He REALLY Does Love Hillary

Must have been that trip to California. First the cat, now the campaign button.

He REALLY Does Love Smelly

In case anyone had any doubts...

Home Again....

The Eastern Sierra Ride was spectacular! Between the altitude, the hills, and the never ending headwinds, it was 364 of the hardest miles I've ever riden. It was also through some of the most spectacular sceenery on the face of the Earth. We had great weather, great food, great views, and great company.

The first ride was supposed to be 85 miles and somehow turned into 98 miles. We rode from Topaz Lake to Mammoth Lakes and climbed a bit over 3500 feet. I was the last one in but was well received - and - I didn't cry like Jill - though I seriously considered it.

Once at Mammoth Lakes, we explored that area for 3 days. We had wonderful ride to Twin lakes, Mono Lake, and June Lakes. Jill, Paul, Steve, Sylvia, & I rented a rowboat and rowed around for an afternoon. It was lovely. Here's Sylvie the "BeerWench" and the two rowers.



I think the June Lake Photos came out the best, so I'm including the one of Linda and Chris and their new tandem. Linda is my friend from work who graciously let me come along. This is her riding group. They are unbelieveable to be able to pedal that tandem up these hills and in these headwinds. This was the one day we had tailwinds.





From there we rode back to Mono Lake and to Tioga Pass, one of the entraces to Yosemite. That was the biggest climb. I managed this in style, slow & steady, but I wasn't even last. At the top we had lunch, drove into Yosemite, climbed rocks near and swam in Lake Tenaya. Everyone but 3 people opted for the SAG (Suplies And Gear) truck ride down. Those 3 later said the descent was uncalled for and VERY scary! It was much nicer enjoying the view on the way down. The photo is of me and my riding buddy Laura.
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We also visited the ghost town of Bodie. This is very cool gold mining town that was quite the hotbed of sin in it's heyday. Now it is abandonded and looks like everyone left with the clothes they had on and walked way. Clothes still hang on the walls of the homes. Old cars and wagons are parked and left out. Tools and equipment lie around everywhere. The pool table is still in the hotel lobby and the hotel kitchen is full of cookware. It's such a cool place and in CAs infinite wisdom, they didn't turn it into a place with novelty shops etc. It's just a neat-o ghost town and comes complete with Willie Bodie - the town cat to greet the catlovers in the crowd. The photos are of me in the mining elevators & of the beautifully preserved safe from the bank.





We also rode up Monitor Pass which goes from the East to South Lake Tahoe. That was a longer uphill, not as brutal, and was a ROCKING 43 MPH descent. It was a beautiful ride and a lovely ending to a wonderful trip. There were just too many beautiful places to name them all... Try to check them out for yourselves.

M&M Tour de Northern California

Mike arrived Saturday morning after leaving their house around 3AM eastern time, and Missy made it in that afternoon after a week of conquering the Sierras. They got a full dose of standard northern California summer weather and microclimates. We left Sunday morning to tour Alcatraz and points in San Francisco, then across the Golden Gate and up the coast to stay overnight near the top of Mt. Tam. From there it was on to Muir Woods, Pt. Reyes, and further up the winding coastal highway to Gualala, where we stayed at St. Orres (where Mom and Dad stayed with us many years ago). The next morning, we cut across to the wine country and then made our way back home. It was a great visit, although way too much of it took place in the car! Aside from the sights, they may have been most impressed with the microclimates. On the last day we went from beautiful, sunny low-70's on the coast to 90 in the wine country to 62 and foggy in San Francisco, and back to our mid-70's sunny "weather best by government test" Redwood City.

I put a set of photos on Flickr (which may be updated later with Dara's). Here are some highlights, below.

After Alcatraz and Fort Point in San Francisco, we took a side trip to the Marin headlands just north of the Golden Gate. There it is, with San Francisco hidden in fog.

The next day, after a 6AM hike on Mt. Tamalpais and a walk through the old growth redwoods at Muir Woods, we drove out to the lighthouse at Pt. Reyes. Pt. Reyes was supposedly where Sir Francis Drake pulled in to overhaul the Golden Hinde on his round-the-world trip, and it was also the epicenter of the 1906 earthquake. Aside from that, it turns out to be one of the windiest spots on the Pacific coast. The fog was blasting over the cliffs, condensing on the cypress trees, raining on us as we walked out to the lighthouse. Fortunately the fog lifted a bit for us. The people walking up from the lighthouse are Missy and Mike, on their way to climb back up the 300 some-odd stairs.

