08.31.03
Posted in Travels at 10:39 pm by Leopoldo
8/31/03
The big trip today was up Grouse Mountain for a view of greater Vancouver. You get to Grouse Mountain via a cable car that climbs the 3,000 fee to the top in about six minutes. The place was obviously built as a ski lodge, which is pretty cool considering this places a number of ski runs within 15 minutes of downtown Vancouver, but doubles as a tourist spot in summer. The best reason to make the trip is the views, which are simply amazing. From the mountain top one gets a panoramic view that spans from Mt. Baker in Washington to half way up Vancouver Island and includes a clear layout of all of Vancouver city. We stayed until sundown and got a spectacular sunset, including a bright crescent moon that was plainly visible even in the mid-evening hours.
The tourist destination also has regularly running shows. We saw a birds of prey demonstration that was nothing different than any other large bird show you might see at the Zoo. It is still quite impressive to be less than two feet away from a golden eagle or a snowy owl. They also have a habitat with two grizzly bears that were rescued off the mountaintop after they were orphaned. Once again, being less than five feet away from 400 pounds worth of bear leaves an impression. By far the cheesiest, most touristy part of the evening, and one that I simply had to partake in, if for no other reason than to say I had done it, was the ‘World Famous Lumberjack Show’. They got two mountain men to come out and compete in axe, chainsaw and tree climbing competitions all while cracking cheap jokes and one liners. An opportunity to watch a lumberjack show was one that I simply could not pass up, mainly simply because of the opportunity to say that I had been to a lumberjack show. I was also quite amazed at all the things they did that you would simply never seen in the puritan lawsuit laden United States. The chainsaws were operated without safety glasses and the jokes had an edge to them, something that would be prohibited by insurance regulations and moral majority restrictions in the good old USA.
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08.30.03
Posted in Travels at 10:37 pm by Leopoldo
8/30/03
This morning Sara and I headed down for the beach right by her dorm. When she asked me if I wanted to visit the beach she and I both envisioned a nice little northwest rocky beach with maybe five or six other people. What we got were five or six hundred mostly naked people. I kid you not, the beach was large and incredibly packed with college students, locals and tourists of all nationalities including whole busloads of Japanese tourists. One pack of camera toting Japanese descended at the same time we did soliciting multiple cries of “no cameras!” and “no photos” from the naked throngs that waited below. Being a bit too crowded for our tastes we headed down beach a while until we found a beautiful spot that was secluded enough and had a significant view of the islands across the harbor where I read ‘So Long and Thanks for All the Fish’ to her. The hike down to, around, back up and across campus turned out to be significant eliciting a steady ache from my calves, which are not used to doing stairs.
After spending most of the day walking around campus we headed out to play tourists in downtown Vancouver. It has been a while since I spent time in a large tourist town and was a bit surprised and very amused by the throngs of people styling and profiling down Robson street as they went pub crawling or club hopping. Current fashion alternates between the interesting, the amusing and the downright ridiculous. I can report that low hanging pants with panties peaking up above are unfortunately still in as are brightly colored designer tennis shoes. For the more elegant crowd shawls seem to be a requirement as is long hair for the young and hip Japanese male. The eurotrash was out in force and brought with them some impressively hideous fashion choices. Vancouver seems to be a main destination for young kids wanting to party, which I am sure includes a number of kids from across the border wanting to take advantage of the 3-year difference in legal drinking age.
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Posted in Travels at 2:07 pm by Leopoldo
I am traveling again, this time aboard a Dash 8 en route to beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia. As I write I am looking down over Seattle at 20,000 feet. The space needle is right under us with Puget Sound, West Seattle and Bainbridge beautifully visible straight ahead. Below I can see two of the cruise ships that are now docking in Seattle. For anyone making this trip I highly recommend getting a window seat, the views are well worth it.
It has been at least three years since I visited Canada, much too long. When I lived in Seattle I would visit Vancouver with some regularity and have nothing but very good memories. I have a story from a trip I tell people when exalting the friendliness of the Vancouverites. A friend and I were in town for the weekend playing tourist, when I asked her what she wanted to do she told me she really wanted a milkshake. I told her I did not know town well enough to recommend a place but we could ask. She was cynical that we would be able to find a milkshake late at night by simply asking someone, to which I replied “you have no idea how friendly these people are… watch this” and stopped the very first person that walked by to pose the question. The fellow stopped, smiled and told me he did not know a good place but that he was sure someone could help us, he in turn stopped the next person to come by and asked the same question. This fellow happily offered a suggestion, which was seconded by another passerby who overheard the interchange and wanted to help if she could. In short order we had three candidates for likely milkshakes suppliers, consensus from a small group on the best of the options and two offers to walk us the four block distance to ensure we had no trouble finding it. Now THAT is hospitality.
We are over Bellingham and looking out at the San Juan Islands now. The captain just came on to say that we would be descending soon, so I think I will close out the first entry.
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08.24.03
Posted in Geekdom at 10:18 pm by Leopoldo
I was sent this picture of the East Coast blackout that hit the US on August 14th. I assume it is real, all I can say is Whoa!
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08.13.03
Posted in Geekdom at 3:54 pm by Leopoldo
I just received this rather nice explanation of the beautiful views of Mars we have been enjoying:
The Red Planet is about to be spectacular! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter’s gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again. The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m.and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m. By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m. That’s pretty
convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history.
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08.11.03
Posted in Music at 3:21 pm by Leopoldo
Listening to the album Hi How Are You Today? by Ashley MacIsaac I came across the odd song “What An Idiot He Is”. Idiot sticks out like a sore thumb in the middle of the quirky techno-fiddle album. I had to stop and look up the lyrics to try and make sense of what this song is suddenly doing among the other music. The written lyrics did not help clear anything up, but here they are for anyone who might get stuck like I do.
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