Apricots: How I've Been Spending My Summer

Okay ladies and gentlemen, it has been far too long since I've done anything with this here blog. Not for lack of wanting to but for lack of time/lack of ideas/increasing amounts of the soul-sucking-anxiety-that-nothing-really-matters-and-this-is-all-just-meaningless 😆 (You guys I am loving the discovery that you can insert emojis into these posts).

Anyway I've genuinely been thinking a lot about the kind of content I want out here, so much so that I've lost track of actually doing it. I think that an issue that can arise when you look at social media and content creators is that if you're a small content creator or really just doing this for the fun of it (or really because why the hell not 🤷[like me]), you forget that there is no audience to impress. Don't get me wrong, if you do read this and you enjoy it, I really do appreciate you. But I get this feeling that if I am going to do something I have to throw my heart and soul into it and that's just not true. Yes if you have something where you want to progress, like education or your career, then you should definitely do that with all the passion and hard work that you can muster so that you can succeed, but that being said success isn't the same for everyone. Success for someone may be views and comments on a video or web page, but I think for me, right now, it's just doing something and producing a product on a regular basis. To stop procrastinating and just do something that I want to do regardless of the comments other people say.

So that was my long winded way of saying I made apricot fruit leather, and pie. and there's probably going to be a lot of apricot themed things this summer (like maybe jam?), because our tree is fruiting like crazy! It's also me saying you might see me posting here more often (I'm trying). But let's get on to the goodness.

The first thing I did was, obviously, pick all the fresh apricots from our tree. Our tortoise, Slim, loved this! My brother came outside and would just shake the tree and a lot of the really ripe ones would just fall to the ground and then I would go and pick them up. Slim has been eating the ones off the ground like crazy and so he fancied it a game to see how many he could eat before I collected them. Hissing at me and grounding his hind legs every time I'd pick up one of the ones he had his eye on. He was actually pretty angry that my brother and I were out there stealing all his snacks! We had an apricot tree at the old house and I remember I made a really excellent apricot pie, but I stupidly never kept the recipe and I don't remember Slim being so into the apricots, bus sure enough he was out there at the ready to help consume them.

So we collected about half of one large grocery bag, and I went to work washing, pitting and quartering the apricots I ended up having enough for one pie plus two gallon zip lock bags which I froze.

For the pie I just made a simple crust and followed a recipe online that basically said to add the quartered apricots in a bowl with sugar, cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg and toss. Then pour into pie pan and cover with the top layer of crust.
The one thing I did do that I wish I hadn't was that I egg washed the crust and sprinkled sugar on the top crust before baking so it came out a little more black than I had hoped but the crust wasn't hared and tasted perfectly fine.

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Fresh apricot pie! 😋 . . . . . . . . . . #coffeecakebooks #blogger #baker #freshpie #pie #summerbakes #sumerpie #cuteaspie

A post shared by Delaney Linnea Barrett (@coffeecakebooks) on Jul 1, 2019 at 9:06pm PDT

After that I was on a roll! I had a ton of apricots and nothing to do with them, so I started looking up recipes. I thought about making jam but with the limited amount of people in my house who actually like the taste of apricots and the fact that we are somehow running out of canning jars, despite the fact that we haven't had to buy any in years. I had to go with plan B.

Years ago my mom bought a dehydrator she found somewhere and it didn't have a manual. she managed to use it to make some apple chips once, with the intention of learning more about the machine, but we never got around to it. So I looked up the manual and another recipe and I was on my way. So after a bit of trial and error I ended up with this recipe.

• 2 cups Pitted, Quartered Apricots
• 1/4 cup Honey/Sugar
• 1 tsp. Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. Clove
• 1/4 tsp. Nutmeg

Combine all ingredients into a food processor and puree until smooth, paying close attention to the chunks of apricot. All the recipes differed on whether they used honey or sugar, I tried one batch with each and determined that I liked the honey batch better. the sugar batch was grainier and much sweeter.

Once smooth spread mixture onto a fruit leather tray for a dehydrator, and set the dehydrator for Fruit setting. Alternately you can spread it onto a baking tray with a silpat or wax paper and bake in the oven at about 150F until dry. The recipes I found were all for the oven so I kind of did some guess work. I think over all this stuff was in the dehydrator for about 18-24 hours. he first batch too as little as 12 but came out brittle and hard to peel from the tray. It was way too thin.

With the second batch I filled the trays all the way to the top and gently placed them into the dehydrator. This was the batch that took about 24 hours, but It was also my best batch. It ended up coming out really nice and even, incredibly shiny, and chewy but able to tear easily.

The next issue I had with the recipe was actually with the portions per drying, and the shape itself. Although this dehydrator works great, we currently only have two of the trays for making the fruit leather. all the other trays are the regular drying racks you place solids onto, and they have holes and mesh for aeration. This is an easy fix of an obstacle as Amazon sells them in a 2 pack for $7.99 but still it slowed me down since I ended up with a good gallon and a half of puree.

