cascadian telegrams

happy birthday cousin linda

it is my smart and talented cousin Linda’s 50th birthday today.  This is what she looks like now (from her facebook profile)

and here she is 47 years ago with her dad (my Uncle John)

Her father John was my mum’s brother

Linda was always the most creative of us kids.  She was artistic as long as I can remember.  When we were kids, she’d produce skits and programs with a tape recorder and give us kids parts in it (“starring Betty Grable and Clark Unable… “… or something like that).  We cousins were bit actors in these skits but still enjoyed the game.

The first time I heard Tom Lehrer (Poisoning the Pidgeons in the Park)  was when Linda brought over the LP;  she ‘got’ subversive humor well before the rest of us could understand the sly wit.  And my life-long abiding love for Beatles music is – at least in part – due to her good taste in music, although I’m not sure she’s ever forgiven me (or her kid sister, my cousin Susan) for drawing moustaches on all the figures on the cover of  her treasured George Harrison double-album All Things Must Pass… an album I enjoy to this day.  Sorry about that!

Linda parlayed her art into Studio Wasabi where she presents and sells her artwork online and also teaches art at Imago Dei Middle School in Tuscon, where her students (largely from low-income and disadvantaged backgrounds) recently won third place in a School of the Future design competition!   So she’s still sparking creativity and ideas in others, just like when we were kids, but now she does it professionally and for the kids in our society who need it most.  Skål to that!

Here are a few snaps taken over the years – mostly by my parents – of Linda and her (naturally) creative and smart kids.  Happy birthday cousin!

  

thanksgiving in portland

ah I love Portland and Powell’s Books.  I’ve been down to PDX many times (we nearly accepted jobs there instead of Microsoft/ Seattle back in ‘99) and I admit I’m a bit jealous of the place.  I like the scale of it (like Europe), the “tram” which we rode from Beaverton to downtown on Friday, the funky neighborhoods and bike-friendliness, and the vibe.  There are more junkies and strung-out people then I remember from last time, though.

Powell’s is great.  I’m ashamed to say I’d never actually been in their ‘flagship store’ before this time, although I’ve bought books from them online.  This time, we found some great used Tom Swift books for Malcolm, copies of 1491 both for us and my brother Dave and his girlfriend Marti (appropriate as we watched Apocalypto the night before) and a cheap used paperback copy of Kite Runner for Susan (saw and loved the film, looking forward to the novel). We had a bite and Malcolm and I played several rounds of old-school pinball in Rocco’s Pizza across the street, a very punk rock pizza joint.  It takes me back.

Anyway… where was I?  Oh yes.  We drove down to my brother Dave’s place Thanksgiving morning (much better, traffic-wise, than Wed. evening) and stayed through Saturday morning.  Dave is quite handy with a soldering iron and took one of his one-off projects (a circuit board with a hand switch that powers two CPU fans) to fashion a jet pack for Malcolm’s super-hero alter ego ‘Metal Man’.

 

Thanksgiving itself was a traditional affair with turkey and standard-issue gluttony (I was the glutton, natch). 

 

My punishment for gluttony (at least the excessive cognac part) was a nasty heartburn in the middle of the night.  Oh well.  Brown liquor and I, we have a stormy relationship.

Friday was better though as Dave’s Mexican girlfriend Marti made homemade tamales.  Muchos Gracias!  A short but fun visit.

Happy Anniversary Mum & Dad

My mum & dad celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary this past weekend!  Malcolm served champagne on the porch, Susan made a delicious dinner of crab-stuffed crepes and a splendid time was had.  Congratulations 'rents!

father's day and kayaks

As a father's day gift for my dad, we  did a four-day "Fundamentals of Sea Kayaking" course together at the Northwest Outdoor Center on Lake Union.  It included a little classroom instruction covering fundamentals then lots of time paddling including self- and assisted-rescue in Lake Union and, as a finale, a whole day learning how to handle currents in Deception Pass.

It was great:  The weather was perfect and we had a lot of fun.  The currents are very strong up in the pass so many people end up in the drink, but with a dry suit and life preserver you just float there and don't get cold even though the water is quite frigid.  We saw bald eagles, egrets, herons and a few seals checking us out up close.

I've got to hand it to my dad, for a 71 year-old guy he has a lot of energy and appetite for adventure.  And now we have another fun activity we can do together.  Happy Father's Day, dad!

whidbey with mumsie and pops

it was a beautiful day yesterday so I arranged an impromptu day trip to Whidbey Island with my parents.  Malcolm had some stomach virus where he couldn't hold down any food on Friday afternoon/evening so unfortunately he couldn't go and Susan stayed home with him.

Too bad.  It was lovely, warm and sunny the whole day, and we had a nice look around.  We visited Joe's Island Music, our friends Rob and Rachel's music shop, and had lunch with Rob (and checked out a mini-guitar as a possible birthday gift for Malcolm in June).

