End of the Experiment

The Grand Experiment is over. I'm dropping this blog in favor of the new one on my new iWeb website. Switch your RSS readers today!

For fans of Bunny and Llama, note that they now have their own web site, and their own blog. They're also excited at the opportunity to share more of their stories with the world.

Last one out, please turn off the lights...

WCT, Part 2: Victoria and the Butchart Gardens

New post on my experimental blog.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dinner post on my experimental blog.

"Killer Parties Almost Killed Me"

I posted a concert review of The Hold Steady on my experimental blog.

The Grand Experiment

A few weeks ago I bought a new home computer. Since I was utterly unable to find a single person who would say a single nice thing about Microsoft Vista (and "It's not that bad" doesn't count), I took the plunge and bought an iMac.

My experience so far as been nothing but good. You know those Mac people who have been annoying you for years because they won't shut up about how much better their Mac is? Turns out they were right all along. Who knew?

The Mac comes with software called iWeb, which makes it incredibly easy to create a good-looking website. I also purchased a .Mac account, which allows me to publish said web site to the Internet.

For the next few months I'll be experimenting with this new web site. Until I make a decision about which one to stick with, I will cross-post here. Please check it out, and send me your feedback. Thanks!

Young's Gulch

Kevin has been giving me a hard time again about my blogging. I mentioned I took a nice picture on a hike last Saturday. His response: "I guess I'll see it in a year." This one is for you, Kevin.

Foliage in Young's Gulch

Our furry pal Sky (Kevin's dog- she was visiting while Kevin and Shirley were in Scotland)

Birthday Bicycle

For my birthday on Monday, Dorinna fixed up my Grandfather's old bike. We think it dates from the 1950s or 1960s. I've been talking about buying a cruiser bike for a few months now, so I can't wait to ride the roads of Fort Collins.

Gaylord Opryland

While at my Nashville conference, we stayed in the Gaylord Opryland hotel. The size of this hotel has to be seen to be believed. Almost 3000 rooms, 6 restaurants, and 5 bars, but that's not the most impressive part. The most impressive is three large.... I'm not sure what to call them-- we called them "biodomes." Huge, air-conditioned, glass-enclosed atriums, filled with stairs, bridges, rivers, waterfalls, buildings, and plants.

44-foot waterfall in the Cascades biodome:
Behind the waterfall:
The Delta biodome came complete with a riverboat cruise (only $9.00)
The Garden Conservatory biodome was my favorite. It was comparatively peaceful, and had a greater percentage of greenery:
Sweeping view of the Garden Conservatory:

More Country in Nashville

On Monday night, we went back to downtown to hear more live music. This night, being a work night, was considerably tamer (e.g. beer instead of whiskey), but if anything we heard even better music. Here are some more "country-related" photos from Nashville.

I bet you didn't know that Charlie Daniels had a museum in Nashville. Bet you didn't care either...


Layla's Hillbilly- We heard an outstanding bluegrass band here on Monday night. At one point a white-bearded old man came in off the street between songs. The band got all agitated-- "It's so-and-so!" they cried (it wasn't a name I recognized). Whatshisname picked up a fiddle and the next song was a fiddle-vs-mandolin duel the likes I've never seen. Then the guy left. The level of talent that just wanders in off the street in this town is downright sickening.
"Western World". We heard a very good western swing band here on Monday- the Western Swingers. It sounded like jazz to me. I liked it enough to buy a cd.
Typical street musician in Music City.

Modern Day Nashville

On Sunday (late), I wandered back to Downtown Nashville. I took some more pictures, and visited the small but excellent Frist Center for the Visual Arts.

Photos from Nashville

Here are some photos from my last Nashville post.

The Ernest Tubb Record Shop. "All Types of Records" led me to believe this was going to be a cool music store that I could browse for hours. You know how regular music stores have signs for the different musical genres: jazz, classical, rock, rap, etc.? There were no signs in this particular store-- let's just say they had both kinds of music: "Country and Western"

Jack's Barbecue. Ribs, pork shoulder, and beef brisket. Good enough to go back on Monday night for a second trip.

