Random Ruminations: Travel

Monterey Trip Epilogue

Posted Sat Mar 6, 2010 in Travel

I suppose I should bring the travelogue to closure. The end was like many ends — a winding down to something approximating an anticlimax. Wife and Young Son packed the bulk of their things Friday night; mine was mostly done. We rose modestly early Saturday morning, performed our morning ablutions, and loaded the Bimmer for the trip home.

Wife and I took Young Son to breakfast at Toasties. He wasn’t exactly a-lert, but we still enjoyed our breakfast. Then it was off on the road for the trip home. Wife and I were a little nervous about road conditions because snow was forecast for the Sierra. At this time of year, there can be snow in the passes and the Bimmer is two-wheel drive and no chains.

We drove through showers on our way across the California countryside. It was obvious to me what brought the early folks to California — the hills are beautiful in the spring. They are green and rough and simply gorgeous. It works for me!

We stopped in Placerville, California for a break at Mel’s Diner¹. I needed a break and Young Son needed to take his pills. My ears were suffering because of my congestion. They would not clear. Young Son complained as well. (I’m so glad I wasn’t flying!) I had a strawberry shake. It was good, but not as good as the strawberry shake from Sonic!

It was a good break and the last one before home. Placerville is about 60 miles from South Lake Tahoe and about 100 miles from the house. We knew the roads were OK and it was just time to slug it out. So, we headed over the hill and arrived home about 1800. It was a little later than I planned, but not bad — especially considering that we were all sick (in various stages).

The trip was OK. I accomplished some of my objectives for going and we managed to spend a little time puttering around Monterey. I’d like to return sometime when there isn’t as much pressure and when the weather is a little better.

¹ “Kiss my grits!”

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Monterey Trip Part III

Posted Wed Mar 3, 2010 in Travel

Thursday and Friday were good days. The weather on Thursday was so much better. The sun was out and there were a few high clouds, but it was not raining and there wasn’t a lot of wind — only the sea breeze.

Wife and I rose a little late. I had a pretty bad night Wednesday night, with fever rising and falling as my body’s immune system worked against my infection. So, I wasn’t exactly spry when I rose. But, I got moving, got showered, and took Wife to breakfast at a diner that works for us — Toasties. Breakfast was good and it was good to be feeling better.

On our way back to pick up Young Son, I stopped at the Monarch Refuge and Habitat. I didn’t know whether there would be many butterflies, but I decided to check. Wife and I walked through the small park, looking at the eucalyptus trees, enjoying the coolness of the morning. We nearly had the place to ourselves. We wandered from the uphill side to the downhill terminus of the walking path, then returned. A New Zealand couple passed used and we exchanged greetings. A couple of older men (older than me) passed us and paused — “How many did you see this morning?” one asked.

“A few,” I responded. They continued down the hill, nodding in response. Wife and I continued walking back to the car, chatting about the looks of the place. Pacific Grove is a beautiful small California town. As much as I despise California politics, there are some beautiful places here… and some decent people. It’s the cities that I have real problems with. But, I digress…

We drove along the coast on the way back to the hotel, stopping now and again to look over the Pacific. The Pacific is my favorite ocean. You can have the Atlantic and the Gulf — I’ll take the Pacific Ocean for a beautiful place to be.

We retrieved Young Son, who was up and about and set out to find some food. We drove down Asilomar Drive and stopped at the Fishwife, a local seafood restaurant. The food was OK — not great, but not awful either. Wife and I had fish & chips; Young Son got the steak he wanted.

We headed off to see the Point Piños Lighthouse to do the self-guided tour. The image at the beginning of this essay is one I made of the lighthouse. It’s another fascinating place. I love this kind of historic setting, because it gives me a sense of what was and a point of reference for where we’ve come. Perhaps I’m just getting old, but I sometimes think we have not made progress in many areas. There was a sense of duty that seemed palpable in that lighthouse. The lives of others counted on that burning light and the sounding foghorn during poor weather. Those who manned the station took that duty seriously and no shipwreck was attributable to a tender error.

With that, we decided to return to the hotel and call it a day. I think we were all a little tired, but wanted to see the outside stuff before the forecast Friday rains arrived.

Friday morning came and we rose and performed our morning ablutions. Young Son continued to sleep when Wife and I left to find some breakfast. We returned after, however, to pick him up. We decided to drive down to Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey and poke around before the rains came.

The day was windy with a promise of rain. The load on the wharf was light and parking was easy, but we had to walk a bit. We could hear seals barking in the distance. Wife really wanted to see a seal. I was hoping for an otter too. As we walked the wharf, restaurant managers plied us with chowder to tempt us in. The place was really light.

