Florence Oregon – 2021 Road Trip Adventure

Our oldest daughter is getting married on June 26, 2021. So what do we do, we make a RV adventure trip out of it. Well we have to drive from Bend, Oregon to Central California right, so why not RV our way to the wedding. We packed our trailer and decided our first stop would be Florence, Oregon, yes right on the beautiful Oregon coast. What I didn’t tell you was that we left 28 days before the wedding so we could explore our way down the Oregon coast to Napa Valley and then to Waterford, California. Hey its a wedding, so lets make it fun, right.

Why not make a travel adventure out of an upcoming family wedding? This idea spurred us into loading up the trailer, and leaving three weeks earlier than the official wedding date. Hey, y’all! This is an adventure and it is time to start having fun again! So, we left home on May 31, 2021 and headed to our first shake down stop in Florence, Oregon for five whole glorious days…….

We are camped at the Elk’s camp ground, just outside Florence, about a mile out of town. Note – must be a member to use their facilities. The camp ground itself is very clean, quiet, and well maintained. The camp hosts are super friendly and helpful. Sites are multi sizes, lots of pull-thru sites and back-in sites for larger rigs. At $25.00 a night its pretty reasonable and includes water, electric and a state of the art dump station. The restrooms are extremely clean, including very nice showers with lots of hot water. Bonus! Each site is separated by greenery and oversized shrubbery, which makes for lots of privacy. I would say its has a very geriatric vibe. Honestly our grand children would be bored here, not much to do for kiddos but the beach is only 1 mile away, so that’s a plus.

Speaking of beach’s, if tide pools are your thing, this is the place. From Seaside, Oregon towards the California border at Brookings there are 27 Oregon Coast Rocky Intertidal Sites to explore. Oh, what fun! I’ll name you a few of our favorites:

Yachats State Recreation Site

Cape Perpetua

Strawberry Hill

Our very favorite is Bob Creek – lots of agates, star fish, crab and sea anemones. Also great for whale watching!

Walking the streets of Florence and the fun shops is a must and I would highly suggest having lunch or dinner at Homegrown for a delightful experience. Everything is made fresh, homemade, local, and organic…so delicious! We ordered the fish tacos and a chia seed burger with a side of the best clam chowder we have ever had, hands down.

Our next stop is Alfred A. Loeb State Park.

Stay tuned for more adventures…

Cheers from Just Around The Bend – Jeff and Liz

Spinach, Chicken Tortilla Bake

I have been preparing this dish for many years and it is still one of our favorite go-to casseroles! Besides being healthy, it is delicious, nutritious, and pretty quick to assemble. It was originally a Weight Watchers recipe, that I received at a Weightwatcher’s meeting, over ten years ago. Now the tricky part; since we have decided not to eat meat anymore, I needed to tweak this favorite recipe to remain as good as the original, yet stay in our vegan guidelines. It was actually not difficult at at all! After a few tries, I accomplished the vegan conversion and again received a big thumbs up from Jeff. Serving size for this casserole is 8… well not in this house-hold… 6 maybe, with a vegetable, or a side salad. The original Weightwatcher’s recipe is simple, yet so good, that I am going to give you both versions. The Weightwatcher’s version is called: ” Spinach, Chicken Tortilla Bake.” If you eat meat, try this version, it is so good. However, if you are a vegetarian or vegan you will not be sacrificing any flavor if you try the vegan version. Heck, try both!

Spinach, Chicken Tortilla Bake

Ingredients

1 1/2 Cups of roasted chicken

1 Cup Uncooked spinach chopped

1/2 Cup cilantro chopped

1 Cup Herdez Salsa Verde

1 1/2 Cups fat free ricotta cheese

6 mission carb balance whole wheat tortillas – fajita size

2 ounce (1/4 Cup) Monterey jack cheese shredded

1/3 Cup Diced Green Chilies )1 small can)

INSTRUCTIONS

Toast tortillas in a dry skillet until toasty, set aside. In a medium bowl mix chiles, salsa verde and ricotta cheese together. Place 1/2 cup of the Salsa Verde mixture in the bottom of a 8 X 8 inch casserole dish, spread evenly. Layer, toasted tortillas, chicken, spinach and additional salsa verde mixture. Should make 3 layers. Top with the shredded Monterey jack cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Top with sour cream and salsa or any of your favorite toppings

Now for the Vegan version (and believe me its super good also).

