Coming Home On Part 1: Leaving Bainbridge

Time had come to bid our daughter's family goodbye for now.  I was taken aback by the price of Seattle-Anchorage tickets when I was booking our flight home.  I don't remember the details, but I just remember the 10 am flight was higher than normal and the later flights were even worse. 

Problem is we start off from Bainbridge Island.  That means you have a 35 minute ferry ride to downtown Seattle.  Then either a walk to the light rail and to the airport, or get a cab.  Cabs are $40 plus tip.  Light rail, for seniors, is $1 each.  So if there's time and it's not raining hard, we go light rail.  

This winter my daughter warned me about delays with the ferries and some ferries getting cancelled meaning you have to wait 50 minutes or more for the next one.  There were some problems with the ferries themselves, but mostly it's a staffing issue.  Lots of retirees recently and new people need special training and aren't as experienced. 

I even signed up for notifications when there was a delay or cancellation on the Seattle-Bainbridge ferry.  This was helpful to get a sense of how often there were delays and cancellations. I got fewer alerts as time went by and there were far fewer cancellations.

But that makes planning a trip to the airport a real pain. Especially when I think of the 10 minutes it takes to get to the Anchorage airport from our house. An 8am flight means getting up really early and hoping your ferry is close to on time.

On the Bainbridge Ferry page there's a link to get text message alerts on the left.  And a cool link is a real time map of where the ferries are - usually there are two ferries going between Bainbridge and Seattle.  

You can see the Tacoma is coming from Bainbridge to Seattle and the Chimacum is in the opposite direction.  There's also one coming toward Seattle from Bremerton.  

So rather than mess with the ferry early in the morning, we got a hotel room at the airport.  It was much cheaper than booking a later flight. An old high school friend who lives in Seattle, picked us up at the ferry Thursday afternoon and we had a great Ethiopian dinner (the special veggie combo at Delish) before he dropped us off at the hotel.  

One other tip I'll mention for people catching a flight from SEATAC (the Seattle Tacoma airport) is SPOTSAVER.   You can go on line and reserve a spot in the TSA line.  You tell them a time and you've got 15 minutes before and after and that gets you into a much shorter line.  I didn't think it would be necessary for an 8am flight but I signed up anyway.  Problem was they only offered appointments at 4:30am and 7am.  We wanted to arrive around 6:30 am.  So I booked 7am.  Good thing I did.  There was a long line.  I explained my 7am reservation and he let us go through.  SPOTSAVER was even shorter than the TSA precheck line.  

When we got to the gate, I was a little tempted to go to Gate 18 instead of 17, but I resisted.  

Sorry, it's out of focus, but you can read the destinations.  

This was originally going to be about how beautiful it was in Anchorage when we arrived, but it seemed like a better idea to make two posts.  Part II will be soon.  

45+ Years And Flying Into Anchorage Is Still Amazing

 Especially on a glorious day like it was Monday.  It was even clear and beautiful in Seattle.

Over the always snowy Chugach Range still in Prince William Sound. 

Flying over the Chugach Range with Denali in the background.

The last edge of the Chugach, Anchorage lies ahead below and Foreaker and Denali in the background.  (Even my polarized filter can't eliminate all the rainbow in the plane window when the light is like it was.)

On a normal day you fly over the mountains, then past Anchorage out over the Inlet and then circle back to land from the west.  The wind mills of Fire Island in the foreground, then a bit of Inlet, then Anchorage and the Chugach Range.  Looking back toward where we came from.  

Looking down Turnagain Arm.

Another view of the Inlet - mudflats are showing 

Two more before we land 

The Anchorage Bowl still hasn't gotten any snow.  A bit late.  Probably as soon as I post this, it will show up.  

To Chicago, Habrae, Hidden Lake, And Reza's

We're in Chicago with old, old friends.  Actually they aren't older than we are, but we've known them for a long time.  

We thought it would be easy getting here on a non-stop flight out of Anchorage.  For the non-stop route, we were willing to fly overnight.  In the end, after lots of to-ing and fro-ing (one hour delay, get on plane, taxi from gate, sit on tarmac, return to gate, need to fix some mechanical issue,  some people want to get off because they've already missed their Chicago connections, then everyone told to get off, then several new estimated departure times, then four hours from original flight time, the flight is cancelled) we were quickly put on a 5am flight to Seattle with a tight connection to a Chicago flight, which we made.  And later we got an email with a $200 credit for each of us on future Alaska Airlines flights.  For people who were soured by Alaska Airlines because of these delays, it's a bittersweet reward.  But for people dependent on Alaska Airlines like we are, it's a decent apology gift.  

