Impressions

Star Trek: Into Darkness, review with SPOILERS: Thumbs down, WAY down

2013-05-19T10:09:39Z

'Ware spoilers.

The first of JJ Abrams' reboot of the Star Trek franchise was pretty lame, but could have worked to reboot the series. He took everything that was important and mythic about the Rodenberry tv show and subsequent movies and flattened it into a buddy film with familiar catchphrases. Still, there was lots of action and the characters were set in motion.

A second movie might have been risen above the first. After all, most of the ST movies weren't particularly good. The notable exception: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which rose above the first movie and built on strong characters and story arcs from from the tv show. Just a few years after genocidal megalomaniacs like Stalin and Mao, Khan is a villain who is at once horrendous and heroic. He had a place in the Star Trek backstory, and illuminated Rodenberry's vision of the future.

So along comes Star Trek: Into Darkness. Dreadful, just dreadful. Even the name is stupid. I suppose they couldn't call it Star Trek II: II. It's a reboot of Wrath of Khan, and gets everything wrong.

In the original Wrath, the takeaway is: Life is important, and even the bad guys deserved a chance. In Darkness, the takeaway is: Some lives are more important than others. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people die, but as long as one of them is not Spock or Kirk we can be happy.

Khan is reintroduced first as a good guy, a special agent. We quickly learn that he has gone rogue, and blows up an archive, which turns out to be a secret archive, which turns out to be where they've stored his "people". Yeah, that's how to save them: Blow up the installation where they're kept.

At no point is Khan or "his people" explained. I suppose they just left it to the fans to remember the Eugenics Wars of the 1990s. But unlike Wrath, where mutants escaped and were lost to history until encountered by Kirk and crew, Khan and the mutants were put to work by the government. Who (major SPOILER) is desperately trying to force a war with the Klingons.

Yeah, like you have to be sneaky to get into a war with Klingons.

Khan's 72 people are frozen and put into missiles which the Enterprise is almost tricked into firing on Kronos, the Klingon homeworld. Why you needed people in missiles is never explained. The whole freezing technology is explained very badly: The current Enterprise can't help the people in the missiles because freezing hasn't been used since warp technology was invented. By itself, two major plotholes: Not only would they have digital records of such things even if obsolescent, but the technology is incredibly useful for other things besides space travel. Indeed, one of their first impulses is to put the dying Kirk into one. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

[ETA] The point of timeline change for the reboot is Nero's destruction of Vulcan in 2233. So any Star Trek canon before that is, in theory, still extant. So that leaves Khan and crew in space, having launched from Earth in the 1990s. Unless you want to argue that Nero completely created a whole new timeline from scratch, which has it's own major problems, this oversight is a major hole in Darkness.

So anyway. After Kirk is relieved of command because of stupidity involving a choice between saving Spock or following the Prime Directive, there are explosions and some plot and Kirk is back in charge of the Enterprise. He's desperately chasing this guy Khan, about whom nothing is known. Khan has fled to the Klingon homeworld, because that's the last place the Federation would look. Heck, they might start a war. But Scotty figures it out, and they go anyway.

Precisely why Khan, a very clever villain who has been hiding on Earth for a long time, wants to go to Kronos is not explained. When the Enterprise gets there and Khan finds out they have the missiles which (unbeknownst to Kirk because he didn't listen to Scotty) have Khan's crew, Khan promptly surrenders.

Khan saves his frozen missile-bound crew, war is averted. So all that remains is for Khan to trick Kirk into... um, well, exactly what Khan wants is unclear. He wants his crew back, but never seems to go so far as to try to get them out of the missiles. Some lives are more important than others, but unlike Ricardo Montalban, who got to chew the scenery about his lost love, Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock Holmes on the BBC) gets to threaten McCoy and trick Kirk.

Meanwhile, Admiral Marcus, the head of the Federation who wants war with the Klingons, has brought out his ultra-secret super star ship to chase after the Enterprise. Fortunately for us, Scotty is on board. Precisely how Scotty gets on board the highly guarded ship is never explained. And Marcus doesn't bother to actually start the war he's wanted, he just wants... well, exactly what Marcus wants is unclear. He claims to want war, with him in charge, and has spent untold billions of Federation bucks (or whatever they use for money) and hired mercenaries to build the missiles and super starship. But all of this was done in secret and (it's implied) illegally. His plan is thwarted because his beautiful and brilliant daughter has lied her way onto the Enterprise, so he's reluctant to kill everyone on board. Some lives are more important than others.

There's a warp drive chase scene, Marcus kills a bunch of Enterprise crew, Kirk and Khan form an allegiance and jump from the Enterprise to the larger ship. Good thing we have Scotty on board to press the right button at the right time, opening up the access port, killing the mercenary who doesn't seem to realize that Scotty is not one of their small, tightly-knit crew. The death of the mercenaries happens without comment and without tears. Some lives are more important than others.

More explosions, and Marcus' treason is stopped, but Khan refuses to die. Khan doesn't realize his crew is still alive (though frozen) and very mad. Now, once we heard the name "Khan", we knew exactly what would happen to Kirk and Spock, and could probably guess the twist. Khan wants revenge on the Kirk and the Federation. He destroys the Enterprise even more than it was destroyed by Marcus. This leads to Kirk on the inside of the radioactive engine coils. In a stark parallel to Wrath, Kirk saves the day but dies while Spock on the outside. They hold up hands to make contact through the safety glass. Kirk dies, and Spock lifts his fist to the air to utter, "... Khan!!!".

Really makes one appreciate the acting abilities of William Shatner. Seriously, it's a defining moment of the Star Trek franchise, and Shatner was great and Quinto was a pale imitation. The horrible editing doesn't help the moment either.

So anyway. It's still 24 time. Khan's well-laid plans for all contingencies don't seem to include a base of operations after he gets his crew back. He's left with plowing the super star ship into Federation HQ in San Francisco. Lots of death, but the main concern is keeping Khan alive so his blood, which has revived a dead tribble (yes, you heard me) can revive the dead Kirk. Some lives are more important than others.

There's a nice chase sequence from moving air car to moving air car. Why there are is anything in the air after a terrorist attack from the sky seems stupider than usual, but hey. It's less exciting but more believable than the one in the Matrix movies. Spock and Uhura get to prove they can be professional and lovers. Khan is subdued (but not killed), Kirk is saved.

Hooray.

I don't recall what happens to the 72 frozen Star Seed. Probably not explained well, if at all. Kirk gets his command of the Enterprise back, in a brand spanking new ship (with the same registration number). And then Abrams blows it again, completely wiping perhaps my favorite line in all the Star Trek movies: When Shatner/Kirk gets his command back (at the end of III or IV, I forget), and the crew asks what heading he wants, he casually said, "Oh, thataway". At precisely the same moment in Darkness, with a great deal more build-up, the moment just passes. Pine/Kirk is just flat.

You can make fun of Shatner's broad acting all you want, but at his best he was a great Kirk. And he was at his best a lot.

The original Star Trek was very much a product of the Cold War. The reboot is very much a product of the post-9/11 world. We were in greater danger from the Russians at the time, but more easily wet our pants at potential terrorism. We now produce films that rely on post-attention-span, sphincter-clenching action. Bah.

Leftover bits: Leonard Nimoy makes a brief appearance, breaking his vow from the first movie not to reveal any plot points. The 3D was okay, but probably unnecessary. Nothing extra happens after the credits.

Anyway, just to be clear: I didn't like the movie.

20130505 May Day Parade and Festival -- photos on FB

2013-05-07T00:35:12Z

The day started cold, as predicted, but then got much warmer. By the time the parade started, I regretted bringing my jacket. But it was too late: No MN-StF picnic. So I didn't stick around for too long.

Because of the nice weather, attendance was very high. By comparison: Two years ago. it snowed. Last year, the parade was delayed a week due to the weather.

This year, the parade was underfunded but very nice, and what I saw of the Festival was great. Didn't stay for the music or whatnot. Probably just as well. I'm sore from all that walking and a bit sunburned on the back of my hands. Glad I was wearing a jacket after all.

Public FB gallery: 20130505 May Day Parade and Festival

Vegetology vs. BE-fit

2013-05-02T17:49:01Z

An Examination of Major Religions
Special to Milky Way Today
by Religion Correspondent, Lloyd Preservus
(Intercepted by Etherwave Surfer David E Romm circa 1994 CE [YML 25], minor emendations by Baron Dave Romm circa 2013 CE [YML 44].)

Vegetology:
Everyone has a vegetable, spice and a condiment, which both reflect and rule aspects of your life.

You determine this by taste and experience: eg Eggplant/Ginger/Relish.

BE-fit, The Bowman-Emerson Fannish Inventory of Type:
Everyone's personality revolves around these four axes:
Media/Print (M/P)
Fannish/Sercon (F/S)
Con/Zine (C/Z)
FIAWOL/FIAJAGH (W/J)

People are designated by their four letter Type: eg, PFZW, and if an axis is smack dab in the middle that designation is an X, eg. XSCJ

Romm's Corollary to Clarke's Law: Any sufficiently advanced philosophy is indistinguishable from religion.

Dateline: Year of Our Moonlanding 5,271,009

The hostilities between by the Curry System and the Fijagh Empire have concluded with the Broccoli/Hyphen Accord. While the big news is the end of the longstanding conflict which has caused the death of several billion people and three indigenous races, it is also signals the end of the religious conflict which has dominated the last two millennia. Much has been written about this conflict, but a brief overview of the root causes is warranted.

On Old Old Earth, two of the biggest phyla of pre-electronic hardcopy were Cook Books and Diet Books. The people were lost in the spiritual garden. Vegetololgy started as a series of Fanzine articles and testifying at Conventions by Founding Farmers Elise ("I Yam what I Yam") Mattheson and Sharon ("If it doesn't have onions in it, it better be dessert") Kahn. That the Root of Vegetology was nourished in the fertile soil of the BE-fit purview was later a cause of both indigestion and common ground. Soon, seedlings of thought had spread to the pulpits and talk shows all over the planet. Disbelievers were weeded out. Secular authorities tried to halt the growth of Vegetology with anit-stalking laws, but the flock kept coming to the Farmer's Market for spiritual nourishment. The religion can be summed up with this major tenet: You are what you eat.

