Lockett's Meadow 2013 (with Sedona side trip)

PJ and I traveled up to Flagstaff on Friday, October 11 - via Jerome, where we had lunch, and then up through Sedona and Highway 89A.  Which was quite lovely.  Wandered Flagstaff a bit, stopped by Lumberyard, eventually dinner at Tinderbox.

(Per usual, click any photo to enlarge all.)

Working our way back from Inner Basin.

Saturday was hiking day - couldn't have turned out nicer.  NOC, POC, CPG and PJr joined us (after our Macy's breakfast).  A bit later in the season than our typical timing, but still a nice amount of color.  Perfect weather - plenty warm - which made the remnants of the snowstorm from earlier in the week all the more interesting to look at.  We continue to much like the rerouted hike (due to fire a few years back) (and first encountered last year).

Switchback section (heading down).

Late lunch at Diablo Burger downtown; cleaned up at hotel; resumed wandering Flagstaff; drinks and cheese plate at a wine bar; then another round and a not-fine Five Crowns game (with Washington Street hooligans dominating the medal stand) at a congenial spot where we also got a kick out of live music and some flirted with a Dutch tourist; late supper at Criollo; nightcap at Lumberyard.

Pano from Inner Basin.

Our fellow travelers went back to Phoenix on Sunday after a fine brunch at Criollo (among other treats, PJr and I had a "Brass Monkey" in honor of EMG).  PJ and I spent less time outdoors on this day (partly because the wind kicked up during the daytime hours) - eventually to lunch at Cuvee 928; wandered town a bit; watched some World Series; tasters at Mother Road brewery (marked for return); back to hotel; late dinner at Criollo.

Inner Basin.  Painted Desert (barely) visible in the distance.

Monday:  had the touted breakfast at Martane's - an ungodly amount of wonderful food - their green chile pork rules (Hatch chiles in season doesn't hurt).  Worked our way back down 89A and hiked the Brins Mesa trail (trailhead ridiculously convenient to downtown Sedona) - we took a little different ending route than last time and much liked a 360-degree viewpoint.  Late lunch at Oak Creek brewery, and worked our way back to Phoenix.

Inner Basin.

Sometimes hard to believe the two incredible hiking experiences - completely different in terrain and weather conditions - are only about 40 miles apart.

Delightful.

Looking back at Lockett's Meadow as we drive back to Flagstaff.

Mother Road brewery - like.

Dinner at Criollo.

At Brins Mesa trail - turn-around point.

PJ at our turn-around point on Brins Mesa Trail.

Found this friend.

 

Aspens along Lockett's Meadow trail.

Intrepid-ness on the trail.

N and C try to reprise a cute picture from their younger days.

Happy vandals.

Gloating Five Crowns hooligans on medal stand.

Oregon trip notes #4: the rest of our trip

Final post from our 2013 Oregon adventures (a bunch of photos):

PJ exploring reproduction of Ft. Clatsop - Lewis & Clark expedition wintered here.  Interesting in its own right, particularly interesting to us after having visited Monticello earlier this year.

Fort Stevens - coastal defenses for WWII - Japanese ships actually lobbed some shells here - I think one of the first bombardments in mainland U.S. since maybe the War of 1812?  Interesting indeed, though no need to spend a ton of time here . . . 

Goonies house - Astoria, Oregon.  I heard (from POC) that they filmed a movie here.

PJ admiring Ramona Falls.

Sandy River scenery - on Ramona Falls hike.

Panorama from Timberline Lodge (one of our favorite spots).

Mirror Lake, with Mt. Hood in background.

Full Sail tasters, surprisingly good.  Hood River, Oregon.

Hair of the Dog tasters, unsurprisingly good.  Portland.

Tasting at Fort George Brewery, Astoria, Oregon.

Cascade Brewery - sour beers here were a delight.  Portland.

Oregon trip notes #3: Sunday in Astoria (visiting "Astoria Column") (September 8, 2013)

One last Astoria (Oregon) note -

Farmers' Market - downtown Astoria

We had a marvelous Sunday wandering around town.  After a fine breakfast at the Cannery Pier, we wandered over to the farmers' market in downtown Astoria - every bit as interesting as last year.

Working our way up the Astoria hills.

Astoria Column (circa 1926)

Then we stroll around town, eventually working our way up into the hills overlooking the city (and the Columbia River).  Visited the quite-unusual Astoria Column - financed in large part by a descendant of John Jacob Astor himself - atop a tall (by Astoria standards) hill, with circular staircase (reminiscent of being inside Statue of Liberty) going up another 125 feet.  Gorgeous weather, phenomenal 360-degree views.

Quick stop at the Ft. George Brewery - where they are doing fine work.  Then lunch back at the restaurant right by our hotel.

View of Astoria (and the bridge by our hotel) from atop the Column.

The delightful Ft. George brewery.  Yet another Oregon brewing triumph.

