Hightail it to the high desert and the Red Rock Scenic Byway
SAVOR SOME OF ARIZONA’S FAMOUS WINTER SUN
Don’t let the threat of colder weather stop you from visiting northern Arizona. Even in winter, the town of Sedona offers its own special magic. Milder temps midday are perfect for hiking and hitting the trails to swoon over vistas. The potential for a dusting of snow atop the iconic red rock formations adds a layer of pretty you’ll want to experience.
Despite January boasting an average of 4 days without sun, visiting crowds are decidedly lower this season. Come feel the energy at a local “vortex” or bounce off-road along canyons in a pink jeep tour. It’s the perfect spot for a long weekend winter break. Come see why.
TIPS AND TRICKS TO PULL YOUR LIMIT IN THE STATE OF OREGON
Three hours before high tide. We’ve checked the boat. It still starts. That’s key. We load it up with rings, pots, and boxes. We’re going crabbing. On the Oregon Coast. Yes – you heard me. OREGON. Oregon Girl and crew are back around the world for a month visiting family and friends. In Oregon. It’s a little surreal. In the best way. Don’t worry Denmark, we’ll be back. But for now, we’re soaking up, tasting, seeing, and hugging all those things and people that we missed. It’s good.
(Originally posted July 2016, up-to-date as of September 2022)
SEEK OUT YACHATS ON THE CENTRAL OREGON COAST
Have you been crabbing? I have done this in Oregon for as long as I can remember. Maine may have their “lobstahs,” but here on the Pacific Northwest Coast, we hunt Dungeness Crab. Growing up in Eugene – a university town that sits mid-state off I-5 in western Oregon – we frequent the central Oregon coast between the little towns of Florence and Newport. And we’re more than lucky that my mom loves sharing her coast house. We spend most of our time in charming and quirky, but oh so cozy Yachats. (Around here, locals pronounce it YAW-hots. Not yeah-chats. It is an anglicized title originating from an indigenous Native American name and some claim it loosely translates to “dark water at the foot of the mountain.” You can more about the people that populated this place before colonization here.)
Explore parts of Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Oregon
Pack the car, get your road trip playlist tuned in and turned up. Time to jump in your rig – we’re riding through the wild west today. No cowboy boots or ten-gallon hats required. This rowdy route has a little something for everyone. There will be scenic vistas to swoon over and some seriously tasty vittles to try (that’s wild west talk for grub – or FOOD.) There’ll be pretty trails to hike, plus some ancient and American history to take in. What better place to start, than in west Texas. Read along. Get inspired. And don’t worry, there’s a map with all the road trip stops and sites to see at the end. Saddle up, we’re headed west. Continue reading “Take a Road Trip Through the Wild West From Texas to the Oregon Trail”→
CLASSIC AMERICANA | CRABBING IS FAMILY FUN OFF THE COAST OF MASSACHUSETTS
(Originally posted October 2017, updated July 2018)
Come with me. Out to the Cape. Cape Cod that is. This is the East Coast. And it’s wicked awesome. Stick your toes in the big wide swaths of beautiful sandy beaches just beyond Boston. Swim in the ocean. The Atlantic Ocean. Stroll through darling little towns that will charm your socks off. Covet their classic flower-boxed wood-shingled houses. Have a lobster roll. Try the clam chowdah. Kayak through the wetlands looking for herons and egrets and turtles and otters. Spend the day crabbing for blue crabs.
Nantucket Sound – Yarmouth, MA – very windy, but the water is great
CRABBING IS COOL FROM COAST TO COAST
Crabbing? Yes. Crabbing. You can here. It’s cool. As an Oregon Girl, I grew up crabbing on the Oregon Coast. On that side of the country, we hunt for Dungeness crabs. Under my family’s influence and with many opportunities to practice, my kids now know the ins and outs of how to fill bait boxes and pull up pots in bays all along the west coast. They can tell you the difference between a keeper and tosser, a male and a female and how not to get pinched by either. Most of the time anyway. But you don’t have to be an expert to catch crabs. On either coast.
On the East Coast, you catch blue crabs. Before I moved to Oregon at the age of nine, my family lived in South Carolina for three years. We spent many weekends in and around idyllic Hunting Island seeking out crustaceans in the coastal estuaries of South Carolina. I remember tying chicken bits to a long piece of string and tossing in our hand lines with feet firmly in the warm shallow water. Slowly we pulled in the piece, hoping for a crusty crab with chicken in its clutches. Deftly and delicately with a swoop and a scoop, the crabs would be collected in our net. Winner, winner! Crab dinner.
My kids caught the blue crabbing bug on travels to Delaware when they were little. Cheap nets and frozen chicken offered hours of entertainment on a nearby dock of a bay. So when we learned you could find them around Cape Cod, we were hooked and dedicated a day to crabbing.
