Tina and Larry's 30th!
24-25 Aug 2013
After a Tiger flydown (!) on Wednesday, C.J. was ready to give her hang glider a try. She hadn't flown since before her bunion surgery in early February. Besides, there would be a big gathering at Dog to celebrate Tina and Larry's anniversary. C.J. constructed a cool card: "Hot in the 80's" and baked up a batch of rhubarb crisp for the potluck. We also brought a big bunch of greens for a salad.
24 Aug, Sat - Thinking the weather didn't look all that warm and clear, we hooked up the trailer and dragged it down and set it up on the recently dried-out lake bottom at Dogpatch around 1230 or so. The wind was strong enough to be making whitecaps on the lake but we drove up to launch anyway. By the time C.J. was ready to launch conditions had mellowed and after her good takeoff and short flight with a perfect landing, I got my wing out. Luckily after several hangs took off, there was a big gap before the next ones got ready to go. I had a terrible time on launch: first I was too close to the edge so I couldn't back up far enough to get the wing over my head, then there were a couple of attempts when the wing went off to the side, and one where I got dragged to the north. Finally, after switching to a forward inflation launch I was able to get in the air. Conditions were really light and I found only one thermal that got me up over launch level for a short time, then it was back to scratching my way down the face, out to the point and into the LZ (newly mowed thanks to Kenny, I assume). C.J. had gotten a ride to the top and drove the car down meeting me in the LZ. Once we got packed up (1700 or so) we folded the Aliner up and moved it to the Jorgensen's property where most people were camping. There was plenty of room next to the retaining wall near Eric and Paige O's trailer and across from Jasmine and Justin's trailer and T and L's motorhome. Paul and Val set up a tent below and there was another large tent behind the trailers. A bunch of people just slept in their vehicles. There was a big potluck dinner with roast turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and a huge slow-cooker full of pulled pork served on ciabatta with BBQ sauce. A big container of margaritas and some shots of coconut rum got the party going and it went on into the wee, wee hours. We crashed long before that, missing some drumming, and some guitar picking by Val and Sierra. Some of the other folks who showed up were Chuck and Richard Williams, Marty, Ron Barbera, Glen Duval (with Carol), Kenny, Stas, Cody, and Brian Scott. There were a number of others at Dogpatch that may not have heard about the celebration or thought that they needed an invitation - Steve Kincaid, for example.
25 Aug, Sun - The day dawned with sunshine and scattered clouds but the clouds continued to build and by noon it was overcast and looking like it might rain. We decided to drive over to Area 151, Dave and Diane Auman's property, to look at the newly constructed training hill. On the way we ran into the first of the light rain that would persist the rest of the day, and put the rain cover back on C.J.'s glider. Neither Dave nor Diane seemed to be around so we made a quick return to the Jorgensen's and hitched up the trailer and said goodbye. On the way out with the car wipers working intermittently we were surprised to see a glider in the air and above the launch. The drive home was uneventful and we left the trailer outside in preparation for our next adventure - Labor Day fly-in at Sand Turn, Wyoming.
26 August 2013
22 August 2013
Farnsworth Family Gathering in Washingtonville
Marguerite "Pat" Farnsworth Memorial
16-19 Aug 2013
When C.J.'s mother passed away several months ago after a long stretch in a nursing home in California (and a longer stretch in Florida being cared for by C.J.'s brother, Rob), Ginny had a service for the few who could attend. For the interment of her ashes in the Tuthill family plot in Washingtonville, NY, Ginny invited everyone who could get there. C.J. and I made plane and hotel reservations in July as soon as we heard what the plan was.
16 Aug, Fri - Actually we left home on the night of the 15th so we could drop the Sorento off at Extra Car around 2230 for our 0020 flight. [Again we got a good rate at Extra Car through aboutairportparking.com, but we found out that the rate is considerably higher if your stay starts on a Friday.] We flew US Airways overnight to Charlotte, NC, and then on a commuter jet flight (two seats per side) to White Plains/Westchester County Airport/HPN arriving around 1130. [We gate-checked our rollaboard bags all the way through to White Plains at no charge as they were short on stowage space in the cabin.] [HPN was much farther from Washingtonville than Stewart/Newburgh would have been but the fares were considerably higher for Stewart, and the rest of the relatives arriving by plane were using HPN, too.] We picked up a Chevrolet Cruze from Budget and headed out to follow the byways through small towns like Chappaqua, Millwood, Ossining (where we hit Rte 9) and Croton-on-Hudson. We'd been ready for some lunch since we landed; there had not been even any peanuts for snacks on the flights. So, when we spotted Tenampa, a Mexican restaurant with a pleasant-looking patio just north of Croton, we pulled in and shared a good meal of Caesar salad and couple of tacos al carbon, flour tortillas filled with skirt steak strips. Continuing north we passed Peekskill and took the winding mountain road high above the Hudson that had given me the heebie-jeebies when I was a young kid in the back of the family car. The narrow, twisty part of the drive was much shorter than I remembered it and soon we were crossing the Bear Mountain Bridge. I headed south on 9w and then onto the Seven Lakes Parkway passing the Bear Mountain Inn and the new indoor play area with its carousel. The road climbed the flank of Bear Mountain passing the entrance to Perkins Memorial Drive and descending to the Palisades Interstate Parkway. We took Rte 6 across Harriman State Park then Rte 293 through the USMA (West Point) reservation passing several ranges before reaching the Old Storm King highway with its steep cliffs on one side and a stone wall separating the road from the drop to the Hudson on the other. We made a couple of brief stops for views and interpretive signs before passing through Cornwall-on-Hudson and joining 9w toward Newburgh and then west to our Super 8 motel and a nap. Dinner that night was with Pat, Rob, Mary, Dave, their son Matt, and a very pregnant Jennifer with her husband, Kevin, at the Tuthill House near Gardiner. The restaurant was situated in an old grist mill and had excellent, if moderately expensive, food. I had a NY strip steak while C.J. had the cioppino. Ginny and Wally didn't make it because Wally's flight had been delayed and they would not have made it all the way to Gardiner from HPN in time for dinner. [Ginny had arrived on Wednesday to do all the arranging with the funeral director, the church and the Vinum Cafe at the Brotherhood Winery in Washingtonville.] Rob, bless his heart, picked up the tab for all nine of us. [I later tried to give him the $80 or so that C.J. and I had rung up as our part of the bill, but he wouldn't take it.] It was about a half hour back to the motel and we were glad to get to bed to catch up on our rest.
