1889 Feb | March 2018

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Prefab Homes 

Following 

Lewis and Clark 

Warm up with a 

Chai Bourbon Latte 

TOP 5 

MULTISPORT 

DESTINATIONS 

THE GIRLS 

IN THE BOAT 

UW ROWERS 

MAKE HISTORY 

KRISTINA 

GLINOGA 

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February | March volume 7

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14 SHOWROOMS THROUGHOUT WASHINGTON 

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2 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE FEBRUARY | MARCH 2018

Moo-ving On Up 

Chef David Hatfield 

learns farming as he goes 

photography by Cameron Zegers 

Chef David Hatfield owns Vashon 

Island’s Pink Tractor Farm, and his 

credo is simple—if he can’t raise 

or grow it himself, he’s not going 

to serve it. The farm sells at local 

farmers markets, year round at its 

farm store, and online, and Hatfield 

holds regular farm-to-table dinners. 

For Hatfield, who earned his stripes 

cooking at Northwest hotels and 

restaurants, the farm has featured a 

high learning curve. But being close 

to the land and the animals, Hatfield 

said, makes the challenge worth it. 

Here, Hatfield checks in with his dog 

Max. (pg. 22). 

FEBRUARY | MARCH 2018 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE 3

FEATURES 

FEBRUARY | MARCH 2018 • volume 7 

60 

Must Love Dogs 

Dogs and snow are a magical 

combination. We take you 

along as Captain Larry and 

his Flying Furs dash through 

the woods in a dogsled race. 

photography by James Harnois 

46 

Gear Up & Go 

Feeling trapped by winter weather? 

We’ve got just the thing—throw every 

piece of gear you have in the back 

of your rig and head to one of these five 

destinations for a multisport adventure. 

written by John Nelson 

52 

James Harnois 

The Girls In The Boat 

The University of Washington 

women’s rowing team has made a name 

for itself in its rise to dominate the sport. 

Now it’s chasing more history. 

written by Kevin Max 

Gidget gets ready 

for her race.

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DEPARTMENTS 

FEBRUARY | MARCH 2018 • volume 7 

LIVE 

14 SAY WA? 

Get out and explore this winter—learn about Washington’s geological 

formations, work your way through Seattle’s best family adventures, or try 

some of the gems on the South Sound Coffee Trail. 

18 FOOD + DRINK 

Warm up with a chai bourbon latte, then get ready to break New Year’s 

resolutions with our list of top pizza parlors. Top it all off with the Red Wine 

and Chocolate festival in the Yakima Valley. 

Blake Jorgenson/SilverStar Mountain Resort 

22 FARM TO TABLE 

Learn about lamb from the fine farmers at Vashon Island’s Pink Tractor Farm. 

If chef David Hatfield can’t grow it on his farm, he won’t serve it to his guests. 

26 HOME + DESIGN 

No need for a double take—this prefabricated home is as modern, 

sophisticated and well-crafted as it appears. 

32 MIND+ BODY 

Casey Cady has made small changes in an effort to improve his health. 

They’re working—here’s how he did it. 

34 ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 

Felix Solomon’s rise to greatness in the field of wood-carving has been fast 

and fortuitous for all who love indigenous art. 

40 44 

THINK 

38 STARTUP 

Sensoria Fitness wants to help you get fit and stay healthy with its tech gear. 

Emily Black 

10 

11 

86 

88 

Editor’s Letter 

1889 Online 

Map of Washington 

Until Next Time 

World Relief Seattle 

39 WHAT’S GOING UP 

The buildings of the past have been given new lives—and Steam Plant Square 

in Spokane and Gas Works Park in Seattle are getting spruced up once again. 

40 WHAT I’M WORKING ON 

Connecting farmers of sustainable craft malt to buyers is Mainstem 

Malt’s goal. 

42 MY WORKSPACE 

At Matt’s in the Market, butcher Kristina Glinoga is like a sommelier, but 

for meat. 

44 GAME CHANGER 

World Relief welcomes refugees to Washington, creating lasting relationships 

that keep families connected to the community. 

EXPLORE 

68 TRAVEL SPOTLIGHT 

Sultan’s tiny roadside chapel on Highway 2 is the perfect spot for divine 

intervention (and to stretch your legs). 

70 ADVENTURE 

Following the footsteps of Lewis and Clark through Washington, with the 

aid of modern gear. And a car. 

74 LODGING 

The Marcus Whitman in Walla Walla is ultimate old-school splendor, with 

a healthy dose of wine. 

COVER 

photo by Blake Jorgenson, courtesy of SilverStar Mountain Resort 

(see Northwest Destination: SilverStar Mountain Resort, B.C., pg. 82) 

76 TRIP PLANNER 

Seattle’s hottest neighborhood, Ballard, is full of great coffee, restaurants, 

scenery and, yes, Scandinavian history. 

82 NORTHWEST DESTINATION 

Find your inner athlete with Nordic skiing at SilverStar Mountain Resort 

in British Columbia. 


CONTRIBUTORS 

AUSTIN WHITE 

Photographer 

Trip Planner 

LAUREN KRAMER 

Writer 

Artist in Residence 

JAMES HARNOIS 

Photographer 

Gallery 

JOHN NELSON 

Writer 

Adventure 

I used to live just outside of 

Seattle in Issaquah, so I’m 

very familiar with the area. My 

girlfriend and I drove up from 

our home in Bend, Oregon, to 

shoot the Trip Planner for the 

weekend and were reminded 

why we love the Seattle area. 

One of our favorite spots was 

the Mox Boarding House, a 

great place to grab a beer and 

play some games. 

(pg. 76) 

A longtime fan of indigenous 

artwork, I was thrilled to meet 

Felix Solomon, a modest artist 

who wants nothing more than 

to carve in his studio with his 

trusty dog by his side and the 

ocean just a few feet from his 

doorstep. As I drove to see him 

the sun was breaking through 

the clouds, bald eagles were 

careening in the wind and waves 

were smashing against the 

cliffs of Lummi Island. It was a 

quintessential Pacific Northwest 

day, the kind charged with an 

energy and beauty that leaves 

you grateful to be alive to 

witness it. 

(pg. 34) 

It’s always exciting to step into 

a world you know little about. 

Prior to this photo assignment, 

all I knew about sled dog racing 

was something called the 

Iditarod in Alaska. Spending time 

with Capt. Larry and The Flying 

Furs gave me a new appreciation 

for the sport. There is so 

much care and joy that goes 

into it. I couldn’t tell who was 

more excited to be there—the 

mushers or their dogs. 

(pg. 60) 

I first thought about following 

the Corps of Discovery’s path 

through Washington when 

I visited the Lewis and Clark 

Interpretive Center at Cape 

Disappointment last fall. “How 

cool would it be to follow their 

journey?” I wondered at the time. 

A month later, I was camping in 

subzero temps along the Snake 

and Columbia rivers, wondering 

if it was really worth it. Yes, it 

absolutely was. What better way 

to appreciate their struggle? 

(pg. 70) 


EDITOR 

MANAGING EDITOR 

CREATIVE 

MARKETING + DIGITAL MANAGER 

WEBMASTER 

OFFICE MANAGER 

DIRECTOR OF SALES 

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES 

BEERVANA COLUMNIST 

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS 

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS 

Kevin Max 

Sheila G. Miller 

Allison Bye 

Kelly Rogers 

Isaac Peterson 

Cindy Miskowiec 

Jenny Kamprath 

Cindy Guthrie 

Jenn Redd 

Jill Weisensee 

Jackie Dodd 

Melissa Dalton, Michelle Hopkins, Catie Joyce-Bulay, 

Lauren Kramer, John Nelson, Charyn Pfeuffer, Ben Salmon, 

Cara Strickland, Lori Sweeney, Naomi Tomky, Corinne Whiting 

Jackie Dodd, James Harnois, Jim Henkens, Austin White, 

Cameron Zegers 

Statehood Media 

Mailing Address: 

70 SW Century Dr. 

Suite 100-218 

Bend, Oregon 97702 

Portland Address: 

1801 NW Upshur St. 

Suite 100 

Portland, Oregon 97209 

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@1889washington 

Printed in Canada 

All rights reserved. No part of this publiCation may be reproduCed or transmitted in any form or by any means, eleCtroniCally or meChaniCally, inCluding 

photoCopy, reCording or any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of Statehood Media. ArtiCles and photographs 

appearing in 1889 Washington’s Magazine may not be reproduCed in whole or in part without the express written Consent of the publisher. 1889 Washington’s 

Magazine and Statehood Media are not responsible for the return of unsoliCited materials. The views and opinions expressed in these artiCles are not 

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FROM THE 

EDITOR 

WE MARK THE beginning of our second year 

as Washington’s statewide voice on lifestyle— 

inspiring people to visit new spots, to try new 

restaurants, to learn about the latest in startups 

and to feel more connected to the state. Thank 

you for supporting our mission to Live | Think 

| Explore the place we call home. I hope this 

issue of 1889 Washington’s Magazine touches 

on the places in the brain that make us take 

to the road and learn more about the natural 

treasures and inspiring people just outside our 

front door. 

When the University of Washington 

women’s rowing team swept all of the races 

in the 2017 NCAA Championships—a feat 

no other team had ever accomplished—they 

made an indelible mark in the storied rowing 

program that brought us The Boys in the Boat. 

This spring, the Husky rowers, coached by 

former Olympian Yaz Farooq, have the chance 

to make history once again. The road to the 

2018 championships, however, will be hard 

fought against national powerhouse rivals 

Stanford and Cal, the number two and three 

finishers in the varsity eight last year. On page 

52, we go inside Conibear Shellhouse and out 

through Montlake Cut with Yaz and the UW 

crew for the next chapter in history—Girls in 

the Boat. 

Washington is a state whose natural resources behind our 

outdoors and recreation pursuits are virtually unmatched in 

the country. From hundreds of possibilities, we narrowed 

down our picks for multisport destinations across the state. 

From powder shots and paddling to hiking and steelheading, 

“Gear Up & Go” on page 46 will get your wheels spinning for 

your next spring outing. 

This issue’s Trip Planner (pg. 76) takes us into Seattle’s 

Ballard neighborhood. The once-Norwegian fishing enclave 

is bustling with art, creative new restaurants and cafes. 

Thankfully we find a connection to its Scandinavian past 

at Scandinavian Specialties, a shop where you can still find 

lutefisk and lingonberry jam. 

A young couple goes prefab in their decision to make a new 

(family) life on the Kitsap Peninsula. This 1,821-square-foot 

house brings together sustainable building, modern concept 

and a stunning layout. Perhaps more important was the 

short three-month construction of the house—a relief for the 

expecting mother. Turn to Home + Design on page 26 to see 

this fab prefab home. 

Chef David Hatfield made a sea-change in lifestyle. He gave 

up the city and the top spot in coveted kitchens to raise lamb on 

Vashon Island. At his Pink Tractor Farm, he serves succulent 

lamb in pop-up events on the island and lives by the motto: If I 

can’t raise it or grow it myself, I won’t serve it. On page 22, we 

encounter a chef in his element, managing his uninterrupted 

supply chain from farm to table. 

Don’t forget the chai bourbon latte from Heritage Distilling 

Co. in Gig Harbor. We bring you the cocktail recipe (pg. 18)— 

you decide if it’s a brunch brightener or an evening aperitif. 

No matter what time of day, your life will become 10 percent 

happier with this hot toddy in hand. Cheers! 


1889 ONLINE 

More ways to connect with your favorite Washington content 

1889mag.com | #1889washington | @1889washington 

MORE ONLINE: TRIP PLANNER 

Austin White 

Discover the best of Ballard in our online video. 

1889mag.com/tripplannerballard 

ENTER TO WIN 

photo by Tina Ripley 

On the hill next to the historic miners car, 

on Windy Ridge, on a trip to Mount St. Helens. 

washington: in focus 

Have a photo that captures your Washington experience? Share 

it with us by filling out the Washington: In Focus form on our 

website. If chosen, you’ll be published here. 

1889mag.com/in-focus 

Go online for a chance to win a Denali rail tour for two 

from Gray Line Alaska! Keep a lookout for wildlife in 

glass-domed railcars, and spend the night at Denali 

and Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge. 

1889mag.com/alaska 


SAY WA? 14 

FOOD + DRINK 18 

FARM TO TABLE 22 

HOME + DESIGN 26 

Cameron Zegers 

MIND + BODY 32 

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 34 

pg. 22 

Abigail, a Scottish Highlander, at Pink Tractor Farm 

on Vashon Island.

A CO-PRODUCTION WITH 

SPOKANE CIVIC THEATRE 

West 

Side 

Story 

MORIHIKO NAKAHARA, 

CONDUCTOR 

APRIL 

20-21 

8:00 PM 

SPONSORED BY: 

JERRY ROSEN 

DAVID & CHRISTINA LYNCH 

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is transported to New York City in the turbulent 

60’s as two young, idealistic lovers find themselves caught between warring 

street gangs, the “American” Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks. Enjoy the 

Bernstein & Sondheim score performed live by the Spokane Symphony. 

MARTIN WOLDSON THEATER AT THE FOX • 509.624.1200 • SPOKANESYMPHONY.ORG

say wa? 

Tidbits & To-dos 

Seattle Family Adventures 

The Seattle Family Adventures 

guide is a must-have for locals, 

visitors and anyone wanting to 

explore all Seattle has to offer. 

From hiking and swimming to 

zoos and libraries, it’s the perfect 

hand-held guide to take along 

when you’re hoping to find the 

top park followed by the best 

place for an ice cream cone. There 

are memory-making ideas for all 

ages, whether you’re in town for 

the day or the weekend. 

sasquatchbooks.com 

South Sound Coffee Trail 

This self-guided coffee adventure through the Puget Sound takes you to 

some of the premier roasters in the region. Stop in and taste the difference 

between a variety of coffee bean roasts. The goal is to educate patrons and 

help them find their favorite coffee style—the trail may just help you decide 

which roast to buy the next time you’re at the store. 

experienceolympia.com 

Deep Forest Experience 

Deep Forest Experience, hosted 

by The Washington State Parks 

Commission, invites you on a 

tour of an ancient forest this 

winter with a guided hike through 

Rockport State Park. The daily halfmile 

hikes begin hourly between 

11 a.m. and 2 p.m. and take visitors 

through the woods under towering 

old-growth trees, some more than 

400 years old. Guests can also pop 

inside the Discovery Center for 

free refreshments and hot 

cocoa by the woodstove, 

interactive displays, nature 

videos and craft-making. 

parks.state.wa.us 


say wa? 

Tanden Launder 

Fran’s Chocolates 

This Seattle chocolatier has been whipping up some of the 

most exquisite chocolates since 1982. The boxes are almost as 

pretty as the treats inside, making this a fantastic Valentine’s 

gift idea. This year, the company will offer three specialty gift 

choices—caramel hearts, a heart-shaped assortment box and 

signature salted caramels. 

frans.com 

This artist has mixed media Americana pretty much 

perfected. Old-time photos are given a modern twist 

by incorporating unique objects with newspaper, 

spray-painted in resin and beautifully framed. It’s a 

pretty cool way to update your living space and make 

a statement at the same time. 

tandenlaunder.com 

mark your 

calendar 

Capital Food and Wine Festival 

This annual fundraiser—being held this year at the St. Martin’s University 

Marcus Pavilion on March 24—began in 1989 and brings together more than 

a hundred regional wines, knowledgeable winemakers, the best Northwest 

brews and hard ciders, foods from local restaurants and three stages of live 

music. You can also enter the art competition for a chance to win the $200 

prize and the opportunity to be included in its advertising next year. 

capitalfoodandwinefestival.com 


say wa? 

Musician 

Following in Footsteps 

Versing doesn’t mind being 

compared to other bands 

written by Ben Salmon 

Versing recalls the sounds of early ’90s indie bands like Pavement. 

SEATTLE’S VERSING EXCELS at making 

music that’s both sweet and sour. That was the 

goal from the beginning, said frontman and 

songwriter Daniel Salas. 

“Originally, I wanted us to [play] poppy 

songs with feedback all over the place,” he said, 

citing noisy rock bands like Henry’s Dress and 

The Clean, and influential indie labels such as 

Slumberland and Flying Nun. “I tried to keep us 

a three-piece for that reason. It lends itself to the 

simplified, scuzzy sound that those bands had.” 

Versing is a four-piece now, but its sound is 

still equal parts sugar and squall. The band’s 2017 

album Nirvana spills over with Salas’ catchy 

melodies, but also smears them with a persistent 

layer of feedback and fuzz. The result: songs that 

are wiry but warm in a way that recalls ’90s indie 

icons Pavement. 

In fact, Versing gets compared to Pavement 

constantly. Salas and his band mates are OK 

with that. 

