Hiking Boulder River (2008-07-26)

For me, July 2008 has included three short hikes a short drive from Seattle:

• St. Edward's Park with graduate school colleagues on ---05,
  
• Cougar Mountain (though I considered Ebeys Landing) with friends on ---12, and
• Boulder River with my dad on ---26.

A couple of these let me spend part of a day in the forest--one of my goals for this year. Only on the most recent hike did I remember my camera. I'm enjoying the exercise.

Demonstrating Sailing on Duck Dodge (2007-07-10)

Got out of town on a boat goin' to southern islands
Sailing a reach before a followin' sea
She was makin' for the trades on the outside
And the downhill run to Papeete

Off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas
We got eighty feet of waterline, nicely making way
In a noisy bar in Avalon I tried to call you
But on a midnight watch I realized why twice you ran away

--Crosby, Stills and Nash, "Southern Cross"

(Despite the lack of link, "making way" in "Southern Cross" is also a sailing term.) As my previous post on sailing may show, after the exhilaration of the wind in my hair and the bouncing bow beneath my feet, the next most enjoyable aspect of sailing may be explaining it, beginning with sailing terminology:

• starboard and port,
• fore and aft,
• bow and stern,
• beam,
• mast,
• boom,
• lines (sheets--main and jib--, halyard, shrouds, stays, downhaul, cunningham),
• parts of a sail (tack, clew, head, luff, leech, foot),
• windward and leeward,
  
• what to do when the skipper calls out "Ready about" and "Helm's a-lee", or "Ready to jibe" and "Jibe ho",
• points of sail (close hauled, reach--close, beam, and broad--, running), etc.

The July 17, 2007 Seattle Times article on Duck Dodge suggests that this aspect of sailing fascinates observers as well. Like the June 6, 2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer article, the Times also mentions the "raft up" party afterwards (like what I wrote about last week).

At last week's Duck Dodge I spent most of my time instructing, since of Allan's usual crew I was the only one present. Allan filled the boat with friends from Banya 5, except for my guest J. Behmer and his friend. (I bring a guest each Tuesday, and whenever else we sail.) In the middle of a tack I announced, "I'm not usually this directive in social situations." My friend responded, "You, get me a beer! You, get some chips! You, make smalltalk!" pointing to a different crew member for each command.

(Switching from sailing geek to technology geek, I'll credit John with a photograph taken by his Treo and located precisely on the map of Lake Union using Allan's eTrex Vista® Cx.)

[Updated 2007-07-18 to remove redundant words.]

Reading Travels with Charley (2007-05-02/07)

Montana has a spell on me. It is grandeur and warmth. If Montana had a seacoast, or if I could live away from the sea, I would instantly move there and petition for admission. Of all the states it is my favorite and my love.

--John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley in Search of America

"In... 1960, John Steinbeck and his poodle, Charley, embarked on a journey across America." Starting in New York he drove counter-clockwise around the United States in a three-quarter-ton pickup-truck with a camper top. Avoiding main thoroughfares he visited nearly forty states, with a stop in Seattle. Among other places, he visited the Badlands, Montana, California, Texas, New Orleans (witnessing an event in the history of desegregation), and then drove quickly through Virginia and back home to New York.

In 1962, my father, after reading Travels with Charley, went to graduate school in Montana. His future wife had refused to marry him until she finished her undergraduate degree, so he decided to study pharmacy in the meantime. In the middle of winter, he found the deep dark nights, white-out blizzard days, and forty below temperatures depressing. So he took a bus to Portland, Oregon, arriving with $50. He bought a newspaper and called a telephone number he saw in a classified advertisement. "Is that room for rent still available? If you pick me up at the bus station I'll rent it."

In 1995 I embarked on a journey across America. Starting in Portland, Oregon I drove clockwise around the United States in an orange 1976 Volkswagen Westfalia. Avoiding main thoroughfares I visited thirty-eight states, with a stop in New York. Among other places, I visited Montana, the Badlands, New Orleans (requiring repair for the Westfalia while leaving town), Texas, California, then drove quickly up the coast to my new home in Seattle.

In 2007, after reading Travels with Charley, I called my father to see if I remembered his story correctly. He was surprised at my memory of the detail. Both Travels with Charley and my father's own story were told to me in a memorable, conversational way.

In Colorado Springs (2007-03-26/30)

As we drove past the "Garden of the Gods" exit sign on I-25 in Colorado Springs, CO, my business partner asked, "What's in Garden of the Gods?" "Rocks," I replied.

During March 26-29 we had travel days and three days of meetings with a client to improve our communication and teamwork, as well as address upcoming project milestones. On the last day of meetings one of our client's staff drove me through Garden of the Gods to see the rocks myself.

Walking Ebeys Landing (2007-02-02)

On Ferry to Seattle (2006-04-30)

In Jarrell Cove State Park (2006-04-30)

Along Pickering Passage (2006-04-29)

At Beach House (2006-04-28)

In Key West, Florida (2004-12-01)