17 Aug, Sat - Breakfast at the motel was less than satisfactory. The motel was full due to some event at West Point and most of the breakfast fruit and yogurt were gone, as was the batter for making waffles. But we managed to get some yogurt anyway and had a bowl of cereal. We were a bit late getting to Ferguson's Funeral Home where Ginny had arranged a display of some memorabilia. Tom, the funeral director, led a couple of prayers and then we all drove over to St. Mary's church, or rather, to the parish hall which was being used for services while the church was being renovated. Father Paul, an elderly priest, celebrated the funeral mass with lots of incense, and a vocalist and organist provided several hymns. Once mass was ended, we drove the short distance to the cemetery where Fr. Paul blessed the polished wooden box containing the cremains and it was placed in a heavy vault which would later be buried in the family plot. There was some discussion about the stone marking Aunt Pete's and Uncle Jack's grave not having Aunt Pete's name on it. Ginny decided to either have the stone redone or have a new one made. Then we drove across the road into the Brotherhood Winery (oldest one in America) and had lunch in the Vinum Cafe, Jail Island salmon or chicken in puff pastry. After lunch we wandered around the winery for a while then headed up to New Paltz. We parked close to the north end of the SUNY campus and walked around. The only building I recognized (the name at least) was the Sojourner Truth library. C.J. and I were pretty sure that the Cuykendall (sp?) building was the home of the science department but the name was not at all familiar. Then we drove down to Huguenot Street where C.J.'s apartment building was still standing although minus the balconies. As mentioned in an earlier blog, the old Grand Union was gone but Rock and Snow was still in its place, plus there was a R&S Annex. After a couple of false starts and some creative programming of the GPS we found Station Road where Chris and I had lived while I was attending SUNY but the building was not obvious. Heading south we decided to return to Tuthill House in the daytime to get some photos that showed the exterior before stopping at the bed and breakfast (Bucks) where Ginny, Wally, Rob, Jennifer and Kevin were staying. While there we decided to meet later at the motel for "home movie night". That evening Greg (with his girlfriend Mara) brought a bunch of old family super8 videos to the breakfast room at the motel. I stayed for a while but the quality of the film was so bad that I couldn't make out much detail. It must have been more interesting to those who were in the movies because people watched them for a couple of hours before breaking up and heading to their various lodgings. Since we had had a late lunch we only ate some nuts and bread while we watched the show. Wally had chosen to skip the films and went out to eat with Jennifer and Kevin.
18 Aug, Sun - For some reason (perhaps I didn't push the "save" button) my phone did not give the wakeup call so we woke up late at 0705. We rushed and made it to the B&B in Montgomery not much later than the planned 0730 breakfast time. After breakfast the Farnsworth siblings, missing only Bill who can no longer travel long distances, and Greg who was late having stayed the night in Pompton Plains, had a meeting to decide what to do about the house in Florida and the rest of the trust fund. After that Rob brought out several boxes of jewelry and souvenirs for them to choose among. Jennifer and Kevin had already left, Mary, Dave and Matt left soon after and so did Pat who had to check out. Mary had mentioned possibly going to an outdoor sculpture park near Cornwall so after we said goodbye we headed down that way also. Along the route, somewhere between Salisbury Mills and Vails Gate there was a unique view out over a valley that was crossed by a long, tall RR trestle. As we approached the entrance to the Storm King Arts Center, the weather deteriorated to light rain. Since we were ready for lunch anyway we drove on to Cornwall-on-Hudson and found the Hudson Street Cafe which served a pretty good burger and BLTA. The sun was out by the time we left so we drove directly back to the art center and paid the senior fee at the car entrance. Since the art center covered 500 acres we didn't expect to see everything but we started off by climbing to the top of Museum Hill past many monumental, modern, Calder-like (in fact there were five Calders in the area) sculptures. We did a quick walk-through of the small museum building (which was concentrating on Thomas Houseago) and then caught the tail end of a tour for families. The guide told the story of Noguchi's Momo Taro (Peachpit Boy) which really enhanced my appreciation for the sculpture. We could have gotten Acoustiguides, but we just used a map instead so we could cover more ground. Some of the most memorable sculptures were Calder's Five Swords, Goldworthy's Storm King Wall, Maya Lin's Storm King Wavefield, Zhang Huan's Three Legged Buddha, and Tal Streeter's Endless Column. Other notable pieces were Roy Lichtenstein's Mermaid and George Cutt's mobile Sea Change. We walked more than 2.5 miles and covered the major works but definitely did not see everything. As we were heading to the North Woods section we ran into Wally and Ginny who had arrived and rented bikes for a short time to be able to see more in less time. Ginny was particularly interested in sculptures by David Smith; there were nine of them on Museum Hill. By the time we had returned from North Woods we were pretty beat and it was close to closing time anyway. [The Thruway runs along the west side of the sculpture park and we were glad we weren't heading toward NYC on Sunday because southbound traffic was already moving slowly.] We went back to the motel for a shower and then made reservations for dinner at the Tuthill House again since Ginny and Wally had not had a chance to eat there. It was just the five of us this time and the dining room was uncrowded but the food was just as good. This time C.J. had the rack of lamb and I had some excellent lasagna. I figured it was our turn to pay for dinner and grabbed the check, but Ginny saw it differently and had Wally wrestle it out of my hands so Merlin Flight School bought us all dinner (Thanks, Wally!).
