Tasting The Town, Christmas Parades, & Victorian Festivals

Since last time we've finished a promotional campaign for the bakery. We started with a newspaper advertisement promoting "free cupcake day." Next was Taste of the Town, organized by the Chamber of Commerce (which the bakery had joined). I'd never even heard of this event. It's held in a local mall. It turns out to be a big social event. Businesses (mostly food establishments) set up booths in a local mall. People pay $15 to get in. In return they get to sample food from the various booths. They also had wine and beer (free with the entry fee). At the end there's a charity auction. The event was held on a Sunday evening. The ladies did a great job with the booth decoration. Before hand we had made a bunch of cookies and cake balls for samples. I set up a flat screen TV to run slides of some of the cakes we've sold. The event was well attended. A few people (I wasn't one of them) had really taken advantage of the beer and wine. One lady that showed up at our booth was uttering profanity, saying how good our product was, while she stuffed her pockets with samples. One of the Chamber of Commerce employees dropped by before the auction started to tell us that our booth had won the best of show award. It was great to be recognized. Nina was very happy. They called us out on stage to receive the award at the start of the auction.

Next up was the local Christmas parade. We decided to make a giant cupcake for the parade. I was in charge of building the support structure. It took me about a day to build. It was made out of wood. The central structure was 2x4s. Surrounding this was a series of octagons made out of smaller diameter wood which gave the cupcake its form. Plastic chicken wire was stapled to the outer frame. The plan was to paper mache the exterior. Things didn't go quite as planned. The bottom part of the cupcake sloped inwards, so the paper mache would fall off. Nina and Ms Gracia quickly came up with an alternate plan which ended up working quite well. The bottom part (the cup) was made out of a metal coated plastic insulation material, stapled to the frame. The top part (the icing) was made of flexible plastic tubes stuffed with paper then wrapped around the frame. Large purple Christmas tree ornaments were hung on the icing as sprinkles. One of Nina's friends drew a couple of logos for the sides. We threw a large bow on top. The cupcake had a maximum diameter of over six feet. The total height must have been around seven feet. The interior was lit up with a bright work light which gave the cupcake a glowing effect that looked really cool. We loaded up the cupcake at the front of a trailer (everyone got a kick out of seeing me walking the cupcake from the inside), decorated the trailer and my brother in law Jesse's truck, threw some blankets and kids wearing pajamas in the back half of the trailer, and called it good. A generator was loaded in the back of the pick-up to power all the lights and the outdoor speaker which was playing Christmas music. The parade was another big event. The were 120 floats. The route was packed with people. Nina and her mother in law were in front, carrying the bakery's banner. I was driving the truck, with my mom in the passenger's seat. The kids were in the back of the trailer, and a couple of other people were walking next to the trailer waving and throwing candy. Driving slowly down Texas City's main drag I could see the kid's eyes get big when they first saw the giant cupcake. Many asked if it was edible. We walked away with a trophy for the most original float.

The most recent event was Dickens On The Strand. This is a two day event held on Galveston Island, a 15 minute drive from Texas City. The event is located in the old part of Galveston (called the Strand), which is filled with buildings built during the 1800s. Several blocks are cordoned off to traffic. The idea is to create a Victorian England era atmosphere. People are walking around in top hats and elegant dresses, there are beggars dressed in rags, and police walking around with billy clubs. There are a variety of mini events held over the course of the festival, including a parade, Victorian bed races, magic shows, juggling shows, and puppet theaters. We had a booth set up to sell cake balls, cookies, and muffins. I was pretty familiar with this event, having attended on multiple occasions as a kid. Back then I played the part of a beggar / pick pocket. I remember being offered $20 to lie down in horse poop once (I did it). This time I played the part of a merchant, wearing a top hat, tie, and pants I'd picked up at Goodwill. Nina and her helpers were dressed as bakers while I drew in people by walking around with a plate of samples speaking in an English accent and occasionally saying funny things. One of Nina's helpers called me the "cake ball hustla." I had always liked Dickens because it was a chance to act in a role. Acting was something I've enjoyed in the past but haven't really pursued. Dickens was an outlet for it. I think people enjoyed my act. Some of them requested pictures with me. I have to say being a beggar was more fun than being a merchant, though I enjoyed both.

