Vancouver

Since I seem to have caught another cold (sigh...), I can at least spend more time on my blog than out and about.  I'm writing from Portland, Oregon, which I will review in a few days.  I've gotten to see a significant chunk of the city already, with just one major part left that I will visit tomorrow (even if I'm sniffly!) so one sick day won't really cut into my plans here.  If I'm really ambitious, I'll spend some time with my map of California, figuring out where and when I'll be there, and working in stops with my friends along the way.

Back to the travel part of the blog (as opposed to the I'm-sickly part):  I stopped in Vancouver, British Columbia for 2 nights to see my friend Barb, who I first knew as Malakyi in the World of Warcraft.  She lives in the suburb of Richmond, but we got into Vancouver itself one night for some dinner and bookstore browsing.

With Barb at The Naam, in a spiffy Vancouver neighborhood.

Something that struck me about Vancouver was how many people were out and about, walking all over town.  It gave the town a lively edge, yet managed not to look too busy and crowded because of that.  I only got to see a sliver of Vancouver.  Maybe if I'd been there alone I'd have seen more (I've yet to stop someplace cool and manage not to see any of it) but because I was at my friend's, it was easy to have a good time staying in, so in the end, I only saw a little peek of Vancouver but a fair amount of Barb and her place.

And once again, for those who like to know about food, the place we dined in is an all-vegetarian restaurant, which I don't think I've ever tried before.  The menu was large -- about as big as an ordinary menu -- but Barb and I went for similar dishes:  Big bowls of veggies and some type of starch.  They look like rabbit food, but are very fresh and with the yummy sauces for each bowl, were very good.  I ate half at dinner and planned to eat the other half for breakfast, but instead I wound up eating it as my second dinner.  (An event that happens more often than I care to admit.)

Idaho & Western Washington State

Upon leaving Utah, I drove north through Idaho.  I've been to Idaho before, to Boise and to Craters of the Moon National Monument, which is another one of those parks out west that people in the east have never heard of, but is really freaking cool.  It looks like the surface of the moon, because it's all so black and desolate (that's not my photo, but dad and I climbed that hill last summer when we toured the park).

A vista from my drive through southern Idaho.

On this trip, however, I had some deadlines to keep, so I didn't dilly-dally in Idaho.  But I did make sure to stop in Boise and stay at The Modern Hotel, which is kind of just an ordinary hotel, only way cooler.  I know it because last summer, mom and dad and I stopped there for a drink, and we thought it was very cool.  At the time, I had no idea that I'd ever be back in Boise, let alone as soon as 15 months later, but I vowed that if I ever returned, I'd stay at the Modern Hotel.

The Modern Patio

For those of you who like to read about what I eat and drink, I had not one but two of the bar's Lucky Fridas (gin, lime, egg white, fresh mint, bitters).  And for those of you who don't know me too well, you'll know that two mixed drinks is a lot.  The food was great, too, and even better is that nearly everything on the menu is available in 1/2 size for 1/2 the price (instead of the usual restaurant scam: 1/2 the size for 4/5 the price).  My gnocchi was delicious:

Half-eaten

If you ever make it to Boise, book a room at the hotel, and enjoy a meal and a drink in the bar!

My next stops were both in Washington State.  First in Pullman, where I stayed for a few days with my sister's godmother Jean and her husband Roger.  I saw them last summer when they married (which is why my parents and I were in that part of the country) but I liked seeing them with just the three of us, because they were too busy last summer to spend much time with any one person.  So three nights at their house were very relaxing and we got to chat a lot.  I didn't do a whole lot in Pullman besides relax and some chores and talking to my two loved ones there, but it felt really good.

Sharing a Scandinavian breakfast with Roger and Jean.

An inadequate photo of The Palouse (pronounced puh-LOOZ) in SE Washington State.

Second, on my way to Canada, I got to see Jim and Sally, who I met last summer at Jean and Roger's wedding.  They live in Yakama, but I met up with them in Republic, where they'd rented a little cabin for a short vacation and generously got one with an extra room for me.  :)  Even though I'd met them only that one weekend, they were really fun and easy to talk to, so I'm glad we got to meet up.  I feel like a heel for forgetting to get a photo of any of us.  :(  Instead, I'll plug Sally's blog where you can read about fibers and meet Sally but maybe cannot meet Jim.  Sorry, Jim!  /feels dumb for forgetting a photo.

