Wine Wednesday in McMinnville

Each summer we try to make one or more trips to our former home of McMinnville over in the Willamette Valley, about 3.5 hours from Bend, give or take, depending on weather and traffic. We go on Wednesday, stay the night, and after breakfast, go to the McMinnville Downtown Farmers Market and then drive home via Newberg to shop for seafood at Northwest Fresh Seafood. Good produce and seafood are hard to come by in the high desert.

Cheers from our McMinnville Favorite, Two Dogs Taphouse

Crossing the Cascades is always a crap shoot based on weather and traffic. Our prior crossing in June coming back from Bellingham went without a hitch, so this trip over, we were due for pretty much all the entries on our traffic bingo card: slow-ass hooptie RV about to tip over in the road, idiot's day out, and 10-miles following a baler and two hay rakes out of Amity, the baler tractor wider than a lane of the highway. We were really only lacking a tandem gas tanker with three miles of traffic behind it to score big.

Our Wednesday plan this trip was to leave late morning, grab lunch and a beer at Two Dogs Taphouse, see some of our old neighbors, check-in to our room at Douglas on Third, then have a light dinner and wine downstairs at HiFi Wine Bar.

After the incredibly slow trip over the mountains and the long, slow crawl into McMinnville behind tractors taking up both lanes of 99-W, we finally pulled into the parking lot behind Two Dogs on a mission to use the restroom, then get a beer and a burger. We were able to catch up with our friends on staff there before returning to our former neighborhood to harass Barb (who was out of town) and Pat and Mary Jo.

We were some of the first customers at Two Dogs when it opened when COVID was in full rampage and we were some of the last customers at their former location on 3rd Street before their landlords booted them out. Just days after they closed, we moved to Bend. In the intervening years, they moved into a new building at 4th and Evans across from the Yamhill County offices. We have been visiting the new building regularly as it has undergone a slow build-out. It is finally starting to acquire its own personality now, but we really do miss the old location. It was a fantastic space.

At Two Dogs: Detect a Dog Theme?

Directly Across from the Clerk's Office

Photos of Customers' Dogs

Twin New Yorkers

How Often is Someone Taller than Me?
Brady is Now Coaching Basketball at Mac High

After visiting with Pat and Mary Jo and getting introduced to their new dog, we made our way back downtown to our room at Douglas on Third, on the second floor above our destination for the night, HiFi Wine Bar. We were some of the first customers at HiFi when they opened and we go back regularly where we trust that Ben will find great wines for us to drink from their massive inventory of great wines.

HiFi is where the industry gathers to taste wines that are not local. After days of working with and tasting Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, wine industry folks really appreciate tasting something different. After tasting barrel samples and doing blending trials for days on end, your palate does get worn out. Mine certainly did. We call it cellar palate, a real fatigue than can make you immune to faults in your own wines compared to wines of other regions.

Tasting Chenin Blanc at HiFi

When we walked in (unannounced; we did not tell Ben we were coming), Ben greeted us effusively with a splash of Champagne while we pondered the list. As we were sitting on the couch up front, we noticed our insurance agent and his wife, Michael and Estelle, sitting at the bar. We caught up with them for a few minutes, not having seen them since we moved to Bend 3.5 years ago.

We Love the Grapevine Chandelier and Live-Edge Bar

We tasted some phenomenal wines. I selected the first wine, a beautifully crisp Anjou Blanc (Chenin Blanc) from Thibaut Boudignon, a master of Chenin and maker of killer Savennières. With food, we asked Ben to pick a Nebbiolo with the instructions, less extracted (more like Barbaresco than Barolo) and highly aromatic. He surprised us with a Valtellina. Most Valtellina is second-rate to Barolo and Barbaresco, but the 2017 Arpepe Valtellina Superiore Inferno was dynamite. I could wax poetic about the 2022 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin that tasted 100% like what it should, a stunning wine. Ann's favorite of the night and a revelation to her about how well Sauternes ages was the 1998 Château de Fargues, once the sister property of Yquem which now is in the LVMH portfolio.

