States Visited ... (revised)

Having spent a week in Wyoming, plus 3 additional nights in Kansas, 2 additional nights in Iowa, and 1 additional night in Arkansas, here is the map of my visits, coded consistent with Dubby's rule that you have to spend at least 3 nights in a state to count it as "visited".  Click on the map for a larger version.  I still need ND, OR, and of course, HI, which will probably be my last one, ... if I ever get there at all.  I'm thinking of checking off Montana next summer: several friends have recommended Glacier National Park.

And below is another map, this time showing in green those states that I've stayed in at least 7 days or more.  Many of these longer-term trips were either business travel, summer camps when I was a scoutmaster, or family vacations.



Earthquake: 5.8

On the 5th floor, it felt like someone was rolling a heavy cart with bad wheels down the hall, but then the vibrations got bigger and bigger... much bigger than the one we had about 6-7 years ago.  Nothing fell off the shelves or walls, but it was all vibrating pretty good.  Several of us got up and stood in our doorways until it passed.  It was probably less than a full minute before the motion completely died away, but it seemed much longer.  Pretty cool, not scary, but unusual.

Trip 4 Days 2-7

Bittersweet trip.  Dealing with my dad's affairs and my Mom is being complicated by the interference by the family drama queen.  Four full seasons of Peyton Place, Days of our Lives, As the World Turns, Dallas, CSI, Shark Week, Dog the Bounty Hunter, and America's Funniest Home Videos, all put together, wouldn't come close to this experience.  If I were to write a book on it, even the writers of Cowboys and Aliens wouldn't accept it because this story is so unbelievable.

On the flip side, my days with DJ were very enjoyable.  In spite of torrential downpours, hail, traffic jams, and the occasional young friend who can't yet fully grasp the importance of plans, maps, directions, schedules, or timeframes, DJ is now settling into her new digs, her new job, her new city, etc.  Had a great time with DJ at Rainforest Cafe (she even surriptitiously told the wait staff about my birthday, resulting in a chocolate sundae volcano with a birthday candle on it, accompanied by the usual embarrassing singing and clapping). 

The highlight of the trip was another terrible thunderstorm/hailstorm, which lasted a very long time for a Florida thunderstorm, and which emptied the Magic Kingdom of its crying kids and babies about 8 pm., cancelling the parade, but turning the place into a wonderfully-roomy and pleasurable place in which to enjoy the 10 pm "Wishes" fireworks program.  We had perfect spots to watch, right in front of the Crystal Palace.

On the way back home, I finally discovered the quickest way between Jax and Weyers Cave.  All other routes (I-77 through Charlotte, I-95 through Richmond, etc.) take 10-1/2 road hours, and this new route shaves half an hour off the trip:  US 29 to Greensboro, US 220 through North Carolina to I-74 to SC38 to I-95 at Latta.    10 hours total on the road.  Nice discovery.

Trip 4 Day 1 -- Weyers Cave to Kingsland, GA

Eleven road hours.  Took US 29 south through Lynchburg, Danville, Greensboro, then 220 down through Asheboro to Rockingham (NC), then US 1/52 to Florence, then I-95 to Kingsland.  Bad thunderstorms off and on all the way.  Drenching rain, hail, lightning, thunder, and strong wind for 20 minutes, then 20 minutes of dry driving at speed, followed by more drenching rain, wind, hail, lightning, etc.   No construction, no traffic tie-ups, no accidents, made decent time.  Dinner at Ship-2-Shore, a local seafood place that takes the seafood right off the boat at the St. Mary's marina.

Trip 3 Day 27 -- Mt Sterling Kentucky to Home...

Home again.  Four weeks away from home is a lot. Drove all day, arrived around 5 pm.  Time to do laundry, pack, and hit the road for Trip 4.

Trip 3 Day 26 -- Topeka Kansas to Mt. Sterling Kentucky

Good night's sleep last night.  Drove almost 12 road-hours today, after Google claimed the trip could be done in 9 hours 5 minutes.  Rush-hour through St. Louis couldn't have taken more than 45 extra minutes, and two construction backups together couldn't have added more than half an hour total (and Google knew about the 10-month-old lane closures on their traffic site).   Other than that, I was doing the limit or slightly over the entire way.  Adding time for lunch, dinner, and gas, took me 13 hours.  I'm stiff from sitting for so long.  Hopefully I'll make it home tomorrow night.  Google says from here to home is just over six and a quarter hours.  I'll be happy if I make it in anything less than 9.  Keep track of my progress on the widget above.  Oh, and happy anniversary to Dubby!