 15-second clip looking over Astoria and onto the Columbia River from atop the Column:

Oregon trip notes #2: ship-spotting, Astoria-style (September 7-9, 2013)

As discussed last year (and also here), PJ and I enjoy all sorts of things about Astoria and environs.  Part of this is the Cannery Pier Hotel - exceedingly well designed, built right out onto the Columbia River, sitting just downstream from the Megler Bridge (which stretches north across to Washington); evocative of the canneries formerly operating in the area, etc.

Looking down toward Cannery Pier Hotel and Megler Bridge on a late-afternoon walk 
up into some actually-charming Astoria neighborhoods.

Our room - literally in the Columbia River.  Looking north toward Washington, with 
north sector of Megler Bridge visible through window at right.

The design of the Megler Bridge forces the "big" ships to veer toward the Oregon side of the river - meaning they sweep right by our hotel room's patio.  And this is impressive - it certainly captures our imagination as we watch these boats head out toward the expanses of the Pacific Ocean, or up the Columbia River.

Here's a clip of one of the ships that swept by - the Astra Perseus - it sails under the bridge and then west; note the tiny tug that enters the scene.



It hadn't occurred to me that lots of information was available online about these big ships (maybe about small ships also, who knows).  For example, clicking this link takes you to a page of information about the Astra Perseus (turns out it is quite new:  built in 2012); click the map and it will show you the last reported position.  Appears that the Astra Perseus swung north from Astoria and visited Vancouver before heading toward Japan.  Cool!

Screenshot of Astra Perseus position on September 30 (doing something or other in Japan).

And there were plenty of other ships passing by the hotel (boat in photo below, for example, can be tracked via this link).  And a bunch of birds, swooping around and making their bird-noises (as they do in the above video clip).  For a landlubber like me, this is pretty fascinating.

"Celestial Wing" - loaded with Hondas presumably coming from Japan - eastbound somewhere up the Columbia.

Kind of reminds me of when PJ and I just sit around watching the trains go by at La Posada in Winslow, Arizona.  Thoroughly entertaining.

Hanjin container shipping, heading out to the Pacific.  Are the containers empty (how
much US exported stuff onboard)?

End o' season

As previously noted, we've much enjoyed having POC, NOC and CPG living downtown (a mere block from Chase Field).  They were nice enough to invite us downtown for the final game of the Diamondbacks season on Sunday, September 29.

Top of 9th on last day of season (the record-breaking inning!)

After watching the last moments of a stirring come-from-behind win by the erstwhile hapless Cardinals at their townhouse, we wandered over to watch some baseball.  And saw another stirring come-from-behind win, one which allowed the Dbacks to finish the season 81-81 (for the second year in a row).

If it's in the newspaper, it must be true:  "Innings record."

Something interesting:  the team has had a ridiculous amount of extra-inning baseball this year, including an 18-inning marathon on August 24 in Philadelphia attended by Charlie and Mark Gales (who, not shockingly, stuck around for the whole game).  All those extra innings paid off:  the team set a world record for most innings played in a single season.

After the game:  walked back to the townhouse for bags, drinks/snacks, a fine dinner, plenty of yakking.  Involving various interesting folk associated with the team, all of whom seemed grateful that the daily grind was over for a few months.  Fun night.

Footnote:  our hero POC was somewhat featured on the TV broadcast from Philadelphia the day after the 18-inning marathon (August 25), per below (at beginning of clip we think he is looking down to send text message(s), not just managing sleep-deprivation (which would have been the rational thing to do)):

Oregon trip notes #1 - South Jetty (September 9, 2013)

Our September 2012 trip to Oregon (eight overnights spread across three cities:  Astoria, Welches (Mt. Hood) and Portland) was so delightful that we repeated it in September 2013.  We repeated many of the same activities, and added a few more.  Liked trip #2 even better, so this will stay in our travel rotation.

Showing South Jetty in relation to Astoria.  Man-made seawall (visible if click-photo-to enlarge) heads  straight west from South Jetty and divides the Columbia River from the Pacific (an effort to control, somewhat, the uncontrollable).

I gave quite a bit of description on our 2012 Oregon activities (three posts, available here) so won't repeat (much).  Will (mostly) point out a few new things we saw in random posts from time to time.

Looking straight west along the seawall (see above map, left side) out to the Pacific Ocean.  

Exhibit 1 is "South Jetty" - a few miles west/northwest of Astoria.  (Not to be confused with a similarly-named location much farther south along the Oregon coast (that one's near the town of Newport.  Never been there.)

Anyway:  last year we learned about the power and danger of the collision of the Pacific Ocean and the massive Columbia River - the fatal "Bar" littered with shipwrecks.  But in 2012 we didn't make it out to the South Jetty from Astoria.

Checking out the wreck of the Peter Iredale (sank in early 20th century, remnants
still on the Pacific beach, a few miles south of South Jetty).