19 Aug, Mon - We had breakfast at the now less-crowded motel. Then we went back to our room and worked on the editing for HG&PG magazine until it was finished and uploaded to the USHPA server just about at checkout time - 1100. With the car all loaded with our minimal luggage (mostly laundry), we headed south for our first stop. The New Windsor Cantonment and Purple Heart Hall of Honor had a modern museum with some info about the last Continental Army Winter Encampment (7500 underpaid/unpaid soldiers in 32-man wooden structures), and a gallery of Purple Heart-related items. A computer database quickly found my name and date of wounding (May 11, 1969) - I was surprised that I was in the database. Outside, a gravel path led into the woods where there were several of the old buildings from the cantonment, and a memorial monument. Unfortunately the costumed interpreters are not on duty Mon-Tue. From there we took Rte 9w over Storm King, then at Bear Mountain turned onto the Palisades Interstate Parkway. Around Haverstraw we cleverly exited to avoid what we later found out to be the non-existent toll on the Thruway between the intersection and the TZ bridge. However, there was a traffic jam on the link to 9w so we made a U-turn and returned to the Parkway, the Thruway and crossed the Tappan Zee Bridge ($5 toll eastbound). The GPS and decent signage got us to HPN early enough to get the car turned in, get our boarding passes and then find a place to get a great corned beef and sauerkraut sandwich, with a berry smoothie for dessert. Our flight this time was a short one to Philadelphia on a turboprop. We had a minimal wait at PHL before boarding but then there was a problem with fueling and we had to get off the plane and walk across two concourses to a different gate to go through the boarding process again. While waiting I grabbed several Philadelphia soft pretzels to tide us over until we got home. We were a couple of hours late getting in to SEA but we had no trouble getting our gate-checked bags and hopping on the shuttle to Extra Car where our car was ready and waiting for us. (No extra charge for being an hour or so late.) For a sad event like a memorial service, it was remarkably upbeat and even fun. Who knows when the Farnsworth siblings will once again all get together.
16-19 Aug 2013
When C.J.'s mother passed away several months ago after a long stretch in a nursing home in California (and a longer stretch in Florida being cared for by C.J.'s brother, Rob), Ginny had a service for the few who could attend. For the interment of her ashes in the Tuthill family plot in Washingtonville, NY, Ginny invited everyone who could get there. C.J. and I made plane and hotel reservations in July as soon as we heard what the plan was.
16 Aug, Fri - Actually we left home on the night of the 15th so we could drop the Sorento off at Extra Car around 2230 for our 0020 flight. [Again we got a good rate at Extra Car through aboutairportparking.com, but we found out that the rate is considerably higher if your stay starts on a Friday.] We flew US Airways overnight to Charlotte, NC, and then on a commuter jet flight (two seats per side) to White Plains/Westchester County Airport/HPN arriving around 1130. [We gate-checked our rollaboard bags all the way through to White Plains at no charge as they were short on stowage space in the cabin.] [HPN was much farther from Washingtonville than Stewart/Newburgh would have been but the fares were considerably higher for Stewart, and the rest of the relatives arriving by plane were using HPN, too.] We picked up a Chevrolet Cruze from Budget and headed out to follow the byways through small towns like Chappaqua, Millwood, Ossining (where we hit Rte 9) and Croton-on-Hudson. We'd been ready for some lunch since we landed; there had not been even any peanuts for snacks on the flights. So, when we spotted Tenampa, a Mexican restaurant with a pleasant-looking patio just north of Croton, we pulled in and shared a good meal of Caesar salad and couple of tacos al carbon, flour tortillas filled with skirt steak strips. Continuing north we passed Peekskill and took the winding mountain road high above the Hudson that had given me the heebie-jeebies when I was a young kid in the back of the family car. The narrow, twisty part of the drive was much shorter than I remembered it and soon we were crossing the Bear Mountain Bridge. I headed south on 9w and then onto the Seven Lakes Parkway passing the Bear Mountain Inn and the new indoor play area with its carousel. The road climbed the flank of Bear Mountain passing the entrance to Perkins Memorial Drive and descending to the Palisades Interstate Parkway. We took Rte 6 across Harriman State Park then Rte 293 through the USMA (West Point) reservation passing several ranges before reaching the Old Storm King highway with its steep cliffs on one side and a stone wall separating the road from the drop to the Hudson on the other. We made a couple of brief stops for views and interpretive signs before passing through Cornwall-on-Hudson and joining 9w toward Newburgh and then west to our Super 8 motel and a nap. Dinner that night was with Pat, Rob, Mary, Dave, their son Matt, and a very pregnant Jennifer with her husband, Kevin, at the Tuthill House near Gardiner. The restaurant was situated in an old grist mill and had excellent, if moderately expensive, food. I had a NY strip steak while C.J. had the cioppino. Ginny and Wally didn't make it because Wally's flight had been delayed and they would not have made it all the way to Gardiner from HPN in time for dinner. [Ginny had arrived on Wednesday to do all the arranging with the funeral director, the church and the Vinum Cafe at the Brotherhood Winery in Washingtonville.] Rob, bless his heart, picked up the tab for all nine of us. [I later tried to give him the $80 or so that C.J. and I had rung up as our part of the bill, but he wouldn't take it.] It was about a half hour back to the motel and we were glad to get to bed to catch up on our rest.