The thing I learned about this process is it really is just a waiting game. In order to dry all the puree it took about 7-9 days. The tricky park was knowing the difference between a sticky top because the dehydrator is so hot or a sticky top because the batter isn't quite firmed. I did have to take a few out at the beginning and let them cool only to see that they were in fact still a little mushy and set them back in the dehydrator again. But all that being said, it was a pretty successful attempt at my first dehydrator fruit leather and the first time I made fruit leather in general since about 10th grade.

To store fruit leather I decided to basically make my own Fruit Roll-Ups with some wax paper, which was better in theory. The trays were donut shaped so  cutting the into strips made them a but uneven, but I worked with what I had and I think they turned out pretty good.

I tried two different methods for rolling the fruit leather. The first was to cut it into strips and lay them out onto the saran wrap and roll them up. Although you get more even strip s with this method, it's time consuming and a but more wasteful with the saran wrap. the second method was to roll the whole thing into the saran wrap and then cut it into "logs" essentially. The issue with this was that whether I used a knife or kitchen scissors it was pretty thick, and it not only left the sides exposed to dry but you would have to be mindful of picking the plastic out of the roll as you ate it. For this reason I think that baking it is a lot easier. If you bake it batter in the oven already spread out on the parchment paper it' not only easier to roll it's easier to cut, because you can cut it warm, rather than waiting for it to cool on the trays like I had to. But I do believe that the dehydrator makes a nice thin, and crisp leather, and I believe it takes less time ( not to mention it's on the counter so it doesn't render your oven useless for 6 hours). But I do have to say that having done this both ways there is no clear winner to me: oven or dehydrator. That being said I believe the last time I made oven baked fruit leather it was a berry and dried much faster because it was thinner and and a bit more dry going in.

But that could also be in perspective that I did it during a full day of 4-H meetings so the time wasn't spent waiting impatiently.

But all in all it was a nice little expiriment, and I really did like the flavor that came out. It's still apricot but with the cinnamon and nutmeg it almost has a pumpkin flavor to it, which gave me some good ideas for the fall, so you might see a theme coming up later in the year.

I'll leave you with the last few pictures of my attempts at rolling the leather. again I think the best decision is to cut the strips first but I will say one tip is to fold about n inch of the wrap over the edge of the strips before you roll, and doing a few a time works best if you have short fingers like I do.














But It was an enjoyable experience. Maybe I'll try again if we get another harvest of apricots and try and focus on keeping it thick and not adding too muck spiced to overpower the fruit flavor.

I also think we might have a fig tree in the backyard so making some fig rolls as well as fig leather would be a fun test. But all in all I'm excited to do some more stuff with this dehydrator. Looking in the manual I found recipes for dried fruit, dried veggies and even some tips on making your own spices and seasoned nuts. who knows maybe I'll get brave enough to make beef jerky! ~Delaney

Day Tripper: Mother's Day 2018

We have officially started the countdown. I leave for camp on Monday, and I am freaking out about the amount of stuff I still have to do! I have a test on Thursday that I have been studying like crazy, and I am just praying I pass. This weekend, however, was a nice reprieve from the craziness that I've fallen into as I get ready to leave. My family decided to go down to San Diego for Mother's Day and do some of our favorite things down there. We Drove down to Balboa Park and spent the day walking around the Spanish Village which is one of my favorite places in the world. The flowers are gorgeous, the buildings are gorgeous, the ground is gorgeous! I absolutely love the weather in San Diego and it was just lovely, we stepped into some of the shops, got some coffee at the coffee cart, and then walked through the park.

One of my favorite things about San Diego is that a lot of the old buildings are these expansive adobe structures, with big double doors, or gated archways, and the botanical gardens are probably my favorite example of that. I've started getting back into photography (not that I need another hobby), I'm nowhere near good but I've really enjoyed it, and I think a couple of these came out pretty nice. Some of the plants there were so cool looking that I spent a lot of time taking pictures of them, and then probably the same amount of time searching for my brand-new sunglasses that I put down and lost somewhere in the building (Thanks for finding them Chel!).

After the gardens we walked around the square and looked at the vendors and performers scattered around the park, before walking over to the sculptures at the front of the museum. It was funny looking at them as an adult because I used to love this one of the man and the woman as a kid, but on a second look it's actually a really strange mosaic. The snake is kind of weird too but I didn't get a really good picture of it because we stared to head to the International Houses.

