So through October we were seeing temperatures in the 90s and the 100s. Granted they were not the 110+ type of temperatures but they were still pretty darn HOT. Well now that November has officially started things seem to be downright pleasant here. High Temperatures are in the 70's and 80's and aside from the occasional sandstorm it is sunny and nice. Han-Mei and I have been willing to eat outside, our AC is not always blasting, and I have actually worn long sleeves to work about 5 times now.
Work is busier than ever. Working Saturdays doesn't even catch me up anymore. It is going well. I enjoy it, it is just a constant relentless stream of things to do.
Next trip to Portland is in two weeks, which will be nice even though it is only a 1.5 day trip for me, but we will be there for a week at Christmas. For Thanksgiving we are going to drive over to San Diego and take advantage of Han-Mei's parents living closer than they have in the past.
Now that it is cooler I do hope to get out and hike a bit more than I have to date. It is difficult though as we Sold the blazer so we are back to a one car household again. It is a lot more challenging to pull off here in Phoenix than it was in Portland. Fortunately Han-Mei and I at least work together! Next weekend we are going to try to go up north to Jerome and start to explore the state a bit more than we have. Only getting one day weekends and flying home regularly just doesn't allow much time for exploring so we will take the opportunities that we can.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Fall???
From what I hear Fall has settled into the Northwest. I am not sure that Arizona even knows what fall is. I guess fall down here is went swimming pool is refreshing when you jump in as opposed to feeling like bath water.
Temperatures here are still in the triple digits, although at least those triple digit days are beginning to be interspersed with temps in the high 90's.
I am starting to settle in a bit now. The mornings are cool enough to run outside. We can eat outside in the shade and actually go to the pool while the sun is up. I think Han-Mei got me hooked on trail running. I went again out to South Mountain and did about 4 or 5 miles, but I will admit it got rather hot toward the end and it was only 8 am!
Paid a little visit to Casa Grande (native american Runis) and the Phoenix botanical gardens as well with Han-Mei's parents last weekend when they were in town. It makes me want to check out a lot more of the old cliff dwellings and native sites while we are down here. I find that fact that people could live and prosper in this enviroment without the modern ammenities that we have today amazing.
Life as a contractor is not so bad either. This week alone we got free tickets to a Diamond Backs game, a Blink 182 concert and a Cardinals game. Work has definitely been getting busier. The weeks and hours are long, but at least they seem to go by faster as I am more engaged in the project and have a lot more to do.
I have two trips home scheduled for October, 1 for work and 1 for fun. Definitely looking forward to some good old Oregon fall weather! I even hope it rains!
Temperatures here are still in the triple digits, although at least those triple digit days are beginning to be interspersed with temps in the high 90's.
I am starting to settle in a bit now. The mornings are cool enough to run outside. We can eat outside in the shade and actually go to the pool while the sun is up. I think Han-Mei got me hooked on trail running. I went again out to South Mountain and did about 4 or 5 miles, but I will admit it got rather hot toward the end and it was only 8 am!
Paid a little visit to Casa Grande (native american Runis) and the Phoenix botanical gardens as well with Han-Mei's parents last weekend when they were in town. It makes me want to check out a lot more of the old cliff dwellings and native sites while we are down here. I find that fact that people could live and prosper in this enviroment without the modern ammenities that we have today amazing.
Life as a contractor is not so bad either. This week alone we got free tickets to a Diamond Backs game, a Blink 182 concert and a Cardinals game. Work has definitely been getting busier. The weeks and hours are long, but at least they seem to go by faster as I am more engaged in the project and have a lot more to do.
I have two trips home scheduled for October, 1 for work and 1 for fun. Definitely looking forward to some good old Oregon fall weather! I even hope it rains!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
2 weeks off 1 week on
Well I have been fortunate enough to have spent 2 of the last three weekends in Portland. It was great! Too bad now it is time for the nose to the grindstone and I need to get accustomed to Arizona, and working on Saturdays.