As the religion grew and flavored more and more lives, cults and sects spread. The Fruitarian Heresy, after much strife, was allowed into the Recipe of Life. The Ovo-Lactorians claimed further restrictions on diet, but were constantly at odds with Jews for Cheeses. The Fiber Sects, the Oat Quakers and the Bran Davidians, tried to keep all life regular.

BE-fit derived from the proto-cult of the Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory. The religion's catechism is a series of questions that determine where you are on four major personality axes. It started out as a system for modeling and interpreting behavior, not a religion. But then again, so did Dianetics. The original epiphany was by First Editors Jeanne Bowman and David Emerson, hence the name. They saw the how George HW Bush got burned, and was revealed to them that a test to indicate how you thought about issues relevant to Fandom was good. It's hard to believe now, but at the time of the revelation, Fandom was barely known outside of a small group and Fans had little political power. The original range of questions was developed by Editors of the Flame Steve Glennon and DavE Romm, and honed by Glennon, Romm, Emerson and First Consulting Editor Barb Jensen. Introduced at Reinconation III, in Year of Our Moonlanding 24, it was an immediate sensation. The first True Believers and the necessary balance of the Doubting Unbelievers were revealed there.

Soon, BE-fit had expanded from a way to help Fans communicate with each other to a Way which Believers could establish their Special E-Mail Account with the Creator. They were granted Net Privs with the Sysop of Cyberspace. It was a matter of being in the right place at the right time; 'Beefies' and 'Fitters' were on the Fast Lane of the Information Superhighway.

It is difficult to call variants on BE-fit 'heresies' before the Dimensions of Life were established, but some did create false axes. There were attempts to add a Dog/Cat axis, but that can be determined in one question. Those who claimed the axes were too specific to Fandom were thrown into the Myers-Brig. One of the early tries at reconciliation was the genetically altered Vegetable/Spice/Condiment triple axis, but this got poor ratings during Sweeps Week.

After these humble and occasionally violent beginnings, the religions grew, supplanting local worship. Religions based on achieving an afterlife died off when contact with the Flatliner race determined that God did not communicate through one book, but by interactive media. By seeing a virtual afterlife, people could get a good read on how their life was going. After a few millennia, those diehards waiting for the Third Coming just couldn't find dates, so their race died off. Any religion based on ancestor worship found that there were too many people at family gatherings who couldn't get along. Recombinant DNA and nanotechnology made dietary restrictions irrelevant. Religions based on reincarnation couldn't find enough people for caste parties.

By the time of the first Meganium, Vegetology and BE-fit had become the dominant religions throughout Known and Suspected Space. These religions do not, now, seem mutually incompatible. There was no reason that, for example, Fourth Meganium Over-President McMoishe, a Celery/Pepper/Chutney, couldn't get along with Junior Executive Al-Ras O'Tomisha, a MSZW, but you know how it goes. They both kept admonishing the other until hostilities broke out, and the Scold War lasted over 5,000 years.

The Curry System established itself in the last Meganium by distributing favors among the followers of of Vegetology. It dominated the Spice Trade between Andromeda and the Cauliflower Cluster. That brought it into immediate conflict with the growing Fijagh Empire, who wanted to have a mustard-tasting panel at their Conventions. At first they didn't care that much, as Befitting their J axis, but after a few hundred years of store-bought yellow mustard, the leaders began to get testy. The Concom held an Organizational Meeting, and it was decided to go to war. The Curry Chefs responded with a Bamboo Shoot. Slowly, the conflict simmered, coming to a boil and adding other religious disputes as side dishes and apazines. At last, the stalemate in the Twiltone System forced peace talks last year, leading to the Broccoli/Hyphen Accord. The peace talks reached fruition despite initial disagreements about which hotel to use, and what kind of dip will be used at official functions.

Most major rhubarbs are more politically based than religion based, of course, and this one was no exception, being about control of trade and resources. But some of the more radical elements really hate each other on religious grounds. The Spicy Vegetologists and the XXXX Milksops will probably never sit at the same table. Still, many people did expand their philosophies to include both, and there is once again Good Food in Consuites.

So let us rest under the Palm Tree of Peace, as the Opening Ceremonies of a New Convention of harmony begin.

Note: Originally published in Rune 85, March 1995 CE.

Adventures in Culinary Multiculturalism: Vaguely Huevos Rancheros and Vienna Press Coffee

2013-04-20T18:34:49Z

We have some corn tortillas. They fall apart if not heated, or something. I decided to use them in breakfast.

In a large Pam-sprayed pan, I fried four eggs to just under where I would normally serve them sunny side up. Separate the eggs in the pan. I cut slabs of sharp cheddar cheese as thinly as I could, which wasn't very. At the right moment, I used the spatula to lift the eggs, one by one, slid a tortilla in the pan and a slab of cheese, then put the eggs on top.

Let melt. While it was melting, I looked up a recipe for huevos rancheros. I probably should have done that first. It had a much fancier recipe, cooking with oil and lots of ingredients. Oh well. I added leaves of cilantro on top, which made it look pretty. I took salsa from the fridge, but we never used it.

When the cheese melted and the eggs were slightly more done, serve. We had some ham spread, which we used as a side.

No spicing, no salt (except what was in the ham spread). Dee-lisch, but we needed a knife to cut the tortillas.

Carole needs coffee in the morning, and has this K-Cup one-cup coffee maker. Easy and fast, but I find the coffee is weak and not particularly to my taste. So my birthday present to myself was this campers coffeepress. You need course ground coffee, and I've been experimenting with various mixes to extend the ground coffee I got for Carole which she doesn't use and I don't think is worth the effort.

Added cinnamon. Real coffee!

Aaah, now I'm awake.

Minicon 48 galleries

2013-04-01T22:05:54Z

Minicon was great. Our Guests of Honor were wonderful. Programming was interesting. The music (most of which I didn't get to) was marvelous. Children's programming looked fun. The Teen Room and Next Generation events went well, even the ones that didn't have much Next Gen participation.

MN-StF President Carole wasn't assassinated. As I raised the scimitar, she proclaimed, "The pen is mightier than the sword!" and resigned. Well! We haven't had a President resign in more than 600 parsecs. So we convened a Council of Cards, and with three different decks played out a hand until Patricia was declared the new President.

*whew*

20130327-29 Minicon 48 pt. 1, from the Work Party through Friday.

20130330-31 Minicon 48 pt. 2, Saturday and Sunday

Added 4/8/13: 20130406 Minicon 48 Post-Mortem

The video I made of Richard's games, which we played behind the interview at the con: Richard Tatge on Gaming

I didn't get to everything I wanted to, but I was busy. Mom had a great time. Whee!

Interview with Richard Tatge and tour of his game-filled basement

2013-03-09T10:37:31Z

A long-standing project finally reaches fruition. Minicon 48 Fan Guest of Honor and MN-StF Foundling Father Richard Tatge, interviewed 3/7/13 in his home. Lots of video of his load-bearing games (he estimated he has between 5000 and 6000), and some of my photos of him going back to 1979.

Richard Tatge on gaming, with a tour of his game collection. March 2013

There's actually more to our talk about light shows and filking and such, but I wanted to keep this short. It's just under 13 minutes. The thought was to show it at Opening Ceremonies, which might still happen, but I prefer Richard's idea of leading us all in "Golden the Ship Was Oh Oh Oh".

Marscon 2013 photos up

2013-03-04T16:52:59Z

20130301-03 Marscon public FB photo gallery finished, though I'll probably tweak the annotations and such.

Another good Marscon. Thanks all!

20110223 MN-StF Pool Party

2013-02-24T19:04:37Z

Public FB gallery: MN-StF Pool Party of 2/23/13.

Carole and I arrived early, to help set-up, to find many people there for the Minicon meeting and things proceeding apace. Thanks to first shift host Mark Richards and everyone who helped out. And thanks to everyone for coming! We had to leave before the music got started, but had a great time.

Special consideration goes to Alex, who's first MN-StF event is now chronicled.

Comedy of Doom: A review

2013-02-05T21:17:36Z

Claimer; I contributed to the Kickstarter program that helped Comedy of Doom get published, and heard several of the essays in live performance. I've watched Joe perform for a long time, and have interviewed him and his parents for Shockwave Radio Theater.

Comedy of Doom is scads of fun. I expected to have a scad of fun, maybe even a scad-and-a-half, since Joe's been on a roll recently. But I had scads. I lost track of how many.

Joseph Scrimshaw, live, comes off like Frank Gorshin as a perpetually petulant Kirk Douglas. (Feel free to Google any Geek Topics you don't recognize.) His controlled reading style masks a deep sense of theater and an ever-inquisitive mind. It probably helps to hear Scrimshaw as you read him. Not necessary, but useful. I recommend going to one of his performances even if you don't buy the book, but I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader.

The book chapters alternate between longer essays, from his shows, and shorter bits, little slip-on-a-banana-peel gags. Here, let me give you an example of the latter:

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BRAIN
"There's a lot of meat in team." -- Zombie motivational saying.

There, that's the entire chapter, minus footnotes. The whole thing. I probably should have issued a spoiler warning, but forgot. Sorry.

As is often the case with Joseph Scrimshaw, a little leads to a lot. Really makes you wonder: How much movitation do you need to be a zombie?

Responsible adult zombie: "Braiiiiins."
Teenage girl zombie: "Whatever."

Do zombies have teams? What's their logo? Do they have leagues and announcers and playoffs? Can the coach put a zombie on Injured Reserve? Do they do ads for Sports Brain Drink and sell products by surrounding themselves with beautiful undead women? Do they have hoax zombie girlfriends and take illegal embalming fluid to pump up their bodies? Does the team with the most movitivation win meat?

Wow.

The mind boggles, and that's just one sentence. Joe never keeps things boggled up. (<-- wordplay. You're welcome.)

I laughed out loud at For Your Expense Report Only, but I'm a sucker for tales of bureaucracy behind world saving secret agents. Joe has an obsession with Star Wars, Superheros, the Zombie Apocalypse, Word Porn, and The Muppets, among many other geek topics. Seems reasonable.

The book is meticulously put together by people who understand that books are different than social media. I like that. One can dip in and actually turn the pages; no hyperlinks here. Various bits of information and humor are scattered before and after the essays proper. I like that too.

I have a few complaints. Quibbles, really. Nitpicks. The index of Geek Topics doesn't include page references. Sorry, not geeky enough. And my name isn't mentioned often enough. In fact, it's only mentioned once, in the Hall of Gratitude listing of Kickstarter contributors. Some, perhaps most, would say this is sufficient mention, if not too much, for a book that I had absolutely no creative input into. Hey, discuss what you like in your own review. How many times should I be mentioned? I leave that as an exercise for the writer.