This year:  we did.  And the place definitely captured our imagination, bigtime.  Until reading this book, I hadn't known that "Finisterre" had a deeper meaning than a tony Scottsdale neighborhood - though the Latin translation should have been obvious - this was the "end of the land" at western Portugal.  Until last year, I hadn't known that "Land's End" was anything other than a clothing company - then I learned that it is the western extremity of England.  So when one goes to the "South Jetty" - the western end of Oregon, where the Columbia crashes into the Pacific - all this resonates as you observe the wild seas and skies.  Not hard to imagine how the ancients conjured up a great unknown populated with nothing but monsters out there.

It was a sunny, placid day in Astoria (typical for September even if the area is rainy much of the year).  A few miles away at South Jetty:  rainy, windy, squally, menacing.

"Wreck of the Peter Iredale" - per photo above - is interesting and unusual.  Especially if you consider the back story (from which below photo is taken).

Wreck of the Peter Iredale, 107 years ago.

OK, you had to be there, but PJ's video (below) gives something of a feel for the setting (she starts out looking west along the seawall, then swings south, then back out along the seawall out to the Pacific (Columbia River is on the right side of the seawall).

Finisterre!

Clarence Bormann (1921 - 2013)

What is there to say about someone like Clarence?  These are the key guys that constituted my childhood world.  In those days, Clarence & Caroline were part of a core group of folks that gave a secure structure to everything.  Their very involvement left kids like me with an assurance and confidence that the foundational things in our lives (family, community, church, school, farm) were right and proper and enduring.

Of course we've always known - if only at an intellectual level - that these folks wouldn't live forever.  And we've lost plenty of so-important folks already.  But somehow the generational turnover is happening really fast now.  Our children are independent adults.  We're losing way too many of Clarence's generation. Especially in 2013.

Snack-time after what turned out to be our last card game with Clarence.  November 12, 2012.

I guess that's ok, too, and the idea is that - perhaps - we can represent to the next generation a shade of what Clarence and his ilk represented to us.  That's the noble idea, but the immediacy of all this right now is less comfortable.  I suppose maybe his generation also felt like this at certain points along the way?  It's a lot to live up to.

I'm not complaining, just a little shaken.  Especially in Clarence's case it's hard to imagine a better situation - he made it to 92 healthy as can be; we never missed visiting in these last years and he never missed playing 500 with us, baking the bread, sharing with me the Grandpa Bormann whiskey drink - and he and Caroline talking about stuff with us, current and old days.  You could learn something from these encounters, and I sure hope I did.

They were a great comfort to us as recently as February in dealing with Mary's death.

What a lot of life, and change, he saw over these decades.

Clarence was a great guy.  But unfortunately for we who remain:  it's still "was."

Clarence 08 18 13 by pgales56

September 2

Thinking a lot about Mary today (would have been her 49th birthday).  What a loss, she pretty clearly was something special.

This is one of my very-favorite photos: a so-young Mary is helping her Grandpa Bormann in the
potato patch in the garden at our home.  Those two really got along with each other.

onto year nine

Today is the eighth anniversary of this online diary,or blog, or whatever it is.

Laguna Beach - Santa Monica (July 31 - August 4)

Hard to believe, but this was year #4 visiting Laguna Beach and year #3 visiting EPG in Santa Monica.

Wandering the coastline for a few miles (Laguna Beach).

We like it well enough such that the trend will continue.

On the walk up to Griffith Observatory.

Part of the charm in Laguna Beach at this point is simply familiarity.  We know the town, we know the walking tours we enjoy taking (both in-town and on-beach), we know the restaurants;

From Griffith Observatory . . . Hollywood sign on hill in the distance.

Griffith visitors

 you get the idea.  The weather and overall scenery are dramatic changes of pace from Phoenix, so - even for folks who are big fans of summertime in Phoenix - that part is nice.

Easy drive over on July 31; had lunch at our favorite lunch stop (Nick's) all three days; dinners at Watermarc and 230 Forest; Starbucks breakfasts-and-coffees carried beach-side in the mornings.  Nice as could be.

Beautiful views at Griffith Observatory.

Nicole and POC joined us in Santa Monica - a few days late, but we were celebrating EPG's birthday.  EPG continues to identify excellent stuff to do and interesting restaurants for our food-stops.  On Friday night (8/2) we took a road trip to the Griffith Observatory - this is a very interesting place that we need to visit again when we have some more time.  Great views out over the city even if we were a few minutes past sundown.  Dinner that night at "Red O" - the suckling pig meal was most excellent.

Birthday boy at Red O.

Breakfast on Saturday at Clementine in Century City, then onto the Getty for a delightful walk-around.  Finally had a chance to eat at Father's Office - that was lunch.  Relaxed at EPG's apartment; dinner at Nook, a nice local place; Nicole downloaded to her iPad some crazy game that kept us going all evening.

Getty garden area.

Had the good fortune to make a return trip to the local market for Sunday breakfast, then an easy road trip back to Phoenix.  Another delightful trip.

Getty museum.