17 Aug, Sat - Breakfast at the motel was less than satisfactory. The motel was full due to some event at West Point and most of the breakfast fruit and yogurt were gone, as was the batter for making waffles. But we managed to get some yogurt anyway and had a bowl of cereal. We were a bit late getting to Ferguson's Funeral Home where Ginny had arranged a display of some memorabilia. Tom, the funeral director, led a couple of prayers and then we all drove over to St. Mary's church, or rather, to the parish hall which was being used for services while the church was being renovated. Father Paul, an elderly priest, celebrated the funeral mass with lots of incense, and a vocalist and organist provided several hymns. Once mass was ended, we drove the short distance to the cemetery where Fr. Paul blessed the polished wooden box containing the cremains and it was placed in a heavy vault which would later be buried in the family plot. There was some discussion about the stone marking Aunt Pete's and Uncle Jack's grave not having Aunt Pete's name on it. Ginny decided to either have the stone redone or have a new one made. Then we drove across the road into the Brotherhood Winery (oldest one in America) and had lunch in the Vinum Cafe, Jail Island salmon or chicken in puff pastry. After lunch we wandered around the winery for a while then headed up to New Paltz. We parked close to the north end of the SUNY campus and walked around. The only building I recognized (the name at least) was the Sojourner Truth library. C.J. and I were pretty sure that the Cuykendall (sp?) building was the home of the science department but the name was not at all familiar. Then we drove down to Huguenot Street where C.J.'s apartment building was still standing although minus the balconies. As mentioned in an earlier blog, the old Grand Union was gone but Rock and Snow was still in its place, plus there was a R&S Annex. After a couple of false starts and some creative programming of the GPS we found Station Road where Chris and I had lived while I was attending SUNY but the building was not obvious. Heading south we decided to return to Tuthill House in the daytime to get some photos that showed the exterior before stopping at the bed and breakfast (Bucks) where Ginny, Wally, Rob, Jennifer and Kevin were staying. While there we decided to meet later at the motel for "home movie night". That evening Greg (with his girlfriend Mara) brought a bunch of old family super8 videos to the breakfast room at the motel. I stayed for a while but the quality of the film was so bad that I couldn't make out much detail. It must have been more interesting to those who were in the movies because people watched them for a couple of hours before breaking up and heading to their various lodgings. Since we had had a late lunch we only ate some nuts and bread while we watched the show. Wally had chosen to skip the films and went out to eat with Jennifer and Kevin.
18 Aug, Sun - For some reason (perhaps I didn't push the "save" button) my phone did not give the wakeup call so we woke up late at 0705. We rushed and made it to the B&B in Montgomery not much later than the planned 0730 breakfast time. After breakfast the Farnsworth siblings, missing only Bill who can no longer travel long distances, and Greg who was late having stayed the night in Pompton Plains, had a meeting to decide what to do about the house in Florida and the rest of the trust fund. After that Rob brought out several boxes of jewelry and souvenirs for them to choose among. Jennifer and Kevin had already left, Mary, Dave and Matt left soon after and so did Pat who had to check out. Mary had mentioned possibly going to an outdoor sculpture park near Cornwall so after we said goodbye we headed down that way also. Along the route, somewhere between Salisbury Mills and Vails Gate there was a unique view out over a valley that was crossed by a long, tall RR trestle. As we approached the entrance to the Storm King Arts Center, the weather deteriorated to light rain. Since we were ready for lunch anyway we drove on to Cornwall-on-Hudson and found the Hudson Street Cafe which served a pretty good burger and BLTA. The sun was out by the time we left so we drove directly back to the art center and paid the senior fee at the car entrance. Since the art center covered 500 acres we didn't expect to see everything but we started off by climbing to the top of Museum Hill past many monumental, modern, Calder-like (in fact there were five Calders in the area) sculptures. We did a quick walk-through of the small museum building (which was concentrating on Thomas Houseago) and then caught the tail end of a tour for families. The guide told the story of Noguchi's Momo Taro (Peachpit Boy) which really enhanced my appreciation for the sculpture. We could have gotten Acoustiguides, but we just used a map instead so we could cover more ground. Some of the most memorable sculptures were Calder's Five Swords, Goldworthy's Storm King Wall, Maya Lin's Storm King Wavefield, Zhang Huan's Three Legged Buddha, and Tal Streeter's Endless Column. Other notable pieces were Roy Lichtenstein's Mermaid and George Cutt's mobile Sea Change. We walked more than 2.5 miles and covered the major works but definitely did not see everything. As we were heading to the North Woods section we ran into Wally and Ginny who had arrived and rented bikes for a short time to be able to see more in less time. Ginny was particularly interested in sculptures by David Smith; there were nine of them on Museum Hill. By the time we had returned from North Woods we were pretty beat and it was close to closing time anyway. [The Thruway runs along the west side of the sculpture park and we were glad we weren't heading toward NYC on Sunday because southbound traffic was already moving slowly.] We went back to the motel for a shower and then made reservations for dinner at the Tuthill House again since Ginny and Wally had not had a chance to eat there. It was just the five of us this time and the dining room was uncrowded but the food was just as good. This time C.J. had the rack of lamb and I had some excellent lasagna. I figured it was our turn to pay for dinner and grabbed the check, but Ginny saw it differently and had Wally wrestle it out of my hands so Merlin Flight School bought us all dinner (Thanks, Wally!).