 

If you have never been to Balboa Park, I highly recommend it if only for the International Houses. This was my favorite thing as a kid, the best part of all of San Diego in my mind. The International Houses is a village in the park where each building represents a different country, they have folk music playing, photos and displays about the culture of that country and then each building has a sample of a traditional food from their country ( I highly recommend Germany, Poland, Israel and Norway). They will even do events where one country will take over the square for a week or so and they'll have performers and food, and all kinds of fun stuff for the family. This weekend the House of Norway put on the event, and there were booths selling flags, T-shirts, cookies, and all kinds of good things! I picked up these chocolate-covered caramels and they were gone within a day or two, because we all loved them. We spent a long time wandering there, because it's just so much fun to see what kind of events they're doing down there. And then our last stop was walking through the palm canyon trail through the park before heading out to dinner.

For dinner we went to El Indio right off the 5 on India street. They have some of the best Mexican food, and if you are planning a trip to San Diego it's a must. I normally just get tacos or a burrito, but I went for the chicken fajitas this time and they did not disappoint, and no trip to El Indio would be complete without their seasoned chips, or cinnamon sugar chips (which are to die for).

Our final stop on our Mother's Day extravaganza was a trip down to Sea Port Village, which was really where I felt most at home. My family has been going to Sea Port Village since before most of us were born. Every one of the shops down there is perfect, the weather is always so nice and cool, and if you go near the evening before they close the crowds aren't bad and so you can just wander and enjoy the scenery. Also there's a gazebo which is always a sign you should go there often (or that I watch too much Gilmore Girls). My two favorite purchases of this weekend were the color changing nail polish I bought at Del Sol that gives me life, and the pin my sister Bri found that says "We Mermaid For Each Other" and that all of us girls now own. Which is basically the best saying ever in my mind, because not only is it about being a mermaid, but it's also a pun. And if you know anything about me you know I love a bad pun.

Let me know how you spent your Mother's Day down below!

~Delaney

Dewey Readathon April 2018

I woke up really late this morning. My plan was to start getting up earlier and earlier these past few weeks so that I am ready to jump into camp this summer, but last night we went out to see Avengers: Infinity War (I can't even talk about it, guys) and I didn't go to bed until like one in the morning because I decided to clean my room after that (why did I do that instead of going to bed or better yet start reading? IDK I'm insane). So I woke up at around 9-9:30ish this morning and am just now sitting down to read. I'm the only one home so maybe I'll be able to get through a lot, but we'll see.

First up I'll be reading A Wrinkle In Time, which I started on the Eleventh but I'm restarting because I haven't picked it up in about two weeks because of my stupid schedule.

A Wrinkle In Time - 12:09 PM - 1:18 PM, 2:12 PM - 3:07 PM

Cars, Books, Camp and Babies: My Crazy Next Few Weeks

Busy, busy couple of  weeks! I honestly haven't had the time to sit down and write a post in a while because I have just been on the go 24/7. Car shopping (I bought a car!), babysitting, leading youth group, getting projects done around the house, and prepping for camp have been all I’ve thought about for the last few weeks! Unfortunately I got sick because of my crazy schedule about a two weeks ago and it took forever to shake! I started feeling a lot better at the beginning of last week and finally got rid of the sore throat and stuffiness by the end of it, but in a crude twist of fate I ended spending all of Saturday and Sunday working on my car in the 90+ degree weather and now I’m healing from a bad sunburn. But on the bright side (no pun intended) my Dad and I got a lot of things accomplished on my car and it's soon to be in top shape. Which will be nice seeing as my to do list has been building up like crazy in anticipation for camp.

I started working for a camp called Forest Home in 2017. Forest Home is a Christian camp based in the San Bernardino Mountains whose mission statement is “Encounter Jesus. Experience Transformation. Engage the World.” They run camp for all different ages at their main campus in the mountains, and they have a VBS program called Neighborhood Day Camp which was designed to take the fun of camp down the mountain to get communities plugged into their local church. I’ve been working with NDC as a counselor for the past two summers. It’s a ton of work but incredibly worth it! This will be my first summer leading counselors as a Crew Lead, and I am both crazy excited and crazy nervous. I’ve done tons of leadership as a teenager through 4-H, but nothing at this scale.

