The OId Blog

Sobol's Grand Finale at the Velodrome

2008-08-22T11:41:00.009-05:00

With Michael on the verge of leaving town for the big skies in Colorado, he decided to make one final appearance at the National Sports Center's Bicycle Velodrome for an evening of races. All the photos from yesterday can be seen here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/5765730_nAKqx

Minneapolis to Stillwater

2008-08-17T16:03:00.010-05:00

The Twin Cities have become known as a great place to own a bike. In the past decade there has been a substantial amount of work put into creating a network of bike trails all around the city and stretching out into the countryside that allow for bikers to get outside the city limits without having to necessarily worry about their safety riding along the shoulder of a two-lane highway.

One of the main arteries that stretches out of the metro area is the Gateway Trail, which runs northeast out of downtown St. Paul. My friends Michael, Mariya and Joel were planning a trip out to Stillwater, following the Gateway Trail most of the way, and they asked me to join them. I stopped counting the good reasons to go along after I had to start using my toes (and quite honestly I don't think it would have been possible to ask for better weather).

Before leaving there was a little bit of work that needed to be done to my bike before it was ready to roll, and Michael was kind enough to stop over to my place and get it working. We then made quick work of getting to Dinkytown to meet up with Mariya and Joel before beginning our day. Our plan was to get out to Como Park by way of the UofM Transitway and Como Ave. in order to reach Wheelock Parkway, which provided the most direct link from Dinkytown onto the Gateway Trail.

Having reached the Gateway Trail, it came as a welcome distancing from most car traffic. The trail runs through North St. Paul and Oakdale, seemingly out in the countryside yet you are occasionally reminded of the fact that Twin Cities suburbs stretch out farther than desired. Making short time of the Gateway Trail, we took a quick break upon leaving the trail onto 75th Street heading due east into Stillwater.

While this was not my first time down in the quaint town along the St. Croix River, the majority of the previous trips were going “through” and not “to” Stillwater. All four of us were too tired to work hard at finding the best place to hang out and have some food and drinks so we opted for the Freighthouse, a large restaurant along the river with plenty of outdoor seating. The food was underwhelming, but it was nice to sit down and enjoy the evening.

We wandered around town afterwards for a while but the light was beginning to wane and we wanted to get going again so as not to get home too late. For anyone that has been to Stillwater, you will already be aware that in order to leave the city heading west you must first deal with a very steep hill which at this point in the night was not exactly what I was wanting to do. But then again there were not too many other alternatives so up we went.

Flying back down the Gateway Trail in near pitch-black darkness was quite a surreal experience. Normally backtracking can become monotonous when biking, but the sense of disorientation became stronger as the trail stretched on in front of us. Fortunately Michael had biked this path many times before because I would have never been able to spot the exit back off to Wheelock Parkway.

Once more on city streets, it was easy going back in to Minneapolis with traffic having died down considerably by 11pm. I attempted to sit down at home and begin looking through the photos I had shot on this bike ride, but I was completely unable to stay awake and gave up on that notion.

To see the full galleries of photos from the trip to Stillwater, click here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/5675855_dRJyJ

Click here to see the map of our journey: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2161300

BWCA: Day 3

2008-06-04T23:37:00.000-05:00

Having gone to bed around 9PM last night it was no issue waking up at 6AM and breaking camp within the hour. Mitch and I were both excited at the prospect of catching a glimpse of some wildlife at this early hour, and we wouldn't be disappointed. No more than two minutes after pushing off from our campsite, we spotted a moose grazing along the shoreline. Mitch had previously seen a moose while driving along the Gunflint Trail, but for both of us this was an impressive sight and a rare glimpse at wildlife at its finest.

We were quickly back on track along the Frost River and for the next couple hours meandered downstream making a number of portages around rapids and beaver dams. One of the portages had a down tree across the path so we opted to run the rapids instead of hoisting the boat over the tree. However, up until this point our portages had been relatively short... that is until we reached our big 300 rod portage for this day. Both of us powered through it and were back on the water within 35 minutes.

The sun never really came out today, but the still water was a welcome trade-off. There were a few more short portages that followed and it was here that we began to feel the effect of our big portage. As we began the final portage of the day it began to drizzle which persisted until we had reached the campsite. Both of us quickly set up camp and had everything situated within 25-30 minutes. No more than about five minutes after setting up the rain began to come down hard and persisted for almost two hours. We managed to keep ourselves occupied with various improvements to our tarp shelter, including a drainage system that allowed us to collect rainwater.

