Sammamish River Paddle

21 February 2009

I'd been pretty-well convinced that Facebook was worthless despite all the "friend requests" lately, but then on Saturday I got two responses that were worthwhile. First, I heard from my niece Lauren who is attending college in Indiana, responding to a note I sent her via Facebook. Second, I noted that Chris Amondson had posted that he was going kayaking "10 min ago". The sun was out, the temperatures were heading for the 50's and the route was sheltered, so why not?

We met Chris and Patricia around 1245 behind the Ben Franklin in Redmond because the Luke McRedmond Park was closed, at least the parking lot, for condo construction. After discussion and walking around to look at alternative put-ins, we drove a bit closer and parked in a private lot just north of the park. Chris went to pick up his brother-in-law Tom and set up a shuttle near Bothel Landing while we waited with the boats. After a bit of lunch and some paddling upstream and back, Chris and Tom showed up with his inflatable tandem which went together pretty fast.

It was easy paddling in the one-knot current and there weren't too many shallow spots and only one rapid that gave us any concern - mostly because of the overhanging tree. There were plenty of skaters, bikers and walkers on the adjacent trail. But there was not much in the way of other mammals except for possible burrows in the muddy banks. We saw several bald eagles and even one hawk attack on a baldy who did a barrel roll to present his talons to the attacker.

We paddled through Redmond, then Woodinville and made a bathroom break at a sports field. After that the height of the banks increased and the sun got low in the sky dropping the temperature. Approaching Bothel, the river assumed a more winding course and, after passing under I-405 we paddled through a residential area - mostly mobile homes - with docks and boats.

Out in front with Patricia we went right by the take-out spot and paddled another 0.2 miles to Bothel Landing itself before Chris caught up to us and led us back to a small park on the south bank of the river. Patricia and C.J. stayed with the boats while Chris, Tom and I returned to Redmond to pickup our cars. It was full dark by then and we wasted no time getting the boats loaded and ourselves into the heated cars.

Surprisingly good kayaking for the middle of February!

Saddle? Nope, Kiona

Presidents Day 2009

Dave Norwood had reported good flying at Saddle on Saturday and, as Monday approached, predicted another good, if lighter day. Ernie Friesen emailed with thoughts of ride sharing but lost interest as Beth was not able to go. C.J. called Rich Hass who hadn't flown Saddle for five years or so and convinced him to sign on. We had a quorum!

It was foggy in north Bend when we left before 1000 but we broke out of it just beyond the pass. Unfortunately as we got closer to Eburg it got more and more overcast. Crossing the Columbia, the wind looked just about right but a call from Dave reported that it was socked in on the top. Later, as we pulled off the road at Beverly he reported that the cloud had lifted just above launch and that he was going to gear up, winds at 12-14.


Rich, C.J. and I got as far as Road R on the way up Saddle when we met Rick Shalman coming down. We could clearly see the long roll-cloud along the Saddle Mountains ridge and, with the report from a ready-to-fly Dave on top and the prospect of lighter winds and clearer skies to the south, we chose to head for Kiona. Conditions when we arrived were good, and improved as the sky cleared. We launched into the straight-in winds and climbed above launch in what felt surprisingly like thermals, not expected for the day. Doc and C.J. headed down to the end of the ridge while Rich and I worked the area around launch. Later Rich and Doc made it west around Dead Dog but not as far as the hang launch where Mark and Jim had been flying earlier. Aptly-named Obiwan (Master Rick) made it back to the LZ while Rich practiced his downwind, downhill technique on the road; C.J. worked on her reverse-landing skills on the ridgetop, and I toplanded in the snowmelt on launch to drive out to C.J. and then down. Although Rick offered to squeeze in another flight before sunset at Temple View, we opted to head out for the 3-hour drive home.


Was it worth the extra 45 minutes of driving to get to Kiona when we could have flown Saddle? Hard to tell, but it's always fun to fly a new site, with good company, and the sunshine made it a lot more pleasant. Nevertheless, I'll keep an ear out for Dave's prognostications and head for Saddle when it sounds good again.

Later emails from Dave, Chris Culler and James Bender indicated that the cloud above launch never lifted above 300 ft and that the hang gliders had to land and de-ice at least once. Two paragliders flew, two did not and one of the two flyers (according to secondhand info) spun-in to the low point between launch and the microwave towers.

Umpteenth Annual Get-Together at Bend

6 February 2009 - We got out pretty much on time, shortly after10:00, amazingly enough after an evening meeting with the newly-named Mountain and Sky Access Coalition (McDonald Group) at Starbucks in Issaquah. Six-plus hours later we were checking into our condo at Eagle Crest in Redmond, OR. This time we got the one unit that has a view of the Deschutes River and canyon to the east.

7 Feb 2009 – By 10:00 or so we were sorted out enough to head up Century Drive to the Meissner Sno-Park where there appeared to be enough snow to make it worthwhile skiing the groomed trails towards the new Meissner Hut. From there we headed off-trail across a valley to the north to hit the “Wednesdays” trail, then on the Paintbrush trail. The route took us through forested, rolling terrain to a view to the S and W at an old cinder pit. From there we backtracked, then turned off on a little-used loop to the Shooting Star hut. We had lunch on the hillside facing into the Tumalo canyon with a view of Brokentop in the distance. We had already been disappointed that we had both forgotten our cameras since the inch-and-a-half of new snow was sparkling white against the brilliant blue sky, now we were missing out on the view to the distant mountains. The encroaching shadows and dropping temperatures got us moving but the rest of the loop was harder to find and we ended up returning to the same route we had come in on. When we reached the turnoff for the rest of the Wednesday trail we debated about breaking trail but found new tracks and decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, the tracks stopped within a hundred feet; fortunately, a lone skier was coming toward us and had done the hard work of putting in the first track. So we headed along the mostly downhill trail, made the sharp turn in a mile on to the continuation of Wednesdays at a sign indicating 2.5 miles back to the Sno-Park. After another mile or so we noticed that the sun was still behind us and we were still going downhill (we were more than 350 ft below Meissner). Somehow we had missed the unmarked and untracked trail back to the Sno-Park. The GPS showed that the trail we were on, which was not on our map, would eventually intersect Century Drive at least a couple of miles east of Meissner. Instead of continuing, we cut x-c to the south and in a quarter-mile we reached the main road. I took my poles and pack and started hitching. Luckily I got a ride with a Nordic skier heading up since there wasn’t much traffic at all going my way since Bachelor has no night skiing program. Back at the Sno-Park I quickly drove back down to where C.J. was waiting. It had been one of our longer days – and a good bit of it had been in untracked or barely-tracked snow. We were glad to have the Jacuzzi tub to work out some of the muscle aches. Ginny and Wally showed up around 1800 and we had pozole for dinner with cheesecake for late dessert. Ginny decided to pay for signing us up with the wireless available from Eagle Crest for $20 for the week.

