Rob’s Birthday in Florida

10-17 December 2013

What started out as a trip to visit C.J.’s brother Rob and maybe help him get the family home in Palm Coast cleaned out a bit turned into a family reunion lacking only brothers Greg and Bill.

C.J. and I left as usual in the dark of a cold and rainy morning. We left the car at Sandstone Inn parking lot when I found out that the prices that AboutAirportParking.com quoted were higher than what the Sandstone quoted online. [I was amazed.] We met Ginny and Wally in Atlanta and then shared a ride with them in their rental car from JAX to Palm Coast where Rob met us with snacks and drinks. [That was plenty to eat because we had a meal during our layover in Atlanta.]

A breakfast on the coast at the Java Joint was the exception to our usual morning oatmeal but it was enjoyable to sit on the porch sheltered from the north wind. Back at the house we spent much of the rest of the day raking up the maple leaves which were still falling as we bagged up the piles. Meanwhile Wally used the electric leaf blower to clear the roof of pine needles.

Mary and Dave flew in from Chicago and Pat drove down from Williamsburg, VA. On Saturday Jennifer and Kevin came over from Tampa with their newborn daughter, Macy. That night Mary prepared her signature pot roast and we all had a great meal. C.J. baked fresh rolls; Jenn and Kevin brought Key lime pie and fresh crab; and Mary whipped up a batch of brownies (which, together with the pie and ice cream, gave us the requisite three desserts).

Meanwhile during the week, Rob, Dave, Wally and I worked on clearing the accumulated grime and hard-water deposits off the windows. Windex took some of it off but we needed to soak some of the worst ones in CLR and then attack them with a razor blade scraper. The sisters mostly worked on deciding what should be kept and what could be thrown out or donated to Goodwill. Many trips were made to Goodwill. On the last couple of days C.J. and Ginny spent hours going through boxes and boxes of photos, discarding most of the travel photos unless they were good ones that contained a family member.

By Monday we were ready for a break and everyone else had left except us, Rob and Gin. We took an evening walk along the Intracoastal Waterway down to the children’s memorial park. Before heading back to the house for another dinner of leftover pot roast, we stopped at Farley’s, an Irish/sports bar in European Village.

Rob and Gin drove us to the airport around 1100 on Tuesday. We got there in plenty of time to have a hearty lunch at a decent restaurant before going to our gate. It was a good thing we got filled up because there wasn’t time in Minneapolis to get a bite before boarding. We were a little late getting into Seattle (probably because the flight out of Minneapolis was late leaving the gate). It didn’t matter since we had to hang out and wait for our checked baggage – Rob had given us two old suitcases so C.J. could take home some mementos she wanted to save. We were lucky to catch the Sandstone Inn shuttle without even having to call for a pickup.

It seemed like a successful trip to me. Rob had already gotten rid of a lot of stuff before we got there, but we really whittled down the piles that were cluttering up the place. The living room looked pretty nice by the time we left.

2013 Christmas Letter

Dear Friends,

Happy Holidays!  This time last year C.J. and I were preparing for the once-in-a-lifetime Panama Canal cruise. In 2013 we’re just back from Florida for a Farnsworth family gathering (mid-December) and then, on Christmas day, we fly almost as far south as the equator to Colombia for a paragliding trip. As you can see we’ve made a conscious decision to do as much as we can as long as we can keep on doing it. Thus, we’ve also scheduled our first trip to Africa for early March – we’re hoping for fall-like weather in South Africa to provide some paragliding and general tourist-ing as well.

Last January was an exception to our usual plan to go somewhere warm to get out of the gloom-and-doom of a Seattle-style winter. We had plenty of sunshine, fluffy snow and blue skies in Yellowstone, but the temperatures were anything but warm, hovering close to zero during the day. Ginny and Wally joined us at the Worldmark resort in West Yellowstone and we did some ski touring and just plain touring using snowcoaches to get into the park all the way to Old Faithful. The photo above is from a ski trip in to Taggart Lake in the Tetons on the way back from Yellowstone.

Good thing we got the active stuff out of the way because in February C.J. had elective surgery to fix a bunion that was making walking, skiing, even square dancing painful. Remembering her first bunionectomy decades ago, we expected a quick return to full activity. That wasn’t the case and even now her right foot isn’t pain-free. Meanwhile I was trying to stay active by going for a hike twice a week while C.J. was in physical therapy. Even with C.J. on a knee scooter we managed to attend the USHPA board meeting in Colorado Springs, especially important because Wally was being recognized for his service with one of the highest awards of the Association. Shortly after getting home I found the (almost) perfect replacement for our old Subaru: a new-to-us Kia Sorento, and later sold the Trooper, so we are now a one-car family.

After rigging the Sorento up with a trailer hitch and the required wiring, we took our first new-car “camping” trip down to Dog Mountain for the Frostbite Fly-in, although C.J. wasn’t ready to fly just 2½ months after surgery. C.J. continued PT through May while I put up a new section of fence hoping to keep the deer from eating the garden goodies that C.J. was working so hard on growing. Our second camp-out was at the Blanchard Hill fly-in where we celebrated C.J.’s birthday by going out to dinner at a well-regarded restaurant on the bay, and by C.J.’s first flights since her foot surgery.

The demise of the multi-purpose New Home “sewing” machine, also decades old, necessitated a replacement. The new Baby Lock Unity does much finer embroidery as well as providing state-of-the-art laser marking and more decorative stitches than we’ll probably ever use. Later in June we went to the 11^th annual Rat Race at Woodrat Mountain and on several of the non-flying days we went hiking and to Oregon Cave Nat. Monument (and I got a new mobile phone that actually works outside of cities – 425-260-4842).

Then things began to get busy: we came back from Oregon and went right to Chelan for the XC Classic and a week later caught a buddy-pass flight to Alaska. Once again C.J. had an assignment to write an article for HG&PG magazine about the chapter of the year – the Arctic Airwalkers. Just like the Hawaii group last year, the Anchorage-based members put us up in their homes, drove us around to their flying sites and fed us like kings. The weather was perfect, the bugs were practically non-existent and we actually got some decent flying in extremely scenic places. Back at home C.J.’s brother Rob and sister Ginnie visited us, and their uncle. We got Rob down to Mt. Rainier for a hike to Alta Vista above Paradise, and we all got to check out the new visitor’s center.

In August after a three day trip to camp and hike into the Goat Rocks Wilderness, we took the next two weekends to attend memorial gatherings. First for Dan, one of our paragliding friends, we went to his friend Dave’s cabin near Winthrop and scattered his ashes as we flew from Goat Peak. C.J. and I got in another hike the next day and barely escaped a thunderstorm. The next weekend all but one of the Farnsworth siblings and a few of the next generation (and for pregnant Jennifer, the next-next generation) gathered at the old Tuthill plot in the Washingtonville, NY, cemetery to lay the ashes of their mother beside their father’s remains. Despite the reason for the gathering, it was still a celebration more of connections than of death. When C.J. and I weren’t meeting or eating with the rest of the family, we toured around the area to see places that we remembered from our time in nearby New Paltz.

