Quebec City

October 13, 2016November 21, 2016 / barkersonbreak / 7 Comments

“Bonjour! Hello! Hi!” – all acceptable ways to greet someone in Quebec City, as told to us by many, many locals. It’s been a while since I’ve posted, said no blogger ever. Ha! A rainy day off will inspire you…

We wanted to do a weekend trip to Canada while here in Vermont and Quebec won out over Montreal as recommended by others – it just sounded more to our taste: low key, walkable, on the water, historic, nice people who don’t mind if you don’t speak French. It was about a five hour drive from our current home base in Vermont, so I took the afternoon off and we headed north, passports in hand.

Upon arriving at our hotel, the Manoir Victoria we were told they had good news and bad news for us: they had overbooked BUT they were putting us up in the super-fancy imposing landmark Le Chateau Frontenac hotel for the night. Just 1/2 mile or so away, we nonetheless took up their offer of a free cab ride (the cabby laughed at us for not walking) as we had our bags, were tired etc. First, though, we got a recommendation for a nearby parking lot where we could park our very large truck–only about 30 bucks for two nights in the old city, so not bad.

We loved the IDEA of staying in the Frontenac but in the end, it was a bit too crowded, touristy and impersonal for us. We really appreciated our smaller, more personal hotel – and the fact that they more than made good on the overbooking error. We did enjoy taking some pics in front of the Frontenac the next day – tourist style.

As far as itinerary for our one full day, it was pretty simple-eat and walk.

The walking first. There is much to see in the old city, and we were lucky with great weather. Just soaking up the sounds of the French and immersing yourself in hundreds of years of history is a treat. I feel like I finally got an in-your-face explanation of why the French and British hated each other that hitherto I’d only experienced “up close” in the movie Master & Commander (that Ben makes me watch again and again.) We found a couple of good walking routes online (e.g. here), and referred to them occasionally as we just did a loop around the old city.

From our hotel room

Sleepy-eyed in Rue Saint-Jean

A little spit and polish for the Fresque du Petit-Champlain

Champlain is THE MAN

La Basilique-Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Quebec. I never appreciate my Catholic upbringing more than when walking with confidence in to admire a beautiful church.

Fall is everywhere

Fortifications – and me!

The loop continued around to the Parliament building, the “Plains of Abraham” – site of THE battle that ended French rule, but not presence! And an effort to do a little antique browsing.

I thought the Fontaine de Tourny was just mesmerizing. The story of its relocation from France (where it won a gold medal in the 1855 Paris World’s Fair) is fascinating. Google it.

Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy.

Canadian heroes are everywhere.

Rock by rock, just like the old days. A UNESCO World Heritage site, construction projects were everywhere. Many of them are reminders of war.

Location, location, location

Stunning artwork on the Place Royal, with the docked Queen Mary 2 in the background

Just one unique example of the THOUSANDS of tourists like us, capturing their visit to a picturesque place

And to the eating…. We had a bit of a time finding a place the first night as by the time we moved hotels it was almost nine. And the first place we sought out (via Yelp) was closed and out of business when we got there. I am torn between making reservations and going with the flow on trips like this, as either can work well or backfire. Our experience the first night led me to make a reservation for night two at Patente et Machin in the St. Roch neighborhood (walkable from Old City, but we took an Uber back.) and I was glad I did as it was a delish meal that got us out of the old city and into an adjacent neighborhood.I found it in NYT 36 hours in Quebec City. We also enjoyed breakfast at Le Cochon Dingue and crispy time at Sapristi, both in the Old City.

Though at times we were literally overrun by crowds of tourists (with selfie sticks, packed together, struggling to keep up with their guides) you couldn’t help but appreciate everyone’s joy to be in this beautiful city. And you hear this all the time, but it bears reinforcing: many locals expressed their appreciation for the fact that we at least tried to speak French. Even if it was just: “Parlez-vous anglais?” There is no excuse with all the apps out there. Bucket list for me: learn another language. It’s like a secret world. Hold me to it please.

Before heading home, we took a quick side trip to Parc de la Chute-Montmorency, less than 10 miles outside of Quebec City. Higher than Niagara! Lovely in the fall…mashed with tourists, so go early in the day. Follow the signs to Manoir Montmorency for parking.

We headed back to the US of A just in time before they built the wall!

Arbre pose

Au revoir, bonsoir, that is all- for now!

Joshua Trees and Rocks

December 23, 2015December 24, 2015 / barkersonbreak / 9 Comments

We arrived in Joshua Tree squeaky clean – after spending Thanksgiving at home in Glendale, where we took the time to make a few tweaks, tackle some fixes and a conduct a general “clean up” (of us and the rig). The drive to Joshua Tree was a little over two hours and if you are coming from LA, either the West or North entrances will do. Joshua Tree is small enough (relative to some other NPs) that it’s worth trying drive through and hit all its corners as you plan your itinerary.

We believe we found the best site ever in Jumbo Rocks campground: #77. With an unobstructed vista of rocks and sand and desert scrub, and of course Joshua Trees.

Many of the sites there are tent-sized only, which leads to a good mix of tent campers and RVs (alas they do allow generators here at fixed times). As the sun was setting we took a walk.

Ben and I passed the camera back and forth seeing who could take the best pictures. They are all winners, don’t you think?

Dinner was all the food I had bought intending to cook while at my parents, but didn’t. You see, if I left it there, my parents wouldn’t eat it. You know? Salmon, collards, rice and sweet potatoes.

Mostly from Trader Joe’s, which, if I had to choose only one place to shop for Airstream cooking, would be the winner. Thank you mom and dad for stocking our fridge.

We watched the Caine Mutiny b/c some scenes were filmed in Yosemite. (Make no mistake, there is no cell service in JT, but we had downloaded it at my parents’ over the weekend.) It was a brief (and corny) scene but otherwise good movie. Got us thinking that would be a fun theme to follow – other movies filmed in National Parks. Any recommendations?

We woke to another sunny temperate day in California – but the first we’d had camping in several weeks! There is really nothing better. Here I am breakfasting outdoors – something we haven’t done in a while. Our breakfasts can get pretty routine, but I love them all: it’s either cereal, oatmeal or eggs. This must have been a cereal or oatmeal day. The only downside is Ben and I have to eat the same thing – due to just wanting to avoid two people in the kitchen, extra dishes, etc. Oh, what we give up to go on a once in a lifetime cross country trip!

We bopped over from the east side of the park to the West Entrance Station visitor’s center, which was small but staffed with super helpful rangers. They also had one of the coolest exhibits I have ever scene – a look inside the creative process behind the design of park PSAs. The PSAs were meant to promote appropriate park behavior to various types of visitors – the ad below is a mock up of the one aimed at campers. The “behind the scenes” revealed the editors wanted to be sure to pick a picture that included a tent and an rv/trailer. I don’t know how well this translates, but the English teacher in me just loved it and hats off to the staff for sharing it. Compare the draft up top (with editor’s notes) to the more final version below it.