The drive up the coast was slow and windy (that's true whether the word is taken as blustery or twisty, take your pick). But, the fog stayed offshore once we were past Pt. Reyes. Here are Missy and Dara with the coastline cliffs, as we stopped to let those in the back seat recover from my stomach wrenching driving.

Mom and Dad no doubt remember the Russian style St. Orres. We stayed there with them when Kyla was only 9 months old! It has expanded some since, but they kept the same Russian look. This is the little dacha we stayed overnight in. In the morning we hiked and climbed down to the beach and collected some driftwood that is now decorating our garden.

Evil Money Making Idea

As I'm sure you all know, the newest and last Harry Potter book comes out on Saturday -- or midnight tomorrow night for the faithful. Among the faithful will be Dara and Garrett at our still-alive bookstore, Keplers. Garrett, though, is more than faithful. He's already read the first 19 chapters of the book since a pirated copy has shown up on the Internet. He knows who dies, who lives, the deep dark secrets of the most beloved characters. He says people are planning on showing up at the book parties wearing tee shirts that have pithy "So-and-so dies" lines printed on them. Which leads me to my money making idea:

Garrett should go to the party (begins at 9PM for the midnight release) and open a booth. His offering: Pay me $20 and I won't yell out the next plot spoiler.

Could be dangerous, though. Visions of him being beaten to death by a pack of angry Hermiones comes to mind.

Catch up

Having missed several posts I'm sad I wasn't watching more closely but glad to see all the activity. The Gate is outstanding! a fitting entrance to the Harris Compound. I'm sure secirity is lurking descreetly out of sight. Looks like Garrett has a nice crib, its almost as long as the gate. Good luck Missy on your big ride sounds like a bit of a scare not having your bike at first but it must have gotten ironed out in time for the big action. I'll keep a little closer to the blogg to see how it went and to hear a report on the 2nd leg of your journey. Kirsti has been preoccupied over the summer getting her mom settled into a nursing home, her condition seems to be improving some and they hope to bring her home with some help for her dad. Temporarily I was single dad with 2 houses to care for. Dan was some help but we were both pretty busy, nothing compared to what Kirsti and her brother Bobby are up against. Kirsti is back for now but planning another trip down in a week or so. I barrowed some Kiyacs from a friend and Dan has been enjoying using them this summer. Kirsti and I went last sunday for some time and enjoyed a new way to see the river. I think I'm ready to see some whitewater so is Dan, Kirsti is still a bit shaky and prefers the safety of still water. Gooney Creek, a tributary of the southfork of the Shenendoah is localy recognized as being a challenge in high water, if I can get up enough confidence and nerve before the next flood I think I'll try it. I am still lagging behind Mom and Missy, the Harris Iron women ,but I am currently running about 25-30 miles a week, that probably doesn't compare to a polo workout either which may put Kyla in with the Harris Iron women as far as I know.

Garrett's New Digs

Having had the dorm experience last year, Garrett moved up to the apartment experience this year at San Jose State. He found a cute little place about a block and a half from campus. His parents have been saving up things to hand off to an apartment-hunting child, but thus far with Kyla, it's made more economic sense to go to a local Ikea.

He's in a standalone unit with others just like it grouped together around a central courtyard.

Here's Dara, Garrett, and his friend, Cory, all looking hot and relieved after getting that couch in.

School starts within a month, so he should have his stock of his two main food groups, Ramen and Monster, built up by then.

Gate and Fence, Before and After

At long last, our big gate and fence project is done. Our previous fence was only being held up by chicken wire, and we had to get out of the car and literally lift the gate up and carry it around to get in and out. The good part was we would always end our directions to people with, "When you see the house with the long white fence, you're here." Here are some before pictures.

From the inside, looking out toward the street.

From the street, looking up toward the house, gate off to the left side.

From across the street. Note the unevenness of the gate. The right side was the one you had to lift-and-carry.

When you reach the house with the long white fence...

And, tah-dah, here are the after pictures. First, though, you must imagine Dara, architect and iris lady, spending days planning things out. She went through many iterations on the layout and landscaping and walls, laying things down to envision it, she drove through distant neighborhoods looking at gates and fences, she bought books. But you have to admit, it was worth it! She designed the gate with its matching pedestrian gate, and we had the iris design custom built up in Sonoma with the rest of the gate.

This is the same as the before view from the inside looking toward the street.

