Monitor Madness

I've written about this before (more than once), but it keeps happening, so I have to kvetch about it again. Any time you play a music gig of any scale, there are in essence three sound systems. First, each musician makes their own noise through their own amplifier or, in the case of instruments like drums, makes plenty of noise without amplification - in any case, each instrument makes its own noise. Second, you have the PA system everyone knows about, which amplifies the band for the audience. The band is behind the speakers from this system and so doesn't generally hear much from it onstage. The third sound system, that non-musicians don't always know about, is a separate system (called "monitors") for amplifying the sound onstage, so that musicians can all hear each other - and also vocals. In a PA of any quality you can have multiple mixes onstage if, for example, maybe I want to hear the bass player through my monitor but the singers just want to hear their voices.

In any case, it all works pretty well except that a good monitor mix is hard to come by. Sound onstage can get very loud and muddy. Also, people onstage who don't have microphones have no way to communicate back to the sound person, so if, for example, we start playing and it turns out I have way too much guitar in my monitor there's really no way for me to communicate to the sound person that I would like it adjusted.

On top of all this there's the pièce de résistance - remember up top I said there are in effect three sound systems? Well, for some reason sound people always want the keyboard player to plug directly into the PA and not use an amp of their own, thereby depriving them of sound system #1. If I give up my amp (sound system #1), and ncan't hear sound system #2, the main PA, I'm left with hearing myself only through sound system #3, the monitor system. Remember, though, what I said - that a good monitor mix is hard to come by, and I have no way of communicating desired adjustments to whomever is controlling the mix. So if I put myself in the hands of the sound person and they do a poor job it's possible for me to have to play a whole show without being able to hear myself at all (which has indeed happened). And yet, sound people always put on the pressure for the keyboardist to go direct (no amp) and some even get offended when I bring my own.

And of course, it keeps happening.

In early November I played a CD release party for a singer/songwriter of Jewish music, Rabbi Noah Diamondstein. This was a wonderful combination religious service and concert involving a number of young talents in the Jewish music biz. But they actually called me the afternoon of the vent to tell me not to worry and that I didn't need to bring an amp, because there was a monitor for me. I know better than to believe this, so as usual I brought my amp anyway. I got there, and lo and behold the monitor was this tiny speaker the size of a toaster (that's really small for a stage monitor, particularly for an instrument with a wide frequency range such as a keyboard), and it was shared among me, the bass player (who, needless to say, had his own amp, which no one contested), and another position where one of the musicians went for one song to play a harmonium). So the speaker was insufficient for the job, was far away from me, and had to be set with a mix which would serve three people. I tried using just the monitor for the sound check, but on top of everything else the mixer was of the modern wireless iPad based virtual kind, and the sound guy kept having connectivity problems. Sooo ... during the break after sound check I brought my amp in from the car and set it up. When the sound guy saw this he shrugged and with a slight air of offense in his voice said, "if you feel the need to haul that thing in it's your back". He then moved the toaster-sized monitor away from me and toward the other two players, which didn't make any sense. While my amp looks kind of like like a stage monitor, it was serving a different purpose and wasn't hooked up to the PA system (he should have realized this, since he would have had to have been the one to have hooked it up) and so I still needed the monitor to hear the singers. I moved it back. He moved it again. I moved it back again. 

The concert went fine and was a lovely experience, and what a spread at the oneg (reception after the service)!

It happened a few weeks later again at the New Deal Cafe, where I was playing a gig with Great Northern. Scott, the volunteer (the cafe is a co-op) soundman who looks like Frank Langella, on a pervious occasion had given me the whole sound-man poutiness routine. There were monitors across the front of the stage for the singers, guitarists, and bass player, and one for the drummer, but guess what - none for me. They just figured I'd get enough sound from the singer's monitor. I don't think Frank Langella noticed my amp, which I set up in the back of the stage behind me, and so he didn't have a chance to act pouty about the fact that he was doing an inadequate job. The sound was fine. It was a great night with lots of people dancing.

But I'm thinking of having business cards made which say, "the keyboard player needs his own monitor too".

----

Update 1/2/23: Last week I played at a high class venue which hosts national acts. Their stage setup included five monitors: three across the front of the stage and one for each drummer. Guess who as usual didn't get a monitor? The keyboard player. 

