Enjoying the blue hour at Bandon Beach

A shot of Jessica and I from our November trip out west. We had spent the day sightseeing and been in and out of rain all day long. As we drew near Bandon Beach just before sunset the clouds started to clear and it looked like sunset was going to be nice. And indeed it was! The sky lit up with glorious colors as the sun dipped below the horizon. We had a blast watching the changing sky and finding star fish and other sea life clinging to the sea stacks. After the sunset color faded from the sky we headed further down the beach to get closer to some of the sea stacks. From a distance they don't look very big but when you get close, WOW are they huge! I just had to get a shot of us posed in between these towering formations. It was a great end to a fun-filled day!

Ingalls Peak

It was like a garden between Ingalls Pass and Ingalls lake. Danielle wants to live there.











The mountain goats were pretty friendly.













Snow on the edge of Ingalls Lake.

Dani exploring the shoreline. Mt. Stuart in the background.












Climbing Mt. Ingalls, North Peak.















Dave, Nicholas, Mark, Mike (and Doug) on the summit.














Nicholas rappelling down.









Ingalls Lake and Mt. Stuart as seen from Ingalls South Peak.

Winter: The Beautiful and the Damned Difficult

So winter is not going anywhere; we are smack dab in the midst of it. Unlike some of my fellow velo bloggerists, I am fortunate enough not to suffer from SAD-like symptoms or "winter blues". I love winter! The Co-Habitant does as well, and whenever we have the chance we travel North to get even more of it.



In my own neighborhood, winter is quite beautiful as well. The snow, the bare trees, the crisp air, that somewhat surreal quality of light - I love it all.



What I don't love so much, is winter cycling. Sorry, I really am trying. But I just don't love it. The combination of how time consuming it is to get my clothing just right and how much more vigilant I have to be of the road conditions, adds stress and sucks much of the joy out of it for me. I still cycle, but unless the day is exceptionally warm, it has become an activity that I do mostly out of necessity. I look at Dottie's pictures and narratives on Let's Go Ride a Bike, and I am in awe on a number of levels. But not everyone's experience is the same, and I think that's okay. I have the right wool, the right boots, the right bike - but most of the time I still do not find it easy or enjoyable. If this disappoints some readers or says something terrible about my character, then so be it, but I prefer to be honest.



A couple of weeks ago, Un Vieux Velo humorously pointed out the "competitive winter cycling" phenomenon that was spreading through the blogs and flickr after the Christmas blizzard, and to some extent I do think it's true that we - perhaps unconsciously - sometimes try to outdo each other (Coming Up Next Week: "My blizzard was blizzardier that your blizzard! And I biked to work in a bikini!").



But jokes aside, I do feel some responsibility if I present an unrealistic image. Despite the snowy scenes I show, I do not mean to pretend that I am a stoic winter cyclist. Quite often I am miserable. If my destination is close enough I prefer to walk. And while I don't drive myself (don't like it), the Co-Habitant does, and for a number of reasons we use the car much more often now than during the warmer seasons. And that's perfectly fine with me.



If you love winter but don't love winter cycling, I think the only thing to do is just to let it go and not try to combine the two. You cycled only twice this week? Fine. No need to feel bad. Enjoy taking a walk around the neighborhood instead. Or forget the bike and go skiing, if that's your thing. Or sit by the fire place reading cycling magazines and watching the snow out of the window, if that's what makes you happy. It's all about improving the quality of your life, rather than proving a point. Happy Winter, and enjoy it in any way you like.

Spring Training

Arlington Ashby attends to a mock patient

The climbing ranger team has been busy this spring with a number of trainings. We kicked it off with a highly productive week of rope rescue instruction led by Leo Loyd of Rigging for Rescue. The following week we focused on EMS ( emergency medical services ) skills, with one day of instruction from Remote Medical International followed by a day of training with Pearce County Fire EMS. Returning lead climbing ranger Glenn Kessler who gave us a day of rescue training geared towards professional avalanche rescue. Tucked into this busy schedule was a highly enlightening half day presentation by Mike Moore of the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center on mountain weather. We are all looking forward to getting out of the classroom and climbing on the upper mountain with the first available weather window. Training is great but climbing is better.

DG

Peter and Christina Wise Family in Gilead Cemetery

Gilead Cemetery, Perry Township, Miami County, Indiana. North Section, Row Five, looking Northeast.
Photographs taken by Becky Wiseman on February 5, ... It was a foggy and rainy day. The "blurry" spots are rain drops on the lens of the camera. As always, click on the images for larger versions.



The first marker in the foreground, is the first one in the row, near the roadway that runs through the cemetery. Starting with that marker, we have Mary Ann Wise, Wealthy A. Wise, Newton O. Wise (wife and children of William Wise). The fourth tall marker is for Peter and Christina Wise. The small marker on the right has the initials "P.W." and another identical marker on the left has the initials "C. W."