After consulting with a ranger, we set a course to do several short hikes as we crossed the park from the West Entrance, past our campground, toward the south entrance. If fact, you may want to start calling us “Short Hike Barkers on Break,” we did so many. Feel free to follow along (from left to right) on the map below.

First up, Hidden Valley. As the name suggests this expanse is hidden behind a ring of boulders. Rumor has it (not much confirmed historical fact in the stories here, but they are upfront about it!) cattle rustlers used to hide out here with their loot.

Can you spot Ben hiding in the valley?

You will see boulders and Joshua Trees, and other trees and all kinds of shrubs and bushes (technical terms anyone?). The walk here, as throughout most of the park, is on sand, like being on a beach. You will see climbers. More of Hidden Valley below…

It was a clear day for the next stop, a drive up Keys View. You can see Palm Springs and the whole Coachella Valley, and the Sultan Sea. Mexico too, they say, but hard to tell. Somewhere down there the San Andreas fault is biding its time. We ate our lunch on a bench overlooking the view.

The view from the aptly named, Keys View

Moving east, we hadn’t really planned on stopping at Ryan Ranch, but the adobe remains can be seen from the road and called to us. Much graffiti and ranch “trash.” Climbers too. Enjoy my artsy pics.

Next stop the Ryan Mountain trail head , not to hike the mountain (a “challenging” hike) but to see Indian Cave – not much of a trail but a cool rock that has campfire smoke from who knows how many eons of campfires.

We met Hash the van-cat there as well. He reminded us of one of our cats, Gordo (who’s orange too).

When we told them about Gordo, Hash’s owners said: “Gordo! That’s such a great cat name!”

They were super hip, so we felt hip too. Not so hip to live with a cat in van though. Don’t worry, the windows were cracked and the temps mild. Shortly after this pic, he headed into the back for a nap while his owners hiked.

Moving east, Live Oak picnic site doesn’t advertise it-but if you drive a bit beyond the picnic tables on the dirt road you can see the growing, healthy live oak (below) for which the site is named. We hiked beyond it on a pseudo-trail and really enjoyed the views and the solitude and the ROCKS. If these pictures don’t convince you to sign our petition to rename this park “Joshua Trees and Rocks” then you are missing the big picture.

Finally, timed for sunset, a bit toward the South Entrance, we visited the Cholla Cactus Garden. You can really see the terrain change on this drive. It’s not gradual. It’s abrupt. And the cacti literally glowed in the sunset while the views of now the Colorado (as opposed to the Mojave) desert mountains were lovely.

The next day we had a lazy-ish morning – Ben hiked around and I did yoga in the sand outside the trailer. I’ve done this a few times now – yoga outside is the bomb; yoga to combat aging muscles that spend a lot of time in the car is the bomb de bomb. From our campground, we hiked to Skull Rock – a popular spot, and sure enough someone offered to take our picture. See how relaxed I am from yoga? You’ll note I am holding my newly re-acquired fanny pack, which, unlike all my jacket pockets, is indeed big enough to hold my phone. It’s getting deployed a lot now.

We had signed up for the afternoon tour of the Keys Ranch. The Ranch sory was interesting enough, but I found the site just very visually striking – these dark strokes of lumber and piping and machines against the Joshua Tree browns and sands and blue sky etc.

And though any kind of private tour seems at odds with the concept of a National Park, it did feel special to be there, and as though the Keys family had just up and left in a hurry, and here we were sneaking a peek. No neat and tidy site is this – it’s the sort of place they’d love to find on American Pickers. Junk everywhere. And the life story of the Keys family isn’t tidy either – for example when asked what Mr. Keys’ profession was, the guide replied “A little bit of everything” which is what it took to survive in the desert. Mr. Keys – actually ended up serving a sentence in Alcatraz – I won’t spoil it by saying what it was for (think Wild West). The oldest Keys son visited the site regularly until he died just this year. He will be interred at the family plot still on site. The tour cost 10 dollars, and is only offered three days a week, though they are popular enough that they will be adding some more. I imagine it’s a struggle for the hardworking public servants at NPS to have to limit access to such a cool part of the park.

The rangers have access to a Library/Archives onsite to help them research and show “past and present” like with this old photo of an area of the ranch.

Afterward, we had time for one final short hike – Barker Dam of course. It hadn’t been heralded in any of the hike guides we perused, but of course we had to go. And it was fantastic! Again, maybe b/c of the time of day. It was flat, with rolling hills and the most incredible site in the middle – a dam that was built and rebuilt by ranchers who lived and grew live things here in the desert!

A close up of the dedication left by the rancher-builders

Ben Barker on top of Barker Dam

More pictures from Barker Dam….

Joshua Tree was a great way to launch our time in the southwest. And, though doing a bunch of small hikes and seeing more doesn’t always feel like the right approach, it worked very well for us at this park. Like the Joshua Tree itself, we avoided establishing deep roots in any one part of the park, and instead attempted to absorb as much as possible through a broader approach.

Our (2nd) 10 day itinerary for Oregon

November 21, 2015 / barkersonbreak / 2 Comments

We have gone up, down, around, and through Oregon on this trip. 10 days on our swing north in September (read about some of that here, here, and here, another 10 days on our swing back south in November. Though, embarrassingly, I included the first night of this second leg in Oregon in a post about Washington state. Sorry The Dalles!

Having visited Portland, Willamette Valley, and some of the coast about 10 years ago, we were pumped to revisit some of our favorites and find some new places to explore as well.

We’d been to Astoria before – a neat, real (not just a tourist) town on the coast, at the mouth of the Columbia River. Astoria welcomed us back with a beautiful rainbow!

We stayed in Ft. Stevens State Park – and got lost looking for the campground, but as usually happens once you get past your annoyance at the GPS, our wrong turn led us to some beautiful sites and we took a walk around the jetty.

The main thing we wanted to do this go round in Astoria was visit the Ft. Clatsop National Historic Park, where Lewis & Clark wintered over after completing their westward journey. The Corps of Discovery did not enjoy their time there — it rained a bunch — but we did especially because the park had been closed due to a fire when we here 10 years ago. We don’t have any pictures (!) but we do have this video we made there because our visit coincided with our nephew Carter’s birthday. It also just goes to show if you didn’t get that card in the mail on time, with a little creativity and the wonders of technology, you can do something cool to make up for it.

We rode our bikes to Ft. Clatsop – it was a little further than I thought it would be, on some busy roads too, but I would still recommend it. I don’t know if this is novel to anyone, but when I am low on batteries or data or coverage, I take a screen grab of my route and refer to that as I am able.

The museum and site were very good. The replica fort (seen behind us in the video) was smaller than I thought it would be – you get a real sense of the Corps just hoping to – I dunno – maybe stay warmer by being so close together? Having less of an area to defend in case of an attack? I appreciated the attention to the long term fate of each Discovery Member in the exhibits, especially York. In the evening we treated ourselves to dinner at the the Bridgewater Bistro in Astoria. The food was only pretty good, but because the service and the setting were so spectacular, we’d recommend it. They let us combine two desserts into one – a chocolate brownie with coconut ice cream. And the crab cheesecake appetizer was excellent.

