i'm baaaack...

I made my triumphant return to San Francisco last night. Dropped Paddington off with my friends, where he's actually settling in pretty well, then took Leah to a yummy Senegalese dinner.

Today, I did my taxes and am starting the next fun phase: looking for an apartment. If you know of one in the city that allows dogs, let me know! After that, I suppose I need to look for work.

crater lake, AKA: MA:2 (Mission Accomplished:2)

AAKA: Or "how I got lucky twice, first by avoiding a speeding ticket, then by driving through rain and snow on slushy roads in a front wheel drive car, past the 'chains should be carried' sign, into the national park, where the snow only fell heavier, the temperature dropped well below freezing, the light was fading, the only other people were high tailing it in the opposite direction, I almost missed a head on collision with a snow plow on a curve, only to get into the park, but never see the lake, yet make it out alive and without getting stuck and only skidding once."

Here's a shot in the direction of where I believe Crater Lake lies. The snow banks were really high, and I ran out of road that still had tire tracks on it. There was a spot in the middle of the road where the minivan that passed me by earlier must have stopped for some time, as there was a rectangular shaped patch of wet street (no snow) the size of a minivan, yet surrounded by snow. I decided to turn around here, as it was already past 6PM and I really didn't want to get my car stuck out here.

Oh, and you're probably wondering about the ticket. Or if not, then I'll tell you anyway. I pulled off I-5 at Roseburg to make the 200 mile detour to Crater Lake National Park. I was being a little speedy, and I knew it, too, but didn't back off until I saw the cop ahead of me, who, when he passed me, put on his turn signal and turned around, lights flashing. I pull over and we go through the regular drill. For once I was neither belligerent or obsequious. He left me for a few minutes, but he never returned to his car, only stood behind it for a few minutes. I started running scenarios through my head. Maybe he was calling for backup and was going to search through all my stuff in the car. Maybe my "new" address didn't check out. Then a minute later, he returns to my car and says he's giving me a warning. Phew! I did my best to keep my speed in check the rest of the day.

camping out in eugene

Last night Paddington and I camped out in my friend John's backyard. This morning John loaned me his fisheye lens so I could have some Fun with Fisheye (TM pending). Here we see poor little Paddington, his head about three times the size it should be for his little body.

Around lunch time I took the dog downtown for some sightseeing. We drove to the top of Skinner's Butte (we would have walked if it were drier out today), where I saw the old mascot E buried in the trees. The O was fully exposed a little to the east of E, so I'm presuming it's more up to date.

Then, some tasty organic pizza, and we hit the road. I want to make Crater Lake today, and the snow level is down to 3000 feet. Joy!

yet another volcano

As if we didn't see enough volcanoes in Iceland (OK, actually, we really only saw one), I detoured out to see Mount Saint Helens. Unfortunately, the Windy Ridge road was closed for the winter still, so I had to satisfy myself with seeing the view from the main road from the west. (Dan and Heather said the Windy point view gives you a more raw perspective, since this is the side that Weyerhauser hasn't replanted yet, so all the devastation is still on display.

From this vantage, tho, you still can see the side of the mountain that exploded outwards. There's also a great shot of the volcano here.

shotless in seattle

I crossed the border back into the USA, Paddington in tow. I was a little worried if they questioned me about his residency status, since his shots, while up to date, were from north of the border, and everything that identified me pointed to the US, obviously. It seemed to me the perfect little snag that would hold me up, lead to a cavity search, or worse. Then the truck in front of me got the once over with the drug sniffing dogs, making me a little more leery and of course, nervous. Five minutes later, I'm at the head of the line and the guy barely looked at my passport, never mind asking about Paddington.

About two hours later, I'm at Dan and Heather's house in Seattle. We had a mellow couple of days together, which was very welcome. This trip has been winding down the past few days, and after Vancouver, with Paddington in tow, I'm trying to keep the excitement level to a minimum.

Tho, we did see Grindhouse, the new Tarantino/Rodriguez double feature. While the zombie half was cool in an over the top silly sense, the chase scenes in Tarantino's half were outstanding, better than Mad Max. I literally (yes, not figuratively) was on the edge of my seat, I got so caught up in it. We saw the movie at the Neptune, this great old theatre that still has a balcony.

