Game Day #2: The Cascadia Cup

Haven't had time to write about our experiences for the past few days, just published a few photos.  We're headed home early tomorrow morning, but it's been a truly fun soccer themed trip.

Yesterday was our big tourism day in Seattle.  A track repair on Thursday night meant we didn't get to our hotel until after midnight, so we slept in, then hit Seattle Center, the hub of the 1962 World Fair with lots of museums and the iconic Space Needle.  Went to the top of the Needle (unfortunately, smog obscured the view of Mt. Rainier), then hit the Experience Music Project Museum.  EMP is mostly a private effort of Microsoft co-founder (and Sounders/Seahawks/Portland Trailblazers owner) Bill Allen where, amusingly, he shows off a bunch of the geek collectibles he has accumulated over the years.  It's a combination music museum for Seattle and a science fiction museum.

I found the Nirvana exhibit fairly interesting (mostly because Nirvana's popularity exploded when I was in college and my generation created the grunge boom), though obviously it meant nothing to the boys. And while I find cultural history fascinating, I apparently do not share the enthusiasm of the dozens of people who stopped to photograph things like Kurt Cobain's sweater that he wore at Garageworks on September 12, 1989, or whatever.  His canned meat collection, different story.

Downstairs they had their sci-fi exhibits, which was mostly a bunch of crap that Paul Allen had bought off Hollywood movie studios.  But still cool, including a great interactive exhibit on the making of Avatar, a bunch of props from horror movies (the model of the facehugger from Aliens was a must-photograph), and a rather disturbingly large collection of ray guns.  Overall, I really liked the museum, but then again, I don't hide my geekiness.

From there we had fish taco lunch, then back to Seattle Center to hit the King Tut exhibition at the Science Center.  We missed this when it came through Minnesota, and all of us found it interesting.  We then took the bus out to West Seattle for dinner with our college friends, Cavs and JO (actually Kevin and Jen, but to us they are always Cavs and JO), who also set the boys up with the wildest possible decor for the Sounders game the next day.

Today was pretty much all Sounders.  After breakfast we took the bus downtown and wandered down to the stadium where we invested our life savings in Sounders gear.  Peyton got a personalized Fredy Montero jersey, Zach picked up a scarf (seeing as he gets every Peyton hand-me-down soccer jersey, he rarely gets many new ones unless Peyton doesn't have them).  Then back up to Pioneer Square to match to the match with the supporters groups:

So before every game the hardcores meet in Pioneer Square and march to the game.  Considering the Sounders average 38,000 per game, this is usually a HUGE crowd, and today was especially exciting with Vancouver in town, a local rival.  There's a marching band, the works.

Once we got to the stadium we let the boys do a few more giveaways, then headed to our seats.  Let me just say, this is what soccer (football) is supposed to be.  Today's game ended up with almost 56,000 in attendance, which actually outdrew the exhibition game the Sounders played a few weeks back against reining European champions Chelsea.  You can watch and listen on YouTube, but everybody should experience this sort of thing in person:

After Seattle scored a pair in the 2nd half to win 2-0 (and plunge Vancouver to the bottom of the Cascadia Cup standings with almost no hope of winning it), we parted ways with Cavs and JO and had an early dinner at Pike Place Market before heading back to the hotel for a rare on-time bed time for the boys.

Great trip... can't wait to come back to the Pacific Northwest for more soccer!

In front of the Space Needle at the Pacific Science Museum

Zach in front of a really cool guitar sculpture at the EMP

Peyton being attacked by corny original Clash of the Titans monsters in space at EMP

The Pharoahs mummified their cats; I think I need to start offering sarcophagus options at the clinic

Kurt Cobain collected canned meat. Of course he did.

So long Vancouver!

Granville Island Market

Zach shows off the cleaned salmon vomiting its own tail... now that's art.

Even Canadians believe everything is better with bacon... apparently with Canadian bacon.

Game Night in Vancouver

Peyton getting his game face ready before his first MLS game, Vancouver vs. FC Dallas

Peyton, Grandma, Zach, and Jeana at our first MLS game (well, not Grandma's or mine)

The boys outside BC Place before the game

Zach meets one of his idols, Vancouver captain and 2010 US World Cup veteran Jay DeMerit, in a pregame autograph session.  Zach has seen the documentary on Jay 5 times (and told him this, which led to Jay quizzing him for 2 solid minutes on what he learned). Jay is from Green Bay, so I prodded Zach to tell him that his favorite NFL team was the Packers, to which Jay responded by saying, "Well, I like you even more now knowing that!"  True class act.

