View from the hill

The last time I tried to get up to Larch Mountain (which was in early June), it was a no go – the road was still closed post winter. Only 4000 feet up, the road is masked by trees and only plowed up to where the residential area stops, so it takes a while for a natural melt.

About 16 miles from the Women’s Forum Scenic Viewpoint on the old scenic highway, Larch Mountain is one of the lesser known gems in the area. A short walk from the parking lot (which requires a fee or forest pass) is Sherrard Point – from here you can see up to five of the Cascade volcanoes depending on the weather.

St Helens, Adams and Hood are the closest – you need to try a little harder to spot Rainier and Jefferson.

A little fog floating through the valleys can be quite beautiful…

Why do immigration officials like blank pages

My passport is filling up. It’s only four years old, but has just three blank pages remaining, at least it did, until yesterday. Now it only has two, thanks to a Korean immigration official stamping one of the empty ones… right opposite a page of Korean stamps that could have fitted a few more, especially if previous officials were a bit less random.

Of course Korean’s aren’t the only offenders, I’ve a few pages with a solitary US stamp, again opposite a page with another one or two US stamps with plenty of room to spare. Japan makes things worse with a sticker on entry that takes up a quarter of a page and then of course (like most Asian immigrations) there is an exit stamp – that’s nearly half a page gone.

Time for me to apply to Global Entry so hopefully I can at least avoid US stamps…

A walk down Market Street

The day starts a little cloudy but there’s still a lot to see on Market Street if you like architecture. Perhaps like Seattle where the water makes a perfect grid impossible, streets meet at odd angles leading to non rectangular structures. I like the staggered windows on the side of the Golden Gate building.

There’s also some famous buildings like Hearst’s.

The streetcar also runs along Market, they’re not all the same though having been acquired over the years, some from other cities. It’s nice that they avoided painting them all the same way and maintaining some of their original persona.

At the end where Market meets The Embarcadero is the Ferry building, center of a huge farmers market that puts Pike Place to shame – hopefully once the viaduct comes down, the Seattle waterfront could be converted into something like this.

Up in the air

Couple nice shots on the way to the Bay Area…

Mount St Helens – you can see how the whole northern side collapsed, though hard to make out the dome rebuilding at this angle – it’s contrasting rock in the upper left below the crater wall.

And another volcanic feature – Crater Lake in Oregon – 5 by 6 miles across. The cinder cone here is the little Wizard Island near the top of the lake.

The fussiest airline in the world

Korean Airlines is the fussiest airline in the world, at least in my book. I will prefix this by saying I like Korean Air, just I wish they’d treat their passengers a bit more like grown ups and less like five-year-olds.

It all starts before the plane has left gate with the first of many announcements, please sit in your assigned seat; place your bags in the overhead or seat in front of you (except in business for some strange reason even though there is a huge cut out under the next seat); fasten your seat belt; please watch the safety video…

Ah yes, the safety video, this is getting to be the part of the journey that doesn’t go fast enough though I’m learning to tune it out now. They really push the limit on laboring a point, like showing the safety buckle being fastened three times (animated and by stoic actors) and rather than ‘approved electronic devices’ it’s ‘mp3 player, cd player, dvd player, computer…’. And if you’re really lucky (say flying between Korea and China) you’ll get to see if twice with a mix of three spoken or subtitled languages (Korean, English and Chinese). I’m sure it makes taxiing slower than any other airline since you can’t take off until it’s ended – it’s really enough to make you want to jump out the exit door there and then.

Sit in an exit row and it gets worse – I was in coach on a 737 once and the flight attendant comes over and forces the safety card into my hands saying ‘it is your duty to assist me in case of an emergency – please read this card to better understand your duties’ – he had a bit of a lisp too which really added to the moment. For the guy next to me (who I guess was Korean) though he just said two words – maybe they think us foreigners aren’t that smart – oh the irony(1)… This guy was particularly funny as when letting me know he had my vege meal announced ‘I have a vegetable meal with some milk products – I will bring it for you’.

Now back to the announcements – these continue ad nauseam throughout the flight. Make sure all your documents are in order; the duty free is now open; the duty free is now closed and the best of all ‘ turbulence’ which I’ll come back to in a moment. What makes this all the worse is of course they interrupt the in flight entertainment and again, on a flight involving Chinese speakers you get an interrupt for the Korean then it starts again, another interrupt for English, then a delay and then an interrupt for the Chinese (which seem to be prerecorded usually). Luckily their entertainment system actually works through take off and landing (so long as you aren’t in a bulkhead) otherwise finishing a movie on a two hour flight would be impossible.

There’s also the occasional pilot announcement of course telling you about flying time, weather and temperature at the destination, why we’re delayed, we’re about to land etc. etc.

