Nordwand

In less than two weeks, we'll be back in Europe (volcanos and other things willing...), and our minds are turning now to the places we will visit for the next six months...basically north and east from Marseille, across the whole of the Alps, side trips to Munich, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, etc., and then down through Romania into Turkey. 

Just to get into the mood, we saw a screening of the 2008 German film Nordwand (North Face) at the Panida theater in Sandpoint. I thought it was going to be about the triumphant 1938 first ascent of the Eiger north face, which celebrated Germany's "annexation" of Austria (a German team and an Austrian team joined forces). However, it was about the 1936 Hinterstroisser/Kurz attempt. Various liberties were taken with what is known of the story--an imagined romantic angle actually ties it all together, effectively, I thought--but the depiction of 1936 Germany, of climbing in the 1930s, of the characters, all had the ring of truth. These were the days when it was thought unsporting to attack the mountain anywhere but at its strength (hence "north face" climbing), when climbers forged their own pitons and wove their own manila ropes. No camming devices nor perlon nor goretex nor polartec. It was also the time when the Reich was determined to demonstrate the superiority of its athletes--never mind Jesse Owens in the Berlin Olympics--and everything else. The film's climbing and mountain photography were stunning, the story utterly gripping, the last hour a cardio thump-fest. The theater emptied in a hush, no one humming "Deutschland, Deutschland uber alles." A great movie if you are interested in such things; or just a good work-out for your adrenal and circulatory systems. 

Anyhow, we'll be visiting Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald, Kleine Scheidegg, maybe even riding the Jungfraubahn past the Eigernordwand balcony to the Jungfraujoch, as we did in 1989. Some day hikes. But no roped climbing for me, not anymore.

Great climbing film

Eiger north face

On the north face

Sagle Scenes

A flotilla of ducks paddles down the river early every

morning; "flotilla" is not the right word; for ducks, unlike

a geese gaggle, you have to choose among a badling or a

waddling or a paddling or a team, a flush, a raft or a flock,

none of which works for me; I propose a quackilla of ducks

Outside the Ace in Albeni, ID; unfortunately (like the iPad)

you can't actually make a call from the cell phone stun gun

The give-away bin at the Dufort Road trash dump in Sagle

--the best-organized trash and recycling center I have yet

seen, anywhere; seriously; plus, they have a sense of humor

Just down the road from Bob and Beth's place; I'm sure

these neighbors are really very nice people, once you get

to know them, perhaps while they're re-loading; perhaps

they have a sense of humor, too

The Library at Sandpoint, where I hung out a bit; nice

collection, very ample technology, friendly, helpful staff,

free wifi everywhere, always crowded

Among my less successful projects in Sagle

was home-brewing some ginger beer from a

kit Vicki had bought in the UK of GB; the

plastic beer bottles I used didn't explode,

but they did expand considerably; when

opened, about half the mixture fizzed away;

the rest was undrinkable sediment-laden

ginger-flavored glop; I'll stick to store-

bought in the future

But the hummingbirds liked it (it's heavily sugared);

strangely, they all went away after I started using Splenda

(that's a joke, son)

Me modeling wedding suits at our storage unit back in

Missoula (thanks again Tammi, Bruce, and Luke); it's a

long story, and no, we were not having fun yet

Sagle is just a few miles up the road from the very popular

Silverwood amusement park, in Athol ("that's a myth";

"yeth?")

Inactivity Report

View across the lake on a nicer day

Me at Vicki's Gargantuan new laptop

Lest anyone think we had become lost, I wanted to report that we are still in Sagle, 48” 12' 50.82 N, 116” 42' 18.02 W, taking it very easy. We go into Sandpoint once or twice a week for Vicki's PT session, groceries, the wonderful East Bonner County Library, and such. Mostly, we are reading, surfing the net, marveling at the national news, and international, watching HGTV, editing blogs and pix, and taking numerous walks along the country lanes. (I'm trying to maintain 8-10 miles a day). The weather has been typical spring-time-in-the-Rockies, lows in the 30s and 40s, highs in the 40s and 50s, with precipitation in some form, usually rain, just about every day. Some days it is a discouraging all-day rain. But everything is greening up and budding or leafing out. If it ever stops raining, I'm going to have to mow Bob and Beth's sizeable downhill lawn. We have made a few shopping trips to Spokane and Coeur D'Alene, both familiar ground from our years in Missoula. And the view from Bob and Beth's house, across the lake, is endlessly interesting. The next-door neighbors, Gary and Laurie, are putting in a new sea (river?)-wall and pier, and watching the crew take out the old structures and drive in the pilings, etc., has been my main entertainment for the last couple of weeks. OK, I have been reading Malcolm Lowry and Laurence Sterne too. An odd combination, you say. Something old (my days in Cuernavaca, under the volcano) and something new (some mirth literature that is new to me; the English Rabelais).