I’ll be in charge of a setup/tear down crew in the mornings and afternoons as well as a group of the counselors and kids during the day while they go to all of their activities. We have tons of fun activities like inflatable water slides, a climbing wall, and all kinds of games and songs as we teach kids about our amazing God. It’s a ton of work but an absolute blast! The camp goes for about ten weeks in the summer, and has previously had two teams, each of them at a different location each week. This will be our first year with our third team, which I am so pumped for! I honestly can’t wait for the summer to start but there is still so much to do for me to be ready to go. I leave near the end of May which means I have less than two months to get everything ready to go, but I’m hoping not to leave many thing to the last minute. I just bought a few books that I'm going to start reading through for bible studies, and I'm going to be bringing the Thrive leadership curriculum I used in 4-H to do some fun team building and leadership activities as well. I've never done a daily devotional outside of a mission trip program I did in 6th grade, so I was unsure of which one to pick. I know some of them, especially the women's devotionals, can be sappy and I really didn't want to go down that path. I'm not into that, and I find it really unhelpful when leading others, so I decided to just pick something that I could do my own mix on. I decided to go with Trusting God Day by Day by Joyce Meyer because it seemed to be more of a quick lesson with a verse and a few questions, which is more my cup of tea. I know Joyce Meyer is a well known author of books on faith for women, but I've never read any of her work, so I figured I'd try it out and if it's not my jam I can alter it with the Thrive curriculum.
The other book I picked up is one I've been wanting to read for a while now but never went out and bought. Teen Wisdom and Other Oxymorons by Zoe Rose Harness is an account of Zoe's family's goal to visit every US state. In Teen Wisdom Zoe shares the adventure they had and the lessons they learned through their trip as well as through her experience in working with service organizations. I knew Zoe in high school for a time and have been wanting to read her book for a while but never got the chance, so I'm super excited to jump into this one. I figured I could use all three books to make my own thing, and see where it goes. I don't want to just be winging it because I have had Crew Leads that do that before and I didn't really get a lot out of it, but I don't want it to feel like a sermon.

Babysitting and youth group have been going well lately. I babysit once a week for a small group from my church, and the kids are all rambunctious but super fun and we all have a blast just running about and playing games, or watching many many hours of Spirit on Netflix (That show guys... there's a reason I wasn't into horses when I was a kid). But it's been going good. I also have a group of girls in Jr. High that I have been working with for the past two years through my church's youth group, Remnant. We've been doing well, and we'll be finishing out the year by the end of spring. It's been a really great experience because I have never been all that great with older kids and teens, but I'm actually doing pretty well. Fifth grade is about where I max out on being a good teacher, teens and preteens just find me embarrassing, I'm not that great at relating to them. I was really nervous when I started working with this group, but I've got a good bunch and we seem to be getting on pretty well. My sister Grace is in my group and she'll be going into eighth grade this autumn, which is crazy to think about! It's really weird and silly to see her be a little teenager with her friends and think about the fact that she'll be 13 this June!

That's about everything I've been doing lately, it's just a lot of car maintenance and a lot of late nights out working with church. In the next few weeks I'll be getting the rest of my shopping done for camp, because I still have some things I want to get for my car before I leave so I will be very busy in the next coming weeks.

As I get closer to the trip I'm going to write a post on the tips and tricks on packing light that I've learned from doing NDC, because it's all information I wish I had when I started camp, and it's useful when travelling in general because I now know how to pack a ton of stuff really efficiently. I start on May 21st, so I'll be keeping you posted on things as I get closer to that date! I'm super excited and also really nervous, but I just can't wait to get started! The only other upcoming thing is the spring Dewey Readathon on April 28th. I would love to participate but I might not get a chance because the week following it is going to be crazy busy and I don't know if I'll have time, but I did just get a Litsy account a few weeks ago, and I'm trying to use it more often so if you are of the bookish variety you should head over there and add me (coffeecakeandbooks), it's basically Instagram for book people.

Let me know how your week's been going in the comments and I'll talk to you soon!
~Delaney

Reading Update 3/13/18

It's been a little while since I did one of these, so I thought I'd do a quick reading update for the past month. I've been getting back into a habit of reading more often and I've really enjoyed it. I'm trying to watch less TV, because I think it's affecting my sleep. I'm finding out that if I'm looking at a screen for too much time before I go to bed, I tend to not be as well rested the next morning. I know there have been studies done on the effect the blue light electronics have on our eyes and sleep patterns, and I've been experiencing some of the same effects like headaches, tired eyes, and back pain. So, I've been trying to give myself some buffer time before I go to bed where I don't use my phone, tablet, laptop, or TV. I've actually been feeling a bit better and sleeping a bit better as well. Though this habit has been a little side tracked with the release of Jessica Jones season 2 (It's so good you guys!!!). So I've been trying to devote some time before bed to reading physical books, and I think it's been working.

About a week ago I got another book to review from LibraryThing. I've been in this pattern with Early Reviewer where I mostly pick up children's books, more specifically picture books, partially because they seem to be more interesting the other books I see on there, and because they're short, and I know I can finish them in a day or two. This latest one was called Sakura's Cherry Blossoms, and it was very cute. The book tells the story of a young Japanese girl who is moving to America and shows her deal with struggle like learning a new language, making friends in a new place, and missing her home. The things that Sakura misses the most about Japan are he grandmother, and the cherry blossom tree the two of them would sit under. It's a very sweet book that helps little kids with the fear of moving and starting a new school and affirms that even if you're far away you will always be connected to your family. It was such a cute little book, and I can see it being a useful story. My youngest sister struggled with attachment each time my older three sisters moved out. This book illustrates how, no matter how far away you are, you will always have your family. It was an incredibly heartwarming story.

