Around Seattle

First, let me wish a very happy birthday to my dad and Michael's poppy! I wish we could be in Raleigh today for the ribs that were served!

Also before I show some pictures from a recent day in Seattle, here is a picture of the downstairs of the cottage after we finally moved in all of our furnishings and got organized. This picture is taken from the doorway leading into the main room: on the left you can just see our desk, and in front of you is the futon. The double doors ahead open into a closet that also has the hot water heater. Through the door and on the right is a bathroom, and at the end of the hall is the laundry room where there are numerous boxes waiting to be unpacked. Next week I'll post some pictures of the upstairs.

Our big news this week is the visit of Emily's parents and brother to Seattle. They arrived late on Saturday night and spent that night in a hotel near the airport, since they likely would not have made the last Saturday ferry to Bainbridge Island.

Emily, Michael and I ferried over first thing Sunday morning, picked them up at their hotel and headed to Seattle. Our first stop was Seattle University. Last Thursday, we took a huge load of books to my office; the van was so full that its backend sagged. We even spun out one time at a stoplight where we were stopped on an incline. I was afraid we were going to roll back into the car behind us, but once I got the van into a lower gear we were all right.

That was most of my books and things, but I still had a few more that we dropped off this morning.

Here is the nameplate beside my office door. No idea who Robert Grimm is, but I'll look him up.

Here is the office in its primal state. I'll take another picture once all the books are shelved and I've given it a little TLC. I did get to pick the color of the accent wall; naturally, I chose Carolina Blue. (By the way, what a heartbreaker for the Heels last night! I hope the shady characters in the football program get what they deserve, but there's still plenty of hardworking players who deserve a rewarding season. I would have loved to see them win last night.)

You see Michael made himself right at home in the office.

Right beside Hunthausen Hall, where the School of Theology and Ministry is housed, in the chapel. It is a fascinating building that I'll save for its own blog entry. Until then here is a picture of it.

From campus, we made our way to Pike Place and got some lunch. Even though Emily fed Michael his lunch while we waited for our food, he watched with great interest (envy?) as the grown-ups ate.

After walking all around Pike Place, we hopped back on the ferry and headed home. Here is a picture of Emily's parents, Mike and Sue aka Papa and Grandma, with the skyline receding in the background. (You can just make out the Space Needle on the left.)

And here we are, just before Michael spit up on me. Back inside the ferry, Michael enjoyed sitting with his Uncle Tim.

Mike, Sue and Tim will be here for this whole week, so we'll definitely have lots more adventures to report.

Final Approach

At last we've arrived in Seattle and have time to update the last few days. Last Saturday we made our way through Montana, aka the former stomping grounds of Uncle Nick, who worked with the Bureau of Land Management in Missoula and later at the Big Sky Resort. We stopped by the resort and with some cell phone navigation from Nick, we took a tour of the area, including his aquiline old apartment.

Emily and I were impressed with the size of Big Sky Resort: there were dozens of hotels, condos, etc., and ski runs everywhere. It was an enormous operation.

We continued on to Missoula and visited some friends, Kelli and Andrew Larson, who have two daughters, Averi, 3, and Sophie, 1. Emily and Kelli worked together at Loyola for a few years until she and Andrew moved back to their homestate of Montana two years ago. We had a terrific time with them and their kids. Alas, we didn't take any photos of them, but I did find online this picture of Andrew from when he kicked the game-winning field goal in the 1995 I-AA championship game. Go Griz!

From Missoula we continued to Lewiston, ID, where we visited some of Emily's cousins on her dad's side. We stayed with her cousin Betty, who spoiled us with fresh huckleberries and peaches and wonderful hospitality. We had a wonderful visit with her. When were first arrived, Betty's daughter Nancy was also there with her husband and two kids, Gabe and Joe. We enjoyed catching up with them, and they enjoyed meeting Michael.

After two nights in Lewiston, we were up early for the last leg of our journey to Seattle. We were surprised to find that eastern Washington is not verdant at all. The farmlands on either side of the highway were sun-baked and occasionally sun-burned. It wasn't until we reached the Cascade Mountains that the rain began, and it lasted the entire climb through the mountain range, which meant I had to keep my eyes close on the road without taking in the beautiful evergreens around us. The rain let up as we neared Seattle, and once we got to the ferry station it was a light but steady drizzle. We found our ferry without much problem...

...but we missed the 1:oo ferry by just a few minutes! That gave us an hour before the 2:00 and a chance to stretch our legs and look out over the Puget Sound. Michael was definitely happy to be out of his car seat!

Soon we caught sight of the 2:00 ferry approaching the dock.

The upside of missing the 1:00 ferry is that we were first in line for the 2:00. We pulled forward all the way to the bow. Here is the view of Puget Sound through our windshield. On a clear day Bainbridge Island would be totally visible; todayyou could just make out it contours.

