Playtime is over (or at least on hold) and work started tonight. We met with the GWAVA folks for a quick coordination meeting this afternoon and then began setup of the main exhibit hall. Unfortunately, we started setting up before the hotel crew had a chance to setup everything that they needed. So, we pretty much had to pull all of our stuff down or out of the way and wait for a couple of hours while they got their part of the setup done.
We took our 2 hour setup hiatus as an opportunity to go roaming through the streets of Munich in search of a place to eat. In the process, I discovered three things: I have seen very little of the city so far, Munich is a really cool city, and I haven't yet been to Oktoberfest. I had previously been downtown and assumed that I was at Oktoberfest because everyone was drinking beer and singing. But it turns out that the main part of Oktoberfest isn't downtown but is somewhere else in the city where they have a bunch of beer tents setup. So, I may not actually make it to Oktoberfest until Tuesday night when all of the conference attendees are scheduled to go there to close out the conference.
We found a neat little sidewalk bistro called Lamms and got a bite to eat and a bit to drink before coming back to the hotel to finish the setup. There really wasn't that much setup to do, but due to complications we were having with the rental laptops that we brought along, we were working on things until quarter after midnight. I am once again in a position where I am probably going to get way less sleep than I should. I'm planning on getting up at 6AM so that I can workout in the hotel fitness center before grabbing breakfast and going to my 8AM meeting. My first presentation isn't until 1:30 in the afternoon but tomorrow is going to be a long and busy day anyway. I think that I am essentially scheduled for something or other from 8 in the morning until 10 at night.
So, on that note: Good night from Munich.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
N euschwanstein Castle
The conference doesn't start until tomorrow, so we basically had all day today to do some sightseeing. We decided as a group to go and visit Neuschwanstein Castle. It's about 2 hours from Munich by Train. The castle is built right at the base of the Alps. The scenery, including the castle itself, was absolutely gorgeous. It looked like something out of a fairytale.
On the train ride through the country there were these incredible rustic roads that made me really wish that I was on a bike instead of a train. Which bike? It doesn't really matter. I would love to ride either the Harley or the road bicycle through the German countryside. When we got to Fussen, it didn't help that we passed a bike rental shop and saw a bunch of people actually riding up to the castle. I had to keep reminding myself: "This trip is for business... it wouldn't be cool to ditch the group to rent a bicycle". I finally just resolved that I would have to come back again sometime to do it the "right way".
The castle was a half hour hike (walk) up a hilll from where the Bus dropped us off. It actually felt good to stretch out my legs for a little bit after spending a couple of hours on the train. We stopped for lunch at restaurant just a couple of minutes from castle. It was pretty cool to eat lunch outside on the porch with one of the castle spires looming above us. The food was really good too. I had real German Bratwurst and Apple Streussel. Mmmm...
I actually had a chance to get a short jog in before eating lunch. A couple people in our group didn't realize that we had stopped at the restaurant and kept walking up the hill towards the castle. Before anyone realized that they were missing they were out of sight and earshot up the hill. While someone fumbled for a phone to try and get ahold of them, I handed my stuff to Dirk and just broke into a jog up the hill. It only took me a minute to catch up to them. I actually beat the phone call :) It amuses me that a couple of months ago I couldn't run for more than a couple of minutes without stopping and now I am able to run up a pretty steep incline without batting an eye.
So, about the castle... It was built by King Ludwig in 1864. Actually it was started in 1864 and was never completed before he died. King Ludwig was named king at 18 and never really accepted the responsibility of the position. Instead he nearly drove the country broke by building all of these ornate fairytale castles all over the country. This particular castle was built as a dedication to the music of Richard Wagner. Various rooms in the castle were painted with characters from Wagner's various operas and there was a "singing room" where performances of Wagner's music were given for the king.
Some of the marble fixtures inside the castle were really impressive but overall I thought that most of the inside of the castle was rather gaudy. The paintings were in bright colors and there was a lot of gold paint and fake looking jewels. The most impressive part of the castle in my opinion was the view that you got of the surrounding countryside when you looked out the windows. It was for this reason that I wasn't upset to discover that they didn't allow photos of the inside of the castle. Apparently they want you to buy post cards in the gift shop. They were pretty strict about it too. A couple of people in our group almost got kicked off the tour for taking photos inside.
One of the most interesting rooms in the castle was the cave room. King Ludwig had built a special room to look like the inside of a cave. It came complete with fake stalagmites and stalactites. It was really kind of bizarre.
The only thing that I didn't like about the whole castle experience was that it was so rushed. We had a meeting back at the hotel at 5PM and the train ride took a 4 hour chunk out of the day. So, we really didn't get to spend that much time at the castle. I was particularly disappointed that we didn't get to do any hiking in the mountains surrounding the castle. There were several trails that went to waterfalls and a gorge. It literally caused me physical pain to have to leave without doing any hiking. Again, I had to remind myself that this trip was being paid for by one of our partners so it wouldn't be cool to skip their meeting to go hiking in the Alps. I consider myself lucky just to have seen the scenery that I got to see today. I'm glad that I got the opportunity to go even if I didn't get to stay as long as I would have liked to.
On the train ride through the country there were these incredible rustic roads that made me really wish that I was on a bike instead of a train. Which bike? It doesn't really matter. I would love to ride either the Harley or the road bicycle through the German countryside. When we got to Fussen, it didn't help that we passed a bike rental shop and saw a bunch of people actually riding up to the castle. I had to keep reminding myself: "This trip is for business... it wouldn't be cool to ditch the group to rent a bicycle". I finally just resolved that I would have to come back again sometime to do it the "right way".
The castle was a half hour hike (walk) up a hilll from where the Bus dropped us off. It actually felt good to stretch out my legs for a little bit after spending a couple of hours on the train. We stopped for lunch at restaurant just a couple of minutes from castle. It was pretty cool to eat lunch outside on the porch with one of the castle spires looming above us. The food was really good too. I had real German Bratwurst and Apple Streussel. Mmmm...
I actually had a chance to get a short jog in before eating lunch. A couple people in our group didn't realize that we had stopped at the restaurant and kept walking up the hill towards the castle. Before anyone realized that they were missing they were out of sight and earshot up the hill. While someone fumbled for a phone to try and get ahold of them, I handed my stuff to Dirk and just broke into a jog up the hill. It only took me a minute to catch up to them. I actually beat the phone call :) It amuses me that a couple of months ago I couldn't run for more than a couple of minutes without stopping and now I am able to run up a pretty steep incline without batting an eye.
So, about the castle... It was built by King Ludwig in 1864. Actually it was started in 1864 and was never completed before he died. King Ludwig was named king at 18 and never really accepted the responsibility of the position. Instead he nearly drove the country broke by building all of these ornate fairytale castles all over the country. This particular castle was built as a dedication to the music of Richard Wagner. Various rooms in the castle were painted with characters from Wagner's various operas and there was a "singing room" where performances of Wagner's music were given for the king.
Some of the marble fixtures inside the castle were really impressive but overall I thought that most of the inside of the castle was rather gaudy. The paintings were in bright colors and there was a lot of gold paint and fake looking jewels. The most impressive part of the castle in my opinion was the view that you got of the surrounding countryside when you looked out the windows. It was for this reason that I wasn't upset to discover that they didn't allow photos of the inside of the castle. Apparently they want you to buy post cards in the gift shop. They were pretty strict about it too. A couple of people in our group almost got kicked off the tour for taking photos inside.
One of the most interesting rooms in the castle was the cave room. King Ludwig had built a special room to look like the inside of a cave. It came complete with fake stalagmites and stalactites. It was really kind of bizarre.
The only thing that I didn't like about the whole castle experience was that it was so rushed. We had a meeting back at the hotel at 5PM and the train ride took a 4 hour chunk out of the day. So, we really didn't get to spend that much time at the castle. I was particularly disappointed that we didn't get to do any hiking in the mountains surrounding the castle. There were several trails that went to waterfalls and a gorge. It literally caused me physical pain to have to leave without doing any hiking. Again, I had to remind myself that this trip was being paid for by one of our partners so it wouldn't be cool to skip their meeting to go hiking in the Alps. I consider myself lucky just to have seen the scenery that I got to see today. I'm glad that I got the opportunity to go even if I didn't get to stay as long as I would have liked to.
