tastewar.com

Category: Places

  • Celebrating Centennial

    Taking a while to get into gear, but here we are in Centennial, CO, visiting Susan’s folks to celebrate her mom’s 80th birthday. We flew into town on Friday, via a very pleasant non-stop flight on Southwest with a comedienne for a flight attendant. Dusty picked us up in a van he rented far away from the airport, at a fraction of the cost it would have been there. It’s always a great time at the Rowells’ — they are the best of hosts, have a lovely home, and even have a pool in their development. It’s Monday now, and the kids have been to the pool every day. We’ve been working on divvying up cooking duties among the next generation, so Mom Rowell can better enjoy the time with family. Donna’s on duty for dinner tonight, and as her husband Ben couldn’t make the trip, she has adopted Emma as her cooking partner. They are cooking up some halibut that Donna caught in Port Angeles, WA, and brought with her (frozen). Susan’s sisters Donna and Nancy, and Nancy’s husband Craig are in town. Brother Mark, Mark’s wife Rosa, and Rosa’s sister-in-law Violet live nearby, and we will all be traveling to Breckenridge to share a home for 3 days and see the sights together.

    I failed to bring a camera, but I can’t let that be an excuse, as the phone takes generally acceptable photos. Hopefully, I will post more regularly for the rest of the week, with photos.

  • We’re Going to Disney!

    Actually, we’re almost done here, but it’s hard to find the time to write, especially when there’s no free wifi and Internet access in our room costs $9.95 per night. How antiquated.

    We came here because Clara had an optional travel meet at Disney, so we opted to make a short family vacation of it. We thought we were taking the kids out of school for two days, but Friday turned out to be another snow day, so it seems as though they’ll just miss one day. Here’s one pic of us by the castle.

  • Thud.

    Went to watch a “Piano Drop” this evening at MIT Baker House. A semi-regular (based on availability of irreparable pianos) event, though none occurred during my four years there. I brought Clara and Tyler with me, thinking it would be a hoot for them. There were plenty of people there, news crews included, and a helicopter overhead for good measure.

    Well, after all the build-up, it was honestly something of a disappointment (and it pains me to say so). They had two pianos, so it should have been spectacular — a grand piano on the ground, with an upright dropped on top of it from six stories up. In theory, practice should be more like theory. But in practice, it rarely is.

    Here’s video from the original event, back in 1972. Thank goodness for the internet and YouTube, or I’d never have known what it’s supposed to look like.

    A good part of the problem is that after 1984, they moved Amherst Alley (the street behind Baker House that runs parallel to Memorial Drive) away from the building. Subsequent drops (as far as I know) have been done on the Memorial Drive side, in other words, onto the ground instead of a hard surface. Ah well.

  • Fin.

    We arrived yesterday at about 2:15 p.m. Feels good to be home, but we had some floors refinished while we were gone, so that meant lots of furniture to move before we could settle in. Which leaves today for unpacking, tomorrow for “rest,” then Monday it’s back to work!

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  • 98.5% There

    Yesterday was our longest driving day, covering about 465 miles, and leaving about 120 miles for today. We are currently having a relaxing morning with my parents in North Haven, Connecticut.

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  • New Record!

    4 states in just over half an hour. Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania.

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  • 81 78 287 15 Hut, Hut, Hike!

    This morning we leave behind our nth Comfort Inn and head northeast, our intended route to North Haven, Connecticut documented in the post title.

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  • Tubin’ On The Creek

    On Tuesday morning, we drove back to the Visitors’ Center to finish off the kids’ Junior Ranger requirements, and got them sworn in.

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    We then headed across the park to a picnic area where there was also a hike to a waterfall. We had a nice lunch, but we never got around to the hike, because when we got there, it seemed that tubing down Deep Creek was the activity of choice. So we did likewise

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    Then, naturally, we stopped for ice cream on the way home.

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    And while we were in the ice cream shop, it started raining, and hasn’t stopped since, scuttling our plans for a campfire.

  • It Was All I Hoped It Would Be

    We got to have a nice relaxed Monday mornin’, with no need to get on the road and make mileage. After a nice breakfast, Susan and Jenni packed some lunches and we headed into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It was a bit of a drive, and getting down the hill that we’re on is as much of a challenge for the car as getting up it was. When we got to the bottom, we could smell the brakes, in spite of being in second gear the whole way down. Just like when we got to the top, you could smell the engine had been working hard.

    We drove up to the Clingman’s Dome trail, and ate our picnic lunch, then proceeded up the half mile paved trail to the top.

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    And at the top, there was an observation tower made of concrete, with no stairs. A ramp was the only access to the tower, so the entire hike was handicap accessible, and on the way down, we did see someone in an electric wheelchair going up.

    It was a good hike. Not long, but fairly steep, and still manageable by all the kids. When we got to the top, we (would have) had a great view of the surrounding mountains

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    (if we hadn’t been in the middle of a cloud).

    One of us needed a little help coming down

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    but that’s OK. After the hike, we drove back down to the Visitors’ Center, and the kids attended a ranger program to begin work on their Junior Ranger badges. In addition to the program, they must do a lot of work in their workbooks to earn their badges.

    Then on the way back home, we stopped at a pullout along the road to hike down to see Soco falls, which was very pretty. The kids wanted to play in the water of course, or hang out longer, but we had to get going to have time to do some grocery shopping for dinner.

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  • Smokies

    After our boat ride, we headed back on I-40 East and drove right out of Tennessee into North Carolina.

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    We are staying at the home of the uncle of our friend Jenni. It was billed as a “cabin” so we were thinking it would be somewhat rustic, but it is anything but.

    And this is our view out the window this morning.

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    Awesome!