Among other things, we have been pondering our next travels, in Europe, and, particularly, the winter of 2010-2011. Unless we are snowmobiling, we have resolved not to do winter in the northern hemisphere again, at least in the near future. We considered a variety of more tropical destinations, some downright equatorial, but we don't want to get bugged or mugged or worse. Somehow, the areas between the topics of Cancer and Capricorn just don't appeal. And remember, this is for three months, not a holiday nor cruise. So we are leaning heavily toward a re-visit to New Zealand, or, possibly, Australia. Both would entail longer-term van rentals and other expenses. Both, however, promise plenty to see and do, amiable circumstances, good food and drink, warmth, sun, and in English, too, as the fella says. To be continued.

Missoula, Again

Last week we drove route 200 from Sandpoint to Missoula and spent several days there...our book club, friends, doctor and dentist and another doctor, and, of course, our storage unit. Home is where you store your stuff. It was great to see all the friends--especially Tammi and Bruce and Luke, who put us up--our visits to the storage unit were successful (except for finding the dark suit I may wear June 12), the dental check-ups were good, and the orthopedist's prognosis for Vicki's knee was very promising. A steroid shot and six weeks' PT, and she should be able to do the Tour du Mont Blanc this summer, he said. Vicki on steroids. Oh well.

Missoula was wonderful and entertaining, as always. The lunatic fringe were protesting a proposed anti-discrimination policy before city council, and the ensuing demonstrations and testimony before council--the largest number of people ever attending one of their meetings--were, um, interesting. The measure passed, 10-2, I am pleased to say. You can read all about it at the Missoulian, www.missoulian.com/news/local/article_413f00c2-46d1-11df-9b94-001cc4c03286.html. If I weren't planning on cremation, you could bury my heart in Missoula. We drove back to Sandpoint on 200 Tueday afternoon in snow and wintry mix, dodging deer all the way. Even in crummy weather, the lower Clark Fork valley is spectacularly scenic.

Demonstrators overflowing city council chambers...

The opposition's website/logo

Someone else's photo, but that's pretty much how it looks

Big News

The big news for us is that, while we were  in DC, daughter Rebecca became engaged to Jeremy. They announced subsequently. So we are in full, if distant, mother- and father-of-the-bride mode, and very pleased for them. The wedding will occur near Half Moon Bay, CA, June 12. Details to follow.

Jeremy and Rebecca at the Orangerie, last August

Pondering Ponderay

So today finds us in Sagle, near Sandpoint, ID, at the home of in-laws Bob and Beth. They're off RVing in Arizona, so we're enjoying the views across Lake Pend Oreille (Ponderay, as some of the locals say) to Schweitzer mountain and nearby snowy summits. It's spring here, near or below freezing at night, in the 40s during the day. Clouds, sunshine, rain, snow, wintry-mix, in some combination pretty much every day. There is still plenty of snow in the high country. And burning season is underway too, just like in Montana, only about 30 miles away. Northern Idaho is an interesting and diverse place. Log McMansions here and there, compounds with ammo dumps here and there, normal people, nice folks, filling in the gaps. Great scenery and recreation everywhere.

Delta got us here Tuesday, on-time, with no unscheduled stops. They apparently gave everyone on last Tuesday's Flight 721 a $100 voucher. Actually, I assume some got more, some got less; those who did not complain got nothing. Our next scheduled flights are with Southwest, so that should be fun.

We plan to hold up here for a couple months, with occasional trips to dear Missoula, to see friends, doctors, dentist, financial advisors, et al. Our book group meets Friday evening, and, yes, we both have read the book, Tony Horwitz's A Voyage Long and Strange. And, just for the record, I finally finished—second try, interrupted by a visit to China—Gao Xingjian's Soul Mountain, a book, like China, that I will be processing for some time to come.

