Author Archives: Tiim & Kathy

We take a tour today to the Amalfi Coast! Our guide, Mauro, met us and fourteen others at the train station. We begin with a One and a half hour train ride to Salerno, then catch the ferry to Amalfi.

Amalfi is a beautiful small town built up the hill from the coast line. It was a major shipping and trading port in the 10th and 11th century. Now growing lemons and tourism are the main source of income.

The highlight of our time their was a visit to a lemon farm and tasting the limoncello. We climbed many stairs to get there! The view and setting were amazing!

We leave Amalfi taking the ferry to Positano. Positano is the iconic city on the Amalfi coast. It was packed with tourists! it was an enjoyable time wandering the streets (you are either walking up or down!

It was an enjoyable day.

We took a walk to the historic area of Rome. Our lodging is not far from the Roman Forum. We walked by the Ruins of the Imperial Forum and to view the beautiful Victor Emmanuel Monument.

We made our way to Campo dei Fiori and their flower and vegetable market. Lovely!

We made our way to several other interesting piazzas and then to Piazza Navona. We enjoyed viewing The three amazing fountains in the piazza. Tim enjoyed the dulcimer player.

We made our way to the Trevi Fountain again. So many people!!

We made our way back to the Capitoline Hill to view the piazza and get a nice view of the Roman Forum.

After a rest at our place we ate at Alle Carrette. We had tomato and arugula salad, fried artichokes and a pizza with zucchini, peppers and eggplant.

First stop this morning is Santa Maria Maggiori. Beautiful church and Sunday morning mass. Gorgeous music as we enjoyed viewing the art.

National Museum of Rome has some of the best Roman statues and frescos and mosaics from Roman villas.

The baths of Diocletian from 300AD were next. During the Renaissance part of the baths were rebuilt into a church.

We walked back via a street that was lined with Baroque churches and sculptures. Tim took some lovely photos. We ended up at the Trevi Fountain with every other tourist in Rome.

Tim and I have been eating a plant based diet for two months in order to lower our cholesterol especially our LDL. So our challenge is to find Vegan options in Italy! Our first meal was actually last evening at a Restaurant called Wanted. We asked if he had any vegan options and the waiter said no. But we found Pizza Marinara on the menu (only tomato sauce) and had him top it off with arugula. It was quite yummy!

We had breakfast this morning at our lodging. Our selections were narrow but Okay. Muesli with soy milk, watermelon and pineapple and bread with jam.

For lunch we headed to Rifugio Romano near the train station. Half of their menu is vegan. Yeah!! Tim had pasta with green beans, pesto and cashew potato sauce. I had an eggplant stuffed with tomatoes, tempeh, beans and the cashew potato sauce. Both were quite yummy. Because we had to wait so long for our food, we were treated to a bit of limoncello.

We weren’t very hungry in the evening, so shared a vegetarian sandwich(without the mozzarella 🙁). Then we were on a hunt for non dairy gelato! We found Gelateria dell’Angeletto. Half of the choices were vegan and were marked by the blue handle on the scoop! Very clever.

We didn’t miss the meat or dairy today! Well maybe the mozzarella. 😄

Credit goes to thenomadicvegan.com for her Eating vegan in Rome post.

#Rome, #Vegan, #eatingveganinrome

We arrived in Rome last evening after long flights. We flew through Munich and Germany and Italy still require masks on all public transport. Our ears were quite sore by the time we arrived.

The Rome airport is outside the city in Fiumicino. We took the Leonardo express train from the airport to Roma Termini train station. Then we had a 20 minute walk to our lodging over cobblestone streets.

Our lodging is owned and run by Dominican nuns. Very clean and basic on a fairly quiet street in the Monti district, not far from the Coliseum. It has been a long two days and we sleep.

June 18, 2022

Here we are in Poulsbo, Washington, also known as “Little Norway”. This little town on Liberty Bay is just east of Seattle on the Kitsap peninsula. It was settled by Norwegian immigrants in the 1800’s. It is now mainly a tourist town and port.

This is Saturday and the Sons of Norway are celebrating Midsummer or the Summer Solstice. This was once a pagan ritual, but with the coming of Christianity to Scandinavia, they now celebrate the birth of John the Baptist.

At noon, many volunteers are decorating the Midsummer Pole with leaved branches. Once the leaves are all tied on, many flowers are added to the pole.

