Washington Wednesday: Iron Springs Resort

The brochure for Iron Springs Resort on Washington State’s Copalis Beach says it’s the place, “Where Traditions Begin”.

It’s certainly true for us. 

A tradition has begun: we were checking available fall dates at this wet, windy, wonderful place high on a ridge overlooking the Pacific Ocean before we’d completed our first stay here last weekend.


That in itself says a lot about the appeal of this mid-century resort turned new again by owners, the True family of Seattle. 

The Sun-seeking Smiths have long avoided  the Washington Coast for being too wet. . . too cold. . . and too gray.

And it was wet, cold and gray with cameo appearances of both the sun and moon.  Yet, there was also a certain spirit of place here; and it didn’t take long to be caught up in it.

Hours slipped past as we sat in those two chairs pictured above. The flat-screen television and free in-cabin WI-FI couldn’t compete  with watching the pounding surf  through our rain pummeled floor-to-ceiling windows.

We sat in front of the fireplace each evening sipping our glasses of wine as firs swayed outside our cozy one-bedroom, one-bath cabin to the wind’s haunting melody.


It was wild. It was magical.

Although new to us, Iron Springs Resort has been around since the 1940’s.  Comments in our cabin’s guest book told the stories of loyal guests who returned each year, despite the aging decline of both the former owner and her cabins. 

Many of those same loyal guests have penned notes of  delight about the renovation and modernization of the cabin interiors by new owners, (brothers and their wives),  Doug  and Janet, and Bill and Ruth True, who purchased the resort two years ago; then closed it for a year-long refurbishing that included new floor to ceiling interiors: bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, furnishings and décor.


We were guests of the True’s last weekend and while we had neither dogs nor family with us, both are welcome at this 24-cabin resort that reopened last July.





During a break in the rain, we bundled up against the elements and walked for miles on the flat, hard-packed sand.  Beach access was easy – with proper wading boots we could have cut across nearby Boone Creek, but we opted for a well-maintained access trail through the forest not far from the resort office (it helped us keep our city slicker shoe-clad feet dry).

The beach surface is so firm that portions of it are a state highway, open to vehicles, as well as, an airport landing strip in the summer months.

Our two-night stay gave us time to explore other small towns that are within an easy drive of the resort. I’ll tell you about them next week in Washington Wednesday.

If You Go:  Iron Springs Resort, 3707 Highway 109, toll-free 1-800-380-7850, phone 360-276-4230, reservations@ironsprings.com  Seasonal rates range from $169 per night to $269, plus tax. There’s a $20 fee per dog  per night for the first five nights. (Three dog per cabin limit.)  Each cabin has a different floor plan (they are shown on the resort website  - just click the link above). One-bedroom cabins are perfect for couples or small families. A few adjoining cabins on the property are perfect for large families or groups of friends who want to be together, but still have some privacy.

Check back here on Travel Photo Thursday to come along on  a Razor Clam dig at Copalis Beach, (that is koh-PAY-lis, by the way).

Getting into the “Spirit” of Cruising

On a Sunday in the not-too-distant future, we’ll be setting sail from San Diego, California on our old friend, Carnival Spirit.  In all, our five-day cruise will give us two days at sea and two days to explore Cabo San Lucas on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula.

It will be a rather quick trip, compared to a cruise we took on this same ship five years ago.  That one took us as far south as Acapulco on Mexico’s western coast.  This one will provide what we are seeking: a shot of sea and sun – a change from our slate-gray Pacific Northwest.  An added bonus is Cabo; we've never been there so plan to do some exploring during our short stay.

This trip is one of those that one minute wasn't on our radar and the next minute it was, thanks to a last-minute travel deal we couldn’t pass up – our favorite kind of travel.

Joel's travel bug was roused by the cruise price he saw in an email we received from Travel Zoo . We made a quick call to our cruise specialists at CruCon Cruise Outlet who offered the same good rate, so we booked with them.

Since our 2007 cruise, the ship has undergone some major renovations in preparation for its repositioning later this year to Australia. 

Our first day at sea we’ll log a few miles on the pedometer just exploring on board and getting into the Spirit of this 88,500 ton ‘Fun Ship” that carries 2,124 passengers.

TP Thursday: Washington’s “Old West”

We live 'out West’in that part of America made famous by mid-20th Century television Westerns. 
Watching Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Gunsmoke’s Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty, and, of course, Bonanza's  Hoss, Little Joe, Adam and Ben Cartwright as kids we learned of those early days in our part of the country:  tumble weeds tumbling through vast open spaces, sparcely populated by 'Cowboys and Indians' and always with mountains in the distance. . .