Utah

After leaving Denver, my car did a remarkably fine job of driving over the Rocky Mountains towards Utah.  I wasn't sure what to expect from Utah in terms of what it looked like or anything.  Turns out it is really beautiful and mostly uncluttered.

Moab area, in the mist.

I only spent two nights in Utah, but it was a great place for photos.  Most of these were from the area around Moab, especially Arches National Park.  Now that place was cool!  I didn't have time to see all of the arches, but it's a park that could be done in one day if one was mildly ambitious (or rushed from arch to arch, which isn't really my style).  Is it just me, or is everyone from the east as ignorant about how many beautiful parks the U.S. has out west?  Because over the past 15 months, I've seen a lot of wonderful and varied parks I never even heard of before, Arches being just one of them.

My second night was in Salt Lake City (good tip, Tawsha!).  It was a nice and compact town, and could have stayed slightly longer, but I had people expecting me two days later, so I couldn't linger.  I did however, get to see something I've always wanted to see:  The Mormon Tabernacle Choir!  It turns out I happened to be there on a Thursday night, when the Choir always has a free rehearsal.  I didn't care what they wore, I just wanted to hear them sing.  And there was, other than the lack of robes, no apparent difference between their rehearsal and a real concert.  The concert hall had a full house, too, so apparently the weekly free show is very popular.

SLC's Mormon Temple

We couldn't take photos or video/audio of the rehearsal, so here's a video of the Choir filmed by someone else, singing a song I know from high school choir:

My final stop as I headed north towards Idaho was an impromptu stop at Promontory Point -- the site of the "Golden Spike" where the Union Pacific Railroad met the Central Pacific Railroad in 1869.  As I'm sure you know, this was a big freakin' deal at the time.  And if you've been reading my blog, you'll also know I've become a very minor afficianado of the railways.

The first two engines to meet (reenactment!).

But despite how big of a deal the first trans-continental railroad was, Promontory Point, which once housed a small city, now looks like this, other than the recently-built National Park Service building on the site:

This is the view for miles around the Park Service building.

Seeing the completely barren landscape, where there was once a bustling, if small, city, made me think of that book about how quickly the earth would return to normal if all the humans disappeared.  I haven't read it, but I'm interested now, because Promontory Point would show no signs of life at all, were it not for the highway markers directing tourists to the area.  Anyone know what book I'm talking about?

Also, did you know that the two sets of railroad builders were not given directions about where to lay their rails, until the two companies had built past each other for 250 miles?  Would it be mean of me to call them all "dumbasses"?

Update:  In response to mom's comment about some of the rocks looking like Easter Island...  The photo below is of one of the highlights of Arches National Park.  Balanced Rock.  The entire time I was looking at it, I kept thinking of the heads in Easter Island.  And I meant to post a photo and mention the similarity.  Obviously, I'm not the only person who is reminded of those stone heads.

The official name is Balanced Rock, but I would rename it The Moai of Moab.

Climbing Bear Peak

Here are some photos from the day Tom and I climbed Bear Peak, which is a mountain in the Colorado Rockies measuring 8,460 feet.  The entire hike was 9 miles, with about half of those steep ascents and descents of about 3,000 feet.  It was very challenging for people not used to climbing anything more difficult than the stairs, and Tom and I were very proud of ourselves when we were done.  And hungry.  And sweaty. Enjoy the pics!

Our destination, 4.5 miles away.

Still smiling because we don't know what we're in for.

A view.

Another view.

The last few dozen yards to the top.

Tom, about 2 yards below the peak.

Sittin' pretty on top of a mountain!

The moon kept us company on our car ride home.

Denver, Colorado

Denver was one of the cities I identified at the start of my trip as a city I would inspect as a possible new place to live.  So I'll start this post with an apology to Asheville, NC, for bumping it out of the leading spot and into second place.  Because I really liked Denver.

First, a quick rundown about my method for checking it out:  I spent three nights in the suburb of Westminster where my friend Tom lives.  He's a friend from North Carolina who I've seen a few times since moving away from there, but not many.  So I was delighted that he was in Denver and that he was happy to see and host me.  Then I spent two nights in a cheap motel in the suburb of Lakewood, which I picked because of its location, not the fact that I grew up in a different Lakewood.