Although it was a lot of work the campaign and store front seems to have paid off. November sales were more than double the previous monthly sales record and Nina hired a third employee. I'm enjoying a short break now. I think Nina and her cohorts are planning some more events. I heard her say something about me dressing up as Santa and decorating the Buffalo as a sleigh.

Other than the bakery I've continued kayaking. I finished exploring Moses Lake. The eastern end, the last part I visited, proved to be the most interesting. It's a dense marshland of grass, with a maze of narrow channels (barely wide enough for the Pelican) and hidden lagoons. Many times I'd round a bend to discover a lagoon filled with waterfowl. Having seen all of Moses Lake I've moved north to explore the next bayou. My most recent solo trip was out of Dickenson Bayou. I headed out of the bayou into Galveston Bay, visiting an island made entirely out of sea shells. Most recently I took my nephew Cortez out on a trip with me. He really enjoyed it. The photo at the top is of Cortez on the Pelican in a backyard pool.

Nina's slacked off on her running. Between the bakery, kids, and a Thankgiving trip her family took she hasn't had a lot of time. We had worked up to a 40 minute run. We both forgot about the 5k run we were training for. Hopefully we'll have some time this week to get going again. I bought plane tickets to Oregon for the week after Christmas. I'll be there for six days. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone up there. Photos are here.

Pelicans & Tasty Eyeballs

Since my last entry I acquired a kayak and helped open a store front for Nina's bakery.

My motivations behind getting a kayak were exercise and as a way to "get away from it all" without having to drive long distances. It's a kind of substitute for mountain biking in Corvallis's hills and forests. A kayak seemed like the ideal solution for Texas City. The city is bordered by bodies of water to the north and east. North of town is Moses Lake and Dollar Bay. Although they have two names it's really just one body of water, which I generically refer to as Moses Lake. Moses Lake is a saltwater bay which extends into a marshy bayou to the west. Eastward the lake is bounded by a levee which protects the city from flooding. The levee has a floodgate which serves as a gateway into the much larger Galveston Bay. Galveston Bay extends northward 50 miles inland towards Houston and empties into the Gulf of Mexico on its south side. Galveston Bay forms the eastern boundary of the city. The city's petrochemical port is along the bay, towards the south.

I've never owned a kayak, although I've rented one on a few occasions. My main criteria was price and the ability to haul the kayak inside the Buffalo. I ended up buying a basic 10 foot model. It has the word "Pelican" on it so that's what I've taken to calling it. So far I've mostly paddled it in Moses Lake. My first trip was a lesson on the effects of the wind on a small watercraft. The windier it is the more choppy the water becomes. (I know, it seems obvious, but like many things it's not something you think much about until it effects you personally.) In such a small craft the wave action is a major consideration. Heading crosswind in high wind is most exciting, since it tends to induce rolling. So far I've managed to prevent myself from tipping over, but I've gotten pretty wet on a couple of occasions. I found getting through the floodgate to also be a bit challenging. When the tide is coming in or going out the flow through the floodgate is substantial. Standing waves form on the outgoing side. You have to paddle hard and focus on staying parallel to the flow if you're going against the tide. The marshy bayou at the west end of Moses Lake has the best wildlife, mostly various types of birds. I've seen a few flamingos there. I'm planning on taking one more trip into Moses Lake before I start exploring the Galveston Bay shoreline.

The weather has been pretty nice lately. When I first arrived it was still rather hot compared to what I'm used to. The mosquitoes were still out in force. Since then the weather has taken a decidedly fall-like turn. Most days it's clear and sunny. Warm in the middle of the day, but not hot. The mosquitoes have abated. There's the occasional thunderstorm, but they roll through pretty quickly. It's a welcome change from the seemingly endless days of cold misty rain which I associate with Corvallis for much of the year.

