retirement activity

Our first hard cider tasting

/ Roadtirementvintage / 16 Comments

We have been exploring craft beer breweries, wineries and distilleries for quite a while. These adventures have expanded our horizons covering alcoholic drinks well beyond the local supermarket. We had the opportunity to take a new expedition into the world of Hard Ciders. We really did not know what hard cider was until we met Hammered Dwarf Cider.

Flight of four hard ciders

We found out that yes, hard cider is true cider, made with apples, but with an alcoholic kick similar to beers. The Hammered Dwarf Cider company offered several different versions. Sher and I both had a flight of ciders, four different ones.

The menu board

All of the ciders had a similar feel, ice cold, refreshing and with that little alcoholic kick. Of the four samples we liked #5, Wizard’s Elixer as one of the best. Made with different cider apples, it delivers 6.9% ABV (alcohol by volume). We also enjoyed #7 , a 7% ABV tart cherry known as Purple Hill. In addition to the ones in our flights,  we also sampled #1, the rose colored 6.6% ABV Princess Pie. This delightful hard cider that was fermented with whiskey, peach and Marion berries in a whiskey barrel.

 

This experience was very interesting and informative. We’ll now be looking for other hard cider producers and put them on our future lists of places to visit along with wineries, breweries and distilleries.

Hammered Dwarf Cider

/ Roadtirementvintage / 11 Comments

Yes, a rather bizarre name, but for a great variety of products. This afternoon we all went to a place that sells locally produced hard cider, beer and mead. The Snohomish facility is interesting, as the tasting room is small, consisting of the counter and tap wall, and menu boards. There are a couple of two person high tables inside.


Outside is a fenced in seating area. A series of pop up canopies provide shelter from the sun. Picnic tables offer seating along with those large wood wire spools that make good tables. It is interesting that the site of this cidery is at the back of a concrete plant.

Information board

More information

The Hammered Dwarf Cider is the result of 20 years of development and trails, starting in an apartment in California. Let the Hammered Dwarf website explain: “Our ciders are made with more traditional cider apples as opposed to the usual dessert and culinary apples that most cideries use, creating a unique flavor profile. Barrel aging is another way that we can distinguish ourselves from the rest.”

Sher and our grandson sitting outdoors

Two of our four flights

We ordered pizza delivered to our table

We got a couple of growlers to take home

 

 

 

 

 

Each of us (except of course our grandson who got root beer) got one of the flights of four to sample. We have never tried Hard Cider and it was fun to have our first time tasting true local craft ciders. They were very good, all having  very interesting and differing tastes. Most of the ciders were made on location, or provided by other local establishments. We found this to be a very unique local business. Pizza, craft hard cider and sharing time with family made for a delightful afternoon.

 

Christa’s Sandwichboard and Wine Bar

/ Roadtirementvintage / 23 Comments

It didn’t take us long to get out and enjoy local restaurants once we got to our family’s place. Snohomish is a fun and historic small town northeast of Seattle. The main street is filled with eclectic stores, antique shops and a wide variety of eateries. Many of the restaurants put up tents on the street to accommodate COVID restrictions. Many of these remain.

Sher with our grandson across from our daughter and son-in-law. Note to tent out side in the street.

Christa’s Sandwichboard and Wine Bar has become one of our family’s favorite. Sher and I soon discovered why it’s a favorite. The sandwich menu is one of the most expansive I’ve seen. Assortments of flat breads and small plates are ready, as are cheese and meat platters.  We opted for the hot sandwich specialties.

Basil, Mozzarella & Tomato – “BMT”

The classic Reuben ala Sandwichboard

Humbolt Fog cheese, thin sliced ham w/fixin’s

Kid’s toasted cheese w/fruit & cookies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tag “Wine Bar” is included in the name of this fun facility. There was a 1/2 price sale ongoing, so you know us, we had to partake. We got a nice California red, part of the 2017 Joel Gott Wines Artist Series. Good wine!

Comfortable dining with fun decor

This was a delightful place to eat, the service was great and the food delicious. It was so nice to have supper with our Washington family again. It doesn’t get any better than being with family, does it?

