Summer Blog Over

It's official. Summer is over. This blog is over. As you can see by the recent portrait of me taken by K8's mac, enlightenment has been attained. May you and yours have a blissful fall as we transition to that wondrous season of the year - winter! Stay tuned for the winter blog.

More renovations

A few of you loyal blog followers have been clammering for a look at our newly refurbished bathroom. Here's some eye-candy to satisfy your odd cravings! Salut!

Annual Forks of Cheat Forest Triathlon

In the big scheme of things, our annual triathlon is a pretty trivial little local event. But on the personal level, I find it's really uplifting to have external motivators to keep maintaining my fitness. And there's no better time than the end of summer to hold such a motivating event. So it is that Ann and I have hosted the Forks of Cheat triathlon for five years now, and it keeps getting better! This year we had 17 participants (a record), and I think everyone had a great time. I like it especially because it fits with our little community's emphasis on wellness and living in better harmony with the environment.

The event consists of swimming across Cheat Lake (starting at our dock), running the Cheat Lake Trail down to the dam, then biking 8+ miles over varied terrain back to our house. For most people, the circuit is completed in 1 - 2 hours. Kate's friend Julian finished first this year with a time of 1 hour and 1 minute, which is phenomenal (and I think, the best ever). He probably had the fastest times swimming and running. John Souther was extremely fast on the run and bike portions, passing me early on in the bike portion - on a mountain bike! Bill Reger-Nash at age 50+ is a superstar on his road bike, and he caught me on the 2nd to last hill of the bike portion. I ended up 45 seconds behind him at the finish with a time of 1 hr, 17 minutes. I was very pleased with that and quite sure it was faster than last year. The best part was that I felt strong all the way through to the end.

We celebrated with a brunch of fruit, juices and bagels on the deck.

Now, my next motivator looms in the winter: SKI SEASON!!! I better get cracking on the weight training, lower body and core fitness, etc. as well as aerobic activities. In my usual preference for doing multiple exercises, I plan to play tennis (I miss Trevor though!), run by myself, bike with Ann, swim once in a while, and golf, as well as work in weightlifting in our basement. Life is good!

USOpen2006

A tradition in our family for 4 years now has been making a pilgrimage to Flushing Meadows each Labor Day to watch the U. S. Open. A special treat is staying with our great friend Lee Stuart, who lives in the Bronx. This year, as always, Lee was our 'Border Collie', herding us through the train/subway/streets of NYC as only a native can do.

This year, we were very fortunate to have the whole family there (ian drove in from Boston, Trevor from Charlottesville, and Kate came with us from Mo'town). On Saturday, we all went to 'Drumstruck', a cross-cultural audience-participation drumming show using bongos. It was amazing that the audience was as capable as it was in providing background rhythms for the performers on stage, who trained us. Our second row seats were ideal for marveling at the dancing and powerful drumming onstage.

Sunday was tennis-day 1. We saw a long 5-setter with Marat Safin finally defeating David Nalbandian; quite an epic match, but we didn't see too much else that day because it was so long! We did get to see Rafa Nadal play against a relative unknown and his intense energy really won over the crowd. We also caught the end of a Lindsay Davenport match which she almost lost - it was exciting because who knows when she will retire, and she had a match point against her, which she saved, only to then win in the tiebreak moments later.

On the second day, Kate and I had Arthur Ashe tix, and she wanted to see Nadal play there. We saw Justine Henin-Hardenne too, but she was just overwhelming her opponent, so we skipped out to watch Elena Dementieva play on Court 11. Those matches are always so much fun to watch because you are right next to the court. Every once in a while I think I could stay on the court and win a game or two against these top-ranked women. A quick trip to Court 11 convinces me otherwise. Dementieva simply crushes the ball on both backhands and forehands. Even her serve, a notorious 'weakness' is far better than mine. Guess I'll have to dream on...

Kate and I watched Andy Roddick play for a bit at the end of the day in Ashe. He was doing very well.

Pretty cool to see two of the eventual finalists live (Roddick, Henin-Hardenne). Though the Roddick match hasn't happened as of this posting, I suspect we saw the two eventual losers...

Slow Progress on the Home Front

...no, literally the 'home front'! Our builder finally got the frame up for the entryway, so you can begin to see what it will look like. Now, for a roof.

Looking forward to a reunion with Lee Stuart and Kevin and family at the U.S. Open 2006 edition; aka the Andre Agassi farewell show. Ah well, he deserves it. Hope he makes it to Labor Day weekend! I purchased Arthur Ashe tix for Sun. on the off chance that he'll be featured there. Who knows, we might see his last professional match! Wouldn't that be something for the archives? Until then, skol!

Going to Graceland, Graceland, Memphis Tennessee

OK, I didn't actually end up going to Graceland. The secondhand description from some of our grad students was enough. Probably a sin to make the trek all the way to this famous southern city and NOT do the pilgrimage (I must admit, I had the Paul Simon song stuck in my head for a while!). But it sounded way over the top and none too classy. The notion of seeing fans fall into fits of weeping at the grave was just too much for me to handle. Besides, we were there for the annual Ecological Society meetings, and it was difficult to find a window of time to get away long enough to visit Elvis' abode.

The meetings were good, the van trip long. Our grad students did us proud. Good food and jazz/blues on Beale street was worth the trip in itself. The only down side was the high population of homeless, always on the lookout for generous-looking tourists. Now it's back to the nonstop street and buidling construction of Morgantown.

Flying High in Mo'town

While Kevin is flying over the spectacular glaciers of the coast range on the west coast, I am flying over the spectacular hills of WV! Well, not so spectacular, but still always a fun part of my job - going up in a small plane doing remote sensing work. Today we were seeking out Ailanthus from the air, hoping to image females and their attendant seed clusters. My student Matt Kaproth was in the back seat operating our digital Sigma SD9 camera, while I was co-pilot in the front, directing the pilot and saying helpful things like 'Start shooting now, Matt!' The above is one of my photos taken with my handheld digital camera.