Other than that I've mostly been helping Nina out with the bakery. The display case arrived about a week and a half ago. We had to remove the front door and partially disassemble the case to get it into the building. It's a nice case, especially considering that it's used. Opening day was last Friday, the day before Halloween. The case was stocked with cakeballs, cupcakes, cookies, and brownies. The brownies (which were a special diabetic friendly recipe Nina came up with) were the first to go. The cakeballs have also been popular. Nina and her two employees made some that looked like eyeballs, which were pretty cool looking. Overall the first two days exceeded expectations in terms of display case sales, so it was encouraging.

Nina consistently hears from the bakery's customers that they didn't know the place existed. One said she found the place when she got lost. So, a series of promotions are planned for the next few weeks. First up next week is a free cupcake / cakeball day that's being advertised in the local paper. Then there's an event called Taste of the Town. We're also to making a float (in the form of a giant cupcake) for a city parade in early December. Lastly, we're signing up as a vendor at Dickens On The Strand, a Victorian festival held in Galveston. Between that and the normal orders for custom cakes the bakery will be pretty busy.

Nina and I have continued running. She's broken her record for longest continuous run a few times now. Her record now stands at 30 minutes. In a couple of weeks we'll be running a 5k. The aspirational goal is to run the entire distance. I saw my brother Jose and his two kids on Halloween. The Blur has been relegated to commuting duties, as the nearest hills are a few hours drive. My mom has been busy sorting through my clothes, unceremoniously tossing anything which she deems too worn to keep wearing and replacing it with something she considers more appropriate. I suspect my old North Face climbing t-shirt was one of her victims. Her eyes got pretty big when I answered her question "When was the last time you washed your backpack" with "I've never washed my backpack." Nina talked me into filling out a contestant application for the TV show Survivor. One of the questions on the form was "Which previous contestant do you most identify with." My answer was none, since I haven't owned a TV in years and I've never watched the show.

Hope all is well wherever you are. Here's a few photos.

Back On The Bayou

It's been a few days now since I arrived in Texas City. After leaving Yosemite I headed east, crossing Nevada, southern Utah, then cutting the southwestern corner of Colorado before heading south and then east into the Texas panhandle. After stopping in Dallas to look at some equipment for my youngest sister Nina I headed south towards Houston and eventually Texas City on the gulf coast.

I pretty much drove straight through until I arrived in Colorado, where I visited Mesa Verde. Mesa Verde is a series of canyons cut into table top mountains. The area is known for it's abandoned pre European cliff dwellings. The national park service operates tours of the dwellings. I spent a day taking the tours before leaving. I was hoping to do some backpacking while there but the park service doesn't allow it. The dwellings are similar to ones that I came across in Arizona during El Viaje #1, but larger. They're located under overhanging rock, so they're well preserved. The prevailing theory is that they were abandoned because of climate change.

I still wanted to get another backpacking trip in before leaving the mountains. I found a wilderness area in northwestern New Mexico called Ojitos which was near my route, so I stopped there for a few days. After exploring the canyons and mesas (including another outing without food) I left the mountains for the flat lands.

I've been pretty busy since arriving, mostly helping Nina with the bakery. She's been wanting to open up a store front for a while now (so far she's been operating on a bake to order basis) but hasn't had the time get everything together. After visiting multiple vendors I found a good used display case which is now on order. We're also upgrading the signage in preparation. Just this morning we settled on final design for the building's sign. The store front should be ready by the end of this month. Nina's given me a couple of lessons in baking and cake decoration. I'm not a natural at it. Fortunately she just hired another employee, who does have a talent for it.

I've lined up some tastings later this week with a few venues in Galveston, a nearby resort town. One of the venues is the San Luis, which is the premier resort on Galveston Island. Hopefully it'll go well and drum up additional business.

Nina's done a great job with the customers and her products. All the customers I've spoken to have been impressed with her work. "Bad ass" is a description I've heard uttered on more than one occasion. I think she's got her recipes and decoration techniques down pat. She'd probably disagree with my assessment, but that's why she's good at it.