On the way out of town, I stopped in the small but lovely Astoria Co-op, while Ben waited in a very long line to get his haircut at the Eleventh Street Barber. He passed the time by chatting it up with some local Coast Guard fellows, and I was amused by the proprietor who kept offering everyone cold beer from the mini fridge.

After a quick trip back to Seattle for some “admin” and a chance to visit dear friends in Auburn, we spent one more night in Washington – at an Airstream park, the aptly named Washington Land Yacht Harbor. The Park was pretty basic and they’ve opened it up to non Airstreamers (but if you are WBCCI members, there is a discount). There is also a fairly large brick and mortar home community surrounding the park – only requirement is that you must own an Airstream to buy a home there. We chatted a bit with one of the residents about the history of the park — folks with a common interest coming together to build a community — and the ways they are working to keep it going today. We made a quick stop at the Olympia Farmers Market (get the cinnamon bread from Wagner’s and any jam from Johnson’s Berry Farm) and the state capitol (pics below) before we recrossed the border.

Any resemblance?

Capitol interior

On to Portland! My friend Tom and his wife Julia about 10 years ago got to pick anywhere in the US to live after many years in NYC – and they picked Portland. How hip they are! Tom may not have known what he was in for when he said “You can park in front of our house!” on one of my Facebook posts tracking our travels, but regardless, we were “all in” as guests (though they were lucky we had just done our laundry in Seattle!)

Tom indeed had a lovely place for us to park in front of his house

After an afternoon of chatting and catching up we had a great dinner out – we wanted to go somewhere “Portland” and we knew Julia picked a good restaurant when the waiter assured us their pork come from pigs that are “pumpkin fed”. I couldn’t remember the name of the restaurant but just found it by googling all the things from their eclectic menu that I especially liked: “short rib sushi bread pudding” – and it was the first hit! Pono Farm Soul Kitchen in Northeast Portland. Yum.

We had a fortuitous meeting in Tom’s kitchen the next morning over coffee and cinnamon bread – his friend Stuart came by and once we realized he was a guru on Oregon travel, we asked and he gave us all kinds of tips on where to go, in what order, via what road, down to which Dairy Queen was the best in the state and how to work in a side trip to the town where some of Animal House was filmed. Not only that – he told us his mother grew up on a farm near Eugene, his sister lived there now, and would we like to park the Airstream there? Yes!

Following Stuart’s tips, we headed south to Willamette Valley, via Oregon City, the final stop on the Oregon Trail. The VC there is a bit pricey, and at this point we maybe felt a bit overloaded from other related sites we had visited but it provided nice closure to that theme of our travels and a good photo op or two.

Exterior of the museum depicts – a wagon!

The museum had kid friendly exhibits which Ben enjoyed too

The plaque: “End of Oregon Trail”

We headed south into Willamette Valley, to our Harvest Hosts Kramer Vineyards near Gaston. Though they were having an event that night – they couldn’t have been nicer and more accommodating to make room for us. We arrived just in time to jump in for the heritage vertical pinot noir tasting – basically tasting the same vintage, but from six different harvest years. Their thoughtful placemats (below) explained some of the differences in the rainfall, temperature, harvest date, yield, etc of each year. The owners encouraged us to sip, take notes, let the wine breath some more, repeat. It was awesome – I appreciate good teaching and this was it! We were seated with this really nice couple who are wine club members there and were so generous as to cover our tasting bill as part of their guest allowance. I know this is not exactly like the kind of generosity Cheryl Strayed writes about receiving on the PCT when her 20 dollars didn’t arrive and she wanted a Snapple, but we were very appreciative nonetheless! We even bought some Pinot Gris to go – in a growler! – so though the wine is gone, we have a very nice souvenir of this visit.

Next we headed west to the coast, and an overnight at Nehalem Bay State Park, complete with another rainbow and the best walk on the beach yet. We made some excellent lentil soup here which we ate while watching “Waiting for Guffman”. (Not wanting to use our data to stream, we pick up old DVDs wherever we can!)

On the way south, we stopped to do the Cape Trail at Cape Lookout State Park. This trail is truly fantastic – gets you out, as the name suggests, on a cape, with gorgeous views of the Oregon Coast. The hike was fairly flat but with some difficult passages due to mud, rain, general dampness that was the weather for much of this leg of the trip. But fantastic hike – highly recommended for coast lovers. Before the trip, I had surgery to repair an ankle ligament tear and I take pictures like that in the lower right to send to my surgeon some day as a thank you.

On to Newport, where an excellent Wheelingit blog post about free or cheap(er) camping on the Oregon Coast led us to the Port of Newport Marina. We always enjoy a marina, though the dry site parking area was adjacent to the Rogue Brewery warehouse and a few semis kept their engines running while resting there at all hours. But the view (below) couldn’t be beat.

Yaquina Bay Bridge just south of Newport, OR, in our dry camping spot at Port of Newport Marina.

We walked a hundred yards to have dinner at the Rogue Brewery Pub that night – the food was excellent! Try the crab kimchi sliders appetizer for sure. The next morning we walked a few hundred yards and forked over the big bucks to explore the Oregon Coast Aquarium – click on the link to see the best URL ever. We don’t begrudge museums entry fees, but it always feels a bit of a risk. In this case, it was well worth it. The Aquarium has more than a little bit of everything including live animal feeding demos, a walk through a shark aquarium tunnel, and thoughtful exhibits with volunteers and staff who were very good at their jobs answering questions, sharing what they knew and passing on a respect for the natural world.

This volunteer with the puffins was so knowledgeable and knew just how to engage her audiences.

The pelican exhibit stage had recently been enlarged so the staff are painstakingly familiarizing the animals with the new space.

Otter feeding – all maies – they compete to be the alpha (I heard from the puffin volunteer.)

We headed east to Stuart’s sister’s house – the Hurd family farm. The barn – 100 years old–was an awesome setting and we enjoyed our neighbors, sheep, chickens and rooster.

The next day, I headed into Eugene. It’s always fun to check out a big college campus and University of Oregon was lovely. I checked out Hayward Field – home to track and field legends – and their art museum, which had a cool exhibit on post war Japanese prints. As I walked across the same type of criss-cross quads I traversed as an undergrad, I caught snippets of conversations among the students – worries about how to bring up a grade (this from someone on a cell phone), wishes to check out new restaurants (or food trucks), a mission to return some rain boots. Though so much has changed, so much is the same.