“Those are the bands I love. I think we’re 

settling more into our own sound, but I’ve 

always seen us as a continuation of what those 

bands were doing rather than a rehash or a 

ripoff,” he said. “I personally think rock music 

was really incredible in the ’80s and ’90s but got 

really, really bad in the 2000s, so I just try to take 

up the mantle of the bands that I felt were doing 

it right.” 

Listen on Spotify 


say wa? 

Bibliophile 

Washington Rocks! 

Know your rocks with The 

Roadside Geology of Washington 

interview by Sheila G. Miller 

University of Oregon geologist Marli Miller 

has seen a lot of Washington. Miller, who 

completed the second edition of The 

Roadside Geology of Oregon in 2014, was 

tapped to hit the road again to revisit The 

Roadside Geology of Washington in its second 

edition. That book, completed in 2017 and 

written with Darrel S. Cowan, is hundreds 

of pages of pretty much everything you 

wanted to know about what the heck that 

rock is by the side of the road. 

Marli Miller is a University of Oregon geologist. 

How do the first edition, written in 

1984, and the second edition you 

wrote differ? 

They’re really different on several 

accounts. I think one of the main 

differences is the philosophy of the 

publishing company has evolved— 

they’re more interested in the author 

going into detail, and so I wrote the book 

with the idea that this would be a book 

I would want to use. I used mileposts to 

point out specific things, and I give a lot 

of ages for things which helps show how 

it all fits in. Also, we just know so much 

more about the geology now than we did 

when the original books were written— 

it’s pretty amazing. There’s been huge 

growth in our analytical abilities in the 

lab to understand how, for example, one 

rock might relate to another chemically, 

that there may be a common origin to 

them. We know the ages of so many 

things we didn’t know before. So I was 

able to present a much more complete 

story. The other big difference is the 

quality of printing—the publisher is 

doing these books in full color now. 

Who is this book written for? 

I was aiming for the interested lay 

person, so if you’re not really interested 

in geology you will not like the book— 

it’s pretty nerdy. There’s always the 

issue of terminology and jargon, and 

we tried our best to keep that out but 

sometimes it is sort of unavoidable. 

It is written for lay people, but at the 

same time it’s useful for geologists 

who are casually driving through the 

state and say, ‘What is this stuff?’ 

I’m guessing it was not an easy process 

to put a book like this together. 

My job was to write the first chapter, 

which was an introduction to the whole 

state, and then to write all the road 

guides. I drove each road in the book 

and looked at the rocks and tried to 

make sense of them on my first drive 

through. I would record mileposts as I 

took notes, and then I would also take 

field guides and journals, and write my 

own road guide. Then I would drive 

the road again and I would correct the 

mistakes I’d made and I would make 

things more clear. You don’t want to 

spend too much time on things you 

can’t see, so I would eliminate those 

types of things 

and then take 

more photos. 

This was a twoyear 

project, 

which was 

pretty full-time—there were 

two quarters at the university when 

I wasn’t teaching that I devoted fulltime 

to the book. 

What was the coolest thing you 

learned about Washington’s geology? 

Seeing some of the features I had heard 

about with respect to Ice Age floods 

in Eastern Washington was profound. 

Some of the features that had to do 

with the Columbia River basalt group, 

those were mind-boggling. In some 

ways it was just always amazing to be 

able to drive these roads and always be 

encountering new things. 

Where will geology take you next? 

I just signed a contract to write the 

book Oregon Rocks, which is going to be 

about geologic locations throughout 

the state of Oregon. 


food + drink 

Cocktail Card 

recipe courtesy of 

Heritage Distilling Co. 

Chai Bourbon Latte 

4 ounces Dona Chai Concentrate 

1 cup almond milk 

1 ½ ounce Elk Rider Bourbon 

15-ounce can coconut milk or 

coconut cream, chilled overnight 

1 tablespoon Bee in Your Bonnet 

Cinnamon Honey (or other 

sweetener) 

Orange zest for garnish, optional 

In a small saucepan, bring chai 

concentrate and almond milk to 

a simmer. Pour into a mug, add 

bourbon and stir. Top with chilled 

whipped cream and orange zest. 

FOR COCONUT WHIPPED CREAM 

Chill coconut milk in refrigerator 

overnight. Scoop into mixing 

bowl, leaving coconut water in 

the can, then chill mixing bowl in 

freezer for 10 minutes. Whip on 

medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes. 

Add sweetener if using, then mix 

for another minute. 

The Bine’s George Marshall sits at his bar, which has twenty-seven taps. 

Beervana 

For Beer in Bothell, Go to The Bine 

written by Jackie Dodd 

WALKING INSIDE THE BINE, you feel like you’ve found something, 

as if you’ve unlocked a secret that shouldn’t been there. The space feels 

transcendent—the copper bar top, the reclaimed wood walls—it all adds up 

to make you feel like you’ve driven into Seattle, or ended up in Ballard. It’s 

not the sort of place that is only good in contrast—it’s not “Bothell good.” 

The fact that The Bine sits astride a construction zone, streets torn up, 

earthmovers humming, and next door to the hollowed-out remains of a 

building that burned to the ground eighteen months ago makes it even 

more impressive. 

When I asked George Marshall, the owner of The Bine, where he got his 

start in restaurants, he laughed. “McDonald’s.” 

It’s as honest as it is unpretentious. He was 15 years old and it was his first 

job. His East Coast accent peeked through his words as he talked about the 

path that wound his life from fast food to a stint as an actor on the rise to a 

bit of time working at Merrill Lynch. 

Eventually that all brought him here to his job as a bar owner in Bothell. 

“Kylie should really be in this photo instead, she’s way better looking,” he 

said of his wife and co-owner. The pair is, in many ways, the core of this 

place. They are the heart. Although no one will argue when Marshall says 

she’s the “much prettier and much sweeter” half of the team, he is the face. 

He’ll be there almost any day you stumble in for one of the twenty-seven 

craft beers from the well-curated tap list, or a beautifully made Cuban 

sandwich. He’ll probably be wearing a Phish beanie, and he’ll probably even 

remember your name. 

10127 MAIN STREET, SUITE A 

BOTHELL 

thebinebothell.com 


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Frommer’s declares the most spectacular 

setting anywhere on the Washington . Coast 

at historic Ocean Crest Resort 

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With Sweeping Ocean Views 

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food + drink 

At Red Wine and Chocolate, you’ll get the best of both. 

Gastronomy 

Red Wine and Chocolate 

written by Cara Strickland 

IT’S ALL ABOUT red wine and chocolate during Presidents Day weekend in Yakima 

Valley wine country. More than forty wineries participate by pairing delectable 

chocolate treats with sumptuous red wines—a match made in heaven. Explore the 

wineries on your own or purchase a pass for VIP tours and tastings to make an 

even more memorable experience (but be sure to bring your own glasses, as the 

wineries often run out during this popular weekend). To get you started, here are 

a couple of chocolate and wine pairing tips. First, keep in mind that the wine you 

select should taste sweeter than the chocolate. Second, taste the wine first, then the 

chocolate, allowing the flavors of the wine to fully sink in, then adding the chocolate 

and allowing it to melt slowly in your mouth. Then sip the wine again. Utter bliss. 

YAKIMA VALLEY 

yakimavalleywinecountry.com 

wineyakimavalley.org 

Memory Montage Photography 

CRAVINGS 

SOURDOUGH BREAD 

There are nearly as many ways to 

make sourdough bread as there 

are people who make it. At Anjou 

Bakery, it’s mellow, hearth-baked 

and worthy of a detour anytime 

you’re nearby. While there, you 

might want to pick up a croissant, 

another house specialty. 

3898 OLD MONITOR ROAD 

CASHMERE 

anjoubakery.com 

SWEET POTATO FRIES 

First off, it’s important to get the 

consistency right. These sweet 

potato fries from Ambrosia Bistro 

are crispy but still soft in the 

middle. Then the restaurant adds 

an addictive garam masala cream 

sauce, goat cheese and green 

onions, creating a colorful and 

delicious pile. You probably won’t 

want to share. 

9211 EAST MONTGOMERY 

SPOKANE VALLEY 

ambrosia-bistro.com 

COCKTAILS 

Although the menu has many great 

options, Damn The Weather is the 

sort of place where you can trust 

the bartender to make something 

you’re going to like. While you’re 

at it, you might want to order one 

of the innovative, locally sourced 

snacks. Plus, how can you beat 

the name? 

116 1ST AVENUE SOUTH 

SEATTLE 

damntheweather.com 

HANDMADE 

CHOCOLATES 

You’ll have to walk through another 

shop to find Schocolat, but when 

you do, you’re in for a treat. The 

specialty is handmade truffles 

made in a Belgian style right on the 

premises. If you can’t make it in, 

Schocolat will ship to you. 

834 FRONT STREET, SUITE D 

LEAVENWORTH 

schocolat.com 


food + drink 

BEST PLACES FOR 

PIZZA 

HOPTOWN 

This wood-fired pizza place 

started as a mobile pizza 

oven—you’ll still see it around. 

Started by two farmers’ 

daughters (one of them a 

hops farmer), it was clear they 

needed to find a way to honor 

their roots. You’ll find a sprinkle 

of hops on each delicious 

pizza crust. 

2560 DONALD WAPATO ROAD 

DONALD 

hoptownpizza.com 

ÖVN 

Nestled in the Fairhaven 

neighborhood, this elegant 

establishment focuses on fresh, 

local ingredients and excellent 

Neapolitan crust. Add a wellcurated 

wine list and some fun 

cocktails and it’s no wonder this 

is a local favorite. 

1148 10TH STREET 

BELLINGHAM 

ovnwoodfiredpizza.com 

THE FLYING GOAT 

You’ll find this Spokane 

treasure right in the middle 

of a neighborhood, and the 

parking lot is always full to 

bursting. The pizzas are named 

after nearby streets and 

feature concoctions with curry, 

Sriracha, potatoes and basil, as 

well as more classic toppings. 

3318 WEST NORTHWEST 

BOULEVARD 

SPOKANE 

theflyinggoat.com 

SWEET BASIL 

PIZZERIA 

Located right downtown, this 

place might be small, but it’s 

worth finding a seat. You can’t 

go wrong with a large slice of 

Margherita and a glass of 

local wine. 

5 SOUTH 1ST AVENUE 

WALLA WALLA 

sweetbasilpizzeria.com 

Sampler platters at Ranch House BBQ give a taste of Olympia’s best barbeque. 

Dining 

Ranch House BBQ and Steakhouse 

written and photographed by Cara Strickland 

OLYMPIA NATIVE AMY ANDERSON already had an established barbeque 

catering business when she opened her quirky brick-and-mortar location in 2004. 

In fact, she’s been competing internationally since the late ’80s, winning grand 

championships in Washington, California, Arizona, Nevada and Canada, and a 

world championship in Ireland. All this to say, Anderson knows her way around 

barbeque. Your best bet is one of the sampler platters, which will give you a taste 

of smoked chicken, pork ribtip, pulled pork and beef brisket, all made from neverfrozen 

fresh meat cooked low and slow. If you fall in love with Anderson’s sauce, you 

can buy it by the jar. You’ll need a napkin (or six), but if you leave this place hungry, 

it’s your own fault. 

10841 KENNEDY CREEK ROAD SW 

OLYMPIA 

ranchhousebbq.com 


farm to table 


farm to table 

Farm to Table 

For the Love of Lamb 

Succulent flavors, on island farms 

and at urban gems 

written by Corinne Whiting 

photography by Cameron Zegers 

CHEF DAVID HATFIELD, the owner of Pink Tractor Farm 

and frequent host of elaborate farm-to-table dinners, lives 

by an important credo: “If I can’t raise or grow it myself, I 

won’t serve it.” This applies to chicken, duck, geese—and his 

delicious lamb creations, too. 

Five years ago, Hatfield and his wife made a significant life 

leap. After buying acreage on Vashon, they relocated to the 

island, began farming and discovered how much they loved 

this new way of life. They sell their goods at a local farmers 

market that runs between April and November, a relatively 

new online farmers market and at their year-round farm store 

(think eggs, chicken, beef, pork and so on). When it comes to 

lamb, the farm can hardly keep up with the demand. 

Hatfield admits the learning curve has involved some trial 

by fire, in addition to required reading and chats with fellow 

farmers. Having previously cooked at Seattle’s Hotel Sorrento, 

owned and run a restaurant in Bend, Oregon, and then served 

as executive chef at Kimpton Alexis Hotel, he has found in this 

new role plenty of challenges and plenty of joy. 

“If you look at the map, you’ll see that 4 to 5 million people 

live just a stone’s throw away. It’s amazing in the summer the 

amount of [visitors] that take the twenty-minute ferry over to 

escape the city for a bit,” he said, referring to his new home, 

a “magical” island in the middle of Puget Sound. “There’s no 

other place like it in Washington.” 

Pink Tractor rents out island restaurants and inspiring 

alfresco spaces at wineries and cideries to cater popular events 

like eight-course dinners that come “100 percent off the land.” 

This spring and summer, the farm will collaborate with the 

Lodges on Vashon for a series of special meals. “We have some 

pretty amazing resources here on the island,” Hatfield said. 

In our country, more than 80,000 family farmers and ranchers 

care for more than 6 million sheep. Lamb is produced in every 

state, meaning fresh, local lamb is available year-round. The 

American Lamb Industry declares that “sustainability makes 

perfect sense. After all, stewardship of our land, animals and 

community is also our livelihood.” Sheep recycle vital 

nutrients back into the soil, improving the quality of 

the pasture and rangeland while minimizing erosion 

and encouraging native plant growth. 

CLOCKWISE, FROM LEFT Pink Tractor Farm can hardly keep up with demand for its 

lamb and sheep. Chef David Hatfield started the farm five years ago. The farm also raises 

chickens, ducks and geese.

farm to table 

Hatfield raises meat sheep because they don’t need to be sheared. 

Hatfield explains that, of the two types of sheep one can breed, 

he raises the meat breed since they’re bigger and don’t need to 

be sheared. They graze on pastures, and Hatfield deems them 

“relatively easy to raise.” However, having lost three sheep to 

coyotes last year, the farm keeps a few livestock-guarding dogs 

on hand as protectors. The lamb butchering takes place in the 

springtime, and ground lamb 

is used in a variety of recipes. 

Hatfield then uses the legs to 

make prosciutto, which takes 

six months to cure and dry out, 

and makes sausage that gets 

consumed later that winter. 

“I think chefs and home cooks 

and foodies love cooking with 

lamb because it is flavorful, unique and versatile with an upscale 

image that makes any meal feel special,” executive director of 

the American Lamb Board Megan Wortman said. “Lamb adds 

adventurous flavor to any dish and is a staple in many global 

cuisines.” 

Chef-Partner Eric A. Truglas of Bellingham’s EAT Restaurant 

& Bar offers lamb specials on a regular basis, sourced from 

Whatcom County’s Sage & Sky Farm. “I love lamb,” he said. 

“I usually buy the whole animal and use every part. Lamb is a 

“If I can’t raise or grow it 

myself, I won’t serve it.” 

—Chef David Hatfield 

great source of protein, not too fatty, and can be cooked in many 

different ways.” 

Executive Chef Emran Chowdhury of Seattle’s Mercato 

Stellina sources from Lopez Island’s Jones Family Farms. “I enjoy 

cooking lamb because of its unique texture and rich and succulent 

flavors,” he said. “You have to be very precise in handling lamb 

during the cooking process or it 

can easily overcook and become 

tough and chewy. It’s a perfect 

dish for the dark, cold winter 

months here in Seattle because 

lamb is definitely a comfort food, 

and the savory flavors of the meat 

pair wonderfully with the warm 

winter spices.” 

When asked why he loves what he does, Hatfield replied, “It’s 

not great money and it’s hard work, but it’s really rewarding.” 

He loves watching people taste his food while realizing there’s a 

“totally different world” beyond what they’ve previously known. 

“Being a chef, I love cooking and being able to raise [ingredients] 

from scratch—whether it’s lamb or carrots—serving them to 

customers and seeing their expression say, ‘Wow, this has such 

great flavor!’” he said. “It’s like an education for a diner, and it’s 

really exciting for me to teach.” 


farm to table 

Washington Recipes 

Lamb’s Got Chops 

Braised Lamb Shanks 

BELLINGHAM / EAT 

Eric Truglas 

SERVES 6 

6 lamb shanks 

2 tablespoons olive oil 

2 medium red onions, chopped 

3 large carrots, peeled and cut 

into quarters for a mirepoix 

12 garlic cloves, minced 

1 bottle cabernet wine 

28 ounces diced roma 

tomatoes, with juices 

14 ½ ounces chicken broth 

14 ½ ounces beef broth 

5 teaspoons chopped fresh 

rosemary 

2 teaspoons chopped fresh 

thyme 

2 bay leaves 

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel 

Sprinkle shanks with salt and pepper. Heat oil in heavy, large pot over 

medium-high heat. Working in batches, add shanks to pot and cook until 

brown on all sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer shanks to bowl. 