To conclude, let me finish by ending. I highly recommend Comedy of Doom for anyone who has enjoyed Joeseph Scrimshaw's work over the years, and still recommend it if you haven't. Written comedy is a different art form than spoken comedy, but Joseph has mud on his boots from both worlds.

Geek Topics Covered: Geek Topics, Comedy of Doom, Shockwave Radio Theater, Frank Gorshin, Google, teenage zombie angst, write your own damn review.

2012127-31 Trip to Oregon Bonus: Photos by Legend

2013-02-04T21:53:22Z

Carole let Legend, her seven-year-old grandchild, use her lighter camera for a few days. By Native America culture, he's also my grandkid, and you can tell by these photos! Here are my favorites, which I cropped and edited. Sorry for the photo-heavy post, but he's got a great eye! I'm not entirely sure what to do with his photos (or with the photos Carole took with her other camera), since I don't necessarily want to post other's photos in my FB galleries. But I'm proud of Legend, so maybe. In the meantime, enjoy seeing the world from a kid's viewpoint!

Legend Self Portrait, Spaghetti Factory, Clackamas, OR 12/27/12
He saw me taking photos of myself by holding the camera at arm's length, and wanted to try it.

Dave and Carole in Spaghetti Factory, Clackamas, OR 12/2712
I scouted a good locale, and asked him to take us together

Spaghetti Factory in Clackamas, OR 12/2712

Dave in Clackamas, OR 12/27/12
his first photo, taken at the hotel

Brother Bangii in Clackamas, OR 12/27/12
also at the hotel

ZooLights, Oregon Zoo, Portland, OR 12/27/12
from The Wizard of Oz

Dave at ZooLights, Oregon Zoo, Portland, OR 12/27/12
I'm going to make this a userpic in the near future

Penguin Hat, ZooLights, Oregon Zoo, Portland, OR 12/27/12
The nine-year-old girl in the line ahead of us for the ZooTrain was camera-shy, but she posed for this photo of her penguin hat, with ear tassels that drop way down and become mittens.

ZooLights, Oregon Zoo, Portland, OR 12/27/12
view from the ZooTrain

ZooLights, Oregon Zoo, Portland, OR 12/27/12

ZooLights, Oregon Zoo, Portland, OR 12/27/12

ZooLights, Oregon Zoo, Portland, OR 12/27/12
a good compositional eye

ZooLights, Oregon Zoo, Portland, OR 12/27/12
He fell into the thorns, so took their picture. Neener neener

Clackamus OR 12/27/12
He took a number of technically good photos at his eye level

Westside Cafe, Bend, OR 12/31/12

Crooked River Canyon, Peter Skene Ogden Overview, OR 12/31/12

Smith Rock State Park, OR 12/31/12
at various points, he gave the camera back to Carole, but this is compositionally similar to the shoot sticking up from the grass that I think it's his

20130105-6 Trip to Oregon and Back: Zipping home through South Dakota and Minnesota

2013-01-31T21:37:33Z

Continued from 20130105 Trip to Oregon and Back: Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial

We left the Crazy Horse Memorial after dark, letting the GPS direct us to I-90.

Within 36 hours, Carole had to be at work and I needed to get cracking on delayed projects. I had planned no more touristy things to do, just get home without stress and arrive early enough on Sunday to get a good night's sleep. The tactical plan here was to pick a hotel as far east as we felt comfortable driving to on Saturday night, to make the last leg as short as possible. We picked a place about three hours drive east, and took off.

Along the highway, well away from any city or building, we made a quick stop at a truck pull-over to change drivers. I looked up, and saw stars! Here in the middle of nowhere, the whole panoply of the universe was on display. Most of our journey was bitterly cold and we didn't go outside at night on the open road. The night was warm enough that we opened the moon roof. Wow.

Red Rock Restaurant, Wall, SD 1/5/13
Carole admires the horses

We hadn't eaten since Custer. We could have made it to the hotel and grazed on the various mixed nuts and other emergency food that seemed less necessary now, but in keeping with the winding down theme we picked an exit with "Food" signs. Avoiding any chain restaurant, we took our chances and kept going down the rural Wall, SD road until we came to the Red Rock Restaurant/The Rock Lounge & Casino. Another winner!

The walls were graced with photos of horses, apparently owned by the family who ran the restaurant. Carole was happy. She had the Prime Rib with baked potato. I went with the "local favorite" of country fried steak with potato oles. ("is it really a local favorite?" I asked the waitress. "Well, a lot of people order it." Good enough for me.) The prime rib was excellent; the country fried steak was nothing to write home about, but was solid fare. They, and the included salad bar (western states have a different version of soup/salad bar than around here), made a very full meal.

We talked a bit with the couple at the next table. He was a trucker from Montana who had driven to Florida to pick up his mother who was moving in with him. *whew* An even longer trip than ours! I ducked into the bar/casino next door. People who knew each other were conversing, one person playing pinball. Maybe not the most exciting Saturday night, but everyone was having a comfortable time hanging out at their familiar watering hole.
As an added bonus, the Vikings were playing. We missed the last two weeks of the regular season, including the surprise of the Vikings in the playoffs. Well, perhaps bonus is the wrong word, as the Vikes got trounced by the team they'd beaten last week. Oh well.

The Super 8 in Murdo, SD nicely fit our needs, and had the added psychological boost of being just to the east of the line separating Mountain Time and Central Time. Interestingly (at least to me), the timer on the GPS in the Camry connected to the sattelites, and updated when we crossed into the Central Time Zone. The clock in the car didn't. We set it manually.

Super 8 Motel, Murdo, SD 1/6/13
didn't have amenities like an elevator to the second floor and one of the chairs was falling apart

The next morning, we were off again. An easy 430 mile jaunt back home. Clear weather, reset clocks, bags repacked. Ah, but it was nice enough for the State Troopers to be out as well. One warning later, we were off again, a bit slower... until we got to Minnesota.

I thought about asking the trooper to have his picture taken with us, but that seemed like tempting fate.

Empty street, White Lake, SD 1/6/13
not really a ghost town, but we didn't see anyone outside of the restaurant

Nick of Claudia's Cafe, White Lake SD 1/6/13

I bent my "keep at least a half-tank of gas" rule for our final push, but a hundred miles from the hotel we needed gas and could use a good breakfast. So around noon we pulled into White Lake, SD. Not much activity on a cold Sunday. We drove down the street to what may have been the only non-bar restaurant open, Claudia's Cafe. Just what we needed! Friendly service, decent breakfast (really brunch at this point). We were served by a nice kid with an arm damaged from playing HS sports. Carole had all sorts of advice for him. He nodded politely.

We found a gas station down the street. Well, some place with a gas pump with no attendent. The pump took my credit card. I filled up, didn't get a receipt, and we were off again.

Map showing location of Adrian, MN rest stop. 1/6/13

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We zipped through various highways in Southwestern Minnesota, with a pit stop along the way. At some point, I began to recognize the city names and the territory looked familiar.

We turned off the GPS and I came home by familiar roads.

We arrived after dark, tired but happy. The Cosmic Starship drove 4212.4 miles with grandeur and good mileage. We dragged some of the suitcases upstairs but left a lot of stuff.

Dashboard of the Cosmic Starship showing 4212.4 miles, Mpls, MN 1/6/13

I eventually replaced the windshield, pitted from rocks thrown up by trucks in the mountains. A month later, the car still smells like sweat, coffee and mixed nuts. Ah, good times.

We're not quite recovered; Carole's knee is still not finished healing. I still have a cough. I've processed my photos, though not the few minutes of video, but Carole hasn't started on hers. Or the photos Legend took with her camera. Now that I'm done with these reports, I may look over her stuff.

Thanks for reading through all the trip reports! I hope you got a taste of the fun and excitement of the Epic Trip to Oregon and Back!

20130105 Trip to Oregon and Back: Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial

2013-01-30T21:28:17Z

Continued from 20130104 Trip to Oregon and Back: Salt Lake City and Antelope Island. More images at 20130103-06 Road Trip 5: OR, ID, UT, WY, SD, MN

Approaching Mount Rushmore 1/5/13

Approaching Mount Rushmore 1/5/13
All the states are represented

Dave at Mount Rushmore 1/5/13

Our last day in the Mountain Time Zone was a brilliant strategic success and a brilliant tactical success, but the day started off inauspiciously.

The hotel near Casper, WY was okay. Cheap and old, for a hotel, but we didn't demand much. Still, breakfast was skimpy and the tv was blaring some anti-government rant instead of useful weather information. I mean geeze, I know Wyoming is a red state, but the hotel in Montana was great. Waking up to hatred every day hardly makes for good customer relations.

Driving through Wyoming in the daylight was great. We were still in the mountains, though not the sharp rise of the Rockies, and the countryside rolled by pleasently.

The highway connection between Casper and Rapid City took us through more back roads than any other leg of the journey. Back on US 20, and only on an Interstate for a short shile, then through a series of local roads. 25 mph in the SD mountains with no guardrails...

At one point, fiddling with the controls, we lost the car's GPS directions. Carole's Android was saying one thing and the car was saying another. (A statement that would have been meaningless a decade ago.) Trying to resolve the difference turned the car's directions off. So we were on our own. I just drove be the seat of my pants. I knew where we were from actual maps and looking at the route on the AAA app. Take that calm but confused female voice(s). We continued up to Newcastle and entered South Dakota on Hwy 18. Maybe not the route our electronic friends suggested, but had the advantage of being easy to do (one decision branch) and taking us through Custer, SD, where we had lunch.

Custer is a tourist town, and we were visiting out of season. A billboard advertisement for a restaurant piqued Carole's interest, but it was closed. So we kept going. We stopped at one of the few places that was open, and that had a bison on the roof.

The Wrangler is basically a steak & burger joint, specializing in buffalo meat. Fairly plain, but good food. I had the Buffalo Bacon Burger, while Carole opted for a regular burger. A good lunch, but sunset wasn't too far off.

We discussed our next move. Strategically, I had planned this entire return trip around visiting Mt. Rushmore. Carole, a Native American, didn't really care for the presidents but really wanted to see the Crazy Horse Memorial. We could do both, but the question was: Which one first? Carole wanted to go to Crazy Horse first. I convinced her to go to Mt. Rushmore first, as we would then do Crazy Horse to put her in a good mood for the drive to the hotel. Okay, she relented at last. This turned out to be a brilliant tactical move.