Whidbey is beautiful: still largely bucolic and rural despite some yuppification with long beaches, dramatic cliffs and incredible vistas from virtually anywhere on the island, looking over the water west towards the Olympics or east towards Mount Baker and Everett

We checked out South Whidbey State Park and had a nice walk along the bluff at Fort Casey (above) where the kids were flying kites and exploring the never-used WWII battlements and tunnels -- what a great place for kids.  Christopher's in Coupeville for dinner was a disappointment but I can't really complain... those Penn Cove mussels are so good you'd really have to screw up to make an unattractive meal of them.  Still, I'd rather have taken a bucket and gathered the mussels ourselves from the plentiful ones on the beach and cooked them up at home.

The m&p are considering buying some land up there and building a retirement home.  My 70-something dad likes to say he has "one house left in him" (he build a house mostly by himself when we were kids back in the 1970's... every weekend for three years!) so I hope they go through with it.  Between our friends, my parents and the lovely scenery and beaches we'd have no excuse to not just shoot up there on the weekends.  Plus Malcolm would benefit from time spent tramping around in the woods or foraging on the beaches. 

Snaps are here.

family visit

a rare visit from both of my brothers this weekend meant my entire family (3 brothers plus m&p) were together for, well, I can't remember the last time we were all together!  Matt and Colleen were up from Los Angeles, and Dave and his girlfriend Marti from Portland plus my parents who are here for a few months

it was great to see everyone.  Matt & Colleen and Dave and Marti were all very generous w/their time (and lego-building efforts) with Malcolm, who of course lapped up all the adult attention.  Plus we had a great dinner @ pair on Saturday which I'd totally recommend... Malcolm loved the Moules Frites!  Unfortunately Susan didn't feel well on Saturday so she didn't go but I will bring her back some time soon.

Alas, we didn't make it out on Saturday to 74th St. Ale House as I'd planned for us (we're getting old I guess) but it was fun/brief visit.  I hope we get to see them again soon!  More snaps are here.

on the road again...

wherein my brother Dave heads south on his motorcycle again and starts a blog, to boot.  Ride, Dave, ride!

dave's long way down, day 12: back in the barn

Day 12, mile 2629.4, and after 12 days in the saddle, I’ve finally made it home, (sigh).  I left Grants Pass, OR this morning about 9am to a very cold 33 degree ride north on I-5. I had to stop a couple of times just to let the feeling return to my fingertips, (heated hand grips are wonderful, but do much for your fingertips).  It’s nice to be home again to the familiar surroundings, but in the same sense, it’s weird. The feeling of excitement the night before departing on another leg of the journey always kept me going. Tomorrow it’s back to work and several days of daydreaming about the places I visited.

Don’t get me wrong… Long distance traveling on a motorcycle is difficult, uncomfortable, very risky, and some would say sheer lunacy during the Winter months. All valid points. But, enduring all of the hardships and returning home with some great stories to tell friends and family members makes these types of trips all worth while. I highly recommend everyone take a similar trip. Not necessarily on a motorcycle, load the bags/kids/pets into your car, grab a map, pick a point and go there. Traveling without agendas in itself is a tremendous adventure for most Americans. We all get so engrossed in our structured daily routines that we believe this is the only way to enjoy ourselves. Anyway, enough said. Try it, you may like it.

Thanks to everyone for all of your letters of support through my trip. It was nice knowing I wasn’t completely disconnected from the world.

As I mentioned in an earlier trip report, I hope this trip is the first of many for me in the future. For my future trips, I will establish a blog site and post updates there rather than spamming everyone’s mailboxes nightly. Another advantage to doing this is because I can expand upon my daily experiences without worrying about filling peoples mailboxes with long, tedious email messages. One of my trip supporters also asked about the possibility of writing a book during these travels. I don’t know if I’m up to writing a book, but including a travel log in my next adventure is already on my ‘must have’ list.

I wish everyone a Happy New Year, and I will include you all in my future reports,

Dave

dave's long way down days 10,11: heading home

day 10

Well, I started the big push homeward today. I departed Los Angeles at 8am this morning with the intent of taking advantage of the clear weather and heading as far north as I could. It paid off. I rode under some cloudy skies through the San Joaquin Valley today but the temperature remained about 50 degrees, so I pushed through to San Francisco. While crossing San Francisco, I missed one of my turn offs following I-580 westward towards the coast, and my GPS immediately recognized I was off route and found the most suitable route to get me back on track. Unfortunately, my GPS happened to select a ‘Bus Only’ lane going across the Bay Bridge and I was dumb enough to follow its directions. Needless to say, I got stopped by one of San Francisco’s Police and had to play the lost tourist routine. The cop bought my story and gave me directions on how to get back to my intended route. The cop-stop was a bit of luck because I had to cross the Bay Bridge, drop down to Treasure Island Naval Air Station, and reverse my route back to I-580 to head westward again. I had a chance to grab some great snaps of the Bay;

 

 

As you can see, the weather crossing San Francisco today was perfect. I pushed ahead northward on Hwy. 101, covering 500+ miles today and nearly half the distance of my trip home. I decided to stop for the evening in Ukiah, California, (the southern gateway to the Redwoods again).  Tomorrow I’m hoping for similarly fair weather to cross back into Oregon, and hopefully back into Beaverton by tomorrow evening.

