CleverNickname

Post vacation breakdown: Flew into Seattle. Plane drama the day before - flight was cancelled after being delayed. Return home from airport. Messed with my car rental plans and first night hotel reservation. Alaska Air rebooked on a flight that wouldn't get us into Seattle until midnight (2am CST), and that after a 45 window to change planes in SFO. Refunded and booked on American for a hefty fee. FML. Meanwhile missing flight meant my non-prepaid car rental was borked, so I had to pay some extra juice on that, too. Not a great start. I guess the lesson is go ahead and prepay (not just reservations) if you lock down a good price on a car rental. Woke up at 5am for early flight. Kids grumpy all day. Son gets motion sick and pukes on shuttle to car rental place. At least I score a 4Runner, which was nice. day 2 (out of Bellingham). Did a whale watching cruise out of Anacortes. Saw seals, sea lions, sea otter, and orcas. Various birds. We had done whale watching out of Boston, so nice bookeends. Key last minute add - we picked up some $30 binoculars from Fred Meyers (along with a $4 sytrofoam cooler that allows picnic lunches most days). That afternoon drove up to Mt Baker (up to Artist Point). Nice views, lots of snow, enjoyed the mountain town vibe up 9/542 to Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. day 3: North Cascades NP. Got some decent hikes (kids protest on more than 5 miles, but sometimes we can trick em). Pretty drive. Did River Loop hike near the visitor center, and Rainy Loop just outside the NP. day 4: drive to Olympic NP. Do Hurricane Ridge, Marmere Falls hike. Stay in Forks. Twilight - who knew? Small town with surprisingly good grocery store. day 5: Olympic. Rialto Beach. Tide pools at low tide. Sea stacks. Epic. Relatively short day. Laundry and sort of lounge. Motel had nice outdoor heated pool. day 6: Olympic. Sol Duc Falls, Cape Flattery. Beach. Amazing and fish & chips and milk shakes from a food truck on the res. day 7: drive to Mt Rainier. Stay in Packwood. Sunrise Point. (fwiw: Packwood is a pretty blah town. Not sure I'd stay there again, but not sure where else would be good). I've been to a lot of mountains, but these Cascade peaks are live f'n volcanoes, and look mean as sin. day 8: Mt Rainier day 2. Silver Falls hike. Gondola at Crystal Mountain. day 9: Mt St Helens. Hummocks hike. A fucking volcano, yall! One of those places that are rad, but pretty accessible for the olds. Go there, but you can save it until you can't pee at will anymore. day 10: drive through Columbia Gorge. Get passes for the scenic drive and Multnomah. Surprisingly fun - I thought this would mostly be a travel day. Various waterfall hikes. Night in achingly hip Hood River. Dinner from foodie food trucks on waterfront. day 11: drive past Mt Hood (another volcano!). Hike at Newberry Volcano Park for the Lava Tube Cave. Do the Obsidian hike. I almost bought this dope smokey the bear hat, but passed. Huge regrets. I could buy one online, but its not the same thing, is it? day 12: Crater Lake. As amazingly beautiful as this is, Crater Lake to me has a very Grand Canyon vibe. You look, you awe. But its basically a national park to do when you are 75 and can't hike miles any longer. Regret staying (nice res casino hotel - just nothing there) in Chiloquin. Should have stayed in Klamath Falls. Had to go there anyway to get groceries and whatnot. day 13: Chiloquin to Redwoods NP. Saw actual cowboys on horses rounding up cattle just south of CL. I don't know if I've seen that in 40+ years of living in Texas! Eastern Oregon might as well be Texas. Highs near 100. Dry. Medford might as well be San Angelo. At this point I was like "maybe I shouldn't have planned to do Redwoods. We got lots of hikes in the forest already." But Redwoods is awesome. Do a little 3.5 mile loop and see some big ass trees. So nice to walk in the shade, high maaaybe 80. Fewer mozzies than I expected. Just sublime. Nice beach near Klamath at sunset. Also full service gas in Oregon is a mind fuck. day 14: drive up coast, Klamath to Florence. At one point we realized we had driven 20 miles in like 4 hours. Every overlook is rad! Every beach is so pretty! My kids will play in any beach, no matter how cold. day 15: drive up coast, Florence to Seaside. Sea Lion cave was dope. Pretty beaches. "This is our time!" Seaside beach is foggy and cold as shit, and kids still want to play. Dare kid to poke weird rock, in shallow surf and massive dungeness crab skitters away. I now have a new reason to fear the sea. day 16: drive up coast from Seaside. Meet friends in Seattle. Do city stuff. NIght in Seatac hotel. day 17: fly home. Final thoughts: Although I'm glad we hit 4 national parks (Mt Rainier, North Cascades, Olympic, Crater Lake), you could just do Olympic and probably get 80% of the experience. Olympic is maybe top 3 national parks for me. I've done a lot of em, I like to think. #1 is Yellowstone, #2 is Big Bend (for sentimental reasons), but #3 is now Olympic (ahead of Tetons, Glacier, & Utah 5, Acadia). Tentatively was planning on bagging 3-4 central CA parks next summer, but not sure anymore. Because we loved the Oregon coast that much. Originally we were going to do 2 nights at Redwoods, but decided to call and audible and spread out the drive a little more. I wish I had have 3-4 days for it. Now we may go back for an entire 9 day swing. Thinking of renting a cabin or house or whatever and really unplugging. Hell, already thinking of how to retire out there. The bustle of Seattle wasn't for me (and hell, we stayed in Bellingham mostly), plus the price of real estate... but if we could figure out what people do for doctors, my wife and I could totally see buying a small place. I'm used to many places in Texas being a long ways from anything, but Oregon coast is pretty damn similar. It aint easy to get there, or at least to places south of Seaside. Crescent Bay is practically Ft Stockton with how remote it is. Seaside is obviously close to Seattle, but the beaches and overlooks on the Samuel Boardman Scenic Corridor are just so fucking amazing, it might be worth the extra 3-4 hour drive to be near Gold Beach or Brookings.