The lee of the restaurant at the end of the wharf was welcome. We watched the seabirds and saw a pair of seals working in the harbor. Wife made a few images of them. She would whoop excitedly when she captured one. The gulls and pelicans teased her by flying low over her head, but she was never quite ready to capture them in flight. They are a challenge.

Tired and cold, we returned to the car, but didn’t go back to the hotel; we drove along the perimeter road. I was enjoying the marina and the water — plus I had a feeling I could find a site where there were more seals.

Luck! I found a group of them lolling about on some rocks. I pulled the car into the parking area and we played around for an hour, just chattering and watching the animals — who were watching us. Without a doubt they were as amused as we were. Silly tourists!

When the fun waned, we drove back to cannery row and found Luigi’s where I thought we could get some chowder and Young Son a pizza. As we munched, the rains came. It wasn’t a heavy rain, but heavy enough I didn’t want to be in it. On the way back to the car we stopped to pick up some chocolate to fortify us for the afternoon.

Although I had fun, I was also tired. The bronchitis was working on me still. The evening in the hotel was good and we turned on the fireplace to take a bit of the chill off.

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Monterey Trip Part II

Posted Tue Mar 2, 2010 in Travel

After struggling through the drive to Monterey, I was looking forward to making my presentation and meeting new folks interested in hydrologic and hydraulic modeling. Wife and I rose not-too-early and went to breakfast at a neat little place on Lighthouse Drive called “Toastie’s”. After breakfast we drove to Asilomar to check out the area. As I drove onto the site about 1145, I noticed my friend Pete standing in the lot talking to someone. I pulled along side and introduced him to Wife. He was preparing to meet someone for lunch, so I grabbed my kit (still needing to work just a little on my talk), kissed Wife, and gave her directions back to the hotel.

I went to lunch with a few folks I knew, after buying a lunch ticket. They fed us some kind of nasty chicken and mushroom thing with a scoop of really starchy rice. I picked at my food so I’d have something to work on, but it really was not very good. I don’t know if all their meals are like that, but I’ve had better at a schoolhouse cafeteria! I wasn’t feeling well, anyway.

They headed back and I stopped in the registration/social area to tweak my talk and make a PDF to use. That only took a couple of minutes, then I headed for the Farr Center. I listened to a few talks and worked in my head on my own. At the mid-afternoon break, I greeted my moderator and we got things set up. It didn’t take much. I really like PDFs better for presentations than anything else.

The next session started and went by pretty fast. My talk was OK — neither my best nor my worst. It was good enough. The presentation that followed mine was a glorified sales pitch for a proprietary hydraulic modeling software. I was astonished they let that happen. There was only a little technical content. Oh well…

I called Wife and asked her to pick me up. I was tired. I should have gone to supper with the group, but didn’t feel like it. Instead, we took Young Son to get some pizza then returned to the hotel. I crashed.

I woke Tuesday morning not feeling very well. But, I readied myself, took Wife to breakfast, and hit the facility. I listened to a couple of interesting presentations on modeling the delta and wished, once again, that I’d specialized in hydraulic modeling and wasn’t such a generalist. I really like working with hydraulic models and they are so much tidier than hydrologic models. After the talk, I returned to the hotel, not feeling well. I fell onto the bed and don’t remember much after that. I had a spiking fever — alternately roasting and chilling for the bunch of hours.

Finally, Wednesday morning Wife and I went to get a bite and I couldn’t each much. I needed to see a doctor because I knew I was getting a case of bronchitis. Most of the time, colds don’t stay in my head; they drop into my chest and that will keep me sick for weeks without help. But, finding a doctor on my insurance is damned-near impossible. Wife navigated the plethora of voice menus, becoming increasingly frustrated. I just felt sick and waited. Finally, we decided to hit one of the local clinics and just pay for the service. We’ll turn it in and at least get credit against our deductible.

Doctors on Duty turned out to be the place we picked. It is in downtown Pacific Grove. We arrived about 1145, got checked in, and I filled out the paperwork. I had to make a deposit to be seen. I guess that doesn’t really surprise me anymore. It was about 1315 when I was taken to a exam room and the technician took my history and vitals. My lung capacity was down about 30 percent. Doc Wilkens came in, listened to me, listened to my lungs, and looked in all the appropriate orifices. He was a medium-size man, very caucasian, with thinning gray hair and delicate hands.

“Are you allergic to penicillin?” he asked.

“Nope, not that I know of… I don’t do Biaxin though. I can’t stand the taste side effect.”

He grinned a wry grin and commented “Not tough enough?”

“Well, I thought I could fight my way through it. But, the longer I took the drug the worse the taste got. I finally decided it wasn’t worth it and gave up. Could I ask for an injection?”

