Cycle San Juan

This past weekend, I cycled around the San Juan Islands with three of my friends. We packed up our bikes on and in my van, along with a few days worth of gear, caught a ferry in Anacortes and started our journey on Lopez island where we stayed with a friend of Kirk's.

We arrived on Lopez around 3:30 and started riding around 4:30. We rode Lopez island in a counter-clockwise fashion, stopping at the Lopez Bike shop where you can get a blood transfusion and EPO for the rock bottom price of $25. The owner told us he keeps his costs down by using the same needle for every customer.

At the southern end of the island, near agate beach, we came across the sign above. I was the only person in our group brave enough to wear my spandex from beginning to end.

Kirk is an agate hound and snagged five or six in just a few minutes. We finally had to drag him away...

We rode by this scene in a nearby harbor. Notice that every post has a gull or heron sitting on it.
We rode a little over 30 miles the first day, got back to the house at dusk and headed out for dinner. It's rather hard to find a place to eat after 8pm on the island.

The next morning we walked our bikes onto the ferry for Friday Harbor and San Juan island. We dropped our gear at the Wayfarer's Rest grabbed some lunch and headed out for our tour of the island. We rode up to Roche Harbor where we marvelled at the decadence of the giant yachts in the marina. Kirk and I talked to a man from Port Townsend who was waiting for some friends that were looking at a four million dollar yacht. "They have more money than sense." he told us.

There is a 19 acre sculpture garden nearby. Kirk just had to stop and bang the gong ... it doesn't sound so good.

We headed south from Roche harbor and had a snack at the lovely Lime Kiln look-out and Light house. This section of road was my favorite of the trip. Absolutely gorgeous. We completed our circle of San Juan again with about 30 miles of riding for the day. We ate dinner in Friday Harbor and Mark and I went to see The Bourne Ultimatum at the Palace Theatre. Kirk and Alan were fast asleep by the time we got back to Wayfarer's Rest.

On day three, we packed up everything (we were carrying enough gear for a couple of days) and headed to Orcas island. We got off the ferry and started off. The first mile and a half is mostly up hill. We reached the top of the first big hill, all commented that it really sucked carrying so much extra weight and then noticed that we were standing next to a nice little forested area ... hmmm, caching anyone? We took absolutely everything we didn't need and stashed it in the woods. Much easier going with ten pounds less to lug up these hills.

We had been debating climbing Mount Constitution on Orcas. We knew it would be tough and after two days of riding we were all a little tired. When we reached the turn-off for the Mountain, Mark said, "I think we should do it." "Okay, we'll just go as far as we can." And off we went.

The summit of Mount Constitution is at an elevation of 2,407 feet. The road to the top traverses 4.7 miles. About half a mile up the hill, Alan decided to go check out some water falls. He wasn't sure if he'd make it, but told us to go on without him. He has been riding the least of all of us. We were amazed that he rode so well the first two days, but knew he was spent. Kirk had continued ahead of Mark and I.

We caught-up to Kirk after another half a mile or so and I didn't want to stop, so I kept going. I think Mark stopped when he came up to Kirk. I kept chugging along, but after a little more than half a mile I was begging for a good place to pull off the road. It's a rather narrow, winding road, and I didn't want to stop on the road itself. After about a mile, I finally came to this view point. It's a little more than half way up. I sat down, took some photos and started eating an energy bar when Mark and Kirk showed up. Kirk was totally drenched.

All of us were utterly spent at this point. I begged Kirk for one of his GU packs. We took these photos and decided we'd let everyone assume we'd made it to the top. We were getting ready for the descent when a cyclist came down from the top and stopped at the view point.

We all thought he looked REALLY fresh for having just climbed to the top, only to discover that his mother had driven him up and he was just riding down! He told us that we were nearly through the hardest part of the climb and that it leveled off near the top. WHAT?! Damn. We knew instantly that we had to keep going at that point.

We climbed back on our bikes and started up again. My legs were NOT happy about going up, especially when they were ready to go down, but I suffered through it and after almost a mile, the road did level off and it was almost bearable. Both Mark and I had checked our odometers at the bottom. All of the mileage markers had been over-stating distance for the whole trip for us, usually by large amounts. We were both eyeing our odometers as we went up. After we passed more than 4.7 and were no where near the top, I yelled back to him, "Where the hell is the summit?" Luckily it wasn't too far off.