2023 Boudignon Anjou Blanc
Beautifully Crisp and Affordable Chenin Blanc

2017 Arpepe Valtellina Superiore Inferno 'Fiamme Antichi'
Absolutely Top-Class Nebbiolo

2022 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin
Mind Blown! Such Classic Bourgogne

1998 Château de Fargues Sauternes Drinking Perfectly Now

After all these brilliant wines, we took leave of HiFi and walked upstairs to our room to call it a night. In the morning, we decided a big, late breakfast was just the thing because we would not be eating lunch. Ann suggested The Diner, a McMinnville favorite, and far enough off the beaten path (at the hospital) to be away from the tourists jamming the downtown restaurants. We always go there to get our tot fix: locals know to order tots there.

Breakfast at The Diner
My Usual: Chicken Fried Steak and Tots

Ann became ill during breakfast, so we scrapped going back into town to the market, instead continuing on to Newberg to get seafood before heading back south to Salem and home. We did not score all those delicious blackberries, marionberries, and blueberries that we hoped to at the market, but we did get some great fish and scallops for a moqueca on Saturday night with Michelle and Andreas.

Dimitri Comes to Bend

Surprise! Our friend Dimitri texted out of the blue on Monday that he and his friend Joe would be in Bend for the weekend. Dimitri still lives in Northern Virginia just outside of DC, so he was not on our bingo card for weekend visitors. He and Joe, a friend currently from Virginia but from Portland in the past, were flying into PDX. After visiting Oregon wine country and exploring Portland, they would be driving to Bend for a long weekend.

Mediterranean Crew: Greek, Italian, Italian

Dimitri and Joe had plans to dine out on Saturday at the same time we were at the Trevor Noah show at the amphitheater, so we set a get-together for Sunday starting with pre-game at Viaggio Wine Bar. We met them there after they returned from a day trip to Crater Lake, which if you have never seen before like Dimitri, I guess you have to see. But honestly, battling buses of tourists is not my thing and I would have preferred to visit Paulina Lake instead.

Dimitri and Joe are fellow winos, so we thought that a visit to Viaggio would be welcome. There, they could drool over the curated selection of bottles on the shelves and Coravin selections on the glass list. Where else can you find shelves full of Wachau and Kamptal Riesling, Piemonte wines of all sorts, or Rhônes for days? Maybe in large cities, but in the small city of Bend three hours in any direction from civilization, the selection at Viaggio is miraculous.

After a bottle of Pibarnon Bandol rosé, we drove to the house where all I had to do was assemble dinner. In planning dinner, I wanted something that I could put on the table with little to no effort. Gone are the days of à la minute cooking where cooking is the focus rather than our guests. Hence our menu of chips and salsa verde, enchiladas de carne adovada, and posole amarillo with bacon, corn, and green chiles. Ann made another summer berry and brioche pudding and I had plenty of lemon-thyme sorbet base in the fridge ready to go into the freezer.

How I arrived at this menu is anyone's guess. I was definitely looking for a slow-cooker meal that would not involve a lot of active cooking on my part. Probably in the back of my mind was the kilo of Chimayo chile that I scored in New Mexico in December. And then, I found some really good looking pork shoulder at the store. Also, who does not like enchiladas? Chips and salsa as well as posole are natural companions to carne adovada, so that part of the menu should not be a surprise.

Before we get into dinner however, Dimitri came bearing a gift, a 2014 Glen Manor Petit Verdot. I texted Jeff, "A friend showed up with a bottle of this," to which he replied, "Keep that friend!" I remember this wine. I believe I did a pairing for it for a barrel tasting. I could be wrong; 2015 was a hot minute ago.

Dimitri Brought Us a Gift

Chips and Charred Jalapeño Salsa Verde

My usual salsa verde is tomatillos (large can, drained), cilantro (one bunch), garlic (4 cloves), and a serrano chile. When I am lazy, I used canned tomatillos rather than roasting fresh ones. I am often lazy these days. I wanted to change it up a bit with some smokiness, so I charred two jalapeños and used them instead of the serrano. I also threw in an avocado and a pinch of smoked paprika for added smoke.

