Friday, August 31, 2007
And so I am in Philadelphia now. Arrived Tuesday morning and immediately dove into apartment hunting so I don't have to crowd Phyllis and Bill's apartment for very long. Seems that all the big places - those with pool + fitness ctr + doorman + you name it - have waiting lists. Apartment listings mostly want 1 year leases, minimum, which is longer than I want. So I've been working with the Craiglist: To Sublet file and Realty firms.
I've located a very small but adequate place in the middle of Society Hill, the leafy old Colonial District of Philadelphia. There is a small landscaped park just next door, and buses run right in front for easy connection to everywhere. They have to do their background check, but I sure hope I can get in today, before the start of the Labor Day Weekend.
Gotta say that it feels very good to have found a place. It takes the pressure off, on that score at least. Now I can begin to look for the basic equipment I need - like a bed, maybe.
I've located a very small but adequate place in the middle of Society Hill, the leafy old Colonial District of Philadelphia. There is a small landscaped park just next door, and buses run right in front for easy connection to everywhere. They have to do their background check, but I sure hope I can get in today, before the start of the Labor Day Weekend.
Gotta say that it feels very good to have found a place. It takes the pressure off, on that score at least. Now I can begin to look for the basic equipment I need - like a bed, maybe.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
HEY!!!!
Gotta say I'm proud of my daughter Ellen, who this week is the featured Noted Northwestern Author by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer!! Drum roll please.
Some background info and comments by Ellen are at:
Look 'em up!
Gotta say I'm proud of my daughter Ellen, who this week is the featured Noted Northwestern Author by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer!! Drum roll please.
Some background info and comments by Ellen are at:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/writers/forney/index.asp
Look 'em up!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
August 9 – at Glacier National Park, Northern Montana abutting Canada. Blue skies with high white clouds. Cool and windy today, a change from this summer’s normal state of affairs. Very dry, the driest people here claim to remember. We are in a Stage Two Fire Alert, which means no fires of any kind in the campgrounds or on the trails. Unfortunately that rules out s’mores and stories around the campfire in the evenings. But there are several large forest fires this summer, outside the Park. They obscure the view with a blue haze much of the time. The Ranger talks often focus on how necessary fires are to continue the diversity and health of the forests.
However, the glaciers that are are the focus of this Park are fast disappearing, forecasted to be gone by 2020. Ten years ago there were 37 active glaciers here, now there are 22. The Rangers are giving talks about global warming for the first time just this year. Meanwhile, the people who live here lament over how much snow they used to get every year, with the first blizzard like clockwork on Halloween. But now they get maybe only a foot or two – a sad turn of affairs.
The days have been slipping by so comfortably, easily. Such a nice break from the urban environments. I had to get used to being called Grandpa on this trip, but Roy and Alice have been very interested in stories about when their daddy was young, and how things were “in the past,” and that has pretty much done the trick. They are both great kids. Very curious, full of good questions and they even remember the answers! At the evening Ranger talks, they are always the kids in the front row, asking questions of the Rangers. It has been such a pleasure to get to know them better on this trip.
The scenery in the Park, the geography, is spectacular. Somewhat milder in the west where we camped for the first few days at Fish Creek Campsite. Later we backpacked in from Bowman Creek to set up camp at Quartz Lake, a cold, clear lake with steep mountains around it that reflect on the surface of the water. The water was cold, but felt great after several days of camping. That backpack was 6-7 seven miles in, and a like amount on another trail on the way back. I was a bit slow on the steeper upgrades, I’m afraid.
By contrast, the mountains were rugged and bare at Many Glaciers Campsite, with extreme cliffs that change color depending on the time of day and how the sun hits them. I was hoping to take the trail to Iceberg Lake which they say is beautiful and has actual icebergs floating in it. However, that trail was closed because at least seven bears had been seen in that region, feeding on the berries that are ripening just now. We did see a bear with her cub up in the mountain, and watched it for awhile through binoculars. Also saw longhorn sheep unless they were mountain goats, a fox, bald eagles, pica, squirrels and chipmunks, and deer. This evening I will be in an area noted for moose sightings, so should be able to add that animal to the list, too.
Then they suddenly announced that the trail to Iceberg Lake was open, so I took advantage of that to join a Ranger expedition going to the lake. Ten miles, round trip, with a 1200 ft. climb. I did it, and enjoyed the scenery along the way, although I was the straggler of the group. This anemia is really slowing me down and I can’t deny it, however much I would like to. I hate feeling physically compromised! But the lake itself lives was spectacular. It is in the bowl of huge mountain cliffs, carved out by glaciers. Only one small chunk of ice was floating in the Lake, but it sure was cold and there were patches of snow around it. It has a glorious and unusual green glow, which they say is typical of glacial lakes because of the minerals they have scoured from the mountainsides.
We did see bears on the climb. Two, a grizzly and her cub. They were right on the trail, between two groups of climbers! We got off the trail to yield the right of way, but they had other plans and lumbered off up the mountain, passing about 25-30 feet from us. The Ranger was disturbed because they were so blasé, habituated to being around humans like us instead of running away. That makes them even more dangerous, and it is likely that they will eventually become dangerous and have to be killed..
Today I pick up the family from their backpacking trip, and tomorrow we are off to Yellowstone. Onward!