So it shouldn't be surprising that one of our favorite stays in Central Washington was at a place that put us right in the 'Old West'; a step back in time, and less than a three-hour drive from Seattle.
 


We stayed in this 'room'  at Cherry Wood Bed and Breakfast, in the heart of Yakima Valley wine country.



The bed and breakfast is a working ranch in the midst of an agricultural area, so the rates include a hearty ranch breakfast. Had we had the time, for an additional price, we could have saddled up and taken a trail ride tour of local wineries.  I must admit that our taste of the 'old West' was nothing at all like those black and white television shows where they pulled a thin bed roll off the back of the saddle and hunkered up on the hard pack by the campfire for warmth.

Our stay was for an article I was writing about ‘glamping’. . . , that cushie-kissed means of 'camping in comfort'. 

We did have our own old wooden "outhouse" to use when nature called. However, hidden behind these wood walls was a fresh-scented, plastic 'Port-a-Potty' which was pumped and cleaned regularly.





  We brushed our teeth and washed up under the watchful eye of the self-appointed morning hygiene supervisor.












When we stepped inside the ‘door’ – an opening in our canvas walled tee-pee -- we found ourselves surrounded by luxury:








 
We offered a toast to the 'Old West" as we sat on the wooden swing, near the campfire pit watching the sun set over the far-distant Cascade Mountains, sipping our glasses of Yakima Valley wine.



It is TP Thursday so click this link to  Budget Travelers Sandbox and take a quick trip around the world through the lenses of my fellow travel bloggers.  And watch for the return of Washington Wednesdays, WAWednesdays, next week on Travelnwrite. This year's tales will begin at Iron Springs Resort at Copalis Beach.

Once Upon a Time. . .in Mexico

  Casa de la Playa.

‘House of the Beach’.   Our house on the beach . . . in Mexico.
  It seems, at times, so very long ago.  And sometimes, it seems only yesterday. . .

Bucerias, Mexico 1991

We first visited Mexico in the winter of 1991.  Six months later we bought a home there.  We were ready for an adventure at the time. Our ages hovered at just above and below 40; ages when our work life, peppered with limited vacation days, just didn’t curb our wanderlust.  

Just north of Puerto Vallarta, at the end of a rutted beach road in the tiny hamlet of Bucerias, the house that we would name Casa de la Playa captured our imaginations and fueled our dreams from the moment we saw it. 
"Why, it could be a Bed and Breakfast we’d run in our retirement!
 
Until then a vacation rental. . .

Si! Por que, no? – Yes! Why not?"

That was a time long before the area was known -- as it is today-- as Riviera Nayarit. Back then fresh oysters were sold from stands lining the two-lane road that bisected the town - the National Highway.


Our story and experiences that evolved are not unlike the stories told in books by Frances Mayes about Tuscany and Peter Mayle about Provence. The trials and the triumphs of foreign home ownership  have an uncanny similarity.

In our story, the chapters multiplied as we added three more homes to our holdings.  Our adventures really began in 1998 when we quit our jobs – long before reaching retirement age - to oversee the construction of two of those homes.

Our Mexican story ended with the sale of our last casa seven years ago.

We’ve not been back to the area since that sale. There have been far too many other places in the world to see.

Bucerias 2012

As I’ve written before, we’ve found timeshare ownership is now a better fit for our nomadic lifestyle. It’s  far-less stressful and labor-intensive. We send an annual payment for maintenance and our labor is done.

The most ‘stress’ we have with the timeshare is selecting one of the many destinations from which we can choose.  In fact Joel was looking at our menu of destinations a few days ago. . .  

Rancho Banderas, left; Bucerias, right pin

. . .when  he  noticed a resort in Riviera Nayarit, Rancho Banderas Vacation Villas, on Playa Destiladeras, a long stretch of flat, sandy beach, between Bucerias and Punta de Mita.

We reminisced about Playa Destiladeras, a  remote hangout for surfers and their fans during our time in Mexico. Then we talked of  long ago friendships, favorite restaurants and our favorite places along the coastline and in the Sierra Madres. . .

In less than an hour we’d booked our flights and secured a reservation.  We’re heading back to Mexico after far too long an absence. Our trip down Memory Lane will be mixed with  discovering this touristy Riviera Nayarit. 

Memory Lane. 