People Pics

The top one - we were fooling around lining up this picture in the Louvre - it attracted a crowd! People were laughing at us.

The second one - my favorite street in Paris!

Third - Kate on our boat road on the Seine

Some Images 4 U

The top is of Sacre Coeur at night - we saw this the evening we ate at Le Cottage.

The bottom one was taken from Etage Un par Le Tour Eiffel. I thought it provided a unique perspective on that scene (note shadows!)

This post is exactly one week late! I can't believe we left Paris last Thursday. Well, let me briefly describe our last day, which included some near disasters and some travails along with the travels. Our flight didn't leave Paris until after 5 PM, so we had a good part of the day in Paris. Since we had been seeing sights at such a hectic pace, we decided to take it easy and go for a stroll along the Champs Elysee from the Arc de Triomphe end toward the high fashion district near Place de la Concorde. This was great fun. We bought a postcard and sat down in an open air cafe so Kate could send a report to the WVU Honors Program staff. Then we found a post office and mailed it. We enjoyed visiting car showroom shops where they were showing their 'concept cars' (very cool!), candy stores, and a couple of clothing stores. Finally we made it to the high fashion district. The area where 'If you have to ask the price, you can't afford it!' Indeed the clientele and whole feel of the place changed. We must have walked by Chirac's residence or a place where he was meeting because security was extremely high outside one set of buildings. I think maybe even Kate felt we were in over our heads when it came to even being in that shopping area. We didn't feel comfortable even setting foot inside the door, but it was fun people-watching and window-shopping. We then made our way back to the hotel, retrieved our luggage and they outlined for us the easiest way to Charles De Gaulle airport. By the way, our hotel; l'Etoile Trocadero - was very convenient, centrally located (RE metro, l'Arc, Eiffel, etc.), and the staff was very cordial, helpful, and made us feel very welcome. Despite the tiny rooms, I recommend them - we found them through a package airfare/hotel deal at go-ahead.com.

The trying part of our trip began then - hauling luggage onto the metro, finding the RER station, boarding a packed RER train in the middle of the hot afternoon with luggage (had to be >100 deg. in there!), the 50 minute ride, sweat pouring off of us...nice way to begin a long trip. Getting boarding passes etc. went fine except that British Air Paris personnel 'forgot' to give us our boarding passes for the London-Dulles leg. The flight left 'only' 45 minutes late, but that meant a very tight connection in London - we did have 1.5 hrs to catch the next plane, now reduced to 45 minutes to make the transfer. I thought we'd be OK when I learned we would have to board a bus to get to the terminal and the airline mag. said to allow 50 minutes to get between terminals! Argh. Bottom line, we had to RUN to catch the plane and I was sure our luggage wouldn't make it. And we had no boarding passes. Fortunately, a kindly check-in guy took care of getting those for us and we actually sat together. Taxiing out on to the runway took forever, and we realized something must be wrong. We ended up back at the gate - an ill passenger was taken off the plane, then they had to find her luggage, etc. 1.5 hours later, we still had not taken off. Fortunately, we had no connections to catch at the other end. Once in the air, everything went swimmingly, though little sleep was to be had, so Kate and I checked into a hotel in Leesburg at 1 AM, rather than drive home. We made our way home the next day with no trouble.

Louvre Day

Today our primary goals were to visit the Louvre and then have a final celebratory dinner at the famous 'Le Cottage Marcadet', the memory of which elicits paroxysms of joy from a certain gentleman I know. Anyhow, first the Louvre. We wended our way there on the Metro lines, which we were starting to feel quite comfortable with, exiting at the station labelled 'Louvre'. Emerging from belowground, we realized that if the Louvre was airconditioned, that would be the place to be! We had to wait in line only 15 minutes, but in mid-morning the temps had already soared to >90, and it felt like more in the sun. I snapped this picture of a street near our hotel - Kate has my other images, so I'll upload some more later when I get them to my office.

It's difficult to imagine that the Louvre could live up to its reputation, but in fact it did. To beat the incoming crowds, we made a beeline for the most famous attractions - the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo, passing numerous fantastic pieces of art along the way. Arriving at each of those, the crowds had already gathered, and we therefore stood several people deep away from both. Honestly, Kate and I thought both were overhyped. Part of that impression may have been due to the fact that we really couldn't get as close to them as to the other art on display (ML was behind plexiglas, for example!). What amazed us was how close we could get to everything else! Paintings by da Vinci, Renoir, Matisse, etc., sculptures by Michaelangelo, Rodin; we could walk right up to these and examine the brushstrokes are the chisel marks! We had planned to spend only the morning there, but ended up staying until mid-afternoon, just enjoying some of the main attractions as well as the back rooms with fewer people. I think I could have gone for 5 straight days, spending 5 hours each day, and not gotten tired. The place was huge, the exhibits really well done. They had plexiglass covered explanations in different languages located in most rooms that amounted to a virtual art course if you wanted it. We both thought it was fantastic!

We decided to shower in mid-afternoon and rest prior to heading for Le Cottage. That turned out to be very necessary. I had the hairbrained idea of walking through the Tuileries gardens en route back to our hotel. But it was nearing 100 degrees. We did it anyway, but were drenched with sweat and tired by the time we metro'd back to the hotel.

I won't bore you with all the details of our 5 course meal at Le Cottage. Suffice it to say it was definitely the fanciest and most expensive meal I have ever had. Every course was gorgeously presented, flavorful. and tastefully done. And it took nearly 3 hours! After dinner, we strolled over the hill to Sacre Coeur, which was lit up. Against the deep blue, darkening sky, it was a gorgeous site. Views out over the nightlit city made it obvious why Montmartre, and Paris generally, is so romantic.

Pics? We'll see...battery nearly dead...no converter!