As in the other cities, I checked out several local businesses, places to eat, etc.  I spent time driving around town, including getting out of the car to stroll around neighborhoods.  And in more than any other city, I found people to talk to.  Some were in the course of doing business, like adding more minutes to my cell phone plan.  And some were accidentally social, like when I found myself in a sports bar to watch a football game and it was completely full, so I asked a couple at a table if I could share with them, and they were really nice and happy to talk about Denver (they love it).

They saved me from the horrors of standing around a crowded sports bar all alone!

When I arrived in the area, I'd originally planned to spend about half my time in Denver and half in Boulder, about 50 minutes away.  But due to a number of factors, I spent only my first evening in Boulder.  It seemed like a pretty nice place, but maybe a little bit... oh, I dunno... twee? for me.  Maybe a little too granola and hippy.  With a few too many college students asking for money.  I wouldn't avoid the place; in fact, I'd go back just to eat at one of the best italian restaurants I've ever tried.  But I felt early like it wouldn't be quite for me.

That man in blue -- cooks great meals and takes photographs!

So I spent more of my time in Denver, which was good because I got to see a lot of it.  So let's see... I did my usual stop at the public library (whose hours are way too short but it is a good library), toured downtown, saw the area around the ballpark, toured the following neighborhoods:  Sun Valley, Sunnyside, Clayton, Park Hill, Montclair, Washington Park & Baker.  In many of these, I saw little homes or apartments I could imagine making a home in.  There were shops I would frequent (like the co-op used bookstore, coffee shops, and consignment shops) and shops I would rarely frequent, but would show off to visitors (like the erotic bakery -- possibly NSFW photo!).  A lot of the older neighborhoods are just my style: walkable, plenty of parking, interesting smaller homes, etc.

The Park Hill neighborhood

The Baker neighborhood.  Or is that Washington Park?  /scratches head

And mostly, as noted above, I was really impressed with the people I met.  When I looked lost, people offered to give me directions.  Doing business was efficient without being brisk, and I was never made to feel like I was taking up someone's time by daring to be a customer.  One day, I locked myself out of the car at a gas station (a situation I've been dreading since the day I left Ohio!) and the fellow at the service shop next door got me back into my car with no charge!  (I bought him a pop to say thanks.)  (Oh, and my internal monologue when I realized that I'd just locked my keys in the car went something like: OMGOMGwhatthehelldidIjustdofuckfuckfuckityfuck. Ah.... Shit!)

Ok, so what didn't I like about Denver?  It was so much bigger than I expected.  Driving around was really a drag.  Not as bad as Philadelphia, but worse than any other contending cities I've seen so far.  And it's not that the distances are so very great; there are just too many cars on the main roads.  The neighborhoods in between all the main roads are really easy to navigate:  Not crowded and plenty of parking.  But getting from one neighborhood to the next looks like it would be a constant irritant.  I didn't get a chance to see what the public transportation is like there.  A few people talked about it as if it is really good, but it's all buses, so they'll have to deal with the same traffic hassles as the cars.  And sadly, when times get lean, bus service is a lot easier to cut than subway service, so I can't always count on there being great bus service.

The 16th Street Pedestrian Mall

But the flip side is that, there are cool neighborhoods, so if I managed to find a neighborhood that suited me (and I suspect I could) and found a way to make the daily grinds not so terrible, Denver might suit me really well.

Oh, and something I want to note, but am not sure if it will matter to my decision-making...  I've always preferred cloudy days to rainy days.  A ratio of 5 cloudy to 2 sunny days would be just about right.  But everyone in Denver tried to sell me on the city by talking about how great the weather is, not knowing that the sun bothers me and I'd prefer a little less of it.  Maybe a lot less.  (Kind of funny, I know.  Who doesn't like the sun, right?)  Would 300+ days of sunlight get on my nerves?  It might.

But the flip side of that is, the good weather attracts a lot of people who really like the outdoors (another big typical selling point of the city).  I'm somewhere in between being an "indoor person" and an "outdoor person."  But I do appreciate that all those outdoor people come with a culture of health and fitness.  So exercise opportunities will be plentiful, and tasty yet healthy food will be easy to find.

Apparently, pot is easy to find, too.