At the end of last month, I was reorganizing some books and I came across my old copies of The Chronicles of Narnia. My mom went through her books a while back and bought a new set of the series, and had given me her old paperbacks, and I had completely forgotten. I remember loving The Lion, The Which, and The Wardrobe when I was a kid, but for some reason I never read the other books in the series. I loved the movies growing up and was always frustrated that there had never been a full theatrical version of the entire series, though it did get close in the 1980's TV serial, and the latest film series is supposed to pick up again at the end of this year or beginning of the next. I read the first book so many times as a kid. In the christian home school world it was one of few books I started young readers on. Which isn't a bad thing, but a little funny and cliche now. But regardless I wanted to actually read all of them for the first time, so I picked up the first book, over our trip to Oregon, and finished it a couple days ago. I plan to pick up the second one as soon as I finish a couple of the review books I've got to get through, but this week I am going to be reading A Wrinkle in Time before I go and see the movie. This is one that my sister loved as a kid, and I had never read it. I'd seen a version of it from years ago, but it never stuck, and that new trailer looks so good!

I'm trying to get to a point where I'm only picking up one book at a time, but right now I have eight books I've picked up but haven't finished. Which, knowing me that's a pretty good number, because there was a time when this was my Currently reading pile:

This is my currently reading pile... #ihaveaproblem #GirlWhoReads

A post shared by Delaney Linnea Barrett (@coffeecakebooks) on May 8, 2016 at 10:46pm PDT

But I'm getting better!
~Delaney

Weekender

This post was supposed to go up on the 27th, but I had been exhausted from the weekend before that I had no energy to even look at my computer, but this week is better, though it might have something to do with the fact that I practically slept all weekend, a complete turnaround from the one previous.

A while back I started babysitting for a small group from my church on Thursdays, it's been really fun as I love working with kids and it's helped me earn some extra cash for a car, which I'm hoping to purchase before I leave for camp this summer. It usually goes from about 6 to 9, in the evening, but sometimes a little later. Normally this isn't an issue as Fridays are usually slow at work, but this weekend my dad, my sister Grace and I were catching a plane Friday at 6 in the morning to head up to Oregon to visit my grandparents. Thursday night was one of the most tiring it's ever been, all the kids had a ton of energy, and wanted to play all kinds of games, which was great seeing at they normally just sit in front of the TV all night, but the extra energy they all seemed to have made me incredibly tired on Friday morning, for anyone else this would probably be fine but I can't sleep sitting up or on my back, or in motion. So cars, planes and trains are all out of the question. I think I spent all of Friday on about five hours of sleep!

Snow in Portland as we landed. pc. Grace Barrett

We left the house at about 3:25 in the morning and drove out to LAX, where I got one of the best breakfast sandwiches I've had in a while at The Kitchen Counter by Wolfgang Puck, that I completely forgot to take a picture of, and a cup of liquid so dark that it teetered on the line between coffee and motor oil, but it woke me up enough to get through the airport. We boarded the plane and I read and took some pictures while the majority of the other passengers slept in the blue light of the plane. I decided to read something short for the next few weeks because I want to start getting in the habit of reading more often and it helps if I'm finishing books quickly. So I picked up my old copy of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and I have to say that it's the perfect light read for traveling.

The trip was smooth, and as we flew into Portland I got to see the sun rise and it was beautiful. But what was more beautiful was the thick layer of snow on the ground. I absolutely love cold weather, and I love trudging through the snow. We knew we would run into some but I didn't know the extent of it. As we were landing we could see piles of it brushed to the sides of the runway, and on the tops of buildings. Getting off the plane the air was incredibly cold and clear. And it was lovely! We got into the airport and had breakfast at

©Copyright 2016 Friends of Vista House

Unfortunately I chose to wear literal pajamas on the flight, and Grace did the smart thing, which was to put real clothes on, and layers at that. But the trip to the rental car was short and before I knew it I was all toasty in the car (we rented a Ford Fusion and it was a great car! Definitely on my list as I'm looking). And we headed out! We stopped in Multnomah Falls at Vista Point and changed into warmer attire, and then got to take some time to look at the gorgeous view of the river, and the gorgeous architecture. This building is basically a bathroom on a cliff. It's up a windy road and the ground level is an open marble room with bay windows looking out on the view, with stained glass windows above. It was beautiful and I wish I had gotten better pictures, but my phone was on the wrong setting and they all came out too dark. This place was so pretty and the coffee shop and gift shop below was really cute.