Vegan Spinach, “Chicken” & Tortilla Bake

Ingredients

1 1/2 Cups of beyond burger or any vegan meat substitute you desire

1 Cup Uncooked spinach chopped

1/2 Cup cilantro chopped

1 Cup Herdez Salsa Verde

1 1/2 Cups extra firm tofu – drained well and crumpled

6 mission carb balance whole wheat tortillas – fajita size

2 ounce (1/4 Cup) Vegan Monterey jack cheese shredded

1/3 Cup Diced Green Chilies )1 small can)

1/3 Cup sliced black olives

INSTRUCTIONS

Toast tortillas in a dry skillet until toasty, set aside. In a medium bowl mix chiles, salsa verde, sliced black olives and firm tofu together. Place 1/2 cup of the Salsa Verde mixture in the bottom of a 8 X 8 inch casserole dish, spread evenly. Layer, toasted tortillas, chicken, spinach and additional salsa verde mixture. Should make 3 layers. Top with the shredded vegan Monterey jack cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Great topped with salsa.

NOTE: I HAVE TRIED THIS CASSEROLE WITH CORN TORTILLAS AND IT WORKS FINE, JUST MAKE STRIPS OF THE TOASTED TORTILLAS TO LAYER WITH (USING THE WHOLE TORTILLA MAKES SERVING MORE DIFFICULT AND MESSY). I FIND IT BETTER TO SLICE THE TOASTED TORTILLAS IN WEDGES, ALSO.

CHEERS FROM JEFF AND LIZ

MICRO GREENS HEALTHY AND NUTRITIOUS

Micro greens are small shoots of edible plants, such as micro green kale, carrots, mixed salad, radish, peas, the list is endless depending on your preferred taste. Sometimes I grow four different micros at one time. WE eat through these faster than rabbits. The difference between micro-greens and sprouts is that Micro Greens grow in soil and sprouts in water away from light. M. G’s are planted in soil or a soil substitute such as felt or rock wool. M. G.’s are harvested by snipping the stem just above the central stem above the soil. The seedlings will only have two small flat leaves (called cotyledon leaves) and then they will grow their first set of true leaves in which I clip just below the true leaves. I get about three cutting with peas, not with kale, lettuce etc. All my greens have been mighty hearty, growing two to three inches with in less than two weeks.

Micro Greens are nutrient power houses and delicious in salads, soups, top your pizza and especially good in sandwiches. They are incredibly easy to grow and within two weeks you are harvesting. I use the soil method as I use my home grown compost material with great results. Simply fill a container with soil, water a little and pack the soil down a bit. Make sure you use a container with no drain holes. Now your soil is moist not soggy. I use a 10 X 10 inch plastic grow container I purchased from True-Leaf Market. I evenly sprinkle 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons of micro seeds on the top of the soil and gently press them into the soil. The soil should not cover the seeds , you want the seed to nestle into the soil. Spritz gently with water and cover with another grow container so your seeds can germinate in the dark. I then spritz them twice a day and cover. This takes about 4 days. When the micro greens begin to sprout I then remove the cover and place them under a grow light. Some say you dont need a grow light in the summer, I prefer the combination of grow light and natural light with great results. You can also place them in a sunny window or patio. Remember once the first set of leaves have reached 2 to 3 inches you are ready to harvest.

I especially like True-Leaf Market seeds and products. Their prices are reasonable and high quality seeds and products. They will answer questions and have info tutorials. Trueleafmarket.com

So find a container, even a plastic yogurt container will get you started, fill with potting soil water a little , sprinkle some seeds and spritz with a little water twice a day, dont forget to cover until the sprouts begin to show themselves, its that easy and yummy.

