More fun in the snow!

Another nice storm came through Escalante and added another foot of snow to what was already here. Here's our Subaru before we dug it out. Fortunately the weather cleared this afternoon and is predicted to be sunny for our departure Friday. The highways between here and Las Vegas should be okay for our travel.

We've cooked lots of food to leave behind for Phil's brother Howard and go on our way with good conscience. On to Las Vegas to see my brother Bob, and then to California to visit friends in Long Beach before heading to San Jose.

Winter in Escalante Utah - January 2010

Here Phil and I are in Escalante Utah, a winter visit I said I’d never repeat when I did one several years ago. Our special mission this time is to keep company with Howard Hutchison, Phil’s brother, who ended up with a subdural hematoma after a fall in December. After two surgeries, several days of not being sure he was going to pull through, and a month’s convalescence in Salt Lake City, Howard is now back at home in Escalante doing just fine. We came visit, cook, and entertain some of the many friends who helped him.

Now that I’m here, I am forcefully reminded of why I declared my “no winter returns to Utah” policy. First—it’s not a good time to be driving in the mountainous west, due to the potential snowstorms and poor road conditions. While we had mostly dry roads coming down, we met a snowstorm in northern Utah, driving for an hour in the dark in blinding conditions that left me unable to see where the road was. We had no option but to go forward, bcause there was no place to stop or stay in that remote stretch of road. It was the most frightening hour I have spent as long as I can remember.

Second, Howard’s house has no central heating. There are baseboard heaters in our bedroom (thank goodness) and the living room, but no heat at all in the dining room or kitchen. There’s a courageous small electric space heater trying to make a dent in the cold in the kitchen, without much success. The temperature outside is in the low teens or lower at night, heating up to just above freezing during the day if it’s sunny. The highest daytime temperature reading in the kitchen has been 54. In the morning it’s about 48. The dress code inside the house is as many layers as you can pile on, with feet and hands constantly cold, especially at mealtime. Fortunately Howard has a second house just a block away, with a stove that brings the temperature up into the 60’s if you’re within 10-15 feet of it. That’s where we’re cooking and eating—still wrapped in several layers.

Except for these two conditions, southern Utah is especially stunning when it has snow—which it does this winter. There were over 3 feet of snow on the ground when we arrived and today (Wednesday), after several days of sun, we’ve added another several inches of snow. This is unusual for Escalante, which usually gets just a dusting of snow that disappears in a couple days. I’m glad we are here to see it. I’ve taken pictures of it so I can share some of that beauty with friends and remember it when I’m not here, but I promise myself NOT to repeat this adventure.

Home and Off Again!

At last I am back with my own computer and will try to upload the pictures I wanted to do in Australia. I'm sharing a picture of the view from the apartment where we stayed in Surfer's Paradise, and also a shot of me doing one of my favorite activities, walking the beach.

I have been home a little over a week, scrambling to catch up on bills, groceries, clothes washing, a bit of gardening, and all the other things that collect while you are gone. Phil cooked a wonderful osso bucco for my Mother's Day dinner, rounding it out with delicious chocolate eclairs and a bottle of great wine. Delicious!!

Tomorrow I head to California to help my parents make a decision about moving to a place that will provide them more support than they have in their home in Carpinteria. I'll be driving them up to look at a couple of places in Santa Clara, and we'll go from there. I'm not sure how my schedule will be, but will be back in Seattle no later than the 29th of May.

Look for a post under health in a few days.

Tin Can Bay & the Dolphins

We've now been up in the Sunshine Coast area, staying with our friends Steve & Betty Ostrycharz (formerly from Seattle) for four days. Our weather luck ran out, and we've been treated to rain every day, sometimes as showers, sometimes as tempests. We've tried not to let it curtail our explorations, including this morning's trip to Tin Can Bay to participate in feeding three dolphins from a pod there that appear every day to "socialize" and be fed. The picture shows me (yellow t-shirt) feeding one of them. Each person gets one or two fish to feed to them, the total amount carefully measured so they get no more than 10% of their daily food needs, so they don't become dependent on it.