By the time we flew home, summer was winding down. There was just time to go to Dog for Tina and Larry’s anniversary before we took off for a distant Labor Day fly-in at Sand Turn near Sheridan, WY. We had a great time driving through Yellowstone and over the Beartooth Scenic Highway and Big Horn Mountains. On the way back we drove up into the Wind River Mountains and hiked to Upper Green River Lake through magnificent scenery. Next we tried flying right from our campsite in Jackson Hole with some local pilots but the scenery was better than the flying conditions. On the way home we overnighted in Yellowstone where we ditched the crowds by taking a hike along the canyon rim. Two days later Belinda and Davis welcomed us to Boise with lunch and a house concert.

Back home we found that our water bill was astronomical! The main line was gushing, not leaking; fortunately our neighbor was able to get a fix on it and do another repair to the kitchen drain while he was eeling around in the too-low crawl space. So there was no reason we couldn’t take off for another couple of distant fall fly-ins…except for the three feet of recently-fallen snow on the Mt. Howard launch. Oh well, there wasn’t any snow in the red rock country of central Utah so we went for that fly-in by way of far eastern Oregon and northern Nevada. We were lucky to catch the aspens still glowing golden on a hike to alpine lakes and bristlecone pines in Great Basin National Park before reaching Richfield, UT, and two of the highest launches we’ve taken off from (one at 11,200ft). The camping at Castle Rocks was particularly scenic.

No long trips in October because the USHPA board meeting was held in Renton, only a half hour from home. But we were able to get to the Halloween/Women’s Fly-in at Lake Chelan this year for the first time in many years (usually the board meeting conflicts with it) and we opted for kayaking on Sun Lakes rather than doing short paraglider flights from Chelan Butte.

A windstorm in early November blew out a section of our aging fence but we were able to patch it back together, avoiding an expensive and time-consuming replacement. We chose to celebrate our 37^th anniversary in Canada as we had last year, but this time in Vancouver. We used our timeshare points to book a week at The Canadian, a high rise condo right down town. It was a different experience having a view from the 22^nd floor of city lights rather than the usual ground-level view of mountains and meadows.

That about covers what we’ve been up to. If you want even more detail, go to my blog or C.J.’s online scrapbook. Speaking of which, C.J. continues to scrap every day both digitally and on actual paper (where cut-and-paste means with scissors and glue!). Sewing with the new machine and making greeting cards also keep her creative juices flowing. In preparation for our Colombia trip she conscientiously spends an hour each day studying Spanish, usually before I even get out of bed. As copy editor and staff writer for HG&PG magazine, C.J. puts in much more than the ten hours a month for which she is paid. [I get to read her edited copy as an unpaid backup.] So far we both seem to be blessed with the good-health gene (fingers crossed, knock on wood) although we’ve seen some erosion in what we can do, or at least, in how fast we can do it.

As we think of all our friends during this holiday season, we hope you are enjoying good health and finding things to do that make you happy. We always love hearing from you. MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Love,

C.J. and George

Anniversary in Vancouver, BC

18-25 November 2013

Caption for A-Maze-ing Laughter sculpture

After the success of last year’s anniversary in Victoria, C.J. thought that we should do another Canadian city for this year’s thirty-seventh celebration. We haven’t spent a night in Vancouver since the era of Expo 86 excepting a few overnights in the backyard of a fellow pilot on the North Shore during Grouse Mountain Fly-ins. C.J. found a week just before Thanksgiving available at the Worldmark resort in downtown Vancouver and we used some of our expiring points to book it, a win-win situation.

Anniversary selfie

18 Nov, Mon – We got on the road around 1220 and stopped at the Burlington Costco for a rotisserie chicken and a Costco lunch. We also filled the gas tank with the cheapest gas we’ve seen in a long time - $2.999. Waiting time at the I-5 border crossing was 15-20 minutes and then we got into a real traffic slowdown where three lanes merged into one at the George Massey Bridge under the Fraser River. That put us in Vancouver at the height of the rush hour – around 1700 – in the dark and rain. We had no trouble finding the Worldmark building, a 32-story highrise at 1080 Hornby, just a couple of blocks south of Robson and one block east of Burrard. C.J. went in to register while I waited in a no parking zone for directions to the gated underground parking. Once we were parked, we moved our stuff to the 22^nd-floor two-bedroom unit with a hotel cart. The view to the north was particularly good with tall buildings and the canyon-like Hornby St. with its glow of bright red taillights. Later we noticed that one of the buildings had a trapezoidal light display that changed color. After a dinner of rotisserie chicken and chocolate cake with whipped cream, we spent some time planning a hike for the next day. After much discussion, we decided that Hollyburn Peak near Cypress Mountain sounded like a good choice but we’d have to wait for the morning to see what the weather and snow accumulation looked like.

19 Nov, Tue – The morning started off partly cloudy and we could see snow on the mountains to the north especially on the higher summits. The deal breaker was the sub-freezing temperature and the howling wind. Later, as the clouds burned off the temperature inched up and we

"Digital Orca" at Canada Place

headed out for a walk in the city. We walked north past the law courts and the Vancouver Art Gallery heading for the convention centers at Canada Place. We stopped at the Vancouver Tourism office and got some maps and additional info about hikes. We walked around the west conv. ctr. reading the historical signage on the fence along the seawall. C.J. took some photos that included The Drop, a large blue raindrop crafted by Inges Idee, and Digital Orca by Douglas Coupland. I walked past the nearby 2010 Olympic Cauldron without recognizing it. We then walked through the east convention center which had three totem poles, the large one carved in the 1900’s. We didn’t take in the expensive Fly Above Canada but did stop for the multi-media War of 1812 presentation, an interesting perspective from the Canadian, British, U.S. and First Nations viewpoints. Then we walked back up Burrard Street through the shopping and restaurant district back to our suite for lunch and a rest. We had gotten some general directions to some artwork we wanted to see so we set off along Davie Street. There were lots of shops and eating places but it was clear that we were not in the high-rent district any longer.