Add onions, carrots and garlic to pot and sauté until golden, about 10 

minutes. Stir in all remaining ingredients. Return shanks to braising pot, 

pressing down to submerge. Bring liquids to boil. Reduce heat to mediumlow. 

Cover; simmer until meat is tender, about two and a half hours. 

Uncover pot and simmer until meat is very tender, about 30 minutes 

longer. Chill until cold, cover and keep chilled. Rewarm over medium heat 

before continuing. Transfer shanks to platter and tent with foil. Boil juices 

in pot until thickened, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, 

sprinkle some chopped parsley over it. Spoon over shanks. 

Ricotta Gnudi with Lamb Spezzatino 

BELLEVUE / Mercato Stellina 

Emran Chowdhury 

SERVES 8-10 

4 pounds lamb shoulder chops, 

cut 2 inches thick 

Salt and pepper 

1 cinnamon stick 

1 clove 

¼ cup olive oil 

2 cups diced red onion 

4 cloves garlic, minced 

Pinch of saffron 

2 tablespoon tomato paste 

1 cup dry white wine 

1 cup coarsely chopped 

fresh mint 

FOR RICOTTA GNUDI 

2 pounds ricotta cheese 

3 egg yolks 

2 tablespoons salt 

9 ounces flour 

9 ounces grated parmesan 

Rub lamb with salt and pepper and sear in a pot until brown. Add onions, 

garlic, cook for 5 minutes on low heat, add wine and reduce. Add rest of 

ingredients. Cover with chicken stock or water. Simmer until lamb is tender. 

FOR RICOTTA GNUDI 

Mix well, roll by hand into small pieces. 

Check out our website for RN74’s recipe for Roasted Rack of Lamb, or find 

additional recipes at 1889mag.com/recipes 

Braised Lamb Shanks. 


home + design 

Perfectly Prefab 

A family builds a modular home—and 

their dream life—on the Kitsap Peninsula 

written by Melissa Dalton 


home + design 

Andrew Pogue 

FROM LEFT Tired of city living, Amy Staupe and Chris Roy bought a piece of land on the Kitsap Peninsula, then decided to put a modern, prefabricated home 

on it. The centerpiece of the home is an oversized fireplace in the open-plan living space. 

AMY STAUPE AND Chris Roy were tired of city 

life. The longtime Los Angeles residents took an 

eye-opening trip to New Zealand in 2009. While 

there, Staupe said, “We realized there was a 

different way to live.” The couple decided to trade 

their city’s dense pollution and oppressive heat 

for “seasons, trees and air that wasn’t chokingly 

horrible.” Staupe also wanted more space for their 

future family to roam. “I grew up in Minnesota 

until I was 10,” she said. “I always envisioned 

being able to provide that kind of childhood for 

my children, and I just didn’t feel like that was 

something we could do in Los Angeles.” Returning 

from New Zealand, the question became: “Where 

can we find that without leaving the country?” 

In early 2010, the couple took a Valentine’s 

getaway to Seattle. This became a scouting trip 

when they saw a real estate listing for an available 

lot on the Kitsap Peninsula, just a ferry ride away. 

“We thought, while we’re up here, let’s just check it 

out,” Staupe said. When they did, the nearly 4-acre 

property nestled between Olalla and Port Orchard 

exceeded their expectations. “It was like a picture 

postcard of what we had always envisioned,” 

Staupe said. They bought the land. Now it just 

needed a house. 

In the interim, the couple moved to 

Seattle and settled into jobs—Staupe 

works in marketing and Roy in user 

experience—while they debated prefab 

Andrew Pogue 

“I grew up in Minnesota until I was 10. I always 

envisioned being able to provide that kind of 

childhood for my children, and I just didn’t feel like 

that was something we could do in Los Angeles.” 

—Amy Staupe 


home + design 

Andrew Pogue 

FROM LEFT The model features a long exterior breezeway. Blonde bamboo floors and large windows welcome light into the space. 

construction versus a custom build. Prefab, short for prefabricated, 

applies to structures that are primarily manufactured in an off-site 

factory. Prefab was first made popular in the United States from 

1908 to 1940, when Sears, Roebuck and Co. sold 75,000 mail-order 

kit homes. While residential prefab building continued throughout 

the twentieth century, it regained in prominence when a plethora 

of modern architects returned to the form, as promoted in a 2003 

design contest sponsored by Dwell magazine. Staupe and Roy 

were searching for a prefab builder who clicked with their personal 

aesthetic, and found one in an unlikely place: the freeway. Roy was 

driving when he saw an intriguing module from Method Homes 

being transported on a trailer. 

Brian Abramson co-founded the Seattle-based Method Homes 

in 2008 and specializes in architect-designed, modular prefab 

construction. “Modular refers to large, volumetric modules that 

are mostly finished, then transported to the site,” Abramson said. 

Modern prefab homes like his can tackle two major problems 

in the construction industry—waste and energy efficiency. “By 

building off-site, we’re able to reduce the waste generated and 

reuse a lot of our scraps,” Abramson said. Additionally, if builders 

use newer technologies like structurally insulated panels, they can 

reduce a home’s carbon dioxide emissions and increase energy 

efficiency. “One of our core missions is sustainability, so even with 

our most baseline homes, we build well-above code,” Abramson 

said. His models come with a suite of environmentally friendly 

features, including low- or no-VOC paints and adhesives, no-UA 

formaldehyde in the building materials, FSC-certified hardwood 

floors, above-code insulation, energy efficient appliances and lowflow 

fixtures. 

After visiting Method’s factory in Ferndale, Staupe and Roy 

appreciated the company’s craftsmanship and green qualities, as 

well as the potential to customize their pick. During the design 

phase, they selected finishes, expanded and added windows, and 

tweaked the principle suite to fit a tub. Even better, once plans were 

finalized, construction was quick—just three months for fabrication 

in the factory, during which the foundation was poured on-site and 

the garage built. “Once they actually delivered the modules to the 

site, they had us in within just over two months,” Staupe said. “It was 

an incredibly fast process, and it felt even faster because we had a 

baby right towards the end!” 

The couple chose the Shift Model, designed by architect Ryan 

Stephenson of Stephenson Design Collective. For it, he stacked two 

modules, then “pushed them apart” to form a long, shaded exterior 

breezeway, which connects copious deck space and extends the 

interior living outdoors. The exterior was then faced with charcoal 

standing-seam metal and untreated cedar, which will patina to a 

silver-gray over time. 

At the entry, visitors are met with a stunning handcrafted 

bookcase, another customization requested by the couple. “It’s a real 

‘wow’ factor when you walk into the house,” Staupe said. Behind it, 

a staircase composed of floating concrete tread leads upstairs, while 

a nearby flex space can be used for an office or play area, depending 

on the family’s needs. Hallways on the perimeter of the first floor 

create easy circulation, flowing into an open kitchen, dining and 

living room. At the center, a necessary support beam is disguised 

with additional built-in shelves and a three-sided fireplace, which 

gently separates the rooms and provides a natural gathering spot. 

“I’m one of those people who would sit on top of a heater if I could,” 

Staupe said. “So I frequently sit right there.” 

During the design process, the couple “were really inspired by the 

Scandinavian aesthetic and what they do to welcome light into the 

house,” Staupe said. To that end, blonde bamboo floors meet crisp 

white walls, and kitchen cabinets in the same wood are wrapped 

with snowy quartz counters. Additionally, the enlarged windows 

bring in plenty of sunlight no matter the season. Thanks to the 

home’s more narrow footprint, the effect is that of being surrounded 

by the natural setting, which is just what the family wanted. “We 

bought our property because we loved the views,” Staupe said. 

Since moving into their home in 2013, Staupe and Roy have 

acclimated well to their new life, despite having been city dwellers 

for decades. “The house is such a welcome, comfortable place to 

come home to,” Staupe said. Moreover, their two young children 

are having a blast, whether they’re building mud kitchens, spinning 

in tree swings or racing scooters down dirt hills. “Between the 

property and the house itself,” Staupe said, “it’s kind of a dream for a 

child to grow up in.” 


home + design 

Andrew Pogue

home + design 

DIY: How to Hygge 

INSPIRED BY THE Scandinavian design influence in Staupe and 

Roy’s home, we turned to “hygge,” the Danish word you’ve seen 

everywhere but have no idea how to pronounce. (It’s “hue-guh”). 

In 2016, hygge was on the shortlist for word of the year from 

Oxford Dictionaries, which defines it as “a quality of coziness and 

comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or 

well-being.” Here’s a cheat sheet for bringing more hygge into your 

house during winter’s darker days. 

1 

2 

START WITH LIGHTING 

Think candles, lots of candles. According to The Little Book of 

Hygge, 28 percent of Danes light a candle daily. Swap out colder, 

blue light bulbs for those possessing a warm, yellow ambience. 

(We recommend a Kelvin range of 2700). Go a step further 

and install dimmer switches on lights in the areas where you 

like to gather. 

BRING NATURE INSIDE 

This can be a new houseplant in a pretty pot, a collection of pine 

cones in a bowl, or clippings from the yard’s rosemary bush in a 

simple vase. Alternatively, pick up a bright floral bouquet every 

week and enjoy the natural color it brings. 

COZY UP THE HOUSE 

Pile up pillows and make throws accessible. Vary the color, 

pattern and texture for more visual appeal. Cover seats in 

sheepskins for an extra dose of comfort. 

4 

+ 

GATHER TOGETHER 

Once your home is feeling warm and comfy, hygge 

is best enjoyed in the company of close family and 

friends. Make some food, pour a drink and keep 

gatherings relaxed so the attention is on time 

with your loved ones. 

BONUS: GO OUTSIDE! 

All of the above is so much nicer after an 

outdoor adventure. Danish culture 

celebrates the outdoors with physical 

activity, not unlike here in the 

Pacific Northwest. 


home + design 

Cozy Washington 

Winter Goods 

Create soft and warm light with 

a limited-edition wall sconce from 

papercut artist Nikki McClure and 

woodworker Jay T. Scott. The Olympia 

couple combine laser-cut images 

from her portfolio with curved spruce 

veneer from his workshop for a 

one-of-a-kind glow. 

buyolympia.com 

Homestead Seattle is a vintage furniture 

and rug shop downtown. Those in the know 

follow the shop on Instagram for major home 

inspiration. We like the selection of throws 

and textiles, which come in all sorts of global 

patterns, from African mud cloth designs to 

woven Turkish blankets. The latter are made 

of machine washable cotton and perfect for 

the couch that needs a little worldly flair. 

homesteadseattle.com 

The Ivory Gull is a Snohomish Etsy shop specializing in handmade pillows 

with simple, relaxed prints. Natural fabrics, like cotton, linen and denim, 

abound. Pick up the Seattle or Olympia cushions and get your stripes on. 

Instagram: @theivorygull 

Vance Family Soy Candles, based 

in Vancouver, makes candles with no 

synthetic fragrance, local ingredients, 

GMO-free soy, and cotton wicks. 

vancefamilysoycandles.com 


mind + body 

Casey Cady 

Senior manager, 

Geocaching HQ 

Age: 40 

Current Location: Seattle 

WORKOUT 

Monday: 45-minute Xcelerate 

boot camp 

Tuesday: 15-minute wellness/ 

nutrition coaching followed by 

45-minute mobility/balance/ 

stretching session 

Wednesday: 60-minute Pilates 

mat class 

Thursday: 45-minute interval 

Peloton spin class 

Friday: 45-minute strength 

training with personal trainer 

Saturday: Rest (sometimes a light 

20-minute Peloton ride) 

Sunday: 75-minute TRX/Rip 

Trainer/weights class 

NUTRITION 

• Mostly lean proteins 

• Greatly cut back on cheese, but 

still enjoys it on occasion 

• At least one serving of each of 

the different food “colors” every 

day, with a focus on some of the 

“superfoods” 

• Almost no sugar or simple carbs 

• Lots of legumes 

• Green tea 

INSPIRATIONS 

• The one-on-one guidance and 

accountability he gets through the 

program 

• Seeing muscles he’s never seen 

before 

• Having more energy throughout 

the day 

• Knowing he can make good 

wellness choices and see concrete 

results without feeling deprived 

CASEY CADY SAID he was “that kid.” You 

know, the kid in school who is always the 

last pick on the sports team. 

“I was skinny growing up, but not 

active,” said the senior manager at Seattle’s 

Geocaching HQ. “Sports and gym were 

never my thing. … I was a computer geek 

who found exercise a real chore.” 

Cady admits it didn’t help that his family 

was sedentary. He grew up in a military 

family and spent much of his youth moving. 

“We lived in England, Germany and North 

Dakota,” he said. “Moving all the time 

probably didn’t help me get motivated to 

join sports, either.” 

However, the day of reckoning 

approached. It was July 2016 and he was 

about to turn 40. Like many, this milestone 

birthday made Cady re-evaluate his lifestyle. 

At 6 feet tall, Cady was carrying 20 pounds 

more than his ideal weight. “I am a foodie. 

I was noticing that my weight was creeping 

up on me, especially around the belly,” Cady 

said. “My wife was encouraging me to eat 

better and get fit.” Finally, her words struck 

a chord, and he joined the Washington 

Athletic Club’s Wellness 360 program. 

As someone who works a desk job 

and tried various programs before, Cady 

was determined to make it work this 

time around. He began his journey by 

working closely with a nutritionist who 

made a couple minor modifications as to 

not overwhelm him, which helped Cady 

develop healthy, sustainable habits that 

stuck. He also started working out regularly. 

40 and Fabulous 

Casey Cady gets off the couch 

written by Michelle Hopkins 

photography by Jackie Dodd 

“When I first started, I had a 45-minute 

session with a personal trainer,” he said, 

adding he meditates daily, which gives 

him mental strength. “After 35 minutes, I 

couldn’t move.” 

Today, Cady has lost more than 12 

pounds, most of it in body fat. He has 

gained muscle mass and feels stronger and 

better than he has in years. 

“I think it’s fair to say that this holistic 

approach to fitness has changed my life for 

the better,” he added. 

Cady believes his new regimen works 

because he isn’t depriving himself of guilty 

pleasures once in awhile. In the past, he 

failed miserably on restrictive diets. “If I 

cheated, it turned into, ‘Well, I blew it so I 

might as well just enjoy myself all weekend 

and I’ll start again Monday.’” That’s 

how a single “cheat” meal turned into a 

weekend bender. 

Now, he allows himself a couple of 

meals every week where he eats whatever 

he wants. 

“Often, we’ll go out to a restaurant or 

sometimes a Sounders game and I’ll have 

beer and stadium food,” Cady said. “The 

important thing for me is to not view it 

as a ‘cheat’ but as an important element of 

eating healthy without feeling deprived.” 

For the first time in his life, Cady says he 

actually looks forward to exercise. 

“A couple weeks ago, my wife said, ‘Who 

are you and what have you done with my 

husband?’” he said. 


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SJIVB_Romance2018_Ad_NWTravel_final2.indd 1 

11/27/17 3:25 PM

artist in residence 

Carving Out History 

Lummi carver Felix Solomon is in high demand 

written and photographed by Lauren Kramer 

34 1889 WASHINGTONS’S MAGAZINE FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017

artist in residence 

Felix Solomon carves 

a bear’s head into 

old-growth red cedar. 

THE WOOD PELLET STOVE was crackling inside 

Felix Solomon’s new carving studio on Bellingham’s 

Smokehouse Road, steps from Bellingham Bay. With 

his dog Daisy by his side, Solomon, 60, was deeply 

focused on carving a bear’s head from a 39-foot section 

of old-growth red cedar. Every now and then he looked 

up at a bear hide stretched over the log, copying its 

contours for accuracy. The visage of the bear is one 

of seven animals that will appear on this totem pole 

in six months’ time, when it’s delivered to a private 

client in Whatcom County. It’s the largest totem pole 

Solomon has ever carved—in fact, the Lummi carver 

built his studio specifically to accommodate this—and 

he was thrilled to have 

the freedom to create a 

design of his choice. 

“It’s a really peaceful 

thing, to be carving,” he 

reflected. “You slip into a 

zone where you’re more 

grateful for your family, 

for life and for the gifts 

you’ve been given than 

anything else.” 

Before becoming a fulltime 

artist just ten years 

ago, he was a fisherman 

and later ran a food truck, 

Felix’s Fish & Stuff. In 

1997, he began teaching 

himself the art of carving 

under the mentorship 

of Scott Jensen and 

Ralph Bennett. It quickly 

became a passion, and Jensen, seeing his student’s 

seriousness, took him under his wing. 