It was good, but next time, I want it smokier. Maybe I try using a charred poblano. Definitely will char fresh tomatillos on the next iteration. It will be a fun experiment. A batch of salsa verde or chimichurri is usually in our refrigerator: we eat a lot of vegetarian and fish tacos that benefit from salsa.

Saturday, I made a batch of slow cooker carne adovada. Like most dishes, I used no recipe for this super simple stew. I started by cutting the pork shoulder into large cubes, then browning one side of the cubes, followed by transferring them to the slow cooker as each batch browned. I want the flavor that browning creates, but I find that browning all sides of the meat tends to contribute to dryness. Browning one large side of the pork chunks suffices to yield both flavor and succulence.

After the meat was all browned, I added a diced onion to the pork pan along with call it a dozen minced cloves of garlic. Once the onions cooked, I added a a bit of Mexican oregano, rubbed between my palms into a powder, a lot of spicy ground Chimayo chile, and a lesser amount of ancho powder to add some balance to the Chimayo chile. The chile was probably a cup in total, 3/4 Chimayo and 1/4 ancho. After stirring this into the onions well, I added perhaps a couple cups of water, a splash of Sherry vinegar, and a small amount, perhaps a tablespoon, of agave nectar. Once this sauce came together, I poured it over the pork, stirred well, and put the slow cooker on.

I believe that adovada must have acidity; your grandmother may disagree as is her right. Not a lot of acidity, but some. So I always put a bit of vinegar in mine (as I do my Mexican-style chorizo). I also think that spicy Chimayo chile needs just a hint (below the taste threshold) of sweet to help mellow it, hence the agave.

When the pork was cooked, some six or seven hours later, I separated the liquid from the pork. I separated the meat and the cooking liquid for several reasons. With the liquid chilled, I could peel off the layer of pork fat that I did not want in my sauce (and use it to cook anything else; who does not love chile-flavored lard?). Because I was making enchiladas, I wanted a more solid filling that would not bleed through the tortillas. And, I wanted a thicker, more intense sauce to fold into the filling and to cover the tops of the enchiladas.

After defatting the cooking liquid, I reduced it as far as I could without it becoming too salty. I salted the pork cubes during browning. But it was a really mellow thin sauce after hours of braising and I wanted a thicker, more in-your-face chile sauce for the enchiladas. I made a quick paste of a tablespoon of flour (for thickening), half a cup of Chimayo chile, and a little of the reduced braising liquid. After stirring really well to remove all lumps, I stirred this slurry into the sauce and cooked it gently to thicken.

Enchilada Sauce, Thickened with Flour and Chimayo Chile

Once we got back to the house, assembly of the enchiladas was trivial. I mixed some of the carne adovada with some of the sauce and the meat shredded as I stirred it. After seasoning it to taste, I rolled the tortillas around this filling, placing them in an oiled half hotel pan, seam side down.

I digress, but this is my blog, so I will digress if I want to. When I retired from the restaurant, I kept one of the half hotel pans for my home kitchen. If you have worked in food service and are of a certain age, you will remember that hotel pans used to be thick and heavy, not thin and flimsy as they are today. I kept one of the old school thick pans for home use and I use it often. I had some really awesome hotel pans too, but they are far too large for home cooking.

I spooned more sauce over the top of the rolled tortillas to make them into true enchiladas ("sauced with chiles") and then scattered over just a bit of melting cheese. I used mozz, but any melting cheese such as queso chihuahua, queso quesadilla, queso oaxaca, queso asadero, or Monterey Jack would be perfect.

Posole Amarillo with Bacon, Green Chile, and Fresh Corn

I am a huge fan of hominy. I grew up on it, always fried in bacon grease as it is traditionally served in the South. It was good. When I was in grad school in Texas, I learned that the rest of the world does not see the dish the same as I grew up with. Posole is always always a stew with pork, red chile, and white hominy. It was good: I loved this stew at first bite. Then I went to New Mexico and found that they often serve a drier posole as a side dish, more akin to my southern hominy, but with local chiles. It was good. Then I started making casseroles of hominy bound with cream sauce. It too was good. What I figured out is that posole dishes are as numerous and varied as the people that make them. I feel free to riff on this ingredient in any way that seems appropriate to me.

