GrrringoZ in Portland...

Wow, what a great weekend!
On a "wim" wife and I sort of decided to go to Portland and visit Helen and Chris. Since this was a weekend that really fit them well (kids "distributed" to various venues so house was sort of open), it was a quick decision.

It is all sort of fun. I've "known" Helen since sometime 1999, but never met her until she and husband Chris made it up to Seattle over Easter. We had far too little time together, so it was sort of agreed upon that we sometime should moosey on down to Portland and take care of the dinner we owed them.

Getting out of Seattle this Friday afternoon took some time, with I-5 southbound more or less congested all the way down to Chehalis. There the backsups suddenly evaporated. Sort of weird. No exits, no "less" amount of vehicles, but the "stall" just disappears. Someone better have done extensive studies on this.

In any case, we got to Portland a tad late, like around 10.30 PM. Helen and wife had planned on doing a short run (14+ miles) early on Saturday morning, so upon arrival, we had a beer, did the house tour, and chatted for some time. Wife went to bed, a bit later Chris got bored with "all the Swedes", and I sort ended keeping Helen up until at least 2.30 AM (not planned in order to give the family some running advantage, we just had a great chat into the "little hours").

Come Saturday morning, wife shakes me and asks if I'm joining them (the girls). I had planned for it, brought all the needed stuff, also knowing that Chris would pick "us" up as needed along the trail. But, after a few short moments of intense brain activity it was quickly decided that with less than 3 hours of sleep, the pillow felt much better!

Shortly thereafter, well sort of more than an hour later, someone bangs on the door and ask "are YOU coming?". It was Chris. It was now 7.30 and time to drive in to the "coffee shop" rendez-vous point (aka "end of trail") to collect the female members of the families.

A coffee shop that also allows dogs to be brought inside can only be described in one word: GREAT! Having excellent cinnamon rolls is just another excuse for being firmly planted in the couch. We ended up sitting there, sipping our javas until suddenly four all too fit women gathered up outside (in Chris' case, a "java" is more like a "super gulp" though).

Check these photos. Can you believe that they have just run not only 14 miles, but also the LONGEST distance anyone of them have run in years, maybe even in a life time (one of them with a stress fracture in the heel).

Back to the house for some bagels and breakfast, shower and getting ready for the highlight of the day; The Oregon Brewers Festival!

Sort of like the Seattle festivals, but this one had a good attribute. Beer was much cheaper! During the afternoon, the sun is also slowly breaking through what can only be referred to as a "marine layer", even though the term is not known in Oregon.
The event is nicely situated in downtown Portland along the Willamette River.

After sampling of brews, a dog walk along the waterfront and seeing the sun finally showing its full force, it was time to break up and go for some more serious stuff: Food AND Beer!

McMenamins/Edgefield winery is a small, or rather correct, large paradise for beverage lovers in Troutdale, just on the eastern outskirts of Portland. Even the wife liked the beer so much so she sent the wine back and asked for a brew - not a boad statement for a notorious wine "sipper"!

McMenamins is a destination that can not be described but has to be experienced. Closest comparison in Seattle would likely be compot with equal blends of Chateau S:t Michelle, Willows Lodge, and Redhook Brewery - but all situated on a dense "campus" in old and restored buildings (old looney bin?). Nothing that just has been "smacked up" to lure unknowing tourists.
Food was good, but service really sucked big time. Not the fault of our waitress, she just had too many plates (literally) to tend to. As it is most times, a management problem, not the individual contributor.

We ended the evening with a screening of "Team America" and those of us who stayed awake had a great time.

Sunday was off to a slow start. Tea and bagels, and then out to Cafe Delirium for the morning's "super gulp" of Mocha. Heading eastbound along the Columbia River Highway, we stopped at the Sandy River to give Phoebe a well deserved swim (she's been an angel this weekend) and continuing on to the Vista House and Multnomah Falls.

Our great weekend in Portland ended at an old traditional restaurant (name's passing me by) overlooking the Sandy River. Chicken, Baby Back Ribs and dumplings. Can it be more home cooking than so?

Helen and Chris; thanks for a great weekend and thanks for opening up your house also to the "big horse" (aka Phoebe).

We eventually took the long way home heading east along the Columbia River and then north from Carson (backside of Mount S:t Helens). Did the mistake of "chicken out and cutting out" to I-5 and - again - getting stuck in backups that started somewhere near Chehalis (what is it with that town?), instead of continuing on the small and winding forest roads until Randle. Oh well...

DoeZ it ever end....?

Yesterday, the "new" owner of the Seattle SuperSonics, Clay Bennett, again started low profile discussions with - this time - the City of Seattle regarding the future of the NBA team.

When will this end? The Sonics have a home, Key Arena, and in the spring they were dead set on leaving it in favor for the city of Renton - providing the taxpayers would have funded a new arena to the tune of some $300M (or, in other speak, $300,000,000).
A smart legislature decided to not even bring up that idea of "financing" for discussion, leading Bennett to likely move the team out of state.

But, is Bennett now getting cold feet, or is he just trying to gracefully get out of the KeyArean lease (runs through 2010).
Quoted from today's Seattle Times:
"KeyArena can be a fine building for certain events" but would not be profitable for the NBA even with a $200 million expansion, he said.
If the public wants the Sonics and Storm to stay here, "we need a new building" — whether at Seattle Center or elsewhere."

