And for Nate wishing you a Merry Christmas

Today we rented a car and drove south to the Cliffs of Moher, drove to several spots on the Burren, and finally had a late lunch/early dinner in Kinvara at Keoghs pub.  The food was very good, especially their seafood chowder – one of the best I’ve had.  The limestone formations of the Burren were amazing and the Cliffs were…well, tall!

As for driving, this was my first time driving on the left hand side.  We left Galway early so traffic was light which helped me get used to the opposite side plus getting the feel for shifting with the left hand.  The hardest part by far was navigating the extremely narrow roads once we got off the main motorways.  These country roads are bordered by rock walls and there is NO shoulder.  Let’s just say I came in contact with tons of bushes trying to make room for cars coming the other way.  But no tickets and no accidents.

Tomorrow we get up early to catch a 5am train back to Dublin.  Then it is off to work.

We left at 4:40am on Friday (30.July) for camping at Crane Prairie.  Our 370 mile journey went smoothly and the boys were very good in the car.  We arrived at the campground just past noon and quickly got things setup.

Our home for 3 nights.  We set up the smaller tent for the boys to play in and hung some tarps to keep the rain off of our food.

The lake provided hours of entertainment.  Zach loved paddling the canoe – he was a pro.

What a natural.

Nate chugging down some water.

The lake was the perfect temperature for hanging out in all day.  The days were warm (low 90s) with afternoon thunderstorms (my favorite).  The only real negatives for me was the hornets nest on the beach and the blue-green algae bloom (worried about the boys getting sick).  Steph, on the other hand, had some other gripes including, but not limited to, camping, sleeping in a tent, pooping on a pit toilet, showering in a concrete stall, dust, kid’s poop, dirt, etc…you get the picture.  She really doesn’t care for camping.

Afternoon thunderclouds growing over Mt Bachelor.

Some more thunderheads.

We had thunderstorms all 3 afternoons/evenings we were camping.  I loved it.  So did Zach.  He’s as nuts about lightning as his dad. 

Sunsets were amazing as well on each evening.

After camping we drove up to Mt Hood for more Steph-appropriate lodging.  Along the way we had to drive along the high desert where these incredibly deep gorges form.

Gorge.

Our place in Zig Zag was perfect.  Set within the woods with a large grassy backyard which backed into a creek.  The creek was 5 to 10 feet wide with 6 inches to 3 feet of water…perfect size for the boys.  And big enough for fish.  I caught one 6 inch brook trout (I threw him back so he could get larger).  I saw many baby trout (less than a inch long) swimming in the creek as well.  The creek provided hours of entertainment including dam building, rock throwing, and our favorite…pirates!  Yep, we played pirates.  Zach would release a stick in the “waterfall” and as the stick flowed downstream, everyone else would bomb it with rocks.  This provided hours of fun until our arms wanted to fall off.

On our first full day we took a road trip to Lost Lake.  This took us over single lane paved roads and gravel roads around Mt Hood.

Mt Hood overlooking Lost Lake

Nate eating at Lost Lake.

Zach finishing his PB&J

One more shot of Mt Hood

Following Jeep Uncle Mike.

A shot of Mt Hood on our way back to the house.

Lin showed up on Thursday…unfortunately the weather turned on that day as well.  We ended up with 2 days of dreary, moist, northwest weather.  But it didn’t slow us down.  We took a trip to the trout farm where they had 6 ponds for fishing…Zach caught his first fish ever (he actually caught 3 fish).

Our stream.

View from the stream to the house.

On Saturday we took a drive to Timberline Lodge (outside of lodge was setting of lodge in the Shining).  It was beautiful up there…just above the cloud line that kept our house in the gloom.  We hung out on the patio having drinks and taking small hikes.  Zach and I hiked about 3/4 of a mile up the mountain to check out the skiers.  Yep, this is only place in the US where you can still ski.

The ski slopes and glaciers on Mt Hood.

Poor uncle mike…no rest for him.

A happy boy on vacation.

On Sunday morning we had a late breakfast, early lunch at the Whistle Stop.  Mike got the ultimate whistle burger – a half pound handmade burger patty, with fixins, sauces, ham, egg, and onion rings (mike added the onion rings) all combined between two deep fried buns.  I had the mini version of this (minus the egg, ham, and onion rings).  I felt very ill for a few hours – all that oil was pretty disgusting.  But it was also good in a strange way.

My future home.  I think I can get a good price.

I like the natural setting.

Then we headed up to the Mt Hood Adventure park so the boys could play in a kid size habit-trail and jump around on a bunch of balls.  Zach and I road inter-tubes down a big slide and the boys road little canoes.

Jumping in balls.