But our friends were patient on their end and got us to a great Thai restaurant in Oak Park for dinner and home to crash.  

We shared sticky rice and mango for dessert.

Thursday they took us to Hidden Lake.  It's in DuPage County and abuts the Arboretum.  

They were trying to get us somewhere that got us into woods without too many urban distractions.  

And they did a pretty good job.  The trees are so different from Anchorage trees.  No spruce, no birch, no cottonwood.  Not sure what they all were, but it felt exotic to this Alaskan.  It seemed there were some maples.  Probably in the arboretum there would have been labels, but we just wanted to walk around and enjoy.  A few trees are just beginning to turn, but barely.  Temps in the low 70s.  And lots of birds, but for the most part not easy to catch with the camera.  I think the one below is a flicker, but I'm not completely sure.  

Lots of late flowers like this clover.

But there is a villain in this story.  

These are the same white flowers, but they weren't quite in focus so I played with Curves to get this version.  

And then we lucked out on dinner.  We'd passed a sign for Reza's on the way.  Sounded like a Middle Eastern place.  Even better, it turned out to be Persian and we had a delicious dinner with an accommodating waiter, and lots to take home for lunch today.  This one was a chicken kabob.  

"You have to risk it to get the biscuit." Sharman Haley On Hiking The Haute Route Through The Pyrenees [UPDATED 2/20/23]

[UPDATE 2/20/23 - Now available in Anchorage at  Mosquito books and Barnes and Noble]

Sharman Haley's book, Perspectives on Place: An Alaskan Explores the Pyrenees came out early December.  It's an account of her walking tour on the the Haute Route, some 800 kilometers (500 miles) through the Pyrenees of Northern Spain. Sharman is a retired economist and sometimes that's reflected in the depth she explores things.  But the beautiful water colors of her partner and travel companion Michael Samoya offer a refreshing respite from the more difficult passages.  A good reflection of the hike itself I would imagine.  

Sharman is a friend and was a colleague at the University of Alaska Anchorage.  She let me view a prepublication copy in November and I've left a draft of this post languish since early December.  My hope here is to give a sense of the book by using quotes that reflect the variety of topics she experienced on the trek.  Not unlike many posts on this blog.  

This book is probably most useful and interesting taken along when doing this hike through the Pyrenees.  It's most basic organization is chronological, so hiking along the trail, one gets history, geography, natural history, along with descriptions of the trail and refuges along the way.  So Sharman's details of the history of various locations would add richness to one's hike.  

There's often a tendency to compare what you're seeing to what you know.  It's how we expand our world view and gives us insights into our own homeland and assumptions. Sharman does this explicitly by adding an Alaska perspective to each chapter.   For example, one chapter describes wars and treaties going back to the 1300s in Aragon.  The matching Alaska history only goes back as far as the Russian invasion in the 1700s.  While Haley acknowledges that Alaska Natives have been on the land for tens of thousands of years, she excuses leaving  out any of that older history on the grounds that Native cultures were oral, so we don't know.  However, there are archeological digs in Alaska that go back further than the Russians and matching them to archeological sites on the route might have been a better connection - perhaps comparing the archeology experiences of both places.  Using invasions as the common thread seemed a stretch.  

Here's a sampling of what you'll find on the pages of this unique book and, for me, engaging trip through the Pyrenees.  

Useful travel advıce:

"Sleeping at the refuge with 30 other people side by side in two long

bunks was an experience. It was surprisingly comfortable and went remarkably

smoothly. Everyone was organized and quiet and respectful going to

bed and getting up. We were comfortable, yet didn’t sleep soundly.

