Where are we now?

It seems the rest of vacation was lost in the Olympics. We had fun, and we made it home somehow. Those who were there know what happened, which should be most of you.

Friday, we went for a ride on the Hiawatha trail, which features tunnels and trestles. It is a gentle 15 mile downhill ride, starting with 2 miles in the dark through this tunnel, which necessitates a change of glasses and use of flashlights.Of course, the dark is through a tunnel pass named after my boy.

Tunnels are a challenge to photograph, but they are really cool, in more ways than one. This one had a curve in it, which means one cannot see one end from the other. It is typical of the tunnels on this ride.

Of course, some are straight and seethrough, like this one.

The view from the trestles is amazing, it feels like flying.

At the end of the day, the three in the picture above climbed on a bus for a trip to the top of the trail, well almost the top. They rode back through the long dark tunnel a second time. I hopped on my bike and rode all the way back up the hill. They waited as long for the bus as they waited for me at the top. I had a nice ride.

Life's a Beach

After a visit to the thrift shop, we spent some time at my girl's college of choice. We met with an admissions counselor and took a campus tour. She loved the place.They were expecting her. It is always nice to know that someone knows your name and can spell it correctly.We caught up on the text messages from her cousin while we waited for the tour.

Dinner that evening was at a chinese buffet with my sister in law and her son. Here, my defanged child demonstrates the proper use for chopsticks.At last, we found our way to the beach after three days of driving.
What could be better than a walk around the island to celebrate our arrival.
Perhaps a pose with a celebrated statue.

If there are delays in these updates, it would be because I am busy with the Olympics this week, which only arrive in our house on the computer. Maybe some day I will look into some kind of antenna, but for now it is DVDs or watch new stuff on the computer. My day today was tied up with a visit to the oral surgeon for removal of a couple of wisdom teeth. Recovery is progressing well.

Onward and Southward

I have rarely asked my kids to spend more than one day at a time in the car. We have managed to vacation close enough to home to achieve that, or we have chosen to fly instead of driving to keep vacations fun. Last summer, we did a lot of long trips as part of our move, but we all knew that there would be a few of them, then they would be over, and the move was worth it.

This summer, we chose a destination that required a two day car trip, since having the car at the other end of the trip was an important factor in the whole experience. I managed to bring my bike along and take it for some nice rides as well. I explored places that I had heard of but never seen because they were further than walking distance from our house at the beach, but I am getting ahead of myself.

Meanwhile, on day two of our trip show you the getting there part of the fun. It is sitting in the car watching a video on the iPod. It is playing with two phones at once, still unable to make Mom's phone just vibrate when a Pix message arrives.
Somewhere out there must be those mountains that indicate that we are getting closer. This valley seems to go on forever.
There they are, finally visible in the distance. We drove faster than the trucks, but slower than most of the cars over the mountains. It was nice to get to the part where downhill helped us move with traffic.
Almost there for the second night's rest.We spent the next day shopping at the thrift shop and visiting my girl's first choice for college at this stop. The weather was unusual, and we could see the mountains. This shot just reminds one of what happens when the government thinks a city needs a sound wall then runs out of cash before completing the project.

Tripping out

A couple of weeks ago, we set out on a journey to the past in the present. We were going places we have been before. Some of us have been more recently, for others of us it has been longer. The past goes back farther for some than for others. We started at the crack of dawn, and I carefully used my camera and not my phone for this first shot, since it looks like I was driving at the time, enjoying the sunrise behind me as we headed southwest. I would hate to use my phone without the hands free device, and it is so difficult to take pictures without actually holding the thing. Of course there is no law against taking pictures while driving.Art and beauty are in the eye of the beholder. Some like to photograph, others simply climb. The last time he climbed this one, he had a mouth full of cotton to absorb the results of an extraction. This time he escaped with a blister. Behind him, his father records the moment in pixels.Some of what there is to see is not above but below. The golden light of sunset, enhanced by the smoke of northern California wild fires lights these beauties.At the end of the day, the sun sets on a bridge and a photographer. We have a few more miles to go before we sleep, then even more miles before we sleep in the same place for more than one night. Travel takes time, but the experience is somehow worth it.

What's In? What's Out?

I had some help with this post. Last week, while I was in Southern California, my niece was in Northern California. We are rather fond of In-N-Out Burger, but living in Washington as we do, we do not eat their burgers as often as we might like. When one of us has the opportunity to partake, we share the joy with the rest, originally by cell phone call accompanied by the sound of chewing yummy food, but now be text messages accompanied by pictures. On their way south, my sister's car missed Redding, so their first burgers came a bit later. Here is what I received from her:
Lunch anyone? Hmm. . . what sounds good?
This place looks nice.
Hmm, what is there here?
Looks like they have burgers, I like burgers.
Look at all these people working hard to make me food.

Gosh, I wish we had something to do while we wait.
We can look at the artwork hanging around. These look like fun, we could do these.
FOOD!!

These are tasty.Food for everyone.
That was tasty.
. . . Except whey you live in Washington :'(
While they were having lunch, we were in a meeting with an admissions counselor at my daughter's college of choice. I put my phone on vibrate, and we had a good time with the messages when the meeting was over. We sent her this picture so she would know where we were.

Now I know the real reason I bought her a cell phone for graduation.