That’s the address now of that old enchantress, Casa de la Playa. Within months of selling our  ‘house of the beach'  to a businessman from Mexico City, he had it bulldozed to  make way for a small condominium building that now towers where she once stood.

How about you? Have you traveled a Memory Lane destination lately? Or do you have a Casa de la Playa memory?

I have put some of our favorite Mexico reads as well as Frances Mayes and Peter Mayle’s books on our Amazon carousel to the bottom left of the home page. If you purchase a book from it, we make a few cents on each sale but that doesn’t affect your purchase price.

Note to subscribers:  I re-posted this after Feedburner failed to deliver it to some of you.  I apologize if you've received it twice.

TP Thursday: A Spanish Food and Wine Fest

Food and wine. What’s a trip without them?
In Spain, a country known for its many festivals, we created our own food and drink fest everywhere we traveled last year.

In Madrid:  A trip to our favorite Cervecerias, Los Gatos on Calle Jesus, 2., phone: 914 29 3067) became an almost nightly ritual during our week-long stay. 

Our dinners – tapas and pintxos --were often eaten standing at the wine barrel table under the watchful eye of  “Satchmo” Louis Armstrong and next to a tribute to bullfighting that included a matador’s pink cape.








In Osuna:  We followed the suggestions of our hotel owner and visited Casa Curro, at Plazuela Salitre, 5, phone 955-820-758 where we found a dizzing array of choices ….. all in Spanish which made our dining a fun adventure.









Another night ate at Meson del Duque on Plaza de la Duquesa, 2, phone 95-482-2845 where we let the staff choose for us and were delighted with the culinary artistry. This dish in the shape of bull horns is battered and deep-friend shrimp served in a special dipping sauce. This place was so incredibly good we may go back just to eat there!



In Barcelona:  When not eating food, one of our favorite past times was looking at displays of it.  And one of our newly-discovered favorite places to do that was the Santa Caterina Market  (Avinguda de Francesc Cambo, 16) a few blocks from the Gothic Cathedral.   Its undulating roof is a mosaic made up of 325,000 Spanish tiles. (It isn’t the more well-known market on Las Ramblas.)



I’ll close with a toast to Spanish Cava. It’s  Spain’s version of  champagne; a bubbly glass of happiness. There’s no better restorative for sightseeing sensory overload than a tall flute of it served with a side of salted Spanish Marcona almonds.



Have any tapa favorites in Spain?  Where do we find them?  And remember, it's Travel Photo Thursday so serve yourself a helping of some great destinations and photos by visiting Budget Travelers Sandbox. 

‘Our Minds and Feet are Getting Restless. . .’

.. .recently wrote a fellow travel blogger.  We know that feeling.  We are ready to hit the road again. You travelers out there know the symptoms: 

A desire to explore. . .a new destination. . .an old  favorite.

Maps are pulled out of drawers. 

Travel guide books pulled from shelves, now sit within easy reach on the coffee table.

Photo albums are reviewed; memories renewed. 

Winter days are the perfect time for planning the next adventure.Old favorites might include a return to Spain. . .perhaps. 

A trip in late spring to Arizona. . .for sure. 





But we’ll quell our restlessness starting next week with a beach getaway.  . .and not quite the type to which the sun-seeking Hula Babe and Beach Boy are accustomed.

We will be donning rain gear and blue jeans and exploring a tiny bit of  Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula. 

We’re heading  to Copalis Beach, “The Home of the Razor Clam”. Located just seven miles north of Ocean Shores, Copalis Beach in 2010 had a population of 415. That number swells to 1,500 when clam season rolls around. 

Our original plan was to go there to watch the winter storms that swell the ocean and crash its waves against the long flat stretch of beach. It is so flat and solid that  you can drive autos on it and in good weather it serves as an airport landing strip, (or so we've read).

However, yesterday we learned of an added bonus: our visit will fall on a day during which clam digging is permitted.

One of our hosts, Doug True, who dug his first clam there as a child, is going to lead us in our first clam digging adventure at his Iron Springs Resort.

We’ve never dug clams. I don’t think I know what a razor clam looks like. We’ve never stayed on the Washington Coast.  I think this getaway holds lots of new adventures for us.

What else should we do there? What else should we see? Let us know in the comments below or shoot us an email.