Inukshuk at English Bay Beach

Heading south on Bidwell we reached the shore of English Bay and the inukshuk, a stone structure resembling the human form, constructed by Alvin Kanak. “A gift to the city from the Northwest Territories during Expo 86; it later became to symbol of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.” A small crowd had gathered nearby where a sailboat had been washed onto the seawall and was

C.J. amid A-Maze-ing Laughter

taking a pounding from the wind-driven waves. Walking west along the Seaside Bicycle Route at English Bay Beach, we finally reached the group of large, bronze, cartoonish figures called A-Maze-ing Laughter, by Chinese artist Yue Minjun. After taking a bunch of pictures, we started our return by going north on Denman (passing several falafel eateries and other ethnic choices), then turning east on Comox which at that point was a greenway rather than a street. At the top of the hill we cut through a small park (Mole Hill Park?) and in two blocks we were back at Hornby and  WorldMark. Back on the 22^nd floor we found our door was unlocked and that it wouldn’t lock when we closed it. We reported it to Jennifer at the front desk and she sent up a maintenance guy while we went over to the Sheraton to enjoy a soak in their hot tub. Back at the desk we found out that the lock would have to wait for repair until the maintenance man who knew how to fix it came on duty Wednesday. WM was willing to move us for the night but since we weren’t going out, we could lock the door from the inside. C.J. whipped up some pork stew from the roast we had brought with us; so far we haven’t spent any money, Canadian or otherwise.

20 Nov, Wed - Last night we decided that it was time to give Hollyburn Pk in Cypress Mtn Prov Park a try so after breakfast we drove across the Lion’s Gate Bridge and west on Canada1/99 then up the long switchbacks of Cypress Bowl Rd. We stopped at the second turn to look out over Burrard Inlet, English Bay and Vancouver in the morning sun. By the time we reached the trailhead for Hollyburn Peak there was snow on the road and piles along the side where it had been plowed. The temperature was below freezing but the wind that had been so strong yesterday was mild to calm. There were a couple of cars in the Nordic ski/snowshoe parking lot but when we got out and walked around a bit we found that the snow was frozen and icy. We decided to do something in the lowlands instead of struggling up an icy trail in snow that would only get deeper. Since we were not far from the downhill ski area we drove the rest of the way there and found that they were making snow and the area was having its opening day. The parking attendant reported that the temperature was -8 Celsius, but that hadn’t kept a sizable number of skiers and boarders from getting their first runs of the season. We headed down and found our way to Marine Drive by returning to

Point Atkinson Light House

Exit 10 and finding a street that went through. Marine Drive took us to the entrance to Lighthouse Park which is a forested chunk of land preserved from logging and development (because the lighthouse on Pt Atkinson needed a dark area behind the light). We found a map brochure and took the most direct route downhill to the lighthouse area. I wore my new boots to see how much breaking-in they needed (not much, it turned out). Just outside the closed Coast Guard area there were several buildings which are used by the community for retreats, day camps and other events. We climbed up to the “lighthouse view” which didn’t have a very good view probably because of the new tree growth below the viewpoint. However, the view from the rocks of West Beach were excellent. Later we climbed to another farther west viewpoint for lunch. We had views of Bowen Island across the mouth of Howe Sound, and Vancouver Island in the distance. We saw several barges under tow and the Horseshoe Cove-Nanaimo BC Ferry. After lunch we retraced our steps to the camp buildings and continued to East Beach, Arbutus Knoll and the Valley Trail. Since none of the trails were very long we took the longer one, Arbutus Trail which climbed steeply over a ridge and just as steeply down the other side. We then picked up the Valley of Giants trail, through an area with large cedars, to the Summit trail. A short but harrowing climb over slippery rock got us to an actual summit. From there it was a short descent to the parking lot and by 1430 we were heading back to Marine drive. We made a quick stop for groceries in Ambleside (?) and then ran into four lanes of traffic trying to merge to one lane to cross the Lion’s Gate Bridge. Still, we were back to the condo early and found that our door had been repaired. [BTW, the manager said that he was giving us a housekeeping token for the inconvenience of having our door unable to be locked.] C.J. made another stew-like dish for dinner and we talked about when we should go out for our anniversary dinner.

 21 Nov, Thu – We didn’t get out until after 1000 but we did get some good Maui pancakes with blueberry jam, and I found a coupon for The Salmon House in West Vancouver and made reservations on line for Thursday evening.

Lynn Canyon suspension bridge

Our plan for the day was to go to Lynn Canyon and do a couple of short hikes, loops if possible, and that’s what we did. We started by dropping in to the Lynn Canyon Ecology Center where we picked up a paper map and talked to the person at the desk about routes. She asked us about conditions at Hollyburn because she was heading there on Sunday and she had been out at Lighthouse Park on that really windy Tuesday. We started by crossing the famous Lynn Canyon suspension bridge first built back in the early 1910’s. Today it was treacherously slippery with frost covering the wooden treads, so careful stepping on the roughened metal sections was necessary. From that highpoint, 150 m over the water, we went south, downstream, through forest on the Baden Powell trail and on stairs to cross another bridge at Twin Falls. From there we climbed back up to the level of the Ecology Center, café (closed for the season) and the parking lot. After a look at the map, we decided to do a loop to the north and maybe continue on around Rice Lake. Back across the still slippery suspension bridge and then down a rougher trail over lots of exposed roots we reached the 30 Ft Pool, a deep, clear body of water just upstream of an island in Lynn

C.J. at Rice Lake

Creek. To continue to the next bridge we had to climb the 160 or so steps of a rustic stairway. At the top a right fork went to more stairs, so we went left, saw the pedestrian bridge leading out to Lynn Avenue and continued up a narrow gravel road to the entrance to the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve. Twenty or so seniors were gathered near the entrance with daypacks and hiking poles (the first folks with poles we had seen so far), obviously ready for a group hike. We passed them and in a quarter mile reached Rice Lake. A display showed what the old flume looked like; it had been used for getting 56-in.-long bolts of cedar down to “Moodyville” where there was a mill back in the early 1900s. Rice Lake had been used as a storage place for the bolts, then the loggers raised the level of the lake 9m and sent the bolts down the flume. The walk around the lake was pleasant but cold – there was even a skim of ice on some of the inlets. We finally found an opening in the brush on a peninsula and sat down in the sun for some lunch. Afterward we continued around the lake to the south end where there was a fishing pier which was almost totally covered in frost feathers (except where the sun had hit it). We took a slightly different route back to the suspension bridge, going down the second set of stairs as well

A window table at The Salmon House

as the first set. The bridge was still slippery and by now even the slip-resistant metal was no longer so slip-resistance. A large group of older students were just starting across; we didn’t stay to watch. We got back to the condo by 1530 and rested up, got showers and then got dressed to go to dinner at The Salmon House On The Hill in West Vancouver. Traffic was pretty crazy in downtown Vancouver at 1830 but we made it to the restaurant just a little later than 1900 anyway. The view was as good as advertised and the food likewise – almost like being back on the cruise ship. We had New Orleans-style clam chowder and mussels and tempura prawns for appetizers; tortilla-encrusted trout and alder-smoked salmon for entrees; and dessert was a pavlova (meringue/chocolate mousse) and Paris Brest (a puff pastry with coffee crème and chocolate sauce). With a couple of drinks it came to over $90 – good thing we don’t do that too often!