B. B. King's Blues Club. Not sure what kind of music was playing that night. It wasn't blues, and it wasn't any good. Far and away the absolute worst music I heard in Nashville.
The scene of "the crime", or at least the scene of the multiple plastic cups, absurdly large, of Maker's Mark. Highly recommended. We saw the country-rock band "Wide Open."

Nashville

Spent last night in a series of progressively dirtier and gritier Nashville honky-tonk bars. Neon signs, cowboy hats and tight jeans, plastic cups of whiskey and continuous live music. Some bluegrass, some rock, some blues, but mostly steel guitar country. I'm not sure if it was the quality of the musicians or the aforementioned plastic cups of whiskey, but it sure sounded good to me.

Real America. Real cool.

Double Trouble

Last summer our twin nieces came to visit us for two weeks. Here are some pictures:

Jessica and Jacqueline on the trolley

Jessica enjoyed the view

Fort Collins Trolley. Fort Collins was the smallest city in the country to have a municipal trolley system.

Jessica enjoys the water feature at Fossil Creek Park

Jacqueline loves to splash

Grilling Adventure

This summer's grilling adventure was to grill a whole Rockfish.

Before

After

WCT, Part 1: Return to Victoria

Back when I first started this blog, Dorinna and I took a trip to Victoria, British Columbia. We fell in love with the city, and it was one of the reasons why we signed up when Kevin approached us with the idea to hike the West Coast Trail.

The West Coast Trail is a 75 km (47 mile) backpacking route along temperate rainforest, sandstone cliffs, waterfalls, caves, sea arches, sea stacks and beaches. Kevin and Shirley were planning to visit Shirley’s family on the island, so Kevin added this hike to the end of that visit, and invited us along.

Dorinna and I started our trip on July 4, when we celebrated our patriotism by flying to Canada. Here are some photos from the flight:

Our first flight was from Denver to Seattle, flying past Mt. Rainier

Puddle-jumper from Seattle to Victoria

The Olympic Peninsula of Washington State

Aerial view of Victoria

When we arrived in Victoria, we discovered our luggage hadn’t. No matter, Horizon Airlines did a fantastic job of setting us up with toiletries for the night. By the time we were awake the next morning, our luggage had already been delivered to our B&B. The counter staff was extremely polite as well.

Still, we were a bit grouchy, and used this as an excuse to rent a Mustang GT. Black. Sacrifices must be made.

We stayed at the Robert Palmer House, a delightful Victorian B&B run by our English friends Ann and Derek. We stayed with them our last time in Victoria, and highly recommend staying here.

After checking in, and catching up on the gossip from our last visit, we headed out to explore the city...

Little Book Cliffs: Prologue

Here’s one from the archives, a trip from last year that I missed documenting. Set the WayBack Machine to May 2006, destination: “Little Book Cliffs”

On the drive home after our river trip through the desert , I began to ponder the possibilities of returning- and soon. The opportunity came less than a month later, during Memorial Day weekend. Kevin and Dorinna were in, of course, but we were also joined by our friend Kim. And, of course, our trusty canine companion, Sky.

Not really willing to drive all the way to Utah, we looked for closer destinations, and found one in the Book Cliffs. The Book Cliffs are a gigantic 200-mile long escarpment of sandstone that stretches across western Colorado and into Utah. It forms the northern wall of the Grand Valley of the Colorado River. The area we chose to hike was the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Area, a wild section of desert behind the escarpment. The area is set aside to protect one of the last remaining herds of wild horses in the United States. We didn’t choose it for the wild horses, however. We chose it because of what the wild horses imply- namely, water. The guidebook promised “trickling desert streams… Plunge pools and waterfalls frequent the canyons”. That sounded great to us.