TP Thursday: Santa Cruz ~ Cruise Views

One of the best parts of a cruise is the early morning arrival at a new port of call. It’s the time when that city comes to life for us. No longer a section in a guide book or a point on the map, it is out there just waiting to be explored.
Many times we are so taken with a place that we vow we must return. That’s how we felt about  Santa Cruz, the capital of Tenerife – one of  the seven Canary Islands:


As we approached the island about 7 a.m. the rising sun was a spotlight on clusters of homes tucked away in the hills to the north of the city.


From the balcony of our Celebrity Constellation we watched passing ferries which always prompt  ponderings about their destinations followed by speculation that “if we were to return one day we could hop aboard and see first hand where it goes. . .”


We’ve become accustomed to Fred Olsen cruise ships in Europe but were surprised to see this Fred Olsen Express ferry zip past us. We’ve since learned the fleet  has 76 weekly departures and transports some 2.7 million foot passengers annually between cities in the Canaries.  It would be a way to get around that island chain. . .hmmmm, the temptations grew.



We shared the usually-busy cruise port that day with only one other cruise ship. More than 800,000 cruise passengers visited in 2011. It was the end of the season, though, and we were among the last of the ships to stop prior to repositioning across the Atlantic.



Tenerife was the last land we’d see for seven days. Refueling  took a bit longer than expected so as the sun began to set it was time to cast off for our trip across the Atlantic.  It is always fun to watch the shore crew release the ropes and send us on our way. . .



The Canary Islands are just 300 km (180 miles) off the coast of Africa. We think it would be great fun to one day take a ferry trip from Spain to the Canary Islands with a stop in Funchal, Madeira before returning to Spain.  Have you done that? Got any recommendations for us?

And.. . it is Travel Photo Thursday so take a quick spin around the world without moving from your computer through photos at Budget Travelers Sandbox.

Hawaii: "So what do you do there?"

Our island days moved as gently as tropical breezes. They also moved far too quickly.

Maybe that was why we extended our stay for just a few extra days (despite the airline change fees) . . .just to squeeze in a bit more time in our Pacific Paradise.

Several friends have asked, in somewhat incredulous tones, about our near month-long stay, "But what do you do there when you stay that long?"  .

I was reminded of yet another passage -- words to ponder -- written by my 'beach book buddy' Frances Mayes, in her book, "Every day in Tuscany":

"I'll never be over the nagging sense: I should be doing something. My friends in Cortona (Italy) don't have that particular demon. They are doing what they need to be doing by being."

Much like those Tuscans, we didn't go to Hawaii with the idea of doing we went there to experience being.  Some days we were entertained for hours watching a pattern of sunlight sprinkle its diamonds across the sea. Sometimes we'd go grocery shopping. Other days we watched stormy waves crash against the shore. Sometimes we took out the garbage. Other times the whales entertained us as they made their way past. Sometimes we did laundry. Other times we read books and napped.  A few times we'd go explore another part of the island. . . but we weren't often moved to do so.  

We spent the majority of our time on O'ahu at  Ko Olina , a development of single-family residences, an 18-hole golf course, marina, hotels, timeshares and privately owned condos on O'ahu's western Wai’anae Coast. It's a laid-back place far different from Waikiki but close enough that we could easily drive there in a half hour.

When we took the timeshare plunge five years ago by purchasing a week in Hawaii, we were not only giving ourselves a vacation destination, but we were also giving ourselves permission to 'be doing by being'.

So, Marriott's Ko Olina Beach Club (top photo) has become that vacation beach home we once dreamed of -- without the cost or headaches that accompany long-distance vacation home ownership. 

It really does feel like going home now. We have staff members who remember us from our previous  stays. We have met other owners over the years and have become friends. We are lucky when our visits overlap as we have time to catch up on news over home-cooked meals.

 We are so taken with Ko Olina that we've returned each winter, and will likely continue doing so for many years to come. Although one of the positives for us in this timeshare world is that we can trade our place, or a portion of it, for nearly anywhere else in the world we might want to go. We did that last fall when we stayed at the Marriott Vacation Club on Spain's Costa del Sol.



 We purchased the type of two bedroom unit called a lock-off which means that we stay two weeks a year in our ocean front home: one week in the lock-off, a small efficiency sized place 360-sq. ft. (32 sq. meter)  unit with an18-sq. ft (2 sq. m) balcony.  The second week is in  the much larger sized unit (pictures in this post). It is the smaller unit we trade for accommodations in other destinations. Since our initial purchase, we've added time at Ko Olina, which lets us stay longer and trade more

 So this is our getaway and what we do there.  How about you? Where do you go when you 'do what you need to be doing by being'?