So, my picture free eat local challenge was successful for 2/3 of the day. I started out with some Nancy's vanilla yogurt with blueberries. Nancy's is from Springfield, OR and the blueberries are from the Portland area. Then for lunch the cafeteria had for one of the local offerings lamb chops, pureed squash, apple and mint sauce, and red potatoes. It was good, but way too much food, so the scroungers got 1/2 of it. (In case you don't have scroungers at your place of work, they are students who will eat your leftovers at no additional cost to you or them. They do it for monetary, political, or other reasons unknown to me. I could not ever do it, but more power to them for risking illness to reduce food waste.) It was pretty fun on campus with some farmers talking about their products and samples of apples and honey.
Anyway, I was 1/3 not so successful because we had a sick dog who needed constant attention, so I rushed home a minute after Don left and ate what was in the house. I had french toast that because of the bread probably doesn't qualify. Though it is from a local bakery, I don't know where their ingredients came from. The eggs, milk, basil, tomatoes and apple did qualify as local though.
Today was a day of why we love Oregon. We woke up to a forecast of rain, and headed for the coast. We were dreaming of two things--getting the dogs some exercise and possibly having a successful mushroom hunt. Katie and Banjo seemed to know from the minute we got up that they were in for a fun day.
I don't know if you can see in the photo, but Katie likes to ride with her head on Don's shoulder. Very cute.
So we headed out for our favorite beach treat, the Pacific Way Bakery in Gearhart. It's definitely worth the 1 1/2 hour drive for their ham and cheese croissant. The other great thing about Gearhart is that you can drive your car on the beach.
What I love the best about going to the beach in the rain is that no one is there, except us and the crazy dogs.
We went to two beaches and ran the dogs until they were too tired to keep their heads up.
As far as the mushroom hunting, we tried a couple spots on the way to the coast, and on the way home, but very few mushrooms were showing their faces, so we didn't collect any. On one of our stops I saw something I'd never seen in Oregon before, a salamander. I didn't realize they could handle the cold. Anyway, I attempted to get a photograph, but it would move every time I tried, so you'll just have to take my word for it. It was quite pathetic really. The salamander was moving at just above slug speed, but it was enough that every time I took a picture it would bury itself in leaves a little more. Darn the slow digital camera.
On our way home we also stopped at the Nehalem Bay Winery. It's the 6th oldest winery in Oregon. We learned that in the 6 minutes that the slightly bitter Australian or New Zealander working the shop gave us to try some wine, buy a few bottles and get the heck out. It was worth it though. We decided that we must have taken him away from a very important football game to let us try his wine. It's very off-season for the coast, so he was probably thinking he had a day off. Too bad for him we can't pass up a winery when we're traveling down random roads on the search for mushrooms.
Next up, Don took his very hungry wife for a beer and french fries along
the side of the road. He had passed up 5 places before stopping because of random things, like them being on the wrong side of the road, too many cars in the parking lot or too few. I will say, the ranch dressing they had was the best I've ever had, and the beer was very much appreciated after being sopping wet for the past 5 hours. They knew they had a sucker when they told me about the dilly beans they had for sale, so I brought home some of those to remember the day.
Anyway, I was 1/3 not so successful because we had a sick dog who needed constant attention, so I rushed home a minute after Don left and ate what was in the house. I had french toast that because of the bread probably doesn't qualify. Though it is from a local bakery, I don't know where their ingredients came from. The eggs, milk, basil, tomatoes and apple did qualify as local though.
Today was a day of why we love Oregon. We woke up to a forecast of rain, and headed for the coast. We were dreaming of two things--getting the dogs some exercise and possibly having a successful mushroom hunt. Katie and Banjo seemed to know from the minute we got up that they were in for a fun day.
I don't know if you can see in the photo, but Katie likes to ride with her head on Don's shoulder. Very cute.
So we headed out for our favorite beach treat, the Pacific Way Bakery in Gearhart. It's definitely worth the 1 1/2 hour drive for their ham and cheese croissant. The other great thing about Gearhart is that you can drive your car on the beach.
What I love the best about going to the beach in the rain is that no one is there, except us and the crazy dogs.
We went to two beaches and ran the dogs until they were too tired to keep their heads up.
As far as the mushroom hunting, we tried a couple spots on the way to the coast, and on the way home, but very few mushrooms were showing their faces, so we didn't collect any. On one of our stops I saw something I'd never seen in Oregon before, a salamander. I didn't realize they could handle the cold. Anyway, I attempted to get a photograph, but it would move every time I tried, so you'll just have to take my word for it. It was quite pathetic really. The salamander was moving at just above slug speed, but it was enough that every time I took a picture it would bury itself in leaves a little more. Darn the slow digital camera.
On our way home we also stopped at the Nehalem Bay Winery. It's the 6th oldest winery in Oregon. We learned that in the 6 minutes that the slightly bitter Australian or New Zealander working the shop gave us to try some wine, buy a few bottles and get the heck out. It was worth it though. We decided that we must have taken him away from a very important football game to let us try his wine. It's very off-season for the coast, so he was probably thinking he had a day off. Too bad for him we can't pass up a winery when we're traveling down random roads on the search for mushrooms.
Next up, Don took his very hungry wife for a beer and french fries along
the side of the road. He had passed up 5 places before stopping because of random things, like them being on the wrong side of the road, too many cars in the parking lot or too few. I will say, the ranch dressing they had was the best I've ever had, and the beer was very much appreciated after being sopping wet for the past 5 hours. They knew they had a sucker when they told me about the dilly beans they had for sale, so I brought home some of those to remember the day.
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