Then finally after thirteen days on the road and over three thousand miles we arrived at 9386 Ferncliff Avenue and found our PODS container waiting for us with everything more or less in place -- and also dry!
Here is the cottage we'll be living in. It's one of five properties on the compound. Once we get things settled, I'll post some photos of the interior, but right now it's total mess.
The owners of the compound and all its properties live in a house that overlooks the Puget Sound and the city of Seattle. Their yard is maybe twenty yards away from our cottage and has a fantastic view of the downtown. Emily and I walked out there again tonight to see the skyline at night and it was also a wonderful sight.

Adventures in Yellowstone

Our next big adventure on this trip was our stop at Yellowstone National Park. On our way to the park, we drove though the Powder River Pass. The approach to the pass was really beautiful. Thanks to Poppy and Nicholas who recommended this approach, which they had driven a few years ago in more wintry conditions.

And the Pass itself (elev. 9666 ft) gave us some terrific views (including our minivan in the parking lot). The signage at the Pass informed us that the fences you see in this picture, and which we'd seen throughout Wyoming, were "snow fences" intended to keep snow drifts from coming across the highway.

After spending a night in Cody, WY, which we found to be a charming town, we woke on Friday morning and made our way into Yellowstone. As in the Black Hills, we found plenty of buffalo...

... and also as in the Black Hills, the buffalo sometimes failed to observe simple road signs. I tried to remind this one that only cyclists ride with traffic; walkers should proceed against traffic. He was unconvinced.
One of our first stops was the LeHardy Rapids of the Yellowstone River. They are named for Paul LeHardy, a topographer who fell out of his raft here. Fool(le)hardy though he was, he survived and gave his name to the rapids he failed to navigate.
As you see, this visit to Yellowstone marked the debut of the Baby Bjorn. It was perfect for the short hike we made along the Canyon falls. The trail ended at Artist Point, which afforded a picturesque view of the Lower Falls.

I felt a little tired after the hike, but it was nothing compared to Michael's fatigue. He couldn't even finish the walk before he checked out.Our next stop was the Hot Springs. Here hot waters (160 degrees) bubble up and bring with them minerals that are deposited above ground, creating expansive terraces.

The hot water streams across the terraces, and visitors are strongly encouraged to avoid contact with the water. Just look what happened to Theodore Cleaver when he ventured off the boardwalk. Wally never would have flouted the rules like the Beav.

Last but not least was Old Faithful, of course, which I mistakenly called "Old Geyser" for most of the day. It erupts every 60-90 minutes, and when we arrived at the Visitor Center around 5:30, we learned that the next eruption would occur at 5:58 +/- 10 minutes. This left us some time to hit the gift shop and make our way back to the old geyser.

The seating was full on either side of the faithful geyser. The crowd was tense with anticipation, with many non-specialists suddenly becoming experts at interpreting geysers. Every time there was a change in the steam coming out of the hole, someone said, "Here we go!" only to watch the steam peter out. Once someone said, "It's getting maaaadder." Around 5:58 we saw some water sloshing around the hole and everyone readied their cameras. False alarm. Then more sloshing water: "Here is comes! Get the camera!" False alarm.
Finally, the anticipation was relieved when the blast shot forth. It was a breathtaking sight aginst the blue sky and it last for a couple of minutes.

Michael was already getting out of sorts waiting for the Old Geyser (indeed, so was the whole crowd!), so once the show was over, we drove out of the park. With no time for dinner, Emily and I convinced ourselves it would be all right to make a Blizzard from Dairy Queen our supper. Not a dinner to be proud of, but it was delicious and refreshing.

Badlands and the Black Hills

After having our first taste of buffalo for dinner, we spent Monday night in Kadoka, SD, which positioned us well to start Tuesday in Badlands National Park.

Once the bed of a shallow but enormous ocean that spread over the Great Plains, as evidenced by the many fossils of ancient aquatic life it has yielded, the Badlands National Park is now known for the rugged and beautiful rock formations that have been sculpted by centuries of wind. Alas, in 500,000 years or so the wind will have blown the soft rock away completely, returning the land to the plain it originally was 500,000 years ago.

In the meantime, the formations are quite a sight, not only for their shape but also for their layers of color.

Michael slept through our drive through the Park, which meant that Em and I had to take turns getting out at the designated overlooks. And since Michael sleeps best when the van is in motion, those stops were few.

The loop through the Badlands empties into the town of Wall, which is best known for its large drug store. Anyone's who's stopped at South of the Border on I-95 in South Carolina will have an idea of what Wall Drug is like, not only because it relishes its own tackiness but because we started seeing signs for Wall Drug about a hundred miles prior to its exit off I-90.

Still, Michael seemed to have a good time saddling up...

...and getting to know some of the locals.

From there we continued to Mount Rushmore. As you approach the entrance, you can catch glimpses of the sculpture, and once inside the park, there is a long approach that leads you to an open square from which you can behold the memorial.