Tuesday – first full day en Paris

We slept fairly late on our comfortable tiny twin beds in our tiny room. First, we discovered the sale de petit dejeuner dan l’hotel, a tiny room in the tiny basement with a tiny kitchen. We weren’t at all sure whether it was self-serve or not. We soon found out it was not, And we were served orange juice, croissants, cereal, and yogurt. And coffee. All quite good.

Then we were off to the Louvre. Quelle excitement! We found our way there easily on the metro and sortied to find…an empty plaza in front of the beautiful building. We had arrived early. Yea! We found our way to the ticket booth and read ‘Le Louvre et ferme mardi’. Sadly, I knew this meant we would be visiting the Louvre on mercredi! Not to worry. A short walk across the Pont Neuf would bring us to Saint-Chappelle et Notre Dame, two not-to-be-missed sights of wonderful Paris. It was difficult to find the entrance to Saint-Chappelle and I was beginning to worry about what lay ahead because Kate had a blister and it was becoming very hot by 10:30! And we were both thirsty. Nevertheless, we bought our tickets and entered the church. I knew the small room we first entered was not the ‘main event’, so we didn’t linger long before climbing the stairs to…WOW…one of the most amazing sights of the trip. St.-Chappelle is an intimate church whose walls are covered in the most amazing stained glass from floor to ceiling. The quality of light created by the stain glass was, well, heavenly! I was stunned. I think Kate was too. I had heard it was beautiful, but I wasn’t quite prepared for it. After attempting to capture it in photos, we reluctantly left for the much larger Notre Dame nearby. We had to find water, and a quick walk through the Palais du Justice led us to believe water fountains were deliberately withheld from public areas to ensure water and other beverage sales! We bought spring water on the street.

Notre Dame was impressive as well, but more for its massive frame and round stained glass way up high in the cathedral. We paid an extra five Euro to see the crown of thorns and pieces of the cross and one of the nails that held Jesus on the cross, but all we saw was a small piece of wood supposedly from the cross. The crown of thorns was hidden from public view in what amounted to a public scam to raise $ in my opinion. Anyway, there were some old papal relicts and a huge silver Madonna statue that were impressive nonetheless.

We found lunch in a little café in the streets south of the Seine (on la rive gauche). Alors, then we walked to Musee D’Orsay. The 19th century paintings there (Monet, Degas, Cezanne, Renoir, etc.) were much more to our liking than the Tate Modern in London. We had a nice relaxing walk through the museum. Then we watched boats going up and down the Seine and decided a dinner cruise might be just the thing. So we walked further up the Seine to the right bank and les Bateaux Mouches. Dinner cruises, we discovered, didn’t happen until 8:30 PM, and they cost something like $160 apiece. Well, that killed that idea. Instead, we took an 8 Euro 1 hr cruise on the Seine, which was quite worthwhile and enjoyable, despite the continued heat. After that adventure, we made our way back to the hotel for showers. We found a French café we are going to try for dinner. We may also try a second ascent of the Eiffel Tower, with the goal being to go all the way to the top to see the lights at night. Should be fun!

Hope you are enjoying these pictures. We are taking lots of them, and it’s always hard to select which ones to post. For those who have been here before, we want to bring back memories, and for those who haven’t, try to capture some of the essence of the city. Hope we’re succeeding at that. French TV is a kick, by the way. Just watched an episode of Frasier in French! Bonsoir to all! I'm going to upload this 'sans images' b/c the internet is being flaky and the battery is running low. Hope to add pics later...

Tuesday – first full day en Paris

We slept fairly late on our comfortable tiny twin beds in our tiny room. First, we discovered the sale de petit dejeuner dan l’hotel, a tiny room in the tiny basement with a tiny kitchen. We weren’t at all sure whether it was self-serve or not. We soon found out it was not, And we were served orange juice, croissants, cereal, and yogurt. And coffee. All quite good.

Then we were off to the Louvre. Quelle excitement! We found our way there easily on the metro and sortied to find…an empty plaza in front of the beautiful building. We had arrived early. Yea! We found our way to the ticket booth and read ‘Le Louvre et ferme mardi’. Sadly, I knew this meant we would be visiting the Louvre on mercredi! Not to worry. A short walk across the Pont Neuf would bring us to Saint-Chappelle et Notre Dame, two not-to-be-missed sights of wonderful Paris. It was difficult to find the entrance to Saint-Chappelle and I was beginning to worry about what lay ahead because Kate had a blister and it was becoming very hot by 10:30! And we were both thirsty. Nevertheless, we bought our tickets and entered the church. I knew the small room we first entered was not the ‘main event’, so we didn’t linger long before climbing the stairs to…WOW…one of the most amazing sights of the trip. St.-Chappelle is an intimate church whose walls are covered in the most amazing stained glass from floor to ceiling. The quality of light created by the stain glass was, well, heavenly! I was stunned. I think Kate was too. I had heard it was beautiful, but I wasn’t quite prepared for it. After attempting to capture it in photos, we reluctantly left for the much larger Notre Dame nearby. We had to find water, and a quick walk through the Palais du Justice led us to believe water fountains were deliberately withheld from public areas to ensure water and other beverage sales! We bought spring water on the street.

Notre Dame was impressive as well, but more for its massive frame and round stained glass way up high in the cathedral. We paid an extra five Euro to see the crown of thorns and pieces of the cross and one of the nails that held Jesus on the cross, but all we saw was a small piece of wood supposedly from the cross. The crown of thorns was hidden from public view in what amounted to a public scam to raise $ in my opinion. Anyway, there were some old papal relicts and a huge silver Madonna statue that were impressive nonetheless.

