Summer In Oregon

Got lucky this summer and didn't have to do a lot of travel. Which is good, because anyone from Oregon knows that enduring the long grey winter here and then skipping the summer is like eating the dry edge of a cinnamon roll and feeding the buttery center to the dog. Plus I think the kids would have led an insurrection if we hadn't gone camping enough this summer, again (like last year, where for fun we build a deck instead of take a summer vacation). So here's a couple of shots of our summer destinations

Part 1: Daddy and Abbi Go Camping

For weeks we made plans for a daddy-daughter campout where Abbi would have her first experience backpacking, which she was very excited about. Ironically, the very day we planned to go, it hit 104 in Portland, and she picked up a nice sunburn on her shoulders from trying to cool off at the lake. So instead we headed to the coast to Mt. Hebo with Cade Meier and his girls. We ended up in a huge meadow on top of the mountain with the whole place to ourselves, and were treated to an incredible sunset while the fog rolled in over the coastal foothills.

The girls played, Dads had manly conversation, and in the morning we went for a hike, hit a fish hatchery on the way down, and played at the beach before the obligatory Oregon coast ice cream cone. It never fails to amaze me what an amazing place we live, where I can go from 100+ in the valley to a coastal mountain top with patches of snow remaining in less than an hour, and then go another 30 minutes an be at the beach. Where it looks like this


Part 2: 4th of July in Bend

After having such a good time there at spring break, we decided to head back to Sunriver for a few days on the long weekend. Lots of good times riding bikes on the trails, playing tennis, and hiking along the Deschutes river.



And tons of wildlife to be seen both large and small. On the small side, Zack became obsessed with trying to excavate an ant lion and take it home as a pet that he could feed ants too. It was not to be, but not for lack of effort. Those things can dig fast.


Part 3: Scout Camp at the Beach

Now that Zack is 11, he's old enough to graduate from cub scouts to boy scouts, and go to scout camp. But not without his dad for the first year. It was good times, good beach weather, and sub par food. Zack cranked out 8 merit badges in a week, and had an awesome time hanging with his buddies. Here's a shot of the boys working on their swimming merit badge in some very chilly water





And we had a ridiculously nice view of the beach from our campsite up on the bluff. I'm sure this real estate would be worth gazillions to some developer...luckily its been in the scouts hands for 60+ years, hopefully for many more





Part 4: Rafting the White Salmon River

Growing up in Oregon, I thought I had done rafting before. My experience on the Rogue and the Deschutes consisted of going to the river outfitters with a few buddies, grabbing some rafts or big inner tubes, throwing them in the water and going for it. This time was different. 40 degree water. Full wet suits and helmets. And guide in every raft. And a wild enough ride that I didn't get out the camera for any pictures during the run.

But I did take a couple of shots of Mt. Adams. There happened to be a forest fire at the time, and since the fire was up higher than we were, it made for unique view.




Along the way, we passed several tent cities of fire fighters, camped right by the side of the road.

Shots out the window

Made several trips to the Southwest in April and May this year. I always find myself conflicted when choosing a seat - even though my body demands the aisle, I love looking out the window and checking out the scenery. Flying over the Grand Canyon I got lucky a couple of times and got a clear shot or two







There was still some snow in the Sierras as well.

Cancun Vacation

Once Joanna had tax season wrapped up, we took a well deserved escape to Cancun for a week, far and away the longest we’ve ever left the kids. Fortunately they were in the capable hands of Aunt Beth. We had an incredible time snorkeling, visiting the Mayan ruins, eating good food, and laying on the beach.

Out the window of our hotel was the biggest flag and flagpole I’ve ever seen. I took a picture of it while flying, but against the sky without any size reference to compare to, it wasn’t that impressive. Luckily, the army guys took it down for a few days and then came back to hang it up early one morning. Check out how many dudes it takes to carry this thing

And here it is getting run up the pole


While I didn’t catch any good pictures of the fish while snorkeling, I did get a shot of a bunch of shipwrecks stuck on the reef we were swimming around…casualties of a couple recent hurricanes



We decided that although the water seemed slightly chillier than Hawaii, the sea life was more spectacular and diverse. Besides the colorful fish, we saw an octopus, lobsters, barracuda, and lots of different types of coral.