It was a fantastic sight, but even at this distance it was hard to appreciate the scale of the faces, which are sixty feet tall. I kept thinking about the climactic scene in North by Northwest where Cary Grant is hanging on to Washington's face (alas, not filmed on location but on a studio replica).

I didn't want to get that close, but it was hard to get a good perspective from so far below. The museum beneath the square helped by running footage of the workers, suspended by rope, drilling, chipping and blasting.

Leaving Mount Rushmore, we drove south to Custer State Park where we embarked on the "Wildlife Road," with high hopes of seeing some buffalo. Initially, we encountered some mules, which we didn't find too exciting and could not understand why the van in front of us (Minnesota plates) was encouraging the mules to nose around inside the windows. Later we saw some deer and some prairie dogs, which were very cute.

Then at last we came around a bend and right into a herd of buffalo. There were hundreds of them.
That was the good news. The bad news was that they were congregating right at an intersection and snarling traffic there. Plus Michael was crying. Still they were wonderful to see up close!

Our last stop before heading to our hotel in Sundance, WY, was the Crazy Horse Memorial, which is not too far from Mount Rushmore. (We just took a long detour south.) One of the sculptors of Rushmore was invited by the Lakota to design and begin the memorial and now more than fifty years later, they have a long way to go.

Here is the plan for the final sculpture. You can definitely see the rockface taking shape, but there is a lot of granite yet to be cleared. Expected completion date is sometime before the last of the Badlands has been blown away.

Chicago and Beyond

Our next stop after Cleveland was one that we've been looking forward to all summer. We spent all weekend in Chicago with our friends Ben and Claire and their two kids Charlotte, 3 (as of last Tuesday), and Carter, 10 months. I've known Ben and Claire since the ninth grade and Ben and I were roommates all through college, so it was exciting to have a chance to catch up over the weekend.

They were very kind to welcome us into their home, from which we walked to Old Town on Saturday and to the Lincoln Park Zoo on Sunday.

Charlotte and Carter were sweet with Michael. Charlotte is so cute and such a helper. Here she is as Aurora (her favorite princess), playing with Michael in the jumper.

I was also happy to realize over the weekend that Carter and Michael will be in the same grade, so plans are already in the works for them to be roommates at Chapel Hill (Class of 2032), just like their daddies. I don't know if 554 Hinton James and 414 Mangum will available, but we'll see what we can do! (Note from Emily: This is all presuming, of course, that Michael passes up the superior education he'd receive at the College of the Holy Cross.)
The highlight of the weekend, besides just spending time together, was the concert we attended on Saturday. We joined two more friends and watched (or at least heard) the Counting Crows perform at Ravinia, which is an outdoor venue north of Chicago, near Highland Park. Thanks Ben, Claire, Charlotte and Carter for a fantastic weekend in Chicago! We can't wait to return the favor in Seattle!

Leaving Chicago on Monday morning, we headed west on I-90 and made a pit stop in Milwaukee to visit Marquette University, which is a Jesuit school like Loyola University where Em worked and like Seattle University where I'll teach next year.

It was a beautiful campus, kind of urban (it is bisected by a major thoroughfare), but it also had some large quadrangles. The school was founded in 1881 and named after the 17th century Jesuit missionary, Jacques Marquette. This is his statue on campus which I originally confused for Aramis, one of the Three Musketeers.

The funniest part of the Milwaukee pitstop was when I ran ahead to the van to feed the meter and left Em with Michael to grab a bagel for herself. When she got back to the van about ten minutes later, her lips and tongue were both dark blue and I asked what she had eaten. Her first answer was, "Just a bagel," but after looking at her lips in the sideview mirror, she confessed that she also had one of the blue-glazed cookies on display. She had kindly eaten it before coming back to the van, so as not to tempt my gluten-free diet. (Note from Emily: I won't even try to defend myself here. I was totally busted!)

Leaving Milwaukee, we headed for Austin, Minn., which was our stopping place for the day. It was selected for no other reason than it is about six hours from Chicago and that is generally the max we can drive with Michael. After our room was booked, we learned that Austin is the home of Hormel Foods (just check that can of Hormel Chili in your pantry) and, even better, that it features a museum devoted to Hormel's most famous product, SPAM!

We woke up this morning, restocked on fruit and snacks, then stopped at the museum when it opened at 10 am.

It was a terrific museum. I would say the highlights were the exhibit about George Hormel, who founded the food empire, and the exhibt on SPAM's vital role in feeding troops during World War II. Plus, we had our picture taken with "Spammy."

The SPAM museum was undoubtedly our favorite place in Austin. Another establishment worth noting, however, is the town's "The Tranny Shop."

(Apparently, they also service cars here.)

Tomorrow, it's on to the Badlands and Mount Rushmore!