8 Feb 09 – After a big breakfast/brunch of sausage and veggie omelet with biscuits, C.J. and I got a late (1100) start for a hike at Smith Rock while the good weather held. By noon we were on the Chute trail down to the Crooked River. Crossing the footbridge, we switchbacked up the Misery Ridge trail to a scramble to the summit. After returning to the trail we continued on to a view of the famous Monkey Face where two climbers were nearing the summit. The trail headed down more switchbacks and we ended up taking the right, longer, fork on the Mesa Verde trail to the River trail. We had lunch on a riverside rock beneath Asterisk Pass. Returning to the south side of Smith Rock we could see lots of climbers on the Dihedrals and Morning Glory Wall. Back to the bridge we took the longer trail back to the parking lot, bypassing the Chute. We beat Ginny and Wally back to the condo, but they returned with the fruits of a day of shopping and gave us Thermarest “sit-upons” for Christmas presents. C.J. had already given them our presents earlier this morning. C.J. cooked up a big pork roast with carrots, onions and potatoes for dinner.

09 Feb 09 - When Wally and ginny got back from breakfast at Birdies, we drove up to Bachelor to increasingly cold temps and a nice covering of new, fluffy snow. C.J., Wally and I skied from the Nordic Center along the common corridor to the Todd Lake Trail. After descending a whole lot more than I remembered, we crossed a meadow and ascended a quarter-mile to the snow-covered Todd Lake. It was cold and the wind was whistling down the lake so it was definitely not the place for a lunch break. We skied back down to FS 370 and followed it uphill a short distance to the Water Tower Trail. Then we climbed quite steeply to another meadow (and the actual water tower), and then climbed again through the forest. There wasn't much downhill at all and we were soon back near Dutchman Flats and completing the loop at the Todd Lake Trail. Then it was only another .25 mi to the Nordic Center and the cars. The temperature seemed to be going down all day (from 23 F at 1030 to 19 F at 1425 when we got back) and the sunshine we had started out in became intermittent and then gave way to overcast and snow flurries. C.J. and I drove into Bend and hit the Columbia factory outlet and Joes before returning to the condo for a Ginny-prepared corned beef.

10 Feb 09 - After Ginny and Wally packed up and headed back to the Bay Area, we joined Steve and Tina at Toomies, a great Thai restaurant in downtown Bend for lunch. Later we had dessert, and shared scrapbooks and photo albums at Steve and Tina's. On the way back to the condo we stopped to get some artisan bread at Trader Joes for dinner tomorrow, and I noticed we had a burned out headlight so I got a replacement bulb at Joes. I haven't been able to wiggle the connector loose from the burned-out bulb in the Trooper yet. Maybe in the morning when it is light and I have some tools available. It snowed lightly all day in Bend (but not at Eagle Crest apparently) and Steve and Tina said it had been snowing steadily up at Meissner where they had skate-skied out to the cinder pit on fluffy snow.

11 Feb 09 - C.J. used some of the veggies and mushrooms to make a delicious omelet for breakfast - Ginny was right; we have way too much food for the rest of the trip, especially if the weather continues rainy in Santa Barbara and Southern California in general. By 1030 we were on our way to recon the x-c skiing in the Ochoco Mountains east of Prineville. It continued snowing lightly most of the way and, as the road began to rise outside of Prineville, the road surface became packed snow. We reached Bandit Springs around noon having decided to skip Walton Lake which was higher but accessed by an unplowed, unsanded Forest Service road. Bandit Springs (and the SnoPark just a quarter mile west) had no maps andno information about trails. We geared up anyway and followed blue diamond trail markers up an abandoned road on about 4-6 inches of new snow over a shallow, icy base. A trail sign a few hundred feet up the road pointed ahead for the Ponderosa Loop and left for Easy Trail. We followed the Ponderosa for a mile or two until we reached the junction labeled "O" which had a weathered map which did not show the loop clearly. At that point we turned back getting a pretty good downhill run on the way. It was close to 1400 when we started driving down snow-covered road SR 26 and about 1545 when we got back to Eagle Crest after a stop at Fred Meyer in Redmond. Then I got the tool kit out and finally managed to get the old headlight removed and installed the new one so we've got both low beams working again. C.J. put the finishing touches on the pork soup and at 1730 Steve and Nona arrived for dinner with two (!) layer cakes, followed shortly by Steve, Tina and Elizabeth. Great dinner - the bread and Black Toad beer from Trader Joes were excellent, as was Tina's salad (and we finished off most of both cakes). Nona brought her scrapbook from the Ecuador trip and we all enjoyed sharing and comparing with C.J.'s Slovenia scrapbook. We're hoping for clearing weather tomorrow and may be able to meet Tina for a shuttle-trip from Dutchmans to Swampy along the Flagline Trail.