From there we drove up to the falls and hiked up to the Latourell waterfall. Which was easier said than done. The hike up was a little icy, and very snowy, and I was not wearing the right shoes, despite the fact that I waterproofed them at home a few nights before. The silliest thing is that upon writing this I remembered that I have a pair of snow boots in the back of my closet, and I have no idea why I didn't bring them on this trip (though I would have only used them once). But, nevertheless, it was a fun, if not death defying, hike up to the falls and I loved the little gift shop they had there too.

We then drove down to the coast and met my grandparents for dinner and we went to a local place they said they liked, The Oar House. Which is weird because when we got there it was half a bar and half a restaurant, and knowing my grandparents, who don't drink, it was the last place I'd see them going because the evening crowd was more like a bar and less like a sit down restaurant or diner, which is more their style. I actually though it was a pretty cool place and would have loved to come back during the day time when I could see it being a quieter place to go read to write with a beer or a coffee. The food was pretty good too, I had a chicken salad with feta, dried cranberries, and a vinaigrette, Grace got chicken strips and my dad got fish and chips. All of which were really good!

When we went back to my grandparents' house on the coast, we decided to take a walk down to the beach before we unpacked, and it was so cols and windy that all you could hear was the roar of the ocean. I wished I had gotten footage of it. I remember taking trips up there as a kid and in my memories it was always like a fairy tale. My grandmother's garden is gorgeous and when we traveled up there we would play games on the beach or ride the swing in the yard and it was always a nice reprieve. My grandmother isn't the nicest person. She's very blunt and critical, and my grandfather, although quieter, can be much of the same. Whenever they got a bit to bitchy we would go down to the beach, or just out to the backyard and play games. My older sisters always liked playing games where we were spies or orphans (we watched far too many movies) and so we would make something up and have a lot of fun. We hadn't had a trip like that in years so it was nice to share some of that with Grace who wasn't old enough to remember those summers.

Weirdly it felt very comforting to be there. Two summers ago while traveling with my summer job I stayed in a house that reminded me so much of my childhood, and I soon realized what it was. When I was little my great grand parents, on my mother's side, had light blue-grey carpet in their house. When they eventually moved in with my grandparents my Papa renovated the guest room and put in blue carpet. My dad's parents have been living in this house since I can remember and their guest room had blue carpet as well. So somehow I have associated blue carpet with a comforting/homey feeling. Even though it can be hard to get along with my dad's parents they are genuinely very generous people. My grandmother loves to shop and is always offering to get us things when we're up there, and she's always cooked and cleaned and driven. And this trip I can genuinely say I had a pleasant time spending it with her. Maybe it's the magic of the blue carpet, or maybe (more likely) my determination not to talk about race or politics with her no matter how many times she brought it up. I also found out where I get my dark humor from when I sat down to look at the 626 pictures she had on her camera dating back to 2009 and she about died laughing when she showed me this picture.

Cemetery = Recycling

We honestly had a really fun time with them when we set boundaries. My grandmother does tend to have struggles with control and so we had to make it clear that Grace and I were old enough to wander and explore, and after our first outing she didn't seem to mind it. We went to The Hatfield Marine Science Center and Grace and I spent so much time looking at everything. Though it was a fairly small museum there was a lot to look at. Grace is enamored with science and wants to be a Marine Biologist. She was so thrilled to spend part of the day looking at fossils, skeletons, old exploration equipment, and all the interactive things they have there. We even stayed for a Q&A about one of the octopuses (yes it's octopuses and not octopi because it's Greek not Latin) and she was enthralled by it. This museum is a really cool stop, and I'd love to come back again because there was a whole wing under renovation that doesn't open until later on in the year. It was really cool how they talked about the way that marine live affects the coastal cities in Oregon and vice versa. They had a section of the exhibit on fishing and diving. There was actually quite a bit of interactive stuff too like a wave maker in a tank of water and sand that showed you how beaches are shaped by the waves, and one where you had to power a little lighthouse by making waves.

We didn't stay for long but we got to see everything, though there were things I didn't get to read about I did see them all. But I was home schooled and the desire to read every plaque in a museum is usually contained to our kind. After that we headed to Aquarium Village and looked at the really cool little shops. Everything there is painted in bright colors with big pirate statues and the whole thing was like a quirky cartoon. We went into a little antique store with all kinds of stuff, including a ton of (slightly terrifying) porcelain dolls, and a lot of knitted blankets and hats and doilies. There was a glass blowing store where you can watch them make vases and other things, and they even had a class going while we were there. And then we went into a weird little Egyptian alchemy store where the witch offered to give me a tarot reading. I kid you not. We found a little diner to have lunch in called Mollie's Food Follies, which was cute decorated in tons of little things and pictures all over the walls, and a ton of succulents in the front window, but I wasn't too thrilled about the food, which was a shame. A lot of the shops were local artists in various mediums: glass, paint, sculptures, etc. and the whole strip was decorated with their art. It was super cool to look at.

