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Finally posting! I am mostly over being sick, but am still having some back problems from the fall.
The day I left, the winds had changed and ash from the Eagle Creek Fire was snowing on Portland again. I-84 had reopened the previous night, but had closed again that morning. The alternate route to I-84 is SR-14 in Washington, but Washington decided to close it to truck traffic and screw over our ports for a good couple of weeks. Traffic was bad headed out of town as trucks drove slowly, trying to figure out new routes. The whole long drive I was breathing smoke from the Oregon, Washington and BC fires.
I made it to Vashon! It's an island just west of Seattle that is only reachable by ferry, despite it's fairly large size. The island is a weird mix of rich people wanting views and access to rural areas, and fairly typical run down rural areas. It used to be very hard to spend the night there for under $350 bucks, but Air B&B has created somewhere between 60-100 more affordable stays on the Island. Most of them are fantastic, private cabins on farms for less than a midrange hotel night in Seattle.
This is the inside of mine:
Two queen beds, tiny kitchen, looking towards protected park land, so many cute, custom details.
Sadly, either this or the other ABnB I stayed in is likely why I got a tummy virus. So, while I loved both ones I stayed in, this is likely my first and last trip with them. ABnB properties mostly fall into 3 categories:
* Room in someone's house, sharing the bathroom and kitchen. Yeah, I'd rather not.
* Whole houses or apartments to one's self. These are often illegal and hated by locals for the effect on housing/rental prices. Portland just cracked down and shut down a large percent of local ABnBs for being illegal. They were all this type.
* Tiny houses and other ADUs in yards. This was the happy middle space with legality, compliance with ABnB policies and also privacy. Sadly, all those adorable cabins and RVs and even those treehouses I so badly wanted to try mostly have tank water supplies. I am not likely to want to risk one again.
I made it and went right to Dragon's Head Cider for a tasting. I was supposed to meet some people there, but they had a problem at the last minute and couldn't make it.
Dragon's Head was really good and a wonderful tasting experience.
I didn't intend to also go to the other cider place on the island, but in wandering around afterwards I came across Nashi Cider and had to stop. They were super nice. They do almost all pear ciders. The asian pear was fantastic, but the others didn't do to much for me.
One of the owners had a bunny in her pocket:
I mostly just wandered, trying to find the parks and beaches. I gave up on one because both Google and Apple maps were trying to get me to drive over private property. Both apps were horrible for the area and kept trying to route me through Seattle to get anywhere. It was nuts.
I found a few natural areas. Had some deer walk right by me. Vashon is definitely an odd place. Some parts are super welcoming. Others do not like visitors either because it's a rich exclusive area or because it's a fairly run down rural area giving you that 'what are you doing here' stare.
I'm not bothering to post my few landscape shots. Forest fire smoke is good for some photography, but was not good for the shots I was after. One of the few views I wanted had a couple illegally camping in it and the guy was not friendly about me being there. He actually tried to block me from going to the north side of the beach because the only way was by their little camp. You can take the girl out of the East Coast ... Yeah, I ignored Territorial Bro and walked right through.
Not a great start, but at least I saw Vashon. I'd be wanting to. It's a 37 square mile island right off of Seattle with no bridges. It definitely turned out to be it's own odd little place.
The day I left, the winds had changed and ash from the Eagle Creek Fire was snowing on Portland again. I-84 had reopened the previous night, but had closed again that morning. The alternate route to I-84 is SR-14 in Washington, but Washington decided to close it to truck traffic and screw over our ports for a good couple of weeks. Traffic was bad headed out of town as trucks drove slowly, trying to figure out new routes. The whole long drive I was breathing smoke from the Oregon, Washington and BC fires.
I made it to Vashon! It's an island just west of Seattle that is only reachable by ferry, despite it's fairly large size. The island is a weird mix of rich people wanting views and access to rural areas, and fairly typical run down rural areas. It used to be very hard to spend the night there for under $350 bucks, but Air B&B has created somewhere between 60-100 more affordable stays on the Island. Most of them are fantastic, private cabins on farms for less than a midrange hotel night in Seattle.
This is the inside of mine:
Two queen beds, tiny kitchen, looking towards protected park land, so many cute, custom details.
Sadly, either this or the other ABnB I stayed in is likely why I got a tummy virus. So, while I loved both ones I stayed in, this is likely my first and last trip with them. ABnB properties mostly fall into 3 categories:
* Room in someone's house, sharing the bathroom and kitchen. Yeah, I'd rather not.
* Whole houses or apartments to one's self. These are often illegal and hated by locals for the effect on housing/rental prices. Portland just cracked down and shut down a large percent of local ABnBs for being illegal. They were all this type.
* Tiny houses and other ADUs in yards. This was the happy middle space with legality, compliance with ABnB policies and also privacy. Sadly, all those adorable cabins and RVs and even those treehouses I so badly wanted to try mostly have tank water supplies. I am not likely to want to risk one again.
I made it and went right to Dragon's Head Cider for a tasting. I was supposed to meet some people there, but they had a problem at the last minute and couldn't make it.
Dragon's Head was really good and a wonderful tasting experience.
I didn't intend to also go to the other cider place on the island, but in wandering around afterwards I came across Nashi Cider and had to stop. They were super nice. They do almost all pear ciders. The asian pear was fantastic, but the others didn't do to much for me.
One of the owners had a bunny in her pocket:
I mostly just wandered, trying to find the parks and beaches. I gave up on one because both Google and Apple maps were trying to get me to drive over private property. Both apps were horrible for the area and kept trying to route me through Seattle to get anywhere. It was nuts.
I found a few natural areas. Had some deer walk right by me. Vashon is definitely an odd place. Some parts are super welcoming. Others do not like visitors either because it's a rich exclusive area or because it's a fairly run down rural area giving you that 'what are you doing here' stare.
I'm not bothering to post my few landscape shots. Forest fire smoke is good for some photography, but was not good for the shots I was after. One of the few views I wanted had a couple illegally camping in it and the guy was not friendly about me being there. He actually tried to block me from going to the north side of the beach because the only way was by their little camp. You can take the girl out of the East Coast ... Yeah, I ignored Territorial Bro and walked right through.
Not a great start, but at least I saw Vashon. I'd be wanting to. It's a 37 square mile island right off of Seattle with no bridges. It definitely turned out to be it's own odd little place.