Their scientific name Callinectes sapidus, means “savory beautiful swimmer.” – National Geographic¹
CRABBING ON CAPE COD
Unlike their Dungeness crab cousins, who crawl along the bottom, blue crab are swimmers. See those paddles in the back? So to catch them, you need to find moving water. Their natural habitats are brackish estuaries and coastal wetlands. Lucky for you there are many around Cape Cod. You’ll need double-ringed dip nets or a long pole net to scoop up catches from a weighted hand line and chicken on the bone for bait. Make sure your nets have wide holes so the water rushes out.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
Ring nets
Weighted hand lines or drop lines with a hook for bait
Bait (chicken on the bone)
Long poled net
Gloves to pick out crabs
Cooler with ice
Hand sanitizer
Drinks/Snacks
The equipment is not expensive and easy to find at tackle shops, hardware stores and some grocery stores all around the Cape.
This list is not exclusive. These are places where we found success. Ask around for the best blue crab spots at your local fishing and tackle store. Someone is sure to have a secret location that will help ensure success.
Double-ringed dip net with chicken bait secured
Crabbing off pedestrian bridge over Herring River | Bells Neck Conservation Area, Harwich MA
Checking for keepers
WILD ABOUT WETLANDS
Our favorite spot on Cape Cod for crabbing had to be in the beautiful and serene Bells Neck Conservation Area outside Harwich, Massachusetts. Find your way to the pedestrian-only bridge that spans the Herring River for a perfect place to plop in your nets. Turn off Bells Neck Road onto unpaved N Road. Park at the end and walk to the bridge. We dropped our double ringed dip nets over the side of the bridge into the deeper moving water as it emptied into the more shallow and calmer bay beyond.
Crabbing requires patience. Make sure you’ve brought drinks and snacks to keep your crabbers uncrabby. Exploring the boggy wetlands down the path beyond the bridge in Bells Neck offers a diversion along with a lesson in biodiversity and coastal ecology. But don’t tell the kids that. They just loved finding tons of funny little fiddler crabs past the long grasses and all over the muddy shore. Fiddler crabs are feisty and cool with their dominant right front claw.
Did you know that wetlands are essential coastal zones that mitigate carbon from local environments? Making sure that we conserve, prioritize and protect these delicate ecosystems from pollution and development will preserve them for future generations. Teach your people to tread lightly and remember to pack out all the trash you bring in. Be a good steward and remove any other rubbish you might find.
Bells Neck Conservation Area, Cape Cod MA
GOOD TO KNOW
MASSACHUSETTS STATE BLUE CRAB REGULATIONS
Crab season is from May 1st – December 31st
Crabs must be 5″ wide measured from spike to spike
It is only legal to keep male crabs, don’t take egg-bearers
Daily limit = 25 crabs/day
No permit required unless using commercial traps or SCUBA
These rules are current as of April 2018, but be sure to check with the State of Massachusetts to comply with current regulations.
Small, but powerful. Watch your hands.
GOOD TO KNOW
Keep your keepers on ice in your cooler.
Do not put them in a bucket of water. They will drown as they need lots of oxygen from moving water.
Do not eat any crabs that have died before you cook them. Crabs have bacteria in their flesh that multiplies rapidly upon death and releases toxins that can make you sick.²
Cook crabs alive at the earliest convenience to kill bacteria and prevent toxin release.
The ice makes them sleepy and easier to plop in your pot.
Steam crabs over water or water/beer mixture for 7-10 minutes or until shells are bright red. Old Bay Seasoning optional.
Lay out newspaper and get your mallet ready to crack and pick and enjoy the sweet meat.
Did you catch your limit? I wish we had. Maybe not enough for a true Cape Cod crab feast, but we did have fun. For hours. Without phones. Or screens. Together. Outside. In a wicked beauty of a spot. A real reason to celebrate. Cheers to that.
From Red Rocks to Crystal Clear Lakes on a beautiful Road Trip
(Originally posted February 2017, updated June 2018)
“The best teacher is experience and not through someone’s distorted point of view”
― Jack Kerouac, On the Road
The best way to experience the wide-open spaces of America is behind the wheel of a car. Take a road trip. It’s a big country. With many points of view and millions of viewpoints. I’m talking vistas, not politics right now. Call it escapism. Call it soul-searching. Call it what you will. There is freedom on the road. And beauty to behold. So much beauty. I’m feeling the call of the church of nature lately. Nothing fills my soul like a walk in natural wonder.
The Western United States has plenty of wonder on offer. I’d like to share a few of my postcards from the road. This was a road trip a few years back from Denver, Colorado to Portland, Oregon. We had planned stops and room for impulsivity. This is the recipe for a darn good road trip. Follow along with me.
“Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.”
― Jack Kerouac, On the Road