The roof at BC Place.  Retractable due to the frequent rain the area gets, but it was beautiful tonight, and just an amazing place to watch a game.  Can't wait to come back.

After spending the morning out and about in Vancouver, I have come to several conclusions...

1) I am totally bummed I did not go out of my way to come here during the Olympics.  This place would have been amazing.  It has the perfect layout, amazing public transportation, unlimited hotel rooms, a great food scene, amazing scenery, a nice temperate climate, and so on.  What a missed opportunity.

2) Canadians are nice but I'm not sure many of Vancouver-ites are actually from Canada.  This is a really cosmopolitan city, like a micro version of New York or Chicago.  Then again, I haven't been walking around town pointing out that our women's soccer team just won Olympic gold at the expense of the worst screw-job ever on their team.

3) I'm not sure I could live here.  I'm not really into high-rise downtown style living.  There are some suburbs (West and North Vancouver) that are in the foothills and look nice, but it seems like it lacks a sense of, I dunno, community.  People just kind of do their own thing, they're not really proud of or satisfied with their lives.  It's like everybody is so busy trying to be a good host, they forget to be real.  Obviously, I don't suspect New Yorkers ever really have that problem.

4) Lastly, I wish I had time to visit UBC's Anthropology Museum.  The totems at Capilano were really cool, and I love all of the Inukshuks around town.  I was going to buy a small totem for my desk, but then I realized that those are not real totems.  If you're going to go all in, then go all in.  Not that I am going to spend 10 grand on a totem wood carving right now, but that would be some totally cool artwork for the office.  Then again, it would probably scare the urine out of half the dogs that came in the front door, too.  And the other half would just pee on it anyway.  Hmm, will have to think about a new plan.

More AM Photos from Vancouver

Zach is so raven... but not quite great horned owl.

Mountie bear

Embarking on crossing the Capilano Suspension Bridge

No real reason for this photo other than to point out that the next Husky I get will be named Japadog.

Food truck lunch in downtown Vancouver

Photos from the AM in Vancouver

Zach and I with a very realistic totem impersonation

Peyton, Zach, and me doing another great totem

Jeana and Peyton totem

Peyton, Zach, and I re-enact the final scene from Temple of Doom... "Just give us the stones, Dr. Jones."

First night in Vancouver, boys in the Gaslight district by the world's first (and possibly only) steam powered clock. Toot toot.

For the record, it seems Canadians... 1) Have a difficult time remembering they are from Canada... at least at customs it sure seemed like way more of them got in the wrong line. 2) Are far more open-minded, judging by the ads on their bus stops. 3) Are still quite proud of the Olympics they pulled off two years ago. And hey, totems are pretty cool.

Mom saw this 5-month old Husky in a dog park tonight... it's essentially Kalou with Max's haircoat, and has now decided this is the next dog she needs. Right, that will be easy to find. He was having a ball in that dog park though... even harassed an adult female Weimeraner incessantly.

Not Done Yet

Seen yesterday on US 29 on the way out of Wyoming: the Boner Ranch quickly followed by Old Woman Creek. Unrelated, I suspect.

Boxwork in Wind Cave

Interesting Things I Learned on this Trip

1. Wyoming is very friendly, because all of its revenue depends on energy production (lots of buyers, plenty of supply) and tourism (especially in this corner of the state). They are pretty nice to the loads of idiot tourists who stumble through here.
2. Wyoming (and South Dakota for that matter) does not care if it names things inappropriately or humorously. Let's recount thus far:
   • Crazy Woman's Creek
   • Dead Swede Campground
   • Many Black Dikes (that's not "Dyke" but it sounds enough like it
   • Mary's Nipple (actually, that's in Idaho, but we can count them too)
   • Indian Creek (I'm guessing there are several)
3. The technology created to allow one to pack one's own feces off a mountain has improved dramatically, even if I avoided having to use said technology.
4. LMFAO's "I'm Sexy and I Know It" is not a good song. It is especially not a good song when played 4 times in a row on the car stereo. And it is the very last type of noise/song that I want to hear when driving through Yellowstone.
5. Do not EVER let your 10-year old play Katy Perry songs before embarking on an 8-mile hike. Not only are they terrible, they also stick in your head.
6. Lastly and most importantly, when trying to urinate outside in 65 mph winds, there is absolutely positively no way that drops of urine will not spray back in your face. Accept it and employ large quantities of hand sanitizer.

Monday, Climb Day 2

Well, the climbing part of Day 2 was mostly downhill, unfortunately. After a night of feeling like the hut would be blown off the mountain, we managed maybe 4 hours of sleep total before waking at 4 AM for breakfast. The wind had not died down.