22 Nov, Fri – After an hour’s worth of internet research I called Bayshore bike rentals on Denman near Spokes, the other (and more expensive) rental place right on Georgia and Denman. [The cheapest place, Ezee Rider, apparently was closed to prepare for the snowboard season.] We walked the mile-and-a-quarter along Robson through the downtown shopping area in sunshine that kept us comfortable while wearing just fleece jackets despite the sub-zero (Celsius) temps. The shop attendant at Bayshore found us bikes that fit, provided us with helmets and U-locks, a map of the trails and sent us off out the back door through the parking lot. [Parking lot! We could have driven to Bayshore!] After circling the parking lot to get the feel of the bikes (21 speed mtn bikes with front shocks [mine anyway]), we headed NW along Alberni

Totems in Stanley Park

on a green-painted bicycle lane right to Lost Lagoon. There we found the designated bicycle path for the seawall promenade, almost always separated from the walking path and usually sharing with the inline skate path. We made our first stop pretty soon to don wind jackets. Later, in the shade and where the morning dew had not melted, C.J. put on her windpants (I had left mine at home, I guess) and I fit my warm hat under my helmet. We spent some time at the totem poles, stopped for a picture at the 9 O’clock Gun,

C.J. and our bikes near "Girl in a Wetsuit"

Brockton Pt. Lighthouse, Girl in a Wetsuit, the figurehead of the Empress of Japan and the view from beneath the Lion’s Gate Bridge. About that time we began to notice that the rock faces above us were covered with ice! – It was cold, luckily there was no wind. We kept moving until we got back in the sun just past Siwash Rock, then stopped at a minor projection to have lunch in the increasingly weak sunshine. From there it wasn’t far past Ferguson Point, Second Beach, and the pool to Lost Lagoon. We discussed continuing down the seawall to English Bay Beach, but we had had enough of the cold so headed back to the bike shop and paid for the
2.5 hrs ($38.40 incl GST and locks). The walk back in midafternoon was quite a bit more crowded – maybe because the high school students were heading home. We stopped for chocolate-dipped ice cream cones at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Back at the condo I was ready for a nap before downloading our photos from our cameras

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23 Nov, Sat – We got a leisurely start sometime after 1000 walking down Nelson to Granville (which seemed a bit seamy) and across the Granville Bridge. Then we found our way somewhat circuitously to

Part of Granville Public Market

Granville Island. There was an abundance of shops and galleries to explore but we spent most of our time in the Public Market which definitely felt more foreign than the Pike Place Market in Seattle (although we haven’t been there in years so maybe it feels foreign, too). Wandering through other areas like Net Loft and the Railspur District we stopped in a shop where they were making brooms from sorghum, and another shop that had lots of items that may have been First Nation work. Back at the Public Market we decided on a salmon chowder pie for lunch – very good with nice flaky crust ($10.50). Then we found a gelato stand with peach-mango and coffee flavors, both excellent ($10.25). Since there were no seats available – the area that was usually extra seating was full of holiday craft and foods booths – we sat on a bench outside in the sun to finish our gelatos. If the sunshine had been any weaker it would have been too

Aquabus and Telus World of Science

cold. Having done enough window shopping, we caught the Aquabus to the end of False Creek ($7) where we walked along a trail to the Telus World of Science, the last-standing, now re-purposed, building of Expo 86. Our Pacific Science Center membership cards provided free entrance. We took in a show on electricity (using a pickle for a light bulb!?), then wandered through most of the exhibit and activity halls. The feature exhibition was “Amped” about modern music. The display of “amptiques” included some things we still use. Body Works showed how a Canadian science exhibit might differ from one in the US by including life size and generally anatomically accurate male and female figures.  We looked into the KEVA gallery where many kids and families were creating various things with wooden planks and pieces. The Sara Stern Gallery had displays of natural history –dinosaurs, a beaver lodge big enough to climb into, animal skins and such. By 1600 we were pretty tired and ready to head back to the condo. It was a fairly long walk but mostly on a pedestrian trail past the BC Place stadium and the Edgewater Casino, then up Smithe St. to Hornby and home.

24 Nov, Sun – Around 1030 we started on our walk through the Heritage District of Vancouver and on to

Narrow building in Gastown

other parts of the downtown. We walked up Hornby to Georgia then across to Burrard. C.J. caught a reflection of the Hotel Vancouver in a building east of the Vancouver Art Gallery (with the overscaled roof clock on Parr and Fee’s 1912 Vancouver Block). The 1889 Christ Church Cathedral is the oldest church in the city. C.J. took some more photos of architectural details on the Marine Building (1929) to the NW. Near the bottom of Burrard we turned E on Hastings then dropped down to the CPR

Gastown Steam Clock

station. Across the street was the ornately-columned temple-styled Bank of Commerce building (1908), since re-purposed as the Birks Jewelers building, with the Birks Clock in front. We continued Cordova and then Water Street into Gastown where we were just in time for the 1130 rendering of “Westminster Chimes” on the Steam Clock. We stopped in a couple of souvenir shops/native art galleries as we worked our way east to the Gassy Jack Statue across from a very narrow flatiron building. To reach Chinatown, second largest on the Pacific coast,

Chinatown gate on Pender St.

we took Carral and soon found ourselves in a block-long flea market inhabited by a mixed bag of locals and street people. Leaving that behind, we reached Pender and looked west to the entrance arch to Chinatown. We turned east and walked past many small shop, most closed on Sunday, to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Park (next to the classical garden of the same name. After a brief tour we continued E on Pender passing many local food shops selling dried fish, veggies and sundry unidentifiable things. Reaching the edge of Chinatown we turned south on Gore then back W on Keefer. We walked through a park and then through International Plaza and past the impressive Vancouver Public Library to reach the Christmas Market set up in Queen Elizabeth Plaza. The long line of people waiting to pay to get in so they could buy gifts and food convinced us to skip that opportunity.

In Falafel Maison with owner

Instead we headed west on Robson and found the Falafel Maison just past Seymour. It was a tiny place with inside seating for six but we got our falafel sandwich (pita) and schwarma platter (meat, salad, rice, tabouleh and a pita round) and carried it all out to a sidewalk table. It was warmer than yesterday and the food and Lebanese shop owners were both very nice. Heading for home around 1400 we stopped at Robson Park and descended to the ice rink then climbed up the stairs on the other side to the Law Courts (with the giant red spring sculpture) and out onto Hornby. Back home by 1500 we were ready for a rest. There was plenty of stew left for dinner so we didn’t need the additional pot of soup. Around 2100 we left the condo again, this time to Christ Church Cathedral for the Compline Service. There were quite a few attendees but not enough to fill up the rather small (for a cathedral) church. Much of the service was familiar to old Catholics and some of the Gregorian chant was even in Latin. On our way back to the condo through the still-busy street we looked into the impressive Hotel Vancouver, noticed the “dripping” Christmas lights on Robson, and walked through the lighted trees at the Sheraton.

