June 27: Rocky Mountain National Park

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View on the hike to Fern Lake

The park supports 3 sizable elk herds

Ominous dark clouds suggest I should pass thru this area quickly

Clouds mirrored in a beaver pond

June 26: Rocky Mountain National Park

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I never get sick of watching bears at a comfortable distance

This fine specimen of a cinnamon-colored black bear could care less about his human observers

Visitors in my camp site

In the absence of actually owning a map, I now take photos of the topos.  This gem was at the trailhead.

Lovely Emerald Lake

June 25: Maroon Bells

Wildflowers around camp

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The hike started with a river crossing

Aspen grove along the trail

View of collegiate peaks area

Couldn't resist this sign

Maroon Bells

Pika: good to see a healthy pika after being out of the country for so long

June 24: Birthday Blues

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View from Independence Pass 12,095

Aspens

June 22-23: Boulder, CO

For many year I wanted to live in Boulder, but had never been there.  I just new I would love it.  So, it was with some trepidation that I approached the city on my first visit.  I have been grappeling with the decision of what to do next career-wise.  The hiccup seems to be that I have become specialized in salmon and I love being in the mountains, yet the two don't co-exist much in the lower 48.  With this in mind, I was worried that Boulder would steel my heart... and rightly so.  Situated just below the Flatirons or Rockies front range only 45 minutes from Denver and being a vibrant progressive pocket, as I feared, I could find little not to love.

The scenery is dramatic.  I love the way the Flatirons rise upward in a great wave like swoop from the flat grasslands.  I love the proximity to the mountains.  I love the vibrancy, the sense of community, the restaurants, and much, much more.

View of Boulder and the front range from Chataqua Park

The first Flatirons

I met my dear friend Lorraine for lunch at "The Med".  Lorraine moved out of Alaska a few months before I did and it was so great to reconnect!  I was planning on camping for the evening to enjoy some much needed space, but Lorraine offered me a room at her place (actually her partner Tim's place) which was too good to pass up.  I didn't realize how much I missed having quality "girlfriend" time.

One of the pleasures of my trip across the US has been spending time rekindling relationships with family and friends.  I feel blessed to have so many great people in my life and so many who bent over backwards to take me in.

After lunch, Lorraine showed me downtown Boulder.  We strolled along Pearl St and there I saw all my favorite retailers.  I went to a used bookstore and exchanged my audiobooks for new ones to keep me company on the drive to Oregon.

At Lorraine's, Recommendation, I hiked in Chataqua park.  It is a free public park in Boulder that encompasses the first Flatirons.  I only had 50 minutes to hike, but I was enraptured.  It is by far the coolest park of any city I have ever been in.

I met my friend Brett, whom I met in Torres del paine, Chile, and his girlfriend Jennifer at the farmer's market. Later we sat on the grass in front of the courthouse and listened to live music on Pearl St.  I am in love!  With Boulder, that is.  If only I could support myself here, I think I could live happily ever after.

View of the Rockies from the First Flatiron

I went back to Lorraine's and we had another nice visit over a bottle of wine; sleep came easily and heavily that night.

In the morning, Lorraine and lazed around with good coffee and good conversation.  Eventually I headed back to Chataqua Park to finish the hike I started the day before.  It felt so good to be close to the mountains again.  I felt the endorphins wash away all the stresses that had been mounting concerning my future and the mountain energy cleared my mind of all but the most positive of thoughts.

June 21: Solstice in the Garden of the Gods

I woke up completely flummoxed in Leith's soul-less subrban home in Aurora, CO.  He had already left for work and I set about doing laundry, organizing my gear, and hatching a plan for the day.  I studied the maps and tried to figure out a good plan.  The problem was that I am staying in the burbs west of Denver and slightly south which means any foray into the mountain required a cross city haul which contained more mental obstacles than I could mentally handle.  There were so many options.  This is when I would like to have something as cut and dry as a Lonely Planet guide list of star attractions or a traveling companion to take over the reigns as decision maker. I felt road weary for some reason or another.  Finally, I settled on Garden of the Gods.  Pleased with my plans, I quickly retrieved my clean clothes from  the dryer, folded them neatly and then packed essentials for the day.