We found lunch in a little café in the streets south of the Seine (on la rive gauche). Alors, then we walked to Musee D’Orsay. The 19th century paintings there (Monet, Degas, Cezanne, Renoir, etc.) were much more to our liking than the Tate Modern in London. We had a nice relaxing walk through the museum. Then we watched boats going up and down the Seine and decided a dinner cruise might be just the thing. So we walked further up the Seine to the right bank and les Bateaux Mouches. Dinner cruises, we discovered, didn’t happen until 8:30 PM, and they cost something like $160 apiece. Well, that killed that idea. Instead, we took an 8 Euro 1 hr cruise on the Seine, which was quite worthwhile and enjoyable, despite the continued heat. After that adventure, we made our way back to the hotel for showers. We found a French café we are going to try for dinner. We may also try a second ascent of the Eiffel Tower, with the goal being to go all the way to the top to see the lights at night. Should be fun!

Hope you are enjoying these pictures. We are taking lots of them, and it’s always hard to select which ones to post. For those who have been here before, we want to bring back memories, and for those who haven’t, try to capture some of the essence of the city. Hope we’re succeeding at that. French TV is a kick, by the way. Just watched an episode of Frasier in French! Bonsoir to all! I'm going to upload this 'sans images' b/c the internet is being flaky and the battery is running low. Hope to add pics later...

Today we woke up in London around 6.30 (they don’t use colons in describing the time). Dad and I hopped out of bed and got really for the journey, on what was my first train ride ever. Once on the train, I had the chance to catch up on some sleep, summer reading, and sightseeing. My Dad continued reviewing his French, teaching me words and phrases, such as ‘Je ne parle pa francais’, etc. I forget that means but it sounds cool. I think I’ll say it a lot in Paris and see what happens. We were under the channel for about 20 minutes, but don’t worry; they gave us snorkels and fins…just kidding. It seemed like no time at all and we popped out into…FRANCE! Dad was especially excited because this was a new country for him – one that he had read about and heard about in French class a long time ago. It was a new country for me too, so I was excited. There was lots of farm land, but it looked pretty brown. We didn’t know if this was normal or if they were having a drought. The train ride flew by. The train itself was very quiet, and my only complaint was they needed pillows because the headrests were too high for me. In no time, we were entering Paris and saw the beautiful Sacre Coeur on the hillside to our right. We hope to see that up close and personal later in the trip.

Next we had to navigate to our hotel. Having mastered the London Underground, we found the Paris Metro was still a challenge. Particularly hard was figuring out which way to go once we found the line we were looking for. But in no time we found Line 4 south and disembarked at the intersection with line 9, taking it west to Trocadero station. We then hauled our suitcases a couple of blocks to our hotel on St. Didier, a little cross stree in the direction of Arc de Triomphe. I always hate that part about dragging the suitcases through the streets because I feel like such a tourist – I just want to blend in. Ah well. The good thing was that we found our hotel quickly AND they actually had our name down on the reservation list this time so we didn’t have to switch hotels. Thank goodness! This little hotel is cute. We are on the top floor in room quarante-deux. It is a tiny room with two tiny twin beds and a tiny bathroom with a tiny…well, you get the picture.

Time to play touriste. Nous avons marche a le Tour Eiffel, a nous sommes mange une hot dog en route! Sorry I forgot my accent egu on mange… Haven’t I learned French quickly? OK, OK, my Dad’s actually typing this, but I’m dictating some of it -).

We decided to climb the steps of the Eiffel tower, I mean le Tour Eiffel, then take the lift to the top. Did I mention it was a HOT day? Lotsa lotsa steps later, we arrived to the cool breezes of a couple hundred feet up for splendid views. We had enough money to get to the top (Kevin!) but there was a power outage, and the line built up horribly, so we decided to go back down and try another day (or night…). We then marched down the left bank, finally crossing over in front of the Grand Palais and wending our way up to the Champs Elysee. I designed a Toyota Aygo paint job in a Toyota shop (very fancy) and entered a competition to win a Macintosh computer. It had nice green, purple and blue stripes with pink accents (sorry Grandpa) and black areas. On the back door were the ‘theatre’ faces – happy and sad, and I named it ‘Playgo’ (my Dad thought of that – isn’t he clever?).

We continued up the Champs to arrive at the massive Arc de Triomphe. We climbed up a huge number of steps (did I mention it was a HOT DAY???) to the top for an exhorbitant price, but the view was worth it. Finally, we headed back to our tiny hotel room, picking our way through a Lebanon protest group (quite loud and a little scary!), eating our way through a nice Italian dinner, and finally crashing into bed. The end. More tomorrow!

Sunday in London

We moseyed out for a light breakfast again, then headed for Harrod's to return the 'universal' adapter which did not successfully charge our devices...hence the tardiness of this computer missive. I was able to return it, then we shopped (unsuccessfully!) for more bathing suits. Prices are fairly outrageous here, from a western viewpoint. I keep thinking about Chinese prices! We got our errands done in time to reach the changing of the guard (see pics!); quite a spectacle on a beautiful day. We then walked across Hyde Park to Speakers' corner where various religious views were being patiently and logically (!) explained to the assembled crowds. Kate just shook her head!

For the afternoon, we decided to head for the Tate Modern gallery via the London Bridge/Thames riverside walk. It was a beautiful walk. The Tate Modern art displays were mostly beyond our ability to appreciate (!) but there were some interesting pieces. We decided at the spur of the moment to visit the Clink Prison (the prison that gave all future prisons the name Clink!). There we learned about various torture devices and generally what people were imprisoned for over the past 1000 yrs of Britain's history. We also saw the reconstructed 'Globe Theatre' (pictured) above, and the Golden Hinde, a reconstructed version of Sir Francis Drake's ship. What impressed me about Drake's ship was how small it was, given where he went as its commander!

Tonight, we're going to try to find an Indian restaurant to expand Kate's horizons. Tomorrow finds us on the road...er, I mean rail, headed for Paris! Yea! Love to all...

Saturday in London!