Few carvers achieve success in a short time, but 

Solomon’s relatively brief carving career has far 

exceeded his wildest expectations. He carved canoes 

commissioned by the Stillaguamish Tribe in Arlington 

and the Sauk-Suiattle in Darrington and created a story 

pole called “Evolution of Gambling,” for Silver Reef 

Casino in Ferndale. He has another story pole, this 

one horizontal, on display at Bellingham International 

Airport, titled “It’s Mine.” The sculpture depicts two 

Coast Salish fishermen in a shovel-nosed canoe, 

pursuing a salmon with a gaff hook. At the other end 

of the story pole a serpent is pursuing the salmon, its 

mouth reaching for the fish. 

Like all his story poles, this one is original and laden 

with symbolism. “The serpent represents everything 

tough about putting salmon on the table,” he explained. 

“Everything tough” means three things: overfishing; the 

over-fertilization of farmlands by farmers, resulting in 

“It’s a really peaceful 

thing, to be carving. 

You slip into a zone 

where you’re more 

grateful for your family, 

for life and for the gifts 

you’ve been given than 

anything else.” 

—Felix Solomon 

fertilizer seeping into the water and creating new strains 

of algae that affect aquatic life; and logging operations 

that have clear-cut the mountains, eliminating shady 

spots where salmon spawn. “Everyone wants to point 

fingers about who is to blame for the state of the 

salmon,” he reflected, “but everyone is responsible for 

the species’ deterioration, anyone who had anything to 

do with salmon.” 

Not long after he completed that sculpture, 

corporations and art collectors began approaching 

Solomon and commissioning new pieces. He created 

six identity panels for a housing project on Lummi 

Island last summer and a 15-foot totem pole for 

San Juan Cable. Then a 

private collector walked 

into the studio and 

commissioned three 

massive totem poles 

that will easily keep him 

occupied through 2020. 

The first, underway 

through spring, honors 

Lummi carver Joseph 

Hillaire, and will feature 

at its peak an eagle 

with the moon in its 

talons. “This totem pole 

will describe the story 

of creation—but the 

way I see it, when the 

stories were told to me,” 

Solomon explained. It’s a 

massive task, the largest 

he’s ever undertaken, and 

Solomon is relieved to have the help of two apprentices, 

one of them the Haida carver Ralph Bennett. 

He’s been honored for his canoe carvings at the 

National Museum of the Native American Indian 

in Washington, D.C., but Solomon seems genuinely 

surprised by the upward curve in his career and 

is humble about his talent. “I’m fortunate to have 

collectors that seek out my work and come to my 

studio,” he said. 

There are days when he wishes he could sleep in and 

have the time to focus on smaller projects that don’t take 

six to eight months to complete. That would be a lot 

easier than hauling massive logs around, a requisite for 

creating totem poles. “I wouldn’t mind teaching some 

classes and keeping the projects smaller,” Solomon 

said. “But at the same time, it’s nice to have something 

this big on my résumé. It’s moving really quickly, my 

carving career, taking its own path, and it’s been quite 

a ride. I couldn’t have dreamed ten years ago of doing 

what I’m doing today.” 

FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE 35

STARTUP 38 

WHAT’S GOING UP 39 

WHAT I’M WORKING ON 40 

MY WORKSPACE 42 

GAME CHANGER 44 

pg. 42 

Kristina Glinoga has chased butchery education 

through mentorships and online videos. 

Jim Henkens

finest wines 

EXPERIENCE SOME 

OF OREGON’S 

1859wineclub.com/join-the-club 

Join 1859 Wine Club and sample winemakers from across 

the state, or gift a membership to family and friends!

startup 

Smarter Fitness 

Sensoria Fitness gear takes 

your workout high-tech 

written by Michelle Hopkins 

SENSORS CONCEALED IN your T-shirt track your heart rate and 

how many calories you’re burning. Your socks log miles and tell you 

whether you’re putting more weight on a certain part of your foot or 

landing on the balls of your feet as you run. 

This isn’t science fiction—these are just some of the high-tech 

gadgets Sensoria Fitness designs, develops and produces for today’s 

runners. The startup, which received Runner’s World Editor’s Pick 

Awards at the Consumer Electronics Show 2017, was also named 

“Best Start-Up Company” by Future Textile Awards. Two former 

Microsoft executives—Davide Vigano, cofounder and CEO, and 

Mario Esposito, chief technology officer—started the company 

along with Maurizio Macagno, who serves as vice president of 

development and IT director. 

Vigano spent more than twenty-five years as a Microsoft 

executive before moving to Health Solutions Group, where he was 

in charge of marketing and product strategy for both HealthVault 

and Amalga product lines. In late 2010, Vigano felt there was an 

opportunity for the sports apparel and fashion business to reinvent 

itself with technology. 

“Back then, the economy in the United States and Canada were not 

doing well,” Vigano said. “When we looked into where people were 

still spending their money, it was in tech devices. So, we decided to 

produce garments that act like a computer system, yet still really felt 

natural and look great.” 

Vigano knew the potential market for the gadgets was huge. “You 

have 120 million people worldwide who run, and a high percentage 

of those injure themselves every year,” he said. According to a 2010 

survey by Sports Medicine & Athletic Related Trauma Institute, 65 

percent of all runners will suffer an injury in any given year, and the 

average runner gets injured every hundred hours. 

Sensoria set out to create washable, extremely thin and comfortable 

textile sensor technology. The startup was able to raise $100,000 in 

crowdfunding and another $5 million in investment for its concept 

smart sock that can detect and improve running technique. The 

result was an anklet device attached to a special running sock. The 

virtual trainer, dubbed Mara, coaches with real-time analysis of 

foot-striking position and stride, while users can customize which 

status updates they want, such as distance, duration, current pace 

and heart rate. 

“People are necessarily hungry for this type of information in 

order to avoid unwanted injuries, which can sideline them for weeks 

or even months,” Vigano said. Today, the company constructs a 

collection of running apparel embedded with Bluetooth-connected 

sensors—from socks to anklets that fit on your shoes, to fitness 

bras and T-shirts. “Our company creates a product line of health 

and fitness technology that seamlessly infuses into the fabrics that 

people are already wearing,” Vigano said. “Our Bluetooth-enabled 

technology reads the sensors and sends the data to a smartphone, 

where an app works like a virtual coach to provide instant feedback 

and motivation via voice, charts and so on.” 

Last year, Sensoria introduced its new wave of smart socks. Made 

from antibacterial, anti-blistering and sweat-wicking material, these 

latest socks are two times lighter than Sensoria’s current smart socks. 

The company also debuted its smart ultra-lightweight running 

shoes’ removable Sensoria CORE technology in November of that 

same year. Consisting of three embedded textile pressure sensors at 

the sole of the foot, the CORE is the size of a quarter, weighs less than 

a quarter ounce and snaps easily into the back panel of the Sensoria 

Smart Running Shoes. 

So, who’s wearing these devices? It’s safe to say a whole lot of 

people around the globe. The demand for wearable technology keeps 

growing. It is estimated that revenue from wearable device sales are 

forecast to amount to about $26.43 billion dollars this year. 

“We have everyone … from the weekend warrior to the aging 

runner and people who have suffered through numerous injuries 

who are using our products,” he said. 

Technology continues to evolve rapidly, and staying ahead of 

consumer trends is vital. 

Vigano said the company is already in discussions with 

Vivobarefoot—a company selling a line of active footwear with 

the thinnest sole possible. “We want to become the GoreTex of 

embeddable computing.” 


what’s going up? 

FROM TOP Steam Plant Square’s renovation left many of the charming details of its previous life when upgrading the facility. 

The twin stacks are visible all over Spokane. 

Old Bones, New Life 

written by Sheila G. Miller 

With new construction happening all the time, it’s important to recognize the 

people who are breathing new life into old buildings. 

STEAM PLANT SQUARE 

Steam Plant Square started as a 

functional steam plant some seventy 

years ago, providing steam heat to 

downtown Spokane. The boiler was 

shut down in 1986. After sitting vacant 

for a decade, a team specializing in 

historic renovations took over the 

building and renovated it to create 

office, retail and dining spaces. Last 

year, the building was renovated again, 

this time to upgrade the Steam Plant 

Kitchen + Brewery and add a rooftop 

events center. The upgraded spaces 

were expected to reopen January 1. 

GAS WORKS PARK 

When Seattle’s gasification plant on Lake 

Union closed in the 1950s, it left behind 

a toxic wasteland in a beautiful part of 

the city. The area was converted to Gas 

Works Park in 1975, offering open spaces 

and preserved structures, as well as a play 

barn with brightly painted machinery 

in a transformed exhauster-compressor 

building. Now the park’s play area is getting 

an upgrade to bring it up to current safety 

standards and to make it ADA-compliant. 

The project will also replace a bathroom 

structure and improve one of the entrances 

to the park. 


What I’m Working On 

Your Beer Could be Good 

for the Environment 

Bringing sustainable craft malt to market 

interview by Catie Joyce-Bulay 

PHIL NEUMANN, owner of Mainstem Malt, spends 

a lot of time thinking about farming. With a master’s 

degree in water resources management from Oregon 

State University and as former program director for 

the Walla Walla Watershed Management Partnership, 

he also spends a lot of time thinking about water 

conservation. Mainstem, a malt brokerage opened in 

2016, is the merging of these two passions. It serves 

as a link between sustainable grain growers and craft 

beverage producers. 

Phil Neumann 


what i’m working on 

Phil Neumann 

FROM LEFT Phil Neumann during barley harvest in Athena, Oregon, in 2016. Jason Parker, co-founder at Seattle’s Copperworks Distilling, brews “sweet wort” with 2016 Athena barley 

malt, destined to become the “wash.” 

What are the criteria you look for in 

a Mainstem farm? 

When I started Mainstem, there 

was one specific campaign I wanted 

to work toward—that is Sprouting 

Streamflows, which is working with 

irrigated growers to help them 

reduce the amount of water they 

use by switching crop types from 

more consumptive crops to less 

consumptive crops, and, in some 

cases, even cutting irrigation out 

entirely for the time that we’re under 

contract with them. But that’s a 

pretty experimental setup, and it’s 

very dependent on a constantly 

evolving state water regulation 

system. … Definitely very much worth 

pursuing but not a solid foundation 

for a business. 

That’s when I decided to focus 

on dry-farmed malt to form the 

foundation of the business. That’s 

something I knew we could do really 

well here. And then if we could do 

Sprouting Streamflows on the side 

that would have plenty of merit and 

could be a pet project going forward. 

Just looking at who can successfully 

grow malting-quality grains year-toyear 

without irrigation very much 

limits where you’re looking in the 

Northwest. We’re in the southernmost 

end of the greater Palouse region 

and that’s the best Northwest dryland 

grain production country. We’re 

playing around in the Willamette 

Valley now with Goschie Farms. They 

also grow really good dry-land grains. 

Do the farms have to be Salmon 

Safe as well? 

Everyone we’re working with is 

Salmon Safe. It’s a pretty low barrier 

to entry and it sets a certain standard 

for conservation. It’s a great place 

to start with more conventionalleaning 

farmers on becoming more 

sustainable. I think we can use that 

as a solid foundation to build a much 

different agricultural system for these 

much larger grain growers. 

What I’m doing with Mainstem right 

now isn’t cutting-edge sustainability, 

but it does represent landscape-scale 

change. Instead of focusing on doing 

very small acreage very sustainably, I 

would rather take the big picture and 

move it in the right direction. 

How is Mainstem grain turned 

into malt? 

Right now we have two different 

malting facilities that we’re able to 

work with to turn grain into malt. 

One is LINC Foods in Spokane and 

the other is Skagit Valley Malting in 

Burlington. To date we’ve only used 

LINC, and Skagit Valley will come into 

play this year. 

What’s the difference between craft 

malt and industrial-scale malt? 

It’s going to mean different things 

to different people, but in general 

I think the most important aspect 

of it is there are these eye-to-eye 

relationships between maltsters and 

malt purchasers—brewers, distillers, 

bakers. For the most part, it’s all small 

businesses. You have the opportunity 

for craft brewers to work with a 

similarly scaled maltster. There’s a 

lot of things that can happen when 

that happens—small batches, more 

potential to experiment with different 

grain varieties, different malt profiles, 

different sources. There’s just huge 

experimentation potential. And since 

it’s small batch, there’s the ability to 

produce straight for order, so the 

fresh malt dynamic is pretty new. 


my workspace 

Longtime Washingtonian 

Kristina Glinoga says there’s 

a theory that whole animal 

butchery literally made us 

human. “Nutrition from 

cooked meat enabled homo 

erectus to evolve into homo 

sapiens,” she said. “If that 

doesn’t give you chills, I don’t 

know what will.” This wasn’t 

the first thing she learned 

about butchery, but aweinspiring 

discoveries like that 

kept popping up as she’s 

studied the craft over the last 

seven years. 

“You have to kind of chase butchery 

education these days,” said Glinoga, so 

she’s stitching her repertoire together 

with books, YouTube videos, the 

occasional butchery class and a few 

mentors. During her line-cook days, 

she learned the value of free labor in 

exchange for knowledge. Although 

she’s found a couple restaurants with 

whole animal butchery programs, 

they’re not common. 

My Workspace 

The Emancipation of Meat 

To know your butcher is to love your meat 

written by Charyn Pfeuffer 

photography by Jim Henkens 


my workspace 

Glinoga, who butchers at Matt’s in 

the Market, compares her career to a 

noncompetitive sport, or studying music. 

“Every iteration, every shank or loin, is 

another opportunity to learn something 

new or hone something old,” she said. 

Heavy lifting is the hardest part of the job. 

“I’m pretty short and not super strong, 

and there’s a lot of awkwardly shaped 

heavy stuff to move around,” she said. 

If you’re a curious carnivore aspiring 

to learn more, start by shopping 

at a real butcher shop, with real, 

knowledgeable butchers. “Once 

you’re there, it’s the butcher’s job 

to make the counter approachable,” 

Glinoga said. “Like a sommelier, but 

for meat!” 

“We often think of tenderness as the 

best measure of quality and value, but 

there are tons of traits that make meat 

wonderful,” she said. “Even if you only 

consider texture, there’s all sorts to 

enjoy; snappy skirt steak, sticky-icky 

gelatinous oxtail, nearly all of which 

are fantastic when cooked properly.” 

She says shoulders and offal are the 

most underrated cuts of meat. 


game changer 

Abdul Wali and his daughter Marghalara 

at their apartment. The family of five 

arrived in late 2015 from Afghanistan. 

Wali was an interpreter for the U.S. 

military, which put his family in danger 

of retaliation by the Taliban. 

World Relief Seattle 

Open Arms, 

Open Doors 

Lending a warm welcome 

to Washington newcomers 

written by Corinne Whiting 

AT A TIME when many in this country seem to be slamming 

doors on newcomers, others are opening theirs even wider. Take 

World Relief, for example, the largest refugee resettlement agency 

in the state. 

World Relief’s three offices (in Seattle, Tri-Cities and Spokane) 

resettle the majority of refugees in Washington, and the Seattle office, 

opened in 1979, is the largest resettlement office of any agency in 

the state. Last fiscal year, Washington came in at number four in the 

country, resettling 5 percent of all refugees who arrived nationwide. 

In 2017, World Relief Seattle resettled and served 1,076 individuals, 

and that’s only factoring new arrivals. (Programwide, it served 4,000.) 

The organization currently works with individuals from about twenty 

countries; most are foreign-born refugees, while others are asylum 

seekers or those affected by human trafficking. 

While the stats impress, hearing real-life tales of heartache, 

perseverance and triumph leave deeper impressions. World Relief 

relies heavily on volunteers; last year it received 400 applications 

between February and April—“a great problem to have,” said volunteer 

coordinator Robbie Adams. 

Adams explained that, while the main goal is transformative, longterm 

relationships, the “immediate, more practical challenge” involves 

finding folks a home. “It’s a tough balance between the Puget Sound 

region offering bountiful education and job opportunities, yet being 

able to find affordable housing here,” he said. 

The organization gathers household items, from large furniture to 

basic necessities like silverware, and sets up welcoming spaces. It also 

keeps an Amazon registry, so anyone can donate goods, from vacuums 

to rice cookers. In-kind donations coordinator Elijah Knepper of World 

Relief said that most people don’t understand the privilege of simply 

having a safe place to sleep. “[They’ve] been through experiences we 

cannot even begin to imagine, and now [they] can just lie down and 

rest,” he said. 

Adams explained the continuum from greeting a family at Sea-Tac 

to staying connected for years to come. “Our employment, extended 

casework, women’s sewing class, immigration legal services, refugee 

and immigrant community garden, and youth programs allow us to 

serve the refugee population from arrival to citizenship, usually a fiveto 

six-year journey,” he said. “It’s not just about giving material goods, 

but a holistic approach that includes creating friendships.” 