Cathedral Place

25 Nov, Mon – After getting mostly packed up we dropped a load in the car and then went out to look at some architectural details downtown. We stopped at the old Provincial Courthouse, now the Vancouver Art Gallery, and also took a bunch of photos of the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (gargoyles, dragons and various other beasts). The Cathedral was open for visiting so we went in and checked out the stained glass and huge organ. Next door is Cathedral Place and the builders had created a bit of open space between the two buildings. It had Gothic-like arches and reminded one of a cathedral close or cloister. On the same building were large replica statues of three nurses that had been on the Georgia Medical Dental Building which used to occupy the site. [The Vancouver Walks guidebook wryly claims that they are the Rea sisters, Dia, Pia and Gonno.] By then it was getting close to our checkout deadline of noon so we returned to the condo and cleared out. We retraced our route home but in sunshine instead of rain. There was a 25 min. wait at the border but none at the George Massey Bridge this time. We stopped at Burlington Costco for gas ($3.059) and lunch and some groceries and were home by 1530.

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Talapus and Olallie Lakes

 4 Nov 2013

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The sun was shining although the forecast for later was rain. There was a trace of snow near the top of 4000-ft Mt. Si in our backyard, but we didn't think anything of that. Once C.J. finished checking the beta of the December magazine (and finding several uncorrected edits) we bailed out of the house.

We were able to drive all the way to the trailhead on FS 9030, the old Lookout Point Road (I think, although it doesn't show that name on the maps any more). We had last hiked up to Talapus Lake, about two-plus miles and 1200 ft elev. gain, several years ago on Christmas Eve. This time we didn't bother carrying snowshoes...we would not have needed them this time either. There was one car at the trailhead and we met three other people on the trail. I understand that that's a really low turnout for this trail.

Wilderness Boundary

We started up what appeared to be a continuation

C.J. at Ollalie Lake

of the road at 1100, crossed some swampy area on sturdy boardwalks and negotiated several switchbacks all in hem-fir-cedar forest. We didn't stop at Talapus and it was another 1.25 miles and 500 ft of elevation gain to Olallie Lake. We had been walking in frozen granular snow and ignoring the snow and drips from the trees most of the way up, but now the snow started getting deep enough to hide the trail as we reached the upper lake. BTW, we hadn't changed out of our warm clothes for the whole hike; it was that chilly. The sun was still shining on the far end of the lake but the clouds were starting to roll in when we sat down on our inflatable pads for lunch at 1310 or so. Later we continued on, hoping that the trail continued around the lake; it didn't

G at Talapus Lake

and we started back down around1345. It took just about two hours to reach the car with a stop at the lower lake to enjoy the view up into the mountains. Total mileage was probably just over seven considering the extra distance to the north end of the lake where the obvious trail petered out. This was our first hike since PDT changed over to PST and it was already getting gloomy as we hiked the last mile (sunset was supposed to be around 1650). At least the threatened rain held off until we were home and had had dinner.

Women's/Halloween Fly-in

26-27 October 2013

C.J. paddling at Sun Lakes

The Women's Fly-in was first held in the early 1990's at Saddle Mountain right around New Year's Day. To cut down on the chance of frostbite, the date was soon changed to the weekend closest to Halloween. Then it was moved to Chelan where an indoor venue was available, recently the pilots' lounge at the Chelan Airport. C.J. and I have missed the last several fly-ins because we were off at the USHPA board meetings held at various places around the country: Chattanooga, Newburgh, and Kitty Hawk (for the last three years). So it was nice to have the board meeting in Seattle and be able to attend the fly-in this year.

26 October, Sat - We got up relatively early to get to Beebe Park CG around 1100. There were about 10
sites available and we got a pull-thru on the river side. After setting up we left the kayak on the car and drove over to the soccer field LZ where a few pilots had already landed now that the low clouds had dissipated. After visiting with Chris A., Tom and Lori, and determining that there was no gate on the Chelan

Reflection at Sun Lakes

Butte spur road to the towers (yet), and that everyone was having flydowns, we decided to head for Banks Lake and do some paddling. Upon arrival at the dam at the south end of the lake we found the wind strong enough to cause some whitecaps. Not wanting to battle the wind, we decided to try Sun Lakes State Park just a few miles to the south. Park Lake is the most northerly lake and is quite small but was calm enough to have striking reflections of the colorful fall foliage and basalt buttes. We put in at a peninsular picnic area and paddled counterclockwise around most of the lake. On the way back to Chelan (1630) we stopped at the

Dry Falls Lake

overlook for Dry Falls and noted that there is a road into the basin and that Dry Falls Lake might be fun to paddle. To vary the scenery, we took US 2 back across the flat to Farmer and Withrow and back down McNeil Canyon. We had just about enough time to get changed up -it didn't take much because our costumes consisted of the colorful bird masks C.J. had sewed up years ago - and drive over to the pilots lounge at the airport. It was a smaller turnout than we remembered from the parties of years ago and the groaning board of potluck dishes had been replaced by four or five chili contestants and a half-dozen pie contestants plus a few other dishes (including C.J.'s traditional spider bread and a very good corn bread baked

The birds

by Rich Hass). Costumes were as clever as usual with alack of tasteless the often-gross ones. Josh and Michelle had flying squirrel suits, Jan and Murdock were winged rats (in a backhanded slap at the guy who shot at Matty), Ralph B was well disguised in ghoulish makeup and a black robe, LeAnne and Iain were adventure game heroine Lara Croft and Indiana Jones, and the Heims were Dr. Evil, Mini-me in a baby carrier and Foxxy Cleopatra (Austin Powers characters). We left not too long after the costume, chili and pie awards were announced and returned to the Aliner to run the heater and warm up, before crashing for the night [Glad I filled the propane tank before we left].

27 Oct, Sun - We woke to rain drops on our skylight - totally unexpected. Fortunately it was just a shower and we were able to pack up in light wind and relatively dry air after breakfast. It was pretty clear that the flying was not going to be any better than forecast so we didn't even drive over to the LZ and headed down the road. We stopped long enough at Lone Pine Fruit Stand to buy a variety of pears and apples. To vary the trip home we chose Hwy 2 and were rewarded with great fall colors through Tumwater Canyon where many kayakers had gathered. The sky had at least partially cleared by now and remained that way until we neared Stevens Pass where we drove into the low clouds, and down through lower clouds. We put some gas in the tank in Startup where prices weren't quite as high as in Leavenworth but not as cheap as Gas Buddy indicated they were in Cle Elum, on the other route. We got home before 1400 and unloaded the car, trailer and kayak and warmed up the house.

