Beer, Fish, and Hippy Stickers – Yep, Oregon

Combining a few of our favorite aspects of the summer in these photos, the roaring campfires in our awesome stone fireplace and the Pacific Northwest Micro Brew Scene.  The variety of specialty beers is amazing, and my favorite from the summer was the Twilight ale, I miss it now that we are on the other side of the country.  There are so many different flavors and subtle hints of specialty ingredients available in the micro brew beers, it is interesting to think that many of them are available in the brewery itself.  Sipping one of these after a crazy weekend of working was a good way to wind down.

While in Oregon, I tried my hand at fishing several times but never had the luck I had hoped for.  It was a warm summer, so the lake trout were not active by the time we made it out for mid-day spur of the moment fishing adventures.  We didn’t have the extra funds needed for me to go on a chartered fishing trip, so I managed to find the Native Americans selling fresh caught salmon in Hood River, Oregon.  I met several people camping in our campgrounds that recommended I go to them, so we did just that.  They had a few large coolers filled with some huge fish.

The fish made it back to our bus and I cut one of them into steaks for the freezer, the other had a few steaks removed then I smoked the tail section.  That was BY FAR the best fish I had ever prepared.  I split a cedar plank from some of our firewood we had cut in the campground while working the previous week.  I soaked the plank in water for half an hour while the coals heated up (this keeps the plank from bursting into flames).  Then, I laid the tail section on the plank and closed the lid for a while.  The smell of the cedar burning was a constant from our campsite since that is the majority of our firewood fuel, but this was different for sure.  Within just a few minutes, you could smell the salmon slowly roasting as the fat dripped from the plank onto the coals.  I will never forget that meal, and I don’t think the others that enjoyed it with me will either… The dutch oven contained some veggies to go with the fish, we will have some dutch oven cooking posts coming up that will showcase our summer vittles…

Shortly after we got the salmon, our new-to-us van “Boober” had to get some decorations.  Our friends, the Condie’s, operate a mobile vinyl decal business hippymotorsusa.com and had been hanging out with us for a few days.  Jason brought over some decals for the girls to pick through and explained how to apply them to the van.  The stickering of the van went a little more overboard than I had originally anticipated, but it has been fun watching peoples reactions to it.  Especially when they are standing in the parking lot of the local grocery store staring at the van, and I come hop in the drivers seat and drive away.  Several jaws have dropped, but the best has been the truck drivers reaction when they saw the Night Foreman at this years Sugar Beet Harvest hop out of what I have dubbed the princess fairy van. The decals are so realistic, they even confused a bumble bee for half an hour…  I did get a few stickers of my own on the drivers door, even though they are pastel colors they are still gears so I will claim them…

Hippy Motors USA offers custom sticker kits so check them out and use the coupon code “scholl” for 15% off of your order.  This offer is valid one week from the release of this post…

The last picture is the first time Boober was loaded on the trailer as we are getting ready to leave Oregon at the end of our summer there.  Don’t worry, there are more Oregon posts coming, I just liked the picture of the freshly stickered Boober on the trailer…