2015 Western Trip Planning

One of the places in the country I've been to but never spent much tourist time is the Pacific Northwest and so it is on the docket for this years RV journey - this may be my dream trip.  The plan I've put together involves angling from home up into the area with a few stops along the way then coming home as we see fit at the time - if we do my full plan as laid out, it will be 10 weeks.

One of the hard parts of living in the East and going west is just getting out of this area and into where we want to go and that will take us several days with the only multi-day stop in North Platte, NE so this rail fan can visit the giant Union Pacific rail yard.

From there we will continue toward the northwest with 4-7 day stops in the following places:

1. Cody, WY - to see the town, the scenic mountain drives and the east side of Yellowstone,
2. Coeur D'Alene, ID - to see the town, the surrounding area, Spokane, WA
3. Ellensberg, WA - to see wine country, Bonneville dam, Lake Chelan, Leavenworth
4. Anacortes, WA - to see Seattle and the area north of it.
5. Shelton, WA - to see the Olympic Peninsula area and Mt Ranier
6. McMinnville. OR - to see wine country, the OR coast, the Columbia River gorge, and Portland
7. Bend OR - to the the local towns, the mountains, Crater Lake

We will leave Bend on day 53 and from there we will start back home and make it quick or slower depending on our desires but including a few days in Denver at a minimum.

Several of my NW blogger buddies have already given me many suggestions and I read several blogs of folks who spend time there, but I would still appreciate any advice that anyone has to offer.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

RV Trip Leg Two – Charleston, SC

I had previously posted about our first stop on this trip at Anchor Down RV Resort and from there we made a return trip to the KOA in Mt. Pleasant, SC, where we hosted a rally last year.  This re-visit was made because we enjoyed the area but mostly because SIL, Pat, couldn’t go last year.

We decided to stay in the same place as we liked being on the Mt. Pleasant side of Charleston and the things that area had to offer without going into or thru downtown Charleston.  There are some other nice campgrounds around but the nicer ones are south of town.

This is our site facing the nice boomerang shaped lake.

We ate two meals at one of our favorite places – Page’s Okra Grill – and these are shots of our breakfast meals.

Pat had the Raspberry Waffle ($5.25) which she thought was just okay.

Bev had TJ’s Hot Mess (a split biscuit with southern fried chicken breast topped with scrambled eggs, pepper jack cheese and sausage gravy all for $6) and she had a side of pimento cheese smothered home fries ($3).

I got an even better shot of hers last year.

I had the Shem’s Creek Omelet (three eggs with scallops, shrimp, and pepper jack cheese) with pimento cheese grits ($9.60).

Both of our meals were very good, just as last year, and we all think their fried chicken may be the best we’ve eaten.  While the food was the same, after a couple of big time write-ups, they were much busier.  I can't say I ate seafood for every meal but counting leftovers for some lunch and breakfast meals, I was well over 50%.

While I relaxed and dog sat, the girls visited two farmers markets, spent one day shopping in Mt. Pleasant, and two days shopping in downtown Charleston – I’d rather take a flogging.

We also got to spend a very pleasant evening with old college friends Doug and Marty, during which I showed them how I make grilled Oysters Rockefeller and they showed us how to make their delicious no-filler crab cakes.

We did drive over to check out the Oak Plantation Campground, which we thought was very nice then drove down to Kiawah Island, which I had always wanted to see, only to discover that the entire town is a gated community.  At least it was a nice little drive through the Live Oaks and pines.

We made the trip back home in one nine hour drive and while I was tired, I’m happy to report that we had no engine failures this time.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

4/24 - 5/4/2015 event dates

2015 Florida Trip – Day 28 – Our Last Meal In Okeechobee

For our last restaurant meal in Florida, at brunch time, we once again headed up to Uncle Larry’s Rim Ditch Cafe but this time not for the famous Okeeburger

but rather with wings on our mind.  As a non-wing fan, Pat ordered the Reuben Omelet which sounded and tasted very good.

Bev and I ordered 25 wings with hot sauce ($15) and a basket of onion straws – maybe their best ones yet.

We ate all of the onion as it isn’t as good leftover and the wings were later reheated to add to some other leftovers for supper.  It was a delicious way to end our stay in the area.

After eating, we headed over to Ferrell’s Market to get some oranges, fresh squeezed juice, and tomatoes to take home.