Tin Can Bay is not named for piles of tin cans that somehow ended up there; rather it's an Anglicized version of the aboriginal name for the site. It's on a river estuary off the Pacific ocean. For some reason, about three generations ago these dolphins began to appear, and each succeeding generation teaches the next. Not all of the dolphins in the pod come, just a few. They're quite docile, though the visitors are urged not to splash and to douse their cell phones, because sudden noises or movement can scare them off. They gently take the proferred 6" fish from your hand (you are holding the tail, they take it by the head) and down it goes. Then they wait for the next person in line.

The countryside here is different from what I expected. Somehow, having heard that Steve & Betty were on a 110 acre farm, I expected it to be dry and brown, out in the middle of the wilderness. Instead, they're about 10 minutes from the town of Gympie, which while not large, has all the necessary services, and only about an hour from Brisbane. It's also lush, green and very hilly country. The lush grass feeds the cattle that they have grazing their property, along with the goats, chickens and ducks. We've been enjoying fresh eggs for brekkie (as breakfast is known here), along with wonderful pineapple (bought a large one today for $1.50). They haven't yet butchered any of their animals, though the plan is to do that with at least some, and sell others. That may prove difficult--nearly all of them have names.

We explore the highlands area two days ago, popping into shops and driving around trying to catch things between downpours. Lots of dairy cattle in this region, so there's good ice cream, cheese and yoghurt, and we sampled some excellent, prize-winning ice cream on that excursion. Yesterday we visited the Saturday market in Eumundi, about 30k from here--lots of booths with clothing, jewelry and the usual assortment of other trinkets, along with food. Had some excellent calamari for lunch.

Phil is making a paella for dinner tonight, which will feature some expensive (but delicious) prawns. The commercially bought prawns here are just as good as the ones we catch on the boat. I don't know why that is--I certainly wish it were true in Seattle.

We'll stay here til Wednesday, at which point we'll venture back to Surfer's Paradise by train, just before the Easter holidays. Though Australia is not particularly religious, everything shuts down on Good Friday, and the weekend is an extended holiday with Monday off as well. Some stores shut down the entire weekend. We want to get back to Surfer's in time to do some shopping before the holiday, though I think the larger grocery stores will be open at least on Saturday. However, we may find our favorite coffee shops in hiding for a few days. We shall see.

The Gang at Curtis Falls

Charles Reynolds (our host), Phil and Kae admiring Curtis Falls, in the mountains just to the west of Surfer's Paradise.

Convict Bridge at Ross, Tasmania

Here I am gracing the shores by the convict-built bridge at Ross, a pretty little village in Tasmania, north of Hobart.

Travel pics from Tasmania & Tambourine Mountain

I downloaded some of my pictures so I could share them. After several tries to post multiple pictures, I'm going to upload them one at a time. First up: a picture of Hobart (Tasmania) from Mt. Wellington.

Moving North

We're about to change our routine from daily beach walks and cappucinos to a visit with friends of Charles & Valerie's in Caloundra, and then move on to visit Steve & Betty Ostrycharz, who live near Gympie. Both of these are north of here, about 1 1/2 hours (Gympie's about a half hour further north of Caloundra). We'll have new routines to discover, just as the weather has shifted from daily sun to a bit of rain and showers for the next week.

I've also done a fair bit of reading, as our daily schedule allows for copious amounts of it. Finished off the mysteries I brought with me. Fortunately we found a good used bookstore within walking distance, so I'm working on a Jane Smiley book on the early settlment of Kansas, and also Manley's book "A Short History of Australia."

I'll post again when our new adventures have revealed themselves.

Laid Back Life

We're adjusting well to the slow pace of indolent life next to a beautiful beach, with great surf and warm weather (80's). Our routines include a daily walk on the beach (Phil sometimes does his with our friend Charles; I do mine either alone, with Phil or with Valerie) and lots of reading. Our friends Charles and Valerie are with us in their apartment, so we're a bit like college roommates, doing a lot of talking and spelling each other on cooking duties. It's a tough life, but we're managing it.