It was an uneventful drive and fairly easy to navigate out using my iPhone's GPS.  The Garden itself is a free public park and is lovely despite being overrun with tourists.  I continued on to Manitou and inquired at the Chamber of Commerce as to what would be a quiet hike.  I would like to have scaled nearby Pike's Peak, but that was a two-day commitment and driving to the summit was against my value system. They recommended a nice hike with some elevation gain which was nice despite the heat.

View from the visitor's center

Garden of the Gods

Cactus in bloom

I returned to Aurora that evening.  Leith and I had taken post baccalaureate bio and chem classes about 15 years ago.  He is a military officer stationed near Denver, but his recent relocation here combined with job demands and his location in suburbia have left him without many friends nor the gumption to explore the Rockies wonderland.  He seems very happy to host me and has used it as an excuse for some much needed R and R from his routine.

I decided to spend Wed and Thurs exploring Boulder and visiting friends which also helps me to escape suburbia which I seem to be having a powerful reaction to. The plan is to go to Maroon Bells for the weekend afterwards, followed by a solo foray into Rocky Mountain National Park and continuing westward from there.

On the road again: Iowa and Nebraska

After Father's Day brunch, I hugged my dad and aunt goodbye and shoved off.  I am so glad that I made the trip to Chicago.  It gave me a chance to spend quality time with my aunt whom I rarely see except in large family special occasions.  As Debra put it, it was a 'special' visit and I am thankful for it.

Though there was quite a bit of traffic for a Sunday, the miles passed easily.  I listened to Alex and Me, an audiobook given to me from my dear friend Lorraine.  My first night's destination was to be Madison County, Iowa roughly 325 miles west.  yes, that Madison County.  I figured I'd sleep under a covered bridge and have breakfast in the Winterset cafe.

I reached the Winterset turn off around 5:30.  I wasn't really tired and it was over 90 and humid.  I grappelled with the decision to spend the night or push on.  What was I going to do with myself for the 5 hours until I fell asleep?  How would I endure the heat and humidity?  On the other hand, I read the book and saw the movie and when else would I have a chance to go see Madison County?

I made the turn and drove the 22 miles to the campground.  The campground was mainly populated by yahoos in RVs.  There was a copperhead snake sunning himself in the road in the campground.  I'm not a snake fan.  Then I noticed that there was no cell service.  I decided to push on.

There was a campground just northeast of Omaha next to a wildlife refuge near the Missouri River.  I figured I could get up early and take a walk and admire the birds.  After a few wrong turns and a few country roads, I righted myself on route 80.  I was burning daylight.  I arrived at the little access road to the campground around 8:30 pm only to find it closed.  Oh no!  What to do?  I quickly pulled over and studied the maps for other campgrounds nearby and there was one just west of Omaha.  I went to take the direct route to Omaha and it too was closed, due to flooding.  Damn, damn, damn!  I turned around and retraced the 17 miles back to route 80.  No sooner had I turned around when my gas light went on.  Damn, damn, damn.  It was getting dark and I had no place to sleep and no gas.

I made it back to route 80 slowly to conserve gas.  Luckily for me, I caught a break.  The first exit on route 80 had a gas station and a camping sign.  I inquired about the campground in the gas station and found out it was nice and family oriented.  Big sigh of relief!

I pulled in to Arrowhead Lake campground around 9:00 ish and with a flurry of activity managed to get camp set up before nightfall.  It was a humid little valley with mosquitoes and I was camped amongst RVs but at least they were families.  I would later learn that these people had to evacuate their homes and were there for 2 weeks.  I would also learn that this is the only campground open for miles.  I noticed thunderheads in the distance and knew that I would be putting my new tent to the test.  I had the foresight to bring an umbrella and rain jacket into the tent.  Thunder came and the dog in the RV barked and barked.  Can't I catch a break?  I put ear plugs in and fell asleep only to be wakened by a heavy thunderstorm overhead.  It's been a while since I have been in a thunderstorm.  Was it safe to camp in a field?  I didn't know and was too tired to reason it out so I climbed in my car.  I slept only to be awakened by the next squall.  I slept off and on like this until 8:30 when I packed up my wet tent (dry on the inside!), took a hot shower (hooray!), and hit the road. 