There are a series of operational issues that we're working to address as well. In HP wafer fab parlance, rework rates are high. Pans end up with too much or too little batter, ingredient quantities are miscalculated when they are scaled, and ingredients sometimes run out in the middle of a recipe. It all leads to inefficiencies, both in terms of time and ingredient usage. The solution we're implementing is a combination of characterization (figure out exactly how much batter you need for each combination of recipe and pan) and tool development. The idea with the tool is that you input the pan size and recipes, then it calculates the ingredient quantities for you based on a database of recipes and the characterization data. The tool will also output how much batter to put into each of the different pans based on the characterization data. Hopefully it'll cut down on the waste. We're starting out with her two most popular recipes and proceeding from there. If it works out I'll eventually add a supplies management component. Since the tool will know how much ingredients are being used it should be able to track the amount remaining in inventory and raise a flag when quantities are low so that orders can be placed for additional ingredients.

I started running again since arriving. My leg still hurts a bit but I'm managing to keep up with Nina. She picked up running after she was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes earlier this year. With a change in diet and exercise she's lost 40 pounds so far. She had stopped running for a couple of weeks but is back at it again. We're hoping to break her record for longest continuous run later this week.

Other than that I've been hanging out with my nieces and nephew, my friend Elmo, and enjoying my mom's home cooked meals. I haven't seen my brother Jose yet. At some point I'd like to get a kayak and take it out on the bay. Since there aren't any hills here I need to find some other way to get my thrills.

Photos from the most recent leg of El Viaje are posted here. The photo at the top is the inside of kiva, a type of underground dwelling which the Mesa Verde residents used for their religious rituals.

Bears and Pigs

Just left Yosemite. I entered Yosemite via the eastern entrance. Most visitors enter the park via Yosemite Valley, which is a western entrance. Yosemite Valley is the most visited part of the park, but it's only about 5% of the total park area. My plan was to backpack across the park from the eastern entrance to Yosemite Valley, then take a couple of days to see the valley's sights. I picked up my bear resistant container and a wilderness permit at one of the park offices. I immediately named my container "the pig" since it was heavy and I was going to eat it's contents. I filled it with a week's worth of food and started walking.

My first impression of Yosemite was that it gets a lot of visitors. Even on a weekday in the backcountry of the park you can come across a lot of people. Many trails look heavily used. If you're on a popular backcountry trail you may be sharing the good campsites with 100 other people. Supposedly I was visiting during the off season, so it must be even more crowded during the peak summer season. The closer I got to the valley the more people I saw. These were day hikers who had entered the park via the Yosemite Valley entrance. At some point I started feeling like I was in Los Angeles. I remember seeing guys that looked like gangsters from south central LA hiking up a beautiful canyon with a tall waterfall. It felt even more like LA when I got to valley floor and hopped on the free park bus. It looked and felt like a city bus, but people were dressed a little differently than you would see in a city bus. I remember hearing that Yosemite had begun offering the free bus service within the valley to combat smog from visitor's vehicles which was ruining the views. Since I had left the Buffalo at the east entrance, and my feet were tired, the bus service proved handy for my explorations of the valley.

The valley itself is a dramatic landscape of thousand foot cliffs, waterfalls, big trees, and beautiful meadows. I didn't even try to take photos that would do justice to the place. It seemed like a futile endeavor. The first day I used the bus to visit various parts of the valley. I learned at the visitor's center that the word "Yosemite" means "Those who kill." I wondered who or what "those" referred to and who they killed. The second day I rented a bike (which seemed to have become a popular way to travel in the valley) and day hiked a bit. That afternoon, while packing up, I saw a bear. I was in the backpacker's camp in the valley at the time. My belongings were sitting on picnic a table. I had just put the pig in my backpack. When I first saw the bear he was some distance away, but moving in my direction. I managed to get a couple of photos of him before my brain became too occupied with other matters. I was standing between the bear and the picnic table. I was surprised at how close he got to me before stopping and staring at me. It was close enough for me to see how big he was and to notice his long dagger like claws. I quickly realized that he could do a lot of damage to me. I wasn't sure what I should do, so I swung around to the other side of the table. The bear was now on the opposite side of the table from me. He started moving towards my orange snack bag on one end of the table. I quickly snatched it from right in front of him, then retreated a bit in case he tried to attack me. The bear then went for the backpack. He pushed it over and started looking for a way to get to the pig. I didn't want him to destroy my pack, but I still wasn't sure what to do. Fortunately there was another guy in the camp behind me. I asked him if he knew what I should do. He said to spread out my arms and make loud noises while moving closer. So that's what I did. It started to work, then the guy behind me joined in, and it worked even better. The bear gave out a loud snort then ran off into the forest. The pack had suffered only minor scratches and a wet spot where the bear's snot had landed. Later I learned that these bears can weigh up to 350 pounds and lift three times their own weight.