Coffeeneuring 2022 - Didn't quite make it

 If you have read this blog for long enough you've probably come across my annual logs of coffeeneuring, a fun challenge sponsored by the cycling blog Chasing Mailboxes. It's not a competition, just a friendly game to get you out riding to new places and enjoying hot bean-based bevarges. As the blog puts it, you "Ride your bike to 7 different locations from Friday October 7 through Sunday November 20, 2022, and drink a coffeeneuring-approved beverage." There are some additional rules, but that's the gist of it. As I've mentioned before, the cycling world just loves little contests, challenges, competitions, themed activities, and the like. Well, sad to say I didn't complete the challenge this year. I did six coffee rides but never got around to doing a seventh. Here are my 2022 coffeeneuring rides:

Week 1: 10/7 - 13

Ride 1 (10/9): For some reason, library cards have an expiration date. I guess every once in a while the library wants to check that you still live in the jurisdiction and are eligible. In writing this, I checked my very old Brooklyn Public Library card, which for some reason I have saved all these years. It too had an expiration date: (12/3/86 !!), so I guess it's not a new practice. Anyway, my card had expired so I biked over to the central library in Ballston to renew it. Having ridden the first two miles or so of the Arlington loop I figured I might has well ride the other 18, so I rode the rest of the way around. Coffee stop was at Peet's in Shirlington, where I got a decaf Americano.

Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/7938344037

Coffee at Peet's in Shirlington

Ride #2 (10/10): I lead rides for Arlington's 55+ (senior citizen) program. I will not bore you with the effort that was required to qualify as a ride leader for this program (I had to write a cycling resume and undergo a background check!). The group draws riders with widely varying levels of availability, and so the rides are fairly slow and easy. I've become friends with a few of my fellow geezers (I'm the youngster of the group!) and we get together on the side to do rides on our own - definitely faster and more miles than the official rides. This was one of those peer rides - Bluemont Park to Reston Town Center. Coffee stop was at Pitango at Reston Town Center, where I got a decaf Americano.

Strava link: https://strava.com/activities/7942786913

With John and Gordon outside Pitango

Week 2: 10/14 - 20

No qualifying rides

Week 3: 10/21 - 27

Ride #3 (10/21): Not too much to write about here. Another Arlington loop ride, with some route modifications: due to construction on the Four Mile Run Trail I exited the trail at Eads Street and rode through Crystal City, rejoining the Mount Vernon Trail at Columbia Island Marina. Also, rather than getting on the Custis Trail in Rosslyn I took Route 50 so I could check out the always-awesome Halloween decorations on Jackson Street. Coffee stop was at Compass Coffee in Ballston, where I got a decaf Americano (reader, are you noticing a pattern in my coffee orders?).

Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/7998480774

Coffee at Compass on Fairfax Drive

Jackson Street Halloween decorations

Week 4: 10/28 - 11/3

Ride #4 (10/30): I've got a big night coming up in November. As part of the celebration weekend for a milestone birthday, I'll be going to see a musician named Billy Strings at The Anthem and I wanted to check out what bars looked good to meet people for a pre-show drink. So I rode to The Wharf. I used a five dollar gift Starbucks certificate my son Ted had given me to get a decaf latte at the local Starbucks there, and was unpleasantly surprised to find that five bucks doesn't quite cover a grande latte there. Sheesh, things have gotten expensive. My son works at Stanford University Medical Center and the staff had gotten the gift certificates as a show of appreciation from management (Woo hoo! Five bucks!). Starbucks is too pedestrian for a Silicon Valley coffee snob like my son, so he tossed the gift certificate to me. Coffee stop: Starbucks @ the Wharf, where I got a decaf latte.

Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/8045232884

No matter what gets in the way and which way the wind does blow
And as long as it does I'll just sit here
And watch the river flow

Ride #5 (11/1): As I've written about many times, BikeArlington facilitates daily morning coffee get-togethers for cyclists. These meetups were for many years attended mostly by bike commuters on their way to work, but in the pandemic world, people don't commute to work as much (or even work as much), so they've just become gatherings for anyone who wakes up early enough. There's a fairly longstanding tradition of doing special gatherings for injured cyclists, a practice which I think actually was invented for me when I had heart surgery. In any case, I know we've since done them for Gina after her crash and Samantha after her accident (and maybe others I'm forgetting). This ride was to a visiting-the-sick coffee club for Robyne, who is recovering from an elbowdectomy (or something like that). Coffee stop: Northside Social Falls Church, where I got a decaf Americano, and a muffin! 

Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/8052249611

Week 5: 11/4- 11/10

 Ride #6 (11/9): A visit to a different weekday coffee club. I've really slacked off in recent months about going to the morning coffee clubs. I'm just not motivated to go out in the cold and dark mornings when my schedule allows me the flexibility to ride later in the day when it's warmer and brighter. But coffeeneuring is motiving me to get out there. Coffee stop: Hump Day Coffee Club at Best Buns in Shirlington. I brought my own coffee (sigh, decaf as usual). If I order a decaf at Best Buns they'll put up a pot (unlike Starbucks, where they just say they're out and offer a weak pour-over instead), but I hate to make them make a whole urn-full for my one cup, since I'm pretty sure no one else drinks decaf in the AM (which is why it's never already brewed when I order it), so I sneak my own in. Also, I wish they would resume making their sourdough bran muffins. They were really good, but they stopped making them during the pandemic. 

Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/8091925476

Ken's group photo - he barely got me in

Week 6: 11/11- 11/18

None

"Week" 7: 11/19- 11/20

None

Fountainhead Foliage

I am a glutton for fall foliage. This year I've already sought peak foliage hiking in Shenandoah National Park and Sky Meadows State Park, not to mention the not insignificant foliage pleasures of driving to rehearsal through Rock Creek Park in DC and biking the W&OD Trail through Bluemont Park. But still I wanted more. Part of my foliage addiction is always trying to re-capture peak foliage experiences of the past. Fountainhead is always a sweet spot for foliage paddling, and in 2016 I hit it just right and experienced some truly sublime beauty on the water. I was pretty sure that today, a cloudy day slightly past peak, wasn't going to equal that day, but I decided to give it a try.

I hit the water about 9:10 AM. The reservoir level is very low; for those familiar with the boat launch, the water line is about a a foot short of even touching the rubber mats at the ramp (these mats usually extend into the water). I launched and got in about fifteen minutes of paddling before it started raining. The rain, which wasn't supposed to have arrived until evening time, got harder and harder. I was wearing a Hydroskin top, which would have kept me reasonably warm even when wet, but rather than being wet and kind of miserable I decided to head back and grab my "splash jacket" (rain top) from the car. So I paddled back. Does it even need to be said that by the time I got back it had stopped raining and not a single drop more fell from the sky after I put on the splash top?

I had the place almost to myself. Two fishing boats, a couple of other kayakers, and a whole lot of quiet. Not much wildlife, though. I saw one eagle and a handful of great blue herons, but that was it. The foliage was, as expected, a little past peak, but still quite beautiful. Interestingly, the colors looked more vivid while it was cloudy. Late in my trip the sun started to peek out from the clouds and the brighter light washed out the colors.

I did try to take a break at my turnaround point. With the water level so low, the normal shoreline is unreachable and what's exposed is a bunch of mudflats. I tried to get out of my kayak and immediately sank calf deep into mud. Fortunately, I was still straddling the kayak and so I just sat back down into the boat before the mud pulled my shoes off. I then had some coffee and a granola bar while floating around the cove with my feet hanging out of the kayak, until I finally spotted a rocky area which was solid enough to support me. It was nice to stand up and take a relief break.

When I got back there was absolutely no one around at the normally busy boat launch. As is my usual practice, I loaded the boat then used the yucky bathroom you pass on the way out to change clothes. The park was so deserted that I was tempted to treat the bathroom as a locker room and change clothes in the middle of the bathroom, but I figured that with my luck someone would walk in just when I had all my clothes off, so I changed in the cramped stall.

A stop along the way. Colors pumped up in Photoshop? Maybe. 🙄

 

View of the reservoir. Colors pumped up in Photoshop? Maybe. 🙄

Sky Meadows with Steve

All the hikes I can remember ever having done at Sky Meadows State Park in Virginia start with a walk through the cow pasture (carefully tiptoeing around the cow patties) and then up onto the Appalachian Trail. It turns out there are some other nice hikes in the park, including a loop I hiked with my friend Steve. We were pointed to this hike by Steve's twenty year old hiking guide, which was a little inaccurate in the details (it appears they've reworked one trail junction since the book was written), but which generally steered us right. The hike took us past some magnificent views with valleys filled with pastures and hillsides alive with fall color. Yes, we eventually had to traverse the cow pasture, but coming at it from the other direction you realize that there's a splendid view from the top of it.

The day started out cloudy and rainy, and we delayed our departure hoping that the rain would move out. In fact it did, and the weather behind it was better than had been forecast, with blue skies by the end of the afternoon. A really nice hike with near-peak foliage.

View from George's Overlook

In the woods

View from the top of the cow pasture

Day hike in Shenandoah National Park

 One of the nice things about being self-employed/semi-retired is that I can do things like make a spur of the moment decision to take advantage of a beautiful autumn day and go hiking at Shenandoah National Park. In all honesty, I don't actually have total control over my schedule - I missed two meetings to do this "hooky day", but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

I entered the park at Thornton Gap, and after a quick stop to take in the view at Tunnel View Overlook I parked at Hawksbill Gap and got ready to hike. I had watched the temperature drop by almost 15 degrees as I drove from the valley up into the park and I knew it would be yet colder up top, so I had packed lots of layers and a glove. Wait, what? One glove? Actually, I know for a fact I had brought two gloves since I was wearing them when I left the house, but one of my gloves mysteriously disappeared between home and the trailhead. Either it fell out when I stopped at Tunnel View Overlook (I stopped there again to look for it on my way out of the park, but no luck) or it has hidden itself very well in the car somewhere. So, I was left with a left glove and a pair of very lightweight fingerless sun gloves - I gloved up as best I could and kept my right hand in my pocket for most of the hike.