I stopped in Lincoln, NE to resupply.  I found a cracker barrel and went in to rent an audiobook since I had just finished A Thousand Splendid Suns and had none left.  I got back on the road and noticed it had gotten windy with gusts up to 40.  The Yakima Rack on top of my car is like a sail, so I had to hold on to the wheel with 2 hands at all times.  Not the relaxing drive that I hoped for, but I prayed for nothing worse.  I knew that more thundershowers were forecast.  My next stop was a rest area.  I checked the weather and severe storms with damaging hail and high winds were forecast.  Shit.  I pushed on trying to beat them at one point they were closing in on me.  I kept going eyeballing potential places to pullover in case necessary, but there aren't a lot of exits from rte  80 in NE.  I essentially made a decision every time I passed a rest area to push on.  At one point the eye of the storm was only a few miles away or at least it seemed that way but it's tough to tell because NE is so flat.

In the end, I managed to avoid the eye of the storm and made it safely into Colorado.  I arrived at my friend Leith's house in soul-less suburbia outside of Denver around 11 hours after I left camp.

15-18 June: Chicago, My Kinda Town

We arrived at Debra's house mid morning Wednesday in heavy rains.

In Millenium Park

Art Institute

Public art installation.  I like how the metal sculpture reflects the sky on top and the people below

With Roberto Bila

Buildings, including the new Trump Tower, loom over the river

13-15 June: On the Road Again

Dad and I hit the road late Monday morning bound for Kentucky and ultimately his sister's house in Chicago.  I somehow managed to convince him that it would be a good idea to detour through Kentucky so that I could see the Red River Gorge.

The mountain parkway in KY was slow going as it was windy and, well, mountainous.  We pulled into Natural Bridge State Park late in the day and decided that a leg stretcher was in order.  We decided to do the Natural Bridge trail which was about 2 miles RT, but then noticed a greater network of trails and continued on to a viewpoint along Laurel Ridge and looped back around Battleship Rock, thereby hitting the highlights of the park.

Although busy by Alaskan standards, we did find quieter trails as we wound our way up and down through thick forests with big patches of rhododendron on the verge of blooming and lots of fascinating rock formations.

Dad crossing on a suspension bridge

Natural Bridge

We stayed in the only hotel around 11 miles east in Campton and ate diner food for dinner rather than the steak we were hoping for.  The next day we drove the Red River Gorge scenic loop.  We could not find touristic info anywhere, so we finally pulled into a trailhead parking lot and interviewed some hikers.  We settled on the Hidden Arch and Grey Arch area for a morning leg stretcher before climbing back into the car.  The hike was largely uninteresting, but we did cross paths with a 5-foot rat snake.  I noticed him stretched out across the trail like a branch.  The snake didn't move despite our prodding, but rather froze up with his body kinked yet still across the entire trail.  It made no sense to me from an ecological perspective of why a snake would prefer to freeze in place rather than flee.  Unless, its natural predators have poor vision; the snake did have a degree of camouflage and indeed,  dad actually thought it was a branch.

Rat Snake

Dad needed to deposit a check at Smith Barney, so we used it as an excuse to check out downtown Lexington.  Lexington was a lot cuter than I expected.  While dad was in the office, I "Yelped" and located a nice Lebanese buffet with good reviews.  Afterwards, we drove past Cincinnati and Indianapolis before stopping for the night in Lafayette.  We planned on taking a walk on the Purdue campus, but that never materialized.  Instead, we engorged ourselves on steaks, veggies, calamari, and salads.

The next day dawned with torrential rains.  We tried to sleep in, but ultimately ended up vegging out in the room.  Our goal was to arrive in Chicago at noon when Debra would be back from her PT appointment.  This plan backfired because we forgot about the time change; we arrived as the appt was starting.  We ate a yummy & healthy lunch at the cafe on the corner and spent a lazy afternoon surfing the web and reading.  We had take out Indian for dinner and friends came over to partake in the feast.

4-June: A fairy Tale Wedding

On June 4th, 2011, my brother Brett married his long-time girlfriend Valerie. The wedding was held in the enchanting Walled Garden at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC.