“Yes. That will speed up the recovery process.” He finished working on his paperwork, gave me a prescription for amoxicillin to be taken orally with a heavy dose for the first three days and then a normal dose for the remainder of the treatment. “I’ll send in the porcupine.”

We hit the pharmacy (fortunately on our insurance plan) and returned to the hotel. I went back to bed. I just wanted to get better.

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Monterey Trip Part I

Posted Mon Mar 1, 2010 in Travel

It should have been a relatively easy trip over the hill from Carson City to Monterey, California. The distance is about 300 miles. But, that wasn’t to be.

Wife took sick early in the week. What we thought was just a cold dropped into her chest. Of course, it took a couple of days to see a doctor. So, her condition and her ability to prepare for the trip suffered. Saturday rolled around and she was a little better, but without much strength. So, readying herself for the trip was just not happening.

Sunday morning came and we weren’t quite ready yet. Young Son and I took the cats to the kennel, then returned and began staging things in the foyer to load into the car. The weather was dicey, as it sometimes is this time of year. But, the chain requirement lifted about 1000. We finally got the car loaded and headed out about noon.

The road was clear and traffic wasn’t bad. We turned off on Patriot Trail and ran into traffic about three miles from the intersection with U.S. 50. Because it was about 1300, I asked Sue-Sue to redirect us to the McD’s. We took the back streets and got there in five minutes. Traffic was backed up on U.S. 50 all the way north to the light at the boundary road. That was weird.

We got a little food, took a short break, then forced our way into the line. What followed was six hours of stop and go until we got about 10 miles outside of Placerville. I was never able to determine the cause of the hold-up. But, after a few miles, folks started getting out of their vehicles during the long stoppages. They ran along the shoulder, or looked at the sights along the way.

Near Meyers, California, we passed the old stump of a tree someone carved into a sculpture. I don’t know what it means, but it is interesting and the flat light made the texture pop. I love finding things like this along the way.

We stopped in Placerville at the Carrow’s Restaurant for a bite and a break. The stress from the traffic and knowing that we started late and the ruined plans for a nice drive to the coast were telling on me. I was beat, but still had over 200 miles to make.

Break over, we headed out again, just to motor on. I knew it was time to press and just get there, because the week would break and I had things I had to do. Once we dropped into the valley the road was a lot better. However, traffic on I-80 was surprisingly heavy for a Sunday evening. When we turned south on I-680, traffic thinned (and sped up), so I fell in and made some miles.

We pulled into the hotel about midnight. I used the outside phone and woke the manager, Miss Barbara. I was sorry, but she handled it well. We unloaded quickly and I fell into bed. I was done.

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Heading Out Soon

Posted Sun Feb 21, 2010 in Travel

We’re getting the last things together before we head off to PRK¹. I have a conference there early this week (presenting a paper and meeting-and-greeting) that will be interesting. I’ll be meeting a bunch of modelers who work in California. Some I will know from years ago; others will be new folks. I’ve been interested in their work for decades, but am only now getting to know what they do so I can figure out how I can be of service.

I’m planning on taking Thursday and Friday off and enjoying the Pacific Coast. I’m hopeful we’ll get a day of nice weather before we have to return. But, at the very least, it will be good to see the Pacific again. It’s been many years since I visited the Pacific Coast. It’s the coast I love.

I’ll probably write a bit while I’m there. I’m going to make a few images as well and will probably post a couple of them, either here on my Flickr! account. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to the road time. I love to have rubber under me.

Laters…

¹ PRK = Peoples’ Republik of Kalifornia.

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Home from Sacramento

Posted Sat Nov 14, 2009 in Travel

It’s early Saturday morning. I slept well last night, but I was dead tired after a very long week that culminated in a trip to Sacramento to set on a peer-review panel for a U.S. Geological Survey project.

The week truly was a whirlwind. Most weeks I work pretty hard, trying to push project and development work forward. Some weeks,though, get crazy. I received an email Monday asking me to participate in the panel. The first meeting was Tuesday — couldn’t happen. The second was yesterday — possible, but dicey given everything else I’d promised folks. In addition, the weather was looking chancy — snow in the forecast for Wednesday/Thursday (of this week).

So, I pressed on through the week with one eye on the weather and the other on my work. Thursday morning came and it looked like the weather was going to be OK, so I emailed the contact and said I’d be there Friday morning. I got through things that needed to be done and drove home to eat a bite with Wife and grab the few things I needed.

There had been snow in the Tahoe basin and surrounding passes, but the roads were clear. Traffic wasn’t bad and I made good time. I arrived at the La Quinta on the north side of Sacramento about 1630, but because I started work so early, was pretty much done. I set up my mobile office and noticed that the charger for my iPhone battery pack and bluetooth headset did not work. So, I walked to the Office Depot next door to see if they had any micro-USB cables or chargers. No joy — or at least I didn’t find what I was looking for.