Eine Mass Bitte
"One Litre (of Beer), Please"
I headed back downtown last night to have dinner with the a bunch of Novell and GWAVA guys at the Augustiner Bierhalle. The place was packed. The beer came in huge liter sized steins. I probably could have stopped at one litre, but I wasn't going to let a couple of guys from the Netherlands outdrink me :) The food was pretty good too.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel and broke into two groups. One group sissied out and went to bed and another group congregated in the lobby just outside the bar and continue drinking into the wee hours of the morning. Can you guess which group I ended up with? I had way more jagermeister than I probably should have, but it was kind of fun to cut loose. I don't really drink to get drunk very often but on the rare occasion that I do, I go all out.
I stumbled back up to my room at about 1:30 in the morning. I was dead tired after basically not sleeping since leaving Utah at 3:30 on Thursday morning. I gave Rosey a quick call on Skype, although I'm not entirely sure that she understood anything that I said considering that I was slurring and hiccuping uncontrollably.
After hanging up with her I had the daunting task of figuring out how to get a 7AM wakeup call when the phone buttons and menu were all in German. You would think that you could always dial 0 to get the front desk, but that apparently doesn't work at this hotel.
Unfortunately, I never did meet back up with the two guys that I met on the train. They stopped by the hotel like they promised, before heading downtown but I figured that it was more important for me to hang out with work people considering that they are paying for me to be here. So, I had to cancel my plans with them. I felt bad because they had been really friendly to me and I was hoping to at least have the opportunity to buy them a round of beers to repay them.
I headed back downtown last night to have dinner with the a bunch of Novell and GWAVA guys at the Augustiner Bierhalle. The place was packed. The beer came in huge liter sized steins. I probably could have stopped at one litre, but I wasn't going to let a couple of guys from the Netherlands outdrink me :) The food was pretty good too.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel and broke into two groups. One group sissied out and went to bed and another group congregated in the lobby just outside the bar and continue drinking into the wee hours of the morning. Can you guess which group I ended up with? I had way more jagermeister than I probably should have, but it was kind of fun to cut loose. I don't really drink to get drunk very often but on the rare occasion that I do, I go all out.
I stumbled back up to my room at about 1:30 in the morning. I was dead tired after basically not sleeping since leaving Utah at 3:30 on Thursday morning. I gave Rosey a quick call on Skype, although I'm not entirely sure that she understood anything that I said considering that I was slurring and hiccuping uncontrollably.
After hanging up with her I had the daunting task of figuring out how to get a 7AM wakeup call when the phone buttons and menu were all in German. You would think that you could always dial 0 to get the front desk, but that apparently doesn't work at this hotel.
Unfortunately, I never did meet back up with the two guys that I met on the train. They stopped by the hotel like they promised, before heading downtown but I figured that it was more important for me to hang out with work people considering that they are paying for me to be here. So, I had to cancel my plans with them. I felt bad because they had been really friendly to me and I was hoping to at least have the opportunity to buy them a round of beers to repay them.
Friday, September 29, 2006
Planes, Trains and... Well, just Planes and Trains.
My flight from Chicago left forty minutes late. I was sleeping at the time so I didn't figure out until later that it was because one of the plane tugs had accidentally smacked the plane and they need to make sure that it was still safe to fly. Considering that we only had a 50 minute layover in Frankfurt, being forty minutes late pretty much guaranteed that we were going to miss our flight to Munich. And we did.
Not only did we miss it, but we were disappointed to discover that we hadn't been rebooked for a new flight like the rest of the passengers. Upon asking we were told that we needed to talk to the Lufthansa people to get a new flight. But the Lufthansa people told us that all the flights to Munich were full because of Oktoberfest, so we would need to talk to the United people (who were the ones responsible for making us late).
The United people told us we basically had two options: we could spend the day on the waiting list for one of the flights to Munich or we could just catch a train. I thought the train sounded fun and the idea of spending the day in the airport just to repeatedly hear that we didn't make the waiting list for the next flight sounded grueling. So, we decided to hop on a train to Munich.
Unfortunately, we needed to claim our luggage first. When the told us about the train option, I figured that we would grab our bags and be on the next train in 20 minutes. What they didn't tell us was that it was going to take the next 2 hours to track down our luggage and send it down to us in the baggage claim. They also didn't tell us that the baggage claim was in the the bowels of the airport.
By the time that we got our baggage and got on the train it was 10:30 in the morning... 3 hours after the time that we were supposed to be in Munich. I think that we were all excited to be taking the train and seeing the countryside but it really sucked that we had spent so much time waiting for our baggage and then waiting for the train.
The train must have been packed with additional Oktoberfest passengers because when we first got on there weren't any seats in our car. We were concerned that we were going to have to stand for the entire 4 hour train ride to Munich. Fortunately, Morris and Sundy found seats within a couple of minutes and I was able to get a seat at our next stop which was only fifteen minutes away.
One of the things that confused me about the whole train experience was that some seats were reserved and others were open for anyone with a general train ticket to use. But I didn't understand which was which. I eventually figured it out in Nuremburg when I was kicked out of my seat by a family of four.
Just as I thought that I was going to be stuck standing again a couple of guys invited me to sit with them. They had planned on travelling in a group of 3 but one of them wasn't able to make it so they had an extra seat reserved. However, shortly after introducing themselves they disappeared to the bistro car to get a couple of beers. At least they left me their ticket so I could prove to people that the seat I was sitting in (as well as there two seats) were indeed reserved.
The two guys were gone for a really long time and I was started to feel bad for riding opposite of two empty seats... there were still people standing in the back of the train including Morris and Sundy. But it's not like I could give these guy's seats away after they had been so nice to me.
Eventually the two guys came back carrying with them as much beer as they could hold collectively in their four hands. I thought it really nice of them to offer me one of the beers. We spent the remainder of the train ride talking about Germany and America and the differences in language, culture and education (I think it's interesting that Germans are required to learn English starting at age 9).
When we got off in Munich, Andre and Frank, offerred to take me out for a few more beers before turning in. It was really incredible of them considering that they had just met me. They actually escorted me to my hotel so that I could drop off my bags and then we headed into the heart of downtown Munich (and Oktoberfest) to have a few beers and a bite to eat.
The place that we ate at was called Spaten Hof (I think). We had a couple of beers and I tried a traditional bavarian dish of leberkas and german potato salad. The lieberkas was something like a bologne meatloaf while the german potato salad was not that spectacular. Surprisingly the lieberkas was not all that bad with a little bit of mustard.
So, after all of that I am just now finally getting back to my hotel at 5PM. What a day. I think that it's been nearly 30 hours since I have last slept (really slept, the airplane doesn't count). I'll probably head back out to Oktoberfest for a while tonight before turning in. I'm tempted to get some sleep now, but I'd kind of like to force myself to stay up to get accustomed to the schedule here.
Here are some of my first impressions of Germany:
1. Everyone smokes here. People smoked in the airport, on the train and just generally everywhere in public. Not to mention there were cigarette ads everywhere. Big tobacco may be dying in America but it's still going strong in Germany.
2. The airport was really run down. It was probably just because it was under construction but it felt like we were in a third world country. There were walls torn down and wires hanging everywhere. It felt a little like a war zone.
3. Everybody speaks English here. The language just hasn't been a problem. It almost makes me embarrassed to be a stupid American that only speaks a single language (2 years of Latin in High School don't count).
4. The countryside is really beautiful. I loved taking the train to Munich. We got to see a lot of the country that we wouldn't have otherwise have gotten to see. I wouldn't say that we got into any real mountains but there were plenty of rolling hills and lush greenery.
Not only did we miss it, but we were disappointed to discover that we hadn't been rebooked for a new flight like the rest of the passengers. Upon asking we were told that we needed to talk to the Lufthansa people to get a new flight. But the Lufthansa people told us that all the flights to Munich were full because of Oktoberfest, so we would need to talk to the United people (who were the ones responsible for making us late).