After helping newcomers integrate into their neighborhoods, 

World Relief aims to empower them. The numbers prove they’re 

doing something—or many things—right. In 2016, 244 people found 

employment with 114 companies, 67 percent of students made a fulllevel 

gain within six weeks of English class, and volunteers were paired 

with ninety-six refugee families as cultural companions or host homes. 

“The art is figuring out the balance between serving this vulnerable 

population and pushing them toward self-sufficiency,” Adams said. 

“We’re happy to not just get people surviving, but to get them thriving 

and rooted in communities.” 

For those wanting to get involved, Adams simply advises, “Be 

willing to show up open-minded to meet folks from around the 

world.” “With all the divisiveness and fear right now,” he added, 

“we’ve met that by building bridges and friendships … establishing 

those face-to-face relationships. Even in this climate, it’s been 

encouraging to see so many rallying to the cause of welcoming our 

new neighbors.” 


EAR UP 

GO 

Our picks for Washington’s best 

spots for multisport adventures 

written by John Nelson 

Why settle for one winter activity when 

you can do several? For multisport savants, 

our state has you covered, from skiing to 

kayaking to surfing. Grab your gear and hit 

these five early-spring adventure locations. 


Find acres of world-class 

mountain bike trails 

near Bellingham. 

BELLINGHAM 

POWDER SHOTS TO PADDLING 

North America’s snowiest mountains, epic 

single-track riding, picture-perfect kayaking 

waters—Bellingham has it all. “It’s kind of like a 

triple scoop of ice cream,” said Todd Elsworth, 

co-director of Recreation Northwest, an 

outdoors advocacy group in Whatcom County. 

“People here ski, bike and paddle all in the same 

day. We call that ‘the trifecta.’” 

YOUR ADVENTURE TOOLS: Skis, snowboard, 

snowshoes, hiking boots, kayak, mountain bike 

Alpine skiing and snowboarding: Mt. Baker Ski 

Area is famous for its snowfall, receiving an average 

of nearly 55 feet annually. Snowboarders love the 

resort’s natural half-pipe, which is the site of the 

Legendary Banked Slalom race every February. Out 

of bounds, the terrain gets even wilder for skiers and 

boarders who drop off Shuksan Arm. 

Backcountry and Nordic: The end of the Mount 

Baker Highway (SR 542) in Heather Meadows offers 

easy access to the striking Chain Lakes Basin for 

backcountry skiers and snowshoers. Nordic skiers 

also tour here and at Salmon Ridge Sno-Park. 

Hiking: Bellingham’s temperate climate means you 

can hike year-round near sea level. In town, you’ll find 

5.5 miles of trails at Whatcom Falls Park. For wilder 

adventures, go south to Larrabee State Park, where 

you can access the view-rich Chuckanut Mountains. 

Mountain biking: Bellingham is “the No. 1 area 

in the state for mountain biking,” Elsworth said. 

Access 3,000 acres of world-class riding at Galbraith 

Mountain east of downtown. 

Kayak: Explore more than 100 miles of shoreline 

in the Salish Sea from Birch Bay to Chuckanut Bay. 

Even more paddling can be found on three beautiful 

lowland lakes—Whatcom, Padden and Samish. 

[basecampbellingham.org] 

Brandon Sawaya 

“It’s kind of like 

a triple scoop of ice 

cream. People here ski, 

bike and paddle all in 

the same day. We call 

that ‘the trifecta.’”

FROM LEFT Apple Tree Resort’s 17th hole features an island shaped like an apple. Grab your 

hiking boots and snowshoes and take a walk up Olympic National Park’s Hurricane Ridge. 

YAKIMA 

SKI TO TEE, THEN TOAST 

As you drive in, the billboard on 

I-82 says you’re entering the “Palm 

Springs of Washington,” and sure 

enough, Yakima is Washington’s 

sunniest place. That makes it a 

good choice for cycling and golfing 

as winter’s chill fades. Nearby, the 

eastern slopes of the Cascades offer 

skiing fit for Olympians, and when it’s 

all over for the day, drink the fruit of 

the winery-rich valley. 

YOUR ADVENTURE TOOLS: Skis, 

snowboard, golf clubs, bicycles, wine glass 

Alpine and Nordic skiing: White Pass 

Ski Area is an hour’s drive from Yakima 

along one of the state’s most scenic 

byways (US 12), offering often-sunny 

skiing. Ski legends Phil and Steve Mahre 

honed their Olympic medal-winning skills 

here. For steeps, hit the front side. For 

groomers, head to Paradise Basin, where 

you’ll also find White Pass’s best powder 

amid the open glades. Cross-country skiers 

can glide on 18 kilometers of groomed 

trails at White Pass Nordic Center. 

Golf: Only in orchard-rich Yakima will 

you find an island hole shaped like an 

apple. That would be No. 17 at the Apple 

Tree Resort, a picturesque par-three 

surrounded by water. Tee it up and take 

aim at that big green apple. And don’t 

swing too hard, said Kameron Lamb of 

Apple Tree Resort. “People often focus 

too much on the water and hit it right 

in.” Temperatures rise steadily through 

February and March, making a day on one 

of the Yakima Valley’s ten courses all the 

more fruitful. 

Cycling: Hit the mountain biking trails 

at Rocky Top, said Will Hollingberry of 

Single-Track Alliance of Yakima. “It’s by 

far the best system of trails in Yakima,” 

he said. Road riders should try out the 

20-mile Yakima Valley Greenway from 

Naches to Union Gap or venture virtually 

anywhere on the vast array of farm 

roads that wind among fields, orchards 

and vineyards of the valley. 

[visityakima.com]

OLYMPIC 

PENINSULA 

RIDING THE STORM 

The rainforest is never wilder than in 

winter. Storm-whipped waves draw hardy 

surfers to the rugged coast, while hikers 

can explore and never see another soul. 

The rivers run with wild steelhead and 

all that moisture translates to many 

feet of snowfall for snowshoeing and 

backcountry skiing. 

YOUR ADVENTURE TOOLS: Hiking boots, 

rain gear, skis, snowshoes, fly rod, surfboard 

Hiking: In summer, popular Olympic National 

Park can feel overrun, but in winter, it’s all 

yours. The classic 9-mile Ozette Triangle hike 

can be done as a day hike, putting you on one 

of the most remote coastlines on the Lower 

48. Even better is the 8-mile round trip to 

Point of the Arches near Neah Bay. 

Skiing and snowshoeing: Winter storms 

pound Hurricane Ridge at 5,242 feet in 

Olympic National Park, dumping 35 feet of 

snow annually. “It’s called Hurricane Ridge 

for a reason,” said Penny Wagner of Olympic 

National Park. “They get a lot of wind and 

snow.” Backcountry skiers and snowshoers 

launch from the park visitor center and a 

community-run ski area operates there on 

weekends. 

Steelhead fishing: “There’s worldclass 

fishing on the peninsula,” said Dave 

Steinbaugh of Waters West fly shop in Port 

Angeles. The west-side rivers—Sol Duc, 

Bogachiel, Hoh and Queets—support ample 

runs of the legendary and elusive game fish 

from November to April. “Some steelhead 

can be 30-plus pounds,” said Steinbaugh, who 

offers guiding services. 

Surfing: For a hardy group of wetsuit-wearing 

wave-shredders, the Washington coast can get 

big during winter, said Frank Crippen, owner 

of NxNW Surf Co. in Port Angeles, a good 

place to stop for local information. Crippen 

can direct surfers to breaks all the way from 

La Push on the west coast to Crescent Beach 

along the Strait of Juan de Fuca. 

PACK YOUR BAGS 

Switching between winter sports requires the right gear. 

Here are a few favorites: 

SUNGLASSES 

MAUI JIM PEAHI 

POLARIZED 

[MSRP: $229.00] 

Superior clarity in highglare 

conditions; the 

light, bendable frame is 

extremely durable and 

outdoorsy-fashionable. 

[mauijim.com] 

CHARGER 

GOAL ZERO VENTURE 70 

RECHARGER 

[MSRP: $149.95] 

Enough juice to power small 

devices in any weather 

condition; two USB ports to 

charge multiple units. Can be 

recharged with portable solar 

panels. 

[goalzero.com] 

GLOVES 

OUTDOOR RESEARCH 

VERSALINER GLOVES 

[MSRP: $55.00] 

This multisport glove can 

be worn on its own or as 

an insulating liner; zippered 

back-of-hand pockets double 

as storage for hand warmers. 

[outdoorresearch.com] 

SNOWSHOES 

MSR LIGHTNING EXPLORE 

SNOWSHOES 

[MSRP: $279.95] 

Perfect for rolling, hilly 

terrain, these comfortable, 

lightweight snowshoes 

provide ample traction with 

edge-to-edge grip and pivot 

crampons. 

[msrgear.com] 

JACKET 

NORTH FACE THERMOBALL 

TRICLIMATE JACKET 

[MSRP: $299.00] 

Switch from skiing to 

hiking easily with this 

versatile jacket; an ultralight 

stretch shell provides the 

waterproofing and a zip-in 

puffy liner keeps you warm. 

[thenorthface.com] 

TREKKING POLES 

LEKI MICRO VARIO 

CARBON TREKKING POLES 

[MSRP: $199.95] 

With the push of a button, 

assemble or break down 

these lightweight carbon 

poles to a diminutive 15.5 

inches. 

[leki.com] 

BOOTS 

ASOLO DRIFTER GV HIKING 

BOOTS 

[MSRP: $260.00] 

These day-hikers are light 

and comfortable, but beefy 

enough for sometimesmuddy 

winter trails; 

waterproof with a moisturewicking 

nylon lining. 

[asolo.com] 

DAY PACK 

OSPREY MANTA AG 36 

HYDRATION PACK 

[MSRP: $175.00] 

Lightweight frame, cushioned 

straps and hip belt help carry 

the load; comes with a 2.5 

liter hydration reservoir. 

[osprey.com] 

[olympicpeninsula.org] 


FOR THE 

INDOORSMAN 

For some, winter is 

best experienced from 

a fireplace-warmed 

room with a view. These 

destination lodges fit 

the bill. 

SLEEPING LADY 

Gorgeous cabins set 

amid the scenic Icicle 

Valley near Leavenworth 

deliver comfort and 

elegance. The upscale 

Kingfisher Restaurant 

has a big wine list to 

go with organic meals; 

you’ll find casual bites 

at O’Grady’s and The 

Grotto. Don’t miss the 

luxe spa. 

[sleepinglady.com] 

SUN MOUNTAIN 

LODGE 

The Methow Valley’s 

premier home base for 

Nordic skiers also is a 

fine place to hunker 

down. One of the best 

wine lists in the Pacific 

Northwest pairs with 

elegant offerings in 

the dining room; more 

casual fare is available at 

Wolf Creek Bar and Grill. 

Full onsite spa. 

[sunmountainlodge.com] 

CHRYSALIS INN 

AND SPA 

Gaze out at Bellingham 

Bay at sunset from your 

cozy room and dine at 

smart-casual Keenan’s at 

the Pier. Full onsite spa. 

[thechrysalisinn.com] 

KALALOCH 

LODGE 

Unplug (there’s no cell 

service, TV or internet) 

and gaze at the ocean 

from one of the most 

beautiful spots anywhere 

on the Washington 

Coast. Private cabins or 

lodge rooms are perched 

feet from the stormy 

seas. 

[thekalalochlodge.com] 

Donni 

Reddington 

CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP North Cascade Heli offers trips into the backcountry. Winthrop Rink has great ice quality even in warm 

temperatures. Don’t let snow stop you from hitting the trails—grab a fat bike and get going. 

METHOW VALLEY 

A SNOWY, ICY WONDERLAND 

You can spend days exploring all the 

trails in the nation’s largest Nordic 

network in this scenic valley on the 

east slope of the North Cascades. For 

backcountry skiers, the big mountains 

nearby can be accessed by helicopter 

for endless powder turns; cyclists can 

play in the snow on fat bikes. Ice-skating, 

anyone? You’ll find a fantastic, NHLsized 

rink in Winthrop. 

YOUR ADVENTURE TOOLS: Nordic skis, 

backcountry skis or snowboard, fat bike, ice 

skates 

Nordic skiing: You won’t find a better place 

for Nordic skiing in the Pacific Northwest. The 

valley has 120 miles of trails, from the flat and 

open skiing near Mazama to the rollicking 

Rendezvous Trails that reach an elevation of 

4,000 feet and have an extensive overnight 

hut system. “You’re getting the very best of 

everything when you come here,” said Kristen 

Smith of Mazama Trails. “We have the best 

snow and the most varied terrain.” 

Dave Acheson 

Fat biking: It turns out all of those Nordic 

trails are great for cycling, too. The fastgrowing 

sport of fat biking is right at home 

in Winthrop, and rentals are available at four 

locations in the valley. The sport has proven 

so popular that 35 miles of more aggressive 

riding have been added to Pearrygin Lake 

State Park, Smith said. Methow Cycle & 

Sport rents the bikes and accessories. 

Backcountry skiing: If you’ve ever 

thought about flying to the top of a 

mountain, this might be place to do it. 

Guided adventures are offered by North 

Cascade Heli. The North Cascades Highway 

(SR 20) is closed during the winter just past 

Mazama, but intrepid skiers and snowshoers 

can also access the backcountry at the end 

of the road. 

Ice skating: Hockey fans, hold onto your 

toques—Winthrop Rink is one of the best 

outdoor, NHL-sized facilities in the United 

States. The fully refrigerated rink has great 

ice quality even in warm temperatures. “It’s 

amazing to skate outdoors here with our 

beautiful views,” Smith said. 

[winthropwashington.com]

Icicle TV 

LEAVENWORTH 

SKIING, CLIMBING MECCA 

Leavenworth is Washington’s 

climbing capital. 

The Bavarian-themed town on the east 

slope of the Cascades has made an 

impressive transformation from kitschy 

tourist town to outdoors mecca. Two ski 

areas are within a short drive, Nordic skiing 

and hiking are available right in town, as 

are some of the state’s best rock-climbing 

pitches. “A lot of people will ski in the 

morning and rock climb in the afternoon,” 

said John Race, owner of Northwest 

Mountain School. 

YOUR ADVENTURE TOOLS: Alpine and Nordic 

skis, hiking boots, climbing gear 

Alpine skiing: You have two great daytripping 

options nearby. Stevens Pass is just 

45 minutes to the west, where Pacific storms 

deliver reliable dumps throughout winter 

and spring. Meanwhile, about an hour away 

near Wenatchee is the sunnier, drier skiing of 

Mission Ridge, with its striking basalt cliffs and 

views that seem to go on forever. Stevens has 

some double-diamond drops off its 7th Heaven 

chairlift at the top of 5,845-foot Cowboy 

Mountain to go along with ample intermediate 

terrain. Mission is a groomed-skiing paradise 

with glades and tree-skiing scattered amid the 

cliffy terrain. 

Nordic skiing: The flat trails along the 

Icicle River are made for skate-skiing; 

more challenging options are available at 

Leavenworth Ski Hill. Nearby, find even more 

skiing at the Plain Valley Nordic Ski Trails and 

Stevens Pass Nordic Center. 

Hiking: Leavenworth receives a fair amount 

of snow in winter, but hiking picks up early on 

some trails. The Blackbird Island hike is an easy 

late-winter leg-stretcher with great views along 

the Wenatchee River; for a vertical push, head 

for the 6-mile Icicle Ridge hike where the snow 

melts out early. 

Rock climbing: Leavenworth is Washington’s 

climbing capital, with several pitches that open 

up as the weather warms in Tumwater Canyon 

and Icicle Gorge, Race said. “Climbing tends to 

start low. As spring progresses, you move up 

the (Icicle) Canyon.” 

[leavenworth.org] 


UW rowers practice in Lake Union. 


THE GIRLS 

IN THE BOAT 

THE TALENTED UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON 

WOMEN’S ROWING TEAM CHASES GHOSTS + LOOKS 

TO REPEAT HISTORY IN ANOTHER NCAA SWEEP 

written and photographed by Kevin Max 


A 

COLLECTIVE BREATH WAFTED UP 

to the wooden rafters of Conibear Shellhouse, a soft cadence of 

repeated hushes exhaled into the space. Hshh … Hshh … Hshh. 

In unison, forty women with their eyes steady on an imaginary 

horizon, another championship, pulled back on the handles of 

rowing machines, pushing through their legs and exhaling with 

the machine’s pneumatic coil—Hshh—the entire gym one large 

organism whose whispers recalled a tradition tracing back far 

before the 1936 Olympics. 