Trip 3 Day 25 -- Departure for Home -- Not Well Yet

Slept in bursts through the night, fever down to 100 this morning.  Felt a bit better.  Took some Advil to travel on.  When temp reached 99.4, I packed and checked out of the expensive hotel.  This is the first time in years I've called for a bellhop to take my luggage down.  Valet parking loaded the car.

Drove to Allen's in Boulder, being very careful -- I felt like I was "under the influence".  Loaded DJ's stuff and other material to take to Virginia, and then treated Allen to Wendy's for his birthday.  Had I been thinking, his birthday deserves more than Wendy's but I wasn't feeling or thinking properly.

Drove on what I believe was an almost-totally-deserted Interstate 70 all the way to Topeka Kansas.  I say "believe" because I don't remember much about the drive.  Fever is hovering around 99.5 with the Advil.  Still feel like @#$%^&.

Trip 3 Day 24 -- Still Sick

Still sick as a dog.   (I wonder where that idiom originated?)   Taking on lots of water, lots of Gatorade.  Letting off lots of water, lots of Gatorade, but not through the typical channels.  Misery city.  Fever at 103 most of Monday night, down to 101 around Tuesday noon at which time the interval between bowl games lengthened to about an hour (and tapered off completely around 4 pm).

Slept for short bursts.  About 9 pm I put on some pants and a shirt and went to the concierge desk and got a little box of Special K to eat dry (with multiple glasses of water and Gatorade).  Fell asleep about midnight.

Trip 3 Day 23 -- Conference, ... and ...

Had a good day at the conference.  Not quite as good as the AISEA conferences in June, but still some very good sessions.  In fact, one of them qualifies as one of the best sessions I've attended in quite a while, on the impact of AIS on the accounting domain. 

I sat attentively through that final session of the day, and even got up afterwards and talked a little with one of the presenters, ... feeling fine.  I walked out the door, and BAM!  Like a ton of bricks, a sick feeling came over me.  I walked probably 30 feet to the elevator and almost passed out from nausea.  I've never had anything hit me so fast.   In literally just a couple of seconds, I went from being perfectly fine, to being deathly ill.

I somehow made it back to my hotel room 3 blocks away.  I skipped the reception and dinner, and about 7 pm walked a block to a Rite-Aid for some Gatorade and a new battery for the fever thermometer I keep in my shaving kit.  Fever was 104.1.  I resisted the urge to take Advil for the fever, thinking that perhaps a high temperature might be a good thing in fighting off whatever had hold of me.   Chills.  Shivers.  Misery. 

Then, about 10 pm, "The Emptying" began.  Both ends.  Occasionally at the same time, too, which really takes skill to do it right.  As the stereotypical understating Brits might say, it was "something short of enjoyable".  Every 30 minutes. Almost like clockwork.  All night long.  My stomach was sore from its exhausting calisthenics.  After 5-10 minutes of strenuous aerobic internal exercise, I'd feel a bit better for about 2 minutes, crawl my way back to bed, and the nausea resumed for about 20 minutes before I'd have to get up again.

Loooong night.

Trip 3 Day 22 -- Denver Accounting Conference

First day of the American Accounting Association annual meeting in Denver.  It is always fun to see your old friends (and young ones, too).  JMU has quite a few professors on the program this year in one capacity or another.  I'm scheduled to speak at the Information Systems section breakfast on Tuesday. Today I spent 3 hours going through the program deciding which 8 (of the 200 presentations) sessions I want to sit in on over the next 4 days. 

Tonight was the early-bird reception.   Although I never attended BYU, they always invite me to their alumnii dessert get-together, so I got to pal around with the BYU professors for a couple of hours -- they are great guys.  I'd never noticed it before, but they don't have any female accounting professors on their faculty.  I wonder why not?

Trip 3 Day 21 -- Pikes Peak or Bust

In 1885, Zalmon Simmons rode a burro up to the top of Pikes Peak.  He liked the view, but not the all-day burro ride.  Being an inventor (he is the same guy who invented the Simmons BeautyRest mattress and boxsprings combination) he thought a cog railway might be a more comfortable ride for tourists interested in seeing the magnificent view from the top.