Over the years, I learned that hominy is not always white. It is the color of the corn from which it is made and as we all know, corn comes in many shades: white, yellow, red, and purple. I have used the different colors for effect over the years. I used a lot of maíz morado, purple hominy, at the restaurant. This time, I felt like using yellow hominy.

This time, I fried up some bacon most of the way done, then added diced red onion and garlic and let that cook. Then I added the hominy and diced mild green chile (Anaheims that I torched on my patio). It too was good. I made it Sunday morning and refrigerated it. While the enchiladas were in the oven, I reheated the posole and sliced the kernels off two ears of corn. They went into the dish as a sweet counterpoint to the smoky green chile vibe going on. It was even better.

Enchiladas de Carne Adovada and Posole Amarillo

After dinner, it had cooled off enough to go outside so Ann put the tunes on out on the patio and we all took our dessert, summer berry pudding and lemon-thyme sorbet, outside. I opened a bottle of 1977 Warre's Port, because I save those kinds of wines for fellow winos like Dimitri and Joe. It was a great night!

Dessert on the Patio

Ann's Berry and Brioche Pudding

Lemon-Thyme Sorbet with Summer Berry Pudding

July 4 Celebration

Each year, we celebrate the Fourth of July and the country where we live. I am not a political person, but this year, I am decidedly not feeling at all patriotic, nor am proud of certain things that are happening in our country. Still, we persevered with our celebration in the hopes that this country will right itself. Right is a poor choice of verbs in this instance. Perhaps I should have chosen the verb center.

We invited Rob, Dyce, Dyce's parents who are in town from Italy, and new friend Brad to throw down with us.

Lyn, Brad, Neal, Dyce, Ann, and Rob

The menu ended up as a pseudo-Greek affair. I like burgers for the 4th, but had a hankering for my lamb burgers which blow beef burgers out of the water. From there, it was not a stretch to want to pair the burgers with tzatziki and horiatiki. But then, Ann wanted orzo too, so I combined the orzo and horiatiki to create a cold pasta salad. Then I wanted an appetizer I could make in advance, so after a bit of head scratching, decided on tiropitakia, cheese-filled phyllo pastries. Ann volunteered to make her delicious berry and brioche summer pudding and asked me to make a sorbet. We settled on lemon-thyme and the menu was complete. The recipe for the sorbet is in a separate post.

Some wine was drunk; some food was eaten; some fun was had!

Lamb Burger with Feta and Pine Nuts

I love my lamb burgers and this year, for a change, I recorded a rough recipe because I have had requests for it in the past.

Lamb Burger Recipe

This recipe scales well so I have expressed it in terms of seasonings for a single pound of lamb. In reality, I made a 4-pound batch and I eyeballed everything. It is always a good idea when mixing a batch of forcemeat like this, to cook a tiny bit and adjust the seasonings to your liking. Also, this mix gains flavor in the refrigerator so plan on mixing everything a day or even two in advance. I scaled out six-ounce burgers, my preferred size.

Per pound of ground lamb:

1/4 c dry white wine (substitute red wine or water or stock)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon dried Greek oregano

1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon Pimentón de la Vera agridulce (smoked paprika)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper

3 cloves garlic, minced (I used way more than this!)

small handful of toasted pine nuts

2 ounces sheep’s milk feta, crumbled

optional, if you have spice grinder:

pinch dried rosemary, finely ground

pinch dried thyme, finely ground 

Procedure:

Mix liquids and solids well to distribute salt and spices.

Add lamb and gently mix. Using hands is best.

Refrigerate overnight or two nights.

Patty into burgers or shape into kefta (oval meatballs)

Cook to desired temperature. I like medium rare.