In 2013, the New York Times bestseller The Boys in the 

Boat by Daniel James Brown took millions of readers to a 

time when America struggled under the weight of the Great 

Depression and had just begun to turn its attention to the 

rising wave of fascism under Hitler’s Germany. Coming from 

relative poverty and obscurity, the boys of the University of 

Washington’s rowing team would beat the elites of sport and 

the Swastika-clad Aryan crew in Berlin in 1936. These lads, 

their colorful mentor Al Ulbrickson and shell-maker George 

Pocock embodied American innovation and optimism as they 

raced their way into rowing lore. 

Now comes the UW women’s rowing team—girls in 

the boat. 

On May 28 last year, University of Washington’s women 

swept all three events—the first and second varsity eights and 

the four—making it the first team to win all grand finals in the 

twenty-one-year history of the NCAA Regatta. 

History was teetering when the 

eight rowers plus coxswain from the 

University of Washington stepped into 

their racing shell at Mercer Lake in West 

Windsor, New Jersey, the home course 

of Princeton University. The clouds they 

were used to, as the UW rowers live and 

train in Seattle where rain is a constant 

element of any outdoor pursuit. 

To their left was their perennial rival, 

Cal, whom UW had overpowered in the 

Pac-12 championships two weeks prior. 

Cal’s coach, Al Acosta, had coached 

with UW coach Yasmin “Yaz” Farooq 

at Stanford. To the right was Stanford, the sixth-seed boat, 

whose strengths Yaz knew well, having recruited all of them. 

While Cal has always gunned for UW, the Stanford 

crew had a personal reason to take it to the UW boat with 

revenge in mind. The last time Stanford had won an NCAA 

championship was in 2009, with Yaz as coach. The Huskies’ 

varsity eight boat gobsmacked Stanford in the Pac-12 

championships, putting eight seconds into its rivals. This fire 

burned for the Stanford women. 

As the flag dropped, the Washington women pulled to an 

early lead and maintained it into the final 500 meters of the 

2,000-meter race. Stanford made up time in the second half of the 

race, taking back one second of the UW’s two-second margin. 

It would not be good enough to pass the determined finish by 

Washington, who crossed the line and shattered records. 

“I remember smiling at that point,” Yaz recalled. “It was 

strangely perfect. I knew what every woman in both of those 


UW sculls and shells line the 

walls at Conibear Shellhouse. 

IT WAS STRANGELY PERFECT. 

I KNEW WHAT EVERY WOMAN 

IN BOTH OF THOSE BOATS 

WAS CAPABLE OF DOING. 

—YAZ FAROOQ 


CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT The rowers work out in Conibear Shellhouse. 

A UW rower works through the pain. Coach Yaz directs from her boat. 

boats was capable of doing. Stanford put in a worthy challenge. 

Washington answered it. Every woman in both of those boats 

put it all out there. At the end, Phoebe Marks-Nicholes called 

over, ‘Helluva race, Stanford!’ and it truly was.” 

ON A FRIGID MORNING THIS JANUARY, 

UW women’s crew paddled out from the 

Conibear Shellhouse. Into the dark water, 

twenty-four blades dipped soundlessly 

just below the surface, settling there for a 

moment in a solution of both resistance 

and propellant. It’s then that two dozen women in three 

boats of eight transferred an avalanche of power from a 

coordinated grouping of quads and hamstrings, glutes, lats, 

traps and delts evenly down the length of 12-foot, 4-inch 

oars, shooting the 55-foot carbon arrow past houseboats, 

yachts and tankers and into the urban slate of Lake Union. 

“Try to keep that outside wrist flatter so you can squeeze 

off that finish better,” Yaz shouted into a bullhorn that blared 

across the bows of the three shells and into the early morning 

grey. Her petite features peeked out from a sou’wester rain 

hat in the coach boat. Her Os paired with a soft Scandinavian 

W and projected the authority of an experienced cox. 

Yaz grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis before leaving 

for the University of Wisconsin, where she coxed for the 

varsity eight. She went on to the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, 

with sixth and fourth place finishes. In the World Rowing 

Championships between 1990 and 1995, she earned a gold 

and three silver medals in venues such as Finland, Tasmania, 

the Czech Republic and Indianapolis. 

Of all of her races, one against Romania in the 1995 

World Cup stands out. The Germans were the favored team. 

The Americans would be in contention. The Romanians 

were always a force. The American team pulled out to a 

boat-length lead going into the final 500 meters. Romania 

attacked from fifth place and pulled within a half-boat of 

the Americans going into the final 250 meters. Yaz looked 

to her left and saw the Romanians making a late run. The 

American women dug deeper, kept their form and edged the 

charging Romanian boat for a gold. “That just felt so good,” 

she said of the United States’ two-second victory over the 

Romanian eight. 

“Keep accelerating the blade with your leg drive,” Yaz 

cracked over the bullhorn as a paddling of ducks on Lake 

Union roused from their neck-tucked slumber. “I think 

your swing is aggressive and that’s fine, but you’re swinging 

instead of using your legs all the way. Let your legs build that 

speed, because they’re bigger and stronger.” 


In 2006, Yaz was living in Eugene, Oregon, and leading a small rowing 

club when she got a call from Stanford. With no high-level coaching 

experience, the two-time Olympian wasn’t sure she was qualified for the 

job. “You never know if being an athlete translates into being a good coach,” 

she said. Even now, she struggles to name the few elite coaches who came 

from coxing. Nonetheless, the sprite of a woman accepted the coaching 

position and led the program to a second-place finish in her second year. 

Stanford hadn’t been among the top three finishers in its history. In her 

third year, however, Yaz and her team won the NCAA championship. 

Gone was the doubt that a cox could steer one boat, but not a whole team. 

Her coaching career was on fire. 

Over the course of her ten-year tenure at Stanford, the coxswainturned-coach 

would lead the Cardinal women’s rowing team to its best 

run in its history. When she first took the Stanford coaching job in 2006, 

her husband asked if there was any other coaching job that would entice 

her to leave Stanford. Washington, she replied. 

In 2016, UW called. 

The resignation letter from the Stanford Athletics Department 

showered her with praise. It would miss the coach who took the program 

from obscurity to spotlight. Perhaps more troubling for Stanford was that 

she’d be the coach of its Pac-12 arch rival. “She has invested a great deal 

into the program and built Stanford into a perennial title contender,” the 

athletic department wrote. “An Olympian and United States team captain 

herself, Yaz knows what it takes to compete and lead on the sport’s 

biggest stage.” 

In her first year at University of Washington, Yaz would have the 

daunting task of measuring up to the performance of long-time departing 

coach, Bob Ernst. She changed how the team trained with more on-water 

volume, she shuffled boat assignments and brought order to a fractious 

team, which had dismissed its coach in a controversial mid-season ruckus. 

“There are a lot of ways to go fast,” Yaz noted. “The training that I did 

on the national-team level involved doing more aerobic base training and 

volume. That’s what I implemented for them. They had a history of starting 

fast, but fading before the finish line. The hardest thing in the beginning 

was to get them to row with less intensity for longer periods of time—to 

build what I call ‘the capillary superhighway.’” 

She became the first coach to win the NCAA championship at two 

schools. That performance was remarkable enough to make her the 2017 

Collegiate Rowing Coaches National Coach of the Year. 

A 

YOUNG TEAM, ALL ROWERS FROM THE 2017 

championship team have returned for another crack. 

Into the water they went, the shells cutting sharply 

through the 45-degree morning air, three boats of eight 

slicing through Montlake Cut. They slid past the old 

boathouse where the 1936 team trained and George 

Pocock made his shells. In the fog around them, the ghosts of history 

mingled with the prospect of making history again at the NCAA rowing 

championships in Sarasota, Florida. 

Elise Beuke pulled steadily along, her blades slicing into the darkness of 

Lake Union. 

Beuke, a 20-year-old sophomore, learned how to row in Sequim Bay 

on the northern coast of the Olympic Peninsula. Her dad, a middle 

school history teacher and cyclist, decided his kids would get involved in 

ROWING TERMS 

SHELL: a racing hull with 

alternating single oar mountings 

SCULL: a racing hull with double 

oars for each rower 

EIGHTS: an eight-oar boat with 

one cox 

VARSITY EIGHT: the top eight 

boat for any team 

SECOND-VARSITY EIGHT: the 

second-fastest eight on a team 

FOUR: a four-person boat 

DOUBLE: a two-person boat 

POSITIONS IN AN EIGHT: The 

seats are numbered from the 

bow, or front, to the stroke or last 

rower before the cox in the stern 

COX: the person without an oar 

who steers the boat with a rudder 

and deploys race strategy 

STROKE: the rower closest to the 

cox (the 8 seat) and responsible 

for setting stroke rate and rhythm, 

the first member of the stern pair. 

STROKE LIEUTENANT: the seat 

behind the Stroke (7), the second 

member of the stern pair, who 

interprets the Stroke’s rate for 

rowers on the right side of the 

boat 

ENGINE ROOM: generally seats 

3-6 that provide the bulk of the 

strength 

BOW: the last seat (1) on the 

eight 

THE RACE COURSE 

The standard championship 

race is 2,000 meters. The 

course must be wide enough to 

accommodate six lanes, or 298 

feet, 7 inches. 

Boats are aligned at the start 

by focusing a vertical wire on a 

vertical stripe on the far side of 

the start. 

Floating markers come in the 

first 100 meters, denoting the end 

of the start zone and at every 250- 

meter interval to the finish. 

Judges and cameras at the finish 

line determine results. 


AMONG THE TEAM’S FORTY MEMBERS 

ARE KIDS FROM WASHINGTON, CALIFORNIA, 

VERMONT, VIRGINIA, ENGLAND, GERMANY 

+ ITALY. SOME HAVE NO ROWING EXPERIENCE. 

SOME COME FROM EUROPEAN ROWING ELITE. 

endurance sports. Beuke’s mom was already on the water, 

kayaking the banks of the Olympic Peninsula and the world 

over looking for smooth pieces of sea glass for her jewelrymaking 

business. 

To the west of the small town of Sequim lie the Olympic 

Mountains, to the north Victoria, British Columbia, and 70 

miles to the southeast, the University of Washington. While 

the Olympic Peninsula sees an average of 140 inches of rain 

per year, Sequim and its surrounding area falls in the rain 

shadow of the Olympic Mountains, making it a dry, cool 

place for training on the water. 

Beuke began rowing on a two-oared scull at Olympic 

Peninsula Rowing Association, a local club founded by John 

Halberg, a UW crew member from the 1958 class. Halberg 

helped found the club in 2007 and, in 2012, recruited 

Brazilian cox Rodrigo Rodrigues to take over coaching at the 

fledgling club. “John Halberg, the president of my rowing 

association, bought the boat I row in for me,” Beuke said. 

“Without him, I wouldn’t be rowing.” 

In high school, Beuke quit basketball and volleyball 

to focus on rowing, and she read Brown’s The Boys in the 

Boat. “I think it had a unique effect on me because I’m from 

Sequim and Joe Rantz was from Sequim,” she recalled. 

On January 6, 2017, Halberg died of a heart attack while 

rowing. Four months later, Beuke would cross the finish line 

and, as a freshman, make rowing history for his alma mater. 

The local newspaper, the Sequim Gazette, connected Halberg’s 

recruit, Rodrigues, and Beuke in an article about Halberg’s 

legacy. “Rodrigues helped build the club’s junior program and 

coached the likes of Sequim’s Elise Beuke, who placed seventh 

at the World Junior Championships in 2015 and earned a 

scholarship to row at the University of Washington.” 

Beginning Beuke’s sophomore year, UW brought in a new 

head coach. “I was excited because Yaz was an Olympian 

and a cox like my high school coach, Rodrigues,” she said. 

Beuke began to notice the team’s training was “so much 

more organized and intentional,” she said. “We knew that 

we were doing this workout today because it was targeting 

these specific muscles and would help us in different parts 

of the race. This really helped people take ownership of 

this workout.” 

Among the team’s forty members are kids from 

Washington, California, Vermont, Virginia, England, 

Germany and Italy. Some have no rowing experience. Some 

come from European rowing elite. 

Carmela Pappalardo, “Pappi,” started rowing when she 

was 12. Her father, Rosario Pappalardo, a competitive rower, 

was her coach. The youngest of six children, Pappi grew up 

watching her older brothers row. 

She began rowing in the Tyrrhenian Sea, between 

mainland Salerno, Italy and Sardinia. In the shadow of the 

Santa Maria Asunto Church and along the steep cliffs of 

the Amalfi coast, Pappi focused on technique bobbing in 

the ocean chop. “In the sea, it was really difficult,” she said. 

“Sometimes it was really boring because I like rowing with 

other people and I was in a single.” 

Competition rowing was going well, and Pappi was 

invited to join the Circolo Canottiere Aniene rowing club in 

Rome, where she was also enrolled in school. The logistics of 

pursuing education and rowing in Rome, she said, was hard. 

“My university was so far away from my club. It took me two 

buses and forty minutes to get there,” she said. 

In 2016, she got a call from the UW rowing team. “Early 

on, I realized that I could go to UW and get a scholarship,” 


she said. “I studied English since high school and tried very 

hard. I came from a small town. This was a big opportunity.” 

In her first year at UW, Pappi found the people friendly, 

felt at home (albeit a home with inferior pasta and pizza) 

and rowed to a first-place finish in the second varsity eights 

boat. “It was amazing!” she said. “We were all working 

together very well. Every race, I just try to do my best and 

stay focused from the first to last stroke.” 

This season, the 22-year-old hopes to make the first 

varsity boat and perhaps find more authentic southern 

Italian food. 

The team’s goals, however, will be focused on the Pac- 

12 championships May 13 in Gold River, California, with 

Stanford and Cal gunning for them. Two weeks later at the 

NCAA championships in Florida, the girls in the boat and 

their second-year coach will wrestle with the notion that 

they could repeat last year’s unprecedented sweep. 

FROM TOP In 

2017, UW swept 

the NCAA Regatta, 

finishing first in all 

three events—the 

first and second 

varsity eights and 

the four. When 

Coach Yaz arrived 

at UW, she changed 

how the team trains. 

LEARN TO ROW 

Lake Union Crew 

Seattle 

lakeunioncrew.com 

Lake Washington Rowing Club 

Seattle 

lakewashingtonrowing.com 

George Pocock Rowing Foundation 

Seattle 

pocockfoundation.org 

Everett Rowing Association 

Everett 

everettrowing.com 

Spokane River Rowing Association 

Spokane 

spokanerowing.org 

Sammamish Rowing Association 

Sammamish 

sammamishrowing.org 

Olympia Area Rowing Association 

Olympia 

olympiaarearowing.org 

Olympic Peninsula Rowing 

Association 

Port Angeles 

olympicpeninsularowingassociation.org 

Vancouver Lake Rowing Club 

Vancouver 

vancouverlakerowingclub.com 

Whatcom Rowing Association 

Bellingham 

whatcomrowing.org 

Commencement Bay Rowing Club 

Lakewood 

combayrow.net 

UW WOMEN’S ROWING 

SCHEDULE 

USC | March 3 

CLASS DAY REGATTA | March 24 

HUSKY OPEN | March 31 

Texas/U of Michigan | April 14 

California | April 21 

WINDERMERE CUP | May 5 

PAC-12 Championships | May 13 

NCAA Championships | May 25-27 

*Home races in bold and at Montlake 

Cut, Seattle 


MUST LOVE DOGS 

photography by James Harnois 

SOME SOULS ARE just built for winter. Larry Roxby 

and his dogs are among them. Roxby, commonly 

known as Captain Larry, raises and keeps northern 

breed dogs and runs dogsled rides and tours 

near Leavenworth through Northwest Dogsled 

Adventures. He also races the dogs, as he did at the 

Dogtown Winter Derby in Cle Elum in January, when 

his Flying Furs took first place in the six-dog sled race. 

From veterans of the Iditarod to rescues, Roxby’s 

dogs love to run, and they’re happy to drag you 

along. For more information or to make reservations, 

go to northwestdogsledadventuresllc.com. 


FROM LEFT Larry Roxby, aka “Captain Larry,” and The Flying Furs 

charge toward the finish line during the Dogtown Winter Derby race in 

Cle Elum in January. Cooper, one of the members of The Flying Furs.

CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT A 

team of dogs waits for the start of 

the race. The Flying Furs line up near 

the entry chute. Racegoers show their 

enthusiasm for the sport. Captain Larry 

gives his lead dog, Pearl, a pep talk 

before the event. One of many creative 

ways participants transport their dogs 

to and from the races. 




FROM LEFT A six-dog sled team speeds by during the Dogtown Winter Derby. 

Larry Roxby finished first in the six-dog sled race. 