CHEERS FROM JUST AROUND THE BEND

JEFF AND LIZ

Just Planted Day 1
Day 4
Micro Mixed Lettuce
Micro Mixed lettuce 6 days
Micro Mixed lettuce 8 days
LOTS OF MICROS
Pea Pods ready to harvest 8 days
Just Harvested 8 days
Pea Sprouts in a Plastic Container 3 days old

STEHEKIN WASHINGTON CAMPING IN OUR BOAT

What if you had an idea to camp in your 19 foot boat, drive 55 miles on Lake Chelan to reach your destination of Stehekin. Only way to get to Stehekin is by a Ferry, your personal boat or I guess swim. A very isolated but magical location well worth the journey.

Stehekin is located at the head of Lake Chelan, there are no roads connecting this tiny community of 75 permanent residents. A fifty mile scenic journey in which you can reach Stehekin only by foot, horseback, your own boat or by passenger ferry boat. We opted to use our own 19 foot boat and boated the fifty miles exploring the shoreline as we traveled. The panorama of stark steep mountains took your breath away. The beauty of this country left us speechless. It actually only took less than 3 hrs to reach our destination and well worth it. A fee of $5.00 a day to dock your boat was a good deal as we were also camping on our boat. Cheap Digs with a view to remember. Fortunately we brought our Blix foldable electric bikes to explore with. Bikes are available to rent or you can bring your own highly recommend for exploring.

First Stop :

The Stehekin Pastry Company and log cabins are located two miles up the Stehekin Valley Road from the boat landing where the Ferries let off passengers. The bakery was built in 1989 and has a homey rustic feel besides the aroma of home baked goods and killer coffee and espresso. Delicious Cinnamon rolls the size of a small dinner plate for $2.25, pastries, cookies, ice cream, I could go on and on. The selections are varied depending on the day you visit, we visited everyday for 6 days, need I say more. The bakery is very considerate of those with special dietary concerns ( low carb and gluten free) are also very delicious. Their from scratch soups, sandwiches and quiches are also delicious with people coming from a far just for the goodness. As we headed back towards the boat dock one more stop a mere mile from the bakery was mandatory. Karl’s Garden!!!

Second stop:

Another hidden gem called THE GARDEN. Owned and fully operated by KARL a BAREFOOTED ORGANIC GARDENER.

Karl is amazing with a fairyland entryway into his garden lined by gorgeous flowers as big as your hand. You immediately feel transformed to another land with the aromas of flowers, goats he raises for yogurt and cheese, to the bees buzzing everywhere which help with his honey harvest. OK lets start with the goats: He raises them for making the most incredible creamy Chevre cheese (plain or herbed) or homemade yogurt flavored with his incredible honey he harvests on site. He uses the goat poop to fertilize his gardens which appears to be on steroids. Everything is on steroids I think even the bees were bigger . His garden is seasonal with homemade cosmetics, holistic medicine to some of his own bakery goods. A bit about Karl, he owned a Organic bakery called the honey hole located in Wenatchee years ago. Get him talking and you can learn some fascinating garden and baking tips. We left with our bike bags overflowing with giant beets, kale, fresh honey, chevre and fresh made goat yogurt. I myself was in organic heaven, Jeff wasn’t to far behind..

Stay Tuned for part Two of our Stehekin Adventures CHEERS FROM JUST AROUND THE BEND

NOTE: We visited Stehekin in early August 2019 beautiful time of year for perfect weather.

PANDEMIC 2020

Forty Three days we have stayed home, stayed away from friends and family and survived. Jeff and I have as everyone should, taken this pandemic very seriously, besides our children would kill us if we got sick. So what have we been doing, you ask?

Painting, finishing projects that have been on hold for years, cribbage, puzzles, Planting a garden, going on lots of walks and cooking. I am very lucky in the fact I have Jeff as he is a lot of company and loves projects. So needless to say we have not been bored. Jeff took over the sewing machine as we made mask for us and family members.