So in 1889, he started the Pikes Peak Cog Railway.  This narrow-gauge railroad starts in Manitou Springs (outside Colorado Springs) and runs to the summit of Pikes Peak.  Since the railroad AVERAGES a vertical grade of 16% (reaching 25% in some areas), a standard railroad locomotive would have insufficient traction, even with all wheels driving, to pull itself up the grade, let alone passenger cars.  Hence, the rail line uses a cog and gear system... the track has teeth in the track, and the train has a gear which fits in the teeth and is turned by the engine to pull itself up.

Today, we rode the cog train to the top of Pikes Peak.  Elevation at the top is over 14,115 feet above sea level.  But this is still not Colorado's highest mountain.  Indeed, Pikes Peak is the 31st highest mountain in Colorado... 30 other mountain peaks are higher in the state.

In 1893, Katherine Bates, a college professor, was so moved by the view from the Inspiration Point, halfway up the mountain, that she wrote "America, the Beautiful".

The ride starts out going up a beautiful gorge with a waterfall higher than Niagara Falls.  The tour guide is quick to point out that she didn't say the falls was "larger" or "bigger" than Niagara, but "higher".  The falls here is at 8000' ASL where Niagara is about 510' ASL, thus these falls are "higher" than Niagara Falls.

From the forest in the gorge, the line rises above the treeline as 11,000 feet, and continues up the alpine tundra.

You will notice that the car is inclined... look out the windows below and you will see the ground.

Here is a photo of our tourguide, Erin.  Notice that she is standing vertically, whereas the car is inclined 25%.  While I turned the photo, she really is standing perfectly vertically.  It was funny.

Allen snapped a picture of me, again standing perfectly vertically.  The car is inclined, and the camera is inclined parallel to the railcar.

The view from the top is breathtaking.  I've been here before, but both times, the summit was enshrouded in fog, being inside a cloud, so I had no idea what the view from the top was like. 

Here is a view of the city of Colorado Springs, way way down.  The tour guide said, "see the horizon over there?  That's Kansas."   You can see five states from this point:  Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.

The air is noticeable thinner up here.  If you walk very fast, even for a short distance, like 50 feet, you begin to feel giddy.  We enjoyed some of the world-famous Pike's Peak donuts at the cafe on top.  The tourguide told us we had 30 minutes at the top.  She said, "if you aren't on this train at 4:30 p.m. sharp, when the whistle blows for departure, then something happens to your body.  You suddenly become what we call... a hiker."  It is 17 miles if you hike down (or up) the mountain.

Trip 3 Day 20 -- Rocky Mountain High

Up early, drove to Rocky Mtns National Park, drove Trail Ridge Road up past the treeline to the tundra, across the Continental Divide (12,183 feet), over to Grand Lake, saw two different herds of elk, and saw a mommy moose with her baby.  Stopped for lunch in Granby.  Then, we went to Hot Sulfur Springs, and spent a couple of hours soaking in the hot mineral waters (we had both brought our swimsuits for just such an opportunity).   The hot water felt great, but was full of little white floatie thingies, the minerals precipitating out of the heavy mineral water as it cooled down.  The entire place smelled like rotten eggs or someone had passed gas.  the facility looked like it hadn't seen any maintenance at all since it was built in the 1920's.  After trying without success to get the smell off our bodies, we drove back through Winter Park, up across Berthoud Pass, and had dinner at the famous BeauJo's in Idaho Springs, Colorado.  Great Day in the high Rockies.

Trip 3 Day 19 -- Downtown Denver, Capital Tour, Hard Rock Cafe, 16th St Mall

Great day.  We tried to tour the Denver Mint, but reservations are required, and the reservations are booked up through the end of the August.  Go figure.

So we toured the Colorado Capital building.    Learned lots of trivia.  Did you know that Colorado was almost named "Arapaho"?  On the western steps leading up to the capital building, the 13th step is exactly one mile above sea level.

We got to go up into the dome of the capital, too.

We spent a nice hour or two walking up and down the 16th street pedestrian mall, which contains some well-known landmarks.  Allen and I had dinner with Jessica at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Trip 3 Day 18 -- Are You Adventurous? You Betcha!

Has it really been 18 days since I've been home?  Wow.