We finished off the state with a visit to Ashland, home of the Shakespeare Festival for most of the year, but not this month. I did a quick hit of their downtown to do a little shopping of my own, of course visit their very large and very good Ashland Co-op and scout out restaurants for before a concert we were heading to that night. As we winded down this first leg of our trip, it seemed we still had some work to do to check out the night life / cultural events in the places we visited. This (left) folks/bluegrass/orchestral mix of groups was right up our alley. They even had a hammer dulcimer! One of the leads, Emy Phelps, is from Ashland, so it was a homecoming event for her. A highlight was when they brought all the local (about 20 kids) young violin students up on stage with them to join in for one of Emy’s songs. The parents especially loved that because all those hardworking novices sounded so good in harmony with the professionals. The whole vibe was about collaboration and education, a mix of young and older, lots of smiles and great music! Culture and nightlife – check!

I’ll end with a scary story (with a happy ending) and a cautionary tale. On our drive to Astoria on I-84, we encountered what was without a doubt the scariest moment driving and the closest we’ve come to an (what would have been awful) accident. We are cruising along in the slow lane, and the first we saw anything, the semi in front of us came to a screeching halt and Ben reacted, braking hard, slowing us down, with one hand protectively on me (I think he was trying to keep me from screaming as much as from slamming into the dash) as he very very calmly and slowly said, “OK, I am not sure we are going to stop in time.” Yikes. Hold on, hold your breath and watch the road between you and the 18 wheeler in front of you slowly disappear.

We did stop in time though, with a few feet to spare, but then of course the worst was still to come as we waited with stiffened backs to see if any cars behind us would slam into us (and the Airstream!)

This was NOT the truck/appliance that nearly caused us to crash

As Ben looked left, trying urgently – without success for a long minute or two- to look for a spot to merge into the fast moving traffic and get moving, I leaned right and saw what was up: someone had been carrying a range stove in the back of a pick up and I guess it wasn’t fastened down well, because they were now moving the oven from the road, back to their truck. Oh my gosh. And still we were at a dead halt on a four lane highway.

Once it was out of the road, the truck ahead of us quickly got going, and so did we, still worried about getting rear ended until we got some speed going. We thanked our lucky stars and made an appointment to get our brakes checked (though they got us out of this jam, just for peace of mind.) When I told my dad this story he asked if I got a picture of the oven in the road and I said – no, darn! – so I snapped this one (above, right) on the road a few weeks later…pretty well battened down, but not something we’d choose to drive behind. So – watch the road for flying appliances (you probably are already, though).

Wandering Around Washington State

November 6, 2015November 6, 2015 / barkersonbreak / 2 Comments

So it’s been a bit rainy here in the PNW. That’s my headline. Our laundry isn’t so much dirty as it is damp. But we’ve seen some cool stuff in the last week or so as we’ve hovered near Seattle knowing we’d have to return for some follow up errands.

Heading east toward Yakima and Walla Walla, we checked out the large small town of Ellensburg. It was the Friday before Halloween and businesses were handing out candy. You could get a real feel for the community spirit in this town as nearly every business in their large district was participating. The ROTC class from the local high school served as safety patrol (and handed out candy themselves.) They have a large county historical museum where I tried to learn how to pronounce the county name-Kittitas. I also learned there the town’s name used to be spelled Ellensburgh, but in 1890 The US Board of Geographic Names made every town with a “burgh” drop the “h” (apparently Pittsburgh rebelled.)

We thought it wise to park ourselves for the evening at a winery via Harvest Host, given Washington’s excellent wine scene. We picked White Heron Cellars partially because it is a bit north of where we were headed and would allow us to see a different part of the region, and partially because it was in Quincy, WA and I have a friend named Quincy! See how frivolous one can be on a year long trip? Indeed White Heron was beautifully situated on the Columbia River, though we had to take a circuitous route there. The winds were high and Cameron the proprietor said that there had been a fire previously this year adjacent to I-90 and trucks (and trailers???) just couldn’t travel safely–too many tumbleweeds. We loved all their wine and bought not one but two bottles, a red (a blend, Mariposa) and a white (Roussane). The next morning #visitorkitty got as far inside (which is to say just to the front step) of the Airstream as any kitty has thus far.

From there we headed to Walla Walla. When Ben and I got married, we had to look around for an officiant. A fortuitous serious of events led us to Rev. Jack Mathison – a World War II vet and otherwise amazing person who has remained a family friend. Jack trained as a navigator on the B-24 Liberator in Walla Walla, and we were headed there to see what we could see and share with him.

The excellent Ft. Walla Walla Museum had the goods. When we sent Jack some of these pictures, he replied saying he had spent some memorable evenings at the Marcus Whitman Hotel Café, and it’s where he started and perfected his Mark Twain yell: “Mark .. TWAIN!” Love him.

Jack told us about preprinted messages home like the one in the bottom of this pic. Easier to get past the censors! And it did take a while to get them home after the war had ended.

Jack told us about preprinted messages home like the one in the bottom of this pic. Easier to get past the censors! And for various reasons it took a while to get the troops home after the war ended. (For his part, Jack’s return home was delayed at least a month, as he had to spend time “fattening up” at Camp Lucky Strike in Europe following his liberation from a German POW camp, where he spent a hungry year after his B-24 was shot down.)

Walla Walla is deep into Lewis & Clark country as well. A local guidebook indicates that most of the places they camped or referenced were now hidden away under lakes and reservoirs created by the dams in the Columbia River. Oh what L & C would have done for a leisurely stroll across a lake! Of course the ensuing settlers and railroad and mining led the US government to negotiate, push, provoke, swindle and otherwise take land from the many Cascades Indian tribes, including the Walla Walla. Chief Peopeomoxmox, seen below left, actually stood up to the territorial governor and won some concessions in 1855; he secured additional lands, allowing more tribes to stay on at least some of their home lands (see the three reservations below, i.e. rather than one or two). In the scheme of things it was a small victory, but it stuck with me.

Walla Walla is at the center of the lands of several Cascades tribes

Walla Walla has become quite the wine-focused destination in the last 10-15 years. We spent Halloween evening there – in the Elks parking lot bless their hearts – and it rained. Such a bummer for the kids! We loved the scenes of Walla Walla people and culture over time depicted in “Windows on the Past” – the carefully preserved Odd Fellows Temple sandstone façade. Did you know Adam West (Batman!) grew up here?! Pop culture is important to trace as well.

After Walla Walla, we headed toward the Columbia Gorge town of The Dalles (still can’t pronounce it.) We visited the excellent Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and the folks there were kind enough to let us park and stay overnight in their lot. The area along the river there is also a trailhead for area walking/biking trails and there were lots of locals coming and going to make use of them. The staff person who oriented us to the exhibits, knowing we only had a short time, suggested we take a close look at the basket exhibit. She said of course you will see baskets at other museums, but in this exhibit she felt like she really learned and was surprised by some of their uses. (For example, upper right, those baskets were used as hats!)

Scenes inside and out of the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center

The next morning we did a quick hit on Hood River – daylight savings time had ended and we for once were up and out early – almost too early for any stores to be open. But we did see Hood River is home to one of our favorite beers (Full Sail, left).