Aquarium Village was a really cute stop
 with brightly colored shops.

That evening we went to a place in Lincoln City called Wild Flower Grill for dinner where I had a freaking good chicken pot pie with cooked veggies and some amazing paprika mashed potatoes and a puff pastry garnish. The pot pie was creamy and warm and a great reprieve from the rain outside. It was a fantastic meal! The restaurant reminded me of a small town B&B (but not in a creepy Cheshire Cat Inn from Gilmore Girls way). It was a small restaurant but super cute and it had quaint "tea time" vibe. The food seemed to be home cooking style comfort food, my dad had a clam chowder that he loved, and they had a Marionberry duck that, if I liked duck, I would have ordered because everything they had on it sounded so good. I told my brother, who likes duck, that we'd have to take him some time. By this time in the evening it was pouring rain so we headed back to my grandparent's house and got all cozy and Grace and I played card games before bed.

On Sunday we drove north and stopped at one of our favorite places in Tillamook, the Blue Heron cheese factory. We discovered this place a few years back when we went to visit the Tillamook cheese factory (because it's not vacation unless you learn something) and noticed this place a little ways down the road. They have some of the best blue cheese dressing you will ever have, and sell about every Marionberry flavored thing you can think of. I got a really excellent cracked black pepper brie on this trip that was so good. I did some wine tasting but because we were flying I didn't want to risk bringing a bottle with me so I'm ordering some from their website. We also bought some mustard that my dad liked, but we forgot to pack it in our checked luggage so it got confiscated at the airport so I'm ordering some of that as well. Most of what we bough was little things of cheese and crackers, and other little snacks, and then we headed out to Cannon Beach.

Photo by Jessica Keener, 1859 Oregon's Magazine

We got to out of the car and went into some of the shops, including a really cool board game shop where we bought Settlers of Catan, which weirdly my family has never owned. We've always loved playing board games and over the last year its grown a lot, and when we saw that they had it my dad and I both asked why we didn't own it. Unfortunately we have yet to play it. The funny thing my dad and I noticed at almost every stop we made was the myriad of glass blowing shops there were and Cannon Beach was no exception. Most of the stores we stopped by had demonstrations where you could watch the process or even offered classes on it. Which I thought would be cool to try out the next time we're up there. There was also a theme of candy shops. Everywhere we went there were candy shops! One of the many things Oregon is known for is their really good saltwater taffy and there were shops all along the coast boasting about their taffy. While we were in Cannon Beach we stopped at Bruce's Candy Kitchen and they had all kinds of flavors of local salt water taffy all displayed in a little ship in the middle of the store. This was one of those candy stores that makes you feel like a kid. Everything was brightly colored, there was a jelly bean wall, every size of jawbreaker you could ever imagine, that sour powder that is basically child cocaine. It was like being in the sailor version of Willy Wanka's Chocolate Factory, and yet it was still small and bright enough that it felt like a small mom and pop shop.
 It had been raining on and off all day and, to borrow a phrase, when it rained it poured! We ere getting drenched at times, but I absolutely loved it. I did accidentally break my umbrella at one point because the wind was just so hard that it flipped inside out, but because the rain was so sporadic that day we were able to avoid it for the most part, because there were just so many places to look at. The second candy shop of the day was Schwietert's Cones & Candy just down the road from Bruce's. Here we found the mother load of fudge! Grace loves fudge, and we don't have any local places in Riverside that make it, at least none that I know of. The girl was so excited when she was looking at all the flavors they had at Schwietert's. We ended up getting a box of six squares with Mint Chocolate Swirl, Salted Caramel, Cookies 'n' Cream, Amaretto Chocolate Swirl, Creamsicle, and Salted Caramel Rocky Road. We brought those home along with saltwater taffy to share with the family on our return, and they were excellent. After that the rain was beating down again, and so we headed back to the car and set off for Battery Russel.

Fort Stevens Battery Russel was built in 1903-1904 on the coast of Oregon and was active for a short period during WWI. It was planned to refurbish it before the start of WWII but the shipment of slate was sent elsewhere and once Pearl Harbor was attacked it was the closest fort on the continental US so it was activated before the renovations could happen. It was also the only stateside location to be attacked since the war of 1812. Grace and I loved looking around and exploring the whole fort. It was high enough tat it got a pretty good view and there were a bunch of little nooks and crannies to poke your head in. I wish there had been a bit more on the history of it. Everything I learned was just stuff my dad told me or stuff I got from Wikipedia. There was a single stone plaque with information on the fort, but it was off to the side on the lawn and I wouldn't have known it was there if I didn't see my dad walking over there. It is a small bit of history of Oregon but it would have been nice to have a brochure at least, or maybe a gift shop/museum like some of the other places we went to, but I will say that we were able to climb around and wander and  I know that we would have been discouraged had there been more of a historic presence there. It was a really cool place to look at and I honestly didn't think I would have as much fun as I did. It's a great place for taking pictures, because it's very urban meets forest. The building is very creepy industrial looking, and there are places where people had tagged it over the years, but there are also tons of flowers and moss and different fungi growing everywhere.