Cloudy view from Bob and Beth's deck

Our exact location, according to GoogleEarth. is
48"12' 50.82" N, 116"42' 18.02" W

So today finds us in Sagle, near Sandpoint, ID, at the home of in-laws Bob and Beth. They're off RVing in Arizona, so we're enjoying the views across Lake Pend Oreille (Ponderay, as some of the locals say) to Schweitzer mountain and nearby snowy summits. It's spring here, near or below freezing at night, in the 40s during the day. Clouds, sunshine, rain, snow, wintry-mix, in some combination pretty much every day. There is still plenty of snow in the high country. And burning season is underway too, just like in Montana, only about 30 miles away. Northern Idaho is an interesting and diverse place. Log McMansions here and there, compounds with ammo dumps here and there, normal people, nice folks, filling in the gaps. Great scenery and recreation everywhere.

Delta got us here Tuesday, on-time, with no unscheduled stops. They apparently gave everyone on last Tuesday's Flight 721 a $100 voucher. Actually, I assume some got more, some got less; those who did not complain got nothing. Our next scheduled flights are with Southwest, so that should be fun.

We plan to hold up here for a couple months, with occasional trips to dear Missoula, to see friends, doctors, dentist, financial advisors, et al. Our book group meets Friday evening, and, yes, we both have read the book, Tony Horwitz's A Voyage Long and Strange. And, just for the record, I finally finished—second try, interrupted by a visit to China—Gao Xingjian's Soul Mountain, a book, like China, that I will be processing for some time to come.

Adios, California, For Now

More travels in Middle California took us to...

A sea-side restaurant in Pacifica

An old favorite, actually, the Pacifica Taco Bell, which

we'd visited years before with Tawana and Wes (it's a

long story, and none of us really likes fast Tex-Mex all that

well...)

And the Half Moon Bay environs

Ditto

After which, and another of Jeremy's truly memorable seafood feasts, we packed up and said our thank you's and farewells to Rebecca and Jeremy for a great California week, Rachel returning to DC, and Vicki and I on to our next stop...

iEaster Sunday in Palo Alto

Although three of us are serious Apple devotees, we did not venture to the iStore (as Vicki calls it) on iPad Day. On Easter Sunday, however, we ambled down to the Palo Alto store, where Steve Jobs Himself had been photographed the day before.

But a huge stone blocked the entrance

He is risen... (from TIPB or somewhere 
else on the web); casual California look...

Interior of the new iPad (from Geekologie); yes, but can you
 make a telephone call from the iPad?

The Family That Surfs Together...

So after a busy day of sightseeing and shopping in the Bay area, and a wonderful dinner at Roy's, we went back to Rebecca and Jeremy's and re-connected with our laptops and desktops.

Rebecca

Me

Rachel and Vicki

Jeremy

Meet Me In St. Louis With Delta Flight 721

So Tuesday morning we bade farewell to Rachel and Will, thanking them for the hospitality and a nice veal piccata birthday dinner the night before, rode the Metro to National where we caught a flight to JFK and then caught Delta #721 to San Francisco.

The flight was, um, interesting, from the start...a PA explanation of the moisture dripping from the ceiling, the entertainment system not working, the wifi system not working.... Somewhere in Illinois, maybe 4:30 PM local time or a bit later, the plane turned sharply south (I was watching the little flight-tracker screen) and descended, without explanation, from 38,000 feet to 24,000 and then lower. I had just said to Vicki that I thought we were going to land in St. Louis, when the PA came on and the pilot announced an "unscheduled" landing in STL due to odors in the rear of the plane. (No one I talked to smelled or otherwise pereceived anything unusual). The landing was relatively uneventful, despite the quick and direct descent. Fire crews were waiting on the ground.

After 15 minutes of uncertainty, we were told to debark, and two (2) small busses, carrying 30 each of the 171 passengers, took us, in several trips, from the isolation tarmac to a terminal. We were told to wait there while they sorted things out. At length (hours), some few people got re-routed, many opted to spend the night in STL and re-book the next day (Easter weekend?!), but we, and most others, opted to wait for a new plane, which arrived about midnight from Detroit, and continuation of the flight. The continuation included another stop, in Salt Lake, ostensibly to change crew, but really, we suspected, to pick up more otherwise stranded passengers. We landed in San Francisco about 4:15 AM, after 24 hours of travel.

I don't mind safety-based changes and diversions, not at all, but there was plenty of other suspicious stuff going on with #721. Airline staff as well as TSA were understanding and courteous and apologetic. The $7 (seven) dinner allowance given the stranded passengers was ridiculous, however, especially just as all the restaurants in the terminal were closing. I expect Delta will be receiving a good deal of correspondence about this flight, not least from us. We have gone on somewhere between 40-50 incident-free flights in the past year and a half (except for a cancelled flight, quickly re-routed, in China; I don't count the 2 week airport closures in Thailand). Not this one. And Delta's handling of the matter, from start to present, has left much to be desired.