And I browsed their local book store and saw this on sale – photographs taken by the excellent Molly Peterson, a good friend and former colleague of my good friend Pam. Kind of cool to see it out here in the wild! Any food picture taking tips I have learned from Pam, Pam has learned from Molly, so thank you Molly! And with that, I will leave you with a potato encrusted red snapper, which I believe I made in the enchanted forest adjacent to Mt. Rainier last week. Pam’s tip to me (and I assume Molly’s to her) is to zoom in, give your picture a focus, which I did below for the picture on the right.

To test my theory, I asked Grier, who is sitting next to me, which of the pics was more interesting/engaging and she said the right one BUT she noted she is not sure she can tell what the food itself is (eg fish, potato, etc). Good feedback for next time!!!

Idaho Towns Round Up

October 5, 2015October 5, 2015 / barkersonbreak / 2 Comments

What do Boise, Stanley, Ketchum, (and wild card) Driggs have in common? Are they index of town listed under Idaho in Lonely Planet’s USA? No! They are our itinerary of Idaho towns we stuck around in long enough to have some notes to share. And with the exception of Driggs, they are featured in Lonely Planet as well, so we’ll see what we can add to the well worn path…

Boise was the first big city we have set a spell in on this trip- and it was one we deliberately wanted to check out. We chose the Riverside RV Park because it’s adjacent to the Greenway, 25 miles of paths that go along the Boise River.

A piece of art depicting the Boise River, in progress of installation on a building downtown!

We planned to ride it into Boise the next day for an all day excursion, and so we drove into town our first afternoon to get a couple

Crowdsourced ideas for our visit!

bike parts and the lay of the land. I did a little crowd sourcing on Twitter – reaching out to Boise’s Visitor’s Bureau for suggestions – they replied! tagging others, which yielded even more ideas! Very cool.

Our main stop that afternoon was the Idaho state capitol building. It has been renovated in the last 5 years and literally glistened, it was so shiny and new. It was fairly empty, but there were some friendly tour guides, and a gift shop filled with potato-themed souvenirs. Reading the displays, you might come away thinking this about Idaho: they are proud of their early adoption of women’s suffrage; land and water rights are what gets the citizens and legislature riled up; Lewis & Clark went there. We were blown away that we could walk right onto the floors of both the House and Senate chambers – they weren’t in session, but still.

We are a little short on reading material – didn’t really plan ahead on all the time to read we’d have on this trip! So we went to The Redisovered Bookshop where we picked up a used copy of Undaunted Courage (very handy for our travels-Lewis & Clark have been everywhere) and a tip on where to go for a snack and what to get there. Indeed we very much enjoyed the Classic Poutine at Bittercreek Alehouse. The fried potatoes came with chunks of roasted turkey – my friends know well that I’m not scared of any carbs that come with a side of protein.

The next day we zoomed along the Greenway for the 10-mile ride into town. The Greenway goes through neighborhoods,former industrial areas, under highways, a 9-11 memorial; even alongside a mini dam (see pic at right) that encourages kayakers and surfers to jump in and and catch some waves. We had to guess a bit as to where to “get off” but found ourselves exactly where we wanted to be: Boise State University, home of the blue turf. Ben has some PFGSD (post football game stress disorder) from some Fiesta Bowl when the Broncos beat his Sooners with a bunch of trick plays; nonetheless, we paid our tribute.

We roamed around the rest of the day – the history museum was closed, but the adjacent Rose Garden was lovely, we checked out the Basque block; the old (and hip yuppy) neighborhood Hyde Park where we very much enjoyed the dollar tacos at Parilla Grill. We checked out a few antique stores, picked up a few hooks, and this painting – our very first “art” for the Airstream. We just love it.

From a cool little store called “LA Junk”

All in all, Boise was a very pleasant city – this view from the hill at Camel’s Back Park shows the inspiration for it’s name (French for “wooded”) and the beginnings of fall.

On to Stanley – a cool little mountain town in the middle of the Sawtooth Mountains. Ellen at the Visitor’s Center steered us very well: we camped on the Salmon River just as the Forest Service was starting to shut down sites for the winter. Stanley apparently gets some of the coldest low temperatures in the continental US. (More about our campsite and an awesome day trip to Lemhi Pass in the next post…) Stanley had some well stocked outdoor stores, with sales that led to the purchase of this new hammock (left). We also had a culinary highlight – the Cowboy cookie (chocolate chips, walnuts, oatmeal) at the Stanley Bakery & Cafe, though their turkey sandwiches could have used a bit more meat. We checked out the Redfish Lake Lodge – which is a whole ‘nother world – kind of rustic fancy with a beach bar and scheduled activities. Not for us, but maybe you?

Ketchum and Sun Valley are just down the road from Stanley, an hour or so. We got a spot at the 10 dollar Forest Service campsite just a few days before camp host (crazy in a good way) Cathy heads south for the winter. We biked into town and explored a bit – disappointed mostly by the fancy stores selling the same overpriced coasters. Clearly the outdoors stores are gearing up for winter season – skiing and all. It took Lonely Planet to tell me Hemingway was buried here – his writing inspired

me to become an English major. Definitely a highlight of our visit to this city. Something that left us feeling UGH was the renovation of the Sun Valley Lodge – a historic building that now looks like any other Grand Hyatt. The concierge will emphasize how many treatment rooms the spa now has, however. Utterly stripped of personality. No picture will show the injustice. Will be interesting to see the reviews once the season starts.

And finally Driggs! On the eastern edge of the state (we were headed to Wyoming) the town is the home of the Grand Teton Distillery on the Harvest Host list. The Distillery was so kind to let us park overnight in their driveway. Though we missed tasting their vodka (you know it’s made from potatoes!) and whiskey, we will look for it out on the trail. Though it was cloudy and drizzly and we had just been to the store, we saw a farmer’s market on the way out of town. “Do we have to stop?” asked Ben. AS IF! Luckily he gave two Airstream tours while I bought the last of summer’s

tomatoes, cucumbers, as well as jerusalem artichokes and this cherry slab pie (pictured above, though we liked her peach scone the most!) Driggs, we really liked you! The woman who grew the artichokes told me she’d give me this sticker (above right) if we put it on our Airstream. Heck, yes! They are continuing with a Teton Valley winter farmers market indoors, I heard. Hooray! Don’t forget to list and use Local Harvest in your travels to find local and lovingly grown food. For lovingly restored historic hotels, I can’t help you, but we have high hopes for our visit to Grand Tetons coming up next!

All in for Hells Canyon

September 29, 2015September 29, 2015 / barkersonbreak / Leave a comment

“The town of Oxbow. That’s how you should get to Idaho,” Cropdusting Pilot Chris told us back in Madras, Oregon. “When you are there, you can go to Hells Canyon.” Honestly, if it wasn’t for Chris, we would have missed THE DEEPEST canyon in North America. There is only so much maps, guide books and even Google can tell you. We’ve gotten our best tips from real live people. We headed east with great anticipation.