Putrid Pete's Peak

Putrid Pete's from I-90

21 October, 2013, Monday                    

Yeah, that's the name that has gotten stuck on this mountain in the I-90 corridor. It may have been named because you'll be plenty stinky by the time you climb the 3300 ft in 2.4 miles. [Hikingwithmybrother.com claims this bump on Defiance Ridgewas named in honor of Pete Schoening, a Seattle mountaineer famous for "The Belay" which saved six climbers on K2 in 1953] C.J. and I stopped at the first good viewpoint shortly after the trail ceased using switchbacks (twenty-some-odd to that point) to gain elevation. 

C.J. on the lower trail around noon

It was another foggy, cold day in North Bend, but we had been inspired by Chris and Patricia's report on Mt. Si the day before - warm and sunny above 1500 ft. Naturally we got our usual late start, but we popped out of the gloom by the time we had reached exit 38. It was already warm enough to shed jackets at noon before we even left the Ira Spring Trail parking lot at the end of the 3.6 mi FS Road 9030. Just a couple of hundred yards up the old road, now a wide trail, we continued straight when the road switchbacked to the right. For an unsigned and unmarked trail, it was remarkably well maintained. We followed long switchbacks up and up finally crossing a talus pile that offered a bit of a view. Just beyond that, about 2 mi from the TH and 3600 feet above sea level we reached a rock outcropping that provided a good view across the valley and as far south as Mt. Rainier. C.J. was concerned about how her still-healing feet were going to do on the way down so we stopped for a late lunch on the outcrop. Later I pushed a little way up to a clearing and

G just above our lunch stop

had a better view of the treeless ridge above. But it was right at our agreed-upon turnaround time so we headed down stepping carefully on the quite steep trail until we hit the more gentle switchbacks. We were back at the car by 1700 and the sun was just disappearing behind the peaks to the south from our perspective. When we reached North Bend we could see that the edge of the fog was only a mile to the west and by the time we had showered we were once again in the gloom.

Richfield Utah Fly-In

28 Sep - 4 Oct 2013        
                                     (Click on photos to enlarge, then ESC to return to blog)

Panorama of Cove Takeoff

C.J. had been in contact with Stacy Whitmore, the organizer of this event, for her article on fall fly-ins. His emails made Richfield sound like the place to be in late September. In addition, Todd Weigand was sponsoring a Mt. Howard fly-in in the Wallowas starting on the 26th and we could hit that on our way to Utah. Unfortunately, just as were were getting geared up to leave, Todd told us that a sudden storm had hit the area and there was three feet of snow on launch, and it was going to be windy. Okay - change of plans: I've wanted to go down through the area around Owyhee Lake on the border of Idaho and Oregon, and if we did that, we could hit Great Basin National Park and do a little scenic hiking. It looked like two days (about 14 hours) to Great Basin so I looked for a place to camp midway. Succor Creek State Park just south of Ontario OR looked like it was in the right place and there was no fee for camping. The road might not be a highway, but at least it was paved. After Great Basin it was only a few hours to Richfield where we could stay in a KOA RV park the first night, then find out where everyone else was camping. We had a plan!

28 Sep, Sat - It was raining in North Bend when we hooked up the trailier and pulled out shortly after 0900. As soon as we got on I-90 I noticed that we were getting only 18.8 mpg and it was going down rapidly as we started our climb up Snoqualmie Pass. I stopped at Exit 36 to see if there was anything obviously wrong with the trailer or car; nothing looked out of the ordinary. Gas mileage dropped to 14 mpg as we topped the pass but improved somewhat on the downgrade. Still, it was showing only 20 mpg when we got gas at Costco in Union Gap (349.9). It must have been the same batch of gas at UG because gas mileage did not improve until we put in four gal. of Shell at Baker City (385.9); that increased the mileage to a much better 23.1. Since we were heading into the desert, we filled up in Ontario at Pilot (369.9) and again had normal

Camped in Succor Creek Canyon

mileage - at least until we hit the unexpected gravel road leading to Succor Creek. [Up to then we had been driving through farmland around Nyssa that obviously was producing lots of onions.] The road wasn't too bad but our speed had been cut back to under 30 mph. We wound down into a canyon that got really narrow with steep cliffs to either side. As it was getting late and we hadn't seen any official campground, we used a pullout for a campsite; no problem with traffic noise since there were hardly any other vehicles. Since the wind had been strong all day we parked facing south into the wind and tied the roof down securely. A short walk around the area showed that we had parked near where a restroom must have stood - the foundations were still obvious. As it got dark the wind did not die down but there was a good dark sky for viewing stars.

29 Sep, Sun - Wow! Unexpectedly strong winds, gusting to 50 mph (?) overnight. We were awakened several times as the trail rocked and rattled. The roofs and A-walls stayed firmly in place so I guess our roof tiedown and the painter pole inside must be effective. We got up at 0750 and packed up during a lull which included a little rain. Out by 0850 with a cold cereal breakfast. The rest of the road to the south out past the small campground (occupied by several tents and trailers, most likely belonging to hunters, with an outhouse and room for more units) was unpaved with some washboard so it was pretty slow, but there were good views from the switchbacks as we climbed out of the canyon. We passed the Leslie Gulch Rd which goes to the southern part of L. Owyhee (possible kayak trip) and it looked pretty decent for an unpaved road. Shortly after that we turned south on US 95 and it was a long drive through SE Oregon and NE Nevada to Winnemucca where we stopped for lunch at a Jack in the Box and got gas at Flying J (359.9). We had been getting terrible gas mileage (in the17's) again even after getting off the Succor Creek Road because of the strong headwind. Heading downwind on I-80 from Winnemucca we got more normal mileage. We turned south at Battle Mountain on Rte 305 which was marked as "scenic" but wasn't very interesting until the last ten miles. As we descended to Rte 50 near Austin the views improved. Austin looked sort of interesting and so did Eureka (near a big copper mine with piles of spoil like those just west of Ely). At the top of one of the high (7000 ft) passes east of Austin we stopped at a historic marker and noticed a USFS campground just
across the road (Bob Scott). We drove in to check it out - nice place with juniper trees and no wind but the time was only 1600. We knew by then that we were not going to make Great Basin before dark so C.J.

Sunset near Ely, NV

studied the choices in our 2009 AAA Campbook and found a Forest Service CG just a few miles east of
Ely. The rest of the drive on US 50 ("the loneliest road in the country", according to Life in 1954 (eastern terminus at Ely)) was pleasant, over ranges and across basins with the Sorento getting better and better mileage in spite of the up and down nature of the land. We stopped for gas at just about sundown (1800 in this eastern edge of the Pacific Time Zone) in Ely (Shell 379.9) and then tried to find the CG. I guess it just wasn't there anymore and we ended up boondocking in a gravel pit with a good view of the spectacular sunset just off FS443 about six miles from Ely.