20 years was in Finland as a student and vaguely recall handing over passport to get Russian visa. Maybe it was just out of sight and hand for a few hours? The US passport people were all "well officially thats dumb and likely illegal to be on Finland without a passport... but hundreds of people do it every day." And then the Russian border control folks didn't even glance our way at the border "check." Russia was fun, though.

We did a whirlwind of whale watching out of Antores, Mt Baker, North Cascades, Mt Rainer, Mt St Helens, Columbia Gorge, Newberry Natl Volcanic Monument, Crater Lake, Redwoods, and on up 101 back to Seattle. I liked Olymic best, any hike in the woods to a waterfall (so like a bunch), and beaches at low tide. My kids liked any hotel with a pool & waffle makers, and post-hike ice cream bribes. Dislikes: airlines, rental car companies.

Guys... did you know the Seahawks logo is sort of native American art inspired? Lol. I literally had to be up here to figure that out.

Mt Baker, Artist Point

It was 58 this morning when we starting walking Rialto Beach, Olympic NP.

Flying commercial with my family this week. One flight canceled so doing the flight rescheduling, rental car & hotel shuffle. Really drives home how awful non-revenue sports not flying charter would be in some of these far flung leagues.

OP was definitely aware of his hole digging peer across the pond! I'll note e is another guy digging in what seems like just clay. We yanks are made of, and dig in, sterner stuff. As for purpose: I'll let yall know when I find it. It's probably just a little bit deeper.

Just read Mesquite might increase min house size from 1500 to 2000. Lol. My austin burbs 4 bedroom is 1490 and it's fine.

Didn't Bill Powers want the Big10? I'm sure TX and OU made an overture to the Big10 last year, just to kick the tires, right? I think Ioke the games in the SEC more, and I bet the BMD wanted SEC, but there was an academic argument for the Big10.

They could have maybe done a centralized GOR without that GOR being assigned for a kajillion years. Then could have been up for new contract negotiations is 2024 dame as everyone else. It would have msde breach more possible, but I think some liquidated damage clauses would have helped. I guess in the end they did get what they wanted: stability. I don't think FSU, Clemson, etc get out of it. Even if somehow ESPN guaranteed equal payouts to existing teams, it would still be worth litigating for those left behind.

Damn! Although I gotta say that despite the hardship of having considerably more rock than that dude has (and those Indonesian primitive technology guys), my hope is that my hole is somehow more long-lasting than a hole that is made in deep dirt/clay.

I think the real move would be for the bigger names in the Hateful 8 and PAC remainder to just pull together their own 12 team league, and let the weak relegate as the league TV deals expire. So not PAC or Big12, but a wholly new 12 teamer that is the Best of the Rest.

If PAC steals part of Big12 (if WA and OU are joined with little brother and stay), is there is a chance TCU and Baylor get screwed?

The Border Conferece rises again!

There is something about postholes that are utter agony for my back. For whatever reason this hole has been downright invigorating, far more fun than some of the postholes I've dug.

Knocked down the sides. I think I got the one side a little deeper but didn't measure. New wheelbarrow. Fancy two wheel model.

I'm up embiggening the size if the hole. Originally it's like 39x57 (so 30" + 2x 3.5" + 2x 1"; and 48" + 2x 3.5" + 2x 1"). Butninfigure I needed about another inch or so around. My idea is to pour some concrete down the edges once I get a set or two in. I figure it would help keep rain water from rushing in. Moved the pavers back a little.

I built a ladder. Should last me a while. Not sure when I'll get down to past 8 or 9 ft. It's 28" wide so it can fit in the 30" narrow side of my eventual 4x2.5 clear set/lagging (so it doesn't collapse and kill me). I'll probably build the first set when I'm about 5 ft down and it's all widened out like I need it. Not eager to see the bill for that lumber and all thread concoction.

What's the deal with his age? Just a genius?

I tried leaving at 630am, but it was still hot as hell. Deepest point is 50 inches. I blew out the step I had left and getting out is now a hassle. Next time up I need to clean up the sides. I have been lazy and need to shave a couple inches off the long sides. Ten year old for scale.

And fwiw, the Frio is still flowing through Garner, it just gets sucked dry by the time it gets to the Concan gauge. But it's less than it was in 2021 which was less than it was in 2020.

We did Quince and Chalk Bluff this week. The improvements at Quince are amazing. Yes they charge now, but if it means less trash and future bathrooms, I'm all in. Water a lite low (obviously) but still flowing. Chalk Bluff is $15 per person but has a rope swing and all the modest volume conjunto you could ask for.

Hypothetically, if I crapped my pants... crash landing on the lake might hide the evidence.

I've heard that all my life. Just seems like that would be a reasonable thing to spend money on.