The right hand side, similar to the before picture. You can see the new pedestrian gate and walkway. Note the enameled wire mesh of the new fence matches the gate. These architects! You can't see the bougainvillea well since they're so small, but there are purple ones at a bunch of places along the fence as well.

From across the street, the full effect. It took so long from start to finish that the before pictures are all the green of spring, while the after are the, er, gold of summer.

Looking from outside off toward the left. You can see the iris cut-out clearly, and one of the painstakingly selected lights.

Now it's "When you reach the house with the iris on the gate, you're here!" Nice having the talented architect iris lady to class up the place, not to mention be the general contractor between the gate people, the fence people, and the landscaper.

The Lucky Girl Rides Again

Well - NorthStar was a hit! A very family friendly place with tons of kids actually out doing stuff instead of playing on their game boys. There is an endless amount of things to do and see. The weather was perfect.

One minor hitch - NO BIKE!!!! In the end, after a lot of work on Sports Express' part and a lot of anxiety on mine, my bike arrived yesterday, 3 days late and of no use to me at NorthStar, but I kept plenty busy. I'm back at the airport waiting for the rest of the group to arrive from Cincinnati. We start the Big Bike Adventure tomorrow from Topaz Lake. Meanwhile, here are some photos from NorthStar. Not very flattering photo of me, but that's what you get when you take it yourself. :o) Looking forward to CA with S&D!

Make Your Own Market

When we got our Prius, there was some discussion on the blog here about whether we could use the carpool lanes. Ultimately, California decided to allow the Prius and some other qualifying hybrids in the carpool lanes. However, they limited the number of cars to 75,000, and it was first-come-first-serve to obtain the stickers you put on your car to show you're legal. That wasn't an issue until the number of qualifying cars exceeded the 75,000 allotment. A guy told me today about the deal he got on a 2005 Prius, the price for which was surprisingly close to a new one. Why? Because it came with carpool stickers. Apparently those stickers are worth somewhere between $2,000-4,000 on the used car price. Sigh. We never got the stickers because we don't drive use the car for commuting where there are carpool lanes, and because we figured: why deprive someone who could actually benefit from it.

Slolam Ski No More

Having not water skied for at least 12 years, I got to go on Sunday. Morning Glass at 7:30 AM. I think the last time I skied with 2 skis was when I skied double with AJ behind the Pepto Bismol. I tried to get up on one ski 3 times before going to 2. I guess I'm just too fat, too old, and too weak. I did get up first time on 2 skis and din't even wipe out. Can't see if I can get up on one after the Big Bike Tour.

Chris Isaak Good, Audience Bad

Here's the illegal photo I took of Chris Isaak in concert at the Mountain Winery last night. He was terrific, but alas, it was a concert going experience pretty much ruined by the incredibly loud, drunk girls behind us. One minute they were talking so loud you couldn't hear him sing, the next they were screaming in appreciation at the top of their lungs or singing along. But the peak of their performance came when they couldn't figure out how to sit back down in their seats, fell down, and spilled their drinks on us.

Skinny guys in Spandex

Wahoo - The Tour de France 2007 started today in London with the Prologue Time trial. After a long season of the "Spring Classics," the men in Spandex have started the granddaddy of all bike races. Though they may look like a bunch of skinny guys in Spandex, they are some of the toughest athelets going (though not as tough as the Ultramarathon Man)and the TDF is one of the most grueling events in sports. This year, starting in London, the TdF goes counter clockwise around France. The Tour will consist of 2204 Miles, 2 Mountain ranges - the Alps & the even more brutal Pyranees. The 219 riders from 21 teams burn between 6000 and 9000 calories per day, for 18 stages over 21 days.

Though it's not readily aparent, there is a lot of strategy associated with the teams and their individual riders. Everyone of these guys dedicate their life to cycling and everyone of them would like nothing better than to win even a stage of TdF. The way it works is most riders spend the entire race "domestiques." They fetch food and water and pull the team captain up the biggest mountains and then deliver him to the front of the pleleton so the captain can win a stage and hopefully the race.

The cool thing about today is it's an individual effort. Anyone that can Time Trial can win and end up with of the coveted Malliot Jaune. It's a dream of a lifetime. The Brits want David Millar, I was pulling for George Hincape to win today - but he just came in 2nd.

The new Kazakstan team, Astana, has 3 of my favorite riders - Alexandre Vinokourov, Andreas Kloden, & Palao Salvedeli. It's a nail biter!

Happy Anniversary, Happy Anniversary....