Biggest downside of Denver:  It is so far away from almost everyone I care about.  If were 27 instead of 37, I might not be reluctant to be so far away from people I know.  But as I get older, I appreciate more and more being close to people I love, and Denver is just not that close (although direct flights to most major cities will remedy that downside somewhat).

Nebraska Is Kinda Charming

After bypassing the flooding on Interstate 29, I spent about a day and a half driving across Nebraska.  There's not a whole lot to see or do in Nebraska, but it's not the most desolate place I've been (that honor belongs to North Dakota, which I drove through in May, 2010).  One could spend a handful of days in Nebraska, stopping at random towns along the way to see things.  And if one was willing to wander off the Interstates, they could see even more.

My first stop was at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, to see its International Quilt Study Center and Museum.  I didn't see any of the University other than the Center.  And honestly, I went more so that my mom could get a taste of the place than for any true interest on my part, but it was pretty cool anyway.  The place is both a museum and reseach facility for quiting.  The exhibit I toured was quilts of the Revolutionary era.  Some were extremely pretty and intricate, and I can't believe how well-preserved they are!

Nebraska made a good first impression when I arrived at the Center just as it was closing, but the clerk let me go explore anyway.  And she didn't even charge me admission because she knew I wouldn't be there very long!  Then on my way out, she gave me a lot of tips about places to stop along my drive.  Nebraska seems to be the quilting capital of America, so mom, if you're looking for a place to visit and learn about quilts, consider a few days in Nebraska.

After camping for a night, I continued west along Interstate 80, making a few stops along the way.  And skipping a few that sounded interesting in the guidebooks because they looked really cheesy when I got there.  (**cough** Great Platte River Road Archway **cough**)

One charming little stop was at a Pony Express Depot -- a real one, not a replica.  For those of you who, like me, were taught that the Pony Express was a big freaking deal across the entire history of the wild west, well...  About a year ago, Nicky and I went to the Postal Museum (a very good museum in DC!  I urge you to check it out!) and learned that the Pony Express only operated for 18 months.  Can you believe that?  After all the bru-ha-ha they make over it in school!  18 months!  Then at the depot I learned it only ran along one road, with a few offshoots along the way!  Well, some of the romance of the wild west has definitely disappeared from my life, that's for sure.  :(  But the depot and the small town it's in were charming and worth the stop.

Another stop was at the Museum of Nebraska Art.  It was small, but in an old restored post office that is now on the National Register of Historic Places.  Its exhibits are limited to artists from Nebraska or to art of Nebraska.  It was quite manageable for a short little stop.  And it's located in a really neat small town in the middle of Nebraska, Kearney.  double check.  While my first impression of Kearney was that it was nothing but gas stations, motels, and fast food restaurants, once I was off the main road, it was pretty nice.  Other than the museum, I spent the rest of my time in town walking up and down an old historic street, doing a bit of shopping and dining and just watching people and things go by.  I was surprised to see so much character in such a small place -- especially in the middle of Nebraksa.  But maybe that's unfarir; maybe I just don't know enough about Nebraska to know that it has character if you know where to look.

The Union Pacific Railroad operates the largest rail yard in the world in North Platte.  I'm not a big rail fan, but last summer while driving across the northern U.S. with my parents, we followed a railway line all the way from Chicago to Idaho.  The Great Northern, I think.  And it piqued my interest in railroads, so when I saw the Bailey Railway Yard on a list of things to see in Nebraska, I decided to stop.

Union Pacific built an 8-story tower for visitors to climb (or ride the elevator, more likely) to see the yard from above.  My photos don't do it justice; I'd need to talk a helicopter ride or something to really get a good shot.  But at its busiest part, the yard is 64 train tracks wide.  It was pretty neat watching the trains go back and forth, and single cars being fed into a line to join a train.  The yard is worth a stop if you ever drive across Nebraska, just beware of GPSs that direct you to cross all 64 tracks from the north, instead of coming at the tower from the south.

My last stop in Nebraska was in Ogalalla, which I aimed for because my favorite character in Lonesome Dove lived there.  (Yeah, some of my stops are kind of random.)  Its one draw was the Boot Hill Cemetery, so named because of the number of people who died and were buried with their boots on.  Although I think all of the bodies have been re-interred elsewhere, the graveyard still stands, right in the middle of a neighborhood of single family homes.  Ogallala appeared to be less commercialized than some of the other small towns I passed through, and had I not crashed quite so early, I might have gone out to one of the local bars to eat BBQ and meet some cowboys.  Ah well, next time!

