Kaleberg Symbionts

A Local River Otter

Kaleberg Symbionts — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:00:00 AM

05/10/12 - A Local River Otter

We were taking an easy stroll along the Olympic Discovery Trail west of Morse Creek. A bit past the dike we saw a river otter, first crossing the road, then on the rocks offshore. This looks like a lucky otter, chowing down.,

Revel in Fremont

Kaleberg Symbionts — Tue, 8 May 2012 12:00:00 AM

05/08/12 - Revel in Fremont

We have been big fans of Joule and its fusion Korean cooking for a while now, so we decided to check out Joule's sister restaurant Revel. We went for lunch, but the dinner menu is the same or at least similar. It offers much simpler food than its sophisticated sister, but in the same vein, Korean fusion comfort food. This means wonderful noodles with oxtail ragout and even more wonderful dumplings stuffed with beef short ribs or, for vegetarians, cauliflower, chick peas and yogurt. The latter are curried and reminded us of wonderful samosas.

There are also the amazing savory pancakes. Think excellent egg foo yung, not iHop. We tried two, one with pork belly and kim chi, and an even more spectacular one with asparagus, feta cheese, almonds and kalamatas olives. The pork belly was just wonderful, but in the Korean fusion tradition. The later pancake was Korean-Mediteranean and would not have been out of place in a Greek fusion restaurant. The cheese and olives came through nicely and set off the seasonal asparagus.

Like a Snout

Kaleberg Symbionts — Wed, 2 May 2012 12:00:00 AM

05/02/12 - Like a Snout

When we put a roof over the front steps of Lake Crescent Cottage, one of the items in the statement of work explicitly stated that the result "should not look like a snout". Then, there are those times you do want something to look like a snout. For example, this Maximus Minimus pulled pork food truck on Pine Street. We didn't try any of their pulled pork, but we can imagine the statement of work given to the body shop.

Spring Comes to the Port Angeles Farmers' Market

Kaleberg Symbionts — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:00:00 AM

04/28/12 - Spring Comes to the Port Angeles Farmers' Market

It's starting to look like spring at the Port Angeles Farmers' Market. Westwind Farm has their first asparagus along with potatoes, winter squash and their wonderful eggs. Johnston Farms is back with fresh coriander, squashes, braising mix, sunchokes, potatoes and other goodies. The Korean garlic lady has her garlic and greens, and Nash Huber's stand is loaded with a broad variety of raabs - flowering kales, cabbages and so on. In other words, the long winter is over.

Elwha Open Again

Kaleberg Symbionts — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:00:00 AM

04/27/12 - Elwha Open Again

We are building up again after a long slow winter. The trail out of Whiskey Bend is open again, so we pushed ourselves past the cabin and up 400 feet to the first crossing. This is maybe halfway to Lilian Camp, our eventual goal, but one must crawl before one can walk, though in our case it feels as if we walk first, then crawl back.

There were a couple of trees down, but the trails are in great shape. Even better, the trilliums and other spring forest flowers are coming out. Next time, the second crossing, for sure.

Low Tide at the Dungeness Spit

Kaleberg Symbionts — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:00:00 AM

04/25/12 - Low Tide at the Dungeness Spit

There have been some really low tides at the Dungeness Spit recently. That means that there's been lots of beach there. Unfortunately, there are also lots of little stones. Still we managed to pick our way finding a not too rocky path across not too sandy or too wet and soft sand. We haven't made it out to the lighthouse yet, but we'll keep trying.

We also saw some salamanders on the walk down to the spit proper. This is a great season for spotting them right on the path.

Hurricane Ridge Report

Kaleberg Symbionts — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:00:00 AM

04/20/12 - Hurricane Ridge Report

We recently were up at Hurricane Ridge to see if we could do some snowshoeing. There was lots of snow up there, but it had been melted and refrozen and compacted so many times that it was rough going. We had traction, but it was hard to take more than a few steps before breaking through the crust or having to climb up or down one of the folds in surface. We didn't get very far, but we enjoyed some great scenery.

First Trilliums at Lake Crescent

Kaleberg Symbionts — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:00:00 AM

04/18/12 - First Trilliums at Lake Crescent

This has been a cool, slow spring, but our most recent hike out at Lake Crescent gave us a few signs of spring. The trilliums are starting to open. We'll be keeping our eyes peeled.