We woke up early…OK, not so early. We were up and out by 9:30 AM. We’re finding the Tube easier and easier to navigate. After a breakfast of fruit, croissant and coffee, we found the Tube to Knightsbridge and made our way along the shop-strewn streets to Harrod’s, the department store than swallows up tourists whole for days at a time, and spits them out depleted of their life savings. Harrod’s reminds me of Vegas. Everything is glitzy, overpriced, and designed to seduce. Kate had a bathing suit all picked out that she liked, only to look at the price tag (note: after deciding she liked it) to discover it cost $116. You could get 10% off if you used American Express – whoopee! We didn’t get it. I did, however, purchase a socket converter to allow us to recharge our devices; universal – lots of attachments – would work with anything right? Wrong. But more about that later.

Our next item of business was to visit Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard. Unfortunately we had missed it by ½ hr, but we had a nice look at the Palace and the grand statue outside. Our next agenda items was the half price ticket outlet for the famous west end shows. We had two picked out (Avenue Q and Wicked), but when we got there, tickets were available for neither (at half price). However, the Mel Brooks musical comedy ‘The Producers’ was available, and we had good tix for 30 pounds. So we had a date!

Our next stop was the famous Tower of London. We decided against the full tour and instead walked around the outside and down along the Thames for a bit of sightseeing. By that time we were getting a bit footweary, so we hopped on the tube and came back to the hotel for a nap. Refreshed, we set out for the Royal Theatre on Drury Lane. We weren’t prepared for how grand the theatre was on the inside. Beautiful balconies and lights, beautifully decorated. The play was very well done and hilarious. We topped off our evening by dropping by a wild-looking restaurant we had spotted on the way to the theatre. The restaurant was called Sarastro, and was decorated to the hilt in theatre garb. Four wild gypsy-like musicians were strumming wildly away at wild music as we entered. The prawn entrée and stir-fried chicken breast/vegetable dishes were excellent. As we looked around we realized the décor was even crazier than it appeared from the outside, and the bathroom décor was, well shall we say, indescribable. I’ll leave it at that. What a day!

More traditional views of London

...for your viewing pleasure.

For breakfast, we walked a block to Pret a Manger for pastries and coffee (relatively cheap!), then headed toward Holburn Tube station, a couple of blocks away. We purchased 3 day passes to give us unlimited movement capabilities, and proceeded down to Waterloo station. The Tube was easy to navigate once we got used to reading the maps. Our first destination was the 'London Eye' - pictured above - a really cool huge ferris wheel looking over much of London. It was a great way to get oriented. After the 30-minute ride we felt oriented to the major landmarks of London. We then walked along the Thames and swung into a Dali exhibit. That man was demented! Much moreso than the melting clocks would indicate! Anyway, genius, demented, whatever, there is no doubt he was incredibly creative. There were some wild sculptures tha we really enjoyed. Next we walked across the bridge over the Thames by the Houses of Parliament and past Westminster Abbey to St. James Park, where we found hot dogs, cokes and fruit, and watched geese and ducks swim on the lake. Next we returned to Westminster Abbey to have the GTODP (great tour of dead people). It really is impressive how many of the people who changed or at least controlled the world for years are interred there. Of course, as a scientist, paying homage to Sir Isaac (Newton), and Sir Charles (Darwin) was a must. It was extremely interesting to me that Charles Darwin's piece of the floor has virtually no special attention paid to it, and the inscription was very brief, not even mentioning what he did! Ah well, perhaps the church of England is still not quite ready for his ideas. But he changed the perspective on the world through his insights far more than 99% of the other bodies in there did! OK OK, maybe I'm biased, but kings and queens come and go, the theory of evolution by natural selection is here to stay! Nuff said!

For our next activity (we were getting a bit foot-tired!) we walked slowly toward Trafalgar Square to take in the sights and tourist traps. We then hopped onto the Tube and headed toward St. Paul's Cathedral. There was supposed to be an organ concert at 5 PM. The Tube was temporarily dysfunctional at one point, so we had to walk part of the way. When we got there, we took a load off and listened to the choir singing in an 'Evensong' service. It was very restful and the echoing sounds of the voices did seem like angels.

This evening we went to a true English pub, and I had steak and ale pie, while Kate had fish and chips. Then we wandered back through SOHO to our hotel, tired and wondering what tomorrow will bring! Cheerio to all!

To England!

The trip began at 5:20 AM with quick showers, then we jumped in the Prius and headed through the rain to Dulles. The British Airways line was a little slow, but we got to the gate in plenty of time. The photo above was taken shortly after boarding our Boeing 777. The plane was relatively quiet and there were plenty of channels of movies and tv shows to watch. It was a relatively easy flight, and we arrived on time at 8 PM London time. We decided to find our way to our hotel via the Tube, and had no problem with that. We even found our way to Thistle Bloomsbury Park Hotel with no problem. Then the problems began! They had no record of our reservation, despite handing them a voucher. Another guest arriving at the same time had the same problem. Moreover the hotel was full! So, they booked us in a nearby Thistle Bloomsbury (not Park) that was actually a higher grade hotel! So, here we are. The second picture shows that we are in a suite with two levels, connected by a spiral staircase! This place is COOL! So it all worked out. We bought some sandwich at a local shop at 11:30 and took in some of the street scene here, then retired to our lovely suite. I have a sneaking suspicion we're getting a tremendous deal on this room, by sheer luck. Hopefully the rest of our trip will be as lucky! Hope to keep you updated tomorrow night with more pics!

Off To Europe!

This is papa in the car at the start of your trip to Europe. Left home at 7pm, picked up some little caesar's pizza, and headed away from the sunset. With the help of map-quest and my amazing navagation skillz we managed to make it to the hotel in Leesburg, Va safely. More tomorrow (internet permitting)....signing out... Kate

50th birthday yesterday

It is quite a summer, filled with landmarks. First footsteps on the Asian continent (one more to go! Australia!), funding of my next big NSF grant, trip to London and Paris, and not least, my 50th birthday. It was a low key day for the most part. Ann alerted the staff who alerted my lab about the occasion. A cold stone creamery ice cream cake, helium balloon and slight indulgence gift certificate arrived to the embarrassing sounds of 'Happy Birthday' echoing down the Life Sciences Building halls. They are a fantastic bunch, these students of mine. Then Ann cooked a wonderful steak dinner with lots of fresh garden ingredients in the salad. The mint juleps weren't bad either!