Kiddie canoes.

We had a wonderful time.  It was great fun hanging with Auntie Jan and Uncle Mike for 10 days.  Camping was a blast (no matter what Steph says).  Thanks to Lin for joining us at the house.

Steph climbing in the bounce house.  Zach spent about 4 hours in this thing.  Nate took a while to warm up to it, but once he got in he loved it.

Zach on his cool new bike.

Nate gets a hand-me-down…Zach’s old bike and helmet.

Zach hanging out at the park.

Zach throwing rocks in the water.

Today was goergous at the park…about 75 degrees, and not much of a breeze.

Big smiles from Nate.

As I mentioned, I had just returned from Tokyo.  I had to fly out for work.  I flew out last Saturday on the Northwest flight and arrived late Sunday afternoon (remember, you cross the dateline).  And then the fun begins.  Japan is absolutely paranoid about the swine flu, and only from flights from North America.  So we pull into the gate but we cannot leave our seats.  We had to close our shades and wait while a bunch of people dressed in hazmat suites boarded the plane and took our temperature with a thermal imager.  If you had a fever – you are screwed.  Not only that, but if that person has the swine flu, they will hunt down the individuals seated in the vicinity and quarantine them as well.  The quarantine is for 10 days (later I heard this was dropped to 7 days).  This whole process took about 45 minutes.  I also had to fill out a questionairre about my health, where I was staying, and what seat I was on during the flight.

I landed at Narita Airport which is about a 90 minute bus ride from the hotel.  I was staying, with other coworkers, at the Cerulean Tower Hotel – which is pretty fancy, western style hotel.  They had an awesome (but very expensive) 40th floor bar overlooking Tokyo.  Monday was a mellow day at our office which was only about a 10 minute walk from the hotel.  Monday and Tuesday were very humid and extremely smoggy – enough to make the eyes burn.

We were staying next to Shibuya Square (the equivalent of Times Square), so we had dinner in that area both Sunday and Monday evenings.  Tuesday morning (and subsequently Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morning), I got up at 5:30am and went running.  I cruised up to Yoyogi Park each morning and ran there.  There were not many people on the street but the park was full of runners and walkers.

Tuesday was a busy work day.  Tuesday we had dinner at a very cool restaurant where I had Japanese Sours (alcohol is Schochu…yummy) and Shabu Shabu (thin cuts of poultry cooked in a boiling broth).  Cool place with good food.

I worked Wednesday morning but took off during the afternoon and went to SensoJi Temple and Harajuku.  Wednesday, one of our customers took us to dinner to a members only club.  Excellent beer, wine, and food – all topped off with a cigar.  Thursday was a full work day plus a little shopping for Steph and Takashimaya (high end Japan store).  My flight left Tokyo on Friday at 3:50pm and I got home at 9am on Friday (gotta love the international dateline).

Anyway, I really appreciated the experience.  Some observations…

• Very crowded, yet no one bumps into you.
• Excellent subway system.
• Everyone is very friendly.
• People obey lines, especially while waiting for a subway train.
• No one jaywalks.  I stood at intersection that was 20 feet wide with 100 people on one side and 100 people on the other side…no cars going…everyone waited for the walk sign.  Amazing.
• The internet connection in my room didn’t work.  After 2 hours of troubleshooting, they still would not believe that their network link was broken.  It wasn’t thinkable that there was a problem with something in the hotel.
• Prices are not expensive (unless you were in our 40th floor hotel bar) – everything seemed comparably priced to here.

Some photos…

Some lights in Shibuya Square.

Cool lit up bottles.

Just go…no one will bump into you.

Flea market outside of SensoJi Temple.

Crowded subway train.

View from room on the 22nd floor.

The smog cleared enough on my last day so I could see Mt Fuji.

Unbelievable how insensitive this police officer was.  Absolutely no compassion or common sense.

Anyway, this shows how close the Niners really are to playoff and Super Bowl contention…they were only a few seconds away from the beating the Cards and forcing each team to be 8 and 8.  I’m excited for the 2009 season and what our Niners can do.

Next up, the SF Giants.  Talk about pitching – we rock.  We suck with the bats, we can pitch our way out of anything.

They are called out to assess avalanche risk after slides for would-be rescuers to ensure their safety, received requests from friends and sports nuts aiding them in assessin risks for a skiing, snowboarding, or snomachine trip, and for other purposes like land zoning for avalanche risk. They run avalanche awareness training and consistently spend time in the field understanding avalanches.

Jill’s takes a scientific subect and tells it like a series of stories.  Her writing style makes this very readable and understandable.  Her storytelling keeps the reader intrigued, involved, and excited to learn more about avalanches.