Leaving Astoria, our first stop was Cannon Beach to see Haystack Rock of Goonies fame. Pretty amazing sight to see, especially for a Goonies fan. Cannon Beach was pretty, and it's more understandable to see so many people there. Unlike Washington beaches, it was sunny (not foggy), and there was sand (not rocks). But it was still cold. And very windy. So much so that it was uncomfortable to be down at the water.
Turns out this is the story for most of the coast that we saw. We rode and rode our little hearts out on the RV-clogged Highway, the made it to a beautiful beach around sunset that was too cold for me to enjoy. There were some beautiful pictures though.
So I will take this time to talk about how I am ruling it in camp kitchen. On last year's Arches to Dunes Tour, I'm pretty sure we subsisted on all processed food. And burgers. We ate a lot of noodle packs, Indian packs, tuna packs, and jerky but we hardly ate anything fresh. WELL ALL THAT'S CHANGING.
We ride between three and a half and six and a half hours a day. With moderate riding I burn about 510 calories an hour, so I have to load up. I did some rough calculations and I'm eating an average of 3000 calories a day. May as well make that energy intake pleasurable.
This has been the stone fruit tour, and why shouldn't it be? We're in a major fruit production region, so we load up on Washington peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, pluots and nectarines whenever there's a chance. And there is fruit growing wild EVERYWHERE. The blackberries grow like weeds, and it just takes a second to stop on the side of the road and pick a few mouthfuls. We've seen wild apples, pears, cherries, and we even helped ourselves to a roadside plum tree loaded with small, sweet, deep red fruits. As a food preserver, it is very difficult to find this abundance of free fruit and not be able to make jam and jelly out of everything.
I've also been good about having kale, carrots, tomato, lime and avocado around because they really dress up a potentially boring meal. FOR EXAMPLE: how about peanut noodles with wilted kale, carrots, and fresh snap peas? Or black bean burritos with fresh tomatoes and avocados? Or chili and quesadillas? That's right, totally ruling it.
So there's proof: I can be a Kitchen Witch even without a kitchen.