August 2015 – Venturing Into The Great Unknown

Arrived in Spokane

Aug 312015

After a breakfast of some of our leftovers from yesterday, we gassed up the car and were on the road just after nine. Our first stop was the Aplets & Cotlets Factory in Cashmere where we watched them make their candy and also picked up some treats to bring back with us.

From there we headed to Wenatchee where, for the second year in a row, I got misplaced and we ended up on a different road than originally planned. This actually worked out in our favour as the route that we had planned to take was actually the route we took last year and the route we had planned to take last year, we took today. We headed south on SR-28, following the Columbia River, then headed east until Soap Lake where we turned north on SR-17.

We stopped for our picnic of leftovers at Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park and after eating decided to explore the Visitor’s Centre which had displays about the topography of the area. It turns out that during the last ice age one of the world’s largest waterfalls existed here (Wiki). We went back outside and took some pictures of the Coulee’s edge where the Falls used to exist and then decided to head farther up the Columbia to the Grand Coulee Dam. We had originally decided to forego the detour to the dam, but after stopping at Dry Falls and reading about the history, we decided it was worth the 30 or so extra minutes it would take.

We arrived at the Dam and took quite a few pictures from the observation area at the top of the road heading down to the Visitor’s Centre. neither of us were very interested in going to the centre or on a tour, but we were both glad we had made the detour. We then jumped onto SR-174 and headed south to Wilbur where we met up with US-2 and headed towards Spokane. We arrived in Spokane just after check-in and decided to relax at the hotel before dinner.

We had a couple of choices for dinner – Picabu Bistro or Elks Public House. After checking the menu at Picabu (A LOT of cilantro in everything), we decided on Elks. When we came here two years ago, I had the lamb sandwich and Mum had a seafood pasta. This visit, Mum had a cup of smoked chicken & potato soup with a small honey chipotle salad. I, of course, had my lamb sandwich with a side of potato salad and we shared an appy of roasted garlic & onion bread. Quite surprisingly, I was able to keep half of my sandwich for tomorrow – last time I left no hostages. Out of all of the Food Network places I have been, their lamb sandwich is one of my top three fave meals.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel to watch So You Think You Can Dance, google the questions of the day, and upload my pictures to my computer. Uploading pictures, however, has proven harder than expected so I will only have a few to share with you today.

Tomorrow we are exploring Spokane, though we have no specifics.

Talk to you soon.

Mum at Dry Falls

Dry Falls State Park

Grand Coulee Dam

Smoked Chicken & Potato Soup

Honey Chipotle Salad

Lamb Sandwich

Arrived in Leavenworth

5th Annual Tour, Food Network Tours No Responses »

Aug 302015

We started our day with a quick breakfast at the hotel, followed by a hunt for a Tim Hortons that didn’t have a lineup out into the street. It appears that the power outages that affected our hunt for dinner last night was still affecting people today – according to The Weather Network 500,000 households were still without power across the province. We grabbed a couple of coffees and headed towards the border crossing at Aldergrove.

We arrived at the border and only had a few cars in front of us – quite a change from the usual hour-long crossing at the Peace Arch. Our border guard was totally confused by the reason for our trip. Not only did he not understand what we were planning to do, he didn’t understand why we were doing it. He appeared to just give up trying to figure it out and wished us a good day – easiest crossing EVER!

We arrived in Lynden a few minutes later and were quite disappointed. The “Dutch Town” had a couple of windmills and there was an obvious attempt to make the tops of the buildings resemble the ones in Holland, but it was definitely not what we expected. Below is one of the windmills that we saw in Lynden.

After Lynden, we headed to Bellingham and then down to Everett where we headed east on US-2 towards Leavenworth. Last year when we took this route we were met by forest fires on the west edge of town. The burnt remnants of that fire still exist, but the greenery that is so prevalent on the west coast is starting to reclaim the area.

We drove around several for several minutes when we arrived in Leavenworth, looking for a parking spot. We eventually gave up and parked in a pay parking lot that had a board with each stall’s number listed and slots for money (quite weird). After parking we headed towards München Haus for lunch. Mum had German Potato Salad with a pretzel and I had a Jalapeño & Cheddar Wurst with a pretzel and a Raspberry Wheat Ale. We both thoroughly enjoyed our lunch which more than adequately satisfied our appetite. One thing we both thought was interesting was the mustard bar – definitely a first for both of us.

After satisfying our hunger, we headed to the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum. Last year we had to leave town before the museum was open so we had only had time to visit the gift shop, but this year we made sure that we had time to explore the actual museum. I hadn’t been too enamoured by the gift shop and wasn’t expecting to enjoy the museum, but surprisingly, I did.