TRAVEL SPOTLIGHT 68 

Austin White 

ADVENTURE 70 

LODGING 74 

TRIP PLANNER 76 

NORTHWEST DESTINATION 82 

pg. 76 

In Ballard, Slate Coffee Roasters offers 

deconstructed espresso in wine glasses.

golf, dine, explore 

PULLMAN, WA 

Rob Perry 

Birch & Barley PalousePics.com Majestic Nature 

Home of Washington State University 

and so much more 

pullmanchamber.com 509.334.3565

travel spotlight 

Travel Spotlight 

Religion on 

the Roadside 

written by Sheila G. Miller 

ON WASHINGTON’S HIGHWAY 2 just 

west of Sultan, a hand-painted billboard 

lets you know of the approaching 

Wayside Chapel with five words: Pause 

Rest Worship (no facilities). 

The tiny chapel, which opened in 

1962, has four two-seater pews, a wee 

altar with room for a preacher, a Bible, 

a couple flower vases and a notebook 

for guests to record their thoughts. 

According to the tiny building’s 

Facebook page, it started as an idea 

to provide a religious stop for visitors 

traveling to the 1962 World’s Fair in 

Seattle. In its first four months of 

operation, almost 3,000 people signed 

the guest book. 

The little chapel, which is just 8 

feet by 14 feet, sits alone at the edge 

of a green field next to a grand tree. 

It’s the perfect brief respite for the 

weary traveler. 

Andrea Vanni 


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adventure 

Adventure 

ON THE TRAIL 

Following Lewis & Clark through Washington 

written and photographed by John Nelson 


adventure 

John Nelson walks a trail 

near the Snake River. 

I’M NO LEWIS OR CLARK. 

I didn’t cross unknown mountain ranges, didn’t 

run the raging rapids of the Snake and Columbia 

rivers, didn’t nearly die in a perilous storm near the 

end of my eighteen-month journey. 

But after following the footsteps of the Corps of 

Discovery through Washington as they raced to the 

Pacific Coast in the fall of 1805, I can say I made 

some pretty good discoveries of my own. 

“You’re tent camping?” the attendant at Chief 

Timothy Park asked incredulously as I pulled in at 

dusk in early November. It was 25 degrees at the 

deserted park on the Snake River near Clarkston. 

He sold me some firewood and said, “Take any site 

you want.” 

The expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and 

William Clark camped in this area more than 200 

years ago. On my first frigid night as I followed their 

path, I toasted them with whiskey, their favorite 

spirit. For dinner, I cooked one of their favorite 

foods—dog. 

It turns out the explorers were quite fond of 

canine flesh, I learned from their journals. They 

regularly bought dogs from Indian tribes to feed 

their hungry expedition. 

“When well cooked (it) tastes very well,” Corps of 

Discovery member Patrick Gass wrote. 

In my case, I ate hot dogs. Served with a little 

mustard and camp beans, it wasn’t a bad meal to get 

into the adventuring mood. 

The Nez Perce Indians were on my mind when I 

got up the next morning. The tribe had been helpful 

to the explorers, and the Listening Circle installation 

at Chief Timothy Park commemorates their meeting. 

It is designed by Maya Lin, the artist best known 

for her Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, 

D.C. Like that piece, the Listening Circle is simple 

and dramatic. It is one of six sites Lin has devised 

along the Lewis and Clark Trail in the Northwest. 

I toured the installation and then broke camp to 

explore the dramatic Snake River country. The Corps 

had traveled by canoe, and while the river is now 

tamed by a series of dams, the countryside remains 

rugged. I stopped to hike at Wawawai County Park, 

Palouse Falls and near Lower Monumental Dam, 

where Clark wrote about “a remarkable rock verry 

large and resembling the hull of a ship.” 

By noon, I arrived at the confluence of the Snake 

and Columbia rivers at Sacajawea State Park in 

Pasco. It was here that the explorers camped for two 

days and met members of regional tribes. 

It had taken me only a few hours to reach 

what had taken them six dangerous days 

through the rapids. By nightfall, I would 


adventure 

zoom ahead another six days in their 

journey as I pulled in to Maryhill State 

Park for my second night of camping. 

I woke the next morning to threatening 

skies. Just as it had for Lewis and Clark, 

weather was closing in—I needed to 

get going. 

West of Maryhill, Clark had climbed 

to get a view of the dramatic Columbia 

Gorge, so that’s what I did. At Columbia 

Hills State Park, I hiked high above the 

river at Crawford Oaks, and finished just 

as the storm hit, bringing 40 mph winds 

down the Gorge. 

I hurried downriver to Beacon Rock 

State Park, mentioned in Clark’s journal 

as “the Beaten rock.” I had to agree 

with him. Sleet was now pounding the 

picturesque 848-foot volcanic monolith. 

My plan was to climb the switchbacking 

mile-long trail to the top, but with the 

storm getting worse every minute, I had 

second thoughts. 

“Climb it, you wussy!” Lewis said sternly 

inside my head. I did as ordered, topping 

out thirty minutes later in a raging gale. 

The end was in sight. I dried off in the 

car and zoomed ahead several more days 

to Lewis and Clark’s final challenge, a place 

where the explorers nearly died. 

As they reached the estuary of the 

Columbia, Clark wrote happily, “Ocian in 

view. O! The joy!” Then, suddenly, a vicious 

winter storm forced them to hunker down 

for six precarious days in what Clark 

famously called a “dismal little nitch.” 

I visited Dismal Nitch (now a National 

Park interpretive site) just across the 

Columbia from Astoria, Oregon, on 

another stormy day. 

“It would be distressing to a feeling 

person to see our situation,” Clark wrote. 

Yes, I felt for them. 

As darkness started to descend, I sprinted 

for the finish at Cape Disappointment 

State Park. It was Nov. 18, 1805—they 

had come more than 4,000 miles, and they 

finally got a view of the Pacific from the top 

of McKenzie Head. 

“We made it!” I said to them as I took in 

the view. 

That night, my expedition done, there 

would be no camping. I checked into 

the 1890s-era Shelburne Inn in Seaview, 

took a hot shower and slipped into a 

warm bed. 

FROM TOP The Listening Circle in Chief Timothy Park 

was designed by Maya Lin. Cape Disappointment State 

Park served as Nelson’s final stop. 


Eat. 

Drink. 

Be dazzled. 

Fabulous cuisine, 

history, heritage, and 

romantic vistas. 

See Albany 

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Tel: 541-928-0911 

www.albanyvisitors.com 

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Albany, OR 97321 

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lodging 

ACCOMMODATIONS 

With 133 rooms in a variety of configurations, 

there’s surely something to suit your getaway. 

The beds are extra comfortable, and the robes 

exceptionally soft. Stay in the historic tower for the 

most authentic experience. If your idea of an ideal 

vacation includes your furry friends, never fear, 

there are pet-friendly accommodations as well. 

Lodging 

The Marcus Whitman 

written by Cara Strickland 

IF YOU’RE LOOKING for a historic home base in the heart 

of Walla Walla wine country, you’ll love the elegant Marcus 

Whitman hotel. In 1999, a new owner bought the hotel and 

restored it to the 1928 splendor guests would have seen when the 

doors originally opened. 

6 W. ROSE STREET 

WALLA WALLA 

marcuswhitmanhotel.com 

FROM LEFT The hotel was built in 1928 and restored to its former glory 

in 1999. The historic tower offers the most authentic experience. 

DINING 

No need to leave the hotel for a wonderful dining 

experience. A full, hot breakfast buffet is included 

with your stay, and you’re always welcome to stay 

for dinner at the award-winning Marc restaurant 

(named one of Wine Enthusiast’s best wine 

restaurants), or a snack at the Vineyard Lounge. 

For something special, try the tasting menu or sit at 

the chef’s table. An onsite coffee shop will send you 

out the door with a spring in your step. 

EVENTS 

With 13,000 square feet of meeting space, a 

rooftop garden and lots of historic touches, the 

Marcus Whitman is well suited to host weddings, 

conferences and other events of all sizes. You 

might want to get your picture taken in one of the 

original phone booths in the lobby. 

THINGS TO DO 

To begin your wine-tasting adventure, you don’t 

even need to leave the hotel. There are five tasting 

rooms on the property. Venture a bit farther afield 

and you’ll find a wide variety of restaurants, snacks 

and sips within easy walking distance. 


Discover the great Pacific Northwest. 

Whether you are looking to enjoy a romantic weekend in the city or share playful adventures with your kids, the Seattle area offers exciting attractions 

and activities for everyone. Walk through Pike Place Market, catch a sports game, enjoy a boating activity on Lake Washington or venture into Bellevue for 

world-class shopping. Our properties deliver personalized care and unforgettable experiences. 

For reservations or more information, visit hyatt.com or call 800 233 1234. 

Grand Hyatt Seattle | Hyatt Olive 8 | Hyatt Regency Bellevue | Hyatt Regency Lake Washington | Hyatt Regency Seattle (opening fall, 2018*) 

*Hotel opening is subject to change without notice. Hyatt and related marks are trademarks of Hyatt Corporation and/or its affiliates. 

C 2018 Hyatt Corporation. All rights reserved.

trip planner 

CLOCKWISE, FROM LEFT 

Wave sculptures at Hiram 

M. Chittenden Locks. Get a 

morning caffeine boost at 

Slate Coffee Roasters. A street 

vendor prepares food at the 

Ballard Farmers Market. 

Seattle’s Ballard 

The city’s hottest ’hood still has hints of its heritage 

written by Naomi Tomky 

photography by Austin White 

WALKING DOWN Ballard Avenue on a Friday night offers an accurate 

representation of today’s Seattle—trendy restaurants spill their sushiseeking, 

cocktail-drinking diners into the street, new condominiums poke 

up behind them, and a Tesla looks for parking. But the history woven 

into the fabric of this neighborhood—one of the hottest real-estate 

neighborhoods in the country—lurks around every corner. It comes in 

the form of the old industrial warehouses that now play host to craft 

breweries, the fishing boats that pass through the locks, and the hints of 

Scandinavian heritage barely visible to those who know where to look. 

All too often, visitors to Seattle look 

out on downtown from the double-digit 

floor of their hotel rooms, where the 

streets are near silent after 7 p.m. and 

the few non-chain restaurants cater to 

the tourist palate, serving overcooked 

salmon and fried fish assumed to be 

appropriate in a seaside city. But Seattle’s 

not that kind of city. Instead, it spreads 

its wealth among neighborhoods, 

stashing James Beard Foundation 

Award-winning chefs in Capitol Hill 

and Georgetown, scuttling away upand-coming 

musicians in Columbia City 

and Fremont. And the best way to see 

the city’s finest is by basing oneself in a 

single neighborhood—like Ballard, just 

15 minutes north of downtown—and 

exploring from there. 

Long after the city of Seattle annexed 

Ballard in 1907, the one-time Nordic fishing 

village fought to hold onto its identity. But 

as it lingered on, Ballard became not only 

entirely integrated, but the best example 

of the quintessential Seattle neighborhood 

in a city centered on them. The main 

drag, Ballard Avenue, seems to sprout a 

new restaurant at least once a month, but 

it sets up shop next to places like Hattie’s 

Hat, which pre-dates the neighborhood’s 

annexation. The streets no longer ring with 

Scandinavian accents, but you can still find 

the famously stinky, air-dried specialty 

lutefisk if you know where to look—when 

you’re done picking up the 

much nicer-smelling hot cider, 

doughnuts, and flowers from 

the Sunday farmers market. 


trip planner 

Diners get brunch at Brimmer and Heeltap. 

Day 

COFFEE • WATERFRONT • BREWS 

Slip into Seattle culture by starting your day at Slate, where the 

white walls and sleek modern look of the tiny space reflect the 

roaster’s coffee: light roasts designed to emphasize the flavors 

in the single-origin beans. For serious coffee drinkers and 

newbies alike, the baristas (despite their trendier-than-thou 

appearance) walk customers through the nuances of various 

roasts and preparations. For those who can’t bear conversation 

before coffee, the deconstructed espresso—served in a trio of 

wine glasses—is a fun, self-guided exploration of the drink. 

Once awake, head to Ballard’s best-known tourist 

attraction, the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks. The gateway 

from the saltwater of Puget Sound to the freshwater of Lake 

Washington just celebrated its centennial, and continues to 

operate the busiest locks in the country. If you want more 

after watching salmon jump around the fish ladder, gawking 

at the bobbing boats waiting to pass through the locks, and 

wandering the garden, ranger-guided free tours leave from 

the visitors center. 

Continue your waterfront tour with a stroll (or cycle on one 

of Seattle’s many dockless bike shares) just less than a mile 

up the paved Burke-Gilman trail to Un Bien. The pink shack 

serves overstuffed Caribbean sandwiches slathered with aioli 

and spilling with caramelized onions. Grab your sandwich to 

go and continue along the trail to Golden Gardens beach. 

In the summer, Golden Gardens teems with families at picnic 

tables during the day and young folks at firepits at night, but even 

in winter, an al fresco meal eaten against the backdrop of the 

snow-capped Olympic Mountains spiking up from behind the 

Sound makes it worth putting on a parka. 

Whether you need to warm up or cool down after your picnic, 

Ballard’s many breweries have just the beer for it. In the early ’80s, 

Redhook set up shop here, starting a beermaking tradition in the 

neighborhood that has recently picked up speed. Award-winning 

breweries like Reuben’s Brews stand next to homebrewers like 

Obec Brewing making their first public foray. The combination 

of affordable large buildings—Obec’s previously held a pickleball 

warehouse—and enthusiastic audiences has allowed more than a 

dozen taprooms to flourish. Many, like Stoup, which makes some 

of the city’s best IPAs (the calling card of any Northwest brewer), 

allow children and dogs and often have a food truck parked out 

front, providing an ideal place to while away an afternoon. 

When you’ve almost had your fill, head back to where you 

started the day—across the street from Slate, Brimmer and 

Heeltap spins Korean flavors and Northwest ingredients into 

bar food. Smoked fingerling potato salad with pickled 

shishito peppers and miso aioli shares the table with 

pork chops dressed in marinated Fuji apples, all ferried 

from the open kitchen by warm, friendly servers. 


trip planner 

CLOCKWISE, FROM 

LEFT Enjoy beers and 

board games at Mox 

Boarding House. 

Asadero Steakhouse 

grills up steaks over 

mesquite wood. Eggs 

top a breakfast skillet 

from The Fat Hen. 

Day 

NORDIC HISTORY • BOARD GAMES • LIVE MUSIC 

Join the line of locals outside The Fat Hen as early as possible 

to avoid waiting any longer than necessary. Order a coffee when 

you put your name down, then settle into the seats outside 

while you wait for your chance at sizzling skillets of baked eggs 

afloat in bubbling tomato sauce, housemade yogurt and thick 

toasts slathered in creamy ricotta over which to plan your day. 

While the Nordic Heritage Museum is under construction 

(expected to reopen in its new building in May), tourists must 

look a little harder to learn about the original occupants of the 

area. Stop into the Ballard Library (a striking building capped 

with a sweeping green roof of 18,000 plants) to pick up The 

Ballard Historical Society’s short self-guided walking tour of 

old buildings. Finish off at Scandinavian Specialties, one of the 

few remaining commercial representations of the heritage, to 

browse angelica soap, dala horses, and lip balm that asks, “Got 

lutefisk?” (The shop does, along with pickled herring, Viking 

bread and lingonberry preserves.) 

For dinner, again aim early to avoid the crowds at Asadero, 

a Mexican steakhouse—or plan to pop down the block to play 

board games at Mox Boarding House while you wait. Asadero 

grills up steak over mesquite wood, charring the beef and 

blessing it with a distinct south-of-the-border savory flavor. 

Served on hefty boards with soft tortillas and a bowlful of beans, 

the crowning touch here comes from the salsa bar. Customize 

your tacos with stone-ground salsas, pickled peppers and a 

rainbow of garnishes. 

Finish the evening with a little live music, choosing from 

the elegant jazz of Egan’s, the modern country of the Tractor 

Tavern, or the dive-bar rock of Sunset Tavern. All are within a 

few blocks of both Asadero and Ballard’s duo of boutique hotels. 

The Ballard Inn offers artfully designed European rooms, with 

or without shared bathrooms, in a historic building (you’ll learn 

about it on your walking tour), though is somewhat limited in 

amenities. The Hotel Ballard’s unique multi-use building means 

people staying in the luxurious rooms have access 

to a full gym, spa and swimming pool, as well as 

underground parking and a roof deck with a fireplace 

and stunning view. 


trip planner 

BALLARD NEIGHBORHOOD, IN SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 

EAT 

The Fat Hen 

thefathenseattle.com 

San Fermo 

sanfermoseattle.com 

Café Munir 

cafemunir.blogspot.com 

Un Bien 

unbienseattle.com 

Brimmer and Heeltap 

brimmerandheeltap.com 

Slate 

slatecoffee.com 

Asadero 

asaderoprime.com 

STAY 

Ballard Inn 

ballardinnseattle.com 

Hotel Ballard 

hotelballardseattle.com 

PLAY 

Hiram Chittenden Locks 

ballardlocks.org 

Golden Gardens Park 

seattle.gov/parks/find/parks/ 

golden-gardens-park 

Ballard Historical Society 

ballardhistory.org 

Ballard Farmers Market 

sfmamarkets.com 

FROM LEFT Small plates from Café Munir. Explore the Ballard Farmers Market on Sundays. 

