Cape D

This past weekend Andrea, Justin, Jasper and I took the LoveDog Mobile to the Washington coast for some much needed respite. And it was amazing. Two things: 1. It did not rain the whole time! 2. It was sunny!

Cape Disappointment is about 3 ½ hours from Seattle, but we picked it because we had no other choice. Every single campground on the coast was booked up. Turns out we’re not the only ones who like camping at the beach in the wintery months of spring. However, it did not Disappoint (budumpbump…)

Cape D State Park is pretty huge (1,882 acres), with about a million camp spots (actually: 137 standard campsites, 60 full hookup, 18 with water and electricity only, 5 primitive, 14 yurts, and 3 cabins), plus two lighthouses, and two beaches. The bathrooms are immaculate, they have pay showers, AND a pizza shop where you can order pizza to your campsite. I know, we’re totally into roughing it. But seriously, if you go, get the pizza --gourmet and delicious! We got the Earth Pie: garlic olive oil, gorgonzola, fresh basil, tomatoes, and balsamic vinegar. Mmmmm..

In spite of the number of campsites, and the pizza booth, and the heater in our tent trailer, it still felt like we were camping. Maybe because most of the campsites were fairly empty and spread out. Or because we had multiple deer sightings. Or because the raccoons stole our marshmallows.

In addition to watching Jasper run around on the beach for two glorious days, we hiked up to the North Head lighthouse (about 4 miles roundtrip from our campsite—a moderate hike through mud, over footbridges, and up hills), and walked to the Cape D lighthouse from the parking lot (about 1 mile round trip – mostly paved but slightly steep near the top). I found North Head to be the more impressive of the two, but from Cape D you see a totally different view.

.

And did I mention that Cape D is only about 20 minutes from Astoria? Translation: 20 minutes from Rogue Brew Pub. While their food wasn’t particularly good, their beer is fantastic. I tried 2 IPAs, an ale, and a red, Andrea had 2 porters and 2 stouts, and Justin had an assortment of IPAs. Next time we’ll stop there for an appetizer and some beers, then check out another brew pub in Astoria for our meal.

All around a perfect weekend.

Tent trailer: Phase 1

Hello, hello, we're back at the ranch! We had a great adventure in the tent trailer, drove many miles, saw lots of friends, visited with the family, and took lots of pictures along the way. Speaking of pictures, as promised (oh so long ago), the photos of the tent trailer... I'm calling this Phase 1, instead of "After" since we've come up with a few more fix-its along the way.

In the before picture you can see a wooden storage box which we ripped out, and then extended the step to make more space. There were some holes on the wood surface so we had to fill them in, then primed and painted over the top. I plan to paint texture onto the dark brown surfaces so its not as glossy, and masks some of the surface blemishes. I took down all the fringe/skirt along the top of the tent trailer and made a new one. I also made new curtain ties and cushion covers.

Another view of the dining area:

The kitchen area was one of the more dramatic changes. As soon as we got the tent trailer I immediately removed all the doors, since it seemed impractical to have swinging doors in such a tight space. We added a new counter surface that could bear weight and that was easier to clean. I painted the rest of the surfaces and made curtains for the cupboard areas.

We swapped out the plastic drawer pulls with nickel and added a dish towel rack. We cleaned up the rust on the stove and repainted it with high temp paint (not pictured).

View of the other "bedroom". We added a new mattress pad from Ikea to make the bed a little softer and to cover some damage on the existing mattress.

Most of the materials for this project we either had already, or found for super cheap at Ikea. We still plan to add wood flooring (left over from another project--thanks Erin!) in place of the linoleum, but that might not be for a while with this heat wave we've been having. We also may replace the counter surface around the sink with some leftover material my dad offered up. Hooray for free stuff! I'll post a final picture when we finish the rest.

Project total to date: $65.oo

mattress pad: $5
fabric for fringe & seats: $5
velcro: $4
counter: $1
towel rail: $2

drawer pulls: $0
rug: $10
pillow: $15
sandpaper $0
white spray primer (2 cans) $7
white paint $0
white caulk $4
high temp paint $5
masking tape $3
drop cloth $0
roller brush $4
paint brush $0
espresso spray paint $0

LoveDog Mobile

This just in: LoveDog Ranch hits the road in the new LoveDog Mobile! And by new, I mean 1989. But don't you worry. The plan is to gussy up this gem and hit the American highways and campgrounds.

I came up with the idea to buy a tent trailer after pondering the conundrum of living 16 hours from the California homestead; owning a dog, but hating the quality of dog friendly hotels; and wanting a comfortable place to stay without putting anybody out. I also had fond memories of my grandparents, who would roll up with their tent trailer and set up camp in our driveway for a visit. We're excited to use it this summer and even into the fall, because with a tent trailer, a little rain is nothing to fear. And with weather in the PNW being what it is, rain is always likely.

The grand makeover is currently in process so I will save the interior shots for the "before and after" reveal, but I'm hoping to have most of it done by Saturday. (I'm all about bold deadlines).

In unrelated news, the porch garden is looking great. We ate the first zucchini this weekend, and are still waiting for the tomatoes to turn red (we'll even take red-ish) but there are tons of them. Worst case scenario I am making fried green tomatoes. We had one of the jalapenos but it had little to no heat. Does anyone know what affects the heat of a jalapeno?

1) Zucchini. 2) Tomatoes in the corners, marigolds in the middle, cucumbers in front.