Tina Pavelik on the Flagline Access Trail, Brokentop in the distance

12 Feb 09 - C.J. and I met Tina at 1000 at Swampy Lakes Sno-Park, left a car there and shuttled to Dutchman Flats. Tina led us up the Flagline Access Trail which skirted the edge of Dutchman Flats and then climbed continuously to hit the Flagline Trail. Fortunately someone had already skied the same route so we did not have to break trail. We saw only two other skiers the whole day and those were right near Dutchman. From the saddle NW of Tumalo Mtn it was mostly downhill to the intersection with the Flagline Tie leading uphill toward Vista up to a meadow in a saddle then down to Butte. We took the Butte trail down to the Ridge Loop which went down again to the Beginner Loop. The last quarter mile we were able to coast along slightly down and ended up at the Swampy Lakes Sno-Park and Tina's car. It was probably our longest ski tour at just over 11 miles but snow and sky conditions were about perfect. On the way home we stopped to buy a Wii (but not the fitness software that C.J. wanted) at Best Buy - decent price and no state tax. Tonight, after a soak in the Jacuzzi and a dinner from last night's leftovers, we're packing up for the trip home. The weather in California, even SoCal, is wet enough that we don't feel like making the long drive. The rain is good for the drought-stricken Californians but not so great for us. Maybe someone will be flying at Cliffside.

13 Feb 09 - Packed up in lightly falling snow and we were on the road by 0910. When we stopped to get gas at the Towne Pump in Redmond, the price had gone up 21 cents per gallon since earlier in the week. [What's with that? Is it the Presidents Day Weekend or a bump in the price of crude?] The roads were bare but we still had snow and flurries through most of the drive with the heaviest fall as we crossed the pass north of Goldendale. There was actually a bit of sun in the Yakima valley and we probably missed seeing some pilots getting short flights at "Mickey's" just east of Union Gap (Saddle was reported blown out for PG in the afternoon). We did make a couple of stops on the way to see if we could find a store that had the Wii Fit in stock - no luck in Redmond or Yakima. We were in North Bend by 1615 and picked up our mail before reaching home.

Christmas Greetings

Dear Friends and Family,

I put up some outdoor Christmas lights today so it must be about time to get busy writing our traditional holiday letter. In fact, it’s past time since we’ve already cut a Christmas tree up in the National Forest where there was enough snow to make it feel like the right time of year.

C.J. and I celebrated our first year of dual retirement (Yes, C.J. retired from editing last January!) with more travel – what a surprise. To escape the usually gloomy Northwest skies we traveled to Ecuador in midwinter so we could paraglide from the Andes (well, foothills at least) and along the coastal bluffs. We had a great time haggling at the markets and touring Quito.

Our second foreign travel adventure was in August to Slovenia, the northernmost part of the former Yugoslavia. We joined a group of NW pilots and, with local guides to provide transportation and advice, we flew our paragliders at a dozen sites. The Julian Alps of Slovenia are beautiful, and near the end of our trip we traveled farther afield to the awesome Dolomite Mountains of Italy and Austria for more flying and touristing.

In the USA we traveled to two United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (USHPA) board meetings, one in Colorado Springs and the other in Chattanooga. For the Colorado one, we turned it into a road trip joining Ginny at the awards banquet where Wally received the Paragliding Instructor of the Year award, then continuing on to visit friends and fly wherever we could in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida and on up the Appalachians then across to Indiana and Illinois. We enjoyed visits with C.J.’s mom and her brother Rob, George’s brother Wayne and family, as well as C.J.’s sister Mary and her mostly grown-up sons. In Florida we finally got to attend a Wills Wing Anniversary party at Wallaby Ranch and spend a bit of time with long-time friend Rob Kells who sadly succumbed to cancer several weeks later. C.J. was thrilled to catch up on the many years between kindergarten and the present with one of her earliest best friends, Paula, as we stopped to visit in Asheville. We also got to visit, and sometimes fly or at least hike, with other pilot friends – Claire, Bubba, Luis and their significant others. What a great trip!

Around home we did the usual gardening and yard upkeep but the BIG project was painting the house. We had no idea how big a job it was, but it managed to use up six weeks of good weather as we washed and scraped and sprayed and brushed. It does look much better and hopefully, with two coats, it won’t have to be done again for a long time.

C.J. has been sewing T-shirt quilts and I’ve continued to substitute at my old school occasionally. But mostly we’ve just been enjoying the freedom to putter around at scrapbooking and greeting cards for C.J. and cabinetmaking for me. We still get out and fly when the conditions look good and we’ve spent time in Chelan, at Woodrat and Lakeview attempting small XC challenges.

The financial market situation has us hunkering down now and not planning any big trips for 2009 but, other than that, we’re pretty content. Just the fact that we were able to tromp around the woods, cut a Christmas tree and carry it to the car reminds us that this year we are very grateful for our continuing good health, especially as we sadly mark the passing of Rob Kells and Gene Matthews, friends our age and younger.

That about catches you up with what we’ve been doing in 2008. We wish you a merry Christmas, a happy holiday season, and a healthy, happy and prosperous new year. We hope to hear from you that you are having as good a time as we are.

Love, peace and joy,

C.J. and George

Chattanooga, TN, BOD Meeting

and beyond

22-31 October 2008


22 Oct Wed – Up early again and off to leave the Trooper outside Bob H’s fence then taxi to the airport via the scenic route (which cost about $8 more). We flew Delta using our SkyMiles and stopped in Cincinnati for a quick transfer to a small plane for the short flight to CHA. The TI at the airport told us that there was no public transportation to downtown and that the taxi was about $28. I checked on picking up the Alamo rental car two days early and found that it wasn’t much more than two taxi rides. So we got a new Dodge Caliber in a bright robins egg blue after only a relatively short wait. I drove the surface streets to the Days Inn on E 20th and I-24

[Days Inn - Lookout Mountain, above]

and checked in. It wasn’t any more luxurious than we expected and the nearby area appeared to be in the process of urban renewal, but it was just a few blocks down the street from the Chattanooga Choo Choo (now in part a hotel operated by Holiday Inn)

[The sign over the hotel, above]

[The actual locomotive behind the hotel, above]

where the free electric shuttle to downtown had its southern terminal. C.J. called Rich Hass and arranged to meet him at the downtown Days Inn where the USHPA directors were staying (about the same quality as ours, maybe a bit less luxurious even – but also more expensive). We said hi to a number of directors and then walked downtown with Rich and Martin Palmaz looking for a place to eat. Not finding anything until we were almost to the riverfront, we turned down Jack’s Alley and settled on a BBQ place called Sticky Fingers(mentioned or advertised in the Delta on board magazine). It turned out to be a good choice with excellent ribs and pulled pork and a free serving of peach cobbler for the table. We also got to try some of the local beers. Rich and Martin decided to head farther north to check out the riverfront scene while we walked back to the hotel where we had left the car and drove back to our Days Inn. Driving through the area we would have had to walk through seemed like a better idea when we saw it in the dark.