Now, you should know right off what we didn’t: most of Hells Canyon, which surrounds the Snake River, is inaccessible to the casual traveler, and so we really only got a peek at it, but loved it for what it taught us about: Dams and rivers and power, reasons to ever go on a jet boat, boondocking (officially for the first time), and just a taste about the value of fish and fishing in this part of the country.

Following the success of getting the best tips from real live people, we asked our young BLM friends at the Oregon Trail site where we should camp in Hells Canyon. They had a bunch of ideas (I took notes), but directed us to a boondocking site just before you cross the bridge at Oxbow.

Oxbow is a very small spot on the map, just on the Oregon side of the Snake River, which divides Oregon (west) from Idaho (east). Boondocking is “wild camping” on unofficial, ungroomed, unmaintained, etc noncampsites. It is FREE and legal – and in

Courtesy of Google Maps

fact encouraged by many public lands, though they usually call it “dispersed camping”. In brochures, on the phone, or best yet face to face at their regional stations, staffers will share with you places for dispersed camping. It’s a bit tough to get the hang of – relying in some cases on only GPS coordinates to find sites, going down a bumpy dirt non-road, not knowing if you can turn around if needed (we have about 40 feet total of vehicles to maneuver.) And, conditions change – there have been so many fires out here – tragic in some cases, just nature running its course in others – that our public servants are doing their best to keep up, and finding us a free place to camp may not be the number one priority, right? But, to circle back, we had the best possible advice and source – from BLM staffers who we’d been chatting with anyway, and were generous enough with their time and insights to help us dip our toes in boondocking.

So – how did we get to our recommended free wild campsite? “Turn left before u cross Oxbow bridge. On reservoir. Tunnel” was all I had in my notes. It actually wasn’t that hard to figure out once we got to Oxbow. If we crossed the bridge, we’d gone too far. Look for a left turn. And a tunnel.The tunnel through a hill of rock was indeed intimidating (to me) but not to Ben. Keep on driving.

Tunnel on way to boondocking site: no problem!

We picked a spot, more of a pullover on a dirt road, indeed overlooking the reservoir, and settled in. When you are a newbie to boondocking you might get a little nervous – Is someone going to tell you to move along? Will your trailer be vandalized? Sure enough, the first other person we saw was a man with a GUN, “just taking his horse out for a ride.” The horse got spooked when he saw his reflection in our trailer. Yep. The second people we saw were two moms with strollers and baby bjorns. OK, we could relax a little.

: Our first boondocking site

: A view of us in our spot from afar – a little shiny dot!

The reservoir we were on was formed from the Snake River and the Hells Canyon Dam – 20 or so miles north and downriver – from our spot. (There are also the Oxbow and Brownlee Dams.) The dams create power of course, and recreation, all governed by Idaho Power. (We barely scratched the surface, but it seems a fascinating intersection of politics, resource management, conservation, and good old boys drinking and fishing. Would love to know more.) It also created a lovely lake-like setting for us to settle in and enjoy the sun as it rose and set across the mountains on both sides (canyon-esque), the birds, the bugs, the jumping fish, and the just-turning fall leaves.

The next day we unhooked – a bit shaky about leaving the trailer in this “unprotected” state but knowing we had a windy road ahead made it easier, and smarter to leave it behind. We crossed the reservoir – we were now in Idaho! A first time in the state for both of us, though this just barely over the border-crossing seemed a bit cheap to count. Passing the dam was incredible – they make it a bit intimidating, like you might have to go through security, though there was none. You realize how valuable dams are, what a target they might be. You don’t have to know much about engineering to be in awe of this.

Hells Canyon Dam

Once we got to the Hells Canyon visitors center, it was a bit of a dead end for us, though just the beginning for those going on jet boat rides and multi-day rafting trips. The road for Chevy Silverados (like ours) literally ends there. There are some nice overlooks, the jet boats, and a nice staffer who told me that most people who explore the Snake do so on multi-day raft trips. The first accessible put out was about 25 miles down river. Amazing.

There is however-and this is a big however- a one mile or so out and back hike along the shoreline which we did and made the trip well worth it. It was so beautiful and like so much on this well timed post-summer season trip-we were the only ones there. We celebrated our two week anniversary as full-timers! A gallery of pics below…I can only imagine what the river and canyon look like beyond this-plan your multi-day rafting trip now!

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We did have to watch out for poison ivy which I did with my full attention, being super allergic to poison oak. This information saved me, it might save you.

We looked for pictographs and petroglyphs and I thank Hells Canyon for teaching me about what dams do, what reservoirs are, and that there are parts of this country that are “the greatest” but are still very, very wild and not overrun by tourists (like me). I still don’t get what happens to the river – does it just disappear upstream of the dam? Can we make rivers disappear, so it’s easier to go fishing out on our motorboat? Naive city girl, I know.

Back at camp, I went for a swim in the reservoir (a short one). Spent 30 minutes or so watching the show nature was putting on as the sun was setting – a cliche I know, but so accurate. A great show.

Me being still and quiet. Not a joke.

We grilled hamburgers for dinner and made a grilled veggie white bean salad to go with. We thank the Kaufmann’s in Island City, Oregon for the local bread, beef and veggies. Still working on my food photography.

The next day we headed to Boise, the big city, a couple hours southeast. We had one last surprise as we transitioned from the wild to civilization: the little baby bear (below) on the side of the road – perfectly content until he saw us. Luckily we saw him and slowed down and we got to watch him bound away. Blacker than we expected, wide eyed, and very bouncy. Godspeed.

He was only about 20 yards from us when we spotted him. Then bounded away.

We could live in here some day (soon!)

July 24, 2015July 24, 2015 / barkersonbreak / 3 Comments

Even though it’s the heart of summer, best not to let academic writing skills lag! Thus, a topic sentence for you: In this blog post, you’ll learn about the completion of the bed/dinette AND cushions, light fixture installation, another successful flea market trip, and a problem-solving hole! Maybe we’ve said this before, but it feels like we’ve made real progress and are getting to the final push. See how proud we are, not exactly lounging, but definitely posing for the very first time in our living space on the completed dinette/bed.

So, about that hole. A little animation would probably illustrate this much better than I can explain, but let me try. Once the dinette / bed was done, we sat down in it and our planned cushion thickness was too high – our feet just barely grazed the ground. After some concerted thinking and lots of “What if we tried…?”, the answer miraculously appeared (answers to these kinds of questions have been slow lately, given the heat and humidity). Here’s the process that seems to work when solving these dilemmas: First, we ask ourselves, “What are the elements of this situation we can’t change.” (Forces you to recognize elements that are cast in stone and to focus only on what you can change. A structure materializes.) Second, we try to remember to keep it simple. In the case of the cushion crisis, we soon realized we could not change the height of the dinette seats, but we could adjust the table height (get out the drill) as well as the seat cushion thickness. It all flowed from there, as the next picture illustrates.