19 Aug, Mon - We had breakfast at the now less-crowded motel. Then we went back to our room and worked on the editing for HG&PG magazine until it was finished and uploaded to the USHPA server just about at checkout time - 1100. With the car all loaded with our minimal luggage (mostly laundry), we headed south for our first stop. The New Windsor Cantonment and Purple Heart Hall of Honor had a modern museum with some info about the last Continental Army Winter Encampment (7500 underpaid/unpaid soldiers in 32-man wooden structures), and a gallery of Purple Heart-related items. A computer database quickly found my name and date of wounding (May 11, 1969) - I was surprised that I was in the database. Outside, a gravel path led into the woods where there were several of the old buildings from the cantonment, and a memorial monument. Unfortunately the costumed interpreters are not on duty Mon-Tue. From there we took Rte 9w over Storm King, then at Bear Mountain turned onto the Palisades Interstate Parkway. Around Haverstraw we cleverly exited to avoid what we later found out to be the non-existent toll on the Thruway between the intersection and the TZ bridge. However, there was a traffic jam on the link to 9w so we made a U-turn and returned to the Parkway, the Thruway and crossed the Tappan Zee Bridge ($5 toll eastbound). The GPS and decent signage got us to HPN early enough to get the car turned in, get our boarding passes and then find a place to get a great corned beef and sauerkraut sandwich, with a berry smoothie for dessert. Our flight this time was a short one to Philadelphia on a turboprop. We had a minimal wait at PHL before boarding but then there was a problem with fueling and we had to get off the plane and walk across two concourses to a different gate to go through the boarding process again. While waiting I grabbed several Philadelphia soft pretzels to tide us over until we got home. We were a couple of hours late getting in to SEA but we had no trouble getting our gate-checked bags and hopping on the shuttle to Extra Car where our car was ready and waiting for us. (No extra charge for being an hour or so late.) For a sad event like a memorial service, it was remarkably upbeat and even fun. Who knows when the Farnsworth siblings will once again all get together.
15 August 2013
Dan Heath Memorial Party
and fly-in
9-12 August 2013
Dan succumbed to cancer a month or more ago but this was the first opportunity for his pilot friends to gather. Dave Verbois hosted almost two dozen friends and spouses at his cabin near Winthrop where Dan had been a frequent visitor.
9 Aug, Fri - Since nothing was scheduled for Friday, we got a late start, but around 1330 we pulled the Aliner out of the driveway and headed over Snoqualmie and Blewett passes. Traffic was minimal and we arrived in about 4.5 hours including a stop to top up the gas tank in Cashmere ($3.769) (GasBuddy app had pointed out that gas was over $4 a gallon in the Winthrop area). We had dinner with Dave and Jaro Lahulek and Leslie got home a bit later from her part time job at River Run Resort (or Riverside or River-something else). Ray Kehl and Forrest "Frosty" Keller arrived later and so did Steve and Susan Stroming. Dan "Sparky" Peterson dropped in for a while on his motorcycle then headed back to his lodging in town. We were glad that I had put the roof straps over the Aliner roof and the painter pole extended from A-wall to A-wall because we had strong winds, some rain and lots of thunder and lightning.
10 Aug, Sat - Patti Fujii arrived in her new 2010 Honda Insight; she had camped in her car at the local KOA not being sure if she could find the cabin in the dark. Ida and her husband of two years, Terry, showed up in a big motor home. Jim Lorenz and Roy Olson drove up together but just for the day. The forecast was pretty good for flying at Goat but there was a 30% chance of thundershowers and big cumulus development could be seen over the North Cascades. We all headed up to Mazama, minus Leslie who had to work, plus Leslie's daughter Julie and her friend Todd. We milled around at the Mazama store for a while and walked out to the corral LZ. Finally it looked like the wind was switching from down-valley to up-valley so we drove to the launch. Since Jim and Roy weren't staying for the dinner and informal memorial, they recounted some stories, mostly about trips to Mexico with Dan. Dave had brought Dan's cremains and we spread some around launch and put some in baggies to carry into the air. Just about every pilot flew including C.J. but I decided to drive down instead. C.J. landed after a good flight just as I got to the LZ. We hung out at the store for a while after getting packed up then most people headed back to Dave's. C.J. and I went back to the LZ and ran into Carl Bevis who had just arrived. Steve Stroming was finally heading out to land between Flagg and Bear Mtns and Carl found him first and gave him a ride home so C.J. and I were on our own. Back at Dave's there was a big tub of cold beer, wine and soft drinks plus a bunch of chips, salsa and chunky guacamole to eat while we told tales of Dan's exploits. When Leslie got back from work we had pulled pork and cole slaw for a main course. Ellen and Chaffee came in a bit late because he had gone up to hike and fly Bowen Mountain, but there was plenty of food. If anyone had any room left, there was rhubarb crisp from C.J. and brownies and ice cream brought by Ellen. Julie was doing some video interviews during the evening but neither C.J. nor I could think of anything significant to say. We headed off to bed and another night of gust fronts and thunderstorms.