We climbed to the top of the tower at the summit and knew that the twenty miles back to the ferry were really going to suck.

I have to say that the descent was a lot of fun. We caught up to a camper going 20mph down the hill. He finally pulled off at the view point where we almost turned back. We passed Alan less than a quarter of a mile down the hill from there. I couldn't believe he made it so far.

We trudged back to the ferry and grabbed our stuff along the way. Luckily, it was still there. Alan was leading us much of the way and was first to the top of the final hill. We grabbed the ferry back to Lopez, had a great dinner, crashed and caught the ferry back to the mainland the next morning. Whew.

I'm glad someone is saying it!

Barack Obama is being criticized for his comments earlier this week in which he said if he was President and received "actionable intelligence" about Al Qaeda in Pakistan, and the Pakistani government and Musharraf did not take action, the US would.

Hillary Clinton criticized Obama today saying that he shouldn't engage in hypotheticals since they can have consequences around the world. Isn't that part of the whole process? Talking about what you would do as President???

Obama's comments are right on the money. Everyone knows that Osama Bin Laden and the Al Qaeda leadership are hiding in Pakistan on the Afghanistan border, yet we are unable to find them, nor are we allowed to enter Pakistan. Pakistan seems reluctant to really help us and pressure needs to be placed on Musharraf and the Pakistanis to allow us to finish what should have ended nearly six years ago.

I don't think Barack Obama's comments were off the cuff. I think they were thought out and quite clever. He knows that even as a candidate, he can shape the direction of US foreign policy and he is using it to good effect.

I have supported Obama but have been quietly waiting for the race to shape up. With each passing week, I find more and more reasons to cast my vote in his direction.

Tour de Dope

Because we were on vacation, cut-off from the civilized world in Disneyland, I did not find out who won the Tour de France until I got home and watched the final seven stages.

Okay, so Disneyland isn't as remote as I wanted it to be. I had internet access. TV. A daily newspaper ... I did quite well in avoiding ANY information about the Tour, but two events percolated up through my email and the front page. Alexander Vinokourov's positive dope test after his Time Trial win on stage 13, and the ousting of the yellow jersey, Michael Rasmussen, after stage 16.

Vinokourov had a nasty crash on stage five, giving him a huge purple bruise on his ass and requiring stitches in both knees. Ouch. He hung in there and tried to limit his losses. His team even attacked on a flat stage 11 when the peloton hit a nasty cross wind. Astana took advantage of the wind and forced a split in the peloton, dropping the 6th place rider Christophe Moreau, among others, who dropped from 6th place to 11th because of the split.

Vinokourov trounced everyone on the first individual time trial. Of course, a few days later his test results came back and showed that he had someone else's blood coarsing through his veins that day ... eww! I hope he knows them!

It's unfortunate that the Tour has descended to this level. Who knows if Vino has doped before. He always seemed like a true gladiator out on the road, now he will always be suspect. His cycling career is over.

The big surprise of the Tour was Michael Rasmussen of Team Rabobank. Rasmussen is a great climber and has always been in contention for the King of the Mountains jersey, but he is VERY skinny and doesn't possess enough power to keep him going on the time trials.

He took the yellow jersey on Stage 8 as they hit the mountains. I don't think anyone expected him to hold the jersey to the end, but after continuing to answer every call through the alps, he had a great time trial finishing 11th, just over a minute behind the main contenders (not including Vinokourov who was yet another minute ahead thanks to the extra blood.)

Rasmussen never tested positive for anything, but he was under suspicion after he failed to report for off-season testing in June. According to the UCI, a rider needs to be available for testing several times during the off-season and they also need to report their travels.

Rasmussen was suppose to be tested in June and failed to report his whereabouts in a timely manner. He said later that he was in Mexico with relatives. His wife is Mexican. His team and the Danish cycling federation was concerned enough that they barred him from competing in some future competitions but they did not keep him from entering the Tour. It all seemed like a technicality until a reporter said that he saw Rasmussen two days in June in the Italian Mountains.

Team Rabobank, unhappy with Rasmussen and his refusal to deal straight with them pulled the entire team from the Tour, marking the first time the yellow jersey has ever been pulled from the race. They started stage 17 without someone wearing the yellow jersey. It fell to Discovery Channel's Alberto Contador who was in second place. He held it until the end.