The day ended peacefully and I was off to bed early to recover some energy for the final section of our journey.

BWCA: Day 2

2008-06-03T23:48:00.001-05:00

I certainly wish I could have slept better, but that wouldn't have allowed me to be up at 4AM for some pre-sunrise dawn photos which considering the chilly wind turned out quite nice. Both Mitch and I finally got up at 7:30AM and broke camp by 9AM. By this time the chilly wind had turned warmer, but was still extremely strong and provided us with some terrific headwind to get our day going. A short 13-rod portage got us off of Cherokee Lake and on to Gordon Lake. Gordon was a much smaller and more sheltered lake and as such the wind was far less of a factor here making the paddling much easier. We meandered our way north on Gordon until reaching the main bay where our next portage was located.

Upon arriving at the portage site we saw a group of paddlers coming out from the portage so we waited until they had loaded up and left before approaching. While killing time on Gordon Lake, we came across an outcropping of rock that stuck out over the water with deep water underneath. My climbing mind began looking for possible routes, but that would have to wait for another day...

The portage through to Unload Lake was our longest for the day at 140 rods, but we pulled through and sped across Unload to the shot portage to get to Frost Lake. Earlier we had discussed possibly staying at a campsite on Frost Lake, but upon closer inspection we were unimpressed by the campsites and decided to push on. The next few campsites were a decent distance away and spread far apart, but we were almost certain that the remote locations of these sites would provide a more favorable camping spot.

Getting on the Frost River required another long portage (130r.) so we stopped beforehand for lunch. [Note to self: avoid eating food just before loading a 70+lbs. pack on your back and trekking any long distance.] Along the Frost River we ran into a number of beaver dams that required short portages to continue further, but the two of us got into a rhythm and were quick to get back on the water each time.

Our main option for a camp site was to be on Bologna Lake, just off of Chase Lake which is part of the Frost River flow. The next site was another 60-90 minutes further downstream, so we were hoping that this would be a good spot. As we made our way across the lake, a bald eagle swooped out of the trees and snatched a fish out of the water about 30 yards ahead of the boat, a sight that is truly awesome to behold. The campsite turned out to be quite comfortable and the remainder of the evening was quite calm. Mitch and I began discussing the next day and we both agreed to wake up early in the hope of seeing some of the bigger wildlife that is known to roam in the area.

To see the full gallery of photos from the BWCA, click here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/5104228_yNfAT

BWCA: Day 1

2008-06-02T22:43:00.018-05:00

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness has long been a destination in Minnesota that I have wanted to visit and explore. And after having discussed trip ideas for quite some time with Mitch [blog link], we had finally set the dates and were about to begin the drive north out of the Twin Cities and away from civilization. Leaving town around 6:30AM with coffee in hand, we headed due north towards Duluth and on to the North Shore Drive.

Before getting up to our launch site we had to stop in at the Superior Forest Ranger Station in Tofte to collect our permit and grab a new copy of the map we would need for navigation. With every permit that is issued you are required to watch a short movie which talks about the "Leave No Trace" program that they want all visitors to adhere to. Once you have finished watching the film you are given a short test to ensure that the information has actually been processed. With all of the paperwork completed, we were back on the road heading north out of Tofte towards Sawbill Lake, our entry point into the BWCA.

Having already packed our gear for launch at home, getting the car unloaded was a breeze and we were on the water by 11:30AM. Our initial destination for the day was to be at one of the 18 campsites on Cherokee Lake, a large and quite popular destination in the BWCA. However in order to get there we first had to paddle the length of Sawbill Lake and complete our first portages of the trip, three 80-90 rod portages [wiki: rod(length)] through Ada Creek and Ada Lake. With beautiful weather persisting throughout this first day, we were already enjoying ourselves thoroughly and were happy to observe only a few boaters on Sawbill and none on the connection up to Cherokee Lake. Our plan of attack for finding a campsite was to look along the west shoreline for a site with a good view of the lake that would allow us to take in the sunrise. We passed no more than three campsites when we came upon a site on a peninsula that was situated about 15 feet above the water line and had a great fire pit. I made the executive decision to stay at that site and we began establishing camp.

Most camp sites on this lake are quite heavily visited and as a result leaves a limited amount of firewood in the vicinity. So after we had set up the tent and the rest of our gear, Mitch and I paddled out to an island directly across from our site on the lake to have a bigger selection of firewood for the evening. Quickly finding more than enough wood for our needs, we ended up staying on the island for a while and lounged out in the sun.