23 Oct Thurs – We got our “sunrise breakfast” which included cereal, juice, biscuits and gravy and some pastries (no hot chocolate!) and walked the six or so blocks up to the CARTA electric shuttle and got a ride right to the door of the Marriott Hotel entrance of the Chattanooga Convention Center. We attended the opening general session, then C.J. went to a working lunch for committee chairs. I went back downtown with Jack Henderson from Alabama, who was here as a representative of the Tennessee Tree Toppers, to Ankara, a sandwich place on Broad Street.

[View through the shuttle windshield looking north towards the Tennessee River Aquarium]

We caught the shuttle back taking it all the way north through the north terminal so he could locate The Easy Bistro where the ice breaker was planned for this evening. After the afternoon business C.J. and I went back to the hotel to change and grab the car. We drove downtown and parked on the street near the Easy Bistro. We were among the early arrivals to the small back room where the TTT guys had set up a makeshift screen and were showing video from their Team Challenge. We each got a t-shirt and a goody bag containing various toiletries, and other TTT stuff. There were several platters of edibles, enough for a light dinner, and the drinks were on a cash bar basis. C.J. and I left fairly early and drove back to the hotel along mostly deserted streets – there just doesn’t seem to be a traffic problem in Chattanooga.


24 Oct Fri – C.J. had her Awards Committee meeting today and I took minutes. I should have brought my power cord because I just about ran out of battery on my laptop. We went to lunch at Sticky Fingers with Luis Rosenkjer who had come up from Atlanta Paragliding to sit in on a couple of committee meetings and meet the people he had only corresponded with. It was kind of drizzling then but by the time I headed back to the hotel to charge my laptop and edit the minutes, it was really raining and the wind had picked up. Luckily I was wearing my North Face parka; but unfortunately, I did not have my rain pants. After finishing the minutes, I drove back to the convention center and hung around waiting for the meeting to finish up. Later we went out to eat with a group including Dino Dave and his wife Mary, Rich Hass, Nick Greece, Felipe, Marc Fink, Mike Hailey, Rob Sporrer, (Mark Forbes?) and possibly some others – loud band, noisy venue, decent food with pitchers(!) of margaritas. We took Rich back to the hotel to work on financial stuff with Paul Montville, the Executive Director.


25 Oct Saturday – We attended the general session in the morning so C.J. could present her committee report
[Dick Heckman at the General Session, above]

then we skipped out and shuttled downtown, walked across the Walnut Street pedestrian bridge, and then all the way up Market Street to a school/street fair, the Normalpalozza. We ran into Marc Fink who was displaying his paintings and found Claire at her booth with her silk paintings and chatted a while.

[Claire Vassort with C.J. at Normalpalooza, above]

After touring the small display area, we bought a bratwurst and a pulled pork sandwich for lunch and sat on the grass to eat – fortunately the rain had stopped last night and the day was relatively warm and windy. We couldn’t find Claire when we went back to her booth so we headed down the hill and back to the shuttle and the board meeting.
[Cherokee symbolic representation along "The Passage", riverfront below Market Street bridge, above]

After the business was over I sat down with Rich and got my PG Masters rating completed and signed (Yay!). Earlier I had brought the car in so that we could drive to the Lookout Mountain Flight Park Halloween party that night and because on-street parking was free on Saturdays. First though, we shuttled downtown and walked across the bridge to Frazier Street to get some ice cream at Clumpies with Rich and Mark. As a result we missed the caravan that drove to the LMFP LZ but with the GPS and Mark’s and my memories, we found our way there via the Interstates and Trenton. There was a good BBQ pork dinner and lots of people in costume, a bonfire and a live band – quite the deal for $10! By 2200 we were ready to head back and we dropped Mark off at the Motel 6 and Rich at his Days Inn. Then we headed back for our last night in Chattanooga.


26 Oct Sunday - We got a reasonably early start after breakfast and drove up I-75 to Cleveland where we drove into an old cemetery with a Grand Army of the Republic monument, then we drove along the Ocooee River, stopping at the site of the 1996 Olympics whitewater competition.
[Site of 1996 Olympics whitewater competition, low water, above]


There were stretches of the river that were almost dry and others that were running full enough for kayaking – it all depended on a schedule of water releases from the various dams. We continued on to Ducktown where we shopped for lunch crackers at Piggly Wiggly then drove north to Townsend and tried to find a back route in to Cades Cove. All we found were signs saying “Dead End” and “No Outlet” so we took the standard route into Great Smoky Mountains National Park and found ourselves in an eleven-mile long traffic jam. It took three hours to do the loop including a stop at the visitor center and historical building halfway around. That put us way behind schedule but C.J. could not get a cell phone signal to call Paula and Stephen to let them know we were running late. We drove all the way in to Gatlinburg and still didn’t have a signal – until we got out of the car. After alerting Paula that we were late, we drove up Newfound Gap Road over the summit through good autumn colors. Descending the east side, we drove through the tourist town of Cherokee (where elk were running along the street) then wound up another pass on Route 19 in the dark. Coming down the other side through Maggie Valley wasn’t as slow and soon we hit I-40. We figured we were almost there as we entered Asheville but a police car pulled ahead of us and blocked the entrance to I-240 that we needed to take. C.J. got Stephen on the cell phone and he remote-controlled us through the city, avoiding downtown where Sarah Palin was speaking at a rally. Eventually we made it to Beaverdam Run and then had to look up the correct house number on C.J.’s computer – we didn’t remember that the Goldman’s condo is the last one on Ridgeview Drive (#44). We had a great dinner with Paula and Stephen and Paula’s sister Bobbi before crashing after a long day of driving.

