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The Kaleberg Journal - July 2009

07/03 - Good To Go Danish

We've been working our way through the pastries at Good To Go. This time we tried their danish, one black raspberry and one rum raisin. The results were much as we expected. They were delicious. Good To Go has a great danish pastry dough, buttery and crispy, with just the right amount of flake.

Black raspberry danish

Rum raisin danish

They use a real good black raspberry preserve in the black raspberry danish. There's none of that synthetic, barely there flavoring, and definitely no chemical after taste. An awful lot of places take short cuts like that, and their danish are barely edible.

The rum raisin danish had lots of good cinnamon and cardamom flavor. Once again, Good To Go used real spices, and it makes a difference. While we still miss Bonny's cinnamon rolls, we miss them a lot less with these danish pastries in town.

Keywords: good to go, food

07/02 - The Space Needle Reflected

There are a lot of tall buildings in Seattle, many of them taller than the Space Needle. Many of these buildings, and not just the taller ones, make fairly good mirrors, if you don't mind a bit of warping. Look up every so often when you are in Seattle, and see if you can get a reflected view of the Needle like this one.

Keywords: seattle

Perhaps it's her ex-husband?

07/01 - Get Rid of It

This looks like a pretty useful outfit to have around. We have often had to get rid of things, and we usually have managed to find some local hauler to deal with them. It's also great truck art. That's a definite homage to Roy Lichtenstein and the countless comic book artists who inspired him.

Keywords: art

The Kaleberg Journal - June 2009

06/30 - Ballard Locks We happened to catch the Ballard Locks in action. There was a tugboat pulling a pair of barges and a host of smaller craft in the lock waiting for their trip down to the level of the Puget Sound. After a bit, they closed the far gate of the lock. Then, the bells rang, and the lock drained. When the water level in the lock matched the lower level, they opened the gate and let everyone out. It doesn't sound like much, but it is kind of amazing to watch. It works just the way it does in those science book illustrations.	A tugboat waiting for the lock: Note the high water level.
The water starts going down.	These sprayers keep gulls from attacking the salmon.
The water is farther down.	The gate opens and the tug goes through.

Keywords: science, seattle

06/29 - Good To Go Is Now Baking

Good To Go is now baking from Wednesday to Saturday, and we can say from first hand experience that the chocolate chip cookies and croissants are delicious. They also have good looking muffins, focaccia, and a few other goodies, but we haven't tried these yet.

The chocolate chip cookies are great. They are the thick kind, and sort of gooey. They use big chocolate chips, so the chip flavor doesn't wash out, and the cookie itself has a good brown sugar and vanilla flavor, so it isn't just something to hold the chips. The balance makes for a real treat.

A chocolate chip cookie, good to go

A croissant, good to go

The croissants are as good as the ones at The Little Oven, and have a good buttery flavor. There is a good flake, but the real treat is the rich pastry itself. Too many industrial croissants are too light, too puffy. There is no "there" there. Good To Go croissants have something inside, and it is completely delicious.

Rumor has it that the folks at Good To Go are planning a wood fired brick oven for baking bread. Right now they are still getting used to 4 AM wake up calls, to get the current baking done, but they are ambitious. We'll keep you posted, on the brick oven, and as we try other baked goods at Good To Go.

Keywords: good to go, food

06/29 - First Rose On Hurricane Hill

The flower season is progressing in the high country. We spotted the first rose, along with more marmots, on the Hurricane Hill trail. The alpine flower season is nearing its peak. Take advantage of some of the wonderful weather and see for yourself.

The first rose

Keywords: high country, hurricane hill, marmots, weather

06/24 - The Hall of the Mountain Goat Our most recent journey up the Switchback Trail was more menacing than usual. True, the ridge was no higher than ever, and the trail no steeper. True, the light clouds portended no stormy disaster. It was only the hastily posted mountain goat warning stapled to the trailhead sign that gave us a clue as to what awaited us. We had further warnings on our ascent. One hiker had turned back in defeat. Tales were told of a jogger who had been followed by the angry beast. Still, our experiences with mountain goats had generally been uneventful, save for the loud clicking and whirring of our digital camera. This time, however, was different. We met the goat after climbing a full thousand feet. Mount Olympus now loomed over Sunrise Point. The goat was on the trail above us and proved to be a cool customer. He took note of us, nibbled some greens, then made his way down the trail towards us. Nimbly, he took the switchback. Viciously, he nibbled the vegetation. We tried moving forward, then forward again. The goat hissed in warning. We had gone too far. The goat would not be moved. He, for the goat was a billy, would not let us pass. We retreated and contemplated our failure. Cabrito, we have savored, but this fellow was beyond our limited capacity. We started our retreat, but then fate intervened in the form of another pair of hikers, better adapted to the rigors of the trail than we. We pointed out our nemesis. They took our intelligence calmly. "The slingshot," said the woman. "The slingshot," replied the man extracting said weapon from his backpack. Armed, our party advanced. He chose a few pebbles from the trail, each no larger than a quarter for the most part. His first shot fell short. The second connected. The goat stopped his nibbling and looked about. A second pebble followed. The goat moved on down the mountainside, abandoning the contested stretched of trail. The goat had abandoned the trail proper, but was still close by, threatening. We advanced. We consolidated our victory with one or two pebbles more. The goat wanted no more of us, and sauntered a few yards farther from the trail. The way was clear! Our victory was the ridge itself, and the view had never been better for having been earned in adversity.	Our nemesis, almost
Ominously nibbling beside the trail	Vanquished
The view	North face and south face
The bonsai garden	Phlox - the scent of victory
A fuzzy picture of a marmot	The marmot in context
The hillside is in bloom.	Bog orchids are in bloom by the roadside. We had to follow our noses.

Keywords: klahane ridge, animals, marmots, flowers

06/17 - Cape Alava - Rough Going We were out at Cape Alava to take advantage of the good tides. The trail is much as we remembered it, amazingly green, rising and falling, then opening out to the meadows before descending to the sea. The park service has done some good work repairing the boardwalks which were getting a bit spotty, so the three plus mile walk from the Ozette Ranger Station to Cape Alava was easier than the last time, but the three miles along the beach from Cape Alava to Sand Point were harder. The beach was rough going with much more driftwood and much less sand. Much of the walk was on rocks and stones. At least the seaweed was dry, and nothing was very slippery. We made our way from fallen tree to fallen tree, passing through their branches like the ribs of a great carcass. There were no stretches of smooth sand until we were nearly at Sand Point.	The trail to Cape Alava
View of Cape Alava	The tide was out.
Rocks and stones.	At the edge of the world
Yes, the tide was out.	A seastack with roses
A great deal of driftwood	A parting view
Tiarella and mushrooms	A great deal of Pacific dogwood

Keywords: cape alava, tides

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