30 Sep, Mon - It was pretty chilly overnight at 6600 ft with a clear sky full of stars. We woke early at 0630

Aspens in Great Basin NP

and were on the road by 0730. Since it was only 51 miles to Baker and Great Basin National Park (GBNP) over some nice passes we were there by 0830 or so. We stopped at the VC to pick up a park map and newspaper, and chat with the ranger. It was okay to leave the trailer in the parking lot so we detached (but forgot to turn the propane refrigerator on). We took the Scenic Drive to the Wheeler Peak CG (closed) and trailhead at about 10,000 ft. There were a few trails and we had decided to take the Alpine Lakes Loop (2.7 mile 600 ft gain). It was pleasant hiking through the Engelmann spruce, Doug fir, and limber pine forest and meadows. Two small herds of deer barely moved aside as they watched us. Lakes Stella and Teresa were not much larger than ponds but provided great views of Wheeler and Jeff Davis Peaks. The descent to Teresa was more than we thought we had climbed and when we reached the trail junction for the Bristlecone Pine/Rock Glacier (0.7 and 1.3 mi) we decided to go for it. The trail descended a bit before leveling off and contouring the slope through dark

Bristlecone Pine, GBNP

shade which kept the recent snowfall mostly frozen on the trail. The climb to the bristlecone pine grove through the mounds of talus wasn't too bad and we soon reached the short BCP interpretive trail. Once we finished that, the trail to the view of a glacier remnant and rock glacier tempted us to the last interpretive sign. The return along the same trail was moderately tiring but it was mostly downhill to the trailhead (1345). We ate some lunch while driving down with a stop at Wheeler Overlook (We had stopped on the way up at Mather Overlook) and then again to try to fill our water containers at the two Lehman Creek
campgrounds. Both the upper and lower CG were open but the water had been turned off for the season and the fee had been reduced from $12 to $6. We returned to the VC where we got our water and hitched up the trailer. We decided to run the fridge on 12V, something we had not done since our first trips. It was a long drive on US 50 but some of the ranges we passed through were really scenic. The trip north to Delta was NOT scenic and seemed to take forever as we skirted Sevier dry lake. Then we had to jog south 20 miles to I-15 then back north to Scipio and south again to Richfield. We found the KOA RV Park easily enough but then had to figure out the late check-in procedure and pay the typically high KOA price ($39.63). Still it was nice to refill our water tank and hook up with water and electricity (good thing too, since I measured the battery at 11.8V after running the fridge on 12V all afternoon). Good showers, and a good dinner -both late, and late to bed on Mtn Daylight Time.


1 Oct, Tue - We left KOA in time to drive the quarter-mile to the Quality Inn meet headquarters for the 10

Cove Launch

am pilots meeting. There were a number of hang glider pilots including John Heiney and a cinematographer, Tony Ritter, hanging around outside since the meeting hadn't started. The meeting had been delayed because fly-in organizer Stacy Whitmore had not gotten back from an early morning (met at 0700) flydown from Monroe Peak (11,200 ft). The meeting when it finally got started was fairly useless except for the round of introductions of the dozen or more pilots who had not gone back up Monroe for a second flight. [It turned out that something like 35 pilots signed up for the $60pp fly-in.] We picked up our polyester t-shirts and a couple of vouchers for free meals. Then we drove

cloud formation near Cove TO

to the Cove LZ just north of the town of Monroe and placed the trailer next to Barrett's camper. Around 1230 a bunch of pilots arrived who wanted to fly midday. We got to ride up with John Heiney in his 4WD VW van (refit with a diesel engine). The road up to the Cove launch [From Monroe take Washburnville Rd N to Omni Point (Main St, Landslide Rd) to the unpaved Thompson Basin Rd] was rough but nothing that our Kia couldn't have handled although I would like to have more sturdy tires. Launch was at 8700 ft in an open meadow and the surface was pretty rough especially the HG launch. After watching several launches and the surging in the air we decided not to fly during

John Heiney on launch

the middle of the day and waited for the next group to come up around 1630 for the hoped-for glassoff. Meanwhile Ken Hudonjorgenson had gotten high; Dawn had followed him and Martin, a visiting Brit, had disappeared to the north. Ken and Dawn re-appeared from the S and Ken got up over Monroe town  but Dawn had to land east of the power lines in the foothills. Conditions had improved but it was still gusty on launch as several pilots demonstrated. I got ready to go around 1730 and managed to pull off a good launch. I went straight up off launch with no forward speed and I right away decided that the air was not as smooth as it appeared to be. I had lots of surges and immediately decided to head out to the LZ without even turning

Cove TO with Richfield in the distance

on my vario. The wind was not cooperating and I kept getting higher (to near 10,000 ft from the 8700 ft takeoff) and only slowly creeping forward. Eventually I got out over Monroe and tried coring sink with limited success (by now I had switched on the vario). I was staying upwind of the LZ especially after a report of strong, gusty winds on the radio. At some point either the SW winds got stronger or I got down below 8000 ft where the valley winds were stronger, and my GPS indicated I was going NE at 10 kph when I pointed SW. I tried 1/2 speed bar, then, when the air smoothed out, full speedbar but I was still drifting NE, then N on the wrong side (E) of the powerlines over the rough foothills. I thought I might be able to reach the fields near Annabella but the lift was shutting down as the sun went down and I had to pick a ridge to land on that had less sage and other obstructions than some others. Also, it wasn't too far from civilization, i.e., a road and houses. I packed up and walked down a trail under the powerlines to a paved road serving

Map/tracklog from my flight

the custom homes, then along Shadow Mtn Rd to Washburnville Rd, the main route between Monroe and points north, about a mile in all. I arrived just about the same time it got dark so I turned on the little strobe light from the Israel trip. Minutes later I had a ride back to the LZ with Will, one of the pilots from GB. A bunch of people including C.J. had been unable to land in the LZ and had been pushed north to other fields (but only one had been pushed as far into the foothills as I was). We drove back to Richfield so C.J. could email the EdNotes to Nick. I got gas at Maverick (3.569 disc) and we signed in. Then we went back to the LZ and set up the trailer and had soup for dinner. Both of us had flown for about an hour and I landed about 2.2 miles from the LZ. C.J. had managed to NOT back up into a reasonably friendly field with other pilots (She actually landed going forward).


 2 Oct, Wed - We had alarm clock functions set on our mobile phones for 0600 so that we could make the meeting time of 0800 at the Monroe rodeo grounds LZ for an early morning flight from Monroe Peak (11,200 ft). It was still pitch-black dark at 0600 and we thought at first that our alarms had malfunctioned.