[G, Paula, and Stephen at Max Patch Mtn]


27 Oct Monday – We had a late breakfast and then Stephen drove us an hour west on I-40 to a USFS gravel road to the trailhead for Max Patch Mtn. Good thing we had brought our warm, windproof clothes with us because it was cold and the wind was howling. We walked the 0.5 mi to the Appalachian Trail and then the 0.1 mi to the summit of the “bald”. Retracing our steps we found a hillside in the lee but in the sunshine and had lunch. From there we walked down the AT through the woods – all in excellent fall colors – to a meadow where the trail we wanted should have led us back around to the trailhead. However, it wasn’t obvious where the trail went so we climbed back the way we had come. Still recovering from yesterday’s drive I dozed all the way back to Asheville. Later we went to dinner at the Fiddlin’ Pig where we had good barbecue with live bluegrass music.


[Our rental car at Goldman's condo, 44 Ridgeview Dr.]


28 Oct Tuesday – We woke up to snow on the ground and on the trees, not a lot but great for showing off the contrast with the autumn colors. After a really late breakfast of delicious gingerbread pancakes we went touring with Paula and Stephen to the Grove Park Inn, a huge stone hotel built in the early 1900’s with enormous fireplaces in the lobby. We spent quite a bit of time browsing in the nearby Grove Park Gallery which had really high-end arts and crafts (like a room-divider screen for $5250) and the museum-like display of the weaving industry in North Asheville. For dinner we went early (1730) to Salsas in downtown Asheville for fusion Mexican-Jamaican food. On the way back to the condo we stopped at The Hop for ice cream. We were full.

[Grove Park Inn, Asheville, NC]


29 Oct Wednesday – Paula and Stephen prepared another delicious breakfast with eggs and sausage (and grits - gotta have grits in the South). Then Stephen and I fixed a flat tire on his Subaru we had gotten when we stopped at an accident at George Handy’s pottery studio near the entrance to Beaverdam Run. We didn’t get on the road until close to noon. We chose to drive south (west) on the Blue Ridge Parkway; the colors were spectacular, and by the time we were climbing over 4000 ft, there was snow in the woods; by 5000 ft, there was an inch on the ground on a short trail we took near Mt. Pisgah, and frozen waterfalls/icicles everywhere.
[C.J. at an overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway]


Shortly thereafter the Parkway was closed and we had to descend steeply and drive along the valley to Waynesville and SW on Rte 74 through the Nantahala Gorge. Eventually we closed the big loop by passing near Ducktown and stopped to see the ’96 Olympics whitewater site, this time with water!

[Olympics whitewater site - with water]


Back in Chattanooga we stopped at a WalMart and bought a roast chicken, salad and foccacia. Then we figured out how to get up on Lookout Mountain by road and followed a car with hang glider racks towards LMFP as it got dark. We almost found Claire’s house without help but after one wrong turn we dug out C.J.’s computer and found her address and punched it into the GPS and followed the pointing arrow. No one was home but Claire had left a key for us and a welcome note so we had dinner and caught up on our journals.


30 Oct Thursday – Claire and Eric got home from Atlanta around 0800 and we had breakfast with Claire as Eric had to go to work at LMFP. Later we went to Cloudland Canyon State Park and hiked around the Rim Trail – about a two-hour walk in typical eastern hardwoods. It was sunny so the colors were bright, and the temperature was just right for hiking.

[Claire Vassort and C.J. at Cloudland Canyon State Park, GA]


Back at the house we had a lunch of leftover chicken and Claire’s tomatoes, and then Claire went off to work at Canyon Grill where we are going to have dinner tonight around 2000. (Later) Eric went to dinner with us and the “twin fillets” (ends of the filet mignon) were great, cooked in a peppercorn sauce and served with two sides: we chose crispy okra and grilled red cabbage wedge. Then for dessert we had a serving of pecan bread pudding with bourbon sauce and one of amaretto brownie with ice cream. We’re stuffed. Now all we have to do is get up at 0445, leave at 0515, get gas and head for the airport.


31 October Friday - We were up and out as quietly as possible but I’m sure that Claire and Eric couldn’t have slept through our departure. We took the highway route: down to Trenton, up I-59, I-26 and I-75 to the airport with a quick stop for cheap gas at exit 184 Moore St. It was still dark as we dropped the car off, left the keys at the counter and checked in. This time we went to Atlanta, a very short flight, then on to Seattle. We passed over some interesting landforms perhaps in South Dakota or Nebraska and I eventually dug out the car GPS which worked okay but showed only where we were without showing any landmarks. It was cloudy from the Rockies onwards and drizzling in Seattle where Bob was good enough to come out and pick us up. Good to get home and the weather gradually cleared so it wasn’t raining for Halloween night.

House Painting

September/October 2008

Of course the operation really began back in August when I shifted the woodpiles, trellises and shrubs away from the house. Then I borrowed neighbor Max's long fiberglass ladder and bought a pressure washer. Pressure washing the cedar siding removed a lot of the loose stain (last painted in 1985!) and general crud. In some cases, especially around the octagon window, the high pressure spray (1800 psi) removed all or almost all the color. There were a few places I had to scrub some particularly resistant mold or algae with a brush and I used "30-Second" cleaner in a few spots that were especially bad. The time we were away in Slovenia, Italy and Austria provided the opportunity for the wet siding to dry, so when we returned, the house was ready for the first coat.