Everyone should visit Mt. Rushmore, and nearly three million people a year do. Pictures don't do it justice. Indeed, photos usually show a close-up, magnifying what you see when you're in person. In a way, I was disappointed that huge giant president heads weren't floating above me. In another way, I felt pride that leaders with a vision were so honored as to have their faces carved into mountains.

It's a long walk from parking to the overview facing the mountain, and you pass statues and pillars honoring every state. A park ranger came by with news of a mountain goat back toward the wooded area and several of us quietly went to observe, but we didn't get a good photo. Everyone was friendly and strangers were happy to take photos of each other against the presidents.

With the museums closed, we made a brief stop in the gift shop. We could have stayed until sunset and seen the mountain light up, but we still had a place to go and I didn't want to drive in the mountains in the dark. For all the anticipation, we were at Mt. Rushmore for less than an hour. Still, I'm very glad I went. In theory, my park permit is good for a year...

Carole at Crazy Horse Memorial 1/5/13

The Crazy Horse Memorial is 17 miles from Mt. Rushmore, but that doesn't really indicate the distance. Most of those miles are up mountains. Only a few miles separate the entrances off the highway.

We got to the memorial in time to see the unfinished sculpture in the daylight. Again, pictures don't really show the dimensions of the project. The mountain is much larger than Mt. Rushmore, and dedicated to one person and his horse.

Crazy Horse Memorial 1/5/13
1/300th scale model with the unfinished mountain as backdrop

Crazy Horse Memorial 1/5/13
one part of one hall of the huge museum

Crazy Horse Memorial 1/5/13
Channukah display

Crazy Horse Memorial 1/5/13
Deeper into the museum, Christmas decorations, American flags, "Treasures of Tutankamen" poster, et al

Crazy Horse Memorial 1/5/13
Even deeper into the Artist's Quarters/Workshop, various busts and such.

The Crazy Horse Memorial has a museum complex of 80,000 square feet. I'm not sure that includes the restaurant or the artist's workshop or outside walkways. The museum and gift shop were open much later than dark. Just exploring the museum took several hours. Carole, with limited mobility, stayed to see the movie about the sculpting while I went deeper into the museum/workshop/quarters. We met back in the gift shop. One of two gift shops: One just for products made by natives, the other more touristy shop, both in one big room with separate registers (but either could ring up any purchase).

We asked when the gift shop closed. "Oh, we'll stay open as long as anyone's still here." We had made the right decision as to the order of the monuments. *whew*

Crazy Horse Memorial at night 1/5/13

To be continued... and finished... in 20130105-6 Trip to Oregon and Back: Zipping home through South Dakota and Minnesota.

20130104 Trip to Oregon and Back: Salt Lake City and Antelope Island

2013-01-29T20:17:18Z

Continued from 20130103 Trip to Oregon and Back: Down the mountains to Boise. More images at 20130103-06 Road Trip 5: OR, ID, UT, WY, SD, MN

Our trip to Utah was strategically brilliant but tactically squirrely.

Carole and Mormon missionaries, South Visitors Center, Temple Square, 1/4/13

When the mapping software showed that the sourthern route back home went through Salt Lake City, I smiled. Another city and state I always wanted to visit. Still, we had maybe half a day for exploration. After consulting various touristy listings, I concluded that I wanted to see two things: The Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City and the Great Salt Lake.

Mindful of Carole's lack of mobility, we booked a hotel just across the street from Temple Square. SLC is laid out with the Temple in the middle, and parallel squares of streets as you get farther out. For a place right in the heart of the city, the hotel was cheap. Not completely cheap: Breakfast was extra and parking was separate.

Indeed, I found Utah to be glaringly commercial. After a nearly billboard-free drive in Oregon and Idaho, the proliferation of roadside ads in Utah looked garish and sleazy. Close to the Temple wasn't too bad, but I could see where a snake oil salesman like Mitt Romney came from.

In the morning, we had the breakfast buffet in the restaurant attached to the hotel. A good thing we had a large meal, as we wouldn't eat again until Wyoming. We checked out, but the parking was good for 24 hours, so we left the car and walked across the street to Temple Square.

The Mormon Temple, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, UT 1/4/13

Temple Square is large and comprises the Temple, the Tabernacle, several Visitors Centers, a bunch of other buildings, along with trees, statues and fountains. Missionaries were everywhere: Always extremely helpful and polite, often carrying The Book of Mormon but never quite pushing their religion. The weather was clear but cold. Carole mostly stayed in the South Visitor Center, catching up on e-mails, while I wandered the Square, taking pictures with both our cameras.

We could easily have spent more than a day just taking tours of various buildings and exploring in or near the Temple Square. Non-Mormons couldn't go in the Temple, but the facade is impressive.

We went to the Church Office Building because it has a balcony on the 28th Floor. For many years, the tallest building in Utah. While open to the public, you can't just go up yourself. Asking on the first floor, a helpful guide checked with security, got us through the turnstyles and brought us to the deck. Decks, I should say, as there are two of them, one on each side. We took pictures and looked out over the city, with a visual tour by our guide.

Dave and Carole on the observation deck of the Church Office Building, Salt Lake City, UT 1/4/13

View from Church Office Building observation deck, Salt Lake City, UT 1/4/13
We're looking at the Mormon Temple and pool, same as the photo above, to include much of Temple Square.

We had a marvelous time at Temple Square, looking up geneological records, visiting the center of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, getting to see a bit of the area from the observation deck. But it was time for the next stop.

The haze prevented us from seeing too far, which should have been my first clue as to the distance to the Great Salt Lake. I asked our guide how to get to the lake, and she mentioned Antelope Island but didn't know an exact route. Fine, I thought, our various GPS can find it. Well, mostly. We rescued our car from the hotel's garage and took off. But to where?

Chicago has a Lake Michigan waterfront. Coeur D'Alene is on Coeur D'Alene Lake. It simply didn't occur to me that Salt Lake City wouldn't have a Great Salt Lake waterfront. Alas, the lake is large but the best view is not terribly close by. Forty miles to Antelope Lake. As the Utah State Park description of the Great Salt Lake says, "The ever-fluctuating Great Salt Lake has frustrated attempts to develop its shoreline." Good for birds, not so good for tourists with limited mobility.

I hadn't allowed for the extra drive time, and our GPS didn't understand the address. I had to look up Antelope Island for a better location.

Worth it.

Antelope Island State Park is 41 miles from Salt Lake City, seven miles from the interstate and then another seven miles across a causeway over the lake. *whew*

Causeway not indicated on my GPS, so it looks like we're in the middle of the lake as we drive from Antelope Island, UT 1/4/13

Antelope Island is larger than Manhattan. The lake is too salty for fish, but wildlife on the island thrives, though sparsely. We stopped at the beginning of Lady Finger Trail at the northern tip of the island, which had restrooms and a good view, then continued to the Museum/Gift Shop.

Wes, friendly clerk/park ranger, Antelope Island, UT 1/4/13
(Top sign indicates "Lake Level Today: 4196.4". More info on the lower sign.)

There are no streetlights, so we needed to be off the island by sunset. We went just a bit further inland to the beginning of Buffalo Point Trail.

Dave with buffalo statue, Buffalo Point, Antelope Island, UT 1/4/13

Buffalo Point, Antelope Island, UT 1/4/13

We stopped for an actual buffalo. Just out there in the wild, with nothing between him and us. Fortunately, he was bored and didn't mind us taking photos. Then back over the causeway to the mainland before dusk. We saw some glorious Utah mountains before the light left us.

Driving through Utah, 1/4/13

I didn't really have any tourist plans for Wyoming. Carole made vague mentions of Devil's Tower, but that's too far off our path.

So I'm glad we picked a great truck stop. We got gas, looked at windmills, and had a marvelous trucker dinner. We could have had seconds on the steaks, if we ate them there.

Somewhere on this drive, we passed a small sign indicating the continental divide. We had to be careful of time zone changes, now the water direction changed too.

We got to our hotel near Casper, WY, a nice place but a bit on the antiquated side. Still, it worked for us and we fell into a deep sleep. One more night on the road and we were headed home!

Continued at 20130105 Trip to Oregon and Back: Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial

20130103 Trip to Oregon and Back: Down the mountains to Boise

2013-01-27T21:58:27Z

Continued from 20121231pm-0102 Trip to Oregon and Back: High Desert Environs.. More images at 20130103-06 Road Trip 5: OR, ID, UT, WY, SD, MN

We left Bend early Thursday. We headed East, which means that we were going to lose the two hours gained on the way here, but the sun would be behind us in the evening. Basic plan was to do touristy stuff in the morning and daylight, then drive in the afternoon and into the dark. This worked splendidly.

Starting off: Getting down from the mountains. More than 300 miles from Bend, OR to Boise, ID, almost all of it on US 20.

The mountains and lone gas station within miles, Riley, OR 1/3/13

A word about our return route. My basic wunderlust on long trips is generally to go back a different way. The fastest way home was to go the way we came, North through Spokane/Coeur D'Alene/Butte/Fargo, and the second fastest way was to diverge at Butte to visit Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. But we had an extra day, and we demonstrated that being in the car, even driving, wasn't too bad on Carole's knee as long as we took it easy. The longer way wasn't that much longer and wouldn't take that much more time overall.

So taking US 20 scratched several itches: First, we would be driving in the mountains during the day. We'd already seen the northern route on our side trip to Portland. Hence, south. Second, we could see several cities neither of us had been to.

Third, we got to drive on a western part of US Rt. 20. I went to college in Albany, NY, and lived on or near US 20, which starts in Boston and goes almost all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Ever since then, I've wanted to drive US 20, or at least see other parts of it. Forty years later, another itch was scratched.

And I must say: A brilliant move. The drive down the mountains was spectacular. Most of the trip was on a two-way road with a speed limit of 65 or 70, iirc. At night in bad weather the trip would have been a nightmare. For us, the roads were clear and the weather fine. Terrific. No sceneic overlooks or any one place I could say was more exhilarating than another, but I'm so very glad we did this.

Eventually stopped for gas in the middle of nowhere, which turned out to be Riley, OR. The sign advertised "visitor information" but this was a table full of maps and pamphlets. The lady pumped the gas (and didn't mind topping off the tank, which the guy in Bend said was illegal in OR...) and we wandered into the archery shop.