 

Alas, it was time to say goodbye to south Florida for this winter.  

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

1/23/15 event date

2015 Florida Trip – Day 22 – Waters Edge RV Park & We're Home

It took us about two hours to make the 90 mile trip from Riverside RV Park near Port Charlotte to Waters Edge RV Park about ten miles SE of Okeechobee.  We went from a campground with 500 sites to one with 29 and containing the same managers and three rigs that were here last year when we were.

As a refresher of this very nice park, here are a few shots that I took last year.

This year we are one row closer to the lake and oriented such that we have a lot more shade.  This is a shot from the front of our site toward the lake which is behind the dike.  The visible water is the “ditch” that surrounds much of the lake.

I took this shot of a couple enjoying the sunset at a water-view site.

While I don’t like a campground that packs you in like sardines, I find that being closer than we were at Riverside encourages more conversation with your neighbors.  If you are looking for a small laid back and friendly park to spend some winter months or if you want a nice home base for fishing Lake Okeechobee, this may be the place for you.  Since it was built as a Class A only park, there are neither a laundry nor shower facilities at the resort.  It is 10 miles from the town of Okeechobee and a great value for south Florida - likely due to the remote location.

We started home on 1/24 and for the first 9000 miles of travel, it didn't occur to us that Bev could raise the foot rest on her seat while traveling - her she is with her assistants doing their navigator duties.

We got home on 1/25 and woke up to this on 1/27.

While no where near the events in New England, it's still a long way from the Florida shots above and the 80 degree temp the day before we left - easy to understand snowbirds.  I will continue to report on our trip for four more posts.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

1/17/15 - 1/27/15 event dates

2015 Florida Trip – Day 23 – Salmon Cakes

We brought some frozen King Salmon tail pieces from home that we had purchased in Wheeling WV at $7/lb. and there was a unanimous decision to turn it into salmon cakes (salmon patties in my family) using the recipe from our previous batch.  Wow, how time flies as it had been July, 2011 when last we made them and I had saved the same Ina Garten recipe twice from fellow bloggers who had made them since then.

After weighing the salmon and discovering we had two pounds, we decided to cook it all, eat half and use the other half for the cakes in a day or two.  Since we had some blackening seasoning with us, we used it for the first meal along with some salad - note the watermelon radish.

Bear in mind that we all grew up eating salmon cakes made from the canned fish and usually topped with ketchup and this may have been Pat’s first ever from fresh salmon.  Rather than repeat Ina’s recipe, I’ll just provide the link from our last time which includes the original recipe and how we made a larger amount - I used a pound of salmon for this run so I'd have left overs.

Just as last time, they were very good and since we didn’t have sauce ingredients, we ate them unadorned .

And for breakfast the next day, it was a toasted English muffin, the cakes reheated in the micro wave topped with baby Swiss cheese, and poached eggs.

These were fantastic and almost inspired me to whip up some Hollandaise for the next morning.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

1/18 & 1/19/15 meal dates

2015 Florida Trip – Day 18 – The Beach & Quesajitas

Even though we were near Port Charlotte, it was still about a 25 mile drive over to the nearest beach at Englewood, FL and since we can’t come to Florida without at least seeing the water, off we went.  It was a sunny, 80 degree day and the public beach was pretty well full of sun bathers – Pat and Bev checked it out while I got a shot of them.

These shots are further north in a low populated area.

The plan was to go out for supper per Bev’s desire, but then she decided it might be better to cook at home and use the meat and avocado we had in the fridge.

Bev had purchased some thin sliced (about ¼“) top round called Beef Milanesa and from what I read it should have said beef for beef Milanesa which is a dish and not a cut of meat.   We discussed whether to have fajitas or quesadillas and based upon the large size of our tortillas and love of crispy ones, we settled on fajita makings made into a quesadilla and named it the quesajita.

We used the ingredients as we would for fajitas and prepared them as follows:

1. Make up some seasoning from Chamayo chile powder, smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, & cumin (the stuff we had on hand).

2. Slice or shred some cheddar cheese (or your favorite)

3. Julienne some red & green bell pepper and slice some onion into half-moons.

4. Slice the meat into ½“ wide strips.

5. Add the vegetables to the pan, season with S&P and the above spice mix and sauté them until about almost done then remove and keep warm.

