Harvested my first crop of hops yesterday. They were four years in the making. Last summer I barely had three little flowers. This summer I have a huge harvest. Looks like I might be two or three batches worth. I dried the harvest in my handy food dehydrator, shoved them into a ziplock, and stuck them in my freezer for now. Now I just need some free time to brew up a batch.
Interesting piece in this week’s New Yorker on the teacher’s union. Remember that crappy teacher you had in grade school? It is likely that because of tenure rules your school district could not fire that teacher if they wanted to. NYC pays the worst teachers to sit in a room for years.
Took the ferry to Orcas Island again last weekend. This time with my family. We had great weather for all our adventures. We repeated the Sucia Island kayak trip with my sister on Sunday and biked from Eastsound to Doe Bay and back on Monday. Plus we hiked around Moran State Park a bunch. We even took a row boat out on Cascade Lake.
We rented a cabin right in Eastsound this time. The cabin would have been great if not for the location. It was on the main route through town, next to a bank, and on the flight path for the Eastsound airport. But it was a good deal, had water views, allowed pets, and was available when we needed it.
Some more pictures up here.
Saw the Fruit Bats play at the new Crocodile Cafe last night. Great show. Every time we see him play a show he has a bigger and better band. The first time I saw him play the Graceland it was just him and a girl on keyboards. Last night he had five people on stage. Even his latest album has a fuller sound.
This was also our first chance to go to the remodeled Crocodile. The new owners completed gutted the place. There is giant new bathrooms, bar, and stage. The old bar has been turned into a fancy pizza place. The only thing that remains from the old Crocodile is the sign.
Spent last weekend hiking the Northern Loop in Mount Rainier National Park. We have done bits of the loop before but this time we hiked all thirty-something miles in four days. We crossed three 6,000+ foot passes with about 9,000 feet in elevation gain. The weather was okay, a bit cool for August with light rain on Sunday while we climbed along side the Carbon Glacier. We hardly saw anyone on the Northern Loop trail but passed lots of groups once we joined the Wonderland. Hiking around the end of Winthrop Glacier was pretty cool. The views were definitely more impressive then the Carbon Glacier. If anything this hike has gotten me thinking seriously about hiking the whole Wonderland Trail soon.
Lots of pictures up here.