By this time it was almost time to check in so we headed to the hotel. While Mum napped for a bit, I chilled and watched some TV until it was time for dinner. I had originally selected a couple of German restaurants that we could possibly go to, as I know Mum likes German cuisine, but after our filling lunch, we decided to find something light. The hotel clerk recommended a couple to us and we headed towards Uncle Üli’s. I had half an Üli’s Turkey sandwich & Kokanee and Mum had half an HLO (Holiday Leftover) sandwich. Another good choice for a non-Food Network restaurant.

Tomorrow we are heading to Spokane. Depending on the weather and our mood, we will decide in the morning on the route we will take. Until then, I will leave you with a few pictures that I took in Leavenworth.

Talk to you soon.

Karl the Nutcracker

Mouse King Nutcracker

Arrived in Langley

5th Annual Tour, Food Network Tours No Responses »

Aug 292015

Today was a very short day of travelling. Mum and I arrived at the ferry terminal with plenty of time to spare, though with the rain, decided to stay in the car to wait for the sailing. We also spent the sailing in the car as the wind and waves made exploring above the vehicle deck, unappealing.

Arriving 10 minutes late in Tsawwassen, we headed towards our hotel, stopping briefly at what seems to be the only mall in Langley to pick up some last minutes supplies for our trip.

After chilling for a bit at the hotel, we decided to head out to grab some dinner. By this time, it was pouring rain, and everywhere we tried going had an hour to hour and half wait for a table. Finally, wondering why it seemed that EVERY restaurant in town was full, I asked a hostess and found out that quite a few of the restaurants were without power. At this point, feeling hungry and deflated, stopped at Superstore for salads to take back to the hotel. Definitely not the way we planned on starting out trip, but tomorrow is another day.

Tomorrow we are crossing the border at Aldergrove, visiting the small Dutch town of Lynden and then carrying on to Leavenworth where we will be staying tomorrow.

Talk to you soon

5th Annual Food Network Tour

5th Annual Tour, Food Network Tours No Responses »

Aug 272015

It’s hard to believe that it’s that time of year again. In about 36 hours, Mum and I will be embarking on our fifth Food Network adventure. I feel less prepared this year, but I hope that means we can be more spontaneous. That being said, this is the third draft of this trip – the first change being the addition of Yakima and the second being the detour caused by the Oregon fires. I hope we don’t have to detour again because of the fires, but they are forecasting rain for the next few days, so that will hopefully assist the firefighters with their efforts.

Overview of the 5th Annual Food Network Tour

Our days will be as follows:

Sat, Aug 29th: Vancouver Island – Langley, BC
Sun, Aug 30th: Langley – Leavenworth, WA
Mon, Aug 31st: Leavenworth – Spokane, WA
Tue, Sep 1st: Spokane, WA
Wed, Sep 2nd: Spokane – Grangeville, ID
Thu, Sep 3rd: Grangeville – Boise, ID
Fri, Sep 4th: Boise – Bend, OR
Sat, Sep 5th: Bend – Ashland, OR
Sun, Sep 6th: Ashland – Eugene, OR
Mon, Sep 7th: Eugene – Portland, OR
Tue, Sep 8th: Portland, OR
Wed, Sep 9th: Portland, OR
Thu, Sep 10th: Portland – Yakima, WA
Fri, Sep 11th: Yakima – Olympia, WA
Sat, Sep 12th: Olympia – Bellingham, WA
Sun, Sep 13th: Bellingham – Vancouver Island, BC

I have booked hotel for each night and have lists of places to eat and things to do along the way. We are planning visits to Lynden, WA (a Dutch town), Grand Coulee Dam, the Columbia Gorge, various gardens and even a Shakespearean play at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. We are only travelling 3,600 kilometres (2,250 miles) on this trip, so I hope we will be able to do more exploring than we usually do. We plan to venture out into areas of Portland that we have always meant to visit and never had time – this trip is devoted to those “places”…with Powell’s Books and our regular food haunts include, of course.

Last year, I prepared daily synopses for my blog that auto-posted each morning. I did not do that this year as I don’t want to be held down to a specific schedule…okay, who am I kidding? I lost track of time and I didn’t get them done. I still think it gives us an excuse to be more flexible though. You may also notice that Mount St. Helens has been bypassed this year – I have decided to devote time to my first trip there and will visit with my husband in the near future – I will, however, be driving between both Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier on US-12 when we go from Yakima to Olympia, so maybe Mother Nature will be nice to me and allow me some good shots.

I will post again on Saturday night from Langley, letting you know how our ferry crossing went. Until then I bid you adieu.