Bryan and Elise caught an early morning flight out of Denver to Ft Lauderdale, and Dubby and Dianna left in the car for home.  Allen and I ran errands, I worked on my conference presentation a bit, and then together we went through the "things to do in Denver" jar that Jessica had put together for Allen.

We toured the Celestial Seasonings plant, but they didn't allow pictures.  Very interesting, and a lot different than what Al and I were expecting.  Much, much better than we anticipated.

Then, we went to Settler's Park, and hiked up the Red Rocks.  Actually, it was much more a climb than a hike. 

I made the mistake of mentioning to Allen that if we were really adventurous, we might try making it to the top.  I had forgotten Allen's standard reaction to such a challenge.  The gauntlet had been thrown down, and there was no way of retrieving it.

Allen kept finding higher and higher peaks to scale.   The views of the plains were magnificent. 

In the photos above, notice the rocks Allen is standing on.  You'll see them again in a moment. 

Coming down is sometimes trickier than going up.

And here are those rocks again.  This photo is not rotated, up is really at the top of the photo.

Allen made it back down again.  Safely.

So now what?

Allen asked, "Are you adventurous?"

It was right out of a Dirty Harry movie:  "Are you adventurous, punk?  Well, are you?"

A few years ago (five years ago, to be exact, almost to the day), a young lady named Cathryn challenged her dad to a hike up to Exit Glacier in Alaska.  That hike, too, turned out to be more of a climb than a hike, and after several hundred feet of vertical climbing, the old man found that he'd bitten off more than he could chew, trying to keep up with the kids. 

But the question remained:  "Are you adventurous?"

Arthritis.  Asthma.  Shoulder bursitis.  Mile-high alititude.   Thin air.  Steep, slippery rocks.  No handholds, no ropes, no harnesses, no belayer, no safety net, no crash pad... hmmm.

"Are you adventurous?" 

Slow and easy... slow enough and easy enough, and the turtle might be able to keep up with the hare.  Maybe.

Success!

It took a while.   A looong while.  But the question had been answered.  We were both adventurous.

At this point, the batteries in the camera died. 

So we don't have pictures of the rest of the, ... um, .. adventure. 

Suffice it to say that this was a typical Allen adventure.   Which means,...  if you know Allen, ... that it ended up with blood.   

By the time we got back to the car down in the parking lot, we were glad there was a full water bottle and a first-aid kit with large bandages so that we wouldn't get blood all over the car seats. 

No need for a real hospital visit this time (at least not yet), but, hey, the blood proves that we are adventurous, and that's what counts.  We are adventurous.

Trip 3 Day 17 -- Rocky Mountain National Park and Downtown Boulder, CO

Got up early, and the boys went to Rocky Mountains National Park, while the girls went to the Denver Zoo.  Since I went with the boys, these pictures are of RMNP.

The park was crowded.  We had to park at the Bierstadt Lake trailhead and catch the bus up to Bear Lake.  After a quick view of Bear Lake, we started up the trail to three of the "postcard" lakes.  The day was dreary and gray, completely overcast, so the photos didn't turn out as well as I like.  Here we are at the rock outcropping just above Nymph Lake.

We press onward and upward from Nymph up to Dream Lake.  This is where the snow and ice stopped me less than 2 months ago, but this time, the snow was all gone.

Since we still had some time left, we decided to go for broke, and see if we could make it all the way to the end of the trail at Emerald Lake, right at the foot of Hallett Peak.  We could, and we did.

Just short of Emerald Lake, we found two bull elk, with impressive racks, resting, oblivioius to the hikers coming within about 20 feet of them.

The girls had a good day at the zoo.  After everyone returned to Superior, we all went out to eat on the plaza in downtown Boulder (at a place that served bisonburgers, made from real buffalo), and afterward had a good time walking up and down the pedestrian plaza on Pearl Street.  Great day.

Trip 3 Day 16 -- Superior, Louisville, and Boulder Colorado

Shopping and toodling around the environs of Boulder.  The kids fixed dinner: Allen marinated and grilled steaks to perfection, the others fixed mashed potatoes, various vegetables, even rice krispie treats with chocolate chips.  Allen's friend Jessica came over and we all played Apples-to-Apples and had a ton of fun until his neighbor finally knocked on the door and asked us to keep it down.