Having survived the bear encounter, I made my way to the bus stop. I was planning on taking a regional bus back to the east entrance of the park. It was something like $8 for the two hour trip. I got back to the Buffalo late. After a good night's sleep I decided to head out for another trip into the Yosemite backcountry. This time I was going to do some cross-country hiking in less popular areas of the park. I decided to do this trip thin. I didn't bring any food at all, which also meant I had no need for a stove, fuel, bear canister, or cookware. It saved a lot of weight. I headed off again. It had gotten colder and cloudier. Up to this point I'd had clear sunny skies every day. There were less people, and when I headed cross-country there were no people. I spent a couple of days checking out high alpine lakes. There were many of them at the higher elevations. On what became my last day out it started snowing. I had found a wonderful shelter underneath a huge boulder that was near a good water source. Staying dry and warm were not going to be a problem. Even with no food I could easily stay out for many days. However, hanging out under a boulder for a whole day or more didn't seem terribly entertaining, so I headed down. By the time I got back to the Buffalo it had gotten nastier and I was glad I hadn't stayed out longer. Soon enough I was making my way across the sunny, dry deserts of Nevada.

Right now I'm in southwestern Utah, a couple of hours northeast of Las Vegas. My plans are to continue east through southern Utah, eventually crossing into southwestern Colorado. While there I'm planning on visiting Mesa Verde National Park. I just spoke at length with my younger sister Nina and decided that I should expedite my trip a bit. Potentially I could arrive at Texas City in a week or so.

Photos from the Yosemite leg of the trip are here. Unfortunately I forgot to bring the camera on my second outing in Yosemite.

Searching For Yoda And A "Bear Resistant Container"

The last couple of weeks seem to have been filled with send offs and visits with people I know from living in Oregon. It was great to see everyone before leaving for a while, and I enjoyed all the send offs. The Willamette River float was especially memorable. Amongst other things, the boat got dumped, Matt got sick, and I got to play around with a beautifully made staff that I received from one of my older sisters.

After leaving Corvallis I headed up towards The Dalles. Ann and her family were having a get together over a long weekend. I had been invited. They had rented a house along the Columbia River, which separates Oregon from Washington. The house was really nice. More of a property really. The property was well manicured, had a main house, two guest houses, a boat house, and even a small private beach. It was right on the river. Ann's nephews, Henry and Owen, had come along. I watched Star Wars V with them. Later we went for hikes in the gorge, looking for a Jedi master named Yoda. We visited waterfalls along the gorge on the first day. On the second day we took a tour of the orchard country just south of Hood River, followed by a visit to Timberline Lodge on Mt Hood. After saying bye to everyone I headed south into central Oregon along the east side of the Cascades.

While driving through, I stopped to visit Cliff near Bend. We had arranged to hang out for a few days, but I wasn't sure what we were going to do. At some point I decided I'd just do whatever Cliff wanted to do and see what happens. In GW Bush parlance, Cliff was the decider. Cliff's idea was to climb Mt Thielsen, one of the Oregon Cascades crags, over the course of two or three days. I'd never climbed Thielsen and it's always fun to spend a night or two out in a wilderness area, so I was all for it. Cliff made a good decision by putting me in charge of deciding what technical gear to bring. I brought a full rope, a set of nuts, some draws, and some slings. I was sure it would be overkill given the route description, but Cliff was still a bit new to this stuff and I'd hate to get him hurt. We set out in the early afternoon. Our plan was to hike in until we got tired or found a good place to camp. By the time we got to the base of the route we realized we hadn't brought enough water. We had hoped to find a creek or a melting snowfield, but had seen nothing at all. We only had a liter left between the two of us. The nearest guaranteed water we knew of (Diamond Lake) was four miles away and pretty far down. After a good amount of discussion we changed the trip objective to something that involved spending the night at Diamond Lake. Down we went. We set up camp some time after 9:00. The next morning we filled up on water and headed back to Cliff's truck, taking trails near the road and sometimes bushwhacking. On our second night we car camped at Miller Lake, a high lake east and a bit north of Thielsen. We then headed back to Cliff's house (also a pretty nice place). I spent one night there then left in the morning.