Dinner was a spectacular meal put together by Mitch prior to leaving the city - marinated steak, potatoes, onions and carrots bundled together in a tin foil packet along with butter, seasoned salt and pepper and tossed over the fire. Needless to say it hit the spot and left me content to sit around the fire for the remainder of the evening and soak in the peacefulness of the BWCA.

To see the full gallery of photos from the BWCA, click here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/5104228_yNfAT

It's Been A Long Time...

2008-05-23T22:13:00.011-05:00

Yes, it has been almost a month since my last post. This stems not from a lack of adventures to blog about, but instead from my desire to spend less time in front of the computer. The weather here in Minneapolis is steadily improving making life outside more bearable and far more enjoyable.

Taking into account the writing, formatting and designing that I do for each of my blog posts, I would estimate that it takes me approximately 1-2 hours... I tip my hat to bloggers that are able to maintain a thriving blog as I am now aware of how much time and effort goes into that process.

Blogging has certainly been a great way for me to flesh out my thoughts into writing and publish it for others. Just as the majority of this blog already does, I will be focusing on my travel experiences, which I hope will become more frequent as time passes. My next post will most likely be in conjunction with my upcoming trip to the BWCA during the first week of June.

For now you can see photos I took of Matt with his dog Nora down along the Mississippi River by clicking on the image below...

On the Namekagon River

2008-04-24T13:44:00.009-05:00

This past weekend I was fortunate to get up north for a weekend of canoeing on the Namekagon River in Wisconsin with Mike and Matt. The Namekagon River has been designated a National Scenic Riverway and as a result offers some fantastic back-country boating only a few hours removed from the Twin Cities. Earlier in the week the weather forecast predicted sunny skies all weekend long, but by Friday it became clear that we would be dealing with some rain at some point. After taking a few extra precautions, we left town around 5pm and headed due north along Interstate 35. The three of us finally arrived around 8 or 9pm at County K Landing(N31.2) and set up camp for the night. The number before denotes the distance from the confluence with the St. Croix - our final distance would be exactly 35 miles.

I went to bed excited to try out my new Exped sleeping pad for the first time, and it was way beyond my expectations. I haven't slept that well in at least a couple months. However, I did wake up a few times throughout the night and noticed that it was raining quite substantially. I realized in the morning that the tent had standing water sitting in it, but having a 3.5" thick sleeping pad meant that I had stayed dry all night. Nonetheless, we had to break down camp and get on the water in the driving rain which no one really enjoys. It was during this time that I made the decision to leave my camera gear behind in the car as the weather was not showing any sign of improving and while my camera on its own would be able to handle the rain just fine, the other camera gear I had brought would not have fared as well... At the time it was strictly a liability decision, but that would change by the end of the trip - I'll explain later.

Though the rain still continued as we launched our boats, we were very happy to be on the river and moving. As we moved forward the rain slowly began to let up and allowed us to dry off and warm up. If memory serves me right, we had a good clip going for a while and went 10 miles before pulling off to take a break at Whispering Pines Landing (N21.3). During our brief stop here we discussed our possible camp spots for the night; most of our attention was focused between the McDowell Bridge and Namekagon Trail Landings. Based solely on looking at the map, which you can see below, we decided that we would aim for the campsite at N6.2.

The following hours went by quite peacefully without seeing any other people, which gave us plenty of opportunities to look for some of the water fowl and other wildlife that was in the area. Some of the highlights included a few bald eagles, bufflehead, loons, a kingfisher and osprey. While seeing all of this wildlife up close, at no point did I concern myself with the decision I had made to leave my camera behind. As I quickly began to realize, not worrying about shooting photos allowed me to really experience these creatures in a much more natural way.

As we approached the campsite we had previously decided on, it became immediately clear that this would not be our campsite - the landing was eroded and the spot for tents was on a slope. Figuring we would find a more suitable campsite further on, we continued downstream only half a mile before stumbling onto a great campsite at N5.8. We ended up with a good 3-4 hours of sunlight to hang up some of the gear that had been soaked the previous night and get a good fire going. The rain held off for the rest of the evening and through the night and we hoped that there would be some sunlight for our last day on the water.

Unfortunately, the sunlight did not show up for its early morning appearance, but as we made our way downstream once again, the clouds began breaking up and soon we were flooded with sunlight. The remaining 10 miles we needed to cover were extremely enjoyable, most notably when we watched as an osprey dove into the water from up in a tree and came back out with a fish in its claws. Quite an impressive sight and one that I have never witnessed before. We arrived safe and sound at Riverside Landing where I stayed behind while Mike and Matt drove back to County K to get the other car so we could begin the journey back home. Most of that time was spent playing with Matt's dog Nora, who has an infinite supply of energy. I have every intention of returning to the Namekagon River in the near future, and it will make no difference to me if in rains or shines .