*****
August 21, back in Seattle - Yellowstone had a different feel. It is much larger, and the distances between the key sites are longer, so it felt like more time driving on roads. It also seems to be more of a tourist attraction – Old Faithful chief among them, of course. Hundreds of people sit on benches waiting for its scheduled eruptions. The other thermal sites – fumeroles, hot springs, geysers, and mud pots – are interesting to look at, but off limits for their own protection.
However, the backpacking opportunities in Yellowstone are good, since few of the visitors get far away from their cars and the Visitors Centers. We enjoyed our hike in to Grebe Lake, where we saw loons, ducks, coyotes, ospreys, geese, and swans in the evening. I accidetally left a soft-sided water canteen outside the tent, and the next morning it had been carried about 100 ft from the tent and chewed all apart. On a hike from our base camp we almost ran into a large, lone bull buffalo standing right beside the trail. We gave him a wide berth. Those things are REALLY BIG!
While we were having lunch on the trail, we got hit by a sudden thunderstorm with wind, rain, and even hail. Showers continued overnight, and the forecast called for continuing wet weather. That convinced us to leave Yellowstone early. It is no fun to camp out in rain and wet tents. So now, back to dry out the wet tents, shave, wash clothes, and for me, to plan for my relocation back to Philadelphia.
However, the glaciers that are are the focus of this Park are fast disappearing, forecasted to be gone by 2020. Ten years ago there were 37 active glaciers here, now there are 22. The Rangers are giving talks about global warming for the first time just this year. Meanwhile, the people who live here lament over how much snow they used to get every year, with the first blizzard like clockwork on Halloween. But now they get maybe only a foot or two – a sad turn of affairs.
The days have been slipping by so comfortably, easily. Such a nice break from the urban environments. I had to get used to being called Grandpa on this trip, but Roy and Alice have been very interested in stories about when their daddy was young, and how things were “in the past,” and that has pretty much done the trick. They are both great kids. Very curious, full of good questions and they even remember the answers! At the evening Ranger talks, they are always the kids in the front row, asking questions of the Rangers. It has been such a pleasure to get to know them better on this trip.
The scenery in the Park, the geography, is spectacular. Somewhat milder in the west where we camped for the first few days at Fish Creek Campsite. Later we backpacked in from Bowman Creek to set up camp at Quartz Lake, a cold, clear lake with steep mountains around it that reflect on the surface of the water. The water was cold, but felt great after several days of camping. That backpack was 6-7 seven miles in, and a like amount on another trail on the way back. I was a bit slow on the steeper upgrades, I’m afraid.
By contrast, the mountains were rugged and bare at Many Glaciers Campsite, with extreme cliffs that change color depending on the time of day and how the sun hits them. I was hoping to take the trail to Iceberg Lake which they say is beautiful and has actual icebergs floating in it. However, that trail was closed because at least seven bears had been seen in that region, feeding on the berries that are ripening just now. We did see a bear with her cub up in the mountain, and watched it for awhile through binoculars. Also saw longhorn sheep unless they were mountain goats, a fox, bald eagles, pica, squirrels and chipmunks, and deer. This evening I will be in an area noted for moose sightings, so should be able to add that animal to the list, too.
Then they suddenly announced that the trail to Iceberg Lake was open, so I took advantage of that to join a Ranger expedition going to the lake. Ten miles, round trip, with a 1200 ft. climb. I did it, and enjoyed the scenery along the way, although I was the straggler of the group. This anemia is really slowing me down and I can’t deny it, however much I would like to. I hate feeling physically compromised! But the lake itself lives was spectacular. It is in the bowl of huge mountain cliffs, carved out by glaciers. Only one small chunk of ice was floating in the Lake, but it sure was cold and there were patches of snow around it. It has a glorious and unusual green glow, which they say is typical of glacial lakes because of the minerals they have scoured from the mountainsides.
We did see bears on the climb. Two, a grizzly and her cub. They were right on the trail, between two groups of climbers! We got off the trail to yield the right of way, but they had other plans and lumbered off up the mountain, passing about 25-30 feet from us. The Ranger was disturbed because they were so blasé, habituated to being around humans like us instead of running away. That makes them even more dangerous, and it is likely that they will eventually become dangerous and have to be killed..
Today I pick up the family from their backpacking trip, and tomorrow we are off to Yellowstone. Onward!
*****
August 21, back in Seattle - Yellowstone had a different feel. It is much larger, and the distances between the key sites are longer, so it felt like more time driving on roads. It also seems to be more of a tourist attraction – Old Faithful chief among them, of course. Hundreds of people sit on benches waiting for its scheduled eruptions. The other thermal sites – fumeroles, hot springs, geysers, and mud pots – are interesting to look at, but off limits for their own protection.
However, the backpacking opportunities in Yellowstone are good, since few of the visitors get far away from their cars and the Visitors Centers. We enjoyed our hike in to Grebe Lake, where we saw loons, ducks, coyotes, ospreys, geese, and swans in the evening. I accidetally left a soft-sided water canteen outside the tent, and the next morning it had been carried about 100 ft from the tent and chewed all apart. On a hike from our base camp we almost ran into a large, lone bull buffalo standing right beside the trail. We gave him a wide berth. Those things are REALLY BIG!
While we were having lunch on the trail, we got hit by a sudden thunderstorm with wind, rain, and even hail. Showers continued overnight, and the forecast called for continuing wet weather. That convinced us to leave Yellowstone early. It is no fun to camp out in rain and wet tents. So now, back to dry out the wet tents, shave, wash clothes, and for me, to plan for my relocation back to Philadelphia.