The most recent renovation of KeyArena - taxpayer funded and requested by the SuperSonics - is not paid off. The team does not even fill the arena today. Who on earth thinks the team would fill an even bigger arena? People do not go to see the Sonics due to the building, they go for the team, for the sports, for the entertainment. If the team is not "up to par" (=winning), people will not come.

Today's KeyArena is a fine "anchor" facility in the middle of the Seattle Center. It will remain a fine anchor facility and a great asset to the Seattle Center even tomorrow - with or without the Sonics and its greedy out-of-stater - and certainly w/o any injection of a few hundred million dollars. That money better be spent on our transportion system, most notably a tunnel to lead traffic away from our wonderful waterfront!

In-lawZ in town

Wife's dad+step mom, and brother+wife arrived today. Planned for the day was a trip on the boat out on the lake, if weather was good and time permitted, out on the sound and down to Pike Place Market.
After having had a scorcher for some time, the weather shifted and we got a good soaking Monday night. Even at mid-day today, I was still unsure weather this actually would work or not. As we packed up the boat to go down to the ramp, a few sprinkles fell on the canopy. Yikes!

Out on the lake, we got about 10 more drops, but it all turned out to be a perfect day; Few boats out, not too hot, no wait for the locks, and a quiet sound.
Wife of course was grouchy because the market closed shortly after we arrived, but speed limit in town is 7 knots, like it or not.
Market's open tomorrow and it'll likely be raining anyway.
Until then, enjoy the photos!

Zcorcher...

Well, today is HOT up here, VERY hot!
Still, nothing compared to Texas and other places in the south.
I used to go running when it was 105F in Texas w/o any major problems, in fact I even enjoyed it, but here (even though the air is fresher and the humidity is lower) it FEELS warmer. Man kind adapt and adjust quickly and accordingly.

That said, due to the fact my office is facing west and the sun also happens to set in that general direction, it is getting to be close to unbearable inside. Having the PC running does not help either. So, for a few hours now it is "PC-off" time and time to care of other stuff.

AmaZing SamZung

Not often that stuff seen on the internet truly impresses me, but this one is a price winner. Check out the Can-Can dancer a few minutes in.

And, once fully downloaded, do a fast replay (move the "handle" on the time bar manually).
Certainly beats the Soviet-era mass "routines" hands down. Amazing!

Znow on Granite Mountain

Decided yesterday to take the dogs hiking up in the snow. Picked the ONLY rainy day - but in retrospect also the perfect day!

Granite Mountain is a good training hike. About 3,600 vertical in just over 4 miles. On a hot summer day, it can be a smelter! Once you exit the forest at about 4,000 feet, you are exposed to the scorching sun. If hiking with dogs, there is a stretch here that has no or little water in the summer - and it is extremely hot. Caution is advised. Your pouch will suffer.

But today we were in lucky. It rained when we left Seattle, it was overcast at the trailhead and only a few cars. The air was lukewarm and full of refreshing humidity. Perfect day for a quick hike up. Shouldn't take more than two hours!

Dogs knew what was coming and happy to get out of the car. As soon as we started, they sped up the trail, but never further than that they always kept an eye on us. Guarding instinct is deeply rooted! A fair amount of water in the small streams along the trail indicated that there should be a fair amount on snow higher up.

Wife got sort of winded after about 40 minutes or so. Started talking about not making it!? I managed to move the pit stop until we were out of the forest and at 4,300 feet. Everyone got fed and watered. Convinced wife that we just had to make it to 5,000 feet before ANY discussions about turning around. The weather was really perfect, both for humans and dogs, but at 4,600 feet, just after the first little snow field (=very happy dogs), the sky opened up. A real squall with no clearing in sight. I trotted on, eager to get as far as possible. When we hit 5,000, it sort of just stopped, and the sun came out. I was soaked, but wife pointed out that "there's the summit" (she been there once before) - a good sign. Since the weather was clearing, and her spirits better, I convinced her to go "all the way". Would also allow for the dogs to get a good run in the larger snow fields on the Northern side of the summit ridge.

We spent about an hour on the summit munching down and lightening our backpacks. Saw a few marmots on the way down, always at a distance. 20 minutes fro mthe car, the sky opened up again and down at the parking lot, both dogs were very eager to both get out of the rain and into a "soft spot" to take a long snooze! All in all, in a slow poke pace it took as about 2h40m to reach the top. All together about 5 hours out in the "wild".

A truly good day in the mountains. Check out some of the pictures here below.

BTW, there was a traffic accident in the West bound lanes at I-90. Accident must have happened just about 30 minutes before we reached the trail head (State Patrol wooshed by us). A tractor trailer with a construction crane seemed to have "sort of" taken aim at a rock wall on the north side of the freeway. That happens...
But, was there really a need to keep the freeway blocked off during this entire time? State Patrol had blocked it down to just one lane before we got there, and that blockage was still in effect when we got off the mountain. Combined, that was much longer than 6 hours, choking the only true East-West route through the mountains.
All for a dinky little accident (it was not even reported on the news - even though we could see a news chopper from the summit).

(and yes, it is rain, heavy rain, you can see in the first image - click on it)