I hiked a loop up to Hawksbill Viewing Platform - up the Appalachian and Salamander Trails, then back via Lower Hawksbill - about 3 miles with 860 feet elevation gain. I am always chasing a peak fall colors experience like I had once when Valerie and I visited Ted at JMU and went for a hike. We must have hit the peak day of a particularly vibrant year, because it was spectacular and I've never since seen such vivid colors. In planning my park visits I even watch the NPS Fall Foliage YouTube videos - which aren't always that informative and can be hard to watch, since they're filmed outdoors and so have lots of wind noise, plus they feature several giggly young rangers taking fifteen minutes to deliver five minutes worth of information.

Anyway, for this hike it was already past peak at Skyline Drive and above, but the mountainsides down into the valleys were very colorful. Hawksbill has an actual viewing platform where you can stand and get an almost 360 degree view of scenery, plus there's a camping shelter nearby which offers, in my opinion, a superior (if only 180 degree) view. I spent quite a while at both spots, but it really was cold up there - water caught in crevices in the rocks was iced over, and there was lots of wind. I'm guessing it was in the low 30's up top. When I started to get cold I hit the trail again and finished the loop back to the car. 

On the way up to Hawksbill

Hawksbill View

Leaves along the trail

Little Stony Man View

I have to give a shout-out to the family of six - two parents plus four kids ranging from elementary school age down to baby in a backpack - who I saw (and volunteered to take photos of) at the top. It takes a certain amount of guts to shepherd a group of young kids up a mountain trail. 

The Hawksbill hike was less than two hours, leaving me time for more exploration. I did a second hike at Little Stony Man. I parked at Little Stony Man parking (milepost 39) and hiked up to the first viewpoint, then explored the Passamaquoddy Trail for a bit. I could have continued and done another loop (continuing on Passamaquoddy then back on the AT) which would have led me to two more viewpoints, but it was starting to get late (I wanted to get home ahead of afternoon rush hour) and so after taking in the view and once again doing photographer duties, this time for a young Scandinavian backpacker hiking from Harper's Ferry to somewhere in North Carolina, I retraced my steps back to the car. 

Trees at Little Stony Man

Color down the mountainside

On the way back I tried to stop at Rappahannock Coffee Roasters, but either they're not doing retail anymore or just weren't open mid-afternoon on a weekday. I then drove through Washington Virginia, which I had heard had quite a few stores these days (not just the Inn at Little Washington), but there still isn't very much there. My last stop on the way home was at the WaWa in Gainesville where I got a soft pretzel (yay!). They had no decaf coffee (what the actual F? C'mon WaWa) so I got a small regular coffee, which gave me that buzzy sped up feeling for the rest of the day.

Anyway, a nice little outing. Now, where's that darn glove? 

Overnight in George Washington National Forest

I took a trip where I was introduced to a type of camping I had never done before - call it wilderness car camping. When I think of car camping I envision something like a state park with a certain degree of infrastructure: defined campsites and conveniences such as water spigots and bath houses. And of course, you can drive your car to your campsite and so you go in heavy with lots of gear. In contrast, when wilderness camping (backpacking or kayak camping) the campsites are remote, have little to no infrastructure (maybe an outhouse), and you have to get yourself and all your gear to the campsite under your own power - in a backpack or a boat - so you travel light. Wilderness car camping sits somewhere in the middle.

For my friend Steve camping used to mean only backpacking; however, as his hips and knees have aged he's become more open to car camping. But, he still doesn't like the idea of going someplace as developed as a state park. What he and his usual camping buddies (economists all - don't get them started talking about economics) do is drive out to lesser developed places to camp. Our original plan was to go to Red Creek campground in Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia, but we made a game-time decision to head instead for George Washington National Forest (GWNF). 

National Parks are managed for preservation and recreation, and typically have the kind of higher camping infrastructure I described above. National Forests, on the other hand allow a wider variety of uses (hunting, cattle grazing, lumbering) and since they're not parks, their level of camping infrastructure is lower. The GWNF has well defined and blazed hiking trails, but there aren't many defined campgrounds or sites. Rather, it seems you can just pick a spot and camp anywhere in the Forest. Over time, I guess from use, obvious campsite locations have taken shape: maybe someone camped in a spot and built a fire ring, then successive users, by driving and walking around the site tamped down the vegetation, and a clear campsite emerged. Again, National Forests are not as concerned about maintaining nature in its pristine state and so they're fine with campsites being carved out ad hoc, But there's no infrastructure - no water, no outhouse, no nothing.