The last weekend in August I ran Hood to Coast with my mates from Nuclear Yellow P. We finished 7th is the men's sub masters category...because yes this is the first year that the whole team is over 30. Depressing I know. We are a co-ed team also but have 4 females running which does not qualify for co ed. I ran well, despite only training on the treadmill down here in Arizona, and had a great time up in Oregon, even if most of it was spent in a van and not at home.
The following weekend was labor day, and HM and I were fortunate enough to come up on Wednesday for work and just stay longer through the 3 day weekend. Thursday and Friday were fun, despite having to commute to Hillsboro for work. We did manage to see a lot of friends and even made it down to the Pearl for First Thursday. The rest of the weekend was mellow, relatively speaking, spent time at home and caught up with some folks. I also was frantically picking hops, which did really well this year. It was also nice to have a few other garden items to enjoy since I so rudely abandoned them!
So after that Han-Mei and I headed back to Phoenix on Monday for a busy post holiday week at work. It is amazing how quickly that restful long weekend disappears.
So this weekend is actually only my second weekend in Phoenix since I moved down here. I spent the better part of Saturday at work but squeezed in a nice dinner and a movie with Han-Mei that evening. Sunday however Han-Mei was studying for her last test so I had to get out of the house. I took advantage of the cooler weather up north and drove 2 hours to the Sedona area where I did an incredible hike. 16 miles up a canyon and then to the top of the canyon ridge where coming over the crest the entire red rock Sedona basin opened up. It was very cool. Sunburned and tired I still managed to make it back to our apartment by 4. The city of Phoenix may be bad, but I know definitely cannot trash this whole state.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Alaska and Back
After just getting used to the temperature down here, we took a little trip to the opposite extreme: Alaska.
This vacation was for our anniversary and a much needed break for HM. My mom just happens to be working in Anchorage at the moment so it was a good opportunity to see her and save on some lodging expenses! Itinerary was as follows:
Friday, 8/5: fly overnight to Anchorage, "sleep" in the airport until our 6am flight to Kodiak Island.
Saturday, 8/6: Arrived in Kodiak, wandered around the town for a bit, saw almost everything there was to see in 2 hours flat. We had a scheduled seaplane adventure up to South Frazier lake for brown bear viewing, but due to the low cloud cover and rain we crossed our fingers for better weather and rescheduled for Sunday. We did discover Kodiak brewery however, which was not a restaurant, not a pub, simply a guy at a counter inside their small brewery right off the dock pouring samples and cheap pints. A couple of chairs and couches, and a whole lot of locals in their rubber boots made for a great place to spend an hour, chat, and share a pint.
Sunday, 8/7: Woke up to a beautiful morning with clear skies. Jumped on a sea plane, which was quite an experience in it's own right, and flew for about an hour to the other side of Kodiak Island to Frazier lake. This was an amazing two hours of seeing almost 15 brown bears. What is a brown bear? Will it is a grizzly that lives within 15 miles of the coast which make them relatively placated since they are fat on salmon. Frazier lake has a fish weir here where the salmon stack up and consequently so do the brown bears. There was a lot of sockeye salmon in the stream at the time, and we were even told that it was late in their run. Definitely a once and a lifetime experience. We got back ate a meal and then headed on back to Anchorage on a tiny Era aviation plane. No security, no overhead compartment, no flight attendant. just about 20 seats on a no nonsense propeller plane where there are only two seats in each row meaning everyone gets an aisle.
Monday 8/8: Mom was back to work on Monday so HM and I just tooled around Anchorage for a bit. We went to the Cultural Heritage Center, which is actually a pretty amazing place. Had some lunch and then went on a short hike up to Flattop mountain, overlooking anchorage. Our only moose sighting was on this hike, a big guy way down the slope from us.
Tuesday 8/9 (Our 3 year anniversary): Tuesday morning we headed south to Seward. Seward is probably my favorite town in Alaska. It is small but a couple of good restaurants. What makes it so spectacular is that it sits on the end of Resurrection Bay with mountain rising up from both sides. After the picturesque drive south we went on a hike toward Cain's head, which skirts the beach along Resurrection Bay. The hike was amazing; running silver salmon (also known as coho), bald eagles peering down at them, and an amazing beach and tidal flat with all sorts of birds and sea creatures. The evening was capped off with a great seafood dinner at "Ray's." Scallops to start. I had a seafood linguine and HM had some really good salmon. It's been a good three years. It deserved some celebration.