The showers were great and the water was really, scaldingly hot! I

washed my hair. There was no gender separation in the bathrooms but of

course doors on the stalls. Our two showers, two red wines, veggie dinner,

two beds and breakfast cost 96€. The refuge administrator was a very

friendly, funny, multilingual middle-aged woman. In the winter she teaches

informatics. The guests are totally international from all over Europe. We

met no other Americans. Everyone uses English as their travel language." (98)

 

There's mountaineering history:

"Interest in mountaineering surged in the late 19th century. The

climbing and camping equipment was primitive by today’s standards:

Hemp ropes and iron crampons were heavy, and canvas tents were out of

the question. In the Pyrenees, early rock and ice climbers targeted the north faces of the peaks surrounding the Cirque de Gavarnie, mostly a day trip out of town. As their ambitions extended further, the need for overnight mountain lodging grew. Caves and shepherds’ huts were their earliest forms of shelter on multi-day climbs.

The first mountaineering club was formed in Gavarnie in 1864, named

the Société Ramond in honor of the illustrious Pyrenean naturalist Louis

Ramond de Carbonnières. The French Alpine Club (FAC) was founded in 1874 with the aim "to encourage and favor the knowledge of the mountain and its individual or collective frequentation in all seasons," including in its mission "the construction, improvement and maintenance of shelters, chalets, shelters and trails." The !rst mountain club in Spain, the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya (CEC), soon followed in 1876. These organizations, along with individual benefactors, launched the network of mountain refuges we enjoy today." (99-100)

Along with Michael's water colors.

 

Details on wildlife:

"My favorite insect of the whole trip was the burnet moth (Zygaena anthyllidis).  While burnets are common throughout Europe, this particular species of burnet is unique to the higher elevations of the Pyrenees. The burnet is the most brilliantly colored moth I’ve ever seen: iridescent black, with big, red spots on the wings. Most moths are dull brown and only around at night to evade predators. The burnet doesn’t have to worry about that. The red spots tell potential predators that it is poisonous. The burnet carries hydrogen cyanide, both for protection and—get this—for mating. Sounds a little kinky, doesn’t it?" (p. 61)

We also learn about honey bees after Mike gets stung.  After Sharman relates the physiology of the sting and the  response in the body, we learn about the bees of the Pyrenees, and the history of domesticated honeybees in the region..

“Honey has been produced and consumed in France and Spain for

millennia. Cave paintings near Valencia, Spain, more than 8,000 years old depict men collecting honey. The Bible and the Koran praise the virtues of honey as a food of nutritional value. Spain is number one in the EU in the number of hives and sixth in honey production. Spain also produces more than half of the beeswax in Europe. I don’t know how many honey producers there are in the Pyrenees specically, but there are 27 in the Ariège region alone. You can find a lot of them online who advertise in glowing terms the high quality, "flavor and ecological properties of their mountain product and sell direct to the consumer.” (118)

Here's one of Mike's paintings showing the beehives along the path.  

I learned a few words:

"Compounding the economic squeeze, the emigration of rural labor to industrial centers resulted in a shortage of shepherds to conduct the seasonal transhumance* of sheep." (126)

*"Transhumance:  noun

the seasonal migration of livestock, and the people who tend them, between lowlands and adjacent mountains." (from dictionary.com)

You can also tell that Haley was an economic policy analyst in a past life:

"More than two-thirds of the territory of Pallars Sobirà is under some

level of environmental protection. It also hosts seven ski resorts. In five

decades, the number of second homes in the region has mushroomed a

hundred-fold, from fewer than 25 to more than 2,500. While this boom in

the tourism economy has provided jobs, increased wages and helped to keep

some youth in the region, it has also increased property values and housing

costs for local residents. While the infrastructure has greatly improved,

temporary visitors and part-time residents do not enhance the social vitality

of the local communities. The transition also marks a decline in local

control, as more and more of the land use policies are defined by higher

levels of government and more and more of the businesses are owned by

nonlocal corporations."  p. 127

Interview with Jan, a German hang glider about why he was on the trail, people he'd met, and a link to this video :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8Zp25E_lbM  - his version of this trail. (Worth watching.)  He related some lessons he learned on the hike to Sharman:

"First: Don't keep your food inside the tent! You could wake up in

the middle of the night with a hungry fox next to your sleeping bag.

Second: You can easily compensate for your lack of fitness with

good navigation skills.

Third: There is no excuse! Even an Acute Respiratory Distress

Syndrome* should not hold you back from experiencing great adventures.

You have to risk it to get the biscuit.