Again, I’ll keep everyone posted on my progress. With a little luck, I’ll be home tomorrow evening and I’ll post my last post of this trip.

day 11

Day 11, mile 2372, and I crossed back into Oregon at about 3pm this afternoon. I ran out of daylight and warm riding temperatures in Southern Oregon, so I decided to do one more hotel flop in Grants Pass, OR.

I left Ukiah, CA about 10am this morning because the temperature had dropped below freezing last night in the Redwoods, and I walked outside to a very frosty motorcycle this morning. I figured I should wait for the sun to rise and melt the frosty road surfaces before I pushed northward through the Redwoods again. It was still a somewhat chilly ride out of the Redwoods, but the weather warmed up again as I rode along the northern California coast.

Rather than completely retracing my Oregon coast route I rode a week ago, I chose to cut inland on Hwy. 199 between Crescent City in California and Grants Pass in Oregon. After getting to Grants Pass, I was going to head up I-5 for home.

Like I said earlier, I ran out of daylight and warm riding temperatures before I got out of Grants Pass, so here I stay for a night and head back to Beaverton in the morning.

No pictures today, sorry. I wanted to get as far northward into Oregon today as I could, so I didn’t stop to take any snaps.

I should be home by tomorrow afternoon, I’ll send my final trip report  as soon as I roll into Beaverton again.

Happy New Year all,

dave's long way down days 7,8,9: there and back again (Baja <-> LA)

Day 7

Greetings all from sunny and warm Rosarito Beach in Baja California. Mile 1372, and the farthest point south I will be visiting on this trip. So, two days in the sun and I start my push north again (sadly).

I departed Los Angeles Thursday morning to a sunny 53 degrees and headed south on I-5. I don’t want to say I super-slabbed my way to the Baja border because Los Angeles has built much more than super highways. As the song says, ‘nobody walks in L.A’. I had forgotten how car-depedent Los Angelians had become. I road down sections of Interstate 5 that were 9 lanes in each direction. Aircraft carriers could easily traverse the distance between L.A. and San Diego.

I crossed the US/Mexico border into Tijuana about 2pm Thursday afternoon, and blew right past Tijuana to make my way down the coast

I decided to stop for the evening in the town of Rosarito, 18 miles south of Tijuana. Rosarito has changed immensely since last I visited in the mid-eighties. Condos and High-Rises going up everywhere. Obviously the Baja coast is doing a thriving business during the summer months.

Rather than camping on the beach, I decided to ‘rough it’ by checking into a hotel on the beach. At least here at the hotel I don’t have to worry about having all my camping gear stolen if I step away for 5 or 10 minutes.

So, I get a full day of sun and beer drinking without having to worry about the bike. Saturday I depart Baja to return to my brother’s place in Los Angeles for one more overnight. Then Sunday I’m homeward bound.

Day 8

Day 8 of my trip, still in Baja, staying at the Los Pelicanos Hotel in Rosarito Beach. I had no particular agenda today, so I did this ALL day;

Notice the stack of empty plastic cups starting to build next to my chair. Those were Sol beers and Margueritas, (yes, I was double-fisting drinks that day). This is why I came to Baja. To get some sun and have a few drinks. Mission accomplished.

I’ll depart Baja on Saturday morning to push back up into the US, and one more overnight with my brother Matt in Los Angeles before I start my trek homeward.Adios from Baja!

Day 9

Day 9, I’m at mile 1539 of my trip, and finally starting northward again. I crossed the border back into US territory at 10am this morning. Then headed back up I-5 North through San Diego and back into Los Angeles for one more overnight with my brother Matt and his wife Colleen

I want to give a special thanks to both Colleen and Matt as my acting ‘pit-crew’ for my journey since their help was instrumental in making my trip a success.

Tonight we all go out for dinner, have a couple of drinks, then home to bed. I’ve got to get an early start tomorrow for the northward push. I’ve got a somewhat clear weather window to get back up into Oregon Sunday and Monday before the next storm front hits the Pacific Northwest, so I’ll have to burn up some miles within the next two days to beat the incoming rains/snows.

I’ll keep you posted along my journey home.