Levi Leipheimer, my pre-race favorite, also with Discovery Channel, moved into third place and nearly took second after his great Time Trial on stage 19, but Contador was far better in the mountains and won the Tour as a result. The Australian Cadel Evans finished in second. Contador is just 24 years old and I've heard some accusations now that he doped as well, which might just be people trying to grab the limelight, but who knows any more. It sure makes it hard to cheer someone on. I keep thinking, what a great ride, I hope they aren't doping!

Holy Cow, I'm 40!

Saturday was my 40th birthday. How did that happen?

We had a party with a few people. Some food, some drink, some friends, good times.






Luckily, we had a former fire fighter bring me the cake ...


I bought a kilt a few months ago and no one but my wife and a few others had seen it. After much goading, I agreed to model it for them.



It was great having everyone over ... but I did drink a bit too much great scotch.

We ate leftovers the next evening ... I was a little less spry. It's tough getting old. ;)

San Diego, Tijuana!

On Wednesday we ventured down to Tijuana. We took the bus down to Old Town and boarded the trolley all the way down to San Ysidro and then walked across the border. I didn't take a single photo while we were there, however. :(

When I lived in PB, I went to Tijuana regularly, mostly at night, as you might imagine an 18 year old would do. Wow. Tijuana has grown a lot since I was here last. I couldn't believe how much it has changed. There have always been street vendors and the painted donkeys, etc. but the vendors extend far beyond Revolution Boulevard now.

In 1985 and 86, we would often walk across the border, party a while and walk back. It was pretty much a wasteland between the end of Revolution Boulevard and the border, but they have fixed up the streets and there are vendors lining both sides of the path all the way to the border. There is a nice plaza area on either side of the foot path across the river, and even a map of downtown Tijuana and the border.

I can still recall my first venture into Tijuana on foot. We made our way into town, but took a wrong turn down a rather dark street, not knowing where to go. A kind American man, who was, for some reason sitting next to the road in his car, opened his door, as we approached and said, “You don't want to go that way.” “Uh, thanks.” We said and turned around to find the slightly more travelled path.

When we told people that we were headed to Tijuana this week, they all said, “Good luck.” I don't know how long its been since they've been there, but our experience was down right enjoyable. The people are far friendlier to a family walking the streets than they are a single white man. We did a bit of shopping, had lunch and then headed back across the border.

Here too, I noticed a drastic difference. A sign of the times. In the 80's, we walked back and forth across the border unchecked on either side. There was an occasional border guard coming back to the USA, but usually not. This time, we had to stand in line for about ten minutes before we had our bags checked and provided our passports to a guard.

We got back to San Ysidro just after 4pm and were looking forward to spending the remainder or our day at the beach. We boarded our Trolley at 4:25pm and headed north. At 4:30pm, less than a mile from the San Ysidro station, our train came to an abrupt stop. We sat on the tracks until 5pm, then another train pulled up along side us and the doors opened. We all transferred to the new train, got to the next stop and were told to transfer trains again. Apparently several road crossing signals had failed and we inched our way north. We finally arrived in Old Town at 6:30 and were back to the hotel around 7pm. We took a quick dip in the ocean. The waves were big. It was overcast and a little chilly.

We packed up Thursday and made our way home.

As much as San Diego has grown, it is still mostly as I remember it. Hailey said repeatedly, "I love it here. I want to stay." I can't really disagree with her, if we could just hang out at the beach all the time. I loved going out for a swim in the ocean in the mornings and taking walks along the ocean. The sunsets are usually terrific too. Even Becky said, "I think I could handle retiring to a Southern Californian beach." I'm holding out for Hawaii!

San Diego Sea World

On Tuesday, we headed to Sea World. It is always great fun. They have added rides to Sea World since I was here last, although I'm not sure why. The theme seems to be “get wet.” We went on the rides, and they were okay, but who wants to stand in a line for a so-so ride? They even have a 4-D movie “Haunted Lighthouse” similar, but far inferior, to Disneyland's “Honey I shrunk the Audience.” The effects were rather cheap and the story thin. Of course, they save the biggest cheap effect for the very end. If you happen to go, sit on an aisle and leave before they get to the catfish suprise! You've been warned.

Aside from the cheesy rides, the exhibits are still fantastic. I liked the dolphins, batrays, and Shamu show the best.