Paul opted to scrap the summit attempt because he felt gassed from Day 1, so Christian and I took off from the Hut at 6 AM. We climbed maybe 250 feet to the Black Dike on the southern face of the Grand, at which point it became very obvious that a summit attempt would be very dangerous. The wind kept trying blow us off the mountain. When your guide is saying, "Wow, this is windy," I take that to be a bad sign when your guide is intimidated by the weather. So we scrapped the climb, headed back down to the hut, and then picked up Paul and headed down.

And a good thing we did. We made it back to the parking lot just as a storm rolled over the summit. That was about 2 PM, which would have put us at the Hut. Hmm... down climbing tired in a rainstorm. No thanks.

Climbing is all about making it back alive. I'm happy I almost made 12,000 feet and felt strong enough to go the distance if it had been safe. Maybe another time...

Without a doubt, my favorite picture of this trip. I snapped this shot from the Black Dike under the Exum Ridge... aspen glow at 6 AM of the Middle Teton. Amazing, and so crazy to have to climb 5400 vertical feet to get something this perfect at just the right time.

This was as high as we went. The hut is visible from the Black Dike.

Looking out into Idaho from the Saddle. The flat top mountain, Tabletop Mountain, featured a helicopter rescue last year of a climber who broke his ankle. The helicopter was flown by Harrison Ford (of Indiana Jones/Han Solo fame). My guess is that it wasn't quite so windy that day. To the right is a famous peak called (and I am not making this up) Mary's Nipple.

Sunday, Climb Day 1

I actually wrote this post from the Saddle Hut on Sunday night on my iPhone.

Holy crap.

8 miles today, 5000 vertical feet. Which sounds pretty bad by itself, but to be honest, the hike/climb wasn't that awful. What was awful was the 60 mph gusts off the mountain that kept trying to blow us back down the couloir or shower us with pebbles and scree. I'm writing this from the "shelter" of the Lower Saddle hut (actually a canvas structure on iron rods that sounds like the steady 40 mph winds from Idaho will pick it up and throw it down the mountain.

This is much different from Rainier. We can see the Grand's summit from the Saddle. It feels so close, like you could climb it this afternoon and then get back to the hut before night. That's not actually possible, but it feels like it.

The wind is supposed to die down tonight in time for our summit attempt, but if this keeps up it will be in jeopardy. Time for dinner and then bed, at 11,600 feet.

I added the following after getting back

In case you were wondering, here is our route from today:

It was a long hike, to say the least. The first four miles got us to Lupine Meadows, which is where most of the melt from the glacier turns into a strong stream. That was about 2.5 hours. The rest was a slog up the glacier's snowfields in 40 mph winds with 60-65 mph gusts that threatened to knock us over. We had to help a solo climber pin his tent to the ground with rocks (the next day we found out the wind tore one side of his tent off and threw it over the Saddle into Idaho). As our guide noted in guide verbage, it was "nukin'".

Shot of Lupine Meadows from the Middle Teton glacier.

This dark chimney behind Paul and Christian on the Middle Teton is called "The Black Dike." And it won't be the last Black Dike we see, once again proving political correctness has not arrived in Wyoming yet.

The Lower Saddle is in sight here (in front of the sun).

Paul and me at the Lower Saddle Hut. The climbing route is in yellow behind us (I drew it on there, obviously). That black line of Ignatius rock behind us is the other Black Dike.

Saturday in Teton Village and GTNP

Today we completed the day 2 of the climbing school, which was essentially completing a pair of climbs off one of Teton Village's ski slopes in what is called Laramie Bowl. Christian challenged us with some tougher climbs (and we survived, though the rock managed to take a chunk of my thumb and my knee), and the good news is that nothing we do on the Grand will be nearly as difficult as what we did today. We embark around 10 AM tomorrow for the Lower Saddle and will be climbing the Exum Ridge route... not too hard, but does include a ledge traverse over a 1500-foot drop in early morning. Gulp. We come down on the western slope and drop in with a 200-foot rappel as well. Should be interesting. I'll post pics and video from today later... Paul has all of the shots of me on his camera, and he's already in bed.

Jeana and the boys took the ferry across Jenny Lake and hiked up to Hidden Falls, a short and relatively easy hike of about 1/2 a mile. This is where Paul and I were climbing on Friday. Pics of the crew in front of the falls, a pesky marmot, and Teewinot (left) and Mt.Owen (right) below:

We all got back this evening, and after dinner Paul stayed in while the rest of us went to... the Jackson Saturday Night Rodeo! Ugh. Not my thing. I passed the time by texting, cheering for the animals to win, and being entertained by the Amish family in front of us rocking out to Taio Cruz. No, that last statement was not a joke. Zach also got popcorn salt in his eye. Which reminds me, the most expensive thing on the snack bar menu was jerky for $5, thus explaining what happened to the poor calf that got roped and then stood up lame on the left hind foot (I notice these things).