I've gone with Valerie two times to play in the surf, not something that comes naturally to me. She grew up in Bondi Junction (suburb of Sydney) and daily playing in the surf, so she loves to get into the waves and swim. As a northwesterner who grew up in inland Yakima, playing in the surf was something I did rarely, on camping trips to the Washington or Oregon coast, where the water was cold enough that you didn't spend much time there. Here the water is a warm 25 degrees C (roughly 75)--heavenly to splash about it. I worry a little about sharks, though none have been around here and they do have a shark net on this beach. I don't go out very far. There's also been a pretty strong undertow the last few days, so I'm overcoming my nervousness about holding my own as the tide sucks itself back out. But I've quite enjoyed myself the two times I've been in. A splash about every 2-3 days is great for me.

The other fun thing about travel is enjoying different foods. Even shopping for them and trying to discover things you like is fun. Best thing so far is the cappucinos, which are just like Italian cappucinos, because the Italians came early to this country and brought their cappucino habit with them. A nearly daily cappucino has also become part of our routine. Fresh tropical fruit is another. We're at the end of mango season, but the pineapples are wonderful (and huge--think I mentioned that in my last post). The shrimp and fish are also pretty tasty. Haven't had many shots at lamb yet, but will do that too before long. As on our boat, when you are moving at a slow pace, food becomes one of the more important parts of your day.

I am thinking that a 14 hour plane ride is worth it for what I'm getting back. This is pretty nice!

Next Monday we plan to hitch a ride with Charles and Valerie traveling about two hours north to Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast part of Queensland (about 1 1/2 hours north of Brisbane). They're going to babysit a house (with a cat) while their friends Neil and Lyn Ball take a vacation. Apparently Neil & Lyn stayed in our Seattle house for a few days while Charles & Valerie were staying in it, so we are returning the favor, meeting them and then staying a couple days in their house while they're gone. Then our former Seattleite friends Betty and Steve Ostrycharz will pick us up and take us another half hour north to their farm outside of Gympie. After staying with them for about a week, we'll take the train back down to Surfers (where we are now) and reoccupy the apartment while Charles & Valerie take their turn visiting the Ostrycharzes. Complicated? It's taken us a few days to work all this out, but then what else do we have to do?

That's it from the Gold Coast of Oz. Will post again when something exciting turns up.

Sun, surf and Paradise?

We have landed in Surfer's Paradise, a part of the "Gold Coast" on the eastern Australian seaboard, about 40 minutes south of Brisbane. It's balmy, in the low 80's. I've been for my morning walk on the beach, and am looking forward to a relaxed month of not doing too much of anything. Yeah for warmth!

We arrived in Australia two weeks ago, spending three days in Sydney, where we connected with a cousin of Phil's (Becky Ridge), friends from Madison Park (Neil & Patty Inman) and stayed with Elva Sinclair, mother of Valerie Reynolds (she and her husband Charles have stayed in our house for the past three summers while we sailed).

After that whirlwind visit, we flew to Tasmania, where we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves touring the island for 10 days. We poked into most of the corners of the island, seeing the rich inner valleys on the east coast where there's lots of agriculture, driving along the north coast which forms the south side of the famous Bass Strait, then down the west side through the mountainous region that houses Cradle Mountain and Lake St. Claire, two of the "must see" destinations. Back to Hobart, where we started, to check out the local scenes and then our last two days were up on the lower east coast at Swansea, which was our base for doing a little hiking in Freycinet national park.

In all, we saw the great variety that the island has in a total square area about the size of Maryland. A lot of the landscape on the north coast reminded us of Lopez Island--with rolling hills (a little taller than Lopez's) and cultivated or grassy fields with sheep. In all it was a great tour, and a nice introduction to the "laid-back" life style of Tassie (as Tasmania is known here). Wonderful fruits and vegetables, great seafood and tasty dairy products. Saw lots of wallabys, unfortunately most of them roadkill. No Tasmanian devils, which we did not make an effort to see in a wildlife park, and none wandered by au naturel.