The United people told us we basically had two options: we could spend the day on the waiting list for one of the flights to Munich or we could just catch a train. I thought the train sounded fun and the idea of spending the day in the airport just to repeatedly hear that we didn't make the waiting list for the next flight sounded grueling. So, we decided to hop on a train to Munich.
Unfortunately, we needed to claim our luggage first. When the told us about the train option, I figured that we would grab our bags and be on the next train in 20 minutes. What they didn't tell us was that it was going to take the next 2 hours to track down our luggage and send it down to us in the baggage claim. They also didn't tell us that the baggage claim was in the the bowels of the airport.
By the time that we got our baggage and got on the train it was 10:30 in the morning... 3 hours after the time that we were supposed to be in Munich. I think that we were all excited to be taking the train and seeing the countryside but it really sucked that we had spent so much time waiting for our baggage and then waiting for the train.
The train must have been packed with additional Oktoberfest passengers because when we first got on there weren't any seats in our car. We were concerned that we were going to have to stand for the entire 4 hour train ride to Munich. Fortunately, Morris and Sundy found seats within a couple of minutes and I was able to get a seat at our next stop which was only fifteen minutes away.
One of the things that confused me about the whole train experience was that some seats were reserved and others were open for anyone with a general train ticket to use. But I didn't understand which was which. I eventually figured it out in Nuremburg when I was kicked out of my seat by a family of four.
Just as I thought that I was going to be stuck standing again a couple of guys invited me to sit with them. They had planned on travelling in a group of 3 but one of them wasn't able to make it so they had an extra seat reserved. However, shortly after introducing themselves they disappeared to the bistro car to get a couple of beers. At least they left me their ticket so I could prove to people that the seat I was sitting in (as well as there two seats) were indeed reserved.
The two guys were gone for a really long time and I was started to feel bad for riding opposite of two empty seats... there were still people standing in the back of the train including Morris and Sundy. But it's not like I could give these guy's seats away after they had been so nice to me.
Eventually the two guys came back carrying with them as much beer as they could hold collectively in their four hands. I thought it really nice of them to offer me one of the beers. We spent the remainder of the train ride talking about Germany and America and the differences in language, culture and education (I think it's interesting that Germans are required to learn English starting at age 9).
When we got off in Munich, Andre and Frank, offerred to take me out for a few more beers before turning in. It was really incredible of them considering that they had just met me. They actually escorted me to my hotel so that I could drop off my bags and then we headed into the heart of downtown Munich (and Oktoberfest) to have a few beers and a bite to eat.
The place that we ate at was called Spaten Hof (I think). We had a couple of beers and I tried a traditional bavarian dish of leberkas and german potato salad. The lieberkas was something like a bologne meatloaf while the german potato salad was not that spectacular. Surprisingly the lieberkas was not all that bad with a little bit of mustard.
So, after all of that I am just now finally getting back to my hotel at 5PM. What a day. I think that it's been nearly 30 hours since I have last slept (really slept, the airplane doesn't count). I'll probably head back out to Oktoberfest for a while tonight before turning in. I'm tempted to get some sleep now, but I'd kind of like to force myself to stay up to get accustomed to the schedule here.
Here are some of my first impressions of Germany:
1. Everyone smokes here. People smoked in the airport, on the train and just generally everywhere in public. Not to mention there were cigarette ads everywhere. Big tobacco may be dying in America but it's still going strong in Germany.
2. The airport was really run down. It was probably just because it was under construction but it felt like we were in a third world country. There were walls torn down and wires hanging everywhere. It felt a little like a war zone.
3. Everybody speaks English here. The language just hasn't been a problem. It almost makes me embarrassed to be a stupid American that only speaks a single language (2 years of Latin in High School don't count).
4. The countryside is really beautiful. I loved taking the train to Munich. We got to see a lot of the country that we wouldn't have otherwise have gotten to see. I wouldn't say that we got into any real mountains but there were plenty of rolling hills and lush greenery.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Ten Things I Love About You (Rosey)
10. I love that you are so intelligent. I am inspired that you are always reading. In particular I love that you don't just blaze through books but you take the time to really understand them. You make notes in the margins and really mull things over.
9. I love that you are determined to meet your goals. I think that it's incredible that you have made so much progress on your fitness and weight goals since moving to Utah despite adjusting to a completely new life.
8. I love that you are active. I love that you are not the type of person that is satisfied to just waste your life away sitting in front of the TV or at the bar.
7. I like that you are adventurous. I love that you are the type of person that would agree to hike 11 miles to the bottom of a huge canyon on a whim, or hike 4 mountains in a summer, or explore caves, rivers, national parks, mountains, etc.
6. I love that you are independant. I love that you take your work seriously and are good at what you do.
5. I love that you can take care of yourself. When we were hiking Timpanogos we passed a woman who was totally freaking out about crossing a small section of snow. It took her husband and both of her kids to get her to cross a 10 foot section of snow. I remember thinking to myself. Thank God, Rosey isn't like that. I know this sounds silly, but I have thought this on several occasions. I like that you are not the type of girl that needs a guy to help get her through the "hard parts". You live for the "hard parts".
4. I love that you have taken over my house as your own. I love that you planted a little flower bed. I love that I haven't had to do the dishes once since you moved in. I love that you have taken over the yard.
3. I love that you have a good sense of humor. I love that you watch Scrubs and South Park and that even though you are capable of speaking about philosophy and religion that you are also able to laught at Cartman and Stan.
2. I love that you had the courage to pick up your life and move across the country just to be with me.
1. I love that you have shown me what it feels like to be in a loving relationship.
...
0. Oh yeah, and you're great in bed :)
9. I love that you are determined to meet your goals. I think that it's incredible that you have made so much progress on your fitness and weight goals since moving to Utah despite adjusting to a completely new life.
8. I love that you are active. I love that you are not the type of person that is satisfied to just waste your life away sitting in front of the TV or at the bar.
7. I like that you are adventurous. I love that you are the type of person that would agree to hike 11 miles to the bottom of a huge canyon on a whim, or hike 4 mountains in a summer, or explore caves, rivers, national parks, mountains, etc.
6. I love that you are independant. I love that you take your work seriously and are good at what you do.
5. I love that you can take care of yourself. When we were hiking Timpanogos we passed a woman who was totally freaking out about crossing a small section of snow. It took her husband and both of her kids to get her to cross a 10 foot section of snow. I remember thinking to myself. Thank God, Rosey isn't like that. I know this sounds silly, but I have thought this on several occasions. I like that you are not the type of girl that needs a guy to help get her through the "hard parts". You live for the "hard parts".
4. I love that you have taken over my house as your own. I love that you planted a little flower bed. I love that I haven't had to do the dishes once since you moved in. I love that you have taken over the yard.
3. I love that you have a good sense of humor. I love that you watch Scrubs and South Park and that even though you are capable of speaking about philosophy and religion that you are also able to laught at Cartman and Stan.
2. I love that you had the courage to pick up your life and move across the country just to be with me.
1. I love that you have shown me what it feels like to be in a loving relationship.
...
0. Oh yeah, and you're great in bed :)
My Deodorant is a Threat to National Security
I am sitting in Chicago right now, killing a little bit of time before I hop on the next leg of my flight to Frankfurt Germany. The Wi-Fi access isn't cheap but it sure beats using my laptop to do something resembling work. I am surrounded by a terminal full of German speaking teenagers and it's finally starting to set in that I am about to be in a different country. It's kind of a surreal feeling. This morning, I was in Spanish Fork, Utah and tomorrow I will be in Munich Germany. Yes, the fact that I'm so amused by this betrays the fact that I'm still a pretty novice world traveller :)
So, about the title of the post... I had heard about all of the new restrictions about bringing liquids on planes. But, to be honest, I didn't even think of it as I was packing last night. So, I packed my deodorant and my toothpaste without even thinking whether or not they would be OK. I mean it's deodorant and toothpaste... what kind of a threat could they possibly be?