11 Aug, Sun - By the time we got up and joined the group who stayed over, Leslie had just about finished cooking up a bunch of scrambled eggs and sausage to go with the leftover rhubarb crisp and cherry coffee cake. Most folks started packing up and heading home after breakfast; unfortunately for some, the North Cascades Hwy had been closed by massive slides caused by the heavy rain up there overnight. Since the Sunday traffic was going to be even worse than usual on I-90, we decided to stay another night. Flying didn't seem like a good idea since the chance of T-storms was 50%, so we took Steve's suggestion and headed north of Winthrop for a hike. It was about twenty miles to the Freezeout Ridge/Tiffany Mountain trailhead.along the east fork of the Chewuch and Boulder Creek. In fact, we drove through much evidence of the 2011 Boulder Creek Fire and even hiked
through some burned area. It was a surprise to reach the trailhead (1200) and find a half dozen cars already there since the last few miles of the road were gravel and pretty well washboarded. Starting from 6500 we climbed steadily through forest (some burned) until we broke out on the ridge which was covered with grass, rocks and lots of wildflowers. As we passed the jct leading R to Whistler Pass and started climbing more steeply toward the 8200 ft summit, the sky began showing signs of overdevelopment closer to us. By the time we had reached 7900 ft it was pretty clear that we were in for a storm. Another hundred feet or so higher we felt the first raindrops and the temperature dropped along with the increase in wind velocity. We pulled on cagoules and rain parkas and headed down after a quick detour to look over Whistler Pass and the Conconully valley. Thunder was rumbling in the near distance but lightning was fortunately so far absent. On the way out we saw one other couple heading down and two other folks coming up (!) the ridge. It never rained hard which was just as well since we had not brought along rain pants and I didn't have a fleece jacket, not having expected it to get cold. Most of the cars were still at the trailhead when we left (1530 or so). Back in Winthrop it was hot and dry and we stopped to get an ice cream cone and window shop the nifty-gifty stores along the main street. When we arrived back at Dave's cabin he and Leslie looked pretty tired so we decided to move on and camp somewhere different. We drove down through Twisp and then up US 20 to Loup Loup Pass and a Forest Service CG of the same name. It was in the forest at about 4000 ft and was nice and cool - great for camping - and uncrowded. We had no storms there overnight.
12 Aug, Mon - After breakfast we drove back down almost to Twisp and then backtracked as far as Chelan where we got enough gas ($3.879) to get us to Cle Elum at least where gas was supposed to be $3.559, but when we got there we found that the credit price was 10 cents more. Oh well, that's something that GasBuddy could improve. [Later we found out that gas prices had been dropping and in Issaquah Costco was selling regular for $3.559.] We were home by 1600.
13 Aug, Tue - Took the 1430 shuttle to fly at Tiger.
9-12 August 2013
Dan succumbed to cancer a month or more ago but this was the first opportunity for his pilot friends to gather. Dave Verbois hosted almost two dozen friends and spouses at his cabin near Winthrop where Dan had been a frequent visitor.
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| Sunday morning balloon fly-by |
10 Aug, Sat - Patti Fujii arrived in her new 2010 Honda Insight; she had camped in her car at the local KOA not being sure if she could find the cabin in the dark. Ida and her husband of two years, Terry, showed up in a big motor home. Jim Lorenz and Roy Olson drove up together but just for the day. The forecast was pretty good for flying at Goat but there was a 30% chance of thundershowers and big cumulus development could be seen over the North Cascades. We all headed up to Mazama, minus Leslie who had to work, plus Leslie's daughter Julie and her friend Todd. We milled around at the Mazama store for a while and walked out to the corral LZ. Finally it looked like the wind was switching from down-valley to up-valley so we drove to the launch. Since Jim and Roy weren't staying for the dinner and informal memorial, they recounted some stories, mostly about trips to Mexico with Dan. Dave had brought Dan's cremains and we spread some around launch and put some in baggies to carry into the air. Just about every pilot flew including C.J. but I decided to drive down instead. C.J. landed after a good flight just as I got to the LZ. We hung out at the store for a while after getting packed up then most people headed back to Dave's. C.J. and I went back to the LZ and ran into Carl Bevis who had just arrived. Steve Stroming was finally heading out to land between Flagg and Bear Mtns and Carl found him first and gave him a ride home so C.J. and I were on our own. Back at Dave's there was a big tub of cold beer, wine and soft drinks plus a bunch of chips, salsa and chunky guacamole to eat while we told tales of Dan's exploits. When Leslie got back from work we had pulled pork and cole slaw for a main course. Ellen and Chaffee came in a bit late because he had gone up to hike and fly Bowen Mountain, but there was plenty of food. If anyone had any room left, there was rhubarb crisp from C.J. and brownies and ice cream brought by Ellen. Julie was doing some video interviews during the evening but neither C.J. nor I could think of anything significant to say. We headed off to bed and another night of gust fronts and thunderstorms.
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| That sure looks like a bear in the woods... |
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| Wildflowers on Freezeout Ridge |
12 Aug, Mon - After breakfast we drove back down almost to Twisp and then backtracked as far as Chelan where we got enough gas ($3.879) to get us to Cle Elum at least where gas was supposed to be $3.559, but when we got there we found that the credit price was 10 cents more. Oh well, that's something that GasBuddy could improve. [Later we found out that gas prices had been dropping and in Issaquah Costco was selling regular for $3.559.] We were home by 1600.
13 Aug, Tue - Took the 1430 shuttle to fly at Tiger.
12 August 2013
Bear Creek Mountain, Goat Rocks Wilderness
Aug 4-6, 2013
It's been decades since I've visited the Goat Rocks; it would have been
my first trip with Explorers Caravan back in 1966 (?) when we packed into
McCall Basin. This trip was partly inspired by a report of the XC pilots flying
from Bethel Ridge above Rimrock Lake. Then, when I was in the library, the
hiker's kiosk had a book about the best wildflower hikes in Washington. I
glanced at it thinking about returning to Mt. Rainier where the wildflowers had
been so good at Paradise, but my eye was caught by a hike to a mountaintop with
a view into the Goat Rocks as well as a more distant, but still close, view of
Rainier and Adams. C.J. thought it sounded good even if the distance was right
about at the limit of what her healing foot could take. The predicted wildflower
peak season was the last week of July to the first weeks of August, so we were
right on the best time.