Or so we thought. In retrospect, neither C.J. nor I had a clue as to how long it would take to re-stain the house once the prep work had been completed. I was thinking that it would take just a few days when in reality it took us close to six weeks! On September 9th I went to Sears and bought 8 gallons of paint. I wonder if, at the time, I thought that would be enough for the whole house. ( I was using Olympic opaque deck, siding, and fence stain in Heritage Gray and Sears had it on sale. Later in the process I made several trips to Lowes buying four 5-gallon buckets of the same stain. We ended up with about three gallons left over.) On the same day I covered about a third of the north side of the house.

One of the reasons for the extended time was that I decided we needed to brush and roll on the first coat so we were sure that we got full coverage. Part of that choice was that I had had no experience at all with an airless sprayer and I was going to have to borrow one from Bruno or Max anyway.

Thank goodness C.J. was willing to work with me as we painted; it would have gone a lot slower without her . C.J. didn't like to work on the high ladder but she did the seams between the boards as high as she could reach and then used the Cosco 5-in-one ladder with scaffolding boards to work higher. I used a nine-inch roller for the north side of the house and that worked reasonably well. Then C.J. took over the roller to do the lower part of the wall and I used a 2.5 inch roller for the the rest of the wall and the eaves. The eaves were difficult because the roofer had used nails that extended through the sheathing and had to be painted around (and, of course, I was working over my head which is always tiring). We did the east side of the house next. At this point I began using a stiff brush to remove the dried paint flakes and other grit. This increased the time required and the effort as well so the application process slowed down considerably. The east side took a long time, too, because we had the bottom side of the balcony to do as well as all the balcony railings. But at least there was not so much high-ladder work since we could work from the deck and the balcony.

The south side was next and then the more complicated front of the house with its porch and many windows. September 28 marked the completion of the first coat and we began the second coat on the 30th after borrowing Max's sprayer. Coverage went much faster now whether it was the effect of the sprayer or just that a second coat was easier. It probably wasn't the sprayer because spraying required back brushing, which was almost as time consuming as rolling. Now the weather began to interfere with the painting - it rained on Oct. 2, 3, 4 with showers on the 5th. It wasn't until the 7th that we really got back to painting, interrupted by a couple of days of substituting at St. George. But by the 12th we had finished all the spraying and by the 14th had done the trim and on the 15th I took down the window masking and the porch roof tarp. Finished!

Slovenia, Italy, Austria

15 August - 3 September 2008

Lake Bled and Castle

Years ago Dennis Pagen visited Slovenia and told us what a great destination it was. C.J.'s fellow teacher took a trip there and raved about it. Matty Senior and Heather went last year; Matt and Steph Cone went earlier this year. When Steve Roti announced his plans for a paragliding trip to Slovenia and invited us, we jumped at the chance. We didn't regret it, just wished we had gone sooner before the Euro became the currency and prices ballooned.

Klagenfurt Airport

15-16 Sep - We flew Austrian/United to Chicago, then Vienna, then a turboprop hop to Klagenfurt, Austria (Karnten). Brett, owner of xTc Paragliding based in Sorica, Slovenia, our guide, met us, Dan Wells, and Nico's wife and daughter, Jeanne and Jessica just outside the arrival area in the tiny airport.




He gave us the scenic drive back by going over the Lobil Pass instead of taking the autobahn through the 8-km tunnel into Slovenia.

Whimsical woodpile near Lobilpass

17 Sep - Our base was in Ribcev Lav, a small village at the end of Lake Bohinj, a noted destination for hikers and other nature lovers. We bunked in the apartment hotel Triglav (photo, right) which had rudimentary cooking facilities in each room so we (photo, above right, Apartment Hotel Triglav, Storza Fusina)
Our first flights were at Gozd, not far from Jessinica where we had a 15 min walk up a trail to the privately owned launch. Unfortunately (or fortunately considering how jet-lagged we all were) it was not very soarable and we all had two short flights.

18 August - Our next flight, however was from the world-famous Kobala launch near Tolmin and it was definitely soarable. Most of our group got up high above launch and flew from ridge to ridge above the emerald-green Soca River past Kobarid to a turnpoint at Stol Pk, about 27 km from Kobala. Then we turned around and flew back (some) to the landing zone (LZ) at Tolmin. It was the high point of our Slovenian flying (although we didn't know it at the time - we were thinking that everyday would be a cross-country day!). The photo below shows the view west towards Stoll from Kobala with Tolmin and its conical hill and fortress in the near distance.

Tolmin valley from launch looking W to Stoll

To get to Tolmin from Lake Bohinj, one could take a road full of hairpin turns and logging trucks over the Sorica

pass, but the easy way is to drive the short distance to Bohinjska Bistrica (Ya gotta love these names!) and get on the car train, chug through a bunch of tunnels and drive off just a short distance from Tolmin.









19 August - We went back to Tolmin but the wind was unconducive for another cross country flight. Our guides suggested a quick flight to the LZ just beyond the conical hill and fortress (photo, below) and then a trip to another flying site.


An hour's ride put us near Nova Gorica and the Lijak (lee yock) ridge but, after a stop to assess conditions, Brett decided that the Kovk (pronounced like coke) ridge would be a better bet. Soaring the six miles of vertical limestone walls in the late afternoon sunlight was another highlight of the trip. The clifftops were a mix of forest and
meadows delineated by white rock walls - very scenic.
And the food and drink a short walk from the LZ at Pizzerija Anja made a perfect end to the day.



20 Aug - Wednesday - After a late start the group headed for the lift above Lake Bohinj to fly the Vogel site. Unfortunately, we were too late and the wind turned "over the back". To add injury to insult, it started to rain as we were on our way down on the chairlift. Later, the sky cleared a bit and we went back up to find that the wind was still OTB. We didn't even get off the chairlift - just rode on down. By midafternoon, however, the sky had cleared and we drove up a private road to the trailhead for Vogar launch. It seemed like more than a kilometer to walk even if it was mostly downhill. Launch was short and steep which was good because the wind had died and conditions were beginning to look iffy. We got a nice scenic sledder to the LZ on the shore of Lake Bohinj (photo, above right with Hotel Triglav, Lake Bohinj is farther right).