After driving all day yesterday I find myself in Bridgeport, California looking for a "bear resistant container." Bridgeport is on the east side of the Sierra Nevadas close to the Nevada border. I should be less than an hour's drive from Yosemite, my next destination. I'm planning on some backpacking and hiking while I'm there. Apparently you're required to carry anything that a bear might like in one of these containers if you're going to be in the Yosemite backcountry.

Here's a link to some photos. The photo at the top is from Miller Lake. I was fascinated by the dance of the light on the rocks.

Buffaloes and Cowboys in the Wallowas

I've got a few more days of work left before I leave Corvallis. I finished up with the house and the renters have moved in. I took advantage of the empty house to fix a few things and replace the dishwasher. While I was at it I took the Buffalo to the shop to get a few problems looked at. They found a number of problems (worn out CV joints, holes in the exhaust system) beyond what I was aware of. The input valve for the propane tank had also failed, which resulted in a leak when you tried to fill the tank. Ann was with me when I tried to fill it once. She refused to get in the van when I tried to start it (I don't blame her) for fear of an explosion. I started it up with Ann standing some distance away and drove it down the block and back. Having seen that I hadn't blown myself up I picked up Ann and we proceeded on our way.

The Buffalo's parked at Ann's house until I leave. It's a little less loaded up than El Viaje #1. No ice axe or crampons since I'm not planning on doing anything that involves glaciers. I'll be bringing less clothes too. Clothes are bulky and I learned from El Viaje #1 that the only reason I care about clean clothes is because other people do. I'm also leaving the frying pan since I almost never used it except as a cover for the pot.

After finishing with the house Ann and I took a trip out to the Wallowas in northeastern Oregon. On the way there the Buffalo died suddenly in central Oregon. I got it to restart with the engine cover off and noticed that one of the belts wasn't turning. The belt in question drove the alternator and water pump, both of which are rather important parts. After loosening the belt and trying to turn the water pump and alternator pulley by hand I diagnosed the problem as a seized alternator. It would need to be replaced. Having driven many miles in a 22 year old vehicle I've come to expect these sort of things. The Water Buffalo is a slow, cantankerous, old beast which sometimes refuses to work. It could die at any time, possibly in the middle of nowhere. Half the reason I carry a bike on longer trips is in case I need to abandon the Buffalo at some point. I've learned that, for more than one reason, you shouldn't be in a hurry if you're riding on a buffalo. When these things happen you can get upset, angry, worried, feel sorry for yourself, etc, but it seems like a pointless thing to do. So, I skipped through all of it, pretty much instantaneously in this case. Patience and acceptance are lessons the Buffalo is good at teaching.

Having thus accepted my circumstances, I started thinking about how to remedy the situation. The nearest town was Prineville. We were pretty close, no more than 15 miles. It was mostly flat or downhill. I could coast the downhills, shutting the engine down to keep it from overheating (no water pump) and draining the battery (no alternator). On the flats I'd need to start the engine. If it began to get too hot I'd just stop and let the engine cool. Turning on the heaters could help. If the battery died I could wire the auxiliary battery in parallel. I was confident I could make it back to Prineville without having to call a tow truck. That's when it hit me. I realized I was thinking like I did when I was high school, when I had junky cars and no money. I remembered that I now had auto insurance, and that it covered towing. I had credit cards to pay for stuff. Time seemed more important now. All of this flashed through my mind within the space of a few seconds after having realized what the problem with the Buffalo was.

We had broken down next to a road construction site. I walked over to one of the workers and asked if he had the phone number to a towing service in Prineville. He did. Even better, we still had cell phone coverage. A few hours and a few hundred dollars later we were on our way again.