Presumably was not buried in his boots, as he was too poor to own a pair.

My drive the next morning took me to Denver, Colorado, which I stayed in for five nights and will talk about in my next post.

Dur...

It just took me at least 30 seconds to remember where the hell I am.  (If you're wondering, I'm in Moab, Utah, writing from my first ever campground cabin.)  Is that a sign I've been traveling too much?

Coming soon:  Posts on Nebraska and my most recent audition city, Denver, Colorado!

Two More Roads

Continuing from my last post, here are the other two drives between Washington, D.C. and Lincoln, NE that stood out:

The third notable drive, and my favorite of the bunch, was the drive from Little Rock through the Ozarks in northwest Arkansas.

Near the beginning of this drive, before I reached the Ozark Mountains, I stopped at Hendrix College, where a good friend of mine used to teach.  I think it's been a while since he's been there, so I don't know if the campus looks like it did in his time, but it was really pretty.  It's a small school in a small town, but was a nice place to stroll around for a while before setting off on my drive for the day.

The Ozarks are not particularly large mountains, but are a very pretty area.  The roads are twisty and turny, with some ups and downs, but until the drive through the Smokey Mountains, are fun to drive, not teeth-clenchingly  stressful.  It felt kind of like someone grabbed U.S. 129 at each end stretched it out just a bit.

If you read my post on Little Rock, you'll know that Arkansas has long been mocked as the home of drunken hillbillies (well, maybe you already knew this).  A lot of this stereotype comes from early depictions of the Ozarks and the people who lived there.  They were poor.  From what I saw, the area is not so poor any more, but I did see a share of trailers and really beaten-up homes along the way.

I stopped for lunch at the Burger Barn, which apparently has been around for a long time and is a local famous place.  It's just a roadside drive-in where you order at the counter then eat in your car or under a tent.  And it was good.  I'm glad I stopped!  While there, I got to talking with a couple from California who'd just moved to the area because the lady's mom had retired there.  They loved it.  They thought it was pretty and easy.

If you're ever in northwest Arkansas, stop at the Burger Barn!  The chef is gruff, but the burgers are good.

Finally, my last notable drive was between Kansas City, Missouri and Lincoln, Nebraska.  Not because the drive was particularly scenic (it was not) or full of neat things (it was not).  But because a huge swath of Interstate 29 and many surrounding roads were washed out by floods from the Missouri River.  Apparently, the states upstream of the Nebraska/Iowa area received significantly more snowfall than usual and, depending on who you listen to, the Army Corp of Engineers may or may not have managed the dams properly to prevent or reduce flooding down river.  (I'm inclined to think that when you have a massive record snowfall, there's going to be a flood later, no matter how well it's managed.)

Anyway, for me the flooding meant about a 90 minute detour, which actually allowed me to see more of country and small towns around the Missouri/Iowa/Nebraska intersection.  But for the people who live there, it meant at best a massive inconvenience every day or at worst, the loss of their homes or farms or businesses.  Ironically, that whole swath of North America also suffered it worst draught and longest heatwave since the 1930s.  Many parts of the area got more than 30 days of over 100 degree heat this summer, and no rain.  So the area managed to get hit with draught and flooding.  Man.

The area looked like this for miles around.

Two Roads

Between Washington, D.C. and Lincoln, Nebraska, I did a lot of driving.  Much of it was pretty mundane, especially the drives on the interstates.  But I had four drives that stood out for one reason or another.  Here are the first two.

The first was the drive from Winchester, VA to Asheville, NC.  The road itself wasn't too spectacular, but I made a couple of stops along the way that made it worthwhile.

In Winchester itself, I ate dinner with Donnie "NERD" Shelton and his wife, Sarah.  Winchester is too far away from a big city that I'd want to live there, but the historic part of town was pretty nice.  I stayed at their home for one night before heading south to North Carolina.  (And although I've met him before, I'd like to point out that Donnie was the first friend I made while playing The World of Warcraft!)