And fourth: François Lelord is a wise man." (147-8)

*Earlier he had recounted a hiker he'd met who slept with an oxygen device at night.   

The next quote contains an extraordinary account of surviving in the cold.  I guess it's not the only instance of something like that happening.  It's also a reminder that despite the different environments, people who lived 1000 years ago were not that much different than we are.   

"The town L'Hospitalet-près-l’Andorre was named for the hospital (travelers’ hostel) that was established there in the first decade of the 11th century. The hospital was founded by the knight Bertrand d’Enveight in fulfillment of his vow to do so if he survived a snowstorm that caught him on the westside of Col de Puymorens, south of the Haute Route, where Route Nationale 20 (N20) crosses today. He saved himself by slitting open the belly of his horse, removing the entrails and climbing inside till the storm passed. He fulfilled his vow and dedicated the hospital to Saint Suzanne,  patron saint of his aunt, Suzanne d'Enveight, dowager of Cerdanya, in whose domain he was traveling." (159)

Some of the history can get a bit tedious, but then there is another disaster story that would fit in any modern tabloid or social media.

"The hospital was damaged or destroyed by avalanches several times over the years and rebuilt. In one case, year unknown, Moles wrote:This time the incident had a more tragic outcome than the previous one, entombing 5 women and 3 children, amongst them the wife and children of the Landlord who being away in Benasque survived but returned to the shocking news that he was now a widower and childless."  (162)

 

We learn about the cork forests they walk through and how they fights climate change.

"Not only is cork production sustainable, but a harvested cork oak tree stores up to five times more carbon than an unharvested tree, since the tree

utilizes additional carbon in the regeneration of its bark. Each year, cork oak

forests account for 9 million metric tonnes (10 million tons) of CO2

absorption. Cork stoppers for wine bottles have a much lower carbon footprint

than wine stoppers made from aluminum or plastic. And the byproducts

are made into bulletin boards and floor tiles."  (186 -7)

The Author Gets To Win Arguments 

"May 25-26

The morning was overcast, giving way to partly sunny and windy in

the afternoon when we set out for our next waypoint, Montalba

d’Am.lie. Mike was a little impatient with how slow I was going

uphill, and needing to stop to eat, so he said, “Give me more weight. The

less you carry, the better off I am.” So he carried almost all the food, as well

as all the camping gear. I carried the potato chips and toast. Lightest pack

ever! 

...On top of that, Mike’s knee became painful—probably from too heavy

a pack on too steep and rough a trail down after too many weeks without

hiking. [They did the whole trail in two parts.]  So the last hour coming down the road I took all the food. He tried to say it wasn’t making any di#erence in how his knee felt, but I said, “The less weight you carry, the better off I am.” The easy grade and firm surface made road walking easier on his knee than the trail had been, but it was easier for me too, and I was faster than he, even with the added weight, which, frankly, felt good. (196-8)

And a little more history

A second medieval monastery in the eastern Pyrenees, the abbey of Saint-Martin-du-Canigou, perches on a high cliff on the west flank of the Pic du Canigou. The primary access is by foot, 1,600 meters (1 mi) on narrow, steep path through the woods, above the town of Casteil. The original Benedictine monastery was endowed by Guifred, Count of Cerdagne, and consecrated in 1009. The Romanesque-style church was built on two levels: the lower, older crypt dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and the upper

church, completed in 1020, dedicated to St. Martin. The cloister was also

built on two levels, due to the steepness of the terrain.

The monastery has had a traumatic history. It was damaged in the

Catalan earthquake of 1428. It was secularized in 1782 by Louis XVI, abandoned by the monks and fell into disrepair. During the French Revolution,

the abbey was closed and its contents, including the sculptures and furniture,

were looted. Even the marble capitals from the pillars in the upper

cloister were removed and scattered through the neighboring villages. The ruins of the monastery lay empty for the entire 19th century. (192)

 

Some topics are hard to convey in words.  The birdsong descriptions probably mean little to those who haven’t already heard them or are very musical.