Dale, Co-owner Riley Store and Archery, Riley OR 1/3/13
"Did you kill all those animals?"
"Well, most of them."

Nice people, though the gas was expensive compared to Idaho. We didn't stay for long but filled up our coffee cups, stretched our legs and continued.

Startng out, I didn't know anything about Boise, and didn't have a set touristy thing to do. The AAA app had several Places of Interest. War museums, nothing about potatoes. Asking on FB, a local mentioned that Boise had the largest Basque population in the US. Who knew? The Basque Museum was interesting, and the whole block is dedicated to the Basque. Indeed, if Carole and I stuck around until the evening, there was a free tour of the Basque-style house next to the museum. Alas, we didn't have the time.

Wendy and Carole, Basque Museum, Boise ID, 1/3/13

Wendy, the Museum Store Manager, gave us student discounts and a bit of history. With her Scots accent... The museum is small, with lots of large text explanations. Some nice recordings of the unique Basque language, and a lot on the history of how people from Spain/France wound up in Idaho. I picked up a couple of CDs. We had a pretty good Basque lunch down the street at the Bar Gernika ("Tell 'em Wendy sent 'ya.") I wrote down what we had:

I had the Solomo Sandwich: "Marinated pork loin with pimientos and served on a freshly baked french roll"; and bean and bacon soup. Yum. Carole had the Chorizo Sandwich. "The famous Basque pork sausage served on a freshly baked french roll" (much tastier than Mexican chorizo, to both our palates); lamb stew. Yum again. We couldn't eat it all, and took the rest on the way.

Dave in front of Basque mural, Boise ID 1/3/13

ETA: Oh, I almost forgot. We managed to accomplish something great on the trip: We (probably) found a game that Richard Tatge doesn't have! We'll get it to him.

Plan A went off without a hitch. Okay, we got lost in Salt Lake City at night, but eventually found our hotel and crashed. A long day, but a good one.

Continued in 20130104 Trip to Oregon and Back: Salt Lake City and Antelope Island

20121231pm-0102 Trip to Oregon and Back: High Desert Environs.

2013-01-23T22:47:54Z

Continued from 20121230-1231am Trip to Oregon and Back: Bend. More images at 20121230-0102 Road Trip 4: Bend and environs Pt 2

Carole and I had a great time with the kids in Portland and the High Desert Museum, but I was itching for more. I needed mountains.

The Crooked River Canyon, Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint, OR 12/31/13

As detailed in the last installment, our Adventure began with breakfast. Onward.

Most of the activities in the high desert of Eastern Oregon are seasonal and closed for the winter. Even one Native American Museum Carole looked at was closed.

Checking the AAA app and getting advice from Justin, I planned today's itenerary around three places not too far from Bend, and not too far from each other. After breakfast, we were on the road at last, not too far behind schedule.

First stop: The overview missed on the way back from Portland.

Bangii, Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint, OR 12/31/12

The Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint is part of a larger park area. As it turned out, we never did make it to the scenic viewpoint itself, but explored the bridge over the Crooked River canyon.

Carole couldn't move well so stayed in the car. I had both kids. Who wanted to run. Near a canyon. Suffice it to say that I kept them away from the edge (which had fences) and they ran a great deal more than I did.

And I must say: Worth the trip.

We walked the bridge over the Crooked River canyon, and a bit further. I saw some cat tracks, and mindful of the lecture the day before kept everyone close. We kept going until Legend got cold and headed back to Grandma. Bangii was still up for more, but we followed.

Legend and Bangii, Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint, OR 12/31/12

Next stop: Nearby Smith Rock State Park. Justin recommended Smith Rock as an interesting bit of formation not too far from home. The State Park itself was closed. We parked outside the gate and wandered in. Various trails led all around, but we walked maybe half a mile to where the trails started. The Crooked River snaked through the mountains, providing more dramatic scenery. I'm sure a full hike in the summertime is exhilarating. The mountain offers "bolted routes" and the chance at seeing all sorts of wildlife.

Carole, Smith Rock State Park OR, 12/31/12

Bangii, Smith Rock and Crooked River, Smith Rock State Park, 12/31/12

Legend, farther down the trail than any of us, Smith Rock State Park, OR 12/31/12

Carole got within sight of the the trail for a good view, then went back to the warmth of the car. As before, Legend was eager to explore but I wouldn't let him get out of sight. Bangii and I had a grand time taking postcard-level photos. Eventually we all got cold and returned.

The backroads of central Oregon were passable but icy. We kept passing places that looked interesting and/or advertised interesting ice creams and such... that were closed. As with much of the area, mainly set up for summertime tourism.

Onward. One more place to stop.

Kids climbing on one structure, Petersen Rock Garden & Museum, OR 12/31/12

The AAA app popped up one more Place of Interest along our route: The Petersen Rock Garden & Museum. While closer to Bend, it was well off the beaten trail. Thank heaven for GPS.

Just driving through the area provided local scenery: Llamas, horses, cows, Christmas lights still up.

The Rock Garden itself is... well, other reviewers call it "creepy", but the snow covered much of the dilapidation. Apparently, its heyday was in the 30s and 40s, and the grandkids don't keep it up. The museum was closed, and we didn't see anyone until someone came out to shoo us away from exploring their back yard. I put some money in the admissions box, but really: We were on our own.

Carole, Legend & Bangii, Petersen Rock Garden & Museum, OR 12/31/12

Still, an interesting place. The carefully constructed rock structures are made of many kinds of stones, with stairs and paths to walk up and over many of them.

More than a dozen peacocks weren't too scared of people (though signs warned against chasing them) and coexisted with the cat.

Peacock, Petersen Rock Garden & Museum, OR 12/31/1

I finally felt like I had been to Oregon. We were at someone's home, way off the touristy places, just exploring.

I was sated... for now.

We hadn't been near a bathroom for hours. Still off the main highway, we stopped at a resort-looking place that promised an overview. Alas, mostly an inn, and the restaurant was expensive. Continuing down the road, need compelled us to stop at the first place that looked vaguely interesting, El Pollo Gordo. Mainly a drive-thru, with a small inside restaurant. Well, they had bathrooms. They pushed Kino gambling and served margueritas. Frankly, both Carole and I were disappointed. The only place we ate at below average. The kids didn't care, just happy to be out. If we had driven another 20 yards, the Mexican restaurant next door looked better. Oh well.

But it was getting close to dark, and we didn't want to be out New Year's Eve. Home!

Somewhere in here, we had to make a decision about going back to Mpls. Technically speaking, Carole had to be back at work on January 2. But the kids in Oregon didn't start up until the 7th. Carole was still not close to 100%, and there's a long way from "okay for Carole and Dave to take care of the grandkids" to "too sick to go to work".

We opted for Carole's health. We stayed a few days longer with the kids.

A cold New Year's Day at home, then we drove around Bend on the 2nd while Wenonah and Justin went to work, just to see the sights.

with Michel, owner of Mazza Bistro, Bend OR 1/2/13

Dave and grandkids, with Legend holding some of the wood he brought inside, Bend, OR 1/1/13

I allowed four days of return travel time instead of the pell mell three on the way here. But that's for next time.

Continued in 20130103 Trip to Oregon and Back: Down the mountains to Boise

20121230-1231am Trip to Oregon and Back: Bend

2013-01-23T14:19:21Z

Continued from 20121227-29 Trip to Oregon and Back: Portland, OR. More images at 20121230-0102 Road Trip 4: Bend and environs Pt 2

Lots of photos again, from telegentic places. I'll try to pick only a few, and you can go to the FB gallery for more. Still, a lot got packed in two days, so I'm going to split this section in two: Bend and Environs.

1853 Settler, High Desert Museum 12/30/12

The tickets to the High Desert Museum from the library were only good for a week, so we planned for Sunday.

The Museum itself is fairly large, and much of it was closed or inaccessible in the winter. We saw most, though not all, of the main building. Great stuff. If I thought they'd come back more frequently I would have gotten a family membership for them.

Rescue Lynx, High Desert Museum 12/30/12

A lecturer on cats in the High Desert was right near the live lynx. All the live mammals were rescued from the wild, and glad to be in a safe place with guaranteed meals.

The family in front of a High Plains Indian Tipi. High Desert Museum 12/30/12

One of the exhibits featured live actors playing the roles of various people in 1853, a time of influx for the area. Settlers came by Conestoga Wagon from Independence, MO (The Oregon Trail), though their original starting point might have been further away. (top photo) Trappers worked the area, military men kept order.

Butterfly, High Desert Museum 12/30/12

The butterfly room was pretty nifty.

The visit capped off with a butter snake that the kids could hold. Legend's favorite part.

Snapping Turtles, High Desert Museum 12/30/12

Legend and Butter Snake, High Desert Museum 12/30/12

The next day, Dec. 31st, Wenonah and Justin were off surfing (!) on the coast. They spend New Year's with friends.

This would be the first MN-StF New Years I've missed since moving to Mpls in 1978. I was content to hang out with Carole and the grandkids, but wunderlust ran in my veins.

Bangii and Mural, Westside Bakery & Cafe 12/31/12

We set out and immediately needed... coffee. The Dutch Brothers drive through coffee place gave us advice amidst excellend coffee and bitter cold: Breakfast could be had back in Bend, and recommended the Westside Bakery and Cafe. So our grand adventure began at a sort of hippy-eque place, sort of an upscale Seward Cafe (for those of you who know the Mpls eatery).

Westside Bakery & Cafe 12/31/12

Good, though not great, food, but the waitresses were kid-friendly and the decor interesting.

Dave and Holiday Elvis, Westside Bakery & Cafe 12/31/12

Okay. With the kids fed and the adults sufficiently caffeinated, we were off at last.

Continued in 20121231pm-0102 Trip to Oregon and Back: High Desert Environs.

20121227-29 Trip to Oregon and Back: Portland, OR

2013-01-21T12:49:32Z

Continued from 20121224-26 Trip to Oregon and Back: Christmas in Bend, OR. More images at 20121227-29: Road Trip 3, Portland OR

Once again, a long, photo heavy report. Taking pics of grandkids is more interesting than pics of dinosaur bones, I guess.