Wednesday 8/10: Still in Seward we took a 9 hour wildlife and glacier boat tour. My family had done this the last time we were in Seward and it was one of the most amazing things we did in Alaska, so i wanted to be sure that HM got a similar experience. Again we woke up to a beautiful morning (with calm seas...whew) and the tour did not disappoint. 3 humpback sightings, 2 run ins with Orcas, 650 something harbor seals, sea lions, sea otters, porpoises, puffin's (HM's favorite), and of course the massive Northwestern tidal glacier that put on a pretty good show calving into the ocean. Interestingly enough though it is receding so fast that it probably only has a few more years of actually being a tidal glacier before it starts to retreat back up the mountain. It was an great trip!
Thursday 8/11: Still in Seward today was our day to check out Exit Glacier, which is one of the only glacier's in the world that has a road to its base. Again an interesting area as they mark the glacier's progression by year up the valley (about a mile from the parking lot). There is a sign about 3 miles before you get to the lot for 1821, which is the farthest documented extent. So obviously we did the short jont to the edge of the glacier to check it out, but that was of course after a monumental hike to a climbers shelter at the top of the glacier. Exit Glacier originates form the massive expanse of the Harding Ice field, and if you think a glacier is impressive just imagine a slab of ice as far as you can see of which Exit Glacier is just one small finger. It took 9 miles total with 3500 vertical to get there but it was gorgeous the entire way. A black bear even decided to wander in a meadow, quite a bit lower down from us, but still a great means to cap off the adventure. On the way back we stopped and ate outside at a great lodge type restaurant. I had a IPA from Moose Tooth which I must say was one of the best IPAs I've had. Suffice to say we were a bit beat that evening.
Friday 8/12: Drove back to Anchorage Friday morning, determined to have a better moose sighting than the one way down the hill. Well, after being on the lookout for 2 hours in the car with no luck we stopped at the wildlife conservancy place at the start of the Kenai Peninsula. They have large enclosures with all of Alaska's big mammals so we definitely go a closer look at a moose, as well as bison, bear, musk ox, elk, and reindeer. Once back in Anchorage we met back up with my mom and had dinner at the glacier brewhouse, which had some great food and good beer, but not as good as the Moose Tooth stuff I had.
Saturday 8/13: Spent the morning at the anchorage museum, which was a great cultural exhibit, and a good compliment to the cultural heritage center. I would highly recommend both. The museum also has a lengthy history exhibit, while dated about a decade, lots of information on the development of Alaska. After the Museum we headed up the 40 miles or so toward Wasilla to check out the Independence Mine site. Again a really interesting place, full of history. I continue to be amazed how people were able to deal with such an extreme climate even 50 years ago, let alone the hundreds of years that native people were coping with the conditions in Alaska. I was perhaps particularly interested as I have the same amazement about Arizona, with it's extreme climate. I can only say that I love Oregon.
Sunday 8/14: Today we headed to Girdwood and Alyeska for the blueberry festival there. We arrived a bit early so decided to take a hike in the mud to Winter Creek Gorge where there is a hand drawn cable car in lieu of a bridge to cross the gorge. HM and I took a little ride across, and it was a bit more difficult than I anticipated to pull us over and it was not something for people like me who don't like heights. None the less it was fun. Alyeska was a nice resort, the blueberry festival was a bit of a let down, we did not even find any blueberries to pick! There was some good blueberry inspired food though. Fortunately it was rather small and we made it through most of it prior to the downpour we found ourselves in. So we had a wet car ride home blasting the heat to dry off. Back in Anchorage we ate dinner at Moose Tooth Pub and Pizzeria, after passing on it the night before due to what appeared to be a huge wait. I tried two more of their beers, a stout and a ESB, both pretty good. So my review for their beer overall will have to be the best in Alaska. Our flight back was as grueling as our arrival. A 1am departure back to phoenix and arriving for a full day of work Monday with virtually no sleep! It was a great trip though!