"The song of the tiny ruby-crowned kinglet is similarly loud and

complex. It typically has three parts: a series of high-pitched notes (zee-zeezee or tee-tee-tee), two to have low trills (turr or tu) and a repeated three note "galloping" phrase (tee-da-leet, tee-da-leet). Individual males sing their own variations, and females sing a shorter version of the song. The population of ruby-crowned kinglets is on the rise in less-disturbed habitats in northern latitudes".(p. 201)

While there are times Haley gets a little poetic, others are pretty dry recitation of facts: 

"In 1659, at the conclusion of the Thirty Years’ War, The Treaty of the

Pyrenees moved the border between the French and the Spanish monarchies

100 kilometers (62 mi) to the south where it is today, dividing French

and Spanish Catalonia. Roussillon became o#cially and permanently

French, but many inhabitants were still Spanish at heart. The medieval

fortress guarding the new border was handed over to France. In 1674,

during the Franco-Dutch War, the Spanish army occupied Bellegarde, but

the fortress was retaken by the French the following year.(p. 206)"

I'm sure sitting on the grass where this all took place after six hours of hiking makes this an interesting break.  

As I mentioned, this post has been sitting here as a draft for six weeks.  Today I added the pictures and cleaned up fonts and quotations.  So I'm going to just end abruptly here.  I enjoyed vicariously traveling with Sharman and Mike. For people not taking this hike, the book can give you a sense of what such an adventure is like.  And Mike's water colors are a delight and there's at least one in each chapter.  And I haven't really touched the sections on Alaska.  

Paperback Premium Color Print  (ISBN: 979-8-218-09640-3):              $35.95   $26.54   

Kindle e-book:   $9.99

Available at Alibris.  Publication date: December 1, 2022.

 

 

 

 

More Water Pictures

 Not sure why keeping this up-to-date is getting so difficult.  It's hard to blog while driving from SF to LA.  And then there were a bunch of followups on the repair work at my mom's house.  

But despite the rain last Tuesday night, the morning had cloudy sunshine.  

And walking along the boardwalk in Cambria  was spectacular.  

The rain that was predicted hadn't arrived yet.  

There was a steady supply of waves roaring toward the shore. If you ever consider a stopover between LA and SF, I highly recommend a hotel along Moonstone beach.  It's off the main highway and the Boardwalk offers magnificent, life affirming views and sounds.  

The birds were enjoying it too.  And part of my delay was me remembering how I used to play around with my photos before putting them up, and so I dabbled with Photopea - a free online program that is very close to photoshop.

But we had to move along to get to LA before five to turn in the rental car.  But we did have sun most of the way.  Everything was significantly greener than when we'd driven up this way.  

We stopped in Santa Barbara to test the reciprocity between the Anchorage Museum and the Santa Barbara museum of art.  Key areas of downtown maintain a Mexican like architectural style. Below is the city hall.

And here's a nearby city parking garage, where parking was free for the first 75 minutes.  Since we didn't have too much time, that was perfect.  

Then on back to LA where we dropped off the car and found a good vegan restaurant.  In LA it was threatening to rain again and but the storm held off for another day, and then we got lots and lots of rain.  But we haven't seen any flooding except for the normal rush of water going down the hill the house is own.  Had to rescue trash cans that floated down the street.  

We did have a Persian dinner the other night with lamb shanks. When I stray from the basically veggie and fish, it should be really worth it.  And it was.  Looking forward to being back in Anchorage soon.  

Still Alive - Grandkids Keeping Me Busy

 I've got several posts to put up, but no time.  We drove up from LA along the coast to SF.  The big highlight was Elephant Seals at a beach just north of Cambria.  Lots of pictures coming eventually.  San Francisco is a great place to spend time with the kids.  Doing lots of walking.  There are Alcatraz pics to post - interesting but Elephant Seals so much better for the soul.  There was time with the kids at the Botanical Garden.  Went to Knife Shop Sharpening today, a garden shop, playground.  Tomorrow we're taking food offerings to monks at a Thai Buddhist temple nearby and then to the Cal Academy Science Center.  Here's one pic from driving around today.  Well two, to give it some context.

18th and Mission, San Francisco.

AIFF 2022 Poster And Reaching Avanos (Metacyclicly) [UPDATED September 28, 2022]

My brain has been wandering.  I've got half a dozen posts either in draft form or in that wandering brain.  But sitting down to type them up here has been a challenge.  For one thing, I just got a copy of the 2022 Anchorage International Film Festival (AIFF) poster.  