In our neighborhood of over 300 + homes we hardly ever see many people or children. Wow ! there are sure a lot of people now, joggers, bikers, dog walkers ,children riding on anything with wheels. The yards have never looked so good as people seem to have a lot of extra time on there hands. We have had groceries delivered and picked them up at Fred Meyer as they are not charging seniors for grocery pick up. We have twice phone ordered a pizza from Little Pizza Paradise , our fav to help support the owner in these times. We are doing a lot of reading and research into plant based diets as we are moving in that direction with are diets. We have new heroes in Dr Greger. Dr William LI, Dr Campbell, Dr Dean Ornish, Dr Esselftyn and the folks at Forks over Knives. We are spending a lot of time in the kitchen trying to learn new cooking methods with our lifestyle. Jeffs brother Richard has had heart surgery and is learning a lot of the same methods. We are Dehrating more than ever, getting ready for when we can hit the road with our trailer again. We have whole meals dehydrated and lots of greens, herbs, lemons, limes and fruit in general. WE ARE DEFINITELY NOT BORED.

As we are entering into May with no set script for everyday life we are continuing are careful measures and cautions. We hope that you are all safe and well out there. We are lucky to live in a smaller population center of Central Oregon which hasn’t been hit as hard as some areas. Please stay SAFE AND WELL. CHEERS FROM JUST AROUND THE BEND.

KOMBUCHA BY JUST AROUND THE BEND

I have been actively making my own KOMBUCHA since July 2017.

Why: Because it tastes better than any store bought on the market. It’s far healthier, costs pennies to make compared to store bought. In addition it is just so much fun to make and makes me feel like a little brew master. PLUS MY HUSBAND LOVES IT.

So let’s get started with my simple directions, believe me its so worth it.

SUPPLIES:

1 GLASS GALLON CONTAINER
1 SCOBY
10 TEA BAGS – BLACK OR GREEN JUST NOT DECAF
12 GLASS BREW BOTTLES
12 AIRLOCKS
1 to 1 1/4 cup sugar

PROCESS: Boil 4 cups of water-add 10 tea bags and steep for 20 mins add 1 1/4 CUP SUGAR to dissolve, stirring to help it along. Cool adding another quart of water to help it cool. Make sure it is cooled to body temperature. Place in your gallon container preferably glass and fill with non chlorinated water up to 6 inches from the top of jar. Now you add your reserved 1 and 1/2 cups of started matured kombucha liquid and stir. Top with your scoby which in kombucha land is actually call THE MOTHER. The scoby is a rubbery disk which floats on the surface of the tea as it ferments. Cover with a clean cotton cloth (do not use cheese cloth) secure with a rubber band, do not use the lid the jar usually comes with. Place in a dark place ideally around 70 degrees temp. The kombucha mother will float above the sweet tea mixture as it ferments. Sometimes when you first place the scoby in the tea mixture it will sink, its ok within a day it should float up to the surface. I ferment my kombucha for 7 days and it has been turning out perfect.

This is the really fun part. Remove the mother and 1 generous cup of mature kombucha liquid from your gallon jar to help start the next batch. set aside.

Bottle the rest of the remaining liquid in your prepared jars.

PREPARED BOTTLES:

Our favorite has been blueberry, lime, ginger kombucha. I place 1/3 cup pure blueberry juice (no sugar added) in my jars, 1/4 teaspoon lime juice or powder and 6 slivers of fresh ginger, top with you your mature kombucha mixture and insert the airlocks. I place these on the counter for 3 days then remove the airlocks, lock down the ceramic tops and place in refrigerator. Best served over ICE. Remember you can flavor your kombucha with any fruit combo you prefer, try 6 slices of fresh strawberries – YUM. Another favorite my friend Cheryl got me hooked on is Pomegranate-Blueberry, that’s a great combination, but dont forget to slide a few (6) slices of ginger in your jar. Fred Myers and or Kroger has been having these bottles on sale for $2.99 each. They are Organic and no sugar added, just perfect.