Spaghetti Factory, Clackamas OR 12/27/12

I envisioned a side trip to Portland in the planning stages of the epic journey, but implementation details were always sketchy. Various friends in Portland gave us advice and such, but meeting up in our narrow window was tricky. Maybe I should go alone, leaving Carole and the kids overnight? We eventually decided to take the kids and go for two nights. Wenonah and Justin agreed, which also gave them time for some hiking. This schedule gave us time to do a couple of Portland Things and still make the 3 1/2 hour drive in a leisurely manner.

We checked the weather, checked for kids things to do and arranged a hotel. Transfering the kids' seats to my car, we gathered all our gear and took off through the Oregon mountains.

Beautiful. We had missed the scenery by arriving at night, and finally had a chance to see the mountains in their glory. The weather cooperated, and all the "carry chain" areas (where you could be fined if you didn't have tire chains or studded tires) were clear. We occasionally encountered "Runaway truck" side roads: How much of a problem are they?

Driving through the mountains from Bend to Portland, 12/27/12

The drive to Portland -- really, the suburb of Clackamas -- was no problem and we found the hotel easily. For some reason, finding a kid-friendly place to eat in the afternoon was tricky: Quite a few places were closed until 5pm. We wound up eating at The Spaghetti Factory. I was trying to avoid chains (heck, we have one in Mpls), but you take what you can get.

Legend, happy with Carole's camera. Oregon Zoo 12/27/12

Based on a suggestion from Nancy McClure, we headed to the Oregon Zoo for their ZooLights event. In the winter, after the Zoo closes, they display more than a million LEDs throughout the grounds, and the train ride has special delights. ZooLights included an admission to the Zoo, though the animals were largely tired after hours. Still, we saw a few chimps and turtles and such. Plus lights, lots of lights.

Two photos of lights as seen from the ZooLight train 12/27/12

The kids were reluctant at first, as they wanted go swimming in the hotel's pool. Then they wanted to explore the Zoo while it was still light and we had to get to the train by darkfall. As it was, we were in the third trainfull of people. Legend was a little mollified when using Carole's camera. Bangii had been to zoos before, but not this one.

Carole and the kids mug in front of ZooLight ape, 12/27/12

Kids silhouetted against ZooLights 12/27/12

Nearly four hours after arriving, we had to drag the kids away. Carole was starting to seriously hurt from the rises and falls in the Zoo grounds but we needed both adults to wrangle the kids. Unexplored territory beckoned, perhaps for another trip.

Bangii looking at fish at the Oregon Zoo 12/27/12

The hotel restaurant/bar was open so we ate and went to sleep.

The next day, we went swimming. Well, Carole did some PT and the kids splashed around while I took pics. This was good for all, but put us behind schedule. Well, my schedule. I wanted to see more of Portland. We wound up going to one place. Admittedly, a great place.

Bangii swimming 12/28/12

Legend diving 12/28/12

Somewhere in here, Christmas wore off. Maybe Santa wasn't watching too closely anymore, or maybe Best Behavior for Grandma was in decline, but they started acting, er, more age appropriate. Not actually bad, but harder to manage, paying less attention to where their socks went, needing to be coralled down the hotel hallway. I'm often divided when this happens. On one hand, it's hard work being an adult, and I try to avoid the situation wherever possible. On the other, it means they've accepted me as part of normal and they're free act like kids. I found myself threatening with one of Bangii's favorite lines: "Don't make me eat you!" (from Ice Age). Not too much of an actual threat, but the mock seriousness gave emphasis to commands.

Legend inside of a nose, not quite warmed up to OMSI 12/28/12

The kids were reluctant at first, wanting to be back in the pool. Fortunately. the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, aka OMSI is for kids. The hands-on exhibits are a lot of fun to play with and if you learn something so much the better. They also have an iMax and a Planetarium. After some discussion, the kids wanted to see the movie about tornado hunters, and Carole and I wanted to see the laser show at the Planetariaum. Fortunately, they were at the right times for our visit.

Carole was still hurting from the Zoo, and took advantage of the wheelchair available. Basically, I then had three kids to shephard. The actual kids were antsy, and tried to wander off. Legend really wanted to take the escalator, but I couldn't follow him and push Carole at the same time, so we had to keep everyone close.

Wandering down the entrance hall, the first major set of exhibits was Grossology: The (Impolite) Science of the Human Body. We had loads of fun amid the snot, mucus and skin disease.

Bangii climbing skin wall, OMSI 12/28/12

Watching mucus being made, OMSI 12/28/12

The iMax show Tornado Alley was good, though not great. Carole and I had seen it here at the Minnesota Science Museum. But the kids liked it.

We had to make a quick transition over to the Planetarium for the Christmas Laser Light show. It was pretty good, as laser light shows go, but Carole and I were a little disappointed that it didn't have more stars. Ah well, that's how the timing worked.

Inside a Gemini capsule, OMSI 12/28/12

Outside the Planetarium were various astronimical and science toys to play with.

We barely made it to the cafeteria before it closed, preventing various meltdowns. The museum was open longer than the cafeteria, so we headed back in. Grossology was just outside, and the kids got caught up in the fun yet again. We barely saw the rest of the place, and never made it to the second floor.

Four hours after arriving, we had to drag the kids away. OMSI was closing.

Inside the intestine slide/crawl space, Bangii makes friends with the "gut lady" ("I also do mucus"), OMSI 12/28/12

No McClures, no Powells. Ah well. We headed back to Clackamas. Carole had seen a Red Robin restaurant, a favorite of hers from an earlier time and close to the hotel. Crowded, but kid-friendly. They didn't have a business card so I scarfed one of their blank electronic gift cards to remind me of our visit.

Saturday was a travel day, but that didn't preclude a little touristy exploration. We were too far from Portland to really duck into town before heading east, but the Clackamas Promenade shopping mall was right near the hotel. I let Carole pick various places to go shopping for her daughter and the house. Eventually, we wound up at a Pendleton's and bought some mugs.

I'd planned the route back carefully, allowing for kids' attention span and my need to explore. Just under an hour away, in the Mount Hood area, was The Rendezvous Grill. The food was good (claiming regional fare) and the service great. We had fun with the waitresses and the owner.

with Tom, owner of the Rendezvous 12/29/12

But between everything, we were behind schedule. We kept passing overlooks, which are not marked in advance as were similar rest stops in Montana. I was aiming for one a bit less than an hour from home... and we missed it in the dusk.

On the road back to Bend, OR 12/29/12

A great experience with the kids, but I wasn't a happy camper. I was itching to explore a brand new (to me) state. Don't make me eat you.

Continued in 20121230-1231am Trip to Oregon and Back: Bend

20121224-26 Trip to Oregon and Back: Christmas in Bend, OR

2013-01-18T22:53:57Z

Continued from 20121223 Trip to Oregon and Back: Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. More images at 20121224-26 Road Trip 2: Bend, OR part 1

I'm way behind, so forgive the photo-heavy report.

Carole and grandkids Legend and Bangii. Bend, OR 12/24/12

Dave with Bangii and Legend. Bend, OR 12/24/12

Carole and I managed to arrive in Bend, OR the day before Christmas. We had time to wrap our presents and get acquainted with the kids. Legend, 7 and Bangii, 4, are Carole's grandkids by her homeless son, and she had spent much of the early part of 2012 getting them out of foster care in northern Minnesota and to her daughter in Oregon. Legend had visited with us one day, about two years ago, but I'd never met Bangii (pronounced with a very short first vowel and a hard 'g', sort of like "Bun Ghee").

I kind of wondered what they would call me. "Dave" seemed to be consensus, though the kids latched on to "Steve" (not uncommon, if you slide over "this is Dave"). Carole, the Native American cultural teacher, said that they didn't distinguish between genetic family and proximate family. So I was, at least on occasion, "Grandpa Dave". Not unexpected, to be sure, but it was still a bit strange to have sublimed from "Uncle Dave" when visiting my neice at Thanksgiving and my nephew the day before in Coeur D'Alene right to "Grandpa".

The kids were great. Maybe they were in Christmas Mode, and maybe they were on Best Behavior For Grandma. Whatever the reason, they were fun and bouncy and hardly ever misbehaved. They took to me immediately.

I'm generally pretty good with kids, largely because I can explain things to them. When they ask "Why?", I can give an age-appropriate response. Once, Legend, reading from a cereal box, asked "What is Vitamin E?" By itself, rather advanced for a 7-year-old. So I tried to answer in kind: "It helps keep your blood red." They asked further questions, and I told them it was complicated, but they seemed satisfied.

"You know everything!" exclaimed Legend. "No, but I know a lot."

Still, the most valuable answer I gave was "I don't know."

Card from the kids. Bend, OR 12/24/12

We spet a nice Christmas Eve day and eve making cookies and preventing them from unwrapping presents.

Carole reading to kids (yes, about fungi). I read a bit from this book and others. Bend, OR 12/24/12

Carole making sugar cookies for Santa (and us) with Legend. Bend, OR 12/24/12

Wenonah and Justin help Bangii sign his name on letter to Santa. Bend, OR 12/24/12

Then a kid-filled Christmas.

Christmas morning. Bend, OR 12/25/12

Bangii opening presents. Bend, OR 12/25/12

The next day, I was charged with getting getting free tickets to the High Desert Museum. This involved getting to the Bend Library and being first in line. I was okay with this; I kind of wanted to explore a bit.

Model trains at Bend Library. Bend, OR 12/26/12

By dint of asking the librarian, I found out that the town had a museum, conveniently a block away. Bend, was originally named "Farewell, Bend" after the phrase people used when leaving this part of the largely lava-formed Deschutes River. At some point, Deschutes and Bend merged into various legal entities, but both are used.

The Deschutes County Historical Society is a pretty nifty place. An old schoolhouse, converted to a museum. I bought a family membership, which included my visit.

Deschutes Historical Museum. Bend, OR 12/26/12

That part of Oregon is gorgeous. Coming back, I stopped at one crossing of the Deschutes River and took a few photos. Met some homeless people and discouraged them from moving to Mpls.