The wedding had a fairy tale motif from invitations boldy inscribed with "and they lived happily ever after" over a castle to the bride arriving at the ceremony in a horse drawn carriage.

Bride, groom, and officiator under the elegant hoopah

My cousin Fred eloquently officiated the ceremony, and to my delight, used analogies of Fredric Olmstead's garden design to a good marriage.  The bride and groom left the garden after the ceremony in the horse-drawn carriage while the 3-piece string band played "I've just seen a face" which is the song my brother used to woo Valerie on their first date.

Beautiful bride and her ladies in waiting

Always a bridesmaid...

Proud papa

married couple

  

My uncle, Michael, put it best when he said:

"we just spent the last hour living in Valerie's dream"

June 4: The Rehearsal Party

Brother and Sister.  I clean up good, don't I?

Self portrait with Simone

The photographer's photos can be viewed by clicking here: Rehearsal Party Pics

Lovely party hosted by mom and dad with nearly 100 guests held at the Crest Center.  Great band and fantastic sunset over the mountains.  My mom baked 400+ the desserts for the party.

June 3: Packrafting and family

I woke up early with the grand plan of packrafting the French Broad before it got too hot.  I made it as far as the kitchen before I was stopped dead in my tracks by a "oh no you don't" by mom.  Mom was calligraphying the names of every guest on the gift bags while dad was trying to arrange them by hotel.  My services were quickly commandeered.  The first thing I did was sort the Excel file of guests by hotel to make the piles easier to manage.  The 80+ gift bags were everywhere!  We checked and double checked names and places. 

Around 11:30, I finally managed to escape.  My dad helped me run a shuttle, but I couldn't find the take out so I deposited my car at a farmer's market.  There were 6 people around my age getting ready to shove off at the put in at Bent Creek and I quickly joined forces with them.  It was 12:00ish and it was hot.  My plan to stay cool backfired as the river was a little to murky for me to consider swimming.  I felt like I was burning and kept slathering on the sun screen.  By the end I was coated in thick white and looked ghastly, but still got too much color.  So much for Chilean sunscreen.  The water was slower than hoped and a head wind picked up slowing me down to a crawl.  I could not keep up with the kayaks in my inflatable.  My new friends were kind enough to wait for me near the take out and one of them offered me a tow for the last 300 yards which I unabashedly excepted.  I packed up my gear and prepared to walk the mile or so to my car, but was given a ride.

I returned to more mayhem in my brother's rental house as the bride's sister and her 2 young kids had arrived.  I quickly showered packed my things, and headed over to our hotel room for the weekend near the Biltmore.  I was not prepared for the amount of family that had arrived that day!  It was great to see everyone.  I had another calm dinner with my cousin Fred and his daughter Bella and was immediately thankful for the one on one time.

I dropped Fred and Bella off at the hotel and jumped in the car with my brother and other cousin to meet my parents at the Grove Park Inn piano bar.  The GPI is gorgeous and is set on a hillside overlooking the Smokey Mtns.however, we were in the basement in a dueling piano bar that was best described by my cousin Janah as "cruise shippy".  My brother's friends from Miami and from college along with an assortment of family and family friends were there, and I think all drank heavily to drown out the tacky music.

June 2: Asheville wedding prep

I spent most of the day running errands and helping out with wedding prep.  I won't bore you with the mundane.

At 3:00 p.m., my aunts, uncle, cousins, and parents convereged at Brett and Val's house to assemble gift bags.  Based on all my Reggae on the River experience as crew leader in charge of boxed breakfast- this was right up my alley.  However, the house was chaotic again and Brett and Val were overwhelmed by the amount of people in their kitchen (I was overwhelmed too)- I can't tell if it was pre-wedding stress or that organization is simply not one of their virtues, but it was hectic. 

Each gift bag contained an itinerary (very lovely), maps and lists of attractions, Cana de Flor rum, coke, mom's cookies, locally made jam, crackers, etc.  It was more complicated than one would think, but we got it done.  I managed to escape just in time to make it to dinner.

The whole family comes to help make gift bags.  What a team!

I drove over to Frank and Rachel's house- dear friends from California who have no relocated to Asheville.  Lucky me to have good friends here!  I was feeling quietly proud of pacing myself with family and taking time for myself.  Frank and Rachel treated me to a sushi dinner and we had a great visit.  It was especially nice to get to know their son Eli who is one of the coolest 6.75-year-olds I have ever met.