Ok, onto turbulence. The slightest bump and on come the seat belt signs. But that’s not enough – there’s then an announcement to say we’re experiencing turbulence, return to your seats, yada, yada, yada. If very bumpy they’ll add stop using the lavatories and really really bumpy and the captain will ask the crew to return to their seats. Given the sometimes transitory nature of turbulence though, it’s often already stopped by the end of the announcements. And if you are in the lavatory they will bang on the door until you come out.

My favorite WTF turbulence moment was when I’d got out of my seat to get something from the overhead. I sat down in an empty seat to work on my case – I’d just got it open when an attendant came by to say you can’t sit there so I had to explain it’s just while I work on my case. A minute or so later and I’d finished as was about to put it up again when – turbulence hits – and the attendants run over and say you must sit down. I was tempted to say ‘shall I just leave the case here in the aisle then to fly around by itself’. By the time I’d got it back up, there were three attendants on me, who did profusely thank me once I’d sat down again and buckled up.

(1) It’s probably obvious but you know how people (ok, Americans mainly) tend to think foreigners are dumb and just speaking loudly in English will somehow get through to them? Well I guess it is a global prejudice…

After the quake

I’d been due to fly to Japan just hours after the quake hit so needless to say my flight was cancelled. Things sound like they’re starting to get back to normal outside of the devastated area though power is still a problem especially now we’re getting into summer – offices are going casual or shutting down in staggered form to reduce the load for AC. I’d heard in spite of the distance that Tokyo got a pretty bad shaking and did come across a story on how Tokyo Tower had been damaged even.

A lot of fear remains of course about the radiation levels – Korean air (who granted are one fussy airline) have altered flight paths and assure travelers at the start of the flight about ‘taking a safe height and distance’ from the affected area. I did like XKCD’s take on all this.

I’ll probably be getting back to Tokyo in a month or so, my preferred Bar Hermit is still there waiting…

Lake Wenatchee

Just outside of Leavenworth, Lake Wenatchee is a favorite stop of mine along highway 2 – it always amazes me how few people seem to be there. Normally it’s serene, the still mirror lake enclosed by the sloping mountains, but this time it was a little more wild, waves crashing on the beach thanks to a cold wind blowing through the valley.

Nature had a few surprises though…

Cashmere

I suspect that most people (assuming they’ve heard of it) would think Cashmere is related in some way to the woolen trade, not that Washington is renowned for goats, but far more likely than being named for Kashmir in India. However, it is the latter which is in fact correct.

Cashmere was originally called Mission, but this was confusing due to there being another Mission not too far away. The local judge decided the area reminiscent of the foothills in Kashmir and so chose the name. Perhaps it’s some kind of prejudice that makes it hard to believe – it sounds remote and harsh doesn’t it – though if you hunt around on the web, you’ll find some pictures of lush meadows with peaks beyond that are indeed Kashmir. Maybe he wasn’t too far off the mark…

So why stop on highway 2, what does Cashmere have to offer? Well it’s perhaps most famous for the museum and pioneer village. Both were closed on my visit, but the village is visible to passers by…

As you can probably guess, the railroad ran along the riverside, though initially there was no stop and the town didn’t see the consequential boom. The waterwheel was actually used for irrigation of an orchard but built from parts that came from a steamboat.

Downtown Cashmere is quaint and sleepy…

Here you’ll find another museum for Cashmere’s Applets and Cotlets – well, you have to do something with all those apples. There’s also a more modern industry springing up thanks to changes in Washington’s liquor laws.

Just outside of Cashmere is the Peshastin Pinnacles – popular with climbers but also interesting to look at – just wish they’d move the cables.

Wenatchee sunset

Clouds can sometimes be pretty…

A new view of Coulee dam

I wrote about Coulee dam a few years back. On a damp May afternoon, I managed to get back and explore a bit more. The visitor center is a little sterile but provides more of the history – it seems a desire for cheap power wasn’t the main driving force but more a response to the great depression, generating thousands of jobs.

Of course a project of this size had it’s casualties – The town of Keller was moved as the dam backed up water in the valley. In the visitor center the Colville Indian Reservation had a little booth with a lone occupant looking a little out of place and isolated… maybe a token effort at remorse over the impact on their community, but hopefully a learning experience for the visitors.

One thing I’d noticed before on satellite views was what appeared to be a lookout from the hills above, but no signs from the dam seem to provide any guidance to get there. Well there is a lookout – Crown Point Vista – just take the 174 out of town and turn on to Crown Point Road.

From here you get a different view of the dam and the surrounding area.

The vista was also a stop off for a Porsche club showing off their shiny cars.