The evening of the 20th the whole group went to dinner at the Gostilna Rupa in nearby Srednija Vas. The design echoed the construction of the Slovenian hay shed (photo, left), but the food was world class. If there was had been any negative feelings about Slovenian cuisine, Gostilna Rupa dispelled them. We missed the Thursday night pig roast but the venison and pork dishes were excellent as were the veggies and desserts. Among other celebrations this was my birthday party and C.J. gave me a handmade King of Hearts card (photo below left).



21 August - Thu - Vogel was the call; Brett's weather forecasting really worked today as the NE winds kicked in. C.J. and I went up for the second round hoping to get soaring flights (and trying to avoid paying the 13 Euro lift fee more than once). I launched early (10:44) remembering that the wind had reversed around 11:00 yesterday and managed to get up enough to cross the lake (photo, right) and scratch around on the south-facing side for a bit. C.J. did much better and crossed the lake and soared the cliffs all the way to the end of the lake. I had to go back up a second time to get a flight that came close to matching hers.


22 August - Fri - Back to Tolmin with great plans to go deep to Krn Peak and jump to Stoll and fly at least to the Italian border and back. However, conditions were not the same as on our first Tolmin flights and many of us "dirted" early after trying to push too far too fast. Tina and Steve were the only ones to make the task. We watched and listened to them on the radio from a cafe in Kobarid until the van picked us up. Still, it was a heck of a lot better than another day at one of our local NW sites.

Because it was Friday, the queue for the train was longer than usual and we had to take the windy, mountain road through Sorica. We stopped for dinner at "the fish place" on the way and had some interesting dishes including a "fisherman's salad" which seemed to be German potato salad served cold. Good though!

23 Aug - Sat - Rain was the forecast and, sure enough, it rained on and off all day with occasional thunder and lightning as well. We did some equipment repair, downloaded/uploaded tracklogs and photos, and got some rest. Most of the group went to Rozle, a pizza place in Ribcev Lav for dinner and we had some Croatian (?) dishes Cevapcici (small, hamburger-stuffed sausages) and raznijici (turkey on skewers), both of which were very good. Steve had discovered Radler, a drink with a mix of beer and lemonade or other soft drink, and turned us on to that a few days ago so that had become our drink of choice.

24 Aug - Sun - The plan had been to go to Gerlitzen, near Villach just over the border in Austria, but the wind direction and velocity were wrong so we did a tourist trip for the morning hoping that conditions would improve. Vintgar Gorge is near Bled and it's about a one mile walk along a steep-walled, well, gorge on suspended wooden walkways (photo, left). The river was flowing fast due to the recent rain and did not have the glass-like clarity that is its usual hallmark. Around noon our guides got back from picking up a new wing for Mike and brought us back to Bohinj where a number of people went up to fly Vogel again. We'd had such good flights two days ago that we just hung out in the busy LZ. That evening the whole group got rides to near the end of the lake and Don Andro's Italian restaurant.

25 Aug - Mon - Today we got the Austria trip. It was about an hour or so to drive there once we got the bakery, petrol, banking and whatnot done. Like Vogel, there was a gondola and then a chairlift to the summit. It was pretty chilly up there in the clouds at 1900 meters. C.J. and I waited to see if it would become less cloudy and more soarable while others launched for what would be multiple sled rides for some. There were lots of other pilots and many were doing acro over the large lake below, the Ossiacher See. When we finally launched around 14:00 we flew through the clouds edges and found it sunny just beyond...and soarable. We managed to stay up for almost 40 minutes and felt no need to go back up for another flight. Near the end of our flights we had each crossed the lake to get a better view of the castle on the far ridge (photo, above right). Apparently there was some sort of demonstration of raptors and/or falconry going on in an arena within the castle grounds.

26 Aug - Tue - Took the car train to Tolmin for another XC attempt but it was blown out. Our resourceful guides headed us off to Lijak where it might be possible to fly the SW-facing site even though the upper level winds were strong NE. We shared the launch with a party of Czech pilots and, when their leader launched and soared, C.J. and I, Reed and Dan got ready to go, too. We were mindful of the NE winds and when the air got turbulent suddenly, we went out to land finding strong ground wind from the SW. Later most of the rest of our group launched and had long, high flights. We headed back early enough to have a farewell banquet at Gostilna Rupa and the food and service were just as good this time.

27 Aug - Wed - Brett arranged to have Urshka (sp?) borrow her father's car so she could drive the three of us to the airport in Klagenfurt. Dan was going to rent a car and fly the sites nearby; we were renting a car and joining seven others of our group in the Italian Dolomites. We took the autobahn and then the autostrada for the first part of the trip in our rented Audi, then we started up the highway to Cortina and over one pass after another.(photo, right, at our lunch stop in one of the cheesemaking towns) The switchbacks were so numerous that they were numbered (tornanti). Eventually we reached the area around Sella Pass, got in contact with our group and met at the Rifugio Carlo Valentini right at the pass. We were on half-board and the dinner that night was excellent.

28 Aug - Thu - After a hearty breakfast buffet (after all, it was a climber's hut), we scoped out the flying possibilities and some of us started right from the Rifugio to hike the paved trail/road to Col Rudella and the take off. C.J. and several others drove down into Campitello di Fassa in the rented van and took the gondola up to launch. I was about ready to take off around 1100 when they reached the top. My flight took me to Sella Pass with the Grupo di Sella (photo, left) in front of me and the Sasso Lungo to my left, then towards Canazei and Campitello where I had to scratch for a long time before getting back up and heading across the next side valley to the W. My flight track shows a ragged pentagon-shape ending at the LZ in Campitello. C.J. also had an excellent flight getting so high that she could look down on the featureless desert atop the Grupo di Sella, then flying down the valley to where it narrowed enough to make landing very sketchy. After getting back together, the two of us had lunch in town at a sidewalk cafe on the main square - expensive but fun. Others went back up for another flight and Steve's flight fulfilled his longtime dream to fly to the Marmolada and look down on the glacier. We returned to the Rifugio for another night.

