The Festival of Cheeses, Mt. Rainier's Longmire and Paradise Trails

The Festival of Cheeses was amazing as always. We went to the awards ceremony this year…the first time for us. It was held in the Symphony Hall in Seattle and the Festival followed in the lobby areas. I especially enjoyed seeing the awards announced after having volunteered during the judging. The crowd applauded robustly. One of our favorites from The Summer of a Thousand Cheeses…Kunik, from Nettle Meadows Goat Farm and Creamery…won in its category. The Best in Show was won by Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve, made by a cheesemaker couple everyone admires. It was touching to see them receive the plaudits.

Off to the Wilderness

Now that the conference is over, we are off to the wilderness. The drive was not too hard, about 3 hours. The last hour was rural, although the rest was through suburbia.

We stayed Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning at the National Park Inn in Mt. Rainier National Park. There are no cell towers, so we will be delayed in posting this until we emerge again into civilization. The lodge was built in the 1930s and has not changed much. There is a lovely living room with a big fireplace. Our room is modest in size and amenities…but large enough for two happy campers to sip some wine and chill out before our dinner downstairs.  The bathrooms are shared…both the men’s and women’s are down the hall with a couple of stalls each. There are only 2 showers for all the rooms. They did give us big plush robes to wear and slippers too. We will probably tolerate being a bit dirtier than usual. Russ is recording a description which I’ll post if I can figure out how to do that with our new laptop.

Our lodge is about 10 miles into the park. On Sunday, when we arrived via rental car that we picked up at the Seattle airport, we had lunch here and then drove in about 15 more miles to another area with a lodge, Paradise Inn. That lodge is much larger and we are happy with our cozy one. We took a great hike in the Paradise area. It was in the 40s and cloudy…quite high elevation. The wildflowers are spectacular. We also saw an elk, a fox, a Clark’s nuthatch (big as a jay), a family of quail-like birds (Ptarmigans?) we haven’t yet identified, and a marmot. I’ll post a few photos. We got our hiking feet under us, with about a 4 mile up and down…good practice for Florida flatlanders. We hope to hike a lot Monday and Tuesday, but rain is threatened. 

Monday at Mt Rainier

Despite promised clouds and showers, the morning was spectacular. We awoke to a view of the volcano out our window. The shared showers had no waiting line and we hit the trails pretty early. Unlike Sunday afternoon, we had our backpacks and walking sticks this time, thank goodness because we picked another steep trail. No meadows today, huge tall trees climbing straight up a mountain side with us. Really beautiful. The sun stayed with us. Temperatures was in the low 50s. We hiked about 2 miles up in about 2 hours and then back down in about 1.5 more. Going up we sweated and breathed a lot; going down we wore jackets against hypothermia and our knees complained a bit. All in all, it was great. We were back only a short while before the clouds came in and showers started.

Meeting Cheese Lovers in Seattle

At the Pier for the Opening Reception

We have met some great cheese people. I volunteered to help with the judging of the cheeses and was assigned to the "verification" team. I worked with a French woman and got to practice my French all day! We reviewed all the scoring to be sure the numbers were in the right places and to correct any errors flagged by the computer data entry system. the best part was being in the room where a dozen or so teams of two judges...one technical and the other aesthetic...judged over 1,000 cheeses. Seeing how the process worked and just seeing and smelling all that cheeses was a great experience. There were about 40 volunteers in addition to all the judges. A smooth and lovely process leading to wonderful feedback for the cheese makers who submitted their cheeses to be judged. Tomorrow night we'll learn which cheeses got 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in each of the 100+ categories of cheeses and which was Best in Show.

After a "How To Taste" Session

Before a "How to Taste" Session

The sessions have been informative, and filling. I have been to far too many "tastings." We've seen people we knew through the book research and many new folks too. Tonight we are off to a party and tomorrow, after a day of more sessions, is the grand finale...the Festival of Cheeses. We'll post photos of that for sure.

The Summer of a Thousand Cheeses At the Book Event

Star Lake in Retrospect, Fixing the Mustang, The New Plan for Getting to Seattle and the Cheese Conference

I cannot resist posting a final couple of Star Lake photos from the Reunion and one taken on Patsy's deck looking over the lake on one of our last evenings. The wine was good. The sky was clear. The air was warm. The loons were calling.

We had a grueling trip home, with road work stoppages that lasted as long as an hour, and heavy awful rains off and on for two days. Luckily, we had a great evening and another great sushi meal with Meg and Steve in Lexington. But on the second day of the trip we got sideswiped by a hit and run driver in SC. The new little Mustang got the worst of it. We pulled off and examined ourselves and the car. Finding no blood nor any damage that interfered with driving, we drove on and called our USAA insurance agent from the road.