I wish I had some great words of wisdom from the lofty peak of half a century, but all I can offer is small ones. The first third of my life :-) has been a great joy thanks mostly to you who are reading this blog. And while my (close) vision deteriorates with age, I see much more clearly now than at 40, or 30, what is important in life. And I hope that process of gaining clarity of purpose continues on into 60, 70, and 80, continuing to guide my actions. It is an inconvenient truth that we humans have no choice but to learn to live sustainably on this planet. So I hope to use what minimal talents I have in teaching and research to communicate more effectively what steps need to be taken to make this transition to sustainability more pleasant than painful, more joyful than sorrowful, and to convince people that this all needs to be done with greater appreciation and respect for our fellow planetary travelers; the wonderful animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms of the world. That seems like a modest enough goal for the next century, eh?

Thursday - to Europe!

Meanwhile, Back In West Virginia...

...we're replacing/re-doing/re-inventing our front entryway. The little shed roof was never a good design. When it rained, the roof ensured you would get dripped on as you stepped onto the entry porch. Made out of untreated cedar, the front porch had rotted away last summer to the point that Trevor fell through it. While I was able to put duct tape on that temporarily, what we needed was a whole new entry. Found this entry design in a Timberframe homes magazine ad. When a walnut tree fell down on the community property, I bought it, and had it sawn in twain. Now, John Garlow, the guy who did our addition, and a post&beam expert, has framed it in something like the picture shown. Ours will not be so grandiose (no upper roof), single, not double door. New cement front porch may be poured today!

Last Full Day In Montana

Saturday, July 1. While Kevin and family did final packing for Glacier, I packed for a flyfishing day in Yellowstone Park. After goodbye hugs, I drove south on 191, I saw that the Fawn Pass parking lot was not occupied by a truck inspection stop and state police today (as it was on my last trip), so I pulled in and started on my hike to Fan Creek. This little creek is supposed to house 12" cutthroat, rainbow and brook trout. I gingerly crossed the Gallatin over small bridges, nearly flooded by beaver activity, then headed into the woods for the 1.3 mile hike to Fan Creek.

In my Yellowstone fishing guidebook, the header on many stream descriptions has a small shadow outline of a grizzly bear and a moose; an alert to fisherman that they are entering countryside where human animals are not at the top of the food chain. I definitely 'felt' that I was in bear and moose country, a feeling that was only heightened by being alone on the trail. I whistled and occasionally cleared my throat to alert the bears to the presence of unpalatable (hopefully!) human food so they could move out of my way. I kept a wary eye out for trees that I could climb if it became necessary. After a mile, I could hear some animals trotting toward me from the side. Startled I peered over a little knoll to see what was coming, and was extremely relieved to find it was two mule deer bucks. They did not seem particularly frightened of me. I trudged on.

The stream was a beautiful meadow stream, as promised by my guidebook. With my polarizing sunglasses, I saw no fish whatsoever. After an hour of mosquito swatting and casting of multiple flies into suggestive pools, I decided I must be at the right place at the wrong time. So I hiked back out.

In West Yellowstone, I eschewed McD's for a local dive, where I had a 60-year old male waiter serve me a huckleberry shake (good!) and burger. After a visit to a local fly shop and now armed with flies the locals were using, I headed into the Park again. The Firehole river was really tempting me again, because I knew the fish were there. I visited my old favorite 'hole' and tried each of the 3 fly types in succession in a place where I knew there were fish (they were jumping!). Finally, the last fly seemed to do the trick as I got several strikes in succession, and managed to land a small rainbow. Success! Later that day I fished the Gibbon and the Madison. Some more strikes on the Madison, but I was too slow to set the hook. Ah well, it was a gorgeous day to be on the river. I must have stayed until late evening because I didn't get back to Big Sky until after dark.

Oh, one other adventure for the day; I was driving into the park on a 2-lane road with heavy 40mph traffic coming out of the park (toward me). A white Ford taurus veered gradually out of the oncoming traffic as if to pass - the only problem being that I was in his passing lane! I noticed that it was a no-passing zone and there was no place for him to pull back in, so I figured something was wrong. My best quick guess was that he had fallen asleep. I was right. As he approached, the car was still going straight, headed for the shoulder to my right. I pulled in to the centerline as far as I dared to let him pass, and as he got close to me, I honked my horn to wake him up. Out of the rear view mirror, I could see his brake lights flash on and dust flew up as he screeched to regain control of his car. My heart was in my throat for a while after that. After that little incident, I realized that humans were still by far the most dangerous animal in Yellowstone!

Last Full Day In Montana

Saturday, July 1. While Kevin and family did final packing for Glacier, I packed for a flyfishing day in Yellowstone Park. After goodbye hugs, I drove south on 191, I saw that the Fawn Pass parking lot was not occupied by a truck inspection stop and state police today (as it was on my last trip), so I pulled in and started on my hike to Fan Creek. This little creek is supposed to house 12" cutthroat, rainbow and brook trout. I gingerly crossed the Gallatin over small bridges, nearly flooded by beaver activity, then headed into the woods for the 1.3 mile hike to Fan Creek.

In my Yellowstone fishing guidebook, the header on many stream descriptions has a small shadow outline of a grizzly bear and a moose; an alert to fisherman that they are entering countryside where human animals are not at the top of the food chain. I definitely 'felt' that I was in bear and moose country, a feeling that was only heightened by being alone on the trail. I whistled and occasionally cleared my throat to alert the bears to the presence of unpalatable (hopefully!) human food so they could move out of my way. I kept a wary eye out for trees that I could climb if it became necessary. After a mile, I could hear some animals trotting toward me from the side. Startled I peered over a little knoll to see what was coming, and was extremely relieved to find it was two mule deer bucks. They did not seem particularly frightened of me. I trudged on.