One of the best parts of our day was lunch with one of the Orcas, Corky. We got to have a buffet right next to one of the training pools. Two trainers came out and talked to us, answered questions and showed us a few tricks. It is rather intimidating to have a 3,000 pound Orca park itself next to your table.

Sea World also now has a Cirque de la Mer show, on the bay. The acrobats are all excellent, though the show is a bit short and a bit redundant. Zakiya really wanted to see the show and of course wanted to meet some of the performers afterward.

Becky and the girls got plenty wet at the dolphin show,

but apparently not wet enough.

At the Shamu rocks show, Hailey and Becky sat second row center. Zakiya and I were close, but off to the side. We stayed dry while Becky and Hailey got absolutely drenched. It was fun being able to see the bottom of the pool, watching one of the Orcas drive its trainer all the way to the bottom of the pool and then straight up. Quite impressive.

Sea World was the one park that we didn't close down. We left about an hour early. We had seen everything and Becky was freezing. I have to also say that Sea World is incredibly hard to navigate. All day long we found ourselves emerging from an exhibit saying, "Where are we? and how do we get to where we want to go?" Perhaps we are true landlubbers!

San Diego Zoo

On Monday, we went to the San Diego Zoo. We had a great time and saw nearly everything in our twelve hours at the park. Yes. Once again, we closed down the park. It is difficult to pinpoint a favorite at the zoo, since there are so many great things to see.

Our highlights included the elephants, the pandas, the humming bird aviary (too cool), and at night, the hyenas. We took the park tour bus when we arrived at the park, and our tour guide was ... Barbie! That's right, campers, tour guide Barbie!

The Tigers never woke up while we were there, but the Snow Leopards did come to life in the afternoon. One of the things I loved about the Zoo that I did not remember, is that you can get so close to almost all of the animals. At times you even think, “is this safe?” Unfortunately, the cages for the cats and birds don't make for good photography.

We saw a show right before the park closed and as we were walking out, the Hyenas were up and eating. This Hyena was not too happy that we were standing out front. I think he was trying to figure our how he could eat our children!

It was a lovely day.

Vacation part dos, San Diego

We packed up and rode the train from Anaheim to San Diego last Friday. Unfortunately, if you want WiFi at the beach, you have to pay for it, so we went without. It was a nice trip down, except that we were stuck in a car with thirty screaming Jesus revival teenagers. Those kids really need to find some outlet for ALL that energy. Please.

My dad grew up in San Diego, after moving west from Arkansas during World War II. Many summers of my youth were spent playing in Pacific Beach where my grandmother had a home. She bought the land in the 800 block of Opal in 1946 for $500 and spent about $4,500 to build the two bedroom home with a large bonus room and a huge back yard. I moved down to live with them in 1985 and lived in PB until February 1987 when I returned to Oregon. This was the first time I had been in California since I left.

We stayed at the Surfer Beach hotel in the heart of PB. The first two and a half days were spent playing at the beach. The weather was perfect. Sunny and 80 degrees, with the water not much cooler than the air temperature. We spent the better part of Saturday on the beach, which was packed, as you can see. Becky got a really nice sun burn, which she is still recovering from, and Hailey caught a few waves on a boogie board. Becky and I could never seem to catch a wave ourselves on the thing. I found it was more fun to body surf than boogie board.

This fellow was building himself a rather nice sand castle in front of us. The girls were trying to do the same behind him there.




I don't ever recall the beaches being this crowded when I lived here, but then again, I didn't usually venture to the beach in the middle of summer. There were easily a hundred or more surfers up and down Pacific and Mission Beach on any given day, with most of those on the northern end of Crystal Pier. There were probably two or three times that many swimmers and boogie boarders.

This was the finished castle.

And here is Zakiya's completed sand "snow man"

Hailey decided that playing in the surf was more fun.


On Sunday, we spent almost half the day navigating the public transportation system downtown to get a rental car, since the only offices open on Sunday were downtown.

We discovered that even Sand People use the trolley in San Diego.


We returned to our hotel, had a quick dip in the pool and headed out to my cousin Kellye's house for a BBQ. My aunt Beverly and cousin Steve were also there, as were Kellye's children and husband. Kellye's eldest is almost 20. She was rather small the last time I saw her! It was great to see all of them and cousin Kellye said that we have to send the girls back to stay with her. Right on!