Photos from this blog post can be seen here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/4765781_6iFMU

The Outdoor Climbing Season Opener

2008-04-06T10:00:00.001-05:00

Well the weather appears to finally be taking a turn for the better and spring is inching ever closer. This brings about the prospect of getting away from climbing artificial holds and getting back on some real rock. Having already had a sampling of some outdoor climbing a month ago, I am very excited to get back to some of the climbing areas around the Twin Cities.

To get the ball rolling, we made a spur-of-the-moment decision to go out to Taylors Falls for some evening bouldering. Arriving at about 7:30 we had about 45 minutes before it turned pitch black. Unfortunately the sun never quite makes it into the valley where we climbing and as a result there was still 3-12 inches of snow around the boulders, making the setup of light gear much harder. Nonetheless, I managed to get some really cool photos of Tyler O., Jordan, Luke and Matt before my camera decided it was done for the night.(note to self: charge battery)

There was just enough time after returning to the city that night to get some sleep before getting up and heading right back out on the road for some more climbing. This time the destination was the Barn Bluffs of Red Wing and as it turned out I don't think we could have asked for better weather. Our whole group (and it was a big one) stayed mostly on the sunny side and climbed a number of popular routes including: "Jump Start", "Sleeping Bat in a Ziplock Bag", "Pigeon Paranoia", "Work Ethic", "New Kids on the Rock" and "Rock Pigs". There were very few other people climbing around us, but enough wasps made an appearance that we still had to move around carefully. Despite a close call with one wasp ending up down the shirt of Anthony during his climb, no one was stung and we all walked away satisfied with a good day of climbing.

The Fruits of my Latest Experimentation

2008-04-02T13:45:00.009-05:00

While time-lapse photography is certainly not something new, it is something that I found very interesting and wanted to at least take for a test run. So below you'll find a short time-lapse I put together this past week from a couple months ago while preparing for the UofM's RockOn Climbing Competition. To begin watching, simply double-click in the box and enjoy.

The video features music by Little People (a.k.a Laurent Clerc), an amazing musician that is definitely worth checking out.

See a larger version of this time lapse here: [link]

Brewing at the Haun Residence

2008-03-23T23:56:00.003-05:00

My apologies for not having written sooner, but this cold weather has been limiting my motivation and as a result less-important activities have been given less priority. However, after spending the past week catching up on my photo archive I am feeling a little more on top of things and subsequently more motivated to update once again.

I already mentioned the weather, but it deserves re-iterating. Another wave of snow has fallen in the Twin Cities while everyone from Texas to North Carolina are getting soaked with a disgusting amount of rain. It has made the prospect of getting on some rock outside improbable, especially with another wave of snow expected this week. Before that onslaught of bad weather we had a very nice weekend with some spring heat wave, and by heat wave I mean 40°F.

For quite some time now I have been aware of Luke brewing beer with his dad at their home in Hudson, but have never found an opportunity to join them. Fortunately this changed last weekend as Luke, Dom, Neumann and I made the brief drive across the border into Packer Territory. This was to be the first brew of 2008 for the Haun household, and with the sun shining it was shaping up to be a very enjoyable day. Myself never having brewed beer, I was keen to document the whole process and have posted the photos from the day in the following gallery: [link]

The day was just as much about beer as it was about food. Breakfast was a healthy balance of doughnuts and espresso, lunch was delicious home-made chili, mexican cheese dip and salad, and dinner was way too much thin crust pizza. Mix in a bunch of the household IPA, aptly named "Bitter Divorce", and I left that evening very satisfied.

SD: South Seas and the White Tail

2008-03-10T23:29:00.008-05:00

Having checked out from our hotel, Luke, Joe and I were left with five hours to climb before needing to leave the Rushmore area and collect Dan from Pine Ridge IR. With already having had two days of our trip dedicated to the Chopping Black area, we turned our attention across the road to the South Seas. I have only now realized that I have been providing names for the various climbing areas we visited on this trip without providing any reference material, so here is a Google Map indicating the areas - (link).