Tiropitakia and Tzatziki

Tiropitakia Ready for Oven

Our appetizer was the tiropitakia (little cheese pies) that you see in photos above. I just went with my gut which said to mix chopped kalamata olives, chopped marinated sun-dried tomatoes, oregano, lemon zest, and grated pecorino cheese with a tub of ricotta cheese. For savory pastries like this, I brush the phyllo layers with olive oil (and for sweet pastries, I use butter). I brushed the tops of the little triangles with olive oil and sprinkled them with oregano and coarse salt before baking until browned in a moderate oven. A recipe for tzatiki is in this post.

Orzo Salad

The pasta salad was simple. I mixed a bunch of olive oil, lemon juice, kalamata brine, and oregano (my usual horiatiki dressing) in a large bowl. Then I cut the horiatiki vegetables and cheese smaller than usual, because otherwise, they would dwarf the small orzo pasta. The usual suspects are: tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, and feta. I omitted peppers because I didn't feel like I wanted them. So there.

I put all the salad ingredients into the dressing for about an hour to marinate. The red onions, I sliced very thin and soaked in several changes of cold water to mellow them out. In the morning, I par-cooked the orzo a couple minutes shy of being done, knowing that it would finish softening in the refrigerator. This is a useful technique for all pasta salads. After cooling the pasta under running water, it went into the vegetables and I tasted for salt. Salt this salad carefully because the kalamata brine, olives, and feta are already salty.

Into the fridge to mellow for a few hours the salad went. Just before serving the appetizers, I put the salad in a serving bowl and garnished with the onions. Just before serving dinner, I mixed everything well to distribute the onions and redistribute the dressing.

Ann's Beautiful Summer Berry and Brioche Pudding

Lemon-Thyme Sorbet with Summer Berry Pudding

Lemon-Thyme Sorbet

I have problems digesting lactose, so ice cream is verboten in my diet. I hate this because I love ice cream as much as the next person. Unfortunately, that love is unrequited. And so, for decades now, I have concentrated on making delicious sorbets. I made a different flavor each night at the restaurant as an intermezzo in our tasting menu.

It requires little imagination to understand that I became bored and weary of certain flavors, especially single-flavor sorbets with my chef palate running to multi-layered flavors. Thus, I experimented with unusual flavors and herbs in creating something that at first bite tasted of fruit, but yet delivered something else entirely as the sorbet melted onto the tongue. Think: zucchini-dill, apricot-rosemary, raspberry-chipotle, and so forth. In that vein, for our recent Fourth of July celebration, Ann and I chose lemon-thyme as a mouth-puckering acidic punch-in-the-face counterpoint to her delightful summer berry pudding.

Lemon-Thyme Sorbet with Summer Berry Pudding

I am not a pastry chef, so I really do not worry terribly about the kinds of sorbet things that pastry chefs do, such as creating the perfect 28 brix syrup. Yawn, right? At home, I keep it simple, measuring both the sugar and the liquid by volume, a no-no for certain in pastryland. But, easy? Darned straight.

Lemon-Thyme Sorbet

This recipe is really easy as long as you commit to squeezing all that lemon juice. A liter of juice represents the juice of probably 24 lemons and with a hand squeezer like mine, it is a work out. If you cannot commit to squeezing lemons, find some other flavor to make, because any substitute for fresh lemon juice will taste off.

This recipe makes two liters of sorbet, the size of my machine; quarts are fine substitutes. This recipe scales up or down just fine. Although a machine gives the best results (I have a professional machine that is muy cara), you can freeze this sorbet in a flat container in the freezer, raking the ice crystals apart periodically with a fork. Adding a shot of vodka will help prevent big ice crystals from forming.

1 liter granulated sugar

3/4 liter water

1 bunch fresh thyme

zest of 6 lemons

1 liter freshly squeezed lemon juice

In a 2-quart sauce pan, heat the sugar, water, and thyme and let it bubble gently for about five minutes to start infusing the thyme flavor.

Turn off the heat, and add the lemon zest to the cooling mixture. Stir well and let stand for a couple of hours to infuse.

Strain the syrup and the lemon juice into a bowl or container and mix well. Refrigerate until cold.

Freeze the sorbet once the base is cold.