The stream was a beautiful meadow stream, as promised by my guidebook. With my polarizing sunglasses, I saw no fish whatsoever. After an hour of mosquito swatting and casting of multiple flies into suggestive pools, I decided I must be at the right place at the wrong time. So I hiked back out.

In West Yellowstone, I eschewed McD's for a local dive, where I had a 60-year old male waiter serve me a huckleberry shake (good!) and burger. After a visit to a local fly shop and now armed with flies the locals were using, I headed into the Park again. The Firehole river was really tempting me again, because I knew the fish were there. I visited my old favorite 'hole' and tried each of the 3 fly types in succession in a place where I knew there were fish (they were jumping!). Finally, the last fly seemed to do the trick as I got several strikes in succession, and managed to land a small rainbow. Success! Later that day I fished the Gibbon and the Madison. Some more strikes on the Madison, but I was too slow to set the hook. Ah well, it was a gorgeous day to be on the river. I must have stayed until late evening because I didn't get back to Big Sky until after dark.

Oh, one other adventure for the day; I was driving into the park on a 2-lane road with heavy 40mph traffic coming out of the park (toward me). A white Ford taurus veered gradually out of the oncoming traffic as if to pass - the only problem being that I was in his passing lane! I noticed that it was a no-passing zone and there was no place for him to pull back in, so I figured something was wrong. My best quick guess was that he had fallen asleep. I was right. As he approached, the car was still going straight, headed for the shoulder to my right. I pulled in to the centerline as far as I dared to let him pass, and as he got close to me, I honked my horn to wake him up. Out of the rear view mirror, I could see his brake lights flash on and dust flew up as he screeched to regain control of his car. My heart was in my throat for a while after that. After that little incident, I realized that humans were still by far the most dangerous animal in Yellowstone!

Arnold Palmer day...

Seem to be waking at 5:55 every day! Laurie is usually up before me, already transacting business over coffee. I enjoy some coffee, then catch up on Wimbledon happenings. Let's see if ol' man Andre can defeat the young whippersnapper Nadal - seems doubtful!

This morning I wanted to see what new things were happening up at the mountain, and with clear blue skies, it was a great morning to take the short drive up there. The views were spectacular, with lots of wildflowers along the roadsides. Steamy clouds draped the lower slopes en route, but the summit shone in the morning sun. Still some snow on the upper reaches. The Swiftcurrent lift was running; they shuttle mountain bikers up so they can come careening down the slopes. I haven't done that little adventure. Yet! There was one new building going up near the base, but otherwise it seemed fairly quiet.

After talking with a number of locals about the mountain in summer, we're quite happy we have a place in the meadow. The Big Sky Town Center is really coming along, with new buildings, boutiques, restaurants, etc. opening all the time. Yet we are isolated from the traffic of that.

Kevin and I had a date with the Arnold Palmer designed Big Sky golf course at 11:10. He rented clubs. I used the old ones stored here in the owners' closet. This has to be the most scenic golf course I have ever enjoyed. In fact, golf is really a difficult, trying, game. But played in this unbelievable set of surroundings, even golf is really fun! I had no pars in 18 holes, but several bogeys and double bogeys. Hey, if it has a name, I'm happy! I lost 2 or 3 balls and found 4, so I was ahead in that department. Anyway, check out this scenery. Please ignore my horrible form. I love Big Sky!

Hike to Lava Lake

Need some exercise (:))! Off to a local favorite hike, which we've never done before. A 6-mile round trip hike to Lava Lake, off 191 north of Big Sky. After watching Wimbledon for a couple of hours, the kids finally emerged from sleep to join the expedition. A short drive later and we arrived at the trailhead. The gradual steady uphill hike was just what the doctor ordered for our exercise starved crew. Nice wildflowers. Nice birds. Hermit thrush. Swainson's thrush. Possible western tanager, but couldn't make it out. After 1.5 hrs of near nonstop trudging, we arrived at Lava Lake to whoops and hollers of other hikers jumping into the 50-some degree water. We watched an immature bald eagle flying from tree to tree along the lake's edge. Fish were rising all over the lake. Beautiful scene. We ate lunch and watched while Colin slowly submerged himself as slowly and painfully as possible into the water. The rest of us were not so bold. We did some botanizing on the way down - yellow columbine, indian paintbrush, engelmann spruce, subalpine fir, baneberry, arnica, numerous vacciniums, and a host of other beautiful flowers. We highly recommend this hike for visitors to Big Sky, and this is a nice time of year with all the flowers and birds. Pictured above is your reward at the end of the trail!

Down Day

Today we had gorgeous weather here in Big Sky - mid 70's to mid 80's and mostly sunny. But it was time to do some errands that had been building up. Washing windows is always fun; the view always sparkles that much more after 1.5 hrs of hard labor. And the garage door track was malfunctioning, so that had to be fixed. Then we met with our property manager to put some additional pressure on to do more rentals. Then some grocery shopping. You get the picture. So I'll give you a picture from the other day's rafting fun. And, as you can see, we did have fun! Until tomorrow...

A Typical Summer Day in Yellowstone

A typical summer day in Yellowstone begins with an early morning croissant and coffee from the local bakery, followed by a short 45 minute drive through gorgeous scenery to the honky tonk of West Yellowstone. The left turn into the park takes you into another world. The Yellowstone patch of NW Wyoming attempts to be a preserve of the pre-settlement west with natural wildlife interactions and minimal human effects. But with 3 million visitors annually, you can imagine this is hard to achieve. The extent to which NPS is able to preserve Yellowstone's character is remarkable.

