Lueders Haus Blog

Took a quick trip to the bay area a few weekends ago. This was my first time to San Francisco as a tourist. We flew into Oakland and took the BART to our hotel in SOMA. We hit a few of the highlights. On Saturday we took the boat to Alcatraz. It was an amazing sight with great views of the city. Afterwards we checked out a bluegrass festival at Golden Gate Park that was a little too crowded for our tastes. On Sunday we rented a Zipcar and headed up to Muir Woods to check out the Redwoods. In the evening we took the BART over to the Missions for dinner. Check out some of the pictures here.

We have been back from Italy for a few weeks now but I have been too busy to write about the trip. This trip was the most exciting of the European vacations we have had yet.

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 lost a good friend this weekend. Our cat, Monty, had been successfully battling kidney failure and a hyperthyroidism for two or so years now. But an infection in the last few weeks was finally too much for him. I picked Monty up from a shelter on Mercer Island eight years ago. Shortly after I had moved to Seattle. Monty was my first cat. I had wanted a dog but figured a cat was the more responsible choice at my point of life back then. He was about two years old then and really loved a good round of feather on the stick. He was never a shy cat and greeted us at the door most days. It is a bit strange to be without a cat now. We will never be able to replace a cat like Monty but we hope to get some kittens in the near-ish future.

Spent another rainy Labor Day at Bumbershoot. The weather kept the crowds away and we were able to catch quite a few bands this year. My favorite had to be The Cave Singers.

Modest Mouse closed the night out on the main stage. I have seen Modest Mouse in concert a number of times, on small and large stages, and their live performance never lives up to their recorded work. The Lo-Fi feel of their early recorded work is lost on stage. They play everything faster and louder so the kids can mosh to it.

Visqueen and Say Hi were both fun. Point Juncture, WA and Akron/Family were good but a bit arty for my taste. As for Franz Ferdinand, I can’t understand the appeal of this kind of noise.

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.

Headed over to Mazama for a quick vacation. This was our first trip with Emily and our new Prius and both did well.

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.