Mom & Dad celebrated their 59th anniversary last week! I went down for the big event and had a great visit. We went out to dinner with the usual out-of-season suspects, Mary & John, Nat, David, Jack and had a lovely time. Like a moron, I brought my camera but forgot to take a picture. So... this is from their anniversay weekend. Mom & I floated around in the 87 degree water of the Gulf. I rode my bike - a lot - and stopped at the peir just in time to see zillions of baitfish that were so close together they looked like the shadow of a cloud on the water, 2 Eagle Rays, and some dolphins. Delightful!

Good Company, Good Food.

Our annual fireworks event was on the 3rd this year. Bummer that it was in the middle of the week because so many of our family can't make it. We missed the Callaway/Harrison crew and AJ & his family. Keith & Family always do their thing at their place but we miss them anyway. We ended up with an expected visit by Ken, Sharon, Justin, Dina, Elliott, & Jude. They came a day early and left a bit late so we had a nice visit with them all. The Fireworks were outstanding again, the weather could not have been better, and the food was great and plentiful. What more could you ask for? We missed Mom & Dad this year though. We might get them up here yet...

Cape May

When we got our boat we imagined taking it for weekends around the bay - or at least I imagined that. Since we live on the water, it's much easier to blow that off and just go for the day somewhere. FINALLY, Mike & I took our boat with friends on their boat, through the C&D Canal, down the DE River, to the DE bay and across to Cape May, NJ. This was something we'd planned to do together since last year. We even managed to figure out how the head works since we had never used it before. The weather was great, the town was lovely though extremely expensive, and a great time was had by all - except when Mike won at Putt-Putt.

Reliving College

At the first Yale Parents Weekend, I managed to sucker Kyla into going with me to hear a an uninspired physics lecture and a fascinating lecture on how to foster "liberal" pro-western governments by General William E. Odom. Turns out Odom was one of those experts that were studiously ignored by the starry eyed neocon crowd, but that's another story. I knew what Steven Schragis was talking about when I read this article in the NYTimes.

Steven Schragis got the idea for One Day University about three years ago when he was visiting his daughter, a freshman at Bard College. There were about 600 to 700 parents there, Mr. Schragis said, and they were all thinking the same thing: “I wish I were going to college instead of paying for college.”

I don't remember giving my permission to be quoted, though. I like a good idea that also makes money. The One Day University has grossed over a million dollars in its first year.

Miscellaneous Stuff

Not worth three separate posts...

• I forgot another book I read (because I gave away four on vacation!) It was Strange Piece of Paradise, by Teri Jentz. She and a fellow Yalie set out to bicycle across the country in 1977 on the BikeCentennial trail, starting in Oregon. They got across the Cascades into central Oregon, and while asleep in their tent at a roadside rest-stop were deliberately run over by a guy driving a pickup truck, hacked with an axe, and left for dead. They never caught the guy who did it. Twenty years later, she returns to the town near where it happened -- closure and all that -- only to find it was pretty common knowledge who did it. I really liked this non-fiction book, which grew on me as she becomes more and more obsessed with obtaining some kind of justice.

• As the news covers the heat wave in the west (128 in Death Valley, 120 in Las Vegas), it's comparatively cool here with our natural air conditioning from the Pacific. At a July 4th party on the coast yesterday it was a blistering 64 degrees, while on our side of the hill when we got home it was 84. Dara, who is trying to get some new plants in before Missy and Mike show up, would disagree about how wonderfully cool it's been though!

• Kyla was on the mall in DC yesterday and was shuttled off by the park service to shelter in the Native American museum when tornado warnings were issued.
  

More To Be Scared of in Florida

As if catching fish wasn't enough of a challenge, in Florida you need to be careful of sturgeon catching you.

It may seem bizarre, but it is no joke. Leaping sturgeon have injured three people on the Suwannee this year, including a woman on a Jet Ski and a girl whose leg was shattered when one of the giant fish jumped aboard her boat. Eight others were hit last year, and with traffic growing on the storied river, sturgeon are joining alligators and hurricanes on the list of things to dread in Florida.

“These injuries are very impressive,” said Dr. Lawrence Lottenberg, director of trauma surgery at the University of Florida College of Medicine in nearby Gainesville. “You’ve got people sitting on the front of an open boat, and the boat is going 20, 30, 40 miles per hour. The fish jumps up and usually slaps these people right across their face and upper chest. Almost every one of them universally has been knocked unconscious. If you’re not wearing a life jacket, you’re going to fall in the water and potentially drown.”

I wonder what they're using for bait.