Today Jess and I went with AG to hike Saddle Mountain in the Coast mountain range. It took us about 1.5 hours to summit and then a little over an hour to get back down. The 1600 foot elevation gain gave us a nice workout, but the trail was in great shape (though steep in places) so it was not too difficult to climb. The sky was clear, though some low lying clouds over the nearby Pacific ocean and Columbia river made viewing the coast from the summit impossible.

After we got down from the mountain we drove a little further west to Cannon Beach, OR, which is right on the Pacific coast. This is the first time Jess and I had been to the Oregon coast, and it was quite a bit different from what I expected (in that there was a real beach). There are quite a number of shops in the area, and many of them are the good kind that serve ice cream. We had a tasty lunch at the Cannon Beach Cookie Company. They do sell more than just cookies. After that we took a walk along the beach and saw Haystack Rock and lots of dogs.

Thanks to AG for the pictures.

Jess and I went to the Portland farmers market today and came back with more than a few things. We were very impressed with the quality of the items we sampled while we were there. Compared to what we had seen in the Chicago farmers markets, the quality and variety here was much better.

In our previous apartment, the center speaker of our dinky surround sound system sat on a small glass shelf that was mounted to the wall just above the center of the TV. Because we didn't want to make as many holes in the wall in our new place since the walls are painted, I needed to come up with another place to mount the center speaker.

My idea was to build some kind of bracket that I could screw into the VESA mounting holes on the back of the TV as well as the threaded mounting hole of the speaker. Jess and I went to the local hardware store and I was looking around the parts area to try to find various pieces of metal that would work for what I had in mind. They didn't sell exactly what I was looking for, so I had to come up with a different design on the spot. I explained to Jess the idea that I had in case she came up with a better idea. After listening to me explain my idea, she said "Would the speaker fit on the entertainment center in front of the TV?". I told her the truth, which is that I don't believe that thought had even crossed my mind.

Undeterred by her sense-making, I continued to look for the various screws, nuts, washers, etc. that I would need to build my bracket. When I was about to head to the register to pay, I noticed they had a "Grab Bag" box on top of the racks holding all the loose screws, nuts, and other fasteners. Inside were several bags filled with random parts, probably ones that customers had returned or dropped on the floor. They were selling these for only $1, which was a pretty good deal considering I found one that had upwards of 50 parts, mostly washers but quite a few machine bolts, nuts, and wood screws.

Eventually I was able to get the various parts I had bought bolted together in such a way as to make a functioning bracket. While attempting to mount this bracket to the TV, I discovered that my TV doesn't have a standard VESA mount. It has 4 M5 threaded holes at the corners of a square with 200mm spacing between holes, but the thread depth of the upper left and lower right holes (looking from the back) is much deeper than that of the other two holes. The M5 screws I had purchased were all 16mm long, which was too long to fit in the upper right hole. So I pulled out the grab bag I had purchased, and as luck would have it there was one M5 screw that was maybe 8mm long, and it fit in that hole perfectly. Since I only needed the upper two holes of the (non)-VESA bracket holes, I was done.


As with most things I do, this was far more complicated than it needed to be. But the end result is pretty.

We are now officially Oregon residents and voters. It is very true that DMVs everywhere are disorganized.

We got all of our stuff. Now we just have to figure out where to put it all.

As of about 2:30 P.M. today, we are now officially Portlanders. We made it all the way here with no major mishaps. We just hope our stuff does the same tomorrow.

From Moving Road Trip

Me and Bunsen in front of Bunsen Peak. And yes, that's really what it's called. Destiny, I'm telling you.

Sorry for the paucity of posts over the last couple of days - Yellowstone kind of requires long days and early starts to get the most out of it. The photos we've been posting link to our photo album from the trip, so you can check out a ton more snaps of animals, geothermal sites (ooooh, science!), waterfalls, and other neat stuff. Highlights include a 12-point bull elk, dueling pronghorns, extreme bison closeups, and my attempts to learn to skip rocks at Yellowstone Lake. We were really fortunate to get to see a lot more animals (I think we saw all the large mammals other than grizzlies, moose, and wolves) that the pictures show - a lot of times the animals are just too far away or the lighting's too bad to get decent images. We saw a couple of coyotes, but they tend to live in sagebrush meadows and don't show up in the photos really at all because of the plant cover.

While at Yellowstone we stayed in Gardiner, MT, which is right above the north entrance and probably one of the least happening towns I've ever been in, but what a view! It's just a few miles from Mammoth Hot Springs inside the park, and we got quite a surprise driving through the Springs Saturday afternoon when we saw a herd of elk (cows and calves) just hanging out on the lawn of the visitor's center, much to the chagrin of park staff. We also got to experience a couple of bison traffic jams while out in the Lamar Valley Sunday morning - I still haven't determined if it's proper road etiquette to pass a bison on the right, and also feeling a little guilty for startling a calf as we weaved our way through a herd crossing the road.