Well, when asked to declare all of my "liquids" as I passed through security. I whipped out my Deodorant and asked whether or not it would be OK for me to take. The security guy grabs it out of my hands and inspects it like he had never seen deodorant before. Despite the fact that the deodorant was in a clear plastic container and you could clearly see that there was a gel inside, he pops off the cap to get a closer look before finally pronouncing, "Yep, that's a gel, you're going to need to declare that".
He was just about to hand it back to me when he noticed the label. "4 ounces. I'm sorry sir, you're not going to be able to bring this on the plane".
"Why not?"
"Sir, you are only allowed to have 3 ounces of deodorant with you on the plane. Those are the rules."
"But it's only half full. There can't be more than 1.8 ounces left in that container."
"I'm sorry sir, the rules are based on the size of the container and not the amount of actual deodorant. You can't bring this on the plane with you."
And then he turns around and flings my 1.8 oz of deodorant (in a 4 oz container) into a garbage bin behind him. Oh well, i bought a new travel size deodorant on the other side of security. I'm sure that the airport is making a killing on travel size personal hygiene items right now.
So, about the title of the post... I had heard about all of the new restrictions about bringing liquids on planes. But, to be honest, I didn't even think of it as I was packing last night. So, I packed my deodorant and my toothpaste without even thinking whether or not they would be OK. I mean it's deodorant and toothpaste... what kind of a threat could they possibly be?
Well, when asked to declare all of my "liquids" as I passed through security. I whipped out my Deodorant and asked whether or not it would be OK for me to take. The security guy grabs it out of my hands and inspects it like he had never seen deodorant before. Despite the fact that the deodorant was in a clear plastic container and you could clearly see that there was a gel inside, he pops off the cap to get a closer look before finally pronouncing, "Yep, that's a gel, you're going to need to declare that".
He was just about to hand it back to me when he noticed the label. "4 ounces. I'm sorry sir, you're not going to be able to bring this on the plane".
"Why not?"
"Sir, you are only allowed to have 3 ounces of deodorant with you on the plane. Those are the rules."
"But it's only half full. There can't be more than 1.8 ounces left in that container."
"I'm sorry sir, the rules are based on the size of the container and not the amount of actual deodorant. You can't bring this on the plane with you."
And then he turns around and flings my 1.8 oz of deodorant (in a 4 oz container) into a garbage bin behind him. Oh well, i bought a new travel size deodorant on the other side of security. I'm sure that the airport is making a killing on travel size personal hygiene items right now.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Motorcycle Wreck (Not Me)
I saw a guy wreck on his motorcycle on the way into work today. It kind of freaked me out. I was coming down Hwy 6 and this guy on a Suzuki Intruder came flying by me. I remember thinking that he seemed to be riding awfully agressive. This was all just before the intersection where the McDonalds, KMart and Blockbuster are. Well the light at the intersection changed and I was a little surprised to see that he slowed down like he was trying to stop only it didn't look to me like he had enough time to stop.
In the meantime, the cars turning left from the other direction saw that he was slowing down and tried to turn before the light changed. The first car made it through just fine. But then after that it was like the guy on the motorcycle realized that he couldn't stop all the way so he was going to just run the intersection. Unfortunately, by then a second left-turning car decided to go and ended up pulling out right in front of the motorcycle. The guy on the motorcycle locked up his rear wheel and the bike slid out from under him and went careening into the left-turning car. He ended up tumbling on the ground for a couple of feet. Traffic stopped and people came swarming from their cars to check if he was alright. I don't think that he died, but I'm willing to bet that he broke a whole bunch of bones.
The sad thing was that the guy looked like a twenty-something who probably had a young wife and kids at home. Even sadder is that I think that the accident could have been prevented in half-a-dozen different ways. First of all, if he really had control of his bike it shouldn't have been a problem to stop at that intersection. Second, if he had just decided to run the intersection instead of slowing down he would have made it through just fine and the cars would have waited for him to pass before turning left. Third, if instead of locking up his rear brake and turning he were just to apply pressure to both brakes he probably could have stopped without hitting the car. Fourth, had he just steered around the car instead of locking up his rear brakes it would have been trivial from him to avoid the car.
I've spent the last 30 minutes being mortified by the whole experience. But the more that I think about it, the more that it just pisses me off. It was really irresponsible for this guy to be riding like that without the proper experience. It's just so frustrating to think that this was a very avoidable accident.
I do my share of screwing around and riding agressively on my motorcycle. But I would like to believe that I have the experience necessary to avoid pointless accidents like this one. Who knows, maybe I don't. I hope that I never have to find out. I think that any time that you get on a motorcycle you're risking your life plain and simple. I don't have any delusions about that and I have come to terms with that. But if my time comes while riding a motorcycle I hope that it's the result of a situation that is completely and totally out of my control and not something that I could have avoided by not riding like a jackass.
In the meantime, the cars turning left from the other direction saw that he was slowing down and tried to turn before the light changed. The first car made it through just fine. But then after that it was like the guy on the motorcycle realized that he couldn't stop all the way so he was going to just run the intersection. Unfortunately, by then a second left-turning car decided to go and ended up pulling out right in front of the motorcycle. The guy on the motorcycle locked up his rear wheel and the bike slid out from under him and went careening into the left-turning car. He ended up tumbling on the ground for a couple of feet. Traffic stopped and people came swarming from their cars to check if he was alright. I don't think that he died, but I'm willing to bet that he broke a whole bunch of bones.
The sad thing was that the guy looked like a twenty-something who probably had a young wife and kids at home. Even sadder is that I think that the accident could have been prevented in half-a-dozen different ways. First of all, if he really had control of his bike it shouldn't have been a problem to stop at that intersection. Second, if he had just decided to run the intersection instead of slowing down he would have made it through just fine and the cars would have waited for him to pass before turning left. Third, if instead of locking up his rear brake and turning he were just to apply pressure to both brakes he probably could have stopped without hitting the car. Fourth, had he just steered around the car instead of locking up his rear brakes it would have been trivial from him to avoid the car.
I've spent the last 30 minutes being mortified by the whole experience. But the more that I think about it, the more that it just pisses me off. It was really irresponsible for this guy to be riding like that without the proper experience. It's just so frustrating to think that this was a very avoidable accident.
I do my share of screwing around and riding agressively on my motorcycle. But I would like to believe that I have the experience necessary to avoid pointless accidents like this one. Who knows, maybe I don't. I hope that I never have to find out. I think that any time that you get on a motorcycle you're risking your life plain and simple. I don't have any delusions about that and I have come to terms with that. But if my time comes while riding a motorcycle I hope that it's the result of a situation that is completely and totally out of my control and not something that I could have avoided by not riding like a jackass.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
I'm Soooo Jealous!
I'm So Jealous
Those were the words that Master Fob got to hear from me over and over again this weekend. I loved Seattle. It kind of made me wish that I was moving to Seattle too. Seattle just has a neat aura about it. It's a beautiful city, minutes from the mountains and ocean. It's green, as evidenced by their bike friendly streets, abundance of recycling bins and lack of diesel powered monster pickup trucks. It's also politically liberal, as evidenced by a number of anti-bush bumper stickers, including one that read, "The Only Bush that I Trust is My Own". Indeed, my friend. Indeed.
Endurance Driving
The drive out was a little grueling. It took Master Fob a little longer than he expected to pick up the truck on Friday morning so we got a late start packing. We didn't get on the road until quarter after eleven. One of the points of me coming along was so that Master Fob and I could split the fourteen plus hours of driving between Salt Lake and Seattle. I took the first shift driving while Master Fob ate a little breakfast that my sister had packed for him.
At the end of my first shift of driving, I was still feeling pretty alert and decided to go ahead and take the second shift as well. Driving has a soothing affect on me and besides, I get really bored just sitting in the passenger seat.