We met at Steve's friend Dave's house and discovered he had already prepared by loading his SUV with a ton of firewood - five or six of the bundles you buy in the supermarket. Then we added all of our gear. I was packed fairly light, since I mostly just grabbed the stuff I had recently packed for a kayak camping trip I dropped out of at the last minute due to coming down with COVID. But still, I had a pretty big amount of stuff (I packed a lot of layers!), and Dave and Steve had even more gear than I did. After loading everything into the car we really didn't have a square inch to spare.

A full car

Once we made the decision to go to the GWNF we headed for a place the two of them had camped before, which they claimed was almost always available, only to find that despite it being a Wednesday, there were already three different parties camped there. We could have squeezed into that area, but that would have meant a more crowded experience than we were looking for. Plus, Steve wandered into the spot where he and Dave would usually set up and noticed that whomever was camped there had a chainsaw and a half-empty magnum bottle of cheap gin. They had left a half-eaten meal out on the table (not a good idea in the woods), there were filthy kids' toys strewn about and their car was a decades-old beater filled with junk. We got a feeling that these might not be people we would enjoy camping next to, so we got back into in our car and continued up the forest road, where we found an unoccupied spot with a fire ring at the Scothorn Trail trailhead (Lat 38.691750, Lon -78.58007). There were really two campsites carved out there - one to the left of the trailhead, the other to the right. We set up in one and parked the car in the other, which turned out to be a good move. While we didn't see anyone else come by looking to camp, we had quite a few day hikers come by and the presence of our car on the right side cued them to use the right side for parking and stay away from our campsite on the left.

I have mentioned in the past that Steve is the least gear-headed outdoorsy person I know. I was pleasantly surprised to see that he had finally replaced his 1970's A-frame tent, though he still had some of his stuff packed in a backpack of similar antiquity. He brought along his hiking sticks - which are actual sticks. Dave seems to be a more gear-oriented camper and in fact has all brand new gear as a result of having recently lost all of his camping gear in a fire (long story). Still, they were both impressed with some of my gee-whiz gear - particularly my beloved Helinox backpacker cot.

After making camp we hiked the Scothorn Trail (very convenient, since we were camped at the trailhead!), exploring a couple of side trails along the way. Eventually Steve's back started to hurt so he decided to wait while Dave and I ascended the rest of the way to the peak, where he and I were rewarded with a nice view of the Shenandoah Valley and the mountains beyond (Massanutten is a small mountain range - a monadnock, actually that pops up as an interruption in the middle of the Shenandoah Valley, so valley views abound). At the summit our trail intersected with one which runs along the ridgeline. On the way up we had chatted with some hikers coming the other way who said the ridge trail along the ridge offered lots good views, but was rocky and difficult. Given the late hour we decided not to explore the challenging ridge trail and instead headed back. At the agreed-upon meeting point we picked up Steve who, in an only-in-Washington moment, while sitting in the middle of the woods at the trail junction waiting for our return, had fielded a call from a Politico reporter looking for a quote for an article on inflation and potential spillover effects of Fed monetary policy (Steve is a former high-ranking Fed official).

Scothorn Trail - likely an old forest road

The beginnings of fall colors

View at the top

I will also mention that we ran into another hiker on our way back - a young woman who was backpacking with her dog (which was wearing a little doggy backpack - adorable!). I noticed that she had a pistol within reach in one of the outside pockets of her pack. I understand why a woman hiking alone would feel the need for such protection, but I'm sad that we live in a world where this is the case.

Anyway, we got back to camp in time to relax with a cold beer then started making dinner. Steve's idea of camping cooking is, like his gear, mired in decades past - hot dogs cooked on a stick over the campfire, served with baked beans. That was dinner for the two of them; I had vegetarian chili I had brought along, knowing that Steve's food wasn't going to be to my liking. After that it was a pleasant evening of hanging around the campfire. Unlike my kayaking friends, who turn in super early, these guys stayed up almost to 11, and so I didn't have to resort to my usual group camping routine of reading and watching videos in my tent until it was late enough for me to go to bed.

Around the campfire

Different people have different camping ideas and rhythms. I'm used to camping with my kayak crew, who all rise early and immediately get started on the day. I slept pretty well, waking up only at midnight, 2 AM, 4 AM, 5AM, and then finally getting out of bed 6-ish. Once awake I got the stove going to make coffee (Starbucks Via Brew instant), then quietly began packing up some of my gear. When Dave and Steve finally rolled out of their tents about two hours later Steve was surprised to find me mostly packed. But we evened out the timing a little over breakfast. I happily lounged and had a second cup of coffee, and Dave's and my breakfasts (instant oatmeal and grits, respectively) took more time to prepare, eat, and clean up from than did Steve's Pop-Tarts. 

