Vanabout 2019 Day 26: Helena

The next few blog entries won’t have much. I’m currently racing across the northern states to get positioned for my annual trip to Vermont. But please enjoy these pictures of mountainy Helena.

Firsts

• Time eating dinner in former bordello.

Vanabout 2019 Day 25: Missoula

Firsts

• Time in Missoula
• Hike to a hillside letter

Vanabout 2019 Days 23-24: Walla Walla

Two feet of snow got dumped on Glacier so alternate plans were required. I was told there were a few wineries around Walla Walla, and by a few I mean 170ish. Thus a change of plans to Walla Walla was obvious.

And I am so glad this change was made as I had one of the best meals I’ve had in 2019 at Hattaway’s. If you ever go, eat at the bar and have bartender Chad be your guide.

And a fine Penicillin at Marcy’s

And a great tasting from a very friendly owner at Isenhower.

Firsts

• Obvs, first time in Walla Walla
• Drinking a penicillin with a chai honey syrup instead of ginger. Still very good.

Vanabout 2019 Days 21-22: Leavenworth

The first time I traveled to Glacier NP, I drove along US 2 and after passing my namesake Steven’s Pass, encountered this Bavarian mountain village. I didn’t stop that time, but I have every time ever since.

Leavenworth is adorable and fun. Ok, maybe it’s not the most authentic Teutonic experience, but it’s still fun.

Firsts

• Wine tasting – several wineries in Washington have tasting rooms in Leavenworth.
• Schnitz – I’ve had Haxe before, but never schnitzel. This was my fifth of the trip.

Vanabout 2019 Days 16-20: Seattle

I love Seattle. It is easily my favorite city in North America. And the funny thing is people always complain about the rainy weather there.  But whenever I’m there, it’s nothing but sunshine. I must bring the great weather and I await the Seattle City Council’s invitation to move there.

No trip to Seattle is complete without requisite trips to Elliot’s, The Brooklyn, and Top Pot. I was extremely relieved to see that Top Pot was still good. The Top Pot in Dallas is shit and are ruining the fine name of Top Pot.

Firsts

• Bateau – OMG easily the best steak I’ve ever eaten.
• Seattle Underground – entertaining and interesting history of Seattle, but, I dunno. What was the point of the underground?
• R Day Celebration – local yellow beer provider Rainier Brewery threw a concert. The second accidental concert of the trip.
• Visit to Chihuly Garden

Vanabout 2019 Day 14 & 15: Willamette Valley

Time for more wine tasting.

This time, except for the great De Ponte, I looked for wineries that had something else to offer other than my beloved Pinot Noir. For my efforts I was 1 for 2. Brooks Winery had some very nice and aromatic whites with a very special nod to their Gewürztraminer. I seriously wish I had bought more than just a half a case. Also, their tasting room was pretty hoppin’. Most of the tasting rooms in the WV are pretty small and quiet, but not Brooks.

Elk Cove on the other hand.  Well, their wines were ok. And the road to their winery was rather rough on Stevie Ray. So I wasn’t in the greatest mood going into this tasting.  But, especially compared to Brooks, the whites were just ok – better than average but not great.  They did have a beautiful estate, though.

And whenever I’m in McMinnville, I have to have the schnitzel at the Golden Valley Brewpub. It is one of the best schnitzel I can get in the US and also the 4th and not final schitz of the trip.

Firsts

• Visits to Brooks and Elk Cove
• Tank dump of the trip.  And boy do I have a story about that.

Vanabout 2019 Day 13: Medford

Guess what!

My phone has been found.

Other than that, there’s not much to say about this day. It was just a moving day to get to McMinnville.

Firsts

• Viewing of Mount Shasta. Unfortunately I took no pictures.  It is amazing.

Vanabout 2019 Day 11: Oakland Again

After drinking so much wine it was time for a long beer dinking day.

Starting at Oakland United in the Jack London area of Oakland.

Then off to Federation Brewery, but alas no pix.

Firsts

• Visit to Oakland United and Federation
• Sunday Funday w/ Sam not ending at Stan’s

Vanabout 2019 Day 9 & 10: Sonoma

So this is where the trip takes a bit of a turn.

I woke up on day 9 and could not find my phone. All the pictures I had taken the day before, unless I posted them to Facebook, were gone.

And this is why all the wineries were closed  once I got to Sonoma. I had to stop on the way and get a new phone. But at least I got to drink at my now favorite west coast brewery, Henhouse. They are bringing the hazy IPA.

The next day was filled with beautiful Sonoma scenery and wines. Wineries visited – Rochioli, Bacigalupi, Scribe and Grunlach Bundschu.

Firsts

• Visit to Henhouse – wow great beers. My favorite Westcoast brewery now.
• Visit to Scribe – too bad it was too late
• Visit to GunBun – I think we’re near Napa.

Vanabout 2019 Day 7 & 8: Oakland

Holy motherforking shirtballs!

It was 97 degrees in Oakland when I showed up. These are not the temperatures I’ve come to northern California for.