5 hours later, after 10 hours of driving, we stopped in La Grande, Oregon to refuel and grab a quick bite to eat at a Subway. At this point, it occurred to me that we were only one tank a gas away from Seattle. I wasn't all that thrilled about driving at night and I was starting to tire a little, but was seduced by the lure of being able to say that I drove the entire distance to Seattle. You know me, I'm all about the endurance activities :)
So, I double fisted two twenty ounce cups of cappucino (I am Cornholio, I need TP for my bung-hole) and tackled the remaining distance to Seattle. The last leg of the journey proved to be the most daunting. We were driving through some pretty hairy mountain passes in the pitch black of night in a 14 foot Uhaul towing a Chevy Cavalier behind. A couple of times, I considered pulling over and surrendering the helm to Master Fob, but the closer we got to Seattle the more determined I was to finish the drive.
Bright Lights, Big City
We arrived in Seattle at 1:30 in the morning pacific time; fifteen hours after we had left Orem, Utah. We were greeted by Seattle's rather impressive downtown skyline. It was awesome. I had been through Seattle a couple of times before but never at night when the city was all lit up. Master Fob kept saying, "This is so cool. I can't believe that I actually live here now".
It didn't take too long to get through the city and to find the hotel where Master Fob will be residing for the next couple of days. We took a couple of minutes to unhitch the car and lock up the Uhaul and then headed up to our room where we passed out almost immediately. I was dead tired. It was really quite amazing that I fell asleep so quickly considering that I still had several thousand milligrams of caffeine coursing through my veins.
Our Saturday Adventure
We woke up six hours later on Saturday morning. I probably could have slept a little longer, but once I noticed that it was light outside I couldn't help but get up. I think that both Master Fob and I were excited to go out and explore the city. I was a little disappointed to discover that the weather was very overcast and it was kind of drizzling. Hey, I guess that just life in Seattle.
Master Fob didn't seem deterred by the rain and was still excited about our plans to explore the city by bike. I was really impressed by that. So, we jumped in the car, and after running a few errands, made our way to Gregg's Cycle in Green Lake. We found a bike for me to rent right away, but Master Fob wasn't finding a bike that he wanted to buy. Bikes in a bike store tend to be much higher quality, but they also tend to have a much higher price.
I was anxious to get out on the bike, and was concerned that I might not be able to get a rental if I stopped back later in the day. So, I rented a Trek road bike and decided to follow Master Fob around the city on the bike while he shopped a little more. I have become so accustomed to riding with clipless pedals that it was a little awkward for me to ride a bike without them. As I pulled away from my first stop light, I tried to use an upward motion to help drive the pedal and nearly ended up with my knee in my chest since my foot wasn't actually attached to the pedal.
Riding through the city was way cool. There is an official bike lane on a lot of streets and even when there wasn't an official lane, there was plenty of room. I never felt threatened by riding in traffic. Me riding while Ben drove proved to be an interesting experiment. As we headed through the city to a used bike store I was actually able to get ahead of Master Fob on the bike proving that a bike can actually be a more efficient means of transportation in the city. Although in this particular case it only resulted in me missing a turn and Master Fob needing to chase me down to correct my route.
In the end, Master Fob ended up buying a bike from a Fred Meyer. It was a little painful to see my brother buy a bike that cheap, but I understood that price was a serious factor that he needed to juggle. Besides, he was mostly using the bike to commute several miles a day. It's not like he was going to be riding hundreds of miles a week like I do :)
Once Master Fob had his bike we rode the Burke Gilman trail together for several miles. The trail goes right past the University and his house so he wanted to check things out. After riding together for a short period, I needed to stretch out my legs a bit. I pulled ahead and rode the entire 12 miles of the trail and then met back up with Master Fob a little later. The trail was gorgeous. It was a paved trail that rode beneath a canopy of trees and was lined with fern and wild berries. The views of Lake Washington were incredible.
After meeting back up we rode past Master Fob's apartment, and then checked out the library on the University campus where he will be working. The campus is really neat. It almost made me want to go back to school :) Almost, but not really.
Sending Out Props
I really admired a lot of things about my brother this weekend. I admired that my brother is the type of person to move across the country to chase a dream. I particularly admired that he did this even when he didn't have all of the details worked out for the plan. Sometimes, you just need to jump and then work out the details later. His plans have been a little rocky, but he's rolled with the punches and everything seems to be turning out OK.
I also discovered that my brother is very much an explorer just like I am. We spent the weekend driving and biking around the city. We rarely ended up taking the most direct route, but we got to see a lot of the city that we wouldn't have if we had printed out maps to everywhere and just taken the interstate. I love that.
Those were the words that Master Fob got to hear from me over and over again this weekend. I loved Seattle. It kind of made me wish that I was moving to Seattle too. Seattle just has a neat aura about it. It's a beautiful city, minutes from the mountains and ocean. It's green, as evidenced by their bike friendly streets, abundance of recycling bins and lack of diesel powered monster pickup trucks. It's also politically liberal, as evidenced by a number of anti-bush bumper stickers, including one that read, "The Only Bush that I Trust is My Own". Indeed, my friend. Indeed.
Endurance Driving
The drive out was a little grueling. It took Master Fob a little longer than he expected to pick up the truck on Friday morning so we got a late start packing. We didn't get on the road until quarter after eleven. One of the points of me coming along was so that Master Fob and I could split the fourteen plus hours of driving between Salt Lake and Seattle. I took the first shift driving while Master Fob ate a little breakfast that my sister had packed for him.
At the end of my first shift of driving, I was still feeling pretty alert and decided to go ahead and take the second shift as well. Driving has a soothing affect on me and besides, I get really bored just sitting in the passenger seat.
5 hours later, after 10 hours of driving, we stopped in La Grande, Oregon to refuel and grab a quick bite to eat at a Subway. At this point, it occurred to me that we were only one tank a gas away from Seattle. I wasn't all that thrilled about driving at night and I was starting to tire a little, but was seduced by the lure of being able to say that I drove the entire distance to Seattle. You know me, I'm all about the endurance activities :)
So, I double fisted two twenty ounce cups of cappucino (I am Cornholio, I need TP for my bung-hole) and tackled the remaining distance to Seattle. The last leg of the journey proved to be the most daunting. We were driving through some pretty hairy mountain passes in the pitch black of night in a 14 foot Uhaul towing a Chevy Cavalier behind. A couple of times, I considered pulling over and surrendering the helm to Master Fob, but the closer we got to Seattle the more determined I was to finish the drive.
Bright Lights, Big City
We arrived in Seattle at 1:30 in the morning pacific time; fifteen hours after we had left Orem, Utah. We were greeted by Seattle's rather impressive downtown skyline. It was awesome. I had been through Seattle a couple of times before but never at night when the city was all lit up. Master Fob kept saying, "This is so cool. I can't believe that I actually live here now".
It didn't take too long to get through the city and to find the hotel where Master Fob will be residing for the next couple of days. We took a couple of minutes to unhitch the car and lock up the Uhaul and then headed up to our room where we passed out almost immediately. I was dead tired. It was really quite amazing that I fell asleep so quickly considering that I still had several thousand milligrams of caffeine coursing through my veins.
Our Saturday Adventure
We woke up six hours later on Saturday morning. I probably could have slept a little longer, but once I noticed that it was light outside I couldn't help but get up. I think that both Master Fob and I were excited to go out and explore the city. I was a little disappointed to discover that the weather was very overcast and it was kind of drizzling. Hey, I guess that just life in Seattle.
Master Fob didn't seem deterred by the rain and was still excited about our plans to explore the city by bike. I was really impressed by that. So, we jumped in the car, and after running a few errands, made our way to Gregg's Cycle in Green Lake. We found a bike for me to rent right away, but Master Fob wasn't finding a bike that he wanted to buy. Bikes in a bike store tend to be much higher quality, but they also tend to have a much higher price.
I was anxious to get out on the bike, and was concerned that I might not be able to get a rental if I stopped back later in the day. So, I rented a Trek road bike and decided to follow Master Fob around the city on the bike while he shopped a little more. I have become so accustomed to riding with clipless pedals that it was a little awkward for me to ride a bike without them. As I pulled away from my first stop light, I tried to use an upward motion to help drive the pedal and nearly ended up with my knee in my chest since my foot wasn't actually attached to the pedal.