We stopped to enjoy another view on the road back

We broke camp and loaded the car, a task made easier by the fact that we had burned most of the firewood which had taken up so much space the day before. On the way out we stopped and did a short hike - an hour or so - and then headed back to civilization. When we got to Front Royal Dave and I had a good diner brunch at L'Dees Pancake House, while Steve, who is still very COVID-cautious, avoided going inside the busy diner and instead ate a sandwich in the nearby town square (I felt comfortable being a little cavalier about COVID since I presumably still have good immunity from recently having had it).

All told, a fun couple of days in the mountains with an old friend and a new one. Good hiking, and we saw a little bit of early fall colors.  

With Steve

With Dave

My Adirondack Trip

 Let me tell you about my trip to the Adirondacks. It was amazing. We had all arranged to meet up at Jen's at dinnertime on Friday, and the first order of business was to bond over pizza. Take a look at this delicious slice of pizza!

Delicious pizza! (1)

The next morning it was time to pack up our boats and get ready to launch. Here's all the stuff I had to fit into my kayak, plus my boat on the dock at Low's Lower Dam, getting ready to launch.

Lots of camping gear has to go into the boat (2)

Getting ready to launch (3)

Off we went, through the Bog River and onto Low's Lake. We got a later start than we expected, so it was dusk by the time we got to our campsite.

Getting to the campsite at dusk (4)

Boy, the Adirondacks are lovely. Look at this lovely scene from the water!

Lovely Adirondack scenery (5)

Our campsite was beautiful! And we could hike around and find some neat waterfalls and stuff!

Here I am, on a hike near the campsite (6)

There is nothing like the beauty of the Adirondacks! (7)

Another great shot of Adirondack beauty from a beach where we took a lunch break (8)

And of course, we saw some great Adirondack wildlife, including the famous loons.

The famous loons! (9)

Giant caterpillar! In the Adirondacks even the caterpillars are megafauna! You wouldn't find anything like that anywhere else! (10)

Tuesday night it was my turn to make dinner. My three bean chicken chili was a big hit!

Chicken chili (11)

Boy, after a week in the wild it was good to stop off at a motel and get a shower.

Getting cleaned up (12)

--------------------------------------------------------------

Ahh, who am I trying to kid? I didn't go on the trip. Three days before I was supposed to have left I started feeling sick, and sure enough, it was COVID. I had outrun the dreaded virus for over two years, but it finally caught up with me. The test I took the morning after I started feeling sick came up super positive - no need to wait 15 minutes; the COVID line came up nice and bold right away. So I dropped out of the first part of the trip, but maintained hope that I might make it to the second part. Except Valerie got sick too, a couple of days later. When it came time to have left to meet up with the group for the second half of the trip I was still feeling a little wobbly (not necessarily up to a long drive and the rigors of camping), and Valerie was still too sick for me to leave her alone. So with great sadness I bailed on the trip - but after my five days of COVID isolation I did get out and enjoy some beautiful late summer weather locally with some hikes, paddles, and bike rides. 

Well, there's always next year.

The test which did me in

A few hours before starting to feel symptoms, we looked pretty good (if I must say so myself)

Footnotes

(1) Actually a slice of pizza I got at The Italian Store on Thursday after I finished the second phase of COVID jail. Honestly, do you think a pizza place in the Adirondacks would have Dr. Brown's soda?

[Go Back]

(2)This photo is from my basement - stuff I had gotten together for the trip before COVID ground everything to a halt.

[Go Back]

(3) This is actually Columbia Island Marina. Steve J and I paddled Thursday evening.

[Go Back]

(4) This is actually a picture of Steve J paddling on Thursday. I cropped it so you can't see Key Bridge right behind him.

[Go Back]

(5) Actually Columbia Island, looking north from the car-top boat launch.

[Go Back]

(6) Actually at Scott's Run in Great Falls where I went for a solo hike during my COVID jail time.

[Go Back]

(7) Scott's Run again.

[Go Back]

(8) Still Scott's Run

[Go Back]

(9) Actually a duck at the Boundary Channel impersonating a loon.

[Go Back]

(10) Scott's Run yet again

[Go Back]

(11) Tuesday, the night I would have prepared dinner at the campsite, I actually did make the dinner I had planned - well, a single portion of it, and made with shredded chicken left over from the previous night's dinner rather than chicken from a pouch. It wasn't bad!

[Go Back]

(12) Actually taken in my basement 

[Go Back]

Seattle in Brief

 I'm not going to write a whole long post about our trip to Seattle. Suffice it to say we went there and saw all the usual sights. Instead, this is a briefer post focusing on the highlights.

First, this was the first trip the four of us have taken together in eleven years - since a somewhat disastrous to Orlando when the boys were still in high school. That was really nice in and of itself. The four of us have been together at home plenty of times since then, but we haven't travelled or spent this kind of extended time where we're all doing things together. So that was nice.