Sailing the San Juan Islands

And if the wind is right you can sail away

And find tranquility

Oh, the canvas can do miracles

— Christopher Cross, "Sailing"

I am not a huge fan of cheesy Yacht Rock as was Todd in "Breaking Bad," but Chris Cross's lyrics do strike a chord with me. When life is a bit hectic or I am anxious or I just need to clear my mind, certain sounds settle me quickly: the rush of whitewater rapids, the rustle of aspen leaves in the breeze, the gentle roar of the surf, and the flap of wind in sails coupled with the lapping of waves against the bow. Sailing grounds me, if that verb is ever appropriate in the context of sailing.

I am not in any particular need of grounding at this point in my life, but sailing is always a treat. Ann and I have just returned from sailing through the San Juan Islands in Washington State, as far north and west as this country extends, snugged up against British Columbia. We drove to Bellingham WA where we spent six days sailing the islands, a trip long on our must-do list. In the 8 years we have lived in Oregon, this was our first foray to that extreme northwestern part of the U.S.

The Guests (l-r): Ken, Gillian, Ed, Ann, Chris, Leslie

Hardworking Northwind Crew, The Bakers, Jon and Jette

Chief Fetching Officer Geni

The San Juan Islands are an archipelago of several hundred islands and rocks in Washington State between the mainland U.S. and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, roughly situated in the triangle formed by Bellingham WA, Victoria BC, and Anacortes WA. The surrounding bodies of water, the Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, are now known as the Salish Sea after the ancestral inhabitants of the islands.

I do not recall how this trip got on our radar, but we have kicked the idea around for a few years. We really enjoy travel that gets us outside with a chance to interact with nature. Also, we both sailed independently before we got married, but never together. That seemed to be a box we both wanted to tick.

At the first of the year, we booked onto a 6-day cruise departing from and returning to Bellingham, a Sunday to Friday cruise. After researching cruise companies, we opted to go with Sail the San Juans on the Northwind II, a no expense-spared sloop-rigged 55-foot Jeanneau. Having experienced this cruise, I can wholeheartedly recommend it. Jon and Jette are two of the hardest working, most hospitality focused people I have ever met.

Saturday June 21, Travel to Bellingham

This story starts with our departure from our home in Bend en route to Yakima for lunch, continuing on to Bellingham for dinner. We opted to approach the Seattle area from the west on I-90 to avoid as much of the horrible I-5 traffic as we could, the stretch between Portland and Seattle being particularly crappy on most occasions.

As we left Bend, the day was gray, the temperature was in the upper 30s, and Mount Bachelor had a dusting of new snow. We had a few showers overnight in Bend, a discouraging start to our sailing trip. We hoped that the weather in the San Juans would be better than at home. Overall, it proved better, if cloudy and chilly at times, with only one rain-out day.

The four-hour trip to Bale Breaker Brewing in the middle of Yakima hop country out towards Moxee went without at hitch and we arrived just as the brewery was opening. Taking advantage of the opportunity to visit a good brewery, Ann and I were the first in line for beers at the counter where I got an IPA and she got a hazy. Chatting with our beertender revealed that he went to Western Wash in Bellingham and he gave us the run down on the beer scene there.

Lunch was courtesy of the Mero Mero food truck outside, from which we got outstanding tacos and not so great shrimp. Although the tacos were mixed beef and shrimp, a seemingly odd combination, they were delicious as was the interesting salsa verde with bits of charred pepper skin adding a wonderful smoky note.

Visiting Bale Breaker, a Favorite Brewery

Outstanding Shrimp and Beef Tacos, an Odd Combination
Salsa Verde was Memorable Too

After a beer, a bite, and a bathroom break, we rolled on through the Yakima Valley passing stacks of apple crates, fruit orchards, and hop farms and headed across the Snoqualmie Pass into the metro Seattle area. Sadly, after lunch, the rain started up again along the length of I-90 through the pass. Traffic was miserable and at a near standstill from Issaquah west and then north through Bellevue and Kirkland on the 405. It finally let up ten or so miles north of Everett. I recall the traffic was horrible decades ago when I was visiting both Boeing and Microsoft; it is worse now even on a Saturday afternoon.