Day 

STREET MARKET • COCKTAILS • AFFORDABLE EATS 

On Sunday mornings, the neighborhood’s 

centerpiece, Ballard Avenue, closes to vehicle 

traffic and transforms into a street market. 

Local artists, busking musicians, farmers 

from the surrounding area, and artisan food 

producers set up booths in the center of the 

street for the day. Start your morning with 

a stroll, stopping for a morning kombucha 

(fermented tea) or hot apple cider. 

At the edge of the market, duck in for lunch 

at San Fermo, housed in one of the last quaint 

old homes on the street. Serving Italianinspired 

dishes often made with vegetables 

from the same farms selling outside and 

pairing prosecco-based cocktails, the 

refreshingly adorable restaurant makes a nice 

break from the market crowds. 

Powered by prosciutto and zeppole (Italian 

doughnuts), head back out to Ballard Avenue 

to check out the brick-and-mortar shops. 

From used mountaineering equipment 

at Second Ascent to clothes cool enough 

for a night out at Ballard’s hottest bars at 

Horseshoe, Ballard’s boutiques, vintage 

stores and consignment shops have treasures 

for truly every type. 

If this jam-packed weekend has you 

feeling overspent—in dollars or energy— 

Café Munir’s affordable chef’s menu will 

cure what ails you and send you home 

refreshed. Hidden in the northern corner of 

Ballard, this Lebanese restaurant celebrates 

Sundays by sending out three courses of its 

vegetable-forward food as part of a set meal. 

The parade of mezzes (small plates), grilled 

meat skewers, and Arab desserts provides 

as good a toast to a weekend in Ballard as 

any extensive collection of whiskey—though 

they’ve got that here, too. 


YouR dolLar 

goEs FurTheR 

iN canada 

PASS HOLDERS FROM 

STEVENS PASS AND 

SCHWEITZER 

SKI FREE WITH 

POWDER ALLIANCE 

vernon, bc 

canada

northwest destination 

SilverStar Mountain Resort, B.C. 

Zen and the art of classic skiing 

in Canada’s Nordic mecca 

written by Kevin Max 



CROSS THE CANADIAN BORDER in 

Eastern Washington at Oroville and head 

north up the Okanagan Highway and, after 

125 miles, you’ll reach SilverStar Mountain 

Resort, a ski village in British Columbia’s 

Monashee Mountains with the feel of a 

European getaway in the Alps. 

It’s here that I’ve spent a relaxing week of 

work and play each of the past two winters. 

Though it’s a ten-hour drive from Bend, I 

would consider making the trip even if there 

were no snow and no skiing—just for the 

change of pace. 

With 3,282 skiable acres, SilverStar is billed 

as B.C.’s third largest ski resort, following 

nearby Sun Peaks resort (4,270 skiable 

acres) and Whistler (4,757 skiable acres). For 

measure in the lower Pacific Northwest, Mt. 

Baker registers 1,000 skiable acres, Stevens 

Pass 1,125 acres and Mt. Bachelor comes in 

at 4,318. 

The skiable acres at SilverStar that I’m 

most interested in are those that comprise 

the 105-plus kilometers of the Nordic trail 

network. For the past two years, we’ve 

shared a condo just above the village so we 

can drop down daily and along one of the 

Nordic arteries. Our Nordic-skiing, fat-tire 

biking friends found this place—a threefloor, 

three-bedroom space with a good 

kitchen, a soft living room and a hot tub— 

and asked us to join two years ago. 

On the first morning and after a long 

drive, I tried to shock my system with a long 

ski and sustained climbing. The starting 

elevation in the village is 5,280 feet. Those 

who are used to living and skiing at sea level 

will feel the effects of altitude immediately. 

Though I live at 3,500 feet and ski at 6,000 

feet, I could feel the lightness of breath 

from exhilaration, from height and from 

excitement as I kicked up Paradise trail 

toward the summit of SilverStar on a 1,000- 

foot climb. From there, I dropped down 

over the back on a loop of Comin’ Round 

the Mountain. On a spur from this loop is 

Lars Taylor Way, which ties into the Nordic 

mecca of Sovereign Lake. I thought I’d wait 

‘til tomorrow to hit Sovereign Lake. 

Since the early 1980s, when Vermonter 

and first and only U.S. men’s Nordic Olympic 

medalist Bill Koch popularized the new style 

of skate skiing, cross-country skiing has 

taken on two forms—the new form that 

resembles duck-footed ice skating where 

the skis are turned outward at an angle, and 

the traditional form of kick-and-glide classic 

skiing in which you glide along set parallel 

tracks. I warn you in advance, I’m a huge 

proponent of the classic technique, so much 

so that friends long stopped asking me to 

skate ski with them. 

Hockey players, I’m told, make good 

golfers but maybe not skate skiers. Having 

grown up playing hockey, I equate skate 

skiing with the power-building drill of 

pushing your teammate across the ice 

while he faces you and resists. It seemed 

like too much work then. While it offers 

the appearance of skating on snow, skate 

skiing doesn’t have the same release valve 

as smashing your padded opponent into a 

retaining wall. My fellow lean Lycra-clads 

pursue a more passive form of aggression 

measured in kilometers. 

Classic skiing, on the other 

hand, is zen on snow. The motion 

is as smooth and as natural as 


It’s here that I’ve spent a relaxing week of 

work and play each of the past two winters. 

Though it’s a ten-hour drive from Bend, I 

would consider making the trip even if there 

were no snow and no skiing—just for the 

change of pace. 





Usain Bolt dashing down the track. 

The hips, legs and arms are in tacit 

agreement of co-efficiency, creating 

a state that drives equal and opposite 

reaction. While others are skating off 

in perverse angles, I’m connecting the 

shortest distance between two points on 

a narrow, straight path. 

There must be something about 

symmetry that appeals to me. Leonardo da 

Vinci put his image of the perfect human 

body inside a circle and a square, casting 

symmetry as beauty and perfection in 

his homage to ancient Greek architect 

Marcus Vitruvius. (“I’m talking about 

classical proportions, perfect symmetry 

and ideal conditioning,” Vitruvius may 

have said.) Though no sober mind, nor 

that of my elite-skiing, analytical and 

critical wife, would conflate my form 

with perfection, symmetry and its 

companions—zen and happiness—are 

lifelong pursuits of the classic school. 

Speed, my wife would argue, is a much 

more distant cousin. 

Symmetry, nonetheless, is a liquid 

state that takes the shape of its container. 

After two hours, my container was less 

symmetrical, and I could feel the slosh of 

things throwing me off balance. Hot tubs 

are a good way to re-center. 

Of course, SilverStar is more than a 

vast platform for cross-country skiing. Its 

eleven lifts serve 132 marked runs from 

beginner to expert. Freestyle skiers and 

snowboarders can hone their tricks in a 

terrain park. An outdoor skating rink on 

Brewers Pond brings out hockey players 

and recreational skaters. 

The village of SilverStar has 5,600 

pillows throughout its nine hotels and 

lodges, and eighteen food and beverage 

venues and multiple retail and rental 

shops. My favorite is Bugaboos Bakery 

Café, a strudel-lover’s lair from Dutchborn 

baker Frank Berkers. In the air, the 

scents of cinnamon, chocolate and coffee 

mix with spoken accents of French, Dutch, 

Australian, German and Canadian. 

On any given day, I can easily spend 

four hours at Bugaboos working, 

partaking of pastry, drinking end-to-end 

Americanos and listening to the banter of 

non-Americanos. 

For two years in a row, we’ve stumbled 

into The Red Antler for dinner on 

Wednesday’s half-price wing night. 

This is a sooey call to all of the resort’s 

workers, so go early and leave early. The 

Red Antler has good Canadian pub grub 

that includes poutine and a lamb burger 

along with local meats and cheeses. 

The local beer isn’t quite on par with 

the craftsmanship of Washington and 

Oregon, but it’s on its way. 

The people of Sovereign Lake Nordic 

Centre take their cross-country skiing and 

biathlon seriously. With 105 kilometers 

of trails and a communal lodge at its 

center, Sovereign is known as the largest 

continuously groomed network of trails 

in Canada. The lodge has restrooms, a 

fire stove and tables for eating lunch. Out 

back is the ski stadium, a large clearing 

where races start and finish. Not far from 

the parking lot is a biathlon target area. I 

can spend days on Sovereign’s meticulous 

groomers and ski until my symmetry 

wanes with the falling sun. 

Each March, Sovereign Lake Nordic 

Centre hosts a 30k freestyle loppet race 

for the recreational competitive skier. 

The so-called loppet series comes from 

the Worldloppet Ski Federation, which 



FROM LEFT The Red Antler’s Canadian pub 

grub is perfect. SilverStar has a network of 

105-plus kilometers for nordic skiers. The 

resort is billed as B.C.’s third largest. 

promotes long-distance Nordic ski races 

around the world. My wife, Sarah, has done 

many from Germany and Switzerland to 

Sweden and Wisconsin. I once flailed 50k 

through the Konig Ludwig worldloppet 

into Oberammergau, Germany, sightskiing 

my way to an unremarkable 

finish. Sovereign’s 30k race now sounds 

more appealing. 

Nothing called a getaway is easy to get 

to. The small Kelowna airport is an hour 

southwest of SilverStar, with two major 

airlines of Air Canada and Alaska Airlines 

(and a handful of locals) in service. 

Alaska Airlines flies daily from Seattle to 

Kelowna with a quick one-hour flight. Air 

Canada has flights from Calgary, Toronto 

and Vancouver. 

Most visitors will drive in from around 

the Pacific Northwest. Driving has its 

perks, too. The town of Vernon, just 15 

miles southwest of SilverStar, is home to 

a fantastic German deli, Helmut’s Sausage 

Kitchen. Herein lie dozens of mustards, 

homemade sausage with creative 

combinations like cranberry turkey 

sausage, and to-go sandwiches for the 

drive made of schnitzel and bratwurst. 

If possible, whether coming or going, 

drive the beautiful Okanagan Valley 

during daylight hours. More than 200 

wineries span 100 miles of this terroir 

along the long tendril of the winsome 

Okanagan Lake, created by the snow 

melt from the surrounding Monashee 

Mountains. Wines from this region 

had once been synonymous with ice 

wine, but increasingly are known for its 

newer varietals including the German 

Riesling and Gewurztraminer as well 

as warmer varietals such as Sangiovese 

and Tempranillo. Not without patina, 

Okanagan’s first vines were planted in 

1859 by a French priest who grew grapes 

for the church’s sacramental wine. 

Ski, bakery, work, dine, drink good 

wine—this is the menu of life up the 

Okanagan Valley and into SilverStar. 

It’s the symmetry of work, play and 

recreation in equal parts in this remote 

corner that brings out the best in human 

nature and patiently awaits our return 

next winter. 


SILVERSTAR MOUNTAIN RESORT, BRITISH COLUMBIA 

EAT 

Bugaboos Bakery 

silverstar.com 

The Red Antler 


Den Bistro & Bar 


Helmut’s Sausage Kitchen 

helmutssausagekitchen.ca 

STAY 

Snowbird Lodge 


Firelight Lodge 


Vance Creek Hotel 


Sparkling Hill Resort 

sparklinghill.com 

Cedar Falls Campground and RV 

travel-british-columbia.com/list- 

ings/Cedar-Falls-Campground-RV- 

Park/2728 

Swan Lake RV Resort 

travel-british-columbia.com/listings/Swan-Lake-RV-Resort/2669 

PLAY 

Ski or snowboard at SilverStar 

Ice skate at Brewers Pond 

Okanagan Winter in Wine Country 

Nov. 23-26 and Dec 2-3 

Big Reds at Big White Ski Resort, 

Dec. 9 


1889 MAPPED 

The points of interest below are culled from 

stories and events in this edition of 1889. 

Oroville 

Forks 

Friday Harbor 

Port Angeles Coupeville 

Port 

Townsend 

Bellingham 

Mount Vernon 

Lakewood 

Marysville 

Everett 

Okanogan 

Republic 

Colville 

Newport 

Aberdeen 

South 

Bend 

Shelton 

Montesano 

Port Orchard 

Cathlamet 

Longview 

Olympia 

Chehalis 

Kelso 

Seattle 

Bellevue 

Renton 

Kent 

Federal Way 

Tacoma 

Ellensburg 

Yakima 

Waterville 

Wenatchee 

Ephrata 

Prosser 

Richland 

Wilbur 

Pasco 

Kennewick 

Ritzville 

Dayton 

Walla 

Walla 

Davenport 

Spokane 

Colfax 

Pomeroy 

Asotin 

Vancouver 

Stevenson 

Goldendale 

Live 

Think 

Explore 

15 

Capital Food & Wine Festival 

38 

Sensoria Fitness 

68 

Wayside Chapel 

18 

The Bine 

39 

Steam Plant Square 

71 

Listening Circle 

20 

Red Wine and Chocolate 

40 

Mainstem Malt 

74 

The Marcus Whitman 

22 

Pink Tractor Farm 

42 

Matt’s in the Market 

76 

Hiram M. Chittenden Locks 

34 

Felix Solomon 

44 

World Relief 

82 

SilverStar Resort, B.C. 


CAN YOU 

BELIEVE 

WHAT YOU 

READ? 

Sources: 2016 Survey, Pew Research Center; GfK MRI, Spring 2016. 

MAGAZINE 

MEDIA 

Better. Believe It. 

With fake news leaving most Americans 

confused about even the basic facts, 

magazine media keeps it real. Whether in 

print, online, on mobile or video, people 

trust it to be expertly researched, written 

and fact-checked. No wonder magazine 

readers are more engaged and more likely 

to recommend advertised products. 

Being real matters. That’s a fact. 

#BelieveMagMedia | BelieveMagMedia.com

Until Next Time 

Hoisting the Sails in the San Juans 

written by Lori Sweeney 

I’M AT THAT SEASON in life when, if I bend over, I 

think about the consequences. Will I get back up? What 

will be damaged in the process? What shows? 

On the Schooner Zodiac, thirty women raised four 

sails daily. The main sail weighs 1,800 pounds, and 

hoisting it took ten minutes, longer if you were on the 

peak (that log on the main that had to be raised 110 

feet). Taking it down meant taking a knee to let out 600 

feet of the halyard, then unceremoniously climbing up 

on the boom and stuffing it all back in. Women my age 

are familiar with stuffing it all back in, but this involved 

bending over. 

The whole experience of being on the “Z” involved 

learning. Tim Mehrer and his high school friends bought 

the Schooner (so called because it has more than one 

mast and the main sail is on the taller mast) in the mid- 

1970s. They restored all 127 deck feet back to her 1924 

glory, no small feat given she’s made of wood. They teach 

every passenger about tall-ship sailing—every passenger 

learns to chart, steer, swab the deck with seawater, learn 

“aft” and other jargon and hoist those four sails. 

Day one is like childbirth. It’s exhilarating. But then 

it’s hard (did I mention hoisting that main sail?), and you 

wonder if you’ll ever raise your arms above your head 

again. You finish and the sense of accomplishment is no 

small thing, but then you realize the bunk is a small thing 

and you wonder if your bent-over back will recover in 

this odd-shaped mattress. You never slept so well. 

... Or ate so well. The only paid person on the ship is 

the cook, and she is so worth it, providing fresh produce 

and good coffee and enough chocolate to keep thirty 

women happy. 

You learn to have the highest respect for the ten 

women who are the volunteer crew. They know this ship 

inside out. They crawl belowdecks to the chain locker 

with ear protection and bare feet to lay the anchor 

chain evenly. They “sweat” the line 25 feet to hoist three 

dinghys and all that rigging. Never stern (pun intended), 

these muscled, good-natured women showed us the 

ropes on this all-woman sail. They never gave into the 

fatigue, and patiently showed us a ballantine coil for the 

sixth time. 

Plying through the water in the San Juans, anchoring 

in a quiet bay, enjoying the fine summer weather and 

working hard at something so satisfying, so seemingly 

unattainable at this juncture in life, was the best 

experience. Becalming, as the sailors say. Repeatable. 

Memorable. A grand story. 

Travel, at it best moments, helps us rethink how we do 

life. It renews our senses, introduces us to a whole new 

vocabulary of life. The Schooner Zodiac did all that for 

me in three days. It helped me bend over. Ahoy! 

Brenda Lawrence 


TOGETHER WE CAN 

mercycorps.org 

Help us transform lives today. 

Freeal, 15, survives in a refugee camp after fleeing her home in Mosul, Iraq.

1889 Feb | March 2018

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