The Mayan ruins were awesome. We drove our rental car out to Tulum and did a self guided tour there…its up on a cliff above the ocean, with a spectacular beach down below… and enjoyed some time in the water since the sun was blindingly hot that day



We also went to Chichen Itza, and had the guided tour on this one…decided we didn’t want to drive ourselves 3 hours out into the jungle so we took the bus. We passed through some towns that were much more traditional Mexico than touristy Cancun, including this little Mayan town that consisted mostly of a single town square where women sold traditional handicrafts



The ruins at Chichen Itza were amazing, and went on for ever. Here’s the main temple that you've probably heard of, the one thats perfectly aligned with the sun at the summer and winter solstice



Here's temple to the rain god, Chac-mool. At the very top, between the two pillars, is a statue of ol' Chac laying on his back, with a platter on his belly. That's where the officiating priest placed the freshly plucked heart of the sacrifice victim as an offering

And just down the way is the ball court, where two teams of warriors would battle it out to get a little ball through the stone hoops that are about 25 feet off the ground. No hands allowed, just feet, hips, and elbows. Our tourguide said it was unclear whether the winning or losing team captain got sacrificed. It would make for an interesting fourth quarter if you knew somebody was paying a visit to the Chacster after the clock ran out

Finally, we picked up some Luchedor masks for Zack and Abbi while we were there…they put them to good use on the trampoline back home – Nacho Libre style

April trip to Dalian

This is what San Francisco looks like out the plane window when your flight leaves on time. Which for my travel through the city is batting less that .500. No fog, no storm, no reasonable meterological phenomenon to blame for a late departure. So it was noteworthy, or at least blogworthy

Unfortunately for this trip, however, clear skies in the bay area were no match for the fogged-in Shanghai airport. I’ve been told that international flights don’t have any trouble landing in China, but the domestic airlines there require clear skies, since most Chinese pilots are not instrument certified, and need to be able to see the runway to take off and land.….Which begs the question what happens if the fog pops up after we’re in the air…
After several hours of waiting for things to clear, the locals started to get a little restless. A crowd of several hundred ganged up on one customer service guy at the counter…fortunately for us we had a Mandarin speaker with us who could go and figure out what was going on. Here’s a short clip of the crowd scene:

Eventually, the crowd prevailed, and the airline sent buses to pick up the stranded travelers and take us all to local hotels that must base their existence on circumstances like ours…think worn out 1970’s dorm room with a swamp in the back yard. It took quite a bit of negotiating for us to all get our own room, since 1) its completely normal to share a room with others in China and 2) the airport crowd scene was repeated again at the hotel, with buses driving up, dropping off the travelers, and then leaving them with nowhere else to go…and not enough rooms to go around.

Here’s the view out the back of the hotel, consisting of an interestingly swampy canal with a few dudes out trying to catch their breakfast. Unfortunately the fog was a little to thick to get a good shot of them in action. Must have been a little too foggy to take the SS Mudsquid out as well. Although it looks to be ready made for the filming of the Chinese version of Huck Finn….or maybe Deliverance.

The next day the fog lifted, and we made it to Dalian for our meetings and site tour. Trusses are going up at the factory. The construction technique they’re using is to actually drop them into place at the end of the building, and then slide them into place.

To better appreciate the scale, here’s a closeup of some fearless ironworkers riding these things into position

A somewhat less impressive construction technique is the one the concrete workers used here to check how dry the concrete was in the freshly poured auditorium…with their boots



We pass this coal fired power plant every day on our way to the factory. Even though it’s not a nuclear plant, the cooling towers always make me think of the Simpsons, and wonder if there’s a Chinese equivalent of Homer at the controls. I need to ask around to find out the Mandarin equivalent of Doh


Lots of shipbuilding going on in Dalian. We passed the shipyard every day as well on our way to the site…I’ve taken a dozen pictures of the gargantuan gantry cranes being used to build the container ships there…and every time the pictures don’t do justice to it. There’s nothing around to give any sort of scale to how huge it is. So I didn’t add it to the blog, but here’s a picture of an oil platform under construction that I thought was interesting, and it actually turned out ok for being shot out of the window of our van going down the freeway