We were glad to get home and to get the car inspected the next day. We had only three days home before our scheduled departure for the big road trip to Seattle for the American cheese Society Conference and three weeks of hiking in the Pacific Northwest. 

I took the Mustang in to the dealer service folks to change oil before the long drive. The air bag light came on in Star Lake & stayed on...so asked them to check it. SIX DAYS later we got the car back! That was 3 days after we needed to leave...so I bought plane tix. Seems the module that tells the 2 passenger air bags to deploy in a crash had an "open circuit" in it. Had to take out seat & carpeting to fix + they didn't have the part! 

As we flew over all the beauty of the Bad Lands, Custer Canyon, & mountains today I felt cheated by Ford & the Santa Fe Ford service folks. But it would have been a very long drive...that's the other side. Fate wins. 


So here we are in beautiful, warm, sunny Seattle. We visited Beechers Cheese and saw their cheddaring operations.

We just had a super delightful meal on the waterfront on an outdoor terrace at The Pink Door. They had a great picture on the wall of a dog like Pam's Mardi, except he was being angelic.




Great food. Great service. Now we're relaxing in our room on 29th floor. Nice view of Seattle. No travel glitches today. Happy campers. Conference starts tomorrow. I expect to volunteer in the judging of the 1000+ cheeses that have been entered into the competition this year. Russ will take the Cheeses of the Olympic Peninsula Field Trip.

North Country 2010

Day 2 

After spending a nice evening on Friday in Lexington with Meg and Steve, and having a super sushi dinner with them, we had a second beautiful driving day.

• VA - Done 
• PA - Done
• NY - Done 
• Star Lake - Hurray 

Tracy 

The North Country held many and varied events this summer. Some were wonderful and some were really not. Tracy, the 30-year-old daughter of our friend and Star Lake neighbor Gary has become our friend too. She, her husband Aaron, and 3-year-old Kayla were driving north from TN as we were driving up from FL. We were texting about how Kayla hated the trip even more than our dog Jake. We arrived a few hours apart and had a lovely day at the lake the next day. But then Tracy, who had breast cancer last year and a brain tumor two months ago got vertigo. She soon was in the Star Lake hospital, then Syracuse hospital, then flown home to Vanderbilt hospital. They removed most of a new tumor 8 days after we all had happily arrived at the lake. Gary and Kayla flew to TN when Tracy got home on Thursday the 12th.  She will have radiation treatments. She is regularly posting updates on http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tracyb/journal?jid=5963758

The Lake

Our Star Lake camp was welcoming as always. Jake jumped up on the sofa and luxuriated in being allowed such comfort on vacation. He was very happy to be out of the back seat of the new Mustang. The weather was so warm that I actually swam in usual frigid Star Lake most days.

Donna and Larry, our PA friends, visited for several days. We spent every afternoon at the lake with all the neighbors, including Tracy, Aaron, and now-happy Kayla, Linda and Lenny, their daughters and 5 grandkids, Pat and her brother Don. We walked the 3.8 miles around the lake each day before our swimming and kayaking adventures. We had dinner with Pat and Don at her cottage a couple of times and she with us after he left for home.

One evening, Don and his Blue Grass music friends Eddy and Jewel invited us and all the other neighbors to a house concert. Three wonderful hours! Another evening Donna, Larry and Russ and I had dinner at the Cranberry Lake Inn, sitting by the windows overlooking the lake and watching the sunset.

Russ and I participated in the Save Our Schoolhouse 5K Walk/Run and Russ came in 2^nd in the Men’s > 60 category. He got a cool plaque.

Russ’s sister Phyllis, husband Otis, and friends Carol and Rolfe came for a bit too. We entertained everyone at our camp while they were there. The mood was muted by Tracy’s pending surgery but it was good to all be together…friends who have known each other since junior high school supporting each other.

Pam and James also spent a few days visiting. They went to Russ’s High School Reunion with us. We kayaked and took the floating dock out around the lake. Unique to Star Lake, many camps have docks that detach and have motors. You can take your dock, including chairs, coolers, umbrellas, out and about. People motor in the afternoons to a sand bar, gathering to talk and share beer and snacks, seating on their docks or on their Adirondack chairs in the shallow water. This year the lake had many loons. I awoke to their calls the 1^st night and heard them often in the early mornings and evenings. We watched their amazing walk-on-water displays several afternoons.