Deschutes River, Bend, OR 12/26/12

Duck on the Deschutes River. Bend, OR 12/26/12

A great Chritsmas (not my first), but Carole and I hadn't really fulfilled our prime function of baby sitters. That will be the next installment: 20121227-29 Trip to Oregon and Back: Portland, OR

20121223 Trip to Oregon and Back: Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon

2013-01-16T19:01:24Z

Continued from 20121222 Trip to Oregon and Back: Montana. More images at 201220-23 Road Trip to Oregon Part I: MN, ND, MT, ID

Geek note: After two days of taking images on the road and posting them via the iPad, I decided to make things easier on myself. Uploading images taken with the iPad is considerably easier than transfering images from the camera to the iPad and then uploading, for a variety of reasons. While this system has many advantages, the main disadvantage is that iPad images are in a separate sequence than the camera images. I'll try to integrate the two threads into a proper timeframe and/or coherent narrative. The camera on the iPad is pretty good, but the Fuji FinePix is better, so you might see various quality shifts along the way.

The third day of our trip was going to be problematic... or not. Basically, it was our longest drive through the (potentially) worst conditions. Indeed, rushing through North Dakota and Montana bought us an extra night. Being delayed would mean we arrived in Bend on Dec. 24; in time for Christmas and even Christmas Eve, but not enough time to wrap presents or get settled before we met the grandkids.

Carole was having none of that.

We left Belgrade, MT comparatively late, around 9am. A good night's sleep, a decent breakfast, but too early for places selling tire chains on Sunday. The hotel staff checked the weather and road conditions for us; they were great. Still, I was just as happy driving up the mountains in daylight.

The Silver Dollar Inn. The brown vertical wall mountings are just some of the silver dollars on display. Note wax figures seated in foreground. On I-90, 12/23/12

We'd been driving on Interstate 94 from Minneapolis, and near Butte, MT it collapsed into Interstate 90. The roads were clear. Even in the mountains, the going was safe and not particularly scary.

Let me expound on that: I grew up in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains of New York State. So I'm used to mountains, but new ones. Further, I've spent that last thirty years here in Minneapolis. It's flat. Not plains flat, and we have the occasional rise and/or vista, and the Iron Range up north is comprised of real mountains. Still, not the Rockies. It's been many, many years since I was this close to actual mountains, and longer since I personally drove through them. The views were breathtaking. We weren't all that close to driving off a precipice, but we drove through blasted rock to descend into valleys and then rose again. Exhilarating but nerve-wracking at the same time. I'm so very happy the weather was great and we drove in daylight.

Somewhere in this drive was a small sign for "Continental Divide" and the elevation. Also along the highway were billboards. One of the billboards was for the "50,000 Silver Dollar museum"... 60 miles. Then 40. Then 20, and so on. Seemed liked a good place to get gas and do the tourist thing. So we did.

In MInnesota, the gambling and liquor laws are different. Outside of designated casinos, we don't have places that sell groceries, serve hard booze and let you gamble. The Silver $ Inn is all these things and more. We basically just stopped for gas, but I went in the bar/gift shop area to look around. Scarfed a business card (hard to do in some places) and left. Probably a fun overnight for hikers or hunters.

One of the reasons I volunteered for the trip was to see my nephew Jake at his home in Coeur D'Alene, ID. I knew we were probably not going to stay long... unless the weather was bad and we had to crash with Jake. He didn't have a guest room, but we brought air mattresses. As it turned out, the good weather shortened our visit.

Nephew Jake in the Fort Ground Grill, Coeur D'Alene, ID 12/23/12

We'd last seen my nephew Jake in Washington, DC over Thanksgiving. But this was the first time anyone but his parents had visited him in Idaho. I left the lunch place to his discrestion. According to my brother, one restaurant made Reuben sandwiches almost as well as they made them in New York City. I've only had Midwest Reubens, which are okay, and agreed.

This turned out to be the Fort Ground Grill, a bar/restaurant near the college. I was less impressed by the Reubens than my brother, but they were better than in Mpls and the portions were large. We had a good, if slightly hurried, meal.

Mom charged me with seeing how Jake lived, and I wanted to see a little of the town. Carole was getting ansty, so we kind of zipped through the town. We drove to the lakeshore, where I got out and took a few photos.

Dave with Coeur D'Alene Lake in the background. 12/23/12

Jake's place was very college-dorm-y, though none of the twenty-somethings were in college. Some sort of LAN gaming was going on, possibly more than one. I gave Jake an XBox for Channukkah, looked around, and we were off.

By my weather apps, things in Washington and Oregon were fine, but Carole was latching on to all warnings and we still had a way to go. We zipped through Washington state, passing Spokane without a stop.

Eventually, we needed gas, and were starting to hear reports of bad weather in the Oregon mountains. The gas station attendent recommended an AutoZone, and we finally bought snow chains.

So while I've technically been to Washington, I don't feel like I've actually been there. We spent several hours on the highways. By the time we stopped for gas it was dark. The major Washington Thing we did was buy chains. To be sure, everyone was nice and gave all sorts of weather advice. Still, I will count having "visited" Washington a bit reluctantly.

Let me zip through the rest of the day: As it turned out, the weather was a non-factor. Only once did we have to slow down during a mild snow, but the road had already been sanded and we were soon up to speed again, even in the mountains. I had the conceptual pleasure of exiting I-82E to I-84 W. The last 120+ miles were on 97, a lonely mountain highway. The entire drive south through Oregon was in the dark.

Then we got to Bend, OR. The kids had gone to sleep, but Carole's daughter Wenonah and boyfriend Justin greeted us. We unpacked some of the presents to be wrapped later, and went to sleep.

Carole, her daughter Wenonah and Justin, late at night in Bend, OR 12/23/12

Continued in 20121224-26 Trip to Oregon and Back: Christmas in Bend, OR

20121222 Trip to Oregon and Back: Montana

2013-01-14T22:08:33Z

Continued from 20121221 Trip to Oregon and Back: Minnesota and North Dakota. More images at 201220-23 Road Trip to Oregon Part I: MN, ND, MT, ID

Museum owner Steve and Carole under model of Pterodactyl, Makoshika Dinosaur Museum, Glendive, MT 12/22/12

Carole and I got an early jump out of Bismarck. The next stop was planned; part of Plan A, actually, as I'd been aiming for this since we left Minneapolis. Namely, the Makoshika Dinosaur Museum in Glendive, MT. I spotted this Place of Interest on the AAA map, and it looked interesting, and on the way. I figured it would take a couple of hours to drive, at which point we could have lunch and go to the museum.

But first, we had to decide how far we'd get today. The weather was clear but cold. No snow, but 0° temps. Carole was still not up to snuff, and with the stop I figured the 550+ miles to Bozeman would be sufficient. We secured a hotel in Belgrade and set off.

While I had technically been to North Dakota before (staying overnight in Fargo while heading to the Winnipeg Folk Festival in 1983), the visit was short and I never felt The North Dakota Experience. This visit was longer, and while we only scratched the surface of what the state has to offer, I feel much better about waying "I've been to North Dakota" than I had.

And when we got to Montana, the first rest stop claimed a Visitors Center. Mostly (while we were there), unstaffed, with restrooms and maps. Again, it was very cold, so we didn't linger outside much. The sign proclaimed, "From this end of Montana to the west end is about the same distance as from New York to Chicago." which isn't quite true. The farthest distance in Montana, along the Canadian border, might be that long, but not the interstate route.

Arriving in Glendive, with the Museum's address in the GPS, we couldn't find it. We were initially fooled by the Glendive Dinosaur and Fossil Museum, which was closed for the season but visible from the highway. We continued on, and didn't see anything like a museum. Hmm. So we stopped at the Best Buy across the street from where it should have been to find that it was across the street. After a little business at the electronics store, we meandered over.

The Dinosaur Museum was created by Steve, the owner of the Hell Creek Music store at the behest of his then-12-year-old daughter. She went off to college (and I bought her music CD, made with her sister) and he moved the museum from its separate location to its present place attached to his store.

A few actual dinosaur bones, Makoshika Dinosaur Museum, Glendive, MT 12/22/12

The museum itself is small but interesting. Most of the dinosaurs you've heard of, claimed Steve, are from near Glendive. Other places we visited said the same thing, but Glendive can claim Sue (well, Faith SD, a few hundred miles away). All the complete skeletons were models, often struck from original castings. Most of the smaller bones were real. Nicely arranged.

The museum isn't worth a separate trip, though in season with the dinosaur trails and other places open the area might be worth a longer stay. Still, the stop was just at the right time. And considering it was the only touristy stop we made between Bismarck and Coeur D'Alene, I'm glad we dropped in.

Following Steve's suggestion we ate lunch at the Yellowstone River Inn. A small place, with a decent lunch. I don't remember what we had, but it was filling and good and the people were friendly.

Dave rescues Carole from skeleton of T-Rex. Photo by owner Steve.
Makoshika Dinosaur Museum, Glendive, MT 12/22/12

Technically, there's a speed limit of 75mph in Montana, but they don't enforce it as long as you're driving responsibly. So we zipped along at 80 or 85. As often happened during the trip, I'm so glad I was in the Camry rather than my previous car, a Protegé, or even Carole's Scion.

We got good mileage. Still, I always allowed for the worst and never let the gas get below half-full. Ya' never know when a snow storm might take us by surprise and we'd be in a snow bank for three days. Or something. Nothing ever happened, but the next gas station might be fifty miles down the road and I kept an eye out.

So we got gas in Forsyth, NT. Doing so really annoyed our GPS. Not for the last time. The gas station was okay, but the town looked seedy. Just as happy not to have stopped there in the middle of the night.

Howdy Hotel, Forsyth, MT 12/22/12

Hotels.com found us a nice place in Belgrade, MT, sort of a burb of Bozeman. It was dark when we arrived, and the lights spread out quite a bit. The hotel clerk compared Belgrade to LA, in that it was spread out. I took his word. We never really saw the area in the daylight.

By this time, the need for tire chains was becoming important. Tire chains are illegal in Minnesota, and so hard to get. You can order from the warehouse, but the stores don't carry them. But all the hotel clerks were more blasé. "I've lived in Western Montana all my life, and I've never used snow chains." Still, having chains was required in parts of Oregon. The advice was to get them just before we got to Mt. Hood. So once again, I put off getting a necessary piece of equipment.

I gave a good review on Yelp to the hotel, though I've forgotten the name at the moment. At some point, I'll figure out where we stayed and ate and review on the AAA webside and maybe Google.

To be continued: 20121223 Trip to Oregon and Back: Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon

20121221 Trip to Oregon and Back: Minnesota and North Dakota

2013-01-11T21:29:51Z

Public Facebook Gallery (which will be added to): 201220-23 Road Trip to Oregon Part I: MN, ND, MT, ID

Brief background: Carole's grendkids by her son are now in the care of her daughter in Oregon. Getting them to their aunt was a long process, largely with Carole's help, and this is the optimal situation for them.