Spring Break in Bend

Things had been warming up a bit in Portland, so I had visions of riding bikes on the endless trails in Sunriver, maybe even playing a little tennis with the kids. It ended up being a little tough to do in a year with near-record snowfall in the Cascade range. Luckily, we packed the sleds and snow gear too, and headed up to Mt. Bachelor for some snow caving and sledding







Dave Jones and his kids joined us for the long weekend while tax-girl was deep in 1099s…good times for the kids to have their buddies around, good man-time for me and Dave too.

Getting Around Town

Got a chance to try out some transportation techniques I'm less experienced with. The main mode of getting around is the taxi... they're the Chinese version of the VW Jetta, except they're called the Santana there. In Dalian, they're gnarly, dirty and smelly. In Shanghai, they're new, clean, and even color coded for easy selection. Green, yellow, and grey are all state-sponsored and legit. The free-lance taxis are maroon...and more like a disneyland ride. I shot some video during one ride, but it didn't do justice to the adrenaline rush we all enjoyed. Its definitely a full contact sport, with pedestrians, bikes, scooter, taxis, and buses all seeking to occupy the same point in space at the same time. Traffic backed up? No worries, hop the curb up onto the sidewalk..the pedestrians will clear. And if the ride isn't suitably exciting, enjoy the flatscreen monitor in the back of the seats...if you understand mandarin.

The subway is really impressive, and goes everywhere, and is really clean. Its also 3 layers deep, as is shown in the cross section picture here.

It felt a little surreal to be underground in Shanghai watching the highlights of the AFC Championship game on the subway

The coolest way to travel, though, is the maglev train. Its got one stop, and goes from the station to the airport...in 7 minutes....the time it takes to get up to full speed and then come back down again. Here's a shot of the starting time and speed Here's the end of the line at the airport

And inbetween, if you look out the window at 431 km/h (267 mph), it looks like this

Visiting the Big City

The officially listed population of Shanghai is around 20 million people…unofficial estimates including undocumented workers run as high as double that amount. I can’t begin to describe the scale of things….from my 28th floor hotel room there were high-rises as far as I could see in every direction. The shot above is the Yangtze river in the foreground, and the waterfront of Pudong in the background. You may recognize some of buildings from Mission Impossible 3 – especially the tower on the left with the big red balls….which all look grey in this picture because it was so smoggy.

I had the excellent fortune of having Matt and Terry with me - two guys that have spent months in Shanghai and give a killer walking tour of the local street markets and sites.
Here’s a shot of old town. In the center of the display on the front of the building is a large rat, announcing that 2008 is the year of the rat...who looks suspiciously like Jerry of Tom and Jerry fame. Directly behind me as I took this picuture was a nearly identical classical architecture...adorned with a large marqee of the colonel and a KFC. I don't know why I'm so suprised a drumstick with 11 secret herbs and spices would so easily transcend cultures

The sheer number of highrises is mindblowing...up until 1985, the tallest building in Shanghai was 8 stories...I'd estimate that there are over 1000 buildings now >40 stories high. They seem to go on forever

The building on the right was previously the tallest building in Asia…the one on the left, currently under construction, is taller

On the other hand, there's more than just steady high-rise construction. It was interesting to see pockets of urban renewal, where older alleys had been converted to upscale, artsy boutiques. There were plenty typical big-city alleys, with hanging laundry and garbage, but there were others that had the feel of Ashland or Cannon Beach, with swanky storefronts for custom jewelry, clothing, and cafes.

One of these galleries had a display of North Korean propagana poster artwork that I would loved to have had a chance to check out

Window washers in China are not likely nominated for safety team awards very frequently. The guy in this shot was sitting on a wooden plank with two ropes on either side, just like a swing at the park. And that was just how he used it, shifting his weight so he could get it swaying side to side in a big arc to clean the sides of the building

Speaking of safety, check out the powerlines at this busy intersection. Positioned for future growth, I guess