While this is happening, the local Sons of Norway folk dancers entertain us with dances from Scandinavian countries. The classes performing range from kindergarten to teens.

Then comes the rising of the 30 foot pole, which is quite the process.

At 7 pm there is the lighting of the bonfire. We all are waiting for the Sons of Norway volunteers, dressed as Vikings parade down the main street and then gather around and light the bonfire. It was quite fun to watch.

June16, 2022

After raining all night long, we were not sure what to do today. After a leisurely morning, we walk the half mile trail to the Visitor Center and look at their excellent display. The weather is clearing, so after lunch at the trailer, we decide to find a hike for the afternoon.

We come to the Pyramid Lake hike…4.2 miles round trip and 1500 elevation gain. So why not try it! Well, it begins with some high rocks to navigate and we seem to be climbing strait up. Not very far along, we meet a young couple coming down. They assure us it is not this bad further on and offer us their hiking sticks, assuring us that they were very helpful on the climb. I am so thankful for those sticks! The assent was relentless! The trail was very rocky for about a mile.

Then changed to a more riparian, wet terrain. It was a refreshing change to walk along the creek…but still going up, up, up!

There were times that I didn’t think I could go any further. Tim encouraged me on after my many times of taking a rest.

I love a hike with a goal at the end, so I didn’t want to give up seeing the beautiful alpine lake at the top. So, after 2 1/2 hours, we made it to the top!! We were exhausted, but enjoyed sitting by the lake for 15 minutes. I was proud that this 70 year old lady made it to the top!

The descent took us 1 1/2 hours. Awe, back to the trailer and much needed rest and a simple hot dog dinner. Anything tastes great after a hike like that!

It is a beautiful sunny day and we take the morning to hike the Thunder Knob Trail near Diablo Lake. The trail is a gentle switchback climb first through a riparian area with a lovely creek.

We climb into a more open area with occasional beautiful views of mountains with bits of snow on them. When we get to the top, the views are so gorgeous, we did not want to leave.

The weather begins to get cloudy and imminent rain. We decide to drive to the small town of Marblemount to get some cell service. At the Wilderness Information Center we are told that the Cascade River Highway was not open all the way into the National Park, but there was a beautiful viewpoint seven miles in.

The rainy evening is spent in the trailer playing board games.

June 14-17, 2022

I am sitting in our trailer in the Newhalem Campground listening to the rain lightly sprinkle on the rooftop. The setting is forested and the temperature in the 50’s. This is our third day in the campground and we have seen chipmunks scampering and Hairy Woodpeckers flying about. We are hoping for a break in the weather so we can do a little hiking, but in the meantime I can write about our first two days here.

We took a few short hikes around the campground when we first arrived on Sunday evening. The first was the Trail of the Cedars Nature Walk. This connected to the little Seattle City Lights company town of Newhalem via a suspension bridge over the Skagit River. There are three dams on the Skagit River that supply on third of the electricity for the Seattle metro area. The next little hike was to Ladder Creek Falls. We cross the river again up to view the falls.

Our plan for our first full day (since rain is predicted on and off all day) is to drive Highway 20 east through the park and beyond and stop at all of the viewpoints. The first stop is Gorge Lake and Falls. The Lake has been formed from the first dam on the river.

We drive on to Diablo Lake and then Ross Lakes, which were created by the other two dams on the river. Our goal is to hike to Blue Lake, but when we arrived there we found a snow covered trail and not bringing our snow shoes we decided to forgo that one! Who would think on June 14 we would have snow.

We arrive at the Washington Pass (45 miles from our campground), the highest elevation on Highway 20, and it is lightly snowing! After pulling into the parking area for the viewpoint, we walk up the blocked off road to the viewpoint. Walking across the snowy and wet trail we arrive at the top and fantastic views of the surrounding jagged mountains.

The rain is light so we try to find a good place to hike in a little and have our sack lunch. We choose the East Bank Trail. It is a bit muddy but a nice hike in the forest along the Skagit River.

After stopping for a better look at the Diablo Lake at the viewpoint, we head home to our trailer and dinner.

We had fun taking a walk around the Air and Space Museum grounds here in McMinnville.

My brother took us to a tapas restaurant called La Rambla in trendy downtown McMinnville. We returned to our trailer and this gorgeous sunset.

In the morning our destination was Federal Way, Washington and Dash Point State Park. My niece, Margaret, lives and teaches 2nd grade here. We hadn’t seen her in five years. It was good to visit and see how well she is doing.