I “Heart” Shiny Trailers!!!

On the way to the Fiesta grounds. Following behind one of many shiny trailers

Day 116        October 3, 2014

Albuquerque, New Mexico

First thing in the morning, we lined up with all the other Airstreams, to caravan into the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta grounds. That in itself, was super fun! Shiny trailer after shiny trailer, parading down the highway, and finally coming to a halt in our designated area next to the balloon launching field.

Morning line-up to start the caravan to the Fiesta grounds

Following behind one of many shiny trailers

Fiona, in her designated spot for the next 5 days

There wasn’t a whole lot going on in the afternoon, so after getting all settled in our spot, Mark and I took a bike ride to…well…to somewhere. I don’t really know where we were. We just followed the bike path along the aqueduct, and meandered around until we found a proper coffee shop.

We found a nice coffee shop…..

And found some nice stout at the coffee shop!

I love a beer that gives you instructions on what time of day to drink which beverages….

The evening was spent hanging out with the other ‘streamers, and making new friends. The crazy fun wouldn’t begin until the morning!

Another Day, Another Brewery? Maybe, Maybe Not!

Following Mark and Dax on the hike up to Signal Hill

Day 88     September 5, 2014

St. John’s, Newfoundland

Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Since arriving in St. John’s the day before, we’d already sampled some local Quidi Vidi beers. However, we hadn’t yet actually visited the nearby village of Quidi Vidi, or the Quidi Vidi Brewing Company. That was Priority #1.

Had we been warned, we’d have parked outside of the little village and walked the rest of the way. But, we hadn’t been warned, and we drove right into the village. Not so smart. The streets were super narrow, winding, and hilly. A test of our driving skills and of our patience. We almost got stuck at the end of a street with almost no way to turn around….almost.

Quidi Vidi

Quidi Vidi

Quidi Vidi

We checked out the Quidi Vidi brewery, hoping to get a tour and have lunch. Unfortunately though, they don’t serve food. Even though it’d mean missing the brewery tour, we were way too hungry to stick around, so we moved on.

We found lunch and beers at the Inn of Olde. And by “lunch,” I mean, soup, ‘cause that’s all they served. Not one of our finer meals, but you couldn’t beat the atmosphere. This place was kind of a trippy pub with all kinds of crazy crap and memorabilia hanging  on every square inch of the ceiling and walls.

Inn of Olde

Front door to Inn of Olde

Mark  @ Inn of Olde

Inn of Olde

Inn of Olde

Old church that’s now a private residence. Quidi Vidi

After a good walk-a-bout the village, and satisfied that we’d “done” Quidi Vidi, we left and drove to the Johnson Geo Centre. The Geo Centre was a cool place. It’s basically a museum built underground, dedicated to geology. Hard to believe, since I almost failed geology 101 in college, but, I loved this place! There were movies, and interactive exhibits, and, just fun shit!

Johnson Geo Centre

When the centre closed for the day, we retrieved the pups from the space shuttle, and went for a little walk across the street. But first we had to pose the pups in front of the big dog statues in front of the Geo Centre. One of the statues was a Newfoundland dog, and the other statue was a Labrador Retriever. We hadn’t thought about this before, but this far away Province had two namesake dogs! Impressive!

The Newfie, the Lab, the Trixie, and the Dax

What started out as a short dog walk, turned into an epic hike. We had inadvertently found ourselves on this cool hiking path that wound around a little village by the harbor, around the sometimes precarious hillside, and all the way up the backside and up to Signal Hill. It was magnificent!!

Beginning of our epic hike

On the hike up to Signal Hill

On the hike up to Signal Hill

On the hike up to Signal Hill

On the hike up to Signal Hill

Following Mark and Dax on the hike up to Signal Hill

Looking back at the path we’d hiked up on.

We finished off the day with dinner at Tavola, on Water Street. Sweet potato soup, salad, ravioli, and some sissy pink lemonade spritzers that were oh so delicious! Great end to a great day!

Ravioli @ Tavola

Pink Lemonade Spritzers. Not just for sissies!

Canadians Are Nice People Too

Niagara Falls, from the Canadian side. So much water!

Day 43      July 22      part 2

Today was a big day for us, as our road trip became an international affair. We were crossing the border into Canada, via the Rainbow Bridge, to get a better look at Niagara Falls.

We were hoping we wouldn’t have any problems with customs, what with our space shuttle and our canine critters. Ends up it was all quite fast and simple.

The most complex question we were asked was, “How much beer do you have?” Uh…well, how much did we start with a couple days ago, and how much have we drunk (drinken? drank? dranked?). A short computation in my head, and I shouted….”Four. We have four beers.” At the exact same time, Mark shouted, “Twelve. We have twelve beers.” The guard waved us on through anyways.

Oh Canada!

The first thing we noticed about Canada, was how beautifully landscaped and how clean it was. Not only was it much nicer than the American side, but the Canadians also had a 2000% better view of Niagara Falls.

We were immediately smitten with Canada, and were wondering why more Americans don’t move there. We suspect it’s because Canadian immigration weeds out the weak by asking, “Can you withstand the long cold winters up here?”

The second thing we noticed about Canada, was how nice the Canadians are.