So, late on Friday afternoon, the five of us jammed ourselves and our backpacks into Kevin’s Pimp Daddy Mobile. Unfortunately, the doors wouldn’t shut, so we had to pile out and repack everything a few more times. Everybody inhaled at the same time, and we were able to fit inside. We drove that night to Avon, where the 5 of us, all fundamentally cheapskates*, unpacked ourselves from the car, and repositioned ourselves into a single shared hotel room.

The next morning we repeated the exercise in reverse. We spent a great deal of time looking for outdoor stores in Glenwood Springs. We were all a bit nervous about the number and quantity of water containers that we had. Although there would be water on the trip, it wasn’t clear exactly when and where we would find it. “Best to be safe,” we said, loading up our packs with water.

The trailhead itself was remarkably easy to find. Most of the way through De Beque canyon, across the Colorado River, hulks a monstrous coal-fired power plant. Get off at that exit, drive past the plant, and the trailhead is just beyond.

Feeling fresh and energetic, we tied up our boots, picked up our packs-- and let the packs hit the ground with a grunt. We cursed the fact that water weighs eight pounds a gallon and that we each had much more than that, and tried again to pick up the packs. Staggering under the load, we climbed up the first steep ridge and were shocked to see…

(to be continued)

* When asked if she was a cheapskate, Sky merely panted in reply. I took that as a “yes.”

Kevin climbs the first hill. He will be disappointed if I don't point out that there are power lines behind him.

Defensive Bunker

Not quite ready to commit (but possibly ready to be committed), we've gotten in the habit of watching our friend's dogs when they travel. Bunny, Llama, and the gang find this quite troubling, as they are sometimes mistaken for chew toys. During one especially tense weekend, the gang built a defensive bunker to protect themselves.

Banzai Llama

Savage Run Wilderness

Kevin and I went backpacking last June to the Savage Run Wilderness in Wyoming. The weekend started off kind of rough, as the road to the trailhead was snow-covered and impassable. After digging out, we parked at the snowline, and trudged through snow and mud a few miles to the trailhead.
The hike itself was very pretty. After a short descent to a meadow, the trail followed Savage Run creek through a beautiful forest.

Avalanche Lily

Old-Timey photograph of Savage Run creek

Kevin, Sky, and Rich at "Camp Pinecone" (photo courtesy Kevin McNinch)

After setting up camp and taking a breather, we continued down the creek, scaring a family of deer out eating dinner. There was nothing particularly spectacular about this trip, but a solid 18 mile weekend with purposely heavy packs-- excellent training for the adventure still to come.

Albany, Wyoming

Finished Yard Project

I finally got around to taking some pictures of our yard project that we started last year and finished earlier this summer.

Slightly over half of the perennial garden is covered with pea gravel, and features heat-loving, drought-resistant plants:
The other area, partially shaded, is covered with mulch, and features plants that are just as drought-resistant, but with a lesser love of sunshine:

The new perennial garden complements the existing shrubbery area. A trail in between leads through the wildflower meadow and out to a small area of lawn. We'll put a bench out there just as soon as the shade trees grow tall enough.

Rodrigo y Gabriella Concert Review

Rodrigo y Gabriella are an interesting pair of musicians. They're Mexican, and they cut their teeth playing in Mexican heavy metal bands. But since then they've switched out to dual (and sometimes dueling) acoustic guitars. The metal roots are still visible, but are now overlain with what Rodrigo referred to as "crazy latin shit." Naturally, they first achieved commercial success in Ireland (huh?)

The concert started with the pair expressing some amazement at the venue. "I thought 'The Zoo' was some kind of club", Gabriella wondered. Nope- the Oregon Zoo holds outdoor lawn concerts. You stroll past sea lions, tigers, and monkeys on your way to your seat. They didn't appear to know what to think about the crowd. "We will have to be careful not to say fuck- there's children in the audience," Rodrigo started. They made it abundantly clear that whatever the audience might have expected, it was time for a rock concert.

