Another waterfall

I took off yesterday morning for a trip to my sister's house and a particular island city north of there where they were running a triathlon today. The sun was out when I left, but as I traveled west, the sky filled with clouds. There was lots of sky to fill out there over the wheat fields.One sometimes expects good weather for trips. These clouds fore and aft do not bode well for sunshine on the morrow. I made a brief stop to see a waterfall which had graced two different calendars this year in the same month. Here is the view from the top, which is an easy stroll from the parking lot.
This the officially sanctioned view from the bottom. After I hiked down, I found a parking lot at the bottom too. I am glad I took the walk, including the rather steep hike back up. I had been sitting in the car for a while at that point, and the exercise was welcome.
There are these lovely signs around the boardwalk near the bottom of the falls which admonish one to do what the authorities want one to do.
This is what one sees if one does not follow the warnings on the signs.
It is also possible to sample the water. It was cold, and I had miles to go before my destination, so I did not swim.That little round thing up there is where I took the first picture of the falls. I was in good company scampering around on the rocks at the base of the falls. I would heed the warnings if the river was running high, but at this time in the summer, they barely have enough water to let any go over the falls at all.This tree started life on top of a stump which did not prove to be a stable place to live. Adaptation is a good thing.
The clouds are not going away. Now they are obscuring the lovely mountains. The city limit sign is partially obscured by a bug which gave its life for that spot on my windshield.

I sent kids to school today

Someone was ready early today, so we played while we waited. The bus stop is across the street from our house this year.
We watch the bus go by on the cross street then wait for it to come back around the block.
Off he goes.
My girl went to school today too, but I did not take pictures of her in her fine outfit leaving in my old car. It is her last first day of school today.

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.