We stayed at the rolling huts again. There is now a new cafe right next to rolling huts along side the highway. They serve breakfast and lunch every day and dinner on the weekends. The dinner menu is Spanish tapas and Polish beer! Not what I would have expected for the middle of nowhere but we will give it a try the next chance we get. The community ski trail goes right by there.

On Saturday hiked up to Louis Lake. The trail head was down near the end of the Twisp River Road. We had never been down that way before. The ski trails don’t go down this way but there is plenty of great hiking. Even though we had lack luster snow for the ski season this year, we had a number of late snow storms and a cool spring. So most of the really high country is still snowed in. Louis Lake had a few big patches of snow in the trees in right before the lake but was clear at the lake. There was a really chilly wind at the lake so we ate our lunches quick and headed back down. Not too many hikers on the trail that day but we did see six people on horseback and two goats. Emily was okay with the goats but growled at the horses.

The next day we headed to Leavenworth. We avoided the town mostly and hung out at the Sleeping Lady Resort instead. Readers of the blog would know we often stay there in the winter but this was our first time in the summer. It was nice to be there when it was warm enough to enjoy their great rock swimming pool.

After heading back to Seattle, we caught the main event: the Cubs vs. Mariners. Too bad it was not the Cubs day. They lost to the Mariners two-zip.

The first day, we flew into Milan and took a train straight to the coast. Or, to be more specific, a train to the subway to another train to a final, fourth train. Right when our final train pulled into Vernazza someone grabbed my wallet. I didn’t notice until after I was off the train. Luckily, Sherry had duplicates of everything and my passport was safely packed away. It was definitely not a great start to the trip, but we learned a few things, like: Italian police are not very friendly or helpful. Avoid crowded trains on only a few hours of sleep.

We were able the enjoy the Cinque Terre after recovering from the shock of the theft. There was a huge thunderstorm on our first night and landslides closed part of the trail between towns, but we had some enjoyable anchovy-filled dinners.

Afterwards, we took a train to Pisa, where we picked up our rental car. Sherry had to drive since my license gone. I did my best at navigation. We brought the GPS which was a lot of help. Italian drivers were about what I expected: They drive fast and tailgate like it is the law. Strangely, they treat the center line more like a suggestion and are way more comfortable being in front of oncoming traffic then anywhere else I have driven.

On our first day in Tuscany we stopped in Lucca before heading to our B&B up in the mountains outside Bagna di Lucca. Lucca was pretty cute. Lots of boutiques. We wanted to bike around the wall but the rain scared us off. We spent the night in a small village north of Lucca. The B&B was run by a friendly British couple who cooked us a great dinner.

The next day we drove to south to Volterra. We stayed in an agriturismo just outside of town for three nights. It was more of a hotel then a B&B, although you could get eggs and espresso drinks made to order for breakfast every morning. The owner cooked a great rustic Tuscan dinner every night. During the day, we toured various Tuscan hill towns. My favorites were the towns of Montepulciano and Montalcino. San Gimignano was, as the travel book described, a tourist trap. Volterra was also great.

We spent our last night in Milan. It was the beginning of fashion week and there were hordes of shoppers everywhere. In fact, the Italians brought in the military to control the hordes. We walked past the biggest D&G store I have ever seen (think it took up the entire block) and then a few blocks later walked past another D&G. We skipped the shopping and instead checked out the huge Domo and loaded up on aperitivo for dinner.

Overall, it was a fun and eventful trip. Checkout all the photos here.

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.

We stayed in the Rolling Huts for the first time. The huts are located along Highway 20 about half way between Mazama and Winthrop. The hut experience is halfway between camping and staying in a motel. Each hut has a basic kitchen and a pad to sleep on. There is no running water in the huts but they have electric. There a port-a-potty at the end of each hut and shared bath in the barn. Emily especially enjoyed hanging out on the deck pretending she was a guard dog.

On Saturday we hiked to Lake Ann near Rainy Pass. We had done this hike a few years ago and enjoyed it. There was scattered thunderstorms in the area all weekend and on the way back to the car we got caught in a downpour. Which was pretty strange given how dry it has been in the northwest this summer.

In Brussels we hit the big art museum, toured a traditional lambic brewery, sampled some chocolate, stopped by a beer festival, and walked around a lot. Brussels had a pretty international feel to it. Parts of the city center were very nice and others were pretty run down. The north train station, where we arrived, was in the middle of this American style office park, not very European.

Next we visited the Belgian country side in Bouillon. We toured the castle on the first day. At the castle we watched a real falconer give a demonstration (in French) that really freaked out Sherry. The next day we went on a hike. At the abby along the way we bought some delicious chocolate cookies from some nuns. That night we topped it all off with a four course French dinner in this cute little Inn near town.

The next day we headed back to the city. In Antwerp we toured a really cool museum on printing and tried a few Belgian beers at the best beer bar we found during out trip. It was run by a husband and wife and had some seven hundred beers listed in a very disorganized menu. We also met some fellow Americans on a bike tour of Belgium at the bar. Antwerp was nicer than Brussels. It was a big city but still had lots of people biking around they city center.

The next day we head off to Bruges. It was pretty touristy but still very pleasant. We toured another brewery and went to the chocolate museum. Our hotel had free bikes for the guests to use and the city center was very bike friendly. There was a nice bike path around the city center where the wall once stood. The bikes were the perfect way to explore the city and the medieval street layout made for fun biking. (Especially after stopping for a beer.) There were lots of good beer bars in Bruges. ‘t Brugs Beerjte was nice was nice but full of backpackers on a Friday night. Just before we headed back to Brussels we stopped a beer bar that was not in the guide book that actually had Westvleteren for sale. It was definitely priced for tourist but I could not let the opportunity pass by. We bought the “8″. It was a prefect brown Trappist ale, smooth, yet strong, and without tasting like high alcohol beer.

We learned a lot about the Belgians: they like their beer, chocolate, waffles, mussels, and frites. McDonald’s fries taste like frites. Everyone rides on girl bikes. They don’t use a top sheet when they make their beds. Belgian hotel breakfast is: coffee, hard boiled egg, yogurt, croissants, ham, and cheese. The French speaking Belgians smoke more, the Flemish are healthier. And the Belgians make good beer. (I guess I knew that already.)

Most of the pictures are up here. I reached my limit on Flickr this month so more to come.