Most interestingly, FoxNews' account of the matter (bold italics above) said that smoke had filled the cabin.  Vicki and I were sitting just a few rows forward of the galley (at the rear of the plane, where all the activity was), and we never saw any smoke nor noticed any unusual odor...standard Fox reporting, one assumes.

from http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/03/30/delta-plane-makes-emergency-landing-st-louis/

Delta Plane Makes Emergency Landing in St. Louis

Published March 30, 2010

FoxNews.com

A Delta Airlines plane made an emergency landing at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Tuesday evening after smoke filled the passenger cabin, Fox2Now.com reported. 

No injured were reported. Passengers were taken by bus from the plane to the terminal.

Delta flight 721, was traveling from New York to San Francisco with 171 passengers on board, Fox2Now.com reported. 

Officials are investigating the cause. 

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/03/30/delta-plane-makes-emergency-landing-st-louis/#ixzz2EsagGJpD

Photojournalism by me (nomination forms for Pulitzer Prize

photos are at http://www.pulitzer.org/)

Washington, Again

We drove into Washington Saturday after midnight. A navigational error was made. But we made it. Just 3200 incident-free miles.

Sunday we were out looking at the cherry blossoms and at Rachel's office, high up on 13th St. in downtown Washington. And Monday, Vicki's birthday, we toured the Capitol, thanks to Will. It was my second visit this month, but I'd do it again. The video piece especially is that good.

Peter, Rachel and Will's Large Orange Cat

From the WWII Memorial, looking toward the Lincoln

Memorial

The Jefferson Memorial

Tidal cherry blossoms

Washington Monument and blossoms

Interior of Rachel's building, downtown

Indianapolis Family

A day and 600 miles later, we were in Indianapolis, visiting

Joey (father) and Joseph (son) Hatcher, husband and son of

Vicki's deceased sister Linda. More great food and visiting,

also some great basketball (hey, it was Indianapolis) and

some superb Macallan scotch for me (it was my birthday).

Fayetteville Friends

After Oklahoma, we left I-40 and headed north to Fayetteville, AR, to see college friends Leon and Tawana West. They were our upstairs neighbors in Tallahassee, married student housing, 153 Bliss Drive, in the later 60s. Wes (Leon) got his doctorate in physics at FSU, and it was Tawana who interested Vicki in school library work. Like us, they have lived all over the country, but finally landed home, some years back, in Arkansas, where Wes is a professor of mechanical engineering and Tawana is a recently retired school librarian. They are also fellow world travelers. More great company and more great food. It was wonderful seeing them.

Tawana and Wes, Vicki and me

Tawana with some of her exquisite smocking and

heirloooming

We made her solemnly promise to document these

wonderful labors of love and beauty

Pig Out Palace

Oklahoma is better known for other things (the parking meter was invented in Oklahoma), but you can get some decent pork barbeque there, particularly at the Pig Out Palace.

Somewhere along I-40, in darkest Oklahoma, this piece of Americana

The buffet

In the gift store

Everything's up to date at Pig Out Palace...

East of the Pecos

On Day 2 we crossed the Arizona Divide (c. 7500 feet), hit snow east of Albuquerque, continued on into Texas, crossed the Pecos and drove  into Canadian River country, through Armadillo, stopping finally in Shamrock, Texas, where we split a great ribeye at Big Vern's Texas Steak House. ("No blood," the cowboy at a table nearby ordered). I had wanted to pair it with a 2004 Pinot de Pecos, but it was a dry county. Seriously. 

A favorite panhandle landmark, east of 
Armadillo, before Pampa, the Leaning Tower

of Texas

The beautiful old Conoco station at Shamrock, Texas

Gas is still only 34 cents a gallon, but they

ran out a long time ago...

Road Trip! Or, "Continue Onto I-40, Passing Through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma..."

Earlier in the month, Rebecca bought a new Honda Fit, and Rachel decided to buy Rebecca's 2001 Mazda truck; and Vicki and Mark volunteered to drive the truck from Menlo Park to DC (we really do like road trips), taking the opportunity to visit friends and family along the way. We left early Monday morning, drove south to aromatic Gilroy, crossed the beautiful green mountains to the central valley (always makes me hungry), then crossed the Mojave (always makes me thirsty), and on into Arizona, stopping at Flagstaff, still in winter with snow all around. I-40 straddles Route 66, visible in lots of places along the way.

Rebecca and her new Fit

About to depart Menlo Park