Ben cut a hole in the subfloor (as best we could tell we weren’t going to cut into anything important but it was a real nail biter!) so we could lower the table pedestal into it, thus reducing the table’s overall height, as seen in the picture below. This also allowed the tapered pedestal to fit into the base securely as designed, and eliminated the need for Ben to do another customization. (The apple was for effect.)

Then we reduced the cushion thickness to allow our feet to touch the floor! When all was complete (ta da!) the thickness of the fill-in cushion on the table had to be adjusted to make everything level. Lots of moving parts in decisions like this, and our measuring/arithmetic skills get tested! In the end, we’re usually still crossing our fingers as we reach for the power tools (or checkbook).

As soon as I finished the last two cushions (the curved corners – not any harder than the others, but don’t tell anyone!) we realized, indeed, we need back cushions, too. Short ones that won’t cover the windows, but will provide a base for said lounging. So I am off to my fabric and foam haunts today.

Now, the lights. When Ben first acquired these marine light fixtures (out of India where they salvage retiring cargo ships, strip every nut and bolt from them, then sell it all on ebay) I wasn’t sure they would work in the Airstream (I’m always imagining bumping my head on them – on everything really) but was I wrong. Ben installed them this week, with lots of persistent wiring and rewiring, and we think they look AWESOME!
The pic on the right also shows off the now completed overhead cabinets, complete with magnetic closing latches and gas piston supports to keep the doors open.

This week’s day off took us to the Long Beach flea market. We picked up this vintage “KampKold” cooler – aluminum, in great shape, 50s era. Also, to the right, a just-right piece we’ll use for our “junk drawers”. It’s some old industrial metal drawers with a cool piece of beat-up walnut on top. Around here, any flea market trip is considered a roaring success if we buy something we need (not just something we want) and Ben is relieved of the need to build said item(s)!

I love you all so much and it was all I could do to get up from sitting on the cooler to take this picture. It was so hot and I was waiting in the shade for Ben to get the car.

Finally, we had a lovely farewell dinner with Mrs. Blackmun, our former neighbor (mother of my friend Michelle). She sold her house and is moving on (as many of my parents’ friends are doing now). We reminisced about the good times – jumping over a king snake that blocked our path while walking their dog Smokey, and the neighbor with PTSD who shot up some cars one night. Mrs. Blackmun and my parents have always been there for each other through the years. In one story, Mrs. Blackmun (who is my sister Sara’s godmother) recalled Sara’s colic as a baby, saying only, but so empathetically, “Your poor mom.” I know her empathy, prayers and more have helped my parents immeasurably.

Dinner was a composed salad (on my grandmother’s china platter) inspired by NY Times – featuring white beans with lemon zest, walnuts, beets, goat cheese, cherry tomatoes, grilled onions, asparagus, radishes, raw corn, and peaches. We also had grilled flank steak with chimichurri.

Sara, right, is the hostess with the mostess while Ben and the older generation dig in. (Ben’s editorial note: Thanks for including me with the older generation). Older people don’t like arugula as much as my generation. They like quiche, soup, and meatloaf. (From Ben: I like gruel and mush of all kinds.) But I digress.

Sometimes relentless cushion sewing requires a little break for art therapy. This birthday card for a friend was created using 40-year-old construction paper, still in the same cabinet we used for art supplies as kids. What would you put in the speech bubble? Are you wondering why there isn’t a cat in the picture? Does the image foreshadow anything about our future? Where will we go shopping next? Stay tuned!

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Doors!

May 28, 2015May 28, 2015 / barkersonbreak / 6 Comments

If the past few days had a theme, it would be doors…and windows…and a hinge.

Clothes closet up top, air conditioner stored and rolled out when in use from bottom compartment.

First up in our recap, the combo sliding (up/down) closet and air conditioning door. The closet is on the curbside, just forward of the bathroom. We knew the clothes closet would have to share space with the air conditioner (we opted for a portable, rolling unit instead of a rooftop one). At some point a few months ago when Ben was scoping everything out, he asked me to bring out a dress on a hanger so he could see how tall to make the closet. Well I’m not sure what the point of that exercise was, because the closet is four feet tall. But it is beautifully framed out in redwood; the doors are redwood with luan panels inset.

One more lament, and I’ll let it go: we came upon the idea of doing sliding doors, thinking that would be the best use of limited space. I now realize we will not have a “back of the closet door” on which to hang things. 😦

To make the door panels, Ben used the table saw – ran the luan through multiple times with the blade so low it was only nicking the wood – and the result is a fake beadboard panel that is thin enough to fit in the the doors. When seeing it finished, I pronounced the door beautifully rustic, which Ben took as a half insult. JK – he agrees – high design rustic = cool.

Bathroom door, old factory glass

The bathroom door, also of redwood and luan, went pretty smoothly. It includes a glass panel, to let a bit of light in both ways. It’s that greenish industrial glass, with chicken wire. It’s definitely vintage, definitely from eBay, though if you believe Ben’s description of it on Instagram, we also *know* it’s from an old factory. Probably. It made it here in one piece from Maryland wrapped in a wool blanket and 3,000 miles of positive thinking.

He needed a miter gauge to closely fit the various pieces of the frame and panel (also known as stile and rail) door. The one that came with the job-site table saw acquired after we got here was a K-tastrophe. So he built one that only produces 90 degree cuts, but was adequate for the job and way better than the cheapo one from DeWalt. (The table saw itself is decent for its purpose, though Ben says he’s pushing its limits.)

Counter top extension, magic hinge

Next up, the hinge – one that will be much used, and was much labored over – Ben finished mounting a flip-up counter top extension/cutting board next to the stove top. It’s attached with an aluminum hinge he picked up from a boat salvage place. The spring loaded supports came from Rockler. He used a chisel to mortise out the hinge, attaching it both to the existing countertop and the extension. It works like a dream. DO NOT WORRY. To make full use of the napping couch, all one has to do is raise (with ease) the hinged counter top.

In ladies-land, we took on windows, and I started one of my major projects – the Airstream curtains. After considering what might go well with celery-colored bulkheads, wood, and aluminum, we chose a navy blue and white zig-zag stripe, which we are 99 percent sure was the right decision.

From lower left, counterclockwise: fabrics we considered, panel under construction, and finished panel.

It might be a little dizzying if you are prone to vertigo (we are not, thankfully). I clicked around and settled on pleated curtains, which I’ll attach with curtain hooks. The whole shebang involved buckram, blackout lining, and lots of measuring. I have some sewing experience, enough to struggle-though-not-give-up on following written instructions. I’ve been using these tutorials for the curtains, and found this when I realized I didn’t have a blind hem foot. Ya see… Ben’s not the only one who can come up with a work around 🙂

There are six windows in the Airstream, though three of these are double windows, with a smaller second window below the larger one. I may do those smaller windows in plain ole navy blue, to give the eyes a little rest. Some of the windows ARE the same size, but each seems to have its own personality, involving a frame that juts up against a shelf, doorway, or yes, even a bulkhead. So, I re-measure a lot. I’ve only ripped out one seam so far, which I consider incredible. We’ll mount them in the next day or so. I can tell you the blackout liner really works-a must have if we plan on sleeping past sunrise ever.