Look! We enjoy spending time together!

The trip got off to a good start when we all got to SEATAC airport at the same time (serendipitous thanks to Ted having missed his original flight), met up easily, shared a taxi into town and had an excellent meal at a place we chose somewhat at random because it was near our townhouse rental - and then the rental was ready early for us to check in just as we finished lunch.

Look! We all enjoy eating udon together while waiting to check into our townhouse rental!

On our first full day (Tuesday) we went to the area of the Space Needle - but we didn't go up in the needle (most of us had been up it before). We went to the Chihuly Garden and Museum, featuring the glass art of Dale Chihuly - a highlight of the trip, and then to the Museum of Popular Culture, which was something of a mishmash, but still fun. After visiting those sights we refreshed ourselves in the coffee shop at radio station KEXP (I knew the station because I watch a lot of "Live from KEXP" videos. David (who had been there before) had described it as a "chill coffee shop" which indeed it was.

Examples of Chihuly glass art

Look! We enjoy spending time together at a "chill coffee shop"!

In the evening Valerie and I got together with a close high school friend of mine who I rarely get to see since she's spent her career living hither and yon as she has built her (highly successful) medical career. Currently she's Executive Director of some medical center. Ted and David went to a climbing gym.

View from our dinner table

With my old friend Sara

On our second full day (Wednesday) Ted, David and I set out to hike at Mount Si, but technical glitches bolloxed up our plans - and may have saved Ted's life. We got off to a little bit of a slow start, futzing around at "home" then first going over to the Amazon Go store to buy lunch food (and also to experience Amazon's super high-tech no checkout technology). We were so busy goofing around at the Amazon store (we realized in retrospect) that forgot to check the ingredients of the sandwich he picked up. 

We didn't have a rental car (not needed in the middle of a city) so we picked up a carshare (rental by the hour) car - which you rent, unlock and start via a phone app. We then drove out to Mount Si where, fortunately before shutting off the car I noticed that we didn't have data service. I realized that there could be a problem unlocking and starting the car via the app, which required app connectivity to function. A call to the carshare company's tech support (we had phone service, though not data) confirmed this. So ... after driving around a little to see if we could find a nearby parking spot with connectivity (we couldn't) we decided to drive instead to Snoqualmie Falls, where we had good connectivity in the parking lot and so felt comfortable shutting off and leaving the car. 

As a place to hike, Snoqualmie is very much like Great Falls in Virginia - it's pretty developed and you're never too far into the wilderness - but it's still outdoors and pretty. We parked at the parking lot at the top of the falls and hiked the relatively short (though steep) trail to the bottom of the falls, where we stopped for lunch. A little while into our lunch break Ted realized he wasn't feeling right. He checked the label on his sandwich and discovered it had a pesto spread made with nuts to which he is allergic. Soon he turned beet red and started spitting up goop. We decided to hightail it back to the car and head for a nearby shopping center where there was a drug store (where we could get Benadryl) and an Urgent Care center (if needed). By the time we got there, Ted felt like he needed the Urgent Care place. They took him right away, shot him with an Epipen, then advised us to go over to the nearby hospital ER for follow-up, which we did. At the hospital they gave him more meds and monitored him for a few hours. The bottom line is that it was scary but he was fine, but who knows what would have happened if we had hiked at Mount Si and had taken our lunch break miles from the car - and maybe hadn't even been able to start the car to return.

By dinnertime everyone was all better. We ordered out for biangbiang noodles - something which doesn't exist in the DC area and which was quite delicious.

Snoqualmie Falls

Ted hanging out at a "chill" ER at Snoqualmie Valley Hospital

Ted and I have enjoyed the hobby of geocaching (Ted still does it) and so Thursday morning we made a pilgrimage to the Geocaching.com headquarters in the Fremont neighborhood at the north end of the city. At Geocaching HQ they have a nice lobby display area - sort of a mini museum of geocaching - and of course, you can log your visit as a geocache. After that we tried to g on a factory tour of Theo Chocolates, but we were informed by a rather rude attendant that the tours were sold out for the day and that we needed to leave. So, we bought some chocolate at the company store (I chose hot pepper chocolate and milk chocolate with quinoa crisps to ensure that Valerie wouldn't steal any of mine) and then went for lunch at a pulmeni (Russian dumpling) restaurant called Tsar which David recommended. They royally screwed up our order, but the food was good. The people who run the place are Ukranian - I'm betting that they're currently regretting that they went with Russian rather than Ukranian branding and decor.

In the afternoon David went off to buy a vintage camera (don't ask how this came about), while Ted, Valerie and I visited Pike Place Market. We poked our heads into a store of a kind that doesn't exist in Virginia just to see what it was like (no, I didn't buy anything), then headed home - Valerie was a trooper and walked over three miles that day. 