Luke got things started with a warm-up 5.4 trad climb called "Beeswax". Upon finishing the route he discovered that there were no anchors to clip into, forcing him to traverse across to the anchors for "5.8", an adjacent route that we planned on climbing. After rappelling down the rope couldn't be pulled because of severe rope drag, so we had to use our second rope on the next route before being able to remove the first rope.

I was the first one up "5.8", aptly named for its rating though the start was a little tricky and could easy turn away people who normally climb 5.8 routes. However, once past that start the remainder of the route was a breeze and once at the top I was able to free the idle rope. Luke and Joe had a slightly harder time with the first couple moves and ended up using a pile of cut wood lying at the base of the climb to get past the tricky start.

After the three of us had finished "5.8", we moved about 10' to the left to take a crack at "Dykes Next Door", a 5.11 sport route that turned out to be very similar to the previous route (hard start and easy finish). The photo you see on below shows me on "Dykes Next Door", just past the crux on those two angled rails - a really fun route that I hope to be able to try again sometime soon.

With just a little bit of time remaining before needing to leave, we hiked deeper into the South Seas for one last climb called "Bolts for Bob", a 5.8 sport route that Luke remembered being a lot of fun the last time he was out here. Joe and Luke both ran up the route and we then quickly packed up and hiked back out to the car. About an hour and a half later we arrived in Pine Ridge and collected Dan.

In order to avoid back-tracking to Rapid City to get on to I-90, we instead opted for Highway 18 that went due east towards a small town called Mission where we then turned north towards the Interstate. The landscape wasn't necessarily the most beautiful, but at least it had rolling hills that made the drive less monotonous. However, upon coming over the crest of one of these rolling hills Joe and Luke immediately noticed two deer standing in the middle of the road. As I slammed down on the brakes, the tires shrieking at 65mph, the deer got spooked and jumped off the road well before we got too close for danger, but not too close for comfort. After a weekend packed with awesome climbing in the Black Hills, I did not anticipate that my biggest adrenaline rush would come in the middle of nowhere while sitting behind the wheel. As we continued past the deer and up the next hill, someone from the back chimed in with their two cents: "I think those were Whitetail."

Disclaimer: The photo above was not taken during the incident described above, but was taken near Keystone a few days earlier.

The full gallery of photos from today's post can be seen here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/4494600_wHthj

SD: Return to the Chopping Block & Pine Ridge IR

2008-03-09T23:00:00.006-05:00

Luke had spent most of last night researching the routes in the Chopping Block like it was his career, trying to avoid a repeat of yesterday where we spent an hour searching for the routes. Adding to that the ever-rising temperatures and our chances of having a good day were steadily improving. For some reason, Dan decided to stay back and study which saddened the rest of us, but we nonetheless packed our gear into the car and headed back out to the Chopping Block.

With a much better idea of where we were going, we quickly found the Birthday Rock and its well-known "Valdez Overhang", a 5.9+ sport route. The rock at this end of the Chopping Block was a lot less sharp than the rock we had climbed on yesterday, a welcome rest for our fingertips. A fun, slightly pitched-back 40 foot route, this route apparently gets a ton of traffic during the peak months. All three of us wanted to breeze through this route, but the cool morning air brought on muscle atrophy just a little faster than normal.

Hiking out and back towards the other end of the Chopping Block, Joe scrambled up and onto a sizable boulder that had a perfect view of "Baba Cool" from a distance of about 80-100 yards. The two of us convinced Luke that he needed to make up for not getting on it the day before by climbing it this time around. I stayed and camped out atop this boulder while the two of them headed over and set up for the climb. With a perfect blue sky and gorgeous sunlight hitting the route, I came away with 140 shots of Luke's ascent which I intend to eventually put together into a time lapse. In the mean time, I have created a composite of a selection of shots from this sequence.

For the last climbs of the day we climbed under a giant chockstone to the Cleaver face where Joe and Luke took a crack at "Wisconsin Beef", a 5.10a sport route. The route was short but offered a terrific view from the top. Our time was limited in the Cleaver area because we had to drive Dan to his meeting, the original reason for making this journey to the Black Hills.

Picking up Dan at the hotel, we drove Highway 40 to Hermosa before switching on to another highway that took us directly into Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, one of the largest reservations in the USA. The school where Dan needed to go was named after Red Cloud, the famous American Indian tribal leader from the late 19th century who along with Crazy Horse attempted to defend their land against the ever-intruding Colonists.

Driving into Pine Ridge was an overwhelming experience and a harsh reminder of the squalor that many people in our country still have to live in. Unemployment rates have averaged between 35-60% and half of the families live below the national poverty level. It really floored me to think of how stark of a difference there is between Pine Ridge and Keystone where we have been staying for the last few days; their geographical proximity is about as far as their similarities stretch.