Monroe Peak launch panorama

There was adequate time for breakfast and for C.J. to sort out her hastily-packed gear. We moved some stuff into the trailer so that we had room to give Barrett a ride to the LZ. [His jeep had been left on Cove TO with a broken clutch.] There were about 22 PG plus Stacy and drivers gathered and after a briefing we drove the nine-plus miles to the summit on a gravel road. C.J. and I and seven others rode up with Stacy and a local driver who provided a big, old van. Our gear went up in a large pickup truck. No one wasted any time getting ready and taking off. Almost everyone required two or three attempts in the light and crosswind

Lake and aspens from the air

conditions. C.J. did a forward and I followed immediately with a reverse (I had a couple of aborts before C.J. launched). It was cool to follow C.J. out over the aspens on a slope above the lakes, then over Monroe 10 (a ridge at 10,000 ft), then Monroe 9, then turn right to follow a ridge at 8000 ft. Flying out above the the valley floor (5400 ft) we were still two thousand feet or more above, plenty of time to set up a landing in the essentially calm conditions. [Flight duration: ~25 min. Flight distance: ~6 mi] After packing up we all hung out for a while on the grassy berm enjoying the warm sun after the cold of 11,000 ft. and the flight.

G in Monroe rodeo grounds LZ

Eventually we all headed back to the Quality Inn for the scheduled 1100 meeting. Stacy didn't make it back for the start and Ken H began the meeting with a discussion of the flights on Tues. when the winds below 8000 ft became stronger as you descended (until 20-200 ft above the ground so it wasn't obvious to those on the ground who might otherwise have warned those flying). When Stacy made it back (after helping replace a flat tire on the pickup that carried the gear), he continued the discussion with the intent to make it a learning experience. Judy, Stacy's wife, asked us to please sign back in so no one would be left out in the hills or injured. Later most of us went over to Ace Hardware with our free burger-fries-drink vouchers for lunch. There, one server dumped fries in the automated cooker while another server gave us meat patties and bun which we ran through another cooker on a conveyor-belt. In a minute or so the burgers came out cooked just about perfectly along with toasted buns. We added sliced tomatoes, lettuce, pickles and the usual condiments and picked up our drinks and fries. Quite an interesting operation, particularly located in a hardware store. After lunch we said goodbye to John Heiney and Tony Ritter who were heading back to San Diego. We drove south to Sevier and then a ways up the Sevier R. canyon (toward Panguitch) before turning back and heading for the Fremont Indian State Park. The museum cost $3pp and we were told that it was free if you paid for camping

Sun on Castle Rocks

at Castle Rocks CG (a USFS CG administered by the Utah Dept of Parks and Rec.) so we drove up to check out Castle Rocks and it was a really scenic location. After a quick drive through the almost empty campground, we decided to move the trailer down there for the night if C.J. could pick up her email from FFF president Randy Leggett. She was able to access email via her phone (and I got it, too, with K9 on my mobile). So we drove back to the Cove LZ where Barrett had already packed up and headed back to St. George where he is a plasterer. It didn't take long to pack the trailer and return to Castle Rocks. We settled on an open site with good views of the steep rock walls in the afternoon sun. After setting up we took a sneaker hike so we could get up close to the channeled and sculptured rocks. We turned back from more strenuous climbing and searched out an official FS trail that continued up the canyon to the south. We walked for 30 minutes before turning back at a stream crossing. There were lots of yellow aspen, oak and willow trees with a scattering of other colors. Back at camp I

C.J. at Castle Rocks

washed my hair and changed clothes with a view toward traveling. The weather forecast was for increasing chance of rain and drastically lower temps (low of 21!). Our plan for Thu was to go to the 1000 meeting at the (free) French toast feed at Ideal Dairy in Richfield. Then we would probably head north to wherever we could get - maybe as far as a Walmart in Burley or Twin Falls...or maybe only to Brigham City (I didn't want to drive the I-82 pass into ID in the dark). C.J. spent the evening working on finishing the scrapbook she had to upload to Shutterfly by Friday.

3 Oct, Thu - We got up at 0750 and, because we did not have to cook breakfast, we were out of the CG

C.J. and a pit house

by 0830. That gave us time to look at some of the outside exhibits, like a pit house, at Fremont Indian  State Park. We also took a short walk on a paved trail past a number of petroglyphs in the nearby canyon. By then the museum was open and we looked around the VC and displays, and learned about several trails that would take us to see more petroglyphs. By 0930 we were on our way to Richfield. There was a good crowd of pilots at Ideal Dairy where we all had coupons for a free all-you-can-eat French toast breakfast. C.J. and I also bought cocoa with whipped cream. The weather report still looked grim for Thursday and Friday (cold and windy with a chance of

Rock with petroglyphs

precip) so we said goodbye and hit the road.

Petroglyphs

We took I-70 to Salina and then SR 89  to Nephi where we hit I-15. We kept going and the weather kept improving, except for the strong wind, all the way to Ogden where we stopped for gas (3.399) and a slice of pizza at Costco. Then we continued on over the high ground between UT and ID. Just into ID and beyond the 5500 ft summit we ran into rain which changed to snow then back to rain as we descended. The rain continued well past Twin Falls and we were thinking without enthusiasm about having to set up in the cold wind and rain. C.J. had called a Passport America RV Park near Malad Gorge in Hageman and told them we were on our way. Just past the first turnoff for Hageman the rain  tapered off and by 1830 when we arrived, the sun was shining. C.J. got right to work on her scrapbook which has to be uploaded on Fri. She stopped long enough to eat (I prepared toasted cheese sandwiches and the rest of the soup) and then kept working until 1045 or so.

4 Oct, Fri - The clear skies promoted radiational cooling and the temperature got down below freezing overnight. That must have affected the electronic lock on the bathroom because I couldn't get in to take a shower. It was barely warm enough with quilt, comforter, fleece blanket and flannel sheets. We were on the road by 0930 in cold but clear conditions. We stopped for gas at Nampa Costco (3.499) and then drove on to the Oregon welcome center. There was free wi-fi so C.J. was able to upload her scrapbook pages for her ":free" Shutterfly book and then arrange them in the 20-pg book.

Branch in the driveway

It took about two hours and there seemed to be a number of undocumented steps you are supposed to do to get the book made. Around 1420 we continued on not stopping until we reached Costco at Union Gap with the gas light on (about 1.6 gal remaining). Then we shared a Big Miner burger, fries and drink - one meal was easily enough for the two of us. We drove through Yakima Canyon in the dark and over Snoq. Pass. No trouble with "bad gas" this time as we averaged 22.1 mpg. We arrived home around 2125 to find a big limb blocking the driveway and the 6-inch rain gauge overflowing..