So much for that. Later I wondered if calling the tow truck was worthwhile. My scheme to get back to Prineville without one seemed like it could work, and may have even taken less time. After some thought I decided that what I should have done was to call the tow truck, but then immediately start working on implementing my scheme. Unless, that is, I felt lazy, which I've now concluded was the real reason I called the tow truck.

On to the Wallowas. The Wallowas are Oregon's second highest mountain range. Unlike the Cascades (the highest range in Oregon), they're not glaciated, nor are they of volcanic origin. I'd been in the Wallowas once before. During that trip it had snowed on July 4th. Supposedly there's some good alpine rock in the Wallowas, but if I were going to drive this far to go climbing I'd go to the North Cascades instead. Our plan was to do a three day, two night tour of an alpine lake basin located in the interior of the range. The distance was 27 miles, plus whatever we added on for short side trips. The hike starts at the end of a glacier carved valley. We headed directly up the main valley before gaining a high plateau, which housed the lakes. All the lakes were idyllic. Pretty scenery, critters of all sizes running around loose, cold streams, and blooming flowers turning meadows into tapestries of color. I couldn't help but go for a dip in a couple of the lakes and shower myself in a waterfall. It was a popular area for backpackers, fishermen, hunters, and horse riders. The lake basin can be reached from many routes.

Just as we were about to arrive at our last camp I met three men on horseback. They were heading out from the lake we were heading towards. Each one had a beer can in their hand. They were a bit lost, but they didn't seem to be too concerned about it. Ann and I helped them figure out how to get to their destination. It turns out they were about to make a wrong turn. They had six horses between the three of them. A couple of the horses had large Igloo coolers mounted on either side of them. They offered us some beers in return for helping them. They were from near by. Two of them were dressed the part of cowboys, with oilskin coats and cowboy hats. The third guy was dressed like a boat captain. He had a sailor hat on and more of a nautical theme to him. All three looked pretty happy. We chatted for a bit. At one point I asked how many beers they had brought with them. Eight cases one guy said. That's about 200 beers. We said our goodbyes, wished each other well, and headed our own ways. Later I wished I had taken a photo of them.

Afterwards I couldn't help thinking that all along I've been doing these trips the wrong way. We say we take fat trips, but that's nothing compared to the kind of trip a pack animal enables. Chris was on to something when he brought up the idea of bringing live chickens on our Sisters trip. I know goats can be trained to carry stuff, and I've always wanted a goat for other reasons. Seems like a good place to get started with pack animals.

That's it for now. Photos from the Wallowas trip are here. The photo at the top is of Glacier Lake. It was the nicest lake we visited.

Three Sisters

I decided to start posting to this blog again. It seems appropriate since I'm seven working days away from my second leave of absence from HP. For now I'm on a three week vacation. The vacation started with a four day, three night trip into Oregon's Three Sisters Wilderness. The plan was to backpack into an alpine environment, climb a peak or two, and tool around on a glacier. The usual suspects came, along with Cliff (who I hadn't seen in about a year), and Julius. We were six in total.

We started with a several mile hike, mostly along a maintained trail. Where a stream crossed the trail we turned west, more or less following the stream to it's source, the Hayden Glacier. Somewhere below the glacier in a pretty meadow strewn with alpine flowers and glacier fed streams we found our first camp site. After dumping our camp supplies four of us headed up to the glacier. The boys found a good crevasse to descend. My leg hurt so I didn't partake. After heading back down to camp my leg was hurting pretty good. I dipped it into an ice cold stream next to camp and it instantly felt much better.

