family wedding. The weather was uncharacteristically beautiful for September and it was hands-down one of my favorite trips home in the past six years. It's so strange without my mom there, though!

My #1 required stop is always, always Paradise Cafe & Bakery. My brother met me there within an hour of my plane landing and we stuffed our faces with bread pudding and pastries. Perfection.

My grandpa Ralph spends a great amount of his time painting nature scenes with oil on canvas. His apartment is full of his work, and I snuck into his studio while my dad + uncle + grandpa were distracted trying to set up a tv. There's seriously amazing video of that- here!

Sandy Beach is sandy.

On the way to a family birthday party (seriously this weekend was full), Lizzie and I stopped by an open house for what used to be Kowee Creek Fish Hatchery, and is presently a beautiful home on the most insane piece of property I've ever seen. A salmon spawning creek runs along side the house, there's a massive garden, two waterfalls, a cave, beautiful old windows, and on and on.

My flight back to Seattle was perfectly clear almost the entire way, which is incredibly rare flying out of Juneau. I basically spent two hours staring out my window at ice fields.

 

Glorious!

Events: July 9th- 1st Annual Summer Cider Day

We're heading out of Seattle to Port Townsend tomorrow morning to spend the day sampling local ciders and hopefully getting fantastic sun burns!

Discover the delicious diversity of Pacific Northwest craft hard ciders at the Northwest Cider Association's first annual Summer Cider Day in Port Townsend (WA) on Saturday July 9th from 11 AM to 7 PM.

Located at beautiful Fort Worden State Park, featuring 10 plus local cidermakers, at least 30 varieties of regional ciders and a tent of imported ciders, “Summer Cider Day” offers the experienced cider enthusiast as well as the newly cider curious a chance to sample a complete range of cider styles and flavors. Come enjoy a day in the park as you talk with your local cidermakers, taste cheeses, enjoy a bit of live music and celebrate the fermented apple in its many fine forms.

Ticket prices are $25, 20$ for NWCA members. Event ticket price includes admission for one, 10 taste tickets, and a keepsake Northwest Cider Association glass. Additional taste tickets will be available for purchase.

Enjoy a day or weekend in the artful, beautiful seaport town of Port Townsend Washington, have a cider paired meal at a local restaurant or explore Fort Worden's wide stretch of beaches and forest trails. And if you want to learn even more about cider, you can drive the "Cider Loop" as all three local cideries will also be open for tours and tastes.

Summer Cider Day Details

• 10+ Northwest Cider Makers
• 30+ Different Cider Varieties & Styles
• Tickets include 10 tastes and a 5 OZ. souvenir Northwest Cider Association glass.
• Additional taste tickets available for purchase
• Cheese Pairing with Mt. Townsend Creamery
• Food
• Onsite Parking
• Kid Friendly
• Dogs allowed on leashes
• Non-Alcoholic option
• Live music throughout the day

 Tickets and more info available here!

I'll be back on Sunday with lots of pictures- and maybe I'll even be awesome and share my photos from this past weekend of hiking and camping in the North Cascades!

Guemes Island Weekend Vacation

Holy smokes. I just got home from two of the best days I've had in longer than I can count.

I am a serious sucker for weekend vacations in/near/around the Seattle area. While usually my tiny car gets loaded up with a tent and an assortment of fleece clothing- this trip was based around a resort (we are so fancy). Guemes Island Resort is the only place to stay on Guemes Island (aside from rental homes) and the tiny sweet yurt that we rented out was charming beyond measure. Guemes Island is a quick seven minute ferry ride from Anacortes and with one general store, a fire station, the resort, and a very small mountain- it's one of the least visited (and least expensive) populated San Juan Islands. And I am crazy, madly in love.

Heading out after work, we just barely missed our intended ferry and had to hang out in the parking lot for a bit. Amy promptly broke my binoculars and we managed to spread all of our food/clothes/gear into a ten foot radius out the back end of the car.

Our first night on the island was fairly uneventful- we made friends with a few people staying in the cabins and coerced them into sharing their grill with us. Sneaky.

On Friday night the four of us decided to turn off our cell phones and not look at watches or clocks for the rest of our stay. It didn't work perfectly well, but for the most part we had no solid idea of what time it was. Saturday morning was this glorious combination of waking up and falling back asleep and lying in bed listening to the rain come through the trees.

Once up and moving, we did a bit of exploring around the resort, and then headed out for our big adventure. Driving a whole four (or so) miles to the Guemes Mountain trail head. It was a quick hike to the top, and the view was pretty phenomenal. I should note that the entire island was full of slugs. It was non-stop slug action the whole weekend. There were also appearances by caterpillars, snails, and tiny crabs. Non stop!

That night we put on our bras and clean jeans and rolled into Anderson's General Store for drinks, dinner, and a  performance by Pretty Little Feet. We thought we were so hilarious, closing down the place at 8:30 pm. Better watch out.

Sunday morning was a bit lazy and slow moving, but once we rolled our little butts out of the yurt we headed down to the resort office and checked out their (free!) kayaks for a few hours. We paddled to nearby uninhabited Jack Island and spent a good chunk of time looking under rocks and making sure Amy didn't break any of her body parts.

Before leaving Guemes we spent some time back at Anderson's, drinking tea and watching the ferry go back and forth. Convincing ourselves to finally get in the ferry line took a bit of strength. I'm ready to go back right now.