Hopefully Dan will be accepted as a volunteer at the Red Cloud school and be given an opportunity to help this community of people that deserve much more than what they currently have.

The full gallery of photos can be seen here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/4494568_7ngqA

SD: Sylvan Lake & The Chopping Block

2008-03-08T23:08:00.020-06:00

A long soak in the hot tub and the first full night of sleep since beginning this trip appeared to be exactly what all four of us needed to be ready for a good day of climbing. Our first stop for the day was Sylvan Lake, located just on the other side of Mt. Rushmore Nat'l Park. To warm-up we started on the Sylvan Lake Boulder, one of many boulders that John Gill pioneered. Aerial Arete is a V4 high-ball problem that starts hard and eases up towards the end, making the height a little less overwhelming. Joe and I both finished the problem while Dan gave the problem a number of tries but just couldn't get through the crux. Luke decided to rest his injuries for some of the climbing he wanted to do later in the day.

There was a well-known crack route that Luke really wanted to try, sensibly named "Classic Crack", but after trekking around through 12" snow for a while without finding the route Luke decided to continue scouting on his own while the three of us killed time at a V7/V8 boulder. It should come as no surprise that the boulder was in no mood to have a few punks from Minneapolis dinking around on it (see photo to the right for photographic proof of this), and proceeded to send us flying towards the pads. Luke's scouting project came up empty handed and we decided to close the book on Sylvan Lake for the day and go find lunch.

Located only a few miles from Sylvan Lake lies the quaint town of Hill City, SD. With a population of 780 it seems obvious that this town relies on the summer tourism surge, but there was still plenty of activity in town. After taking down some burgers at the Hill City Diner we wandered into the Granite Sports, an outdoors outfitter with a surprisingly chipper employee that seemed more keen on coming climbing with us than continuing to perform her duties at the store.

A couple espressos and a little fudge later, we were back on the road and ready to do some damage at the next crag. Back along the highway towards Keystone we pulled off and hiked up along the ridge to the Chopping Block where a plethora of sport route awaited us. . . if only we could find them. Failing to grasp the scale of the topo map for the area, we wandered aimlessly for over an hour only to realize that the area we wanted to climb was about 30 yards from where we came over the top of the ridge.

Even with the lengthly delay we were still able to squeeze in some really fun climbing on a 5.9+/5.10- sport route called "Baba Cool". While in no way would I say this route is underrated, you certainly need a cool head to get through some parts of this heady route. Joe and I both lead the route and Dan gave a crack at it on top rope, but with the sun setting on the horizon we decided it was time to pack up and call it a day.

The full gallery of photos can be seen here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/4480466_ZrtLf

SD: The Rock Maze

2008-03-07T19:18:00.017-06:00

With a good four hours of sleep we awake to find clear skies and rising temperatures. After enjoying a deluxe breakfast provided by our hotel we gather up the motivation necessary to head out for some climbing. On today's menu was the Rock Maze, located in the Steamboat Rock Recreation Site of the Black Hills National Forest. Our approach to the area required trekking through three inches of snow - not usually what you want to see when approaching a climbing area. Though there was enough dry rock to make the day worthwhile, all of the top-outs were covered in snow and the landing areas quickly turned muddy from our trodding around.

Our first climb for the day was "Southern Discomfort", a V2 boulder problem that everyone seemed to enjoy quite a lot. Unfortunately, in the past few years many of the boulders in this area have been visited by extremely unskilled graffiti artists that left their ugly mark on the rock, and this boulder was no exception.

Next up was a V1 problem called "Slot Machine", and while the climb was relatively easy it was nonetheless enjoyable. We didn't stay on this one too long because very nearby was a V5/V6 that Joe and Luke noticed. The boulder is called "The Carrier Boulder", though the climb we were working had the much less impressive name of "Sit-Start Side-Pull Problem". Granted the name does describe the problem well, but I normally expect a little more creativity when designating a name.

Luke had previously projected this problem but the first move gave him a lot of trouble. Sure enough, Joe stepped up to the plate and nailed the start move on his first try. After further attempts, Joe finished the problem most of the way through without topping out - the snow cover easily makes this complete problem a V8/V9. Luke wanted to give this problem one last go and managed to injure himself after peeling off of the side-pull. He is now left with bruised ribs, heel and elbow.