We finally got moving forward and arrived in Bellingham just before dinner time. We had no issues navigating the small city of just under 100,000 people 50 miles north of Seattle and 20 miles south of BC. Parking for our B&B was in an alley parallel to a building, which made getting out of the driver's side of the car nearly impossible, but I made it. In doing so, I thought the front driver's side tire looked flat, but the pressure sensor indicated plenty of air.

I kind of shrugged it off as I carried in our bags, hoping for all the world that I would not have to deal with a flat tire on Sunday morning. We rested for a minute before walking in the direction of Aslan Brewing, recommended to us at Bale Breaker, a few blocks away. On our return, I would glance at the tire again, and sure enough, it looked flat.

We had a good time at Aslan where we found the service, the interior, and the beer all better than the food. That I have forgotten what we ordered says it all. In walking to and from Aslan, we noticed a lot of homeless people all over downtown and we passed one alley in particular that seemed to be an open air drug market with some people nodded out against the buildings. All cities out West have challenges with homelessness and drug use; Bellingham seems to have bigger challenges than most, perhaps because of its proximity to Seattle.

Best Lion Impression at Aslan Brewing
Good Beer, Unmemorable Food

Back at the B&B, with the possibility of a flat tire in the back of our minds, we turned in for the night anticipating our meeting Jon and Jette at the marina on Sunday afternoon.

Sunday June 22, Poking About Bellingham

After a good night's sleep (my last, it would prove, for a week), coffee was the first mission of the day. In the division of labor in our marriage, Ann has taken it upon herself to find great coffeehouses wherever we go. Once again, she done good in choosing Camber Coffee just a few blocks from where we slept. As we walked through downtown, especially around City Hall and Whatcom Creek, homeless people were sacked out under every other shrub.

We arrived at nicely appointed Camber Coffee in short order to wait on line for a few minutes; it seems Ann is not the only one who can find great coffee. We sat at a high-top enjoying excellent coffee and pastries that they bake in house each morning. In particular, my everything biscuit was fabulous, a thing to remember, especially for someone who appreciates savory flavors far more than sweet ones.

Camber Coffee: Outstanding

We would not board the boat until almost 2, so we had time to kill after coffee and wandered about the streets a bit taking things in before we checked out of our room and went to lunch.

Port of Bellingham

"Before I Die" Mural

Former City Hall, Now Whatcom Museum

Back at the B&B, we gathered our things and stowed them in the car. Still, the tire looked flat but the pressure sensor still indicated plenty of air. I limped the car into the street and noticed that it was not pulling at all. If the tire were flat, it would pull hard left. A few minutes after 11, we arrived at Boundary Bay Brewing, another recommendation from Bale Breaker and also one of the few places open on Sunday morning.

After parking, the tire looked fine. Whew! It must have been the crazily uneven pavement in the alley making the tire look flat. We took seats at the bar and chatted with the bartender, while watching the Mariners put a whipping on the Cubs. Apparently, according to the bartender, local icon Boundary Bay is closing in September after 30 years. That will be a loss for Bellingham.

At 1:45, we made the three-minute drive to the marina, but that is a tale for a subsequent post.

Sailing Sunday through Friday

The map below shows our roughly counterclockwise tour of the San Juans, progressing through the color spectrum from red to purple.

The following posts describe our sailing trip in more detail:

Sailing Sunday: Bellingham to Lummi Island

Sailing Monday: Lummi Island to Sucia Island

Sailing Tuesday: Sucia Island to Stuart Island

Sailing Wednesday: Stuart Island to Friday Harbor

Sailing Thursday - Friday: Friday Harbor to Cypress Island to Bellingham

Friday June 27: Travel to Astoria

Friday morning, we hauled anchor early and headed for Bellingham. The super low tide dictated we be at the dock by 11:00 to have enough water under the keel for safe passage. And that early arrival was fine with us because we had to do battle with Friday summer weekend traffic on I-5, our destination for the night being Astoria, Oregon. We chose Astoria because it is home to perhaps our favorite Oregon brewery (certainly top three along with Sunriver and Ruse, but do not forget Breakside, Great Notion, and pFriem).