After visiting Yellowstone many times, one has to work not to get sanguine about what you see nearly every time: bald eagles ('the' nest on the entry road had two young, with parents hanging around nearby), bison (the massive heads of big bulls never fail to make an impression), elk by the dozens (we've decided females are a bit homely, but males with a full rack - wow, hardly a more majestic ungulate anywhere!), osprey (testimony to the abundant trout!), and the steaming, seething landscape of the geyser region. One never knows what other delights you will encounter around the next corner. Yesterday it was 2 sightings of black bears; one lone male (we think; it was large and by itself), and two bears - a mother and cub about half a mile away. The cub was adorable. Colin won the sharp-eyes contest of the day in spotting the first bear; it was about 100 yds away in deep dark woods. I was probably a close second as I spotted the cub running across the hillside 100 yds above the road as I was driving! We also spotted two coyotes yesterday to add to our list. We really enjoyed birdwatching at blacktail ponds along the Mammoth-Tower road, as well as the discovery of a new (to us) 6 mile one-way parallel road out that way with superb scenery and an off-the-beaten track feel.

To top off the day, we flyfished on the Madison at one of the pullouts. Chelsea Jean showed us all up by catching a small brown trout on a fly (with bobber!). Trout were jumping all around, feeding on an impressive hatch. Photo above was taken yesterday.

Monday

I could only resist the pull of Yellowstone so long! I really wanted to wet a fly, so I rose at 6 AM, and was on the road by 6:30, new fishing gear loaded into the trunk. By 7:15 I was in West Yellowstone, purchased a fishing license from a local fly shop, and entered the park. First, I had a date with a fish in the Firehole River. Lunker rainbow trout 1, Jim 0. I know they're in there, but either I was using the wrong fly, or....I was using the wrong fly. Anyway, four flies and two hours later, I gave up on Uncle FireholeFudd, and drove back toward the NW corner of the park en route back to Big Sky. I pulled over next to Grayling Creek on the south side of the divide and fished a short stretch of that beautiful clear creek, followed by a nice stretch of the Gallatin on the north side of the divide. The Gallatin was much bigger water than it appeared and the current was powerful. Still no fish were eager to jump on my hook, but I enjoyed the casting practice and the scenery.

Then it was back to Big Sky for a nap before making a Bozeman run. Ostensibly we were going to an art show, but Northwest Airlines mag. got it wrong I guess, b/c there was no evidence of such. Ah well, we strolled the streets, then had a nice late dinner at Boodles - good food, slow service. Off to Yellowstone tomorrow. Promise pics!

Sunday

I know. I'm posting this a day late!

What did we do Sunday? The two days we've spent so far have been packed with activities. Sunday morning - duel of the tennis titans of big sky at Ophir school! Sorry, no pics of that. Oh, wait a minute. I found one! Here I am reaching for a forehand... Actually, that was Kevin. With 4 extra days of altitude adjustment and practice on the courts, he eked out a 6-4,6-3 victory. The balls were flying off my racquet (long, mostly) - could it be the altitude?

Our next adventure was one I recommend for all our summer visitors here at Big Sky. That afternoon we went whitewater rafting with Geyser Whitewater Expeditions, an outfit located right near Ophir school. We did the lower Gallatin 1/2 day package, with class III and IV rapids (and II). The Gallatin was at a 'medium' level of 1700cfs. Our guide was Dave, an ex-ski bum turned school teacher, who did an excellent job maneuvering us through the boulders. I was quite impressed with the river, having seen class IV and V on the Gauley in WV, and I'd say they were rating the rapids conservatively here. Wet suits were a must for this trip as we got soaked with 42 deg. water repeatedly. But we had a sunny warm day, so for the most part we weren't cold. The trip was 2 hrs long and the action was nicely spaced out. The longest stretch, called the Mad Mile, was class III and one class IV stretch that really got your adrenaline up! Hope to pick up pictures of our expedition today and we'll try to find a way to post it, although they are 'hard copies'. By the way, with five hard paddling people in the raft, Dave said our crew was ideal - we were able to make that raft zoom toward the right place on the river to avoid obstacles. Colin and Chelsea definitely pulled their weight. Indeed, Chelsea made sure we pulled 'THREE FORWARD!' and 'RELAX!'ed at the right times. Great fun!

Home in Montana!

On the flight from Minneapolis, the guy in the seat next to me said 'Going home?' I thought for a second and said,'Yes, as a matter of fact!' It's really fun thinking about flying to Montana and back to West Virginia and going home both ways!

The flight was the easiest one I remember, made easier by new (cheap) noise-cancelling headphones and my ipod. Left Pittsburgh at 8:30 and was in Bozeman by 1:25 PM, even with a 30 min. delay leaving Minneapolis. A walk around the condo complex looking at the fire damage (almost not noticeable now) at the far end of the complex, followed by Yahtzee, followed by a 2 mile loop run around the golf course, made it a full day. Slept like a log, then up at 6 to take this picture from the driving range back toward Big Sky Dream. K&L saw a bald eagle fighting with an osprey yesterday morning. Nothing so exciting this morning...yet...Kevin and I are going to play tennis at Ophir school, then all will go rafting this afternoon on the Mad Mile. More later from Montana.

Ah well, forgive me, I'm going thru China pics

Here is a picture of an area on a Temple of Heaven complex building that has been repainted recently. This is the way it looked in many places at the summer palace and forbidden city too. The level of detail was astonishing, as you can see. Next post definitely from Montana! Cheers!

OK, OK, another one!

This is the entry to Temple of Heaven in Beijing, a beautiful temple all refurbished for the Beijing 2008 Olympics! Many of the famous sites are being repainted and spruced up for the Olympics. The Chinese have tremendous pride in playing host to these games. My prediction is that there will be a sea-change in China as a result of the increase in tourism and world awareness of China that will result. It is clear that that is what China is hoping will happen!