 

Indiana to Seattle: fly or drive our RV?

/ Roadtirementvintage / 39 Comments

Requires 33 hours drive time, one way. At least four or five days with stops.

That was the question. We were planning a trip to Seattle to visit our daughter, son-in-law and grandson. It was hard to decide as we love travelling in our RV. It gives us a place to stay so that we aren’t intruding on our daughter’s family all the time. It also gives us a chance to relax and be alone. Staying with them is lots cheaper and gives us more time with them and our grandson. They have a big house and we have our own room when we are there. On the other hand, is it fair to stay with them? I feel like it is a lot to ask having to put up with us.  If we drove we would need to be there for a longer time period, maybe 2 or 3 months. If we fly we can stay a shorter amount of time and go back for another visit sooner. Our grandson who is growing up fast (he is 6) and started 1st grade this year was a big part of our decision. We need to see him more often. We have done both and have been happy with each visit.

After much debating we decided to fly. This decision was based on many things. We didn’t really want a long road trip at this time. The coronavirus has kept us away from family a long time. We did have a quick visit as our son’s wedding, but we wanted and needed some quality time with each of our 5 kids and their families. We also thought that maybe we could help them while we were visiting. We can cook some meals and help keep the house straightened. When we decided to look at it as a we can help trip, instead of being a burden it became more definite that we should fly.

Flying time: 4 hours 53 minutes, non-stop (Photo courtesy Alaska Airlines)

So next week we begin our journey to Seattle, WA. We are flying on Alaska Airlines and were able to get a direct flight for a very good price. We bought our tickets with our Chase Freedom card and we like the points we get when we use it. We usually fly Delta and have lots of points built up on their plan, but couldn’t find a direct flight for the right times and dates. Our daughter tells us that the Alaska Airlines miles program and credit card are the best, so we will be looking into that. Would love any suggestions on what you think is the best travel miles and credit card choices. We check out doctorofcredit.com and will often find good deals on his site. We don’t spend enough to really take advantage of his credit card finds, but we have made extra money by opening checking account he suggests. We get nothing by mentioning his site, but it is an interesting site to check out.

We are excited about our trip next week and have started packing. We will be posting pics of our bags in the next few days.

~Sher

 

Our backyard bird feeders are back in service

/ Roadtirementvintage / 32 Comments

Hummingbirds are so amazing!

In May 2021 some species of songbirds began to be afflicted with a deadly disease of some kind. This started in Virginia and moved west. Indiana birds began to die in late May and by early June the Indiana Department of Natural Resources put out the warning to stop all bird feeding in private yards. We posted about that. We both really missed our almost daily birdwatching time our back.

By the first week in August the DNR published the news that 76 out of Indiana’s 92 counties were bird disease free, and could resume the use of bird feeders.

Our cute little Nuthatch is back

We soon refilled our two seed feeders, and also refilled our hummingbird feeder. (DNR also had said to stop using hummingbird feeders as well.) It has been a couple of weeks since we started feeding our avian friends again, and slowly lots of the birds are coming back to our yard. We haven’t seen all of the species we had seen before the “lockdown”, but perhaps that is to be expected. We are grateful that we can again enjoy birding from our backyard swing!

A nice Labor Day weekend family visit

/ Roadtirementvintage / 27 Comments

Sher and I and our son took a quick trip over to Ohio for a Saturday before Labor Day cookout at our #2 son’s house. (He’s the one who got married a little while back.) The trip over was fortunately uneventful with light traffic and no rain.

We had a great time! It is so nice to see family. We had the chance to visit with three of our grandchildren and our new step-granddaughter. The food was great (see the grill photo!). After the meal Sher and I watched the others play some funny and fun online games. We also played the two pinball machines that our son has in his basement. Both he and his new wife are serious pinball machine players, both doing very well in tournaments. While I played the Star Wars pinball machine, I kept remembering the classic song by The Who about that deaf, dumb and blind kid, Tommy the “Pinball Wizard”.