Along the way, I stopped to see the Natural Bridge, one of those stone arches above open air.  Part (all?) of The Last of the Mohicans was filmed there, and it is quite beautiful.  The only downside is the bridge is on private land, so you not only have to pay to get in, but there are really tacky tourist traps on the land, too, (away from the pretty part, at least) like a wax museum.  Do people actually go to wax museums?  And for any reason other than to say they did the cheesiest tourist thing imaginable?

The Natural Bridge

She spent the afternoon cruising down the river.

The second interesting road was my drive from Asheville to Nashville through the Blue Ridge and Smokey Mountains.  Well, interesting is the wrong word... "terrifying" is more accurate.

I intentionally avoided the interstates for this part of my drive so I could see more of the mountains.  So I programmed my GPS to "avoid highways."  Little did I know that it would take me onto U.S. Highway 129, which has to be one of the twistiest roads in the whole country.  Its curviest part is known by some as The Tail of the Dragon.  For about 90 minutes, my driving was constantly hand-over-hand, with either the gas pedal pressed to the floor to make it up the mountains, or the brake pedal pressed to the floor so I wouldn't sail off over a cliff or crash into a tree.

One wrong turn and I'd be in that lake.

The drive was pretty fun for the first 20 minutes or so, because there's no place else I've driven that requires, well... so much "driving."  But as the road got steeper and more crowded, and as my GPS let me know I had another 22 miles of it... Oi!  And there was almost no place to pull over.  I did pull over a few times, just to settle my nerves, or to let some bikers go past me, but I sure was glad when the ride was done.

I stopped at the dam at the end of The Dragon to stretch my legs and feel normal again.

I'm pretty sure it's a really fun place to ride motorcycles.  How do I know this?  Because there were about 10,000 bikers riding the road and milling around the pull-offs.  Oh, and because a couple of companies send photographers out to the side of the road to take your photo as you're driving/riding.  The photos of my dinky little Saturn aren't too interesting, but there are some cool shots of people on their motorcycles.  I bet if I rode a motorcycle to U.S. 129 just to ride that particular road, I'd like a shot of myself taking a sharp turn.

Kansas City, Missouri

A few of my friends from the CFTC have lived in or spent a lot of time in Kansas City and they really like it, so at their urging, I went slightly out of my way to see it.  I stayed two nights, which gave me a full day in town.

The thing I liked best about KC was its architecture.  I didn't take a formal tour or anything, just wandered around downtown.  But even just doing that I found some great stuff:

Some government buildings

The U.S. Courthouse

The public library

Kansas City, MO prides itself on having more fountains than any city in North American (and maybe only Rome(?) exceeds it world-wide).  I only saw a handful, so I'll have to assume the rest were where I didn't wander.

I was told that KC makes great BBQ, so I stopped at a BBQ place for lunch, at a farmer's market called the River Market.  It's a lot like the West Side Market in Cleveland, only it smelled like cow pies.  Not sure why, since it's right in the middle of the city and I didn't see any live cattle around.  /shrug.  The BBQ was good despite the suspicious odor.

The thing that made the biggest impression on me was actually a sad thing, though.  While nearing the end of my walk around town, I wandered back past the public library and towards my car.  Just as I reached the corner where the library is, a bird dropped straight down out of the sky next to me!  Straight down!  (After I told a friend about that a few days later, he suggested maybe the bird flew into a window, which was possible given its location and the design of the building.)  The bird kind of rolled back and forth on its torso for a minute then managed to get up on is feet.  He wasn't obviously injured (I mean, no blood, no crooked wings), but there was definitely something wrong with him.  He just stood there, beak open, and not moving except for blinking his eyes.  It was scary and sad all at once.  :(  He was sort of near a door and people kept walking past but he didn't fly off or walk away.  I wanted to help but didn't know how or if even anyone could help.  I found a couple guys who do maintenance for the business district and they came over to look at the bird, and started calling around to see if anyone could come help.  I knew my continued presence wouldn't do anything to help the bird, so eventually I took off.  I don't know if the bird recovered, or was put out of its misery, or if it just lingered around for a while then died.  :(  But it made me really sad.

/hug

I'm sure my friends who told me to go to KC feel bad that my biggest impression of the city was an injured bird.  That's not all the impression I got.  It was pretty, clean, and the people were friendly.