Riding through the city was way cool. There is an official bike lane on a lot of streets and even when there wasn't an official lane, there was plenty of room. I never felt threatened by riding in traffic. Me riding while Ben drove proved to be an interesting experiment. As we headed through the city to a used bike store I was actually able to get ahead of Master Fob on the bike proving that a bike can actually be a more efficient means of transportation in the city. Although in this particular case it only resulted in me missing a turn and Master Fob needing to chase me down to correct my route.
In the end, Master Fob ended up buying a bike from a Fred Meyer. It was a little painful to see my brother buy a bike that cheap, but I understood that price was a serious factor that he needed to juggle. Besides, he was mostly using the bike to commute several miles a day. It's not like he was going to be riding hundreds of miles a week like I do :)
Once Master Fob had his bike we rode the Burke Gilman trail together for several miles. The trail goes right past the University and his house so he wanted to check things out. After riding together for a short period, I needed to stretch out my legs a bit. I pulled ahead and rode the entire 12 miles of the trail and then met back up with Master Fob a little later. The trail was gorgeous. It was a paved trail that rode beneath a canopy of trees and was lined with fern and wild berries. The views of Lake Washington were incredible.
After meeting back up we rode past Master Fob's apartment, and then checked out the library on the University campus where he will be working. The campus is really neat. It almost made me want to go back to school :) Almost, but not really.
Sending Out Props
I really admired a lot of things about my brother this weekend. I admired that my brother is the type of person to move across the country to chase a dream. I particularly admired that he did this even when he didn't have all of the details worked out for the plan. Sometimes, you just need to jump and then work out the details later. His plans have been a little rocky, but he's rolled with the punches and everything seems to be turning out OK.
I also discovered that my brother is very much an explorer just like I am. We spent the weekend driving and biking around the city. We rarely ended up taking the most direct route, but we got to see a lot of the city that we wouldn't have if we had printed out maps to everywhere and just taken the interstate. I love that.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
The Other Half Training Progress
My training for the half-marathon that I am running at the end of October has been slow but steady. I feel like the limiting factor is not my athletic ability but my body's ability to recover from the physical stress that jogging places on it. In particular, my shins have given me some trouble and I've had to take it really easy. For the last couple of weeks, I have only been able to run one day a week. Of course, it probably doesn't help that I do so many other things besides running. I'm still biking between 40 and 120 miles per week and I'm climbing mountains on the weekends. My body would probably recover a lot quicker for jogging if it were the only thing that I was doing.
I did achieve a new personal best with my training run this morning. I haven't verified the exact distance yet with my GPS, but judging from the map it looks like I jogged about 7.5 miles this morning. My previous best was about 6.3 miles. The funny thing is that I almost did it on accident. I was out running with Rosey this morning on our normal 6.3 loop. As I was approaching the final leg of our run (a good couple of hundred yards behind Rosey), I decided that I was feeling good and wanted to push myself a little harder this morning.
I figured that I would just jog up the road a little further and then come back before turning onto that final stretch. Of course, the further I got, the further I wanted to go. I knew that there was an intersection further up the road and thought that maybe I could turn down it and just make a slightly bigger loop. What I didn't realize was that the intersection was more than just a "little" further up the road. Before I knew it, I had run all the way out to the Krishna temple nearly into Payson. I was beginning to think that maybe I could just keep running. I dreamt of "accidentally" doing a full half-marathon as a training run.
Unfortunately, my dreams were bigger than my energy. I got up to the intersection of Hwy 164 and Spanish Fork Main before I just couldn't run anymore. Now the problem was that I was still 4 miles from home and it was already 7:30 in the morning. At the rate that I was walking, it would probably be about 9 in the morning before I finally made it back to the house. I was kind of starting to freak out, but then it occurred to me that Rosey hadn't left for work yet and that I might be able to coax her into coming to pick me up. My friendly neighborhood CarQuest auto parts store let me use their phone and shortly thereafter Rosey showed up to rescue me. Crisis averted. Next time, I think that I will plan my route a little more thoroughly.
The encouraging thing about my run this morning (besides the fact that I hit a new distance record) is that I don't feel nearly as much stress in my shins and knees as I have on previous runs. My calves, quads and butt are plenty sore, but those are just muscles. I can deal with muscle fatigue. The lack of soreness in my shins and knees may be an indication that my body is finally acclimating to the stress of jogging.
I did achieve a new personal best with my training run this morning. I haven't verified the exact distance yet with my GPS, but judging from the map it looks like I jogged about 7.5 miles this morning. My previous best was about 6.3 miles. The funny thing is that I almost did it on accident. I was out running with Rosey this morning on our normal 6.3 loop. As I was approaching the final leg of our run (a good couple of hundred yards behind Rosey), I decided that I was feeling good and wanted to push myself a little harder this morning.
I figured that I would just jog up the road a little further and then come back before turning onto that final stretch. Of course, the further I got, the further I wanted to go. I knew that there was an intersection further up the road and thought that maybe I could turn down it and just make a slightly bigger loop. What I didn't realize was that the intersection was more than just a "little" further up the road. Before I knew it, I had run all the way out to the Krishna temple nearly into Payson. I was beginning to think that maybe I could just keep running. I dreamt of "accidentally" doing a full half-marathon as a training run.
Unfortunately, my dreams were bigger than my energy. I got up to the intersection of Hwy 164 and Spanish Fork Main before I just couldn't run anymore. Now the problem was that I was still 4 miles from home and it was already 7:30 in the morning. At the rate that I was walking, it would probably be about 9 in the morning before I finally made it back to the house. I was kind of starting to freak out, but then it occurred to me that Rosey hadn't left for work yet and that I might be able to coax her into coming to pick me up. My friendly neighborhood CarQuest auto parts store let me use their phone and shortly thereafter Rosey showed up to rescue me. Crisis averted. Next time, I think that I will plan my route a little more thoroughly.
The encouraging thing about my run this morning (besides the fact that I hit a new distance record) is that I don't feel nearly as much stress in my shins and knees as I have on previous runs. My calves, quads and butt are plenty sore, but those are just muscles. I can deal with muscle fatigue. The lack of soreness in my shins and knees may be an indication that my body is finally acclimating to the stress of jogging.
Reaping the Fruit
I discovered earlier this summer that I have a peach tree in my back yard. The tree has always been there, but this is the first year that I've actually seen fruit on it (thus identifying it as a peach tree). Rosey and I have had to wait all summer for the peaches to ripen but we have finally been able to harvest some of the fruit over the past week or so. Wow! Those peaches are incredible. They are some of the sweetest peaches that I've ever had. I've been cutting them up and eating them with some Breyer's Natural Vanilla ice cream. Who knew that something that good could grow right in my back yard?
Monday, September 04, 2006
Yellowstone Away From The Crowds
Prelude
Over the last couple of weeks Rosey and I were struggling with how to spend our Labor Day weekend. We both felt like getting out of town, but I was kind of dragging my feet making plans because I hate travelling on Holiday weekends. I would almost rather spend the weekend at home than spend the weekend sitting in traffic or in a park somewhere surrounded by millions of other tourists that had the same idea for their holiday weekend.
After kicking around a couple of different ideas, Yellowstone was the idea that kept coming back up. Rosey had been to Yellowstone once with her father when she was 12 years old and was dying to go back. I have passed through Yellowstone several times on the Harley but for one reason or another have not been able to spend much time actually exploring the park. So, I've been dying to get back to Yellowstone for a while myself. But, could you pick a worse a weekend to go to Yellowstone than Labor Day weekend?
I was discouraged about our prospects of even being able to find a campsite for our weekend adventure. I had waited until three days before the weekend to make the reservation and was sure that when I called up that I would be told that every campground in the park was full. At that point I was almost hoping to hear that so that I could tell Rosey that I did due dilligence in trying to plan a Labor Day Yellowstone trip but that it just didn't work out.
When I called to make the reservation, I was totally caught off guard to hear that there were still four campgrounds that had openings. I was so certain that nothing would be available that I hadn't even bothered to pick a campground that I wanted to stay in. I had to have the operator read me the list of available campgrounds and then ended up picking Bridge Bay campground just because I had stayed there once before. I had no idea whether or not it was going to work out with our plans that weekend, but I didn't feel like hanging up the phone, researching the campsite and then calling back to make the reservation.