Last Day in Santiago

Kaleberg Symbionts — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:00:00 AM

04/10/12 - Last Day in Santiago

Since our flight home left Santiago at two o'clock in the morning, we planned our final day carefully. We started with a walk around Santiago on Easter Sunday. We expected everything to be closed, but it turns out that the Cerro Santa Lucia, the original fort built when the city was founded in the 16th century, was open. It was a trip backwards in time with the formal garden near street level and staircases leading upwards to the fountain of Neptune and then higher to a terrace and finally up to an old church and the old look out tower. The view of the city was quite impressive.

We headed down and wandered onwards. As the Cerro Santa Lucia was near the train station, we discovered a number of stores were opening even on this most serious of holidays. There was a department store, a pharmacy, a small supermarket and the inevitable television and electronic gadgets store. Santiago is a big city, so Easter Sunday or not, you could do a bit of shopping.

You could also go to church. We passed a number of churches, and the main cathedral was pretty full as the service went on. It was strange to see autumn flowers, like chrysanthemums, instead of spring flowers, like lilies, decorating the church. Off the main square, some vendors had already set up their stands selling remaindered books and oddball figurines, none particularly Easter related.

We did find the Museum of National History which we had missed on our previous visit to the area. It was open and full of old portraits, weapons, household items and documents from Chile's history. It started with the early Spanish settlement, went on through the revolution, and soon we were looking at dial telephones and manual typerwriters. Wow, we are getting old.

We made our way back to our hotel for lunch at a Peruvian restaurant which was right down the block. Our hotel, The Aubrey, was in Bellavista which is probably one's best bet for a meal on a holiday like Easter Sunday. Constitution, our street, and the Bellavista Patio were full of restaurants and happy diners. Then we took a long nap. Remember, our flight home was at two o'clock in the morning, so we needed all the sleep we could get. Then, well after sunset, we woke up, finished packing, grabbed a bite at the hotel, and made our way to the airport. The next 20 or so hours we spent in airplanes or airport lounges, and that would only get us to Seattle.

Tatio Geysers (Part 3 - More Stuff)

Kaleberg Symbionts — Sun, 8 Apr 2012 12:00:00 AM

04/08/12 - Tatio Geysers (Part 3 - More Stuff)

We could go on and on about the geysers. In fact, we do, but this was a most amazing hike and we need some kind of copy to justify all the pictures.

Our walk took us past a rocky area where we saw little chinchilla-like creatures called viscachas racing about among the rocks. We even managed to catch one in a moment of repose. There were also vicunas wandering about the thermal field. As we said earlier, there was always something interesting.

Then we reached the swimming hole, a naturally heated pool where we found the only other group visiting besides that one other car we had passed earlier. It was a French speaking family from Belgium in a little camper with a bicycle rack built in to the back.

Finally, we climbed a bit, but at 15,000 feet, any climbing is exhausting. We made it to the visitor center, a nicely appointed facility kept in excellent shape by the hard working staff. We took over their kitchen. Jorge convinced them somehow. Because it was Good Friday, Jorge could not eat red meat, but the senora in the kitchen had prepared a wonderful chicken stew. She generously offered us some, and we even got to try the senora's wonderful garden fava beans, but most of our lunch was provided by Awasi, and were we hungry. Enjoy the high speed photo we managed to snap before all the food disappeared.

Tatio Geysers (Part 4 - Coda With Movies)

Kaleberg Symbionts — Sun, 8 Apr 2012 12:00:00 AM

04/08/12 - Tatio Geysers (Part 4 - Coda With Movies)

Here are a few pictures we took on our drive back to San Pedro de Atacama. We had a very clear view of an active volcano for much of the way. The giant coots are indeed huge, at least by coot standards, and the vicuna was in a classic postcard pose, even if no one sends postcards anymore what with the internet and everything.

We've also posted some movies of some hot thermal action. Turn on the sound and you can hear the hiss of the steam. It's not quite like being there, but, then again, nothing really is.

Tatio Geysers (Part 2 - Around the Thermal Basin)

Kaleberg Symbionts — Sat, 7 Apr 2012 12:00:00 AM

04/07/12 - Tatio Geysers (Part 2 - Around the Thermal Basin)

It was a long walk around the thermal field, but there was always something interesting. There were pools of boiling hot water, geysers spurting from pools or holes in the ground, bubbling pools of hot mud and, of course, the mountains around us.