4 Aug, Sun - We decided to leave on Sunday afternoon to avoid the crowds and take our time. Allowing four or five hours gave us plenty of time to stop at Costco Covington for gas and lunch, and also make stops at scenic pullouts along the way. The weather cooperated nicely with warm but not hot temps, and blue sky
with some afternoon towering cumulus development. Our first scenic
stop was at the Palisades viewpoint on US 12 not far from its intersection with
SR 123. At White Pass we pulled off the highway for a quick glance at the ski
slopes before starting back down. We passed White Pass CG (at Leech (!) Lake)
and stopped to drive through the small CG at Dog Lake with Spiral Butte above.
At Clear Creek Falls we wandered alongside the fence above the quite
spectacular falls. In the distance we could see part of Rimrock Lake and our
first view of Kloochman Rock, a jagged, 1200-ft-high cleaver written about by
Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas in Men and Mountains. We turned
off US 12 on to FS 1200 Tieton Res. Rd. and then took the left fork to Clear
Lake CG North. There were two small campgrounds across the street from each
other and we chose the one that had no other campers. C.J. and I had decided
that for a one or two night stand in summer weather it didn't make sense to
take the Aliner, so we quickly set up the tent and put on the rain fly in case
the overdeveloped cu's decided to drop some rain. Then we took a scouting drive
past the Clear Lake Dam and the Clear Lake CG South (where we saw a sign for
potable water). Back on FS 1200, we drove down to Rimrock Lake passing the
turnoff for Section 3 Lake which would take us to the trailhead for tomorrow's
hike. The drive was somewhat disappointing because the road was separated from
the lake by a wooded ridge so the views were not spectacular until we reached
the shore. Then we could see a couple of nice islands, Goose Egg Mtn and
glimpses of Kloochman. We could also see Bethel Ridge in the distance. Passing
the long emergency airstrip (looked like a good LZ) we returned to US 12 and
turned west back toward camp. The road ran along Rimrock Lake for much of the
distance and we stopped once to read the history of the dam that impounds the
lake and provides irrigation water to the Yakima valley. Back at camp C.J.
prepared a surprise dinner of stir-fried fresh veggies, garlic, bacon and
parmesan cheese (in lieu of the carefully prepared sauce left behind in the
refrigerator) served with angel hair pasta. The bugs and bees were a bit of a
nuisance and we ended up hiding out in the tent before it was fully dark.
Fortunately the temperature cooled right down in the evening and the conditions
were right for sleeping.
5 Aug, Mon - Thinking that we had a fairly long drive to the trailhead followed by a fairly long hike (for us), we started getting ready around 0630. I heated up some water for tea and cocoa but we had cold cereal instead of taking the time to make and clean up oatmeal. The route started off as good gravel (FS1205), became gravel with water bars (FS1204) and then became big, angular gravel for the last few miles. Somewhere along the route we were surprised by three large female elk bounding across the road in front of us. On a sidehill stretch of the road we took a couple photos of a snaggletoothed extension of Pinegrass Ridge before finding the parking area empty at Section 3 Lake/Bear Creek Mountain trailhead (1103). I think we were there by 0830 and on the trail at 0845 but the first mile was slow-going as we climbed a few hundred feet through the forest, almost immediately passing into the Goat Rocks Wilderness. The next mile was mostly at the same elevation through forest and meadow. We crossed Bear Creek at two miles amidst a profusion of wild flowers and began to climb through rocky and sandy/ashy scree gaining 1000 ft in less than a mile to the ridgecrest. Once on the ridge the trail wended through scrub pines with a view southwest to the
Goat Rocks and Mt. Adams. Once we had
reached the rocky summit the view opened to the northwest where Rainier
dominated the horizon. Both the major volcanoes were partly shrouded in clouds
but Mt. Gilbert, Ives Peak and Old Snowy were clear in the near distance (about
four miles). We signed the summit register and noted that there had been a
bunch of people up there the day before. While eating lunch (a little early
since we had reached the summit by 1130), we were joined by the only other
hiker to climb to the top (and his young dog). After trying to take a panorama
photo with my phone camera, we started back down - much easier at first but
then more difficult as my knee began to hurt and C.J.'s foot likewise.
Nevertheless, we were back at the car by 1545 - about 6 hours to do 7 miles,
but that's including 45 minutes of lunch and summit time. Along the way, at
Bear Creek, I tried to purify some water with my SteriPen Traveler but the
power light did not illuminate - perhaps the batteries were too old. I last used
the SteriPen in Arizona when we were down there staying at Pine Top and
Flagstaff. [Should have checked the batteries before dumping out the last of my
water.] We met one other couple on the trail about a mile from the trailhead
and ran into the guy and his dog who had taken a cross-country route down from
the summit.
On the way back to camp we tried to find the water faucet at the south Clear L CG and finally noticed that there was a pump. Unfortunately it produced pretty brown water so we would use it only for washing. We also stopped at the Clear Lake dam and walked to the shore - nice lake! Back at camp we heated a pan of water and hung up the solar shower so we could rinse the day's sweat off. Dinner was soup and salad - could have used some cold beer, for sure, after that long, dry hike. We relaxed in our little camp chairs before the bugs got bad until we were ready to get some sleep.