For Winter Break, the kids are at home but the daughter and boyfriend are still working. Carole offers to fly out to babysit and visit. The basic problem is that Bend, Oregon is not an easy place to get to by air. Geting to Portland is easy, but getting her up into the mountains is expensive and would be physically taxing.

So I offer to drive. We've been meaning to take a long trip for a while. Indeed, we were planning an overnight excursion to The House on the Rock when she hurt her leg. We were forced to cancel that. Further, my 2012 Camry has never been tested. Time to take a road trip!

My deal was: We had to do tourist stuff as well as babysit. Carole agreed.

I made sure our AAA memberships were up to date and made a TripTik for the route west. Changed the oil and rotated the tires. Bought an iPad w/cellular connection to take/edit/post photos on the road as well as serve as a connection to emergency services. Made checklists of chargers and electronics. Bought enough trail mix, bottled water and other stuff to last us if we got caught in a snow drift for three days...

Say... when did I become the organized one? Oh dear.

Car with Trip Mileage 0, Mpls 12/20/12

Basic plan was to take a northern route west and a southern route back, planning one day at a time. I always had a Plan A and at least one Contingency Plan. For the first day, I gambled a bit an projected that we would make it all the way to Bismarck, ND.

As it turned out, a mixed start. Plan A was to leave immediately after Carole got off work. But she was feeling too poorly to go to work. Still, there's a large gap between "too sick for work" and "too sick to see grandkids". We left early Friday morning. Carole huddled in the passengers side while I drove.

A projected storm system went south, and while we were cruising on a clear (but very cold) I-94 in Minnesota and North Dakota, O'Hare Airport in Chicago was closed.

We got to Fargo, ND pretty easily. We pulled into the Visitors Center, which also had lots of gas stations and restaurants around it. Picked up maps and suggestions of places to eat. Did so.

Bison at Fargo-Moorhead Visitors Center 12/21/12

Because we left early, we made it to Bismark while it was still light. Carole was still not feeling up to snuff, so I'm just as happy we stopped for the day. I wanted her at her best for the kids. Also, it allowed us to do a bit of exploring in Bismarck.

I'd been to Fargo, briefly, nearly thirty years ago. I've never been farther west in this part of the country. Bismarck was more-or-less what I expected: Flat. The dusting of snow made everything in North Dakota really pretty. Most touristy things were closed for the winter, but we explored the Capitol grounds.

Carole and Sakakawea (approx. "Sa ka KA we a"), Bismarck Capitol grounds 12/21/12

Finding interesting places to eat was easy. While I paid attention to the AAA indicators and looked at Yelp, I usually just asked the hotel clerk (or some friendly local) what was good, then avoided any chains. This led us to a place called The Walrus. Sampling local fare (or at least stuff we usually didn't encounter), I had The Thor sandwich (Roast beef, swiss cheese on grilled flatbread served with au jus) and Carole had Shrimp Diablo (Linguine pasta, onions, peppers, roasted garlic, jalapeños and green chilies in a hurricane cream sauce. With sautéed chicken) both of which were good. A crowded bar, though we got in early enough to get a good table.

In the Bismarck hotel, we registered for a hotel at the next jump: Bozeman, Montana with a stop for a dinosaur museum. Then a long night's sleep.

Continued in 20121222 Trip to Oregon and Back: Montana.

Preliminary stats from trip to Oregon

2013-01-07T04:10:47Z

Left Dec. 21, 2012CE. Returned Jan. 6, 2013CE. Tired, terse. More later, but in the meantime:

Miles driven: 4212.4
Grandkids visited: 2
Nephews visited: 1
State troopers met: 1
Major snowstorms encountered: 0
Lowest temp recorded by car: 0 (several times, and temps often in single digits)

States visited: 8 (not counting MN)
Continental divides crossed: 2 (one each way)
Museums visited: 3
Monuments carved out of mountains visited: 2
LEDs arranged as animals and other zoo/kid stuff: around a million
Religions discussed and/or practiced: 4 (counting the various Native American religions as one)

Cameras used by Carole and me: 6
Pictures taken by me: around 850. (Hard to pin an exact number due to various backups and edits on the fly.)
Number of statues of bison photographed: 8 (I think)
Number of bison photographed: 1 by me, Carole got around 6
Camera shy ospreys: 1
Back ends of mountain goats barely missed: 1

Wood-heated houses lived in: 1
Hotels stayed at: 8
Below average restaurants visited by randomly picking places: 1
Interesting people met along the way: lots!

It was a great trip, if exhausting. I'll start working on the photo galleries... tomorrow.

iPad recommendations?

2012-12-01T16:02:49Z

Anticipating a drive to Oregon later in the month, I finally joined the 21st Century and got an iPad. 4G, ATT cellular capable but haven't gotten the service as yet. Downloaded a bunch of apps and tested out taking and posting photos.

Now what?

Any recommendations on apps? What do you recommend? What should I avoid? What (free) games are fun and don't cause carpel tunnel syndrome? Which data plan would you recommend for a two-week trip where I might not be within wifi range much?

Final NaHaWriMo wrap-up and Astro Boy reflections

2012-11-30T16:28:42Z

Well, a whole month went by and I wrote a haiku every day except the first day, when I posted one of my favorites to get me started. Technically speaking, I wrote a haiku for every day, since I got behind around Thanksgiving but caught up today (11/30/12). I did better than previous attempts to write a limerick each day. These turned out mostly as either "news headlines with scansion" or "multi-sensual images". I will leave it up to the reader to decide which is which. Third batch:

Patriotic geeks
May have saved the election
Karl Rove sputters bile

A new world provides
Natives share their rich bounty
American fare

One two three four five
Six seven eight nine ten e
Leven twelve thirteen

Sunlight from below
Flush softly off buoyant clouds
Journey's final glow

Powerball jackpot
Needs dream of fantasy prize
To motivate me

Still prefer desktop
But shiny pulled me geekward
First ipad haiku

Nice computers are
Sympathetic to my cause
But not Powerball
-- today's contribution to NaHaWriMo

Not quite winter frost
Leaves of autumn on the ground
What coat should I wear?

Image or events
Cadence and senses engaged
A month of haiku

Now, I rest on my laurels.

After a wait of over two years, the next disk of Astro Boy finally came off the Neflix "short wait" designation. I wasn't sure Carole would like the black and white early anime that I grew up with, and that turned out to be correct. So far, the pilot episode is the only one I would recommend to anyone who isn't nine-years-old, or isn't still nine years old someplace inside, but some of the episode have been better than others. The first one on Vol. 7 was one of the better episodes.

Mysterious Cosmic Rays (click on Episode 31 in the left menu) is described thusly: "Gray Dorian is returning from Mars. Although he is a man in his 80s, he appears to be in his 30s. He has learned to harness cosmic rays to keep himself young. His former partner Dr. Geiger suspects that these experiments may have had grave side effects, which Astroboy soon discovers."

As a tween, I got "Dr. Geiger" but the "Gray Dorian" reference went waaaay over my head. It's a remarkable piece of science fiction. For a 1963 children's show

The episode opens with someone dying horribly in the middle of a crowded futuristic street, with a voice over placing the time as "the year 2000". Astro Boy and Dr. Packidermus J. Elefun, head of the Ministry of Science are called upon to investigate. They find Dr. Geiger, fortuitously. They also encounter Dr. Dorian, looking very young, and with an exceptional ring on his finger, which he says he made from Mars rocks. Dorian and Geiger had been experimenting with cosmic rays on living creatures, but Geiger didn't go the last step to experiment on humans so only Dorian was sentenced to the Mars Penal Colony for 30 years.

We fairly quickly learn that Dorian had continued his experiments on Mars, and that Mars gets a different kind of cosmic rays than Earth (which is true, since we're closer to the sun) and he perfected his immortality research... as long as he drains other people. So it's a vampire story. With moral implications that are explored, though not particularly deeply. And that's the first half.

The second half of the episode has Dorian turning into a monster, giving Astro Boy something to fight. I'm sure my nine-year-old self appreciated the battle scenes more than the vampire story, but nearly fifty years later I was croggled at the set-up.

Carole said I could watch the other episodes without her. So I will. Having grown up on stuff like this, the later anime doesn't do much for me, and Astro Boy is as much nostalgia as pleasure. I certainly enjoyed this episode more than I did at the time.

Thanksgiving in DC 2012

2012-11-27T18:31:51Z

Public Facebook Gallery: 20121122-25 Thanksgiving in DC

Carole and I had a short visit to Washington DC for Thanksgiving. We left early Thursday, the day of Thanksgiving itself. Not terribly crowded at 6am, and Delta was terrific with their wheelchair service for Carole, both here and in DC.

Thanksgiving dinner was great, as usual. Brother Joe and Sister-in-Law (slaw) Patty are great hosts, and niece Antonia is now five ("five and two-thirds... no five and three quarters!") Brother Dan and slaw Joyce, nephew Jake and Patty's sister Sandy and nephew Alex rounded out the dinner.

Turkey with all the fixin's. Yum! And we had a Leftovers dinner the next day, which continued to be Yum.

Our tradition of seeing movies that Antonia would like was broken, as there were no Harry Potter movies to see. She and Sandy went to a kid's show and most of us went to Lincoln. Highly recommended. Screenplay by Tony Kushner and directed by Steven Spielberg, with amazingly great performances by everyone. I hardly recognized some well-known actors, as they were immersed in their characters and great dialog.

Our only tourist day was Saturday. Dan, Joyce, Jake, Carole and I went to the comparatively new Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Hangar, opened in 2003. Has all sorts of airplanes and spacecraft. We saw an iMax movie about an air show which featured vintage planes racing; a half-hour of stuff mostly of interest only to those really into the planes. Not recommended. But the hangar itself is highly recommended, even though it's about 45 minutes from the city (depending on traffic).

Sunday was a travel day. This was the first trip I've taken in a while that a) was in daylight and b) I had a window seat. One of the advantages of traveling at off times with someone needed wheelchair access. With my noise-cancelling headphones and a bunch of sudokus courtesy the Delta boarding pass print out, I was happy. The seats were smaller, but everything went smoothly.

Not quite recovered. I'm a few days behind in NaHaWriMo, and we're prepping for a much longer trip over the winter break -- driving to Oregon. More on that closer to the event.