Cheese Talks 

We gave several presentations and got coverage in the Watertown Daily Times and 4 other local newspapers, plus an interview on North Country Public radio. At the St. Lawrence County Historical Society we talked about the history of cheese in the region. About 30 people attended, including Russ’s cousin Charlene. We went out afterwards with Charlene for coffee in Canton. The next talk was at the community library. Our 2^nd Tuesday was a full day: Breakfast at The Wild Center in Tupper Lake, interview at 10:00 with the Tupper Lake Free Press, a presentation at the Adirondack Museum on Adirondack Food Traditions: The Cheese Connection, and Adirondack Authors Night in Long Lake, then back home to Star Lake. Our last cheese talk was back at Tupper Lake’s Wild Center: The Natural History of the Adirondacks and Cheese.

The Trip Back

Day 1 Rain and a major slow-down in Hazelton, great dinner again with Meg and Steve.

• NY - Done
• PA - Done 
• MD - Done 
• WV - Done 
• VA 

Day 2 More rain and sideswiped by a hit-and-run driver in SC. We’re fine but the new Mustang is badly in need of cosmetic surgery.

• VA - Done 
• NC - Done 
• SC - Done 
• GA - Done 
• FL - Home Sweet Home 

Next Adventure

We leave Friday August 20 to drive to Seattle. It is all about the journey!

On the road Day 1

Today we left Gainesville at 5:55 AM. 

• Florida - Done
• Georgia - Done
• South Carolina - Done
• North Carolina - Done
• Virginia- Half Done

Spending the night in Lexington, having arrived exactly 11 hours after we started the trip. Tonight - Meg, Steve, their 3 dogs, good beer, great cheese, wonderful sushi, hugs, love, joy.


Tomorrow, more to come

Off to see the country from south to north

The dog has had his pre-getting-in-the-car-with-humans bath, the house sitter is all set, and we are off tomorrow for Star Lake in the Adirondack Sate Park in NY. Jake is particularly eager to get his Golden Retriever body to a cooler place...with a lake to wade in and a camp where he is allowed to sit on the sofa. We are already thinking about cheese curd treats. 

We did two telephone interviews yesterday with media from up in the North Country. North Country Public Radio will air their interview with us about The Summer of a Thousand Cheeses and the talks will will be giving about cheese on August 5. When we get the link, we'll post it. The Watertown Daily Times is going to write something about the book and the talks too. Yipee!

Fourth of July in Cedar Key

Our weekend in Cedar Key started on a totally gross note. We opened the gate and found a dead gray fox on the walk right in front of the front steps! It had been much enjoyed by the vultures...thank you very much vultures. However, they left us the skull, bones, furry tail, lots of fur, and a smell previously experienced only by walking or driving quickly by road-killed possums and armadillos. Whew! We disposed of the vultures leftovers and then hosed the smelled into the ground as best we could. Our vet told us distemper is rampant in the fox population and we are need to keep our dog immunized. He's up-to-date, thank goodness.

The rest of the weekend was totally lovely. We had dinner with friends Marci and Jim at the Neptune Bar at the Island Hotel while enjoying the live band and joining in on such tunes as "I love this bar!"

We spent Sunday with thousands of others at CLAMerica in the city park, ate clams of course, and worked in the education booth of the Friends of the Lower Suwannee and Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges. We stayed home and listened to the fireworks, watching what we could see of them behind the trees outside the living room window...all the time comforting Jake while he tried to stopped quivering in fear. 

We never thought to take a photo of the fox. I bet you're sorry too.  

North Florida Dairy Goat Association

We spent the afternoon with 35 members of the North Florida Dairy Goat Association. Some have had goats as long as Laura Chenel...since the 1970s. Others just gotten started recently through a 4-H project, or as one teacher shared, because her fiance gave her 5 goats. We met a couple who, in May, had hiked part of El Camino de Santiago de Compostela, have had various breeds of goats and now are focusing on Nigerian Dwarfs, and have turkeys to sell...Anybody need turkeys? The discussions were both conceptual and very pragmatic...ranging from the value of good food to the regulations for selling raw milk, cheese, eggs, and produce. The meeting was at Mary and Rusty Ludlams' farm. Mary made an amazing blueberry cobbler for dessert, which vied with such delights as home-made angel food cake, lemon bars, and apple pecan bars for best-in-class. No winner could be selected. There was fresh roasted turkey, beef stew, pasta salads, and fresh green and tomato salads. Summer abundance! Food Heaven!

Russ and I got to talk a bit about our adventures in the world of American artisanal cheeses. What a lovely way to spend a Florida June Sunday!