29 August - Fri - In the morning many of the group hiked up to fly one last time before heading back to Venice and the flight home. We decided to skip the flight since the previous day's had been so incredibly good. Instead we packed the Audi and went down the north side of Sella Pass to Val Gardena (photo, left) just to see what it looked like. When we returned later in the morning to Sella Pass, every parking area was filled and the roadsides were packed with hikers, climbers and tourists - it must have been the last gasp of the August holiday. We headed down valley and then turned to climb through forest, then over Passo Rolle and down out of the mountains to Feltre and Belluno. Finally we made our way to Pieve d'Alpago and the winding road to Rifugio Dolada located meters away from the Monte Dolada launch (photo, right). After checking in with Mauro and Francesca, and noting that people were still soaring and toplanding, we geared up and got in another Italian flight. I managed a toplanding after several tries while C.J. chose the LZ in the valley where she was greeted by Felice with a welcome drink. Dinner was included at the Rifugio; it was definitely Italian and very good, with wine, too.

30 August - Sat - Mauro forecast high pressure and late launching if we wanted to soar and try to go XC, but we opted for a morning hike to a small col above the Rifugio where we could look down on students taking off for top-to-bottoms. Since it still wasn't soarable by the time we had returned and loaded up the car, we decided, based on Mauro's suggestion to head for Sillian in Ost-Tirol. The route through the mountains was, as usual, beautiful. We saw people flying at Sexton/Sesso but continued on across the border to Sillian where we stopped in at the TI to find a place to stay. They arranged a nice apartment for us and we moved in for three days at Haus Margreth. (ad, right) Later we drove to the Blue Sky LZ and met some pilots from Germany who spoke good English and gave us good advice about flying and where to eat. We arranged to meet Michaela and her boyfriend Jurgen and their friend Michael at the Blue Sky shop in the morning. Even though people were flying, it looked awfully windy, so we decided to get cleaned up and go for an early dinner at Gasthof Burg Heimfels, a traditionally-decorated inn just beneath a ruined castle at the edge of town - great food and ambiance.

31 Aug - The Blue Sky shop was busy in the morning as a tour to Lake Como was leaving as we arrived (Jurgen had just returned late yesterday from one to Umbria). It was a full-service shop, for sure, with wings, harnesses, flight suits, instruments and clothing. In fact, it was a Swing demo center and also provided other demo wings such as the Skywalk that Michaela was flying. When the three Germans arrived, we determined that Sillian was not a good choice but that the Obertilliach site (photo, left, of village from the air) might be good and it was only a 15 minute drive to the chairlift. We may have launched a bit too early, because no one had very long flights but later, when we were sitting on the terrace of Cafe Weiler, we could see lots of gliders soaring. When we returned to Sillian, the wind seemed a bit strong, but we decided to drive up to the Stalpe launch and check it out. Conditions were very light and Michael took off and soared near the gondola lift line. Jurgen volunteered to drive our car down so we decided to fly. It was a mix of ridge and thermals. After a time, C.J. and I headed out to get a closer view of Burg Heinfels (photo, right) and ran into strong wind in the valley. C.J. actually hit a gust that pushed her backwards at 13 mph. Fortunately, the LZ was large and our landings were uneventful. By this time we felt we had been adopted by Michaela, Jurgen, Michael and his girl friend Ingrid, and we agreed to go to Italy for dinner at the Helm Hotel in Innichen. Another great meal, with lots of wine!

1 Sep - Sun - Back to Obertilliach but this time we walked down from the lift terminus instead of up, and it was soarable right away. The cloudbase was low however and we weren't able to get up high above the ridge as hoped - a cross-country flight to Sillian being the goal. We all ended up back in the LZ again finding the wind in the valley to be very strong. We went back to the same cafe (photo, right) for drinks and pastry and were introduced to Oma's Uber Druber Torte, a cream-filled, calorie-laden cake. We were on our own again as we parted with our German friends so we went back to the same Italian (literally) restaurant to try the very-thin crust pizzas.

2 Sep - Mon - With our wings packed as airline luggage, we departed Sillian along the Hochpustertal to Lienz, the first city we had passed through in quite a while. We made our first stop in Greifenburg to check out the LZ for the Emberger Alm, site of a recent World HG comp, and obviously good for PG based on the number of wings in the air and packing up on the ground. Conditions did not look stellar although people were soaring, anyway we had all our gear packed away. We stopped for lunch in Sachsenburg, a small town with an old market square from 1730 (photo, left) and a Roman milestone. We avoided the autobahn and drove through Spittal, near Villach and past a cloud-covered Gerlitzen on the way to Klagenfurt. The TI helped us arrange a night at a hotel on the edge of the Old Town and we spent the rest of the afternoon walking through the mostly pedestrian-only street. Based on the advice of the Hotel Liebestegger's manager we had dinner at Zum Augustine, a brew pub in a historic building. Trying to avoid our "last day bad experiences" we made an effort to get back to the hotel before it got completely dark.

3 Sep - Wed - The manager advised us that we didn't need to be at the airport two hours before our flight and he was right - the doors didn't even open until 0500 and our flight was at 0600. On the way to the airport we were fortunate to find a 24/7 gas station so we could fill up and return the Audi without additional charge.(BTW, we put about 1000 km on the rental car and only put 75 Euros worth of diesel in it - a little less than one full tank.)

We had a five-hour layover in Vienna and then a long flight to Chicago on Austrian Airlines with two meals and lots of beverages (including the complimentary bottle of water everyone received when boarding. We had a couple of hours to kill in Chicago, then another long flight to SeaTac - no food on domestic flights, of course, but at least it wasn't a full flight and we had three seats to ourselves. By the time we got home, we had been travelling just about 24 hours. But it was still a great trip!