Sher enjoying the lovely day outside.

It is so nice to spend time with family. Sher and I both shared stories with the grandkids about their parents, went over genealogy and pictures, and even discussed future get togethers, including the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. We certainly enjoyed our time in Ohio. Soon we’ll be in Seattle for more time with more family…

Break is over: back to blogging

/ Roadtirementvintage / 73 Comments

It is time for Roadtirement to get back to blogging. It’s been a little over a month since we took our time off. OK, we’ll admit, we’ve missed sharing what we’re up to, and perusing our favorite blogging friends. We’ll be in Seattle in a couple of weeks, but have enjoyed hanging around Indiana. (We also had a wedding in Columbus, Ohio. Our number two son was married to a great lady and the celebration was marvelous!)

L to R: strawberry Mimosa, fresh OJ, and citrus-lavender Mimosa

Sher discovered a new to us restaurant in Fishers, Indiana. Part of a local Indy Metro area chain, Rize is an upscale establishment offering a wide variety of delicious meals. Open from 7 AM to 3 PM, it is a very comfortable restaurant. We started with flavorful Mimosas and fresh squeezed OJ. Then came the specialty of the place: a huge cinnamon roll, smothered in a luscious and unique tasting icing.

Now that’s a cinnamon roll!

Crispy waffle w/ decadent maple whip butter

 

 

 

 

 

Our meals consisted of biscuits and gravy topped with egg, waffles with cinnamon butter, and a marvelous avocado toast with fresh fruit. Yummy!

Avocado toast and fresh fruit

Biscuits and gravy with egg

 

 

 

 

 

Well, we’re back, hope we haven’t made you too hungry. We’re still doing fine. Diets and exercise continues and we are looking forward to our trip to the Pacific Northwest. Thanks for bearing with us during our break, and we look forward to bringing you more Roadtirement posts!

 

Roadtirement is going to take a break

/ Roadtirementvintage / 41 Comments

Pearly Gates morning glory

Sometimes you need to take a break from blogging. That’s what Sher and I have decided we are going to do for a while.

Not to worry, we are both doing fine. Our recent doctor visit resulted in good reports for each of us. We did have to get blood tests today after fasting, yuck. Maj’s diet is still going well, and his daily bike rides for exercise are slowly increasing in duration and distance.

And for those of you who caught our last post on Roadtirement know that we asked you to guess the destination of our next adventure. Today we’re giving the “reveal” as they say on the reality shows. Drumroll………….   We are going to Seattle and the state of Washington.  We’ve visited there before, and our daughter, son-in-law and grandson live near Seattle so fun visits coming! It is beautiful country with lots of things to see and do.

We are not leaving forever, just taking some time off. Thanks so much for your support and we’ll be back sometime.

 

Got our detectors out of storage

/ Roadtirementvintage / 50 Comments

Our metal detector gear, digging tools and headphones

A day or two ago I was trying to ride my bike, my legs gave out and I ended up with 2 scraped knees. Hmmm…. that’s when we pulled out the metal detectors.  Dusted them off, put in new batteries and much to our surprise – they still worked! So, about our  metal detectors, yes we have ’em.  Maj has a Garrett  GTP 1350  and I have a Whites  CoinMaster.  We bought them a few years ago when we were convinced we were going to find hidden treasure!  (smiling face)  Anyway Joshua  Gates , from Travel Channel’s Expedition Unknown really inspired us to do something with our detectors. Joshua uses metal detectors a lot in his searches for treasure and other artifacts. Doing a google search I found that metal detecting is a very good hobby for senior citizens.  

I don’t know if we’re going to find buried treasures, but we might find a few coins and maybe even a piece of jewelry.  We haven’t figured out how well we will be able to bend down and actually dig.  But, it is good exercise and we may just look for surface treasures.  

Why are we doing this? We are getting ready for our next big adventure.  We’re leaving it up to everyone to guess where we are going.  I’d give a prize but don’t have anything really to give that would be good.  Only thing is, you will know if you’ve guessed right.  

The first hint: it is west of our home state of Indiana…

~ Sher