6. Add the meat to the pan, season it as the veggies and cook until just done.

7. Add the veggies back to the meat, mix thoroughly, remove from heat, and keep warm.

8. Wipe out the pan (we only have one 12” skillet) and turn heat to medium.

9. Lay a tortilla in the 12” skillet, add cheese to one side, and the meat/vegetable mixture to the other side and add a lid if you have one.

10. When the cheese is melted and the tortilla bottom is crispy, flip the cheese half over the meat half and remove to a plate.

Bev made the guacamole by adding some jarred salsa, cumin, and lime juice to a Florida avocado.

My quesajita only got topped with a nice amount of guac.

For a throw together with stuff we had on hand, they were pretty darned good.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

1/13/15 event date

2015 Florida Trip – Day 14 – Seafood With Sam & Meakin

When we come to southwest Florida, we try to meet up friends and fellow bloggers, Meakin and Sam (My Carolina Kitchen) and this time, we invited them up to the campground for an afternoon of shellfish.  We brought some very fresh clams and oysters with us from Cedar Key and bought some shrimp locally for Pat who eats neither of the molluscs.

But before we get into this further, even us seafood lovers need a break so we whipped this up on the grill the previous evening.

This is the entertaining and cooking area prior to the commencement of the seafood eating festivities.  We moved the toaster oven outside for baking, I use the red Coleman propane grill as a stove, and the Weber Jumbo Joe is for charcoal grilling – all three were used this day.  

We began our all afternoon seafood-a-thon (sorry you’re not here Joe) with some raw oysters.

After this first shot of Sam’s oysters, we descended into an afternoon of visiting, eating, and sipping fruit drinks so no other photos were taken – I obviously don't do well being the cook and photographer at the same time.

The raw oysters were followed by a batch of boiled little neck clams, which was a new way of cooking them to me as I had always steamed them.  But when the guy who farms them says to cook them completely submerged in seasoned boiling water, who am I to say otherwise.  He also advised cooking them in the mesh bag so they can all be easily removed once they begin opening.  I added some smashed garlic cloves and a couple of squeezed lemon wedges to the cooking water and served them with melted garlic butter.

They do seem to stay more moist and tender cooked this way but I still took them out as they opened rather than waiting until all were done and removing the whole bag full.  One of the advantages of the boiling water is that you can leave the pot lid off and grab them as soon as the pop open.  Here are a couple of shots lifted from the web and mine looked pretty much the same.

Bev just had to bake up a batch of rolls for the event and as always, they were a great addition – maybe even the best part.  In addition to the preceding, we noshed on grilled oysters Rockefeller (which Sam said may have been the best ever), char grilled shrimp, slaw and potato salad provided by Sam, and finished off with a French pear dessert and chocolate dipped local strawberries.  Needless to say, no one walked away hungry.

As always, it was fun to spend time with Sam and Meakin and he learned a new skill - he is now an oyster shucker  - we look forward to a visit at their Florida home the next week.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

1/9/15 event date

2015 Florida Trip – Days 11 & 12 – A Few Restaurant Breakfasts

When in a new area, we always ask the locals where the locals eat, especially for breakfast and we were told that Peter’s Restaurant on our side of Port Charlotte was the place.  It occupies two sections of a small strip mall and while I was expecting somewhat of a dive, it was far from it.

I’m not sure why, but I have never considered corned beef hash in an omelet so I had to try it when I saw it on the menu and Bev went with the breakfast burrito - pretty normal for her.

I thought mine was good but the hash browns were only lukewarm.  I tasted Bev’s and thought it was good as well.  They provide a good portion of good food at a very reasonable price.

The next morning we wanted to check out the town of Arcadia, about 15 miles up the road, and began with breakfast at a local place and it was kind of a dive, right out of the 50’s.  Wheeler’s Café looks like it has been serving up meals to the locals for a long time – reminds me of the Greenback Drug Store back home.

I didn’t get any food shots as it was just normal breakfast fare and presentation was not high on their list.  The meals were good and about what I expected except for the biscuit which was very good.

And this last one comes the following week from Bev's Bar and Grill located at campsite 398.  

It is just your basic BLT - fried Wrights bacon, Guggisberg Baby Swiss Cheese, Florida tomato & avocado, onion, lettuce, and mayo on Olive Rustic Bread from the farmers market - as good as I ever ate.  Whether fixed or mobile, our house continues to be my very favorite place to eat.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

1/6 & 1/7/15 event dates