The biggest challenge was driving. Aussies drive on the left side of the road, like the English. We're been attempting to retrain our reflexes, both as pedestrians and drivers) but it's a slow process. It's surprising how much of car handling you automate--you find out when you try to reverse it. I found it most difficult to navigate curves smoothly, especially inside curves (which here means a curve to the right). Since the Tasmanian roads were also quite narrow and often curvy, but the trucks and tourbuses the same size as usual, this makes driving quite exciting at times. We survived the week without scratching the car, which somewhat amazed us, but are relieved to let go of driving for awhile and use our feet (or ride with the Reynolds while they are with us).

Right now we are lodged in the apartment Charles & Valerie have in Surfer's Paradise (the name of this community), and they are here too. We'll spend a few days together so we can enjoy their company and get oriented to our surroundings. Then they will take off to visit friends and we'll be on our own. At some point we'll venture further north to visit friends who live up by Gimpy (about 2 hours north of Brisbane), but for now, we're happily into kicking back and doing not much of anything.

I'll post again when there's something exciting to share.

Home Again!

Just a brief note to let you all know that the Hutchisons have landed in Seattle once again. I attach a couple of pictures to document our travels—a bit of color from the back yard of the Dorset Inn in Vermont, our daughter Shana with a couple of the North Carolina State University cows from the vet school, and Shana’s two cats, who provide her (and provided us) with great company and entertainment. We had a great trip, enjoyed our visits to Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermonth and North Carolina on the east coast, and are happy to be home tucking ourselves in our own, comfy, warm bed.

I’ll be resuming the last half of my chemo treatment on Monday—two days to play!!

Back East & Loving It!

Finally, catching up! We left Seattle a week ago, catching the 4:45 Amtrak Empire Builder train heading east. The train left right on time–something which proved a novelty as the trip progressed. Our compartment was a good reminder of boat life–small, but nicely planned, so that we had comfortable seating for 3 people, upper and lower bunks to use at night, and a toilet unit that also contained a shower. Altogether very workable.

Since we left in the late afternoon, we had interesting scenery to see up until we got into the Stevens Pass area of Washington state, then it was dark. At the beginning of day 2 we were in Glacier Park, so again had wonderful scenery for about half the day. Then we got into “Big Sky” country in eastern Montana, and from then on it was mostly low hills or fairly flat. Day 3 dawned just outside of Minneapolis-St. Paul, so we had combinations of urban and rural scenery on our 3rd day. The changeover of trains in Chicago went fine, even though our train arrived an hour late. It turned out the train to D.C. also left an hour late, and ultimately arrived 3 hours late in D.C.

The least satisfactory part of the trip was the food, which we felt was just barely okay. We had the same menu to pick from for the entire trip, on two different trains. About 5 different entrees for each meal, so you could find some variation within that selection. At each meal there were 1 or 2 chef’s specials for a couple of those entrees (like a vegetarian special and a fish-of-the-day special, so that also provided some choice). The food itself was not terribly good, with breakfast being the best. And as our Empire Builder train neared Chicago, it started to run out of options, so by noon on our last day, we were down to two choices at lunch (hamburgers or chef salad) with no desserts left (on previous days there had dessert choices at both lunch and dinner). Lesson: get your desserts early.

Our late train nearly messed up our connection in D.C., but we just made the last express bus we had planned to catch, which took us to southern Maryland where our friends Art & Jeanne Myers picked us up. For the last 3 days we have been happily tucked into the generous forward cabin of their 43' trawler, enjoying the waterside activities of their marina and the surrounding areas. We’ve been treated to a festival/open house at the nearby marine museum, a parade, a potluck Canadian Thanksgiving dinner, along with explorations of some fossil cliffs and the first capitol of Maryland, a village called St. Mary’s.

Tomorrow we hit the road in a rented car, driving to Vermont over the next two days, where we will visit with two different sets of friends in Dorset and then Stowe, Vermont, before landing in Randolph, Vermont to stay with my stepbrother Gregg McCurdy. On Sunday we fly to Raleigh, NC to spend the week with daughter Shana, before returning to Seattle on Friday the 24th. We’re looking forward to some nice color in the mountains as we head north. Next posting will probably be sometime during our week in Raleigh.