As it began to sink in that I was actually going to get to spend a weekend in Yellowstone, I grew more and more excited. Like I mentioned, I had attempted to visit Yellowstone on three prior occasions. On one of those I had to cut my trip short due to rain, and on the other two I was just camping as I was passing through and didn't get to spend any time hiking or sightseeing because of how much time I spent just driving through the park in traffic. One thing was for sure: I wasn't going to spend another trip to Yellowstone sitting in park traffic. I was going to park the car as quickly as possible and get in as much hiking as I could.
The Journey Begins
To maximize the amount of time that we got to spend in the park on Saturday, Rosey and I packed up the car and left home around 6:00 AM on Saturday morning. Yes, we did take the car and not the bike. There were several reasons for that, but the main one was that taking the bike meant that we wouldn't be able to leave until much later in the morning because of the cold. That in turn meant that we would spend all day riding and wouldn't get to the park until late afternoon or early evening. Again, my goal for this trip was to spend as little time driving as possible and as much time as I could in the park.
We made awesome time to Yellowstone thanks to my lead foot. Does that metaphor still work now that most long trips are accomplished via cruise control?. Anyway, we were sitting at the gates of Yellowstone at 11:30 in the morning. I had been surprised how little traffic we had encountered on the trip up there. I had warned Rosey about the mass procession of cars that we were going to see lining up to get into Yellowstone for the weekend for hundreds of miles away. That's just the way that I pictured holiday traffic in Yellowstone.
Thankfully, I was wrong. We didn't hit any traffic at all until we got to the entrance of Yellowstone. And just as I was about to lament that, feeling righteously vindicated for all of the complaining that I had done about travelling on holidays, a park ranger came up to our car and told us that we could skip the entire line because I had a National Parks Pass. Holy crap, that saved us about an hour of waiting in line. That parks pass is the best $50 that I have ever spent.
From the entrace of the park, it was about 70 miles to our campsite. Yes, the park is that big. To avoid wasting all those miles just driving, I had planned on stopping at some geothermal features along the way and doing some hiking and sight-seeing.
A Rocky Start
And here is where I made my first mistake of the trip. I sometimes feel bad that I make all of the plans when I travel with Rosey. I wonder if she feels left out or if she is just a passive participant in our adventures. So, I decided that I would ask her what her plans were. At first, she was unprepared to answer that question, she hadn't really thought about it. But after spending a couple of minutes studying the park newspaper she proclaimed, "I want to go to Mammoth Hot Springs; I think that may have been where my Dad took me when I was younger".
"Ahh Fuck", I thought to myself. Mammoth Hot Springs was at the very North tip of the park. To get there and then to our campground afterwards meant adding about 120 miles of driving. At an average speed of 30 miles per hour, that meant adding another 4 hours of driving on top of the five hours that I had already driven to get to the park. But more than anything it annoyed me because it meant spending yet another trip in Yellowstone driving rather than hiking. When I had asked what she wanted to do, what I really meant was, "What do you want to do along the route that I had already planned?".
I tried to gently persuade her, but she was resolute. After all, I had just hassled her about contributing to the plans. How could I do that and then criticize her for the plans that she came up with. So, I begrudgingly turned the car North and we proceeded up to Mammoth Hot Springs.
In retrospect I should have just explained to her how important it was to me to not spend this whole trip driving through the park. But I wasn't quite that smart. Instead, I just clammed up and started to act all sullen. In short, I kind of made that section of the trips miserable by acting like a child that didn't get his way. This, in turn, put Rosey in a bad mood and made for an uncomfortable afternoon.
The afternoon, however, wasn't a total wash. Even amongst our bickering silence we managed to stop at a waterfall on the Gibbon River for lunch, do a short hike through the Artist's paint pots, and explore the Mammoth Hot Springs area.
The Beaver Ponds
While in Mammoth Hot Springs, I stopped by the visitor's center to get some ideas for hikes. I like to ask the rangers what their favorite hikes in the park are. A lot of the time you will get an answer that is different than what the park literature says. Rangers will often suggest hikes that are more off the beaten path but still lead to some of the most beautiful areas of the park. That is how Rosey and I ended up at Chasm Lake at Rocky Mountain National Park.
Upon asking this particular Ranger in Yellowstone, I got a blank stare. She didn't seem to understand what I was asking. Instead of giving me personal information about her favorite hike she started to give me the reading-from-the-park-manual hiking script about what hikes were available. I reiterated that I was hoping to get some personal suggestions to which she responded that there were a thousand miles of hiking trails in the park and that she hadn't been on all of them.
"But, surely you've been on some of them, haven't you? Don't you have a favorite of the ones that you have been on?". This was starting to feel like pulling teeth. "Well, I like all of the hikes that I've been on for different reasons, I couldn't really pick a favorite". At this point, I was less concerned about getting hiking suggestions and more amused by the interaction. It was just so strange. I pressed her further and did finally get her to point out a couple of hikes for me.
One of the hikes was in the Mammoth Hot Springs area and started right near where we were. Rosey was interested in checking out the hot springs, but I was dying to get on the trail. I felt like I had bent enough, just driving all the way up here. Now it was Rosey's turn to be flexible and do something that I wanted in return. She responded precisely the way that I had earlier... that is, she agreed with only slight hesitation but then seemed to be really sullen about it. It turns out that she really wanted to see more of the Hot Springs.
Not surprisingly, the hike that was reccommended by the flakey ranger was underwhelming. I was still glad for the opportunity to stretch out my legs and my lungs on the trail but this was certainly not the most beautiful hike that I had been on. In fact, you might not have even guessed that you were in Yellowstone National Park. That hike could have been in a hundred other places with rolling hills, sage brush and dry meadows... or so I thought at first. It turns out that the beaver ponds at the far end of the hike were pretty cool. Not spectacular, but still pretty cool. And the wooded areas of the hike were pretty nice too.
The best thing about the hike was that it got us away from the crowds. The park ranger did give me one good piece of advice. When I asked her how to find some spots in Yellowstone that weren't overrun by people, she responded, "Get half a mile down any trail in the park and you'll be in relative solitude. Very few people ever get out of their car or off the boardwalk in Yellowstone".
By the end of the hike, I was in much better spirits. In addition to the positive mental effects of a little vigorous exercise, I felt like I had finally beaten my Yellowstone traffic curse. I had finally done some hiking in Yellowstone. Rosey, on the other hand, still felt slighted by the whole experience. It wasn't until later that night, that we talked it through and agreed that the whole incident was a case study in the effects of poor communication. The whole scenario could have been avoided had we both been more vocal about our feelings. We vowed that we wouldn't let the same thing happen the next day.
Food Is Better in Montana
I don't know why, but food always tastes better when you're camping. Maybe it's because after hiking all day you feel like you've really earned your meal, maybe it's because you have to work that much harder to cook when you are working with primitive camp cookery, maybe it's because I'm a damned good camp chef, or maybe (Chris, this is for you) food just tastes better in Montana. I'm not sure exactly what the case was, but our meal on Saturday night was awesome. We had ginger teriyaki glazed salmon, fresh steamed broccoli, baby carrots and sugar snap peas, and cheddar broccoli long grain rice. Some people don't eat that good at home, much less while they are camping :)
Spectacular, Spectacular
Sunday started out much better than our Saturday had. Despite the temperatures dropping below freezing overnight, I managed to stay warm and comfortable and slept like a baby. In fact, I don't remember the last time that I slept that well. I woke with the sun around 6:30 in the morning and got up to make breakfast while Rosey slept in a bit longer.
My goal for that day, and really one of my major goals of the trip, was to make it to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. In all of the previous times that I had been through the park, I had managed to miss what is one of the most spectacular areas of the park to visit. Behind Old Faithful it is probably the most popular area of the park. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is a massive canyon created by the Yellowstone river which is highlighted by the grandiose Upper Yellowstone Waterfall. If I did nothing else on this trip, I was going to see this waterfall.