After one last problem that we never managed to identified, we decided to call it a day and find some food back in Rapid City. After a long, arduous discussion we decided to go to the Golden Corral, a world-renown establishment that offers one of the finest all-you-can-eat buffet dining experiences you will ever be able to find.

Having taken down enough calories for a blue whale, we decided to head back to the hotel, but not before making a stop at Wal-Mart for a few necessities and some people-watching. Needless to say, the Rapid City Wal-Mart is a veritable hot-spot for some of the finest mullets in the Midwest. Dan and Luke seemed determined to organize a pageant, but with our energy tanks running on empty we had no choice but to high-tail it back to the Holiday Inn Express before food comatose took over.

The full gallery of photos can be seen here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/4473715_WAKHJ (If you browse through, you'll witness my salute to Mustache March.)

SD: Night Rider to Keystone

2008-03-07T09:20:00.005-06:00

The time of the year has returned for college-age kids to migrate as far south as possible to escape the perma-freeze experienced in Minnesota for the last four months. It's 9pm. We've been on Interstate 35 South for less than an hour and Dan is breaking out in a cold sweat. No one expected to turn explosive this quickly. (No need to worry, Dan quickly regained his composure.)

So where might we be heading on this five-day excursion? Well, it should be obvious that we are heading to warmer clim(b)es of Flori - yeah right, try western South Dakota, where we expect temperatures to sky rocket to around 50 degrees. The amount of rock climbing in close proximity to our base of operations is staggering: the Rock Maze, the Needles, Spearfish Canyon, South Seas, and many more.

None of us really know why we decided to leave for a 9+ hour drive at 8pm last night - at the time it seemed like a great idea. The only problem we realized somewhere past Mitchell, SD at around 2am was that once we arrived we would have to hang out in the car in single-digit temperatures for at least nine hours until we could get into our hotel. Lucky for us, the friendly hotel staff at the Keystone Holiday Inn Express allowed us to check in for a whole extra night at no extra charge.

I would want to provide some anecdotal rhetoric about the sights and sounds along the way, but there isn't a whole lot in the way of excitement along I-90... And I slept for the majority of the ride.

Before signing off for today, I should introduce the characters you will be reading about during this journey:

Joe McNiel - Our fierce leader with the vision to put this trip together on very short notice.
Dan McNiel - Joe's brother and the real reason why we are here to begin with. He will be volunteering at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation this summer and needed to come out here in preparation for that work.
Luke Haun - A native of South Dakota, he has more experience climbing in this area than the rest of us combined.
Justin Evidon - It would be strange for me to be writing about this trip if I wasn't here, right?

The full gallery of photos can be seen here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/4470865_emn6b

I Miss San Francisco

2008-02-28T12:57:00.013-06:00

It has now been over four years since going to San Francisco. My last trip there was with my dad, who had spent the majority of the 1960's attending Berkeley. Seeing him in his element, meeting up with old friends and showing me where some of his favorite memories came from was a really enjoyable experience for me. All of this happened for him during the same time in his life that I now find myself in.

I hope to return to San Francisco some day soon, but until then I can sit here and reminisce by drinking Boont Amber Ale and looking at some of my photos from my trip to SF in 2004. If you are so inclined, you can see some of the photos from my trip here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/402870_73o9s

What has triggered this memory of San Francisco and driven me to write about it? I came across this panoramic photo following the 1906 earthquake and was so blown away by it that I thought it was necessary to share. And this blog post in turn has become my excuse...

A Small Dose of Humor

2008-02-26T10:54:00.008-06:00

In this time of political fervor and rhetoric spitting, one must remember that there is always something we can agree on - humor. Laughter has been proven to be a great therapeutic remedy for stress and even physical ailments, or as Voltaire stated so succinctly, "The art of medicine consists of keeping the patient amused while nature heals the disease." When I was younger I tried to up my humor game by memorizing joke after joke - but to no avail slowly realized that I was no comedian. So now I turn to others...

A recent source of humor for me has come from reading a blog by Mitch Hoffman, a good friend who is currently recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon in his basement. Under theoretical house-arrest since last week, he appears to now be experiencing moments of delirium that he has channeled into a blog that has resulted in documented cases of laughing fits and hysteria. Avid followers of his blog can only hope that he will find a way to maintain this overabundance of humorous content once his life returns to a more normal routine.

Mitch before being placed on injured reserve...

So if you have a moment, head over to Adventures of Mitch and see what all the hubbub is all about.

Update: Forgot that I was going to include a joke from a few years ago that I just came across again this morning: Round like a Shot.