The first night was fairly chill. Dinner at a local German restaurant where I had my second schnitzel of the trip, Afterwards, a quick beer or two at the much hear of Tigers.

It was the second night where all the stuff happened

The evening started as so many evenings do, with several Irish Coffees at the home of Irish Coffees, The Buena Vista. Some may wonder how it is that Ireland’s two iconic beverages, Guinness Stout and Irish Coffee, just happen to look alike.  I guess it’s just some crazy coincidence.

Then it was back to Hog Island for oysters.

Do yourself a favor and find someone that looks at you like Sam looks at oysters.

A quick ferry ride back to Oakland.

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Bucket list ✔ #AtAts #oaklandferry #clouds

A post shared by Hasty (@codd.fillet) on Sep 27, 2019 at 11:58pm PDT

Then it was off to The Greek Theater to see Flogging Mollys – except they were just finishing up as I arrived. Still, it was awesome to hang out at such an amazing old outdoor arena. And Social Distortion was pretty good too.

Then finally I ended my night in Berkley at The Graduate, named for one of my all-time favorite movies.

This was a great day.

Firsts

• Concert at The Greek Theater, a heretofore unknown bucket list item.
• Time at the North American birthplace of the Irish Coffee, The Buena Vista --  also a bucket list item.

Vanabout 2019 Day 5 & 6: Angels Camp

It was my original plan to camp in East Yosemite on day 5 and somewhere west of Yosemite on day 6. But when I got to the day 5 campsite there was no cell service. So I couldn’t work. I decided just to blow though Yosemite and find an RV Park and hang out for a couple of days to relax and not drive. Thus  I found this place in Angels Camp.

Cool story, huh?

Firsts

• Time Zoe got to interact with goats.
• Seeing the Devil’s Postpile

Vanabout 2019 Day 4: Mammoth Lakes

This was a long day of driving. But I did get to check off a bucket list item, seeing the Hoover Dam. I wish I would have had more time there, but I needed to get to the next campsite before it got dark.

Firsts

• Driving in Las Vegas
• Seeing the Hoover Dam [Bucket List]

Vanabout 2019 Day 3: Flagstaff

If your ever in Edgewood NM and need a place to park your RV overnight, I highly recommend the Walmart there. This has got to be one of the friendliest Walmarts I’ve ever been in. But that’s admittedly a very short list.

The whole point of staying in ABQ overnight was to go to my beloved Gruet Winery.  But, according to Google, it didn’t open until noon, so I headed over to the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History. Cool place, check it out.

I finally got to Gruet and it had been opened for an hour. Thanks Mountain Time. Regardless, this was a great tasting. So great I may have purchased more than a case.

The day ended at Sunset Crater just north of Flagstaff. This was the first of two nights i went to sleep before 9pm just because that’s all there was to do.

Firsts

• Shower in the van for this trip
• Tasting at Gruet
• Time standing behind a rocket engine.

Vanabout 2019 Day 2: Albuquerque

Vanabouts, and Walkabouts before them, are all about relearning the lessons of the past. 

Most of today I was working at the nice little RV park in Childress.  This place is a delight. For a mere $15 you get water and power and a beautiful little park to stay in. So beautiful is this park, for “lunch” I took Zoe for a walk around the little lake in the little park. Many many pictures were taken.

“But Steve”, you’re wondering, “where are these pictures?”

Well, I found out the next day, I had failed to put a memory card in my camera. So some great pictures of this delightful little park and, more importantly, some nice arty pictures taken at Cadillac Ranch will never see the light of day since the light of those pictures were not saved.  So this is the extent of my Cadillac Ranch pictures.

Firsts

• Use of my big ass battery to power the microwave to warm up my dinner.
• Oh, and this:

Vanabout 2019 Day 1: Childress

Well that didn’t go well.
I woke up at 5am. 5 motherforking AM!! To start my 6 week Vanabout that just about circumnavigates the US of A. Sorry Florida.
But as I was rolling into a rest area 30 minutes outside Wichita Falls to call into a couple of meetings, I made a terrible revelation. I left my new big honking battery back at the house.
This guy:

This is a vital element of this Vanabout, so after my meetings I had to turn around and go back home. After four hours of driving, I was back were I started, on my couch.
I left shortly after my workday was over and got to experience both morning and evening Dallas rush hour traffic. Bur for my efforts I got this at Opa’s Schnitzel Haus:



And this

Firsts!
This Vanabout will mark a number of firsts. So, I will try to acknowledge each time a first occurs every day.

• The first day of the Vanabout (Duh)
• The first time I took a conference call at a rest area.

Vanabout 2017 Day 10: Leavenworth

Whoa!?!?  What happened to day 9?

Well, that was spent driving from West Glacier to Leavenworth.  Not wanting to stop, I didn’t take any pictures.

I heard there was a tasty schweinehaxe here, so I had to stop.

Vanabout 2017 Day 8: Many Glaciers to West Glacier

That was a terrible day. It rained almost the whole day, so not many pictures. I did finally get to use my weBoost that turned no 4gLTE into just enough to be reconnected with society, but not enough to post these last three galleries.

Maybe tomorrow.