I think it looks great and I'm trying to find out the artist [UPDATE:  Jessica Thorton] so I can give credit here.  The festival will be all live this year, not much Bear Tooth, a lot of museum if I remember right.  

My summer biking Anchorage trails in real life/from Istanbul to Cappadocia in my head is complete. 

Actually, Cappadocia is a region with several major towns..  The biker whose map I was following on RidewithGPS ended up at the far end of Cappadocia in the town of Avanos.  Here are some pictures from https://visitmyturkey.com/en/avanos/.

These are out in the country side nearby.  From Wikipedia:

"Old Avanos is riddled with a network of small underground "cities" which may once have been residential but are now mainly used by the many pottery enterprises. Although there is no documentary evidence to prove when these structures were carved out of the earth, it is probable that work on some of them began in the Hittite period.

As Venessa, the ancient Avanos was the third most important town in the Kingdom of Cappadocia (332BC-17AD) according to the geographer Strabo.[5] Although it was the site of an important temple of Zeus, nothing remains of it today. [5]In Roman and Byzantine times Avanos had a large Christian population who were responsible for the rock-cut Dereyamanlı Kilisesi. [6]Unusually, this is still occasionally used even today."

Avanos, by the route map I was following, is 891 km from Istanbul.  I made it to 897 km on Saturday and today went on to 912 km.  (900 km = 559.23 miles)  Weather permitting, I'm now hoping to hit 1000 km (621 miles).  I thought that was pretty good for the summer until I talked to a friend the other day who did over 600 miles in 13 days in France.  Oh well.  

But I'm hoping that by 2024 at the latest I will have been to Istanbul and Avanos in person.  

Then there's the follow up on the Words in the Constitution post.  

Dimitrios Alexiadis

I've also got pictures from an ACLU event on prisons and the people in them that was co-sponsored with several other organizations that work with prisoners.  Just putting up pictures is relatively easy, but there were important messages as well.  But if I wait too long I'll forget the details.  

And more.  But the bike, the yard, Netflix (watching the rescue of the Thai soccer team from the flooded caves series now - finished two episodes and the international cave divers have reached the boys, and there's still a bunch more episodes to go; enjoying trying to catch as much Thai as I can; don't think this is a spoiler since we saw this live in the news a couple of years ago), and other things steal from blogging.  Oh yeah, got my bivalent booster and flu shot the other day too.  Slightly sore arms, but that was all.  

It's Been A Great, Busy Week With The Grandkids

A quick review of things we did.  

On the only day with any rain at all, we went downtown and walked the solar system from the sun to Mars, via the other planets on the way.  The next ones were too far away to walk.

There was a lot of time at the playground at Elderberry Park (where the Mars sign is), then off to watch people at Fish Creek, but folks said there fish weren't biting.  We went to the Refugee Assistance and Immigration Service farm in Mountain View to pick up some veggies and a Burmese soup.

We hiked up the Wolverine Peak trail to just above tree line.  We saw a moose in the distance.  

They all enjoyed watching the power of the water in Campbell Creek from the bridge on that trail.  

Then we met old friends who were headed for a three day backpacking trip and walked part of the way along Powerline Pass near Glen Alps.  

We went to the botanical garden where I gave S my old camera and she took some great pictures.  (I'll put five stars under her pictures. Two stars for the pictures her brother took.)

*****

*****

Then on up the road to the Campbell Airstrip bridge where they rode their bikes.  They also dropped sticks into the water from one side of the bridge then raced over to see it come out the other side and down the creek til they couldn't see it any more.  

**

We made wishes before blowing the dandelion seeds.

Then yesterday, on their last full day here we headed south.  A short stop at McHugh Creek.

*****

Then to the Wild Animal Park.  I'd been there once, a long time ago, with a group.  Then it was all drive through.  Now you can walk or drive, but walking lets you see things you can't see driving.  

*****

And finally to Byron Glacier.  We've watched it shrink and shrink over the years.  But yesterday was a great day to visit.  It was shorts and t shirt weather and you could walk up the remaining ice.  There's a skeletal remains of snow and ice still on the mountain above.  This won't be here much longer, but the kids loved climbing up through the snow.  

That's some of the highlights.  There was a lot of biking too which they seem to truly love.  It was a good week sharing Alaska with the little ones (and their parents too.)  Sadly took them to the airport today.