Book Trip Fun

My trip was great fun. I had 8 book events and a wonderful 45th Reunion with my Nazareth College friends.

First stop was Erick's Cheese and Wine in Banner Elk NC. The Summer of a Thousand Cheeses and I visited Grandfather Mountain while there, too.

Next I went to Mansfield where I spent a wonderful evening eating and chatting with friends Larry and Donna, a nice morning hiking with Donna, and a super evening at the chef-owned, excellent Wren's Nest Restaurant.

In Rochester, I did book talks at the Sisters of Saint Joseph Motherhouse and at my Reunion.

Coming back to Florida, I stopped at Cheese To You in Lexington and the chef-owned restaurant Staunton Grocery and specialty food store George Bowers Grocery both in Staunton Virginia and at Flat Creek Lodge in Georgia.

An Eventful Day

Today the book promotions and (we hope) sales began getting into high gear. Peg left for a 5-state multi-presentation book tour that will take her to North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, back to Virginia, and thence to Georgia, with one or more presentations at each stop. Russ attended the Community Celebration of Gainesville's 2010 Eat Local Challenge, sponsored by Hogtown Hometown. He was fortunate to have three new American cheesemakers at the event and to have his table flanked by two of them, Wainwright Dairy of Live Oak, FL and Cypress Point Creamery of Hawthorne, FL. Folks from the Glades Ridge Goat Dairy were nearby. Peg will present in Banner Elk, NC tomorrow. The photos show Peg's departure for the great book tour in her new Mustang, and Russ' table at the Gainesville event.

P.S. Check our great new webpage www.lighthallbooks.com

Book Tour Begins!

Tomorrow I am taking off on a multi-state Book Tour trip. First stop is on Memorial Day when I will meet with customers and talk cheese at Erick's Cheese and Wine Shop in Banner Elk, NC between 2:30 and 5:00. Can't wait to meet the folks there.

This Week 2009 and 2010

What a lucky week this must be for us. Last year we were hiking El Camino de Santiago de Compostela. The sun shone every day. The wildflowers colored the air. We felt the Camino being a healing spirit. This year, our book was published and began flying off the shelves (at least in our imaginations), and we bought ourselves a sports car...a Mustang because it is big enough for a Golden Retriever to come along and enjoy the rides. Life is good. If you have ever wondered how the cheddars and yellow cheeses of your childhood morphed into the abundance of American-made artisanal and farmstead cheeses of today, take a look at The Summer of a Thousand Cheeses on our website and buy a book!  Lighthall Books

Food

Florida summer arrived this weekend. Although it was in the mid 40s overnight last week, it was in the mid 90s Saturday and Sunday. We fit in 5-mile walks before it got too hot each day. The Farmers Market was packed with shoppers, vendors, and fresh, local food Saturday. We bought red romaine from Waldo Demonstration Farm, cucumbers and rainbow swiss chard from a Jonesville farmer, and a huge bunch of the beets...which turned out to be as good as they looked. Russ cooked them last night with their tender tasty greens. It was a treat.

Saturday afternoon was the Kickoff for the Eat Local May Challenge. People register to eat only foods from within 100 miles of home for a month. We went to Swallowtail Farm for the opening celebration, saw several of our Slow Food friends and some cheese-book friends too.

The revised website for Lighthall Books is almost ready for its beta test. Yeah!

Book Delivery

The page proofs went back the day after the received them. We expect to see an advanced copy of the finished product about May 20. Soon after that, the books will be available. Can't wait.

Page Proofs

The page proofs arrived for the cheese book. The cover looks fantastic! We found one error that needs to be fixed and ought to have that resolved tomorrow so we can send them back. Scary-exciting to have it leave our hands.

Florida Food Summit

The Florida Food Summit has been a great event. Last evening we attended a lecture and discussion led by Michael Dimmick, the Executive Director of the Roots of Change Fund and former president of Slow Food USA.

Our presentation this morning went really well. We had a wonderfully engaged group of participants, including John and Nancy Mims who are long-time dairy farmers in nearby Hawthorne. They have just started producing cheese on their farm. The first of their cheeses will be ready to sell in a month. Stephanie Hamblen was there. She is the writer of Hogtown Homegrown blog and newsletter. And lots of other interesting folks. David Green from Winter Park Dairy talked about his cheesemaking. Dan Eddy and Robbie Sipes talked about their cheese retailing. And we talked about what we learned in our cheese research. What a nice way to spend a morning!

The Summer of a Thousand Cheeses

 

The book is now off to the printer. Next step...reviewing the proofs.