Philadephia!

Sorry for my long absence -- M and I visited Philadelphia over the weekend, and my schedule before and after were/will be so hectic that I spent most of last week scurrying to have everything ready for the trip and for this week.

Let me first say that Philadelphia is a delightful city to visit, and I would expect it is also a delightful city to live in. We stayed at a 30+ story hotel in the middle of down town and yet were no more than a 10 minute walk from lovely green parks in every direction we tried. There were young families with children, people with pets, college students, and professional people on every sidewalk. People were friendly, and the streets seemed safe everywhere we went.

View from our hotel room:

One of the many fountains and many sculptures all over the city:


I had no idea that it was a statue before it was a postage stamp.

And, of course, the whole place is steeped in history. This is the room in the Pennsylvania State House (a.k.a. Independence Hall) where the Declaration of Independence was debated and then signed, and later where the Constitution was signed. The chair at the front is the very one that George Washington sat in when he signed the Constitution (my zoom was not strong enough to show the rising sun motif):

Other notable sites: The museum of the Americal Philsophical Society, which was running a small but very impressive exhibit on American explorers -- no photography allowed, unfortunately. The Liberty Bell, of course. The Ben Franklin Parkway, all of it, flanked with trees and amazing architecture and sculpture, from the "Love" fountain to the art museum with the steps of Rocky fame.

The reason for our visit was that M was receiving an award for technical achievement from the company he works for. I didn't realize how significant the award was until we got the awards dinner and I met and chatted with the CEO of the company as well as the company founder's son and grandson. So I'm very proud of my former lab and plant-design-project partner, now my spouse.

Nevertheless, I had made it clear to him that if I were going to spend 2 days of my vacation going to an out-of-town business function with him, he would have to accompany me for some yarn shopping. One short mile from our hotel, Rosie's Yarn Cellar. Literally in a basement, it was a tiny space with an enormous collection of the sorts of yarn I like to buy. The large selection of sock yarn was just inside the door, and a 180 degree turn and 2 steps took you to the very impressive collection of lace yarns. Knitted samples EVERYWHERE, most designed and knit by the staff. Who, by the way, were very helpful and friendly.

I need to do a "recent stash addition" post, but it will wait.

Oh, and I finished two socks (from two pairs) while I was there.

Oh, and I met a fellow knitter at the awards dinner -- she had a pattern published in IK a few years ago which I will have to look up...

Motoring

Despite my long absence from the blogosphere, I have very little knitting to report on.

On Thursday afternoon, we braved the flooding left by Tropical Storm Erin and headed for the airport.

A brief rant: How can some people who live in Houston be so clueless about driving after a heavy rain? Rule #1 of driving a car through water that's a smidge too deep: ONCE YOU START, DON'T STOP. If you stop, the wake you created will wash back up your tailpipe. And then you are stuck in the middle of an intersection, blocking the way of the rest of us who aren't clueless.

Even though it took us triple the normal time to get to the airport, our flight was only delayed by about an hour, and my eldest son and I arrived in Maryland...well, pretty stinking late. And on Friday, my brother and I went down to his bank and transferred ownership of this baby:

Friday afternoon, my son and I began the long trek back to Houston, including a celebratory side trip through Shenandoah National park, where I took the picture.

I had lured R to accompany me on this trip by promising frequent stops for Frappucinos. Two hours into Day 2, I finally spotted a Starbuck's. Why is it there are 7 Starbuck's within 5 miles of my house, but not a single damned one visible along Interstate 81? I thought they outnumbered McDonald's, and there were plenty of those. Next time I will do my research before I make promises I can't honor. But at least we found one:

For some reason -- well, one of two reasons -- R insisted we drive all the way west across Tennessee rather than dropping diagonally across the South. I suspect he was influenced by his dad's worry about driving an unfamiliar car through the numerous storms blanketing the South. But Ryan said he "just wanted to see Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis."

Spotted from a rest stop near the eastern Tennessee line:

That's a building on the other side of the freeway -- the "neck" is a breezeway to another building. We noted that billboards in Knoxville claimed it was the Birthplace of Country Music. Memphis welcomed us to the Birthplace of Rock and Roll. We spent a fair amount of time talking about guitars and rock-n-roll.

On Sunday afternoon we finally arrived back home. And I'm pleased to report that the MINI was every bit as fun to drive as it looks. It was a blast driving it across country. I'm starting to wonder what other road trips I can fit into my calendar...

Out with it, then

I think I've finally realized why I've been so reluctant to blog about the knitting I did on vacation. I mean, I did finish a pair of socks before we even finished driving to the cabin!

The FO:

K's Clown socks.

But here's the honest to God truth: I don't like them.

They were fun to knit -- feather stitches are always fun, especially with shaded yarns, because you never know where the pattern will land. And I like the yarn. I just don't like the socks.

The good news is I have half the yarn left over, so I can make K the ankle socks she really wanted in a simple stockinette. With a ruffled cuff or picot cuff? Hmmm.

On to more pleasant topics. While on vacation, I also knit about a sock and a half for myself in my last ball of cotton/wool yarn:

I was able to make amazing progress on these with odd bits of time -- an inch while we ordered and waited at a restaurant, a couple of inches while everyone else still slept in, a couple of inches under a tree while the kids skipped rocks and I talked to the locals. A whole foot while we drove back to Spokane to fly home.