This vacation was for our anniversary and a much needed break for HM. My mom just happens to be working in Anchorage at the moment so it was a good opportunity to see her and save on some lodging expenses! Itinerary was as follows:
Friday, 8/5: fly overnight to Anchorage, "sleep" in the airport until our 6am flight to Kodiak Island.
Saturday, 8/6: Arrived in Kodiak, wandered around the town for a bit, saw almost everything there was to see in 2 hours flat. We had a scheduled seaplane adventure up to South Frazier lake for brown bear viewing, but due to the low cloud cover and rain we crossed our fingers for better weather and rescheduled for Sunday. We did discover Kodiak brewery however, which was not a restaurant, not a pub, simply a guy at a counter inside their small brewery right off the dock pouring samples and cheap pints. A couple of chairs and couches, and a whole lot of locals in their rubber boots made for a great place to spend an hour, chat, and share a pint.
Sunday, 8/7: Woke up to a beautiful morning with clear skies. Jumped on a sea plane, which was quite an experience in it's own right, and flew for about an hour to the other side of Kodiak Island to Frazier lake. This was an amazing two hours of seeing almost 15 brown bears. What is a brown bear? Will it is a grizzly that lives within 15 miles of the coast which make them relatively placated since they are fat on salmon. Frazier lake has a fish weir here where the salmon stack up and consequently so do the brown bears. There was a lot of sockeye salmon in the stream at the time, and we were even told that it was late in their run. Definitely a once and a lifetime experience. We got back ate a meal and then headed on back to Anchorage on a tiny Era aviation plane. No security, no overhead compartment, no flight attendant. just about 20 seats on a no nonsense propeller plane where there are only two seats in each row meaning everyone gets an aisle.
Monday 8/8: Mom was back to work on Monday so HM and I just tooled around Anchorage for a bit. We went to the Cultural Heritage Center, which is actually a pretty amazing place. Had some lunch and then went on a short hike up to Flattop mountain, overlooking anchorage. Our only moose sighting was on this hike, a big guy way down the slope from us.
Tuesday 8/9 (Our 3 year anniversary): Tuesday morning we headed south to Seward. Seward is probably my favorite town in Alaska. It is small but a couple of good restaurants. What makes it so spectacular is that it sits on the end of Resurrection Bay with mountain rising up from both sides. After the picturesque drive south we went on a hike toward Cain's head, which skirts the beach along Resurrection Bay. The hike was amazing; running silver salmon (also known as coho), bald eagles peering down at them, and an amazing beach and tidal flat with all sorts of birds and sea creatures. The evening was capped off with a great seafood dinner at "Ray's." Scallops to start. I had a seafood linguine and HM had some really good salmon. It's been a good three years. It deserved some celebration.
Wednesday 8/10: Still in Seward we took a 9 hour wildlife and glacier boat tour. My family had done this the last time we were in Seward and it was one of the most amazing things we did in Alaska, so i wanted to be sure that HM got a similar experience. Again we woke up to a beautiful morning (with calm seas...whew) and the tour did not disappoint. 3 humpback sightings, 2 run ins with Orcas, 650 something harbor seals, sea lions, sea otters, porpoises, puffin's (HM's favorite), and of course the massive Northwestern tidal glacier that put on a pretty good show calving into the ocean. Interestingly enough though it is receding so fast that it probably only has a few more years of actually being a tidal glacier before it starts to retreat back up the mountain. It was an great trip!
Thursday 8/11: Still in Seward today was our day to check out Exit Glacier, which is one of the only glacier's in the world that has a road to its base. Again an interesting area as they mark the glacier's progression by year up the valley (about a mile from the parking lot). There is a sign about 3 miles before you get to the lot for 1821, which is the farthest documented extent. So obviously we did the short jont to the edge of the glacier to check it out, but that was of course after a monumental hike to a climbers shelter at the top of the glacier. Exit Glacier originates form the massive expanse of the Harding Ice field, and if you think a glacier is impressive just imagine a slab of ice as far as you can see of which Exit Glacier is just one small finger. It took 9 miles total with 3500 vertical to get there but it was gorgeous the entire way. A black bear even decided to wander in a meadow, quite a bit lower down from us, but still a great means to cap off the adventure. On the way back we stopped and ate outside at a great lodge type restaurant. I had a IPA from Moose Tooth which I must say was one of the best IPAs I've had. Suffice to say we were a bit beat that evening.