6 Aug, Tues - Since there wasn't any great rush, we got up a little later and by the time we had oatmeal cooked there was some sun in the campsite. We were still on the road shortly after 0900 and headed for
closer views of
Kloochman Rock. On the way we stopped at the falls just below the Clear Lake
dam, and checked out some alternate camping sites. Various maps, paper and
electronic showed us a route to the east side of Kloochman [FS 1202, 571, 570
and unnamed spur]
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| Wildflowers near Chinook Pass |
4 Aug, Sun - We decided to leave on Sunday afternoon to avoid the crowds and take our time. Allowing four or five hours gave us plenty of time to stop at Costco Covington for gas and lunch, and also make stops at scenic pullouts along the way. The weather cooperated nicely with warm but not hot temps, and blue sky
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| Clear Creek Falls |
5 Aug, Mon - Thinking that we had a fairly long drive to the trailhead followed by a fairly long hike (for us), we started getting ready around 0630. I heated up some water for tea and cocoa but we had cold cereal instead of taking the time to make and clean up oatmeal. The route started off as good gravel (FS1205), became gravel with water bars (FS1204) and then became big, angular gravel for the last few miles. Somewhere along the route we were surprised by three large female elk bounding across the road in front of us. On a sidehill stretch of the road we took a couple photos of a snaggletoothed extension of Pinegrass Ridge before finding the parking area empty at Section 3 Lake/Bear Creek Mountain trailhead (1103). I think we were there by 0830 and on the trail at 0845 but the first mile was slow-going as we climbed a few hundred feet through the forest, almost immediately passing into the Goat Rocks Wilderness. The next mile was mostly at the same elevation through forest and meadow. We crossed Bear Creek at two miles amidst a profusion of wild flowers and began to climb through rocky and sandy/ashy scree gaining 1000 ft in less than a mile to the ridgecrest. Once on the ridge the trail wended through scrub pines with a view southwest to the
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| Mt Gilbert from Bear Crk Mtn |
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| G climbing to ridge |
On the way back to camp we tried to find the water faucet at the south Clear L CG and finally noticed that there was a pump. Unfortunately it produced pretty brown water so we would use it only for washing. We also stopped at the Clear Lake dam and walked to the shore - nice lake! Back at camp we heated a pan of water and hung up the solar shower so we could rinse the day's sweat off. Dinner was soup and salad - could have used some cold beer, for sure, after that long, dry hike. We relaxed in our little camp chairs before the bugs got bad until we were ready to get some sleep.
6 Aug, Tues - Since there wasn't any great rush, we got up a little later and by the time we had oatmeal cooked there was some sun in the campsite. We were still on the road shortly after 0900 and headed for
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| Clear Lake Falls |
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| NW spires of Kloochman Rock |
and we drove on steadily narrowing roads until we reached the
end. Apparently there is no close approach to the base of Kloochman on a road.
We had to settle for glimpses of one section or another of the rocky ridge.
When we returned to US 12 we turned east and almost immediately came to the
turnoff for Bethel Ridge (A sign indicated that FS road 1500 went all the way
through to SR 410 (at Nile) but it looked like a long drive on gravel.). By the
time we had reached the junction with 410 we were in a more typical dry E WA
ecosystem with lots of columnar basalt lava flows. According to Roadside
Geology of Washington Cleman Mtn is a tightly folded anticline and 410 runs
in the syncline between it and the next ridge to the south. Our first stop was
just
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| G in Boulder Cave |
beyond Cliffdell at Boulder Cave and picnic area (USFS). There were a
surprising number of cars in the small parking lot considering that it was a
Tuesday but we were lucky enough to have the 400-yd-long cave to ourselves. It
was 0.25 mi or more uphill paralleling a deep slot canyon to the cave entrance.
The cave resulted from the collapse of a big chunk of undercut lava flow and
the stream still flows along the floor of the cave. Farther along 410 we
stopped at a viewpoint for Fife Peak (Tom Fife was a local miner according to
the information posted). Around 1300 we reached the Chinook Pass area and it
looked like we were definitely back in the crowds we had experienced last week
in Mt. Rainier National Park. Still, we found a place to pull off the road
almost beneath the pedestrian overpass/entrance arch to the park. We grabbed
lunch and our "sit-upons" and headed down the PCT trail toward Tipsoo
Lakes. Wildflowers were present in profusion and we selected a place to sit in
a little meadow where we could enjoy the color of glacier lilies, magenta
paintbrush, pasque flowers, lupines and many others. [The loop trail around
Naches Peak looks like a good bet this time of year for a reasonable (4.5 mi)
wildflower hike without any major ascents or descents. Parking is also
available at Tipsoo Lakes.] Back in the car we drove down the switchbacks on
the west side of Chinook Pass remembering why it wasn't advisable to attempt to
ski that road. We took the detour around the east side of Enumclaw to avoid
city traffic. We stopped to shop, get gas and buy an ice cream bar at Costco
and then headed for home arriving around 1600.
02 August 2013
Pacific Science Center
Aug 1, 2013
One of the organizations that C.J. helps support is the Pac. Sci. Ctr. at Seattle Center, the site of the 1961 World's Fair. The attraction this season was a traveling exhibit called Imaginate which presented various examples of innovation from straw bale house construction to paper airplanes. One of the exhibits provided fabric wings that could be slipped on over your arms. A counter indicated how many beats per minute were achieved. The wings were nowhere near large enough to achieve a glide, much less a flight but were nicely constructed. A nearby scale showed that C.J., for example, would need a wingspan of 5.25 meters (about 16 ft - hmmm, much less than the span of a hang glider).
Near the theater there was a good display on the International Space Station. One of the animations showed an interesting timeline of the construction of the space station. We also toured the large, new interactive exhibit on health.
When it got to be lunch time, we went over to what used to be called the Center House [Remember when there used to be a spherical, glass elevator called the Bubbleator?] and is now back to its original name, the Armory. It's still a large room lined with fast food kitchens. We opted for one with a Middle East theme, Kabob, and ordered a falafel sandwich and a gyro. Both were freshly made and passably good.
The science center was quite busy with foreign tour groups and lots of day camp kids in green t-shirts plus the usual local families. By 1545 we were ready to head for home. Even that time was a little too late as traffic was backed up on Mercer and Denny didn't seem that much better. The GPS kept insisting that we take the route through downtown; that worked out maybe a little better. Once we were on the freeways, we could use the HOV lanes and we made good time.
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