I really wanted to stop in downtown Seattle to see Chihuly Garden and Glass to photograph some of Dale Chihuly's incredible glass sculptures, but given that it was a summer Friday afternoon, traffic would have been a nightmare had we stopped in downtown Seattle. Even without stopping and our early start, traffic was abysmal, more stop than go, from Everett to Olympia and again from Centralia to Chehalis. The trip which should have taken five hours frustratingly took seven.

We were mentally exhausted from doing battle with traffic for hours when we arrived at the nicely appointed Victorian-era Hotel Elliot, a mere two blocks from Fort George Brewing. The first order of business after the stressful drive was a hot shower for each of us and a change into clean clothes.

Next up was the brief two-minute walk, if that, to Fort George where people were sitting at tables in the courtyard between the two Fort George buildings, one the pub and the other a store selling bottled beer and merch. Because of the number of kids zooming around the courtyard, we went into the first floor of the pub. The downstairs pub has a pub menu; the upstairs pub serves pizza.

Both of us still having the sensation of rocking from sailing as we stood on line, we ordered beers that we cannot get at our favorite pub back in Bend, beers that are tasting room only, and took a sunny table in the pub. We tried a couple of what we thought were appetizers, jerk wings and pork belly loaded fries, but they turned out to be huge portions, so we did not order more food. Both dishes, while standard pub food, were exceptional, some of the best brewpub food I have ever eaten.

Fort George Pub

Neat Interior and Chandelier

Happy to Be Off the Road

Outstanding Pub Grub at Fort George

As tired as we were, we left Fort George fairly quickly and earlier than I expected. As much as the mind wanted to taste more beer, the body was unwilling. We stopped in next door and got a couple bottles of imperial stout to add to our cooler at home, for drinking by the fire in the winter. Next, we detoured to the waterfront on the way back to the hotel in search of ice cream for Ann. Back at the hotel, I spent a few minutes mulling over our route home, but I do not think it was even dark before I fell asleep.

Invasive Kenilworth Ivy on the Sidwalk, Cymbalaria muralis
Neither Ivy, Nor Native

Columbia River in Astoria

Saturday June 28, Cannon Beach and Home

After a good night's sleep in downtown Astoria, it was time to move along and get home. Several routes lead home including US30 east to Portland or US101 south to US 20 in Newport. I really wanted to visit Cannon Beach, just down 101 from Astoria. Cannon Beach is dear to us in that we spent some of our honeymoon there and it is the home of Sleepy Monk, our coffee supplier for over a decade, and where we could get a great cup of coffee.

Going down 101 to Cannon Beach in the early morning would not be a problem, but I had my doubts about continuing down the Pacific Coast Highway on a prime beach weekend. Fortunately, US 26 heads east just north of Cannon Beach and we could nip down to Cannon Beach and then take 26 back through the Coast Range to the Willamette Valley, so that is what we set out to do.

We arrived at Sleepy Monk just after they opened to find 20 people or more ahead of us when we joined the end of the line. Standing on line, both of us were still rocking a bit from sailing; the feeling would subside in about three days. Despite the lengthy line, the wait for good coffee and wonderful bacon blue cheese scones was worth it. We sat outside and ate our scones before leaving Cannon Beach.

Coffee and Bacon Blue Cheese Scones

Once on highway 26, the traffic coming from the Portland metro area was nose-to-tail. Thankfully we were going the opposite direction. Wary of all this traffic, I decided to cut through wine country at Banks (through Gaston, Yamhill, Carlton, McMinnville, Amity, and West Salem) rather than risk taking 26 all the way in to I-5. The trip back was unprecedentedly uneventful. We did not get behind any combines or tractors in wine country or behind any RVs or gas tankers while climbing through the Cascades. Moreover, we took the new bypass around Sisters and avoided all that mess downtown. We arrived home in the early afternoon, a bit tired, rocking a bit still, and already looking forward to our next sailing trip in the San Juans.