After Battery Russel we went down to the beach and brought some of the snacks we had bought from Blue Heron the day before, and had a light picnic for lunch. We looked out at the Peter Iredale which was a ship coming from Salina Cruz, Mexico in 1906. The crew was steering the ship toward the Columbia River as they made their way to Portland but due to a storm they were drawn toward the shore, the crew was safe, and a military investigation ruled it an accident, but when plans to move the wreck were begun the ship had become permanently embedded in the beach. You can still see the very tip of one end of the ship and a few fog pipes now but the rest of the ship was left buried in the beach.








It was perfectly windy on the beach, so after we ate Grace, Dad and I got the kites out of the car and flew them for a while on the beach. One weird thing to admit is that I actually really love flying kites, maybe it has something to do with Mary Poppins, but it's always been something I loved doing as a kid. My grandparents have had these old vinyl kites since I can remember and they were still in good condition when we pulled them out of the garage. It was super fun but as the wind picked up it became too rough, and then it started hailing on the beach! At that point we decided to pack it in and head out to our next stop.

We drove into Astoria next and I loved it. I haven't been since I was little and didn't remember much about it other than the fact that The Goonies was filmed there, but it's become a little hipster town now and had a ton of local shops and restaurants. By this time it was getting closer to the evening so we walked around downtown to find somewhere for dinner. We found the Astoria Coffeehouse & Bistro and it was super cozy looking. I got a pulled pork sandwich with roast beef, Swiss cheese, pickles and a brown mustard and it was one of the best sandwiches I've ever tasted, including the one I had at the airport. I also had a cup of tomato soup with mini grilled cheese sandwiches as croutons and it was diabolical. this place was great. It was a bit pricey but it was incredibly good food. I would definitely go back.

Before heading back to the house my dad who, like most Oregonian, is obsessed with bridges decided to drive across the Astoria Megler Bridge into Washington. Last Christmas I bought him a book called Bridges of Oregon and throughout the trip he enjoyed sharing all the little anecdotes he learned from the book as well as some stuff he knew from growing up in the area. It was kind of funny to see him geek out about the architecture and the stories of the construction. We didn't stop anywhere in Washington, but just looped back around and drove back into Oregon. The drive was really pretty and we watched the sun go down as we drove back to the coast.

It being our last full day we decided to stay at the house that evening, and pack up so we'd be ready for our trip home. Because we brought home leftovers at every single place we are at we decided to do that for dinner rather than go out again, which was nice because it gave us a chance to chill at the house before getting all packed up. Grace and I played a couple rounds of Peanuts before curling up in bed and falling fast asleep from the enormous day we had.

Monday we got up earlier than planned, but my grandmother made waffles and they were excellent! It was our last day so we took our time getting ready and said our goodbyes, before heading into Portland. Traffic was heavy but we managed to get in at a good time with great weather. It was all overcast and cold but there wasn't any rain so we could enjoy our time going from shop to shop. We started off going to Powells where I picked up a huge color by numbers book for grace and I to do on the plane, as well as a few decks of playing cards. Dad found a couple of books and things as well and we spent the majority of our time there before we walked down to Voodoo on Burnside. Because it was just the three of us, and traveling with a box of donuts is hard, as we learned the last time my dad went up we just bought a few to share rather than getting a whole box. We opted for the classic bacon maple bar, a regular maple ring, a chocolate covered donut with a cream filling and a cherry on top, and a freaking amazing (though incredibly rich) hibiscus ring with chocolate sprinkles. That hibiscus donut was so good!

After Voodoo we went to Stumptown Coffee, and picked up a bag of coffee to take home, and they were giving out samples of their coffee. It was really rich and dark, but not so dark that it tasted burnt. It was really good and an excellent wake up from a long day of traveling. Later we headed to the food trucks and I got some incredibly fresh tacos at Tito's Tacos on SW Adler. The Tortillas were warm and fluffy and the carne asada was perfectly cooked with fresh pico de gallo, lettuce and a cream sauce on top! Usually you want to avoid Mexican food in Oregon, it's usually what I wall "white people tacos". It's Taco Bell level authenticity, and usually gives you a stomach ache, but these were really good street tacos, and the guava Jarrito I had with it was excellent.

After we ate it was time to head back to the airport. We were all tired from our weekend, so the flight back was quiet, as Grace colored, I read and Dad took a nap. We had a really good trip and I can't wait to go back! ~Delaney