ramblings of a Seattle travel, food and photography hound
"From the dawn of civilization up to the present, engineers have been busily engaged in ruining this fair earth, and taking all the romance out of it. They have cluttered up God’s fair landscape with hideous little buildings and ugly railroads." Conde McCullough, 1937 One of the striking landscape features of coastal Oregon is the... Continue Reading →
One of the most thrilling shows along the Oregon coast is the Devil's Churn, part of the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area. At high tide, or better yet when there is a windstorm, waves of water come crashing through a narrow chasm fractured out of the basalt. As you can imagine, under "ideal" conditions, great plumes... Continue Reading →
The morning was foggy when we drove past Yachats, not unusual for the coastlines of Oregon and northern California. We stopped at Heceta Head Lighthouse State Scenic Viewpoint to admire the lighthouse, one of nine along the Oregon coast. From the parking area, we could see it perched on Heceta Head, shrouded in fog. Despite... Continue Reading →
I had been under the impression that the only carnivorous plant in the U.S. was the Venus flytrap, which thrives in East Coast wetlands. That's before I learned of another insect-eating plant, Darlingtonia californica, more commonly known as the cobra lily, that is found mostly in boggy, acidic wetlands in southern Oregon and northern California.... Continue Reading →
The best cioppino we had ever eaten was had at Sharks Seafood Bar back in 2009. Not only was there a substantial broth of tomatoes, vegetables and herbs—a recipe which the chef will not divulge—but a generous serving of fresh seafood. A noticeable amount of sweetness, which some may find a trifle much, came through... Continue Reading →
Back in 2009, Newport appeared on our culinary radar when we ate a remarkable cioppino at Sharks Seafood Bar. It would be enough of a reason to come back again (and again). Aside from its many seafood restaurants, this town of 10,000 residents has several other attractions. The most obvious physical presence in the city... Continue Reading →
Surrounded by large tracts of farmland on the outskirts of Salem is a small stretch of local shops and businesses. Among them is a taqueria innocuously housed in a flat building, which you might normally drive past since there's nothing remarkable about the exterior except that it's painted in the tricolors of Mexico. Los Temos specializes... Continue Reading →
Because my wife and I will be driving down to Southern California in a few days, she and my daughter took me out for an early Father's Day dinner at Stumbling Goat, a restaurant in the Phinney Ridge/Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle. It's been around for at least ten years at the same location and has... Continue Reading →
Italian restaurants around here have gone upscale. It's almost impossible to find a ristorante with reasonable prices, especially in the suburbs where it's unlikely you'll come across a neighborhood spot. In walkable U.S. cities with large Italian-American populations like along the East Coast and in Chicago, this is probably not the case, but out here... Continue Reading →
If there is one sure sign that the Issaquah Farmers Market has started in earnest for the season, it's the silhouette of a familiar food truck when driving past Pickering Farm. Maximus/Minimus has been feeding the faithful for several years running. It draws many customers not only because of the good pulled pork sandwiches but... Continue Reading →
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