My Labor Day Weekend Schedule

Will probably be offline over this holiday weekend so please be patient if you don't see a new posting Friday-Monday. Holiday weekends are challenging (and dreaded) for my full-time RVing lifestyle; everyone wants to camp during the summer holidays; especially on 3-day weekends so it is difficult to find campsites and those that are available are very crowded and noisy with lots of kids, dogs, and activity. Evidently, many people like this type of atmosphere so I'm not criticizing, its just not my style.

Anyway, I found a productive way to avoid the crowds and noise this weekend; instead of camping, I'll be in AZ checking out an opportunity as a part-time chef for a B&B. The owner recently contacted me in response to my profile on caretakerjobs.com (see an earlier post about this website). The job wouldn't start until November but we agreed this weekend would be a good time to visit; the owner can check me out and I can check out the B&B. An opportunity to cook (including baking bread:); socialize with guests; and garden (the owner said I could start a garden) is appealing; will let you know how it goes:)

Cannon Beach Bakery

Curiosity about "Haystack" bread overcame my fear:) of tourists today so I walked downtown to check out.Cannon Beach Bakery; they are  evidently known for their "Haystack" bread (made entirely of bread flour). They also bake 8-grain and sourdough bread but these latter breads are sliced unless one calls ahead to reserve (seems odd to me but maybe it is more efficient to slice all the loafs at one time; plus I suspect most tourists want slice bread to make sandwiches). Sliced bread dries out quickly and besides, I love to tear my bread; I compromised and bought one of their last unsliced loafs of Haystack bread ($5.50 - good price).

In addition to breads and many sweets, they also make sandwiches ($9.50); I ordered a veggie delight (without the cream cheese; includes onions, tomatoes, avocado, Eng. duke, and lettuce) on 8-grain bread - very good; the bread had good texture, was moist, and tasted good. Surprisingly, they only had mayo or mustard for toppings; no vinegar and/or oil; maybe its a regional thing or maybe I'm just weird but I prefer a mix of vinegar and oil on sandwiches:)

The Haystack bread was good; light and fluffy as one would expect. Forgot to ask  but it looks like a loaf of no-knead bread. Understand why this bread is popular with tourists but I prefer multi-grain or sourdough to white bread.

Veggie delight sandwich

Haystack bread

Chunk torn off; note the air pockets.

New Omelette Recipe

Feeling adventurous (and hungry:), I cooked a new omelette recipe for dinner last night. First step - sauté 2 small white button mushrooms and 2 small slices of fresh tomato. Then, instead of mixing 2 eggs with whole milk (my usual method), I mixed the eggs with about 1/4 cup of Chobani plain, fat free yogurt; the mixture had a few clumps. Being tool/space limited, I added the egg mixture directly to the sautéd mushrooms/tomatoes (rather than setting aside the sauté and adding to the egg mixture). After about 4 minutes, I added bean sprouts and covered for another 1-2 minutes; the yogurt makes it difficult to tell when the egg mixture is cooked but when it appeared so,  I folded it in the skillet and topped with shredded cheese and covered for another minute.

Spices included white pepper, sea salt, and turmeric. It wasn't as tasty as I anticipated; scallions and wild mushrooms also improve.

A white plate would better present:)

Portland

Since the coast is so crowded with tourists, I decided to head inland to Portland today. Used to visit this wonderful city periodically for my job and as a stop over for climbing Hood, etc. Visited my favorite hotel (Heathman), one of my favorite restaurants (Higgins), and my favorite deli (Flying Elephant). The parks, waterfront (unfortunately no time to visit), and food, make this one of my favorite towns!

One of Portland's parks

The Heathman treats guests like royalty:)

Statue of Abraham Lincoln in Park.

The bar at Higgins Restaurant.

Ding Dong from the Flying Elephant Deli; Unbelievable!

Astoria

Drove north on Hwy. 101 to Astoria, OR yesterday; nice working town along the coast (its actually on the Columbia River). After visiting Astoria, I heard the riverfront was designed for the locals with the theory that if they liked it so would tourists; how refreshing! It worked.

This is a Coast Guard town so got to see a couple of cutters. Found a bakery with very tasty strawberry-rhubarb scones! Couldn't find a seafood restaurant for lunch but did find a store that sells smoked salmon ($44/pound!). Also found several places that sold local canned salmon and tuna but couldn't get past the price ($12-20 per small can - like you'd buy in Whole Foods for less than $5).  There is a trolley in town which only costs a dollar or two! Lots to see including several museums; definitely worth the visit.

Astoria Marina

Fresh fish shop on the docks.

Strawberry Rhubarb Scone - delicious!

Home of the scone:)

Saw a couple towing this homemade tiny house; had a for sale sign on it - $12k.

Art downtown.

Coast Guard cutter.

Cargo ship on the Columbia River

Outside the Columbia River Maritime Museum

Outside the museum.

Trolley

Town is so proud of their salmon they paint all of the garbage cans downtown.

Historic house downtown.

Odd combination of Film Museum and County Jail?

Photo didn't' turn out well but this is the stump of a huge Douglas Fir tree; hard to get scale but this cross section is taller than me!

Cannon Beach

Cannon Beach is a small tourist town along the northern Oregon coast. The beach is wide, the waves are small, and the water is cold:) Like a lot of the OR coast I've visited, it is beautiful, often foggy, and crowded this time of year. I jogged and did a bit of yoga on the beach this morning; very nice.

Haystack Rock

Haystack Rock is a bird haven

Site 95 at Cannon Beach RV Resort

Oregon State Fair

Reading this morning's paper was worthwhile; I learned this is the first day of the Oregon State Fair and it is in Salem - a little over an hour from my current campground in Lincoln City! The weather was perfect so I decided to make the drive; glad I did!  The Salem Fairgrounds are very nice and include poultry and livestock buildings; it was fun to see the livestock judging. Music, pony rides, contests, and lots of vendors; all very well organized and fun.

Dairy cow judging.

My friend Smoky 

Some of the 4H entries

Sheep getting pretty for judging

Couldn't resist a strawberry milkshake from the Oregon Women's Dairy booth.

Love these old tractors!

This blacksmith was making custom kitchen tools

Live music

McMinnville

Drove east on Hwy. 18 to visit McMinnville, OR today; looks like a nice small town with a thriving downtown. On the way, I stopped at a couple of produce stands and once i got to town, I discovered the Thursday Farmers Market in process!

Love this large, old barn; a nice produce stand inside.

These peaches are huge!

McMinnville Farmers Market.

Tillamook, OR

Drove up Hwy. 101 today to check out Tillamook, including the Cheese Factory. They have a self-guided tour, a gift shop, cheese store, and my favorite - an ice cream store:)

These guys make a lot of cheese!

Look at all that cheese!

Giving away free samples.

Downtown Tillamook isn't much but beautiful hanging baskets line the streets.

Dairy farms are everywhere.

Dairy farm in the area.

Stumbled on this air museum just outside of Tillamook.