We had decided to make this a slow and fat trip. Amongst other things, this means that we have plenty of good food. We had a couple of Indian entrees this first night. I also tried grilling some Mexican style corn on the cob (yes, I had hauled corn ears several miles and a few thousand vertical feet, along with mayonnaise, chili powder, and a lime). Everything was great. After meeting Cliff the next morning we packed everything up and headed towards the glacier. Our objective was the high ridge between Middle and North Sister. Climbing the glacier was a piece of cake. It was relatively low angle and the surface was soft. Upon reaching the ridge we found some good camp sites. We set up camp and relaxed a bit. Our next goal was to climb Middle Sister. Middle Sister is the fifth highest peak in Oregon. I had climbed it a few times before. The summit is just over ten thousand feet. It's an easy climb but looks intimidating from the ridge where we'd set up camp. We were already at an elevation of 9000 ft, so we didn't really have much further to go. After saying bye to Julius (he needed to be at work the next day) the rest of us started up. In no time were were on the summit. We stayed on the summit for a long time before heading back to camp. After a meal of salmon, couscous, and more Mexican style corn on the cob, it started getting dark.

We were spending the night in a pretty special place. The ridge we were on separates Western Oregon from Central Oregon. You can see the better part of the state from there, and on a clear day you can see parts of Washington and California as well. Needless to say the views are spectacular. We figured that every other person in the state of Oregon would be spending the night somewhere below us. The night sky was also pretty amazing. There were so many stars, and you could see the structure of the Milky Way Galaxy in the sky. I felt grateful for being able to reach the ridge and stay there for a night. It was something I'd been wanting to do for a while.

The next morning Matt, Chris and Tim ran up and down Middle Sister again. Meanwhile Cliff and I headed north along to the ridge to get a better look at North Sister. North Sister is the fourth highest peak in the state. I've attempted it once (in winter) but have never reached the summit. We had talked about attempting it on this trip, but the conditions weren't appealing (it's easier and safer when covered with snow), and I was a bit concerned about how my leg would hold up. After regrouping with the rest of the guys we broke camp and headed back down the glacier. Matt and Chris were on the hunt for some crevasses to climb. After a couple of false starts they found a huge one, probably the biggest any of us have seen in Oregon. On one side the crevasse opened up into a view of Broken Top. On the other side it was covered with a snow bridge, looking like the inside of a gothic cathedral sculpted from ice.

I decided to attempt this one. A shock of pain ran up my right leg every time I kicked the crampons into the ice, so I decided once was enough. After a little convincing (he'd never climbed ice prior to this) Cliff also took a shot at the ice. He did really well and was glad to have tried it. The boys were up for more and went looking for another hole in the ice to wear themselves out on. Meanwhile, since I wasn't going to ice climb any more, I headed down to find a camp site for our final night out. Our last camp was in the trees next to the same stream we'd followed up to the glacier. The water was roaring and cold. It was a great spot to wash up after being out for three days. Dinner was beef stew, chili, and macaroni. Matt, Chris, and I burned some more energy scrambling up a bluff of rock near by. I fell asleep early. The next morning we hiked out and drove home.

I think it's safe to say that everyone enjoyed the trip. We all forgot about the rest of the world for a few days. For me at least, these trips are a reminder that you really don't need much. I also enjoy seeing nature's processes at work. Since you're gaining a lot of elevation you get to see a lot of different environments, and how they interact with each other. The high mountains squeeze water (often in the form of snow) from the moist air moving in from the Pacific. The snow accumulates into glaciers. In the dry summer season the glaciers melt, bringing water to all the living things below. After the living things take the water they need, the water returns to the ocean and the whole cycle starts over. At the same time the glaciers are pulled down the mountain by gravity, grinding away at the underlying rock. The water rushing out of the glacier further pulverizes the rock, and transports it downstream, turning it into soil for the trees and plants below. Eventually the soil, like the water, will also be recycled, and may return in the form of a mountain to start the process again. The sun provides energy, and together with the water, soil, and air, everything the plants and trees need to grow is delivered. In a very real sense the living things owe their existence to the rock and ice. There's a harmony and patience to it all which often seems absent from the human world. Probably it's one of the reasons I like to take these trips.

For the next ten days or so I'll be working on getting my house ready for the renters, and preparing for the drive to Texas. After that Ann and I are going to take a short excursion over Labor Day weekend. Then I'm back to work for two weeks before my leave officially starts.

My favorite photos from the trip are here. The photo at the top is from one of the streams near our first camp site. This particular stream was especially verdant. In the background behind the stream is South Sister.