As for the music, there are plenty of good guitar players. There are great guitar players- Rodrigo is one of these. There are even guitar players who you suspect might have done some business with Ol' Scratch at the road crossing outside of town. And then there's Gabriella, who is none of these things, but who is clearly a banshee straight from the Abyss itself. Human beings don't play the guitar like this. To say she "caresses" the strings, or "dances across them," is to ignore the speed and force with which her hands attack. Her fingers claw at the guitar in a blur, slapping the strings more than plucking them. At one point she played an interesting drum solo- interesting because she played it on a guitar-- rapping her fingers and palms against the body with an unholy stacatto rhythm, punctuated only occassionally with an almost disdainful sliding stroke of the neck strings.

Heads bobbing in classic Metal fashion, Rodrigo y Gabriella played their way through their own material, as well as covers of "Stairway to Heaven", Metallica, and Pink Floyd. At one point they even strayed from a latin beat to play the famous riff from "Smoke on the Water" before seamlessly sliding back into the latin groove. Video screens behind them allowed you to see the abuse they were inflicting on their instruments. We were a long way from the stage, but their energy was apparent throughout.

Portland was the second stop on their new concert tour. I definitely recommend seeing Rodrigo y Gabriella if visit your area. Get a seat near the stage, but be prepared to stand up and dance to their irresistibly wicked rhythms. And don't forget the holy water.

Photomatix Demo

Earlier in the summer, Kevin and I got a chance to see digital photographer George Lepp give a free talk down in Loveland. In the talk, he mentioned a piece of software called Photomatix. This software takes a number of images with different exposures and combines them together. Here's an example from some sea caves at Owen Point on the West Coast Trail.

The exposure of this photo was 1/200 at f8. This shot, along with all the others, was taken on a tripod- a necessity to use this program. Clearly this shot is too dark. The archway of rock is completely in the shadows. About the only part of this picture that is correctly exposed are the hills across the bay.
I then started shooting the same scene at the same aperture, but with a longer exposure, at increments of 1/3 a stop. Here's an example from the middle of the series - 1/3o second. Note that in this shot the background is already completely blown out. Some of the foreground looks good, but there are also extensive shadows.
The last shot in the sequence is below. Shot at 1/4 of a second, the details in the rock arch are clearly visible, but the background is completely overexposed.
Remember of course that the exposure range of the human eye is much more than a digital sensor (or film for that matter) can record. My eyes didn't see any of the scenes above. I could see the details in the arch, and the opposite shoreline at the same time.

What did I see? Well, I loaded the series of pictures into Photomatix. I fired it up with all the default parameters and came up with this:
I haven't played around with any of the options yet. I suspect that if I remove some of the more overexposed photos in the series I could tone down the "glow". And paying $99 for the real version will let me get rid of the watermark that the free trial version adds to the result. But for now, I'm just stunned...

Full Moon Hike

Dorinna's second naturalist hike was a full moon hike in June (*). The full moon fell on the same Friday that school ended. We weren't really sure how many people to expect, but the number far exceeded anyone's expectations. 53 people came for the three mile hike! I'm fairly certain this is the highest number at any county naturalist program ever.

The theme of the hike was "moon myths", and Dorinna spent weeks beforehand gathering and memorizing the legends of various cultures. I wasn't able to hear most of them, unfortunately- I took on the role of "sweep", hiking at the end of the mob to make sure we didn't lose anyone off the back.

The only glitch in the evening was the moon- there wasn't one. We couldn't understand why we couldn't find the moon, until I finally realized what we had forgotten. We planned this hike in late winter, and when we looked up the moonrise times we had forgotten to account for daylight savings time.! No matter- half way through the hike the moon rose in a big red ball.

Dorinna gives a pre-trip briefing to the crowd.

The Devil's Backbone

The crowd listens to moon myth stories.

Kevin setting up his tripod.

* The bad news is yes, I am very behind on my blogging. The good news is that I plenty of material to keep me busy and readers (presumably) entertained.