I am now about 3 stripes shy of being ready to bind off both socks (I waited on binding off the 1st until I got home and could look up suitable bind-offs for toe-up socks.) I'll probably power through it this weekend, because I can't wait to wear them And since I can't be without socks to knit...

I'm swatching for Dipsy's Dunes socks. I swatched the main stitch pattern last night, and today I've been fiddling around to see if I can do better than my usual on the 2x2 rib cuff. I've found the right trick, which I will share later -- too late to write it up tonight. For now, one last picture, Dunes at Midnight:

Back from Vacation, and moving slow...

Now that we're back from vacation, I am having a very tough time motivating myself to do "fun" things. Like knitting. Listening to my i-Pod. Blogging. It seems really strange -- I want to...work. Is this why they give us paid time off?

Glacier National Park was amazing. I thought mountains like that only existed in National Geographic and the Lord of the Rings movies. Despite the lines at the entrance gates, it felt like we were among a very small handful of people and a very large number of wildlife. We were clearly outnumbered.

I did do some knitting, but I ended up doing far less porch-sitting than I expected. This was mainly due to the very long daylight hours -- we ended up staying in the park until very late most evenings, and returning to the cabin only for a very late dinner (9 or 10pm) and bed. I haven't taken pictures of knitting progress yet, so for now I'll post just vacation pictures.

Early in the trip, M and oldest son R were suffering a light version of the bug that took down my daughter earlier in June. So our first hike was an "easy" one -- to Avalanche Lake:

I think it is so-called because the creek running down from it is snow white from minerals and agitation, and looks like an avalanche.

The second day was a visit to a remote village (was it big enough to call it that?) on the north west border of the park, Polebridge. It is accessible only by dirt road, and is not on the electric grid (though the buildings in town have generators.) Some shots of downtown Polebridge:

The third day was the absolute high-point -- a 12 mile hike along the Highline Trail. The first 8 miles are cut into the side of a mountain that varied from "cliff" to merely "breathtakingly steep." Fine terrain for bighorn sheep (not close enough for good pictures), more mountain goats than we could count, a marmot under every bush and rock, and a wolverine in one of the less-steep rock-covered areas. No pictures of him -- he ducked away into some bushes before we could even think to be scared. R and I looked at each other -- "was that really a...wolverine?" We weren't convinced ourselves until we got home that night and checked the wildlife guide -- right facial markings, right size, right habitat, and we saw him from about 30 feet in bright daylight. We're sure.

So, some goat pictures first, because they are not camera-shy:




Note that this first photo was not zoomed.

We encountered the baby (left) and his mama (not shown) about 3 miles in. Mama was absolutely determined to stay on the very narrow trail. M and I herded our bunch into a slightly-wide spot against the cliff wall and shushed them while they argued about whether we should "make the goat move." Mama, in the mean time, stood 3 feet away glaring at us in that threatening way universal to all mothers. My kids finally shut up, and Mama decided to pass us. Junior, in the mean time, had been goofing off around a corner and had forgotten there were people. As he ran to catch up with Mama, he was startled to see us and skidded to a stop at our feet. He stared at us wide-eyed for a moment, then dashed after Mama as fast as he could go.

But the real star of the Highline hike was the views:

The next day was river rafting, which likely would have been enjoyable if the Whiners and their two small boys weren't on our raft. No photos for obvious reasons.

The last day there son #2 and I came down with...something. Immodium, that elixir for all travelers, got us through but we weren't going to tempt fate with another long hike. So no Iceberg Lake, no Grinnell Glacier. Just an easy hike along a chain of small lakes. Nothing of note until we were almost back to the parking lot, then this guy and his harem:

Mr. Moose chose a particularly picturesque spot to stand. His two cows and their babies were at the far end of this small lake, and pictures of them were shot into the sun, sad to say.

The next day we loaded up and drove to the airport just as the heatwave hit -- 105 degrees, according to the car thermometer.

I promise pictures of knitting in the next post. (It will probably be a let-down...)

Almost Ready!

Less than 48 hours until we board the plane to go to...

Glacier National Park! I am so psyched!!

I booked two raft tours today -- one whitewater, one scenic.

Daughter keeps asking how deep the water is -- clearly she's worried about falling out of the raft. She seemed reassured that life preservers would be required, and not at all bothered that helmets would be provided as well. I wish I knew what her mental image is of "white water rafting." She asked today if "white" meant "easy." Like the color coding of ski runs. And I've decided not to tell her that the lakes are as deep as the mountains are tall. Once the water is over your head, how much difference does it make how deep it is? Right? That's very logical. But I remember spending a lot of time on lakes as a kid and being irrationally frightened at how deep the water was. When a cold draft would float by my legs, I'd have to remind myself not to scream. The fear never stopped me from jumping off a boat with a water ski, however.

The boys are busy arguing about whether there are really glaciers there. One says all the glaciers melted centuries ago. The other says there are glaciers, but they all melt in summer. The debate has scaled back now that I've got guide books to read aloud from. They are by no means convinced I am right, but they are no longer so certain I am wrong.

For knitting, I've decided to keep it simple after all. Trying to plan a Big New Project for the trip was just adding to the stress of preparation. So I will take Josephine (who didn't complain at all when I left her sitting untouched last weekend due to a sore shoulder), several balls of sock yarn, Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitting Socks, and the two patterns I've pulled off other blogs (Dunes and Loksins.)

And I'll take the Interminable Christmas Cross-stitch Stocking as well. Yes, there's a story there, but I'll tell it later.