Grilled veggie pasta, practicing food photography

Let’s break the theme and have a food pic, of a grilled veggie pasta, made with every vegetable acquired at the farmers market last Sunday: beets, zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, onions. Added a little pesto. It was delish. Sister Sara, Ben and I grilled and ate outside with my parents. I’ll leave you with my friend Pam’s critique of my food photo shot (so you can learn as well).

A little too much going on between the bread and fork AND pasta. Pull back the camera a hair and take out the bread. Zucchini piece on the right third, fork on left third, maybe flopped over.

This shot shows the garage interior thru to Ben’s worktable/space in the back.

We are enjoying mostly cloudy and cool days, though today the sun finally came
out. A real LA day, in Ben’s estimation. He celebrated by riding his bike to Anawalt Lumber for caulk and glue brushes (Anawalt has been a local, family-owned institution since the 1920s, and it’s also our source for redwood. It’s just up the street and though I had never been there, my mom remembers going for boy scout supplies back in the day.)

So much ahead – we picked up our shower pan today, so that sets up more plumbing and bathroom construction. Lots of head scratching about the dinette/bed area. I have 6 curtains down, 12 to go. And, Ben is thinking seriously about buying an Anawalt t-shirt, and is encouraged by the fact that IT will fit in the closet.

Bulkheads are Essentially Interior Walls

May 22, 2015May 28, 2015 / barkersonbreak / 2 Comments

Painted bulkhead, aluminum channel – no gaps!

Finishing touches on bulkhead; the job started with a tick stick.

Lots of progress in the last week – highlights are really the bulkheads – essentially the interior walls – to separate the bathroom, and form the combo (little) clothes closet / home for the air conditioner. First we (recall I use the term “we” very loosely) measured using an old boat builder’s technique to take curves off the Airstream walls. The tick stick transfers the curve of the wall onto the bulkhead. Note, like a boat, few things are plumb, level or square, so these measurements are not exactly precise, but definitely taken with care.

After much remeasuring and cutting, we were satisfied with the fit to the curves. Then, we cut lengths of aluminum channel which we were using to attach the bulkheads to the trailer walls. Ben did most of the fitting, attaching, sliding, pounding, shoving, pushing, etc to make them fit. I was occasionally brought in for support roles to stand on a board, pound a hammer, push or rivet, sometimes helping, often not so much, but consistently providing food and taking the lead on social media updates!

In the end, the aluminum channel was riveted to the interior walls, and the bulkheads were inserted into the channels, so the channel serves as a very cool and clean trim for the walls. Where there were a few gaps between the channels and the walls, we’ll just “throw in some silver goop” says Ben.

We decided we wanted to paint the bulkheads and knowing the overall color scheme will be blue, gray, and green, with of course lots of metal and wood, we settled on what we are calling a celery green. I’ve liked it from the start, it’s growing on Ben. The actual color is … I’ll look it up! from Dunn Edwards.

Other progress includes – framing out the napping couch – just long enough for me to recline on diagonally, as Old Abe had to in his boarding house death bed. Ben will be doing most of the napping anyway, so no loss.

Napping couch – perfect size for someone shorter than me!

We also borrowed a thickness planer from our longtime neighbors, the Peplows. Mr. Peplow has a wood shop (which Ben toured while Mrs. Peplow and I talked travel plans) and has most recently gotten into turning – he has quite a collection of pens he has made – look for his Etsy shop soon! It was super nice of him to not only lend the planer, but walk it over to our house and leave it with Ben for a spell.

Last weekend we visited my young and dear friend Clare and her family in Santa Monica. They have an awesome little guest house, and their girls, 4 and 1, were full of energy and fun.

Family fun! Will get their own Airstream some day!

Their kitchen/dining room is shaped sort of like a very large Airstream – I predict they’ll join us on the road in 15 years, or maybe sooner.

Branzino, beans, and super corn!

Robin made Branzino on the grill and I ruined the “food porn” photo of it with this giant lemon wedge straight from the ladies’ grille at the Country Club!

Ben is currently doing more trim carpentry – right in his wheelhouse – pure woodworking, so truly fun for him. He picked up some redwood to build the bathroom door and what we think will be sliding doors for the closet. Redwood is lightweight and beautiful! He’s also working out a cool way to mount an extra cutting board next to the stove – one that will lift and lower on hinges.

Airstream Restoration Actually Begins

May 16, 2015May 28, 2015 / barkersonbreak / Leave a comment

Working to achieve the necessary angles on the gray water drains.

Measuring, cutting, and trimming pretty lauan plywood for bulkheads.

The last couple of days have seen a lot of trailer progress, but days must have better eyes than we humans, because we have had a hard time seeing it.. Huh? In other words, Ben has been doing lots of time consuming bulkhead fitting, tweaking of cabinetry, gluing of plastic drain pipes … zzzzzz … this stuff is entirely necessary, but rates at the rock bottom of the crowd-pleaser scale. Just not a whole lot of visual payoff. I have helped a little bit but always end up having to take breaks to rub the sawdust off my nose and eyelashes. This afternoon we did a dry fit of our cool kitchen sink faucet just to liven things up (it looked pretty cool).

We have covered a lot of ground in the valley gathering materials – North Hollywood and Burbank seem to be home to the majority of the hardware/metalwork/plumbing experts and supply places so far. The sheet metal guy we visited had a picture of Brad Pitt hanging in his office! Metal worker for the stars! But all the stories we pulled out of him were about Mickey Rourke. Everyone is very nice out here in LA. We knew that going in, but are constantly amazed by the pleasant customer service interactions. We’ve also been searching online for materials related to tip out trays, 12 volt LED bulbs of various shapes and sizes, and table spiders. Hm.

Dinners have included Moroccan chicken thighs with yogurt sauce, and salmon coconut curry. Dad has become more interested in eliminating sugar from his diet, so he and I cooked eggs side by side this morning. All my time growing up, Dad never cooked, and hasn’t ever really. But he knew a lot, learned a little, and

Food photography tips courtesy of Pam!

we’ll cook some more for sure in the weeks ahead. I’ve been swimming at the Y, and taken our bikes in for some tweaks. Since our last post, Washington’s hockey and basketball teams have been thumped out of the playoffs, but the Nats continue to do well and we are listening to this west coast swing on west coast time. Not bad.

Oh, and it rained! A ton – an inch or two. Lightning, thunder, the whole nine yards. Drought restrictions imposed aren’t as tough as I expected – or as I remember when we were kids. Basically, you are restricted to watering your lawn on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Other than that, there are suggestions, eg a 3 minute shower at the gym and general sounds of alarm emitted by my mother when we let the water run while washing dishes. Good training for the 30 gallon tank in our future.