Anyhoo, given the mellow nature of most of this visit, I neglected to take out my camera even once! So, to give you a little idea of who I visited, here are two pictures I took of Dan when we hiked part of Mount Rainier a couple years ago.

among the canucks

Vancouver is a pretty fetching city. I really love the cities along the west coast, from San Francisco (hell, even Santa Cruz) up to Portland, Seattle and now Vancouver (OK, the last three are not technically on the coast, but they are port cities). There's a cultured yet laid back vibe to them all that is a refreshing change from the frantic antics of east coast cities (I love New York, but it can be exhausting after a while).

I've been staying at a very cool loft right off Main Street near Broadway, a Mission-like area of the city (in that gritty, urban, gourmandizing, cultured sort of way). In the past, the building was both a brewery and a candy factory, so it's got a lot of good feng shui going for it.

Every meal I had out has been great. I ate at the Whip Gallery and Restaurant (which apparently used to be a big lesbian hangout and serves this amazing fried baramundi with yam fries on the side), the Five Point (a pub), the Foundation (vegetarian/vegan, typos on their their thoughtful quotes about power aside), and Nirvana (Indian).

As for sightseeing, on my first day, Paddington and I explored Stanley Park, the largest city-owned park in Canada. These totem poles are the most visited tourist attraction in BC. Then we walked along the Seawall up to and under the Lion's Gate Bridge, a couple of miles round trip. I'm a little rusty on the dog wrangling, so I didn't bring any water with me. I overworked the little guy, so when we got home and he inhaled some water, he actually threw it (and his breakfast) back up. Poor little guy. He recovered well, though.

The next day, we went to the beaches at Spanish Banks. I read for a bit, then Paddington mingled with the other dogs before we went home. I had dinner with my friend Phil from VMware and his girlfriend Fiona, which was a pleasant surprise. It's always good to have friends to eat out with; it's much better than eating alone (though it apparently has its merits).

Yesterday I did a little bit of the touristy thing, heading to Gastown, named for some dude Gassy Jack (no, not that kind of gas) who set up the first saloon in what would first be called Gastown, then eventually, Vancouver. As you can imagine, there are all sort of touristy shops in the area. After leaving one, I noticed a large group of tourists gathered expectantly on a corner. At first I couldn't figure out what they were waiting for or looking at, as there was no street performer or anything. Until I realized they were watching a clock on the corner steaming. I happened to arrive here just as the hour was turning, and caught the clock at full steam.

travels with charley redux

Before I left on this trip, a friend suggested I read Travels with Charley, by Steinbeck. I already had a few books with me, so I figured I'd either pick it up along the way, or just read it when I got back. Fast forward a couple weeks to Albuquerque, and Rich and Galen give me an old copy (a 75 cent Bantam paperback from the Fredonia, AZ, library) as a going away gift (along with a cool t-shirt Rich designed for Galen's reservation bicycling program, not to be confused with the Native American motorcycle club).

I've been reading the book on and off the past couple of weeks and it's quite good. Now, it seems, I'll be emulating Steinbeck as I'll be driving back to San Francisco next week with my dog, Paddington.

He's been staying up in Vancouver these past couple of years, and now it's my turn to watch the little monkey. I just hope it's not too hard to find a nice place that takes dogs.

northward, ho!

No, the subject line isn't some admonishment to a trollop to get her to walk a different street. I took the scenic route out of Missoula, up route 93 to MT 200 across the Flathead Indian Reservation, across the Idaho panhandle, into northeastern Washington state, finally crossing the border into Osoyoos, BC.

The day started with a hike in the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area, just north of Missoula. It was sunny and around 50 -- perfect for hiking. I was trying to hike up to Strawberry Ridge, to get a commanding view of the area. While reading the trail map, this older couple came by so I asked them some advice. They bickered -- in that manner that couples that have been together for a long time do -- about the best way for me to get there. I followed their instructions but never managed to find a trail up, only around the ridge. After a couple hours of hiking, I gave up and got in the car to start the day's drive. Still, it was the most exercise I've done since Iceland!

The reservation looked like it's in really good shape, with less obvious poverty than, say the Sioux reservations in South Dakota, from my purely subjective standpoint, and about 17 years' difference in time. The poverty is there, but just not as bad.

After leaving the reservation, I drove through numerous valleys and canyons. The Clark Fork (River) looked like glass in places, showing these beautiful reflections. I stopped numerous times to capture them, and it started to set me back with my arrival time.

Then I got into Washington State. By now, there was much less snow around, the temperatures rose a bit, and the ground got even greener. Now I drove along the Pend Oreille, but the light was flatter and the reflections not as enticing. I started another climb over another mountain range. I came across an area that had burned out back in 1988 -- over 32,000 acres, and all the dead trees were still standing. It was quite a sight. This was the same year Yellowstone burned, and my brother Paul and I drove out to South Dakota and saw where the Black Hills had burned.