When I left the store, I noticed a Boston Market within walking distance. So, instead of getting the truck back out and hunting, I walked to the Market and ordered turkey and mashed potatoes, with a bit of corn. The food was decent — much better than fast food. I finished and walked back to the hotel. It was about 1730 and dark.

Back in my room, I puttered at the computer working on a few odds and ends. I had some work from an early conference call to review and wanted to get my thoughts straight on a proposal I’m working on. I still had some coffee in my old Stanley thermos, so I enjoyed a little coffee while puttering. Finally, exhaustion set in and I hit the rack — maybe about 2100.

Unfortunately, I woke at 0300. That was just too early to rise, but my mind was working and the thoughts were beginning to roll around. So, I did something I never do — turned on the television. There wasn’t much on, of course, but I came across the local PBS:http://www.pbs.org/ station. They featured a lecture by Wayne Dyer. I’ve seen his byline plenty of times but know nothing of him. His lecture was about “enough” or living in contentment without the pressure for “more.” He was talking about a couple of versus from the Tao and he made me think.

I’m not a Taoist, but Dyer’s talk about contentment sent me thinking about St. Paul’s writing on living in contentment and living in the moment. It’s a good thought and a good thing to practice.

I fell back asleep. This was a good thing. I woke again about 0530, got up, showered, made coffee, and sat down at the computer to work on a proposal. I talked to Wife briefly via voice and text, then packed up my gear, checked out, and had breakfast at a Denny’s that was just a couple blocks away and was located near the access to the highway.

I arrived on the Sacramento State University campus early (of course), parked the truck, paid for my parking, and walked into the meeting venue. The meeting lasted two hours, was intense, and mildly controversial. I’ll hold off comment until some time later, but I’m still not really sure why they wanted me there.

My friend David asked me to drop by to visit, so I stopped on my way to his office a Zacalo’s for a bite to eat. This is a mildly upscale CalMex restaurant. The enchiladas were good and the portion size was about right. I didn’t think I could wait until mid-afternoon to eat, so was glad to find a spot. I then drove to my friend’s office and went in. One of his engineers was also at the meeting and they were doing a post-mortem. It was fun to join in. By fun I mean the talk was intellectually stimulating.

Too soon I had to go. I always enjoy time with David — he’s a good engineer and a very clear thinker. I hope to be able to work with him again sometime.

I promised Wife to call before I lost signal in the mountains, so I stopped in Placerville to refuel and get a cup of coffee. I stopped at Mel’s Diner (the original), had a piece of apple pie (a la mode) and a cup. The coffee was good and so was the pie. I’d probably pick Mel’s for anything but breakfast (especially for the pie) and Carrow’s for breakfast (across the very-narrow street).

But, it was about 1630 and time to tuck my head and charge. One thing I’ve noticed about driving in the mountains. Drivers will run really slow through the curvy parts, but then speed up a bunch on the passing lanes — instead of letting faster traffic pass. I have to really lay on the throttle to get past the slow-movers if I want to drive my pace (which isn’t that fast; just a bit faster than the slow-movers).

There was snow on the shoulders but the road was clear. It was pretty cool on top of the hill and my sweatshirt felt really, really good. I coasted down the Nevada side and finally arrived home about 1830. I was tired. I relaxed around the house, puttering around the computer catching up on email and then went to bed.

I’m glad to be home. Mel’s was fun.

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Sacramento, Again

Posted Thu Nov 12, 2009 in Travel

Here I am in Sacramento again. Early this week I got an email from a USGS acquaintance. He needs a peer-reviewer for a project and the choices of date were either Tuesday (nope) or Friday. So, here I am over here again.

It was a day. I had a 0700 conference call and needed to be prepared, so I rose early (0400) and got my homework done. The call took longer than I expected (but was very good), so I was late to the office. Fortunately, the meeting that was scheduled for 0830 was delayed, but delayed too much for me. Nonetheless, I blew through the things that had-to-be-done before I left, then sat another meeting at 1130, then drove home for a bite with Wife and to gather up my necessaries for the trip.

I managed to escape the house by about 1400. I’m glad I waited to leave — there was snow but the roads were clear. I guess there might have been three or four inches along the passes.

It was a good drive. The mountains are starting to look really pretty now. There’s snow on all the high peaks. I love the contrast of the evergreens and the white and gray of the snowy mountains.

I had no problems and arrived here in Sacramento about 1630. Now I’m just puttering a bit while I let the day’s activities settle in. I’m about to call it and hit the rack. Tomorrow will be intense, but interesting. I’m hoping to make a few new contacts as I expand my area of influence so I can develop work. I need more work.

Good night!

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