Won't be updating the blog again until Monday night because, well, tomorrow night I'll be trying to sleep at 11,000 feet at the Lower Saddle. Later!

Bullwinkle!

Friday... Climbing Begins!

Paul got in late last night, and this morning we woke early and headed to Jenny Lake in GT NP to meet our guide and start our training for our climb. Our guide, Christian, is half-Chilean and has a rather impressive resume. Really nice guy and extremely patient with my inability to learn how to tie any kind of knot.

After a morning of learning knots, steps, rope-handling, and different techniques, we completed a six-pitch climb near Hidden Falls. Beautiful area, fun climb, and supposedly a bit harder than what we will do on the Grand (though did not include 1000-foot drop-off's)...

We finished the day by practicing rappelling off a 100-foot cliff. Really fun, though also kind of freaky scary. Going up, you can go at a pace you feel comfortable with, make sure you have good foot and hand holds, etc. On a rappel, it's all on your rope anchors. And yeah, I know people practice rappelling off this cliff, but that doesn't exactly stay forefront in your mind when you're dangling 100 feet off the ground and the only thing keeping you from certain death is that freaking rope.

Jeana and the boys spent another leisurely day around the condo watching France beat Ukraine and England rally to beat Sweden (wicked goal by Welbeck, by the way). Then they tried their hand at tennis and did some more swimming before meeting Paul and myself in town for dinner and Jackson's long-running main street gunfight.

Tomorrow, more climbing for Paul and me around Teton Village while Jeana and the boys plan to do some hiking (probably up near Jenny Lake where we climbed today). Some of us may hit up a town rodeo tomorrow night, and then it's a good night's rest before the big climb starting Sunday.

Paul rappelling

Mellow Thursday

After 3 days in the car, we made a concerted effort to stay out of the car today. Late wake-up, breakfast, then over to the Village to ride the Tram up Rendezvous Mountain (10,927 feet, 4100 foot climb). It was a wee bit colder at the top, and we did a short hike near the summit.

After heading back down (Zach's rather engaging video footage of the descent to be posted when I have a faster connection) we headed into Jackson for lunch (the grass-fed beef out here is so crazy tender it's ridiculous), then came back to the condo and let the boys swim for a few hours. And watched the Irish get pounded into submission. And deal with a few web issues on a slow afternoon.

With little else to report today, I'll just link one of Zach's and Peyton's videos...

Snow hiking in June

Day 3 Part 2

The geysers get all the press at Yellowstone, but one of the park's iconic sites is the Grand Prismatic Hot Spring. There isn't as much pressure building here, so instead of a steam vent or a geyser we get this bubbling lake of clear blue water that spills over on to the surrounding rocks. The micro-organisms in the lake turn it the unreal shade of blue, and then as the water cools over the rocks and combines with the sediment, you get brilliant shades of yellow, red, and orange. It's pretty amazing to see.

The coolest thing about the spring is we pulled up during a mild squall that was rolling through, with the air temp dropping into the low 50's with a wind chill. We were kind of cold walking up to the spring, but once we got to the part of the boardwalk next to the spring, the steam coming off the lake warmed us up. Like an outdoor sauna. Zach even requested we double back so we could go through the steam again (even though his glasses fogged).

Zach participated in a Junior Ranger program. Now, I think it's a good program, as the kid gets a patch at the end and a park ranger holds an impromptu ceremony (in Zach's case, under a dead buffalo's head). But this also was the cause of several meltdowns in the car as Zach struggled to finish the tasks as we drove from site to site. So I personally remain skeptical on the use of the Junior Rangers. They should hand out clipboards with it, at least.

At Mammoth we took in the legendary Travertine Terraces, but first shot the boys sitting in front of apparently tame elk that wander the station, most of them eating while laying down much like my mother's fat dog. Wait, I mean full dog.

The terraces are cool because the hot springs that feed them cause this weird terracing effect (hence their name). So in addition to the cool colors, we get natural landscape architecture.

Our plan for tomorrow... little to no driving. We hope to get in a short hike in Grand Teton NP, let the boys swim some, maybe get back in time to watch a bit of Ireland-Spain (nothing like watching the Irish fight a hopeless battle... pretty much the story of their existence).