Yellowstone really is a massively cool place. I'm no camping-and-roughing-it nature girl, but it's hard not be impressed by the sheer magnitude of the place and how much the landscape and wildlife changes as you move through the park. The pictures really don't do it justice - there's this depth and vibrancy to the landscape and the light that gets lost in translation. At some point over the last couple of days I ran out of superlatives to describe it, so just trust me when I say that this is one place that you need to visit at some point during your lifetime. Yes, it's in the middle of nowhere, but that's the beauty of it. I'm certainly the type to roll my eyes at breathless exhortations to preserve the wilderness when thinking about it in the abstract, but seeing Yellowstone up close leads me to get the concept a little better, even if I do still think that the granola crowd gets a little carried away sometimes.

And for fun, here's another photo - this is the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River:

From Moving Road Trip

Stuck in traffic in Boise. Jams are way more fun when caused by bison or elk.

Yellowstone is probably the coolest place I've ever been. When was the last time you got within 3 feet of a bison?

From Moving Road Trip

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Greetings from Buffalo, Wyoming! We had an awesome time checking out South Dakota today (no, really!) - the Badlands are amazing and the Black Hills are a lot of fun to drive through. It's amazing to see the changes in the country as you head west, particularly if you're a born-and-raised flatlander like me.

We were really fortunate in the Badlands to spot some bighorned sheep - there are only about a hundred or so in the park and we saw a flock of ten or so. No photos, unfortunately - there was no place to pull over to get snaps, but they were incredibly close to the road and we got a really nice look at them. I was able to spot one of the new lambs as well, so +1 to animal encounters for me. Hopefully we'll have good luck again as we head towards Yellowstone tomorrow.

We've also discovered that Buffalo is kind of a neat little town. We had dinner at a restored Old West hotel that specializes in locally raised bison - a great find considering that it's pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Might have been a little too good, though - we both rolled out of there, I think.

Tomorrow we should have some good shots of Yellowstone, and the next day we're going to wake up early to see if we can catch the animals in action. Stay tuned.

From Moving Road Trip

Today's drive should be the longest drive of our trip, and we made it to Chamberlain, SD after driving up through WI and across MN. Southern MN was pretty boring, as it was mostly flat and there wasn't much to look at other than corn and soybean fields. South Dakota is also relatively flat (at least the part we've seen so far) but we're starting to get into some hilly terrain, at least near the Missouri river which is very near to our hotel. Jess and I did a little exploring at a rest stop that has a nice view of the river valley after dinner today. Tomorrow we're planning to drive through the Badlands and the Black Hills, so the drive should be beautiful.

Phase 1 of the cross-country odyssey is complete - we made it to Madison unscathed, and got a lovely taste of traffic on the Kennedy/Jane Addams as a parting gift. Awww, you shouldn't have. Really, you shouldn't have.

Bunsen is slowly adapting to the idea of the move, but I've now heard the poor guy get into vocalizations I didn't even know he was capable of - he's got this bizarre yowl/yodel combo that sounds like someone's trying to remove his toenails with pliers. He had rather a substantial spazz when he got let out of his crate after the movers left and discovered the apartment was empty, and ever since he's been rather unwilling to let us out of his sight. Poor pumpkin.

And can I just say that the burliest of our movers is probably among the more impressive sights I've seen recently? I'm not normally one to be awed by feats of physical strength, but DANG! I didn't know that it's possible for one person to carry our recliner strapped to his back. Or the three-high stack of boxes, with the top one containing a chest of silver flatware. Dude is not messing around, and I have a distinct feeling I'm going to wish he was there at the other end of this trip.

Hey all - we are officially en route! So long Chicago and hello Portland! We're currently figuring out the best way to avoid the Kennedy and a gross accident

So the packers came and boy did they pack. Now its all just a bunch of boxes. Were off to the aquarium for a bit since its now pretty boring at home.

Hard to believe the Farewell Tour is wrapping up and pretty soon, Chi-town is no longer my town. I'm actually getting sentimental, which is a strange experience, and let me say that when you're in that frame of mind, "Up" is so not the movie to go and see. The whole "I just have something in my eye" excuse is not plausible when you're blowing your nose as well.

Today we've been running around doing last-minute prep for the movers and trying to get things labeled so that they and the furniture donation pick-up guys know what goes where, because I really don't want to end up in Portland with two dining room tables and no bed.

Anyway, we'll check in periodically and share our cross-country adventure with you - Bunsen might even chip in some thoughts about how interesting everything smells when he's not trying to kill us with his toxic dog breath. I've yet to figure out how it is that what appears to be a tuna fish factory fits inside his mouth. Yeck.