Friday 8/12: Drove back to Anchorage Friday morning, determined to have a better moose sighting than the one way down the hill. Well, after being on the lookout for 2 hours in the car with no luck we stopped at the wildlife conservancy place at the start of the Kenai Peninsula. They have large enclosures with all of Alaska's big mammals so we definitely go a closer look at a moose, as well as bison, bear, musk ox, elk, and reindeer. Once back in Anchorage we met back up with my mom and had dinner at the glacier brewhouse, which had some great food and good beer, but not as good as the Moose Tooth stuff I had.
Saturday 8/13: Spent the morning at the anchorage museum, which was a great cultural exhibit, and a good compliment to the cultural heritage center. I would highly recommend both. The museum also has a lengthy history exhibit, while dated about a decade, lots of information on the development of Alaska. After the Museum we headed up the 40 miles or so toward Wasilla to check out the Independence Mine site. Again a really interesting place, full of history. I continue to be amazed how people were able to deal with such an extreme climate even 50 years ago, let alone the hundreds of years that native people were coping with the conditions in Alaska. I was perhaps particularly interested as I have the same amazement about Arizona, with it's extreme climate. I can only say that I love Oregon.
Sunday 8/14: Today we headed to Girdwood and Alyeska for the blueberry festival there. We arrived a bit early so decided to take a hike in the mud to Winter Creek Gorge where there is a hand drawn cable car in lieu of a bridge to cross the gorge. HM and I took a little ride across, and it was a bit more difficult than I anticipated to pull us over and it was not something for people like me who don't like heights. None the less it was fun. Alyeska was a nice resort, the blueberry festival was a bit of a let down, we did not even find any blueberries to pick! There was some good blueberry inspired food though. Fortunately it was rather small and we made it through most of it prior to the downpour we found ourselves in. So we had a wet car ride home blasting the heat to dry off. Back in Anchorage we ate dinner at Moose Tooth Pub and Pizzeria, after passing on it the night before due to what appeared to be a huge wait. I tried two more of their beers, a stout and a ESB, both pretty good. So my review for their beer overall will have to be the best in Alaska. Our flight back was as grueling as our arrival. A 1am departure back to phoenix and arriving for a full day of work Monday with virtually no sleep! It was a great trip though!
Phoenix update
8/2/11
Hell:
It is a good day when you don't burn yourself on your steering wheel.
It is a good day when you don't come home with a sunburn.
90% have been good days by this definition.
Typically the temps are bearable (go figure)...even with the stickiness of the monsoon season upon us. 100 degrees and rain. It is weird.
I/we drive a lot everyday. 10 miles just to go to the gym. It is a bit nuts, but also the only option, especially this time of year in the heat.
The drive down went smoothly, despite its craziness. 20 hours straight from Eugene. Departed 4:30am and arrived in PHX at 11:30pm. I know that is past my bedtime but I will attribute that to the terrible diesel flavored jumbo coffee I had at the CA/AZ border a 9pm.
Apartment is good. Wife is very good.
Vacation in Alaska next week will be FANTASTIC!
Hell:
It is a good day when you don't burn yourself on your steering wheel.
It is a good day when you don't come home with a sunburn.
90% have been good days by this definition.
Typically the temps are bearable (go figure)...even with the stickiness of the monsoon season upon us. 100 degrees and rain. It is weird.
I/we drive a lot everyday. 10 miles just to go to the gym. It is a bit nuts, but also the only option, especially this time of year in the heat.
The drive down went smoothly, despite its craziness. 20 hours straight from Eugene. Departed 4:30am and arrived in PHX at 11:30pm. I know that is past my bedtime but I will attribute that to the terrible diesel flavored jumbo coffee I had at the CA/AZ border a 9pm.
Apartment is good. Wife is very good.
Vacation in Alaska next week will be FANTASTIC!
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