Now you start over adding your room temperature tea, dissolved sugar along with the 1 and 1/2 cup fermented liquid left over FROM ORIGINAL batch and enough non chlorinated water to bring it 4 inches from top. Gently place your scoby (MOTHER) on top and in 7 days you have another batch of kombucha, it’s that easy.

You can purchase online a scoby which includes the starting liquid or find a friend to share, that works the best. We have a kombucha factory called HUM here in Bend and they sold me a scoby with starter liquid for $5.00 and it is going strong.

I must say you can do this, even my 84 year old mother is making a weekly batch of kombucha and loving the process.

UNTIL NEXT TIME FROM JUST AROUND THE BEND – CHEERS

CRANE PRAIRIE CAMPGROUND – OREGON

Crane Prairie Reservoir is a man-made lake located about 42 miles southwest of Bend in Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. The reservoir is named for the cranes that thrive in its habitat and for the upper Deschutes River prairie that once covered the area before the dam on the Deschutes was constructed in 1922. One of the most scenic lakes in Central Oregon with amazing fishing and large open campsites.

Cons: Mosquitoes and tree stumps in the lake- good for boat repair shops, bad for your prop.

Crane Prairie is a great place to go if you are wanting to catch large fish, I caught a 22 inch trout myself and many more fish 18 inches and above. The locals call these giant fish cranebows, this year was a very good fishing year for us. We were lucky to reserve site 113 right on the water’s edge which enabled us to scoot are boat right up to the shore line, which saved us having to load it on its trailer everyday. The view from our campsite was poster perfect, with bird life abundant, eagles, asprey and hundreds of white pelicans. The campsite itself is dry camping with a rustic table and an even more rustic fire pit, but lots of room for 2 rigs, a boat trailer and a 25 ft RV. With clean restrooms near and a very nice fish cleaning station you are all set with all of the amenities you need. I especially noticed how quiet it was at night which made for a very relaxing camping experience.

Senior Pass price was $8.00 a night and we stayed a whole week.

Talk to the employees at the lodge as they will help you figure out where the fish are and what they are biting on at that particular time of the year of your visit. Very friendly and helpful staff and they know the fishing tricks for Crane Prairie and have a well stocked store for all of your camping and fishing needs.

CHEERS UNTIL OUR NEXT ADVENTURE JEFF AND LIZ

CHANNEL ISLANDS NATIONAL PARK – CALIFORNIA

Our life goal is to visit as many National Parks as we can. National Parks draw you in with splendid beauty, history and protected wildlife. We chose Santa Cruz Island as the park rangers advised it had lots of hiking, animal life and spectacular cliff edge views.

Channel Islands National Park comprises 5 ecologically rich islands off the Southern California coast. Anacapa Island has trails to a 1932 lighthouse and clifftop Inspiration Point. Santa Cruz Island’s many sea caves include the vast Painted Cave. Santa Rosa Island features rare Torrey pines. Thousands of seals gather at San Miguel Island’s Point Bennett. Southernmost Santa Barbara Island draws nesting seabirds.

We began by pre purchasing our tickets the day before through Island Packers Cruises – 805-642-1393 – info@islandpackers.com. You are required to call for reservations and they fill up fast. Super friendly and very helpful people, from making reservations to boarding the boat. At $52.00 a person for round trip tickets it was a bargain, Highly recommend.

So the very early morning began our trip. Up at 5 am packed a lunch, snacks and water bottles for a full day. Water is available at several camping sites but no food, snacks or vending machines available. This is a very remote and protected island twelve miles from the mainland. The catamaran ride from Island Packers dock to the island was spectacular. Smooth sailing, lots of dolphins diving out of the water following our boat on either side. As we approached the island I felt like I was in a Jurassic Park movie. The dock was safe but rustic and no building in site just beautiful hills blooming wildflowers and the deepest green terrain I have ever witnessed. Just approaching the dock was breathtaking, wow what would the rest of the island be like.