We asked a young parking attendant, where we could park the space shuttle. He gave us directions to the RV parking area, where we’d then catch the free shuttle back down to the Falls. He confirmed that, yes, we could take our dogs on the shuttle bus.

We parked where we were told, and walked to the shuttle bus stop. But when we tried to catch the shuttle bus, we were told that, most definitely, no, dogs were NOT allowed on the bus.

It was way too hot and humid to leave the dogs in the RV, so, we weren’t quite sure what to do. And then, out of the blue, a couple of guys who were working on the grounds crew, who had figured out what was going on with us and the dogs, came over, and offered to drive us down to the Falls in their work truck.

We were so grateful for their kindness! What nice guys! What nice Canadians!

After arriving in style in the Parks Department truck, we had a great time walking around with the pups. Niagara Falls, from the Canadian side, was spectacular!

Niagara Falls & tour boat

Mark @ the falls

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

To return to our RV, I waited at the Falls with the dogs, while Mark took the shuttle bus back to our RV. He then drove down and picked me up.

We completed the day with a beautiful drive to Niagara-On-The-Lake, where we dined and drank at The Irish Harp Restaurant. Our waiter was a young Irish guy, working in Canada for the summer. We tipped him well, because, as Mark pointed out, we must keep the Irish happy so that they keep producing Guinness.

Lake Niagara

 

Niagara-On-The-Lake

Beautiful flight of beer

Canadians…not afraid to have fun. Wading pool in the park in Niagara-On-The-Lake

And then we tucked in for the night, just down the road, at the Pine Ridge RV Park and Campground. Our first night in Canada!

Our first Canadian RV Park

Fiona’s first night in Canada!

A Tragic Event @ The Airstream Mothership

The Mothership. Jackson Center, Ohio

Day 38      July 17

This would be Day #2 at the Airstream factory service center. We were having some warranty repairs done, as well as having a couple things tweaked especially for us.

Just like the day before, we brought Fiona into the service center at 7:00 am….and sat and waited. Today was better though, ‘cause we spent more time hanging out with the people we’d met the day before, who were also there having service done on their trailers and motorhomes.

Besides the hanging out and socializing, two amazing things took place on this day. One good. One bad.

Good things first….I got to go on the daily 2:00 factory tour, while Mark stayed in the lobby with the dogs. The tour was really cool. Airstreams are, for the most part, hand built. It was inspiring to see all the craftsmanship that goes into building an Airstream trailer. They are shiny things of great beauty!

Start of the factory tour!

Testing for water-tightness.

(Side note…the only photos allowed on the tour are at the start of entering the factory, and of the water testing.)

And then the bad…the tragic event….That evening, while camped once again at the terra-port with some of our new friends, I discovered that the service guys had completely broken the neck of my guitar into two pieces! WTF???!!!

A musical tragedy

They had had to empty everything out of the back of our motorhome, in order to do some electrical work. And somehow, they must have either stepped on my guitar (it was in a soft case), or put something heavy on top of it, and blammo…disaster! You’d think, either way, they would have noticed. Go figure.

Well, I was pretty bummed about my newfound lack of a guitar to play. But I was also relieved that it was just a cheap travel guitar. So, no expletives were flying, and no steam was coming out of my ears, and no verbal threats were issued.

I had another beer, and would deal with the guitar in the morning.

Great beer with Airstream trailer on the label.

Good Beer & Pizza Makes Us Happy!

Flight of Beer @ Double Mountain Brewery

After 8 or 9 days on the road, Mark and I were falling into our “jobs” quite nicely. Mark cooked, I did the dishes. Mark dealt with the electric/water/sewer hook-ups, while I dealt with cleaning the bathroom, and sweeping the floor, and doing the laundry. 

At home, I usually do most of the cooking. But as soon as I’m in the RV, I become cooking impaired. I’m like a deer in headlights, and can’t even begin to figure out where to start on a meal. Thank goodness, Mark took to it right away and has been enjoying being the head chef. I enjoy that he cooks for me, even if he is a wee bit bossy when he cooks. He’ll deny it, but it’s true.

My big contribution on Day #9, was that I rigged up a way to prop the bathroom door open so that it didn’t just slam shut on us. It’s small things like this, that make life easier on the road in a tiny space. It’s now day #27, and my contraption has held up well, and we use it every day.

I spent a good part of the day reorganizing stuff in the space shuttle. This wasn’t my first reorganization, and wouldn’t be my last. The more organized stuff is, the easier day to day life is. Small things, like having crap fall out of the overhead compartment onto your head every day, can aggravate the hell out of you. So, organizing your stuff is important!

So yea, Day #9 was pretty laid-back. 

In the evening we drove into downtown Hood River. With the weather being super clear (i.e., so much wind, there wasn’t so much as a cloud in the sky…Hood River is like the windsurfing capital of the planet, for good reason), we had a stellar view of Mt. Hood as we drove across the bridge. Glorious!

Mt. Hood, Oregon

And then, probably the best part of the day…..dinner & beers at Double Mountain Brewery. Yummy pizza & beers, good service, nice people! Seeing Mt. Hood was cool, but it’s just hard to beat good pizza and beer for the Number 1 spot!!

Double Mountain Brewery