May 30- June 1: Saluda and Asheville

I shoved off for Asheville loaded with wedding crap on Monday afternoon.  I spent my first night outside the city with a dear old friend, Martin Anderson.  Martin is a friend from Univ of Oregon and years later, we were both living in Arcata, CA before he moved to Asheville, NC and I relocated to Portland and then Alaska.

It was great to reconnect and even better to have a break from family and wedding planning.  Martin lives in a cute little town called Saluda tucked in the Appalachian foothills.  We had an enjoyable dinner at the Purple Onion (if you ever find yourself in Saluda, I highly recommend it!) followed by an evening stroll.  It was so great!

The next morning, Martin fixed me the best cup of coffee I have had since I left the west coast.  I savored every last drop before driving the 35 miles into Asheville.  Martin does the morning radio show on WNCW public radio, and it was fun to hear his voice while driving down the road.  I stopped in REI to get a spare bolt casing for my yakima rack and quizzed the staff on things to do in the area.  I told them I was equipped with rock shoes, a packraft, and hiking stuff.  They said that it was too hot and too buggy to climb plus there was a ton of poison ivy.  But they did give me good tips on places to hike and boat.

I made my way over to the chaos of Brett and Val's rental house.  We had breakfast downtown with Val's mom and neice and Morgan the dog (my nephew).  It was insanely hot. 

I tried to follow the advice of the REI staff which was go to elevation or go be by water to escape the heat.  However, I got lost.  Asheville area roads are extremely confusing.  I normally fair okay on a cartesian plane, but they have highways that are 240W and 26E at the same time.  How can a highway be west and east at the same time?  I ended up in the Pisgah area of some national forest and stopped by a ranger station to get hiking suggestions.  I ended up doing a pore-cleanisng hike up Looking Glass peak (3.1 miles and 1500').  Thankfully it was short because I was questioning my judgement hiking in 90+ degree heat.  On the way back, I saw a bunch of cars parked and decided to investigate whether there was a suitable swimming hole.  There was and it was great.  I swam with the locals.  They asked where I was from and when I replied AK, they said that there is never anyone non-local there, but yesterday there was a guy from Anchorage.  Wonder if I know him?

Summit views from Looking Glass "mountain"

soaked in perspiration



pretty azalea like flowers


That evening we had dinner with Aunt Ilene and her family at Salsa, my fav restaurant thus far.  I cannot remember the last time I saw my cousins Erika and Janah, but it was great to catch up.

June 27: Packrafting with spider lilies

I had all these grandiose plans for my stay and mom and dad's.  I thought I would get a ton of exercise, rebuild my upper body strength which is sadly lacking after 5.5 months in South America, and explore the area.  What I didn't count on was a heat wave!  I am unused to heat and it makes me whiny and sluggish.  This is especially true of humid heat.  I found that if I was not out of the house by 8:00 a.m., it was hard to get exercise outdoors.  To go to the gym in this community (it is a gated active living retirement community with clubhouse), I have to be accompanied by one of my parents- like a small child.

Rat snake

At over 6 feet long, a healthy specimen

One afternoon, we took a break and went to Langford Canal State Park.  The Catawba River runs right through the park and hosts a rare and endangered spider lily.   The spider lily blooms for 3 weeks per year amongst rocky shoals in the middle of the river.  So, I decided to bring my packraft for better viewing.  I found a good put in a few 100 yards down the trail right after I crossed paths with an extremely healthy looking rat snake.

Trying to remember how to paddle a packraft

An unhappy face after mom made me back paddle a 3rd time so she could get a picture of me with spider lilies

It was so cool to be back in my boat as I wove my way through the rock gardens.  The spider lilies were lovely and I caught up with my parents at the viewing platform as my mom was busily snapping photos. 



Dad posing at the viewing platform

On the hike back, we saw a pair of eaglets chirping away in an aerie.  However, we spent too much time and got caught by a late afternoon soaker complete with thunder and lightening- the things I miss by living on the west coast.  I could barely see the road as I slowly navigated us back to the house.