When I imagined visiting the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, I imagined that there would be a hiking trail that took you down into the canyon and right up to the waterfall. I was almost disappointed to discover when I looked at the trail maps that the waterfall was only accessible from various vista points and that all of those vista points were accessible by car. I guess that I'm kind of an elitist in that sense. I believe that the most beautiful areas of any park should only be accessible by people that are willing to work for them.
I did discover, however, that there was a hiking trail that started at one of the vista points and approached the waterfall from the canyon rim. You never really got all that close but there were still some pretty good views. It wasn't exactly what I had imagined, but it was going to have to do. So, after eating a good hearty breakfast, we jumped in the car and drove out to the Artist's Point vista.
The falls and the canyon were breathtaking. Seriously, this ranks among some of the most beautiful places that I have been. The thing that I love about National Parks is the sense of awe and grandeur that you get. Prior to seeing this view, I hadn't really felt that in Yellowstone. Sure, Old Faithful and the geothermal features were cool, but they didn't inspire awe in me like the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. This was awesome!
7 Mile Hole
As we were leaving the vista point and getting ready to start our hike, Rosey stopped to read one of the interpretive signs. The sign was about the colors in the canyon, but there was a tiny sidebar with a picture of a guy next to thermal feature and a caption that mentioned something about a hike that went down into the canyon. A hike that went down into the canyon? We looked it up on the trail map and sure enough there it was: 7 Mile Hole Trail. Ironically, the 7 mile hole trail was actually 11 miles long. Ouch, an 11 mile hike. That's not exactly the type of hike that you just tackle on a whim... or is it?
One of the things that I love about Rosey, is that she is the type of girl that when you suggest an impromptu 11 mile hike that is rated as "extremely strenuous" she responds with, "Let's Do It!", instead of, "What, are you out of your fucking mind?", like I imagine most girls would :) Fortunately for me, Rosey is not most girls.
We packed up our hiking pack with plenty of water, some peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, and a water filtration kit and headed out on the trail. Oh, and yes, this is the same backpack that I frequently make fun of Rosey for packing because we would never need a pack that big on a short day hike. I guess I got to eat my words on that one. Having a pack that big really came in handy. Although, somehow, once we reach a certain weight threshold, it becomes my responsibility to carry the pack instead of Rosey's. Doh!
The hike turned out to be a lot of fun and not as difficult as either of us imagined it would be. We attributed the relative ease with which we accomplished the hike to all of the hiking that we've been doing lately at high elevations. The hike was listed as 11 miles with an average completion time of 6 to 8 hours. According to my GPS the hike was 13 miles long (due to some extra mileage that we added at the end) and we completed it in almost exactly 5 hours. 5 hours! Wow, that's an hour less than the low estimate and that included a whole hour that we spent at the river while eating lunch. We kick ass!
The hike was incredible and really was the highlight of the whole trip for me. The first four miles or so we walked along the canyon rim in a forested area. The grade was mostly level and Rosey and I were just blazing through this area. We averaged about 4 miles an hour. Had we been going any faster we would have been jogging.
Next the trail started a steep descent down rocky and narrow switchbacks into the canyon. We dropped over 1400 feet in about a mile and a half. That's roughly a 20% grade. After the steep descent, we walked through an active (i.e. smelly) geothermal area. It was kind of cool to go through so many different kinds of terrain on one hike. Finally, we descended the last couple of hundred feet through another wooded area down to the canyon bottom and the Yellowstone River.
It was gorgeous! And the best part was that we were nearly alone. With millions of people in the park that weekend we managed to get to an area of the park that was only inhabited by one other bright couple who had figured out the secret to a secluded Yellowstone. We hiked half mile down river so as to avoid cramping their style and, of course, to prevent them from cramping ours. We found a nice flat, secluded rock and... made lunch :) Yum, peanut butter sandwiches.
The hike didn't come without it's casualties. Rosey's feet were a war-zone. I think that 8 out of 10 of her toes had gotten blisters on the descent and even a few blisters on the top of her foot. Luckily there weren't any on her heels though. Maybe this was some weird karmic retribution for the blisters that I got while wearing her shoes last weekend :) But she was a trooper; she wrapped up her toes with band-aids and medical tape and completed the hike without hardly even complaining. Wow!
The Geothermal Zone
By the end of our hike we were both pretty beat. But, it was only 3 in the afternoon and we wanted to make the most out of our visit to Yellowstone. So, we decided that after a short stop back at our campsite for a snack and a change of clothes that we would head up to the Old Faithful Geyser basin to check out some of the geothermal features.
I know you're probably thinking, "Dan, you asshole. Rosey goes on a 13 mile hike with you but that's not good enough; you need to drag her on another couple of miles of sight-seeing trails". Well, I can assure you that wasn't the case. Although I did want to see the geothermal areas as well, it was primarily Rosey's motivation and desire that kept us moving and exploring despite our fatigue.
I was glad that we went, because we got to see some pretty cool thermal pools and geysers. Some of the colors were unbelievable. Did you know, by the way, that the colors are caused by bacteria in the water and not by mineral desposits? We did brief walk-through tours of Biscuit Basin, Black Sand Basin and even made a stop by Old Faithful.
Ironically, neither of us were that interested in seeing Old Faithful itself. We were more interested in seeing the thermal pools in the basin behind Old Faithful. So, we walked right past the main attraction and started down the boardwalk to the other thermal features.
Exhaustion Finally Wins
This particular boardwalk went on for several miles. We slowly trudged down it as if compelled to keep moving by some external force. After about a mile and a half of this drudgery, we finally stopped and asked each other why we were punishing ourselves like this. We had already seen so much that day and we were both so tired and hungry. It was time to go back to back to camp and it was time to get something to eat. And so we did, and we did.
Dinner that night didn't live up to the Salmon of the previous night, but it was still pretty damned good. We had grilled steaks rubbed with Montreal Steak seasoning, with more steamed vegetables and some sesame chicken rice. Ok, so the rice on both nights came pre-made in a packet that you only had to add water to. I'm still counting it as campfire gourmet.
Rosey turned in early that night, while I stayed up a little later to watch the fire burn. I love campfires. I love to just sit and watch the flames flicker. I love the way it makes shadows dance on the pine trees that surrounded our campground. I even love nearly suffocating when the smoke invariably finds me no matter where I stand, because I know that it means that my clothes will be infused with the oh-so-wonderful smell of campfire for the next couple of days.
What I hate is having to put out a fire prematurely by dumping water on it. It feels a little bit like taking a life; like depriving the fire of it's right to burn to ashes; preventing the wood from fulfilling it's purpose, it's destiny. This night, I was determined not to let that happen, I watched until all of the wood burned down to coals before I joined Rosey in bed.
The Ride Home
We took our time on the way out of the park on Monday morning. We did a little more sight-seeing in the fountain paint pots area before finally leaving the park. Ironically, we never did find the area of the park that Rosey visited when she was younger. At least we don't think that we did. In my opinion, I think that we did actually visit the same spot but 17 years of park changes on top of 17 years of aging warped her memory of the park beyond present day recognition. We may never know the truth... well, unless her Dad can remember :)
The ride home was fairly uneventful but there was more much more traffic on the road than we had encountered on the way into the park. It still wasn't enough to justify my paranoia about travelling on a holiday. All in all, the trip was a huge success and turned out much better than I could have expected for a Labor Day Yellowstone weekend.
The End. Oh yeah, the rest of the pictures are here.
Friday, September 01, 2006
A Busy Month (But in a Good Way)
I've got a lot going on in the month of September:
- This weekend Rosey and I are headed up to Yellowstone National Park for the long weekend.
- Next weekend I'm driving out to Seattle with my Brother, Master Fob, to help him move.
- The following weekend Rosey and I are planning an assault on Spanish Fork Peak. It will be our fifth mountain conquered this year.
- I don't have concrete plans for the following weekend, but I'm thinking about either trying to hike the Narrows at Zion or to rent a 2007 Harley Electra Glide (with the new bigger engine) and go on a short road trip.
- And finally, the last weekend of September I will be in Munich for GWAVACon.
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