We opted to join a 2 hour ranger walk to get a real feel of the island. Highly recommend as he directed us to trails and viewing of wild island foxes, explained the abundance of wild flowers and the protected island scrub jay, also where to view the world largest sea caves. After the tour we set out on our own following the trail map the ranger provided us. The trails were well marked and led to pristine beaches, views of rugged mountains, pure paradise. We decided to stop and have lunch on a cliff overlooking a sea lion rookery and sea caves. Hard to eat when the Ravens wouldn’t stop begging us for food, but rules are do not feed the animals, the birds just dont know the rules. As we continued our hike we periodically came upon small gray foxes as large as house cats and were not frightened by us all which gave us great photo opportunities. The island fox is only found on 6 of the 8 Channel Islands and found nowhere else on earth. They would walk up to you within feet without any fear and they are adorable.

No cell coverage allows for shear peacefulness of this island with only the sound of the rhythmic waves, salty breezes and over 2000 species of plants and animals made us want to stay for longer. We had a full day of hiking over 6 miles and it was now time to head back to the dock. What a wonderful day and we would definitely do this again, possibly a different island next time.

CHEERS FROM JUST AROUND THE BEND

Tucson Arizona The Presidio District

Leaving our camp site at Gilbert Ray we decided to explore the city of Tucson. Where to start, its a very historic town with tons of Artisans and unforgettable restaurants. My husband knowing me well had spoken with the camp host who directed us to the best farmers market in Tucson, right down my ally for sure. The farmers market was spectacular with Artisans with pottery, hand woven rugs, art and amazing food, so much fun. Next we headed downtown.

As we parked our large truck in a legal parking spot we spotted a costumed Spanish soldier walking and asked about his costume. It turns out we were right next to the Presidio San Agustin Del Tucson Museum and the most northerly spanish fort. Today happened to be living history day and there was lots of action going on from soldiers shooting muskets to cannon fire. The volunteers were dressed in period costume and some making some great tasting homemade tortillas,cactus jams. salsas and soups with plenty to sample. A priest toured us around the fort with lots of information about life in the time period. We even got to view a 2000 year old Native American pit house.

Our next exploration was to find the beginning of The Turquoise Trail and great luck it began outside the walls of the FORT. We picked up a self guided brochure at the Presidio Museum and proceeded to walk the 2.5-mile loop trail through downtown Tucson. The trail highlights structures and sites of historic interest and is marked by a turquoise stripe on the sidewalk.

We would highly recommend visiting downtown Tucson if you are in the neighborhood, so fun and informative.

On our walk on the Turquoise Trail Jeff just happened to find a sampling of yes Organic Gelato and I have to say was outstanding.

See You Next time from JUST AROUND THE BEND

CHEERS

Gilbert Ray Campground Arizona

Sometimes on our snow bird explorations we find a hidden gem and Gilbert Ray Campground ticks all of the boxes.

Bordering Saguaro National Park and a mier mile from Old Tucson Movie Studio Theme Park is Tucson Mountain Park which included in that park is Gilbert Ray Campground. Located 13 miles from Tucson, Gilbert Ray has 130 RV sites with individual electric hook-ups and 5 designated tent sites.. Water is available and a RV dump station. NO shower facilities. RESERVATIONS ARE NOT ACCEPTED.

The fees are $20.00 a night and a maximum stay of 7 days only. The trick to getting a spot as this is a very popular campground with no reservations accepted is to get there early in the morning, I’d say 7am, yes I said 7 am is best. Its worth it as you will definitely want to stay longer as there is so much to see and do in the surrounding area.

Some of the sites are pretty small, but as you check in they ask the size of your RV and select an appropriate size site for you. No favoritism here you get what they choose.

Tucson Mountain Park has a lot of maintained trails and vista pullouts for spectacular views of the Sonoran desert with plenty of pullouts for vehicles. This particular year was abundant with rainfall and the cactus were blooming profusely. In all of the years we have explored the desert we have never seen so much beauty.