Statue in front of the building which houses Geocaching HQ

The display area at Geocaching HQ

Pike Place Market

Accordion Cat at Pike Place Market!

Look! We enjoy visiting classic tourist sights together!

On Friday we went to Pioneer Square, where we went on the underground tour. Valerie and I had done this tour years ago, but i was still fun to see and to be reminded of the bizarre way the original part of the city had been built (in short, at one point they raised the street level, resulting in the first floors of all the existing buildings being underground). While waiting for our tour we had lunch at a Mod Pizza then killed time in the main square, where there were buskers providing entertainment. 

Oh - I think it was this morning that we went to the Starbucks Reserve, which is to Starbucks as Disneyworld is to a shopping mall Disney Store. The place was enormous. They roast coffee there - and not just any coffee; they focus on rare beans. They sell a large variety of coffee-related stuff. There are several food bars. Needless to say, they offer a very wide selection of coffee drinks, including flights of different coffees for you to taste (like a flight of beer, but with coffee).

Inside the Starbucks Reserve

Having had big meals the previous nights we opted just to get dinner from the Whole Foods salad bar. We also knew that we didn't want to stuff ourselves because we needed to leave room for dessert at Hot Cakes, where we were going to officially celebrate David's birthday.

Look! We enjoy expensive dessert places!

The birthday boy!

To tell you the truth, Hot Cakes was a bit of a disappointment. The service was slow, the molten cake wasn't really anything special, and the cookies and ice cream which I ordered was pretty second rate - the cookies weren't that good. And each dessert cost on the order of $13! I got the feeling that this was the kind of place young Amazon employees with too much money in their pockets would frequent because it was hip, rather than it being a place worth visiting for the food. Well, whatever - we had a good time and put back all the calories we had missed by having salad for dinner.

On Saturday David said his farewells. He was staying out in Seattle longer and went to join up with his friends (David has friends everywhere!). Ted and I went kayaking/paddle boarding, and we dropped Valerie off at a nearby museum to kill time while we hit the water. Years ago I sneaked in a little paddling on Lake Union while on a business trip to Seattle. I was impressed by the rental place - real kayaks and gear, and they seemed actually to be paddlers. Unfortunately, that rental place is no longer there and the only one on Lake Union is a money machine renting out rec boats and paddleboards - consider it the city's equivalent of Key Bridge Boathouse. Maybe it was a mistake going on a Saturday - and a warm sunny one, at that - but the place was mobbed, and our time on the water was mostly spent dodging other paddlers, as well as a kids' sailboat camp which kept sailing back and forth through the same area. One novelty was the need to stay out of the way of seaplanes, which take off and land from a (fortunately well marked) zone nearby on the lake. Ted and I paddled together - in a rec boat I was a pretty good match for his speed - and looked at some of the houseboats on the lake, as well as the big commercial ships. It wasn't the most serene kayaking I've done, but it was still pleasant.

Seaplane coming in for a landing on the lake

Ted paddle boarding

Seaplane taxiing amongst the paddlers after landing

We had lunch in some very Seattle-ish vegetarian sandwich place, checked out the REI flagship store, then headed home. Once we got back Valerie rested (the day had included a lot of walking), while Ted and I went out to the local Elysian brewpub for a pint. In the evening we got food from a ramen restaurant our landlord/host had recommended - really good, but we actually liked the udon place better,

We had our last day planned pretty well - if we checked out of the townhouse at the checkout time and headed straight to the airport the timing would work out just right - except that our flight was delayed, as all flights seem to be these days. So, we started off with a leisurely breakfast at Eltana bagels. We had spotted Eltana in the neighborhood the day we arrived, and I had bought bagels there earlier in the week. To put it succinctly, their bagels are terrible. They boil them (good) in honeyed water (bad) before baking, so they come out way too sweet. One morning when I went out for a run I spotted another bagel place, but it was much further away (outside Valerie's walking range) and so we stuck with Eltana. In their favor, I will note that their coffee drinks were quite good, and their coffee cups were custom printed with the word "מִשְׁפָּחָה‎" on them, which means "family" in Hebrew - the idea being that when you come they're you're welcomed as part of the family.

We passed this building on the way to the airport. I don't know if it's Starbucks HQ, but it's the most Starbucksy architecture I've ever seen.

After our bagel breakfast we still had time to fill before our flight. Ted's flight wasn't until later, so he decided to grab another carshare car and drive us to the airport, stopping along the way at the Outdoor Research factory store, and then at Angle Lake Park, a pleasant little park located close to the airport.

When the time came, Ted dropped us at the airport. We said our sad farewells (we'll see him again at Thanksgiving) and we headed home.

Mt. Rainier peeking up through the clouds. Not a great picture, but a very cool sight.