Finding a place to stay was more difficult than I expected. My cell phone was roaming only, and I needed to be on the phone to talk to Leah and to coordinate my Vancouver arrival the next morning. So I figured I could use Skype instead, and call using my Mac. Trouble is, there are only a few small towns on highway 20 in Washington, each around 1000 people or so in population. I checked into a really ghetto hotel in Oroville, just south of the Canadian border. It was the only open hotel in town. Thankfully, I couldn't get any wireless signal at all, so I got a refund, filled up my gas tank (so I would hopefully not have to fill up across the border), the drove across to Osoyoos, BC. I stayed in a hotel with an apartment-like room, very similar to where Leah and I stayed our last night in Iceland. I cooked up some backpacker food and organic mac and cheese. The wireless connection worked great, and Skype performed pretty well.

I made it to Vancouver the next day in a little more than 4 hours.

this car goes to 101

One thing I never got to test was whether the Prius could break 100MPH. I thought maybe Toyota would have installed a governor in the car to keep you from burning so much fuel. I guess I should have figured that the display would obviously allow triple digit speeds, given that I could switch to metric speeds, but I never thought that deeply about it.

Anyway, while driving through Montana, past home of the reasonable and prudent speed guidelines, I finally got to push my Prius to its (or my) limits. Some people seemed to still go by the old (lack of) rules, and drove much faster here than anywhere else I've seen. So I gave it a shot, and broke 100! I got as fast as 103MPH before I backed off.

Oh, and for the record, I was driving downhill, so I used that momentum to help get my speed up.

among the grand tetons

I got lucky. Monday morning in Jackson started off grim, with rain and snow falling, though not accumulating. I persevered and drove up to the Tetons anyway. Since I had to give Yellowstone a miss on this trip, I figured I should see at least one of the big draws around here.

I drove up into the park, a few miles north of Jackson, and the sky began to clear in places. Despite it being around noon, meaning light for photography isn't the best, clear noon light was far preferable to completely overcast and snowing. It made for some nice reflections in the creeks and Snake River at times, but I could also watch snow clouds loom over various areas from a distance.

On the drive out of the park, I saw a bunch of cars and SUVs pulled over to one side of the road. If my travels in Africa taught me anything, it's that if you are in a wildlife prone area and you see vehicles parked, then something vaguely interesting is probably on the roadside. I wasn't let down. There were about a half dozen bison feeding just off the road. I've seen some before, in South Dakota and Colorado, and I was really hoping to see a moose finally. One of these days.

Later on, driving in southern Montana, I saw a larger herd of bison feeding in a pasture next to the interstate. They were on the other side of the highway though.

frost heaves

... and other road signs seen the past couple of days. Apparently frost heaves are problematic in Idaho, and I take them to mean that the roads are susceptible to cracks from frozen soil breaking through.

Then there were two exit signs listing the following town pairings:

Divide
Wisdom

and

Anaconda
Opportunity

I also saw a Halliburton property in northern Colorado, near the Wyoming border. I didn't stop, so it was hard to say if they were getting ready to relocate to Dubai too.

so close, so very close

OK, so I knew that going on a road trip in winter would lend itself to some expected difficulties, mostly having to do with the weather.

So I'm sitting in an internet cafe in a music store in Jackson, Wyoming. (Anyone know the difference between Jackson Hole and Jackson? They seem to be used interchangeably. And yes, I'm too lazy to look it up right now.) It's raining and snowing outside. I'd love to drive up to the Grand Tetons, but I won't see much. I'll probably end up driving up there anyway, then turning around and heading into Idaho, as I need to loop around to get into Montana.

Sadly, the only way into Yellowstone is from the north, so that will have to wait for another trip.

things to do around denver when you're on a midlife crisis road trip

Sorry for the lag in updating. I laid low at my brother Paul's house for the past few days.

Anyway, I'll add pictures later (not that I took many recently), but here's a roundup of happenings over the past few days:

* Went with Paul and his boys Micah and Kayin skiing and snowboarding.
* Met with an old friend, Matt. Last time I saw him was like 15 years ago when he was tending bar at McCormick's.
* Ate brunch at the Bump and Grind, where the wait stuff were all drag queens.
* Watched the Colorado Avalanche save their necks for another shot at the NHL playoffs.
* Babysat Micah and Kayin while Paul and Carlene went out for a much needed date.

UPDATE: Added pictures of Matt and me, and Paul's family and me.