According to the cemetery transcription books, there is another marker, in the same row but in the south section for Elizabeth Wise who died May 24, 1854 at age 17y 4m. However, I was unable to locate it. Perhaps on a nicer day that is a bit warmer, I might be able to make out some of the inscriptions that I was not able to read during this visit.



The Wise family markers, looking south west. The marker for Peter and Christina, in the foreground, stands well over six feet in height, probably closer to seven. The other two tall markers are about five feet high while Mary Ann's is about four feet high.



Peter's inscription is on the west side of the marker: PETER WISE / DIED / JAN. 29 1875 / AGED 77 YEARS.
The inscription "FATHER & MOTHER" is on the north face of the marker.
Christina's inscription is on the east side of the marker: C. WISE / DIED / APR. 25, 1884 / AGED 83 Y's 1 Mo. 24 D.



NEWTON O. WISE / DIED / DEC. 10 1874 / AGED 26 Y 11 M & D

WEALTHY A. / daughter of / W.& M. A. WISE / DIED / Jan. 21 1871 / AGED / 21 Y 2 M 20 D's

MARY ANN / WIFE OF / WM WISE / DIED / Jan. 5 1870 / AGED / 43 Y. 6 M. & 27 D. Barely discernible is four lines of text beneath the main inscription. Under the right lighting conditions it may be possible to get a good image for reading the text.

Expanding Comfort Zones

Over the past couple of weeks I've had things to do in downtown Boston and the Financial District, so I have been going there more than usual. As I cycle through this dense urban area, my company includes mainly bumper-to-bumper car traffic and bike messengers weaving through it. It was a hot afternoon and I was waiting in the left lane at a red light - a black SUV behind me and a gray pick-up truck on my right - when it suddenly occurred to me: I was quite comfortable. Any moment now, the light would turn green and I would make a left turn in a way that would not conflict with oncoming vehicles. The awareness of this was not one of nervous anticipation, but one of calm preparedness. Perhaps I am no longer quite the "beginner" I still tend to think of myself as being.

I say all of this not to brag (and I am sure many would mock the idea of cycling in downtown Boston as any sort of accomplishment), but to point out that the "baby steps" principle really does work if you are patient and allow yourself to expand your comfort zone at your own pace. Last summer, I wrote this post about overcoming my anxieties and cycling outside my immediate neighborhood. Now those anxieties seem in the distant past, as I cycle all over greater Boston and beyond.

Of course the city's ever-expanding bicycle infrastructure helps as well. Not so much because the bike lanes are spectacular (note the amount of debris on the left and how close the car gets on the right), but because the sheer act of painting all sorts of bicycle signifiers seems to make drivers more aware of cyclists' existence in general. Overall, conditions for cyclists are improving here.

If I wanted to cross the river to Boston last year, I would cycle along the Charles River Trail at a snail's pace. Now I just go right on the roads and cross the main city bridges. It takes 15-20 minutes to get where I need to be, and I no longer feel anxious to cycle in this manner. I make no secret of the fact that I am a neurotic wimp with a poor sense of balance. So, at the risk of perpetuating a cliché: "If I can do it, anybody can." Choose a bicycle you love, take it one neighborhood at a time, and expand your comfort zone.

Just be sure to make way for ducklings...

And don't tease the swans!

Don Garlits Classic Car Museum

I am late in sharing these pictures from our Labor Day trip, but better late than never! This is the second part to the Don Garlits museums. There are two separate museums, the first being the drag racing and this is the second one: the Classic Car Museum. Both were fabulous. A fellow classic car lover told me that he'd been there five years ago and that the collection had really grown since then.



I was very impressed with what was there. I could have spent much longer in this museum than we did!



I was amused at some point to overhear a couple discussing a particular car. The guy was sharing what kind of a car it was. The lady said she knew, her dad had one. He asked her if she really knew about it? She told him again that her dad had one. He nodded and dropped it. I'm guessing he might have thought that meant she did know about it in the way a guy would want to know about it. I would suspect it is more likely that she was simply saying she knew as much as she ever wanted to and more just by having a dad that owned one. Which means she probably hardly knew a thing about it in guy world.



We demonstrated this same man/woman dynamic with me trying to take hundreds of pictures of the pretty cars while Nathan gave me in depth lessons on engines and exhaust systems. I can now tell you which kind of engine our truck has and how exactly it operates. That will come in handy because the last time some guy asked me about it I told him the only thing I knew about the engine of our truck was that it was really big and loud. He couldn't tell if I was an idiot or joking so he politely just walked away. I hope I run into him again so I can let him know that a trip to the car museum fixed all of that!



Living the life in interesting Florida!