A Winter Visit to the Swamp

2008-02-25T10:57:00.010-06:00

It is inevitable that this urban tundra we live in will finally thaw out and allow us to get outside in less than seven layers. Yesterday was just a glimpse of this changing trend in our weather, but it was enough time to get some much needed time outdoors. A few days ago Mike R. had introduced the idea of getting down to the Louisville Swamp, considered in our group of friends as a very peaceful location to get in some hard bouldering. TJ and Beth also decided to join us, bringing their dogs Anthem and Über to get some much-needed free roaming.

Taking into consideration the thawing snow and ice cover that was occurring with the recent spike in temperatures, Mike was concerned that our usual entrance to the park would be flooded, but it appeared that the majority of the area was still well frozen. We decided to take advantage of this to reach an area of rock previously cut off by an intersecting stream that we had been curious about for a couple years now. As it turned out the rock was for the most part very unimpressive, but at least now every time we pass it we won't wonder if it holds problems worthy of being climbed. Unfortunately, while over there looking at the rock, Anthem decided to wander out onto the fragile ice that covers the stream right alongside this outcropping of rock and broke through the ice. Everyone was on edge for a moment as TJ rectified the situation, but the depth of the water was shallow enough that it didn't pose too big of a risk. You can see the spot in the ice where Anthem fell through in the photo below.

We continued further in towards the boulder and upon seeing it noticed that the iconic tree that grew up next to the boulder had been cut down. TJ was apparently already aware of this transgression, but had failed to mention it in the past few months. Another anomaly we noticed was that it appeared that someone was attempting to dig under the north side of the boulder, yet it did not look to be serving any practical purpose. Mike was the only one who had brought climbing shoes and promptly set up shop for a little one-on-one time with some real rock. Meanwhile TJ prepared to wander off on his own in an attempt to get a pristine audio recording of his feet crunching down on the snow...

All in all we were out there for a good 2.5 hours which did all of us a world of good. Following it up with a night-cap at the Glockenspiel was the perfect end to the day.

The full gallery of photos can be seen here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/4401618_NRLVn

Icy Foray into a New World

2008-02-06T21:11:00.014-06:00

Living in Minnesota during the winter teaches you one very important rule - it never begins to warm until well after you have reached your threshold for tolerance of the cold weather. Don't mistake this for complete contempt for the cold, I do thoroughly appreciate having four real seasons of weather and find that the winter provides a necessary element of hibernation to my yearly cycle. Nevertheless, at some point you realize that you won't be able to stay inside all season long and must venture out to find some sort of activity.

There are a number of winter sports that I have yet to delve into, most notably cross country skiing and ice climbing. I have learned from friends that xc-skiing can be a most satisfying and exhausting form of excersize as long as you ensure yourself an exit strategy and don't get caught too far from your car when your legs begin to wobble like Jell-O in a Bill Cosby commercial. While that certainly seems worth trying out, it will have to wait until next year for me as my endurance conditioning is not that great at the present moment.

I did however get the chance today to be introduced to the sport of ice climbing, an activity that I have wanted to try for a few years now. While the pursuit is the same as the climbing I have been doing for the last few years - ascend upward to a specified target - the skills and equipment needed are very different; ice axes and crampons (spiked attachments for your boots) are the two crucial ingredients needed. There was however one crucial similarity that I pulled from my climbing experience - set your feet right the first time and then trust they will hold.

For this little excursion we went to a small waterfall south of St. Paul located off the beaten path and therefore extremely peaceful. I managed to get in three really fun climbs up the 40 foot waterfall without incident before deciding to get up on top and shoot some photos of the others. Of course during the process of leaning over the edge of the waterfall I managed to lose my footing and slid over the side, resulting in a sweet looking bruise on my hip and a bum knee (naturally the injury was worse because during the fall I was more concerned with protecting my camera).

To see the gallery of ice climbing photos from today, click the following link: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/4293817

Super Bowl Weekend

2008-02-04T22:00:00.002-06:00

Well the whole Europe-blogging thing nearly worked. The problem lay in the fact that I was not near a computer for part of the trip and subsequently fell a week behind on posting. After returning to the US, motivation to finish up the remaining posts teetered out and now over four months later I still have a few that I need to complete.

But that won't stop me from attempting to breath life back into this project - I have come to realize that a blog can be not only be a great way to share some of the fun things I find myself doing, but can also be a way to keep up my writing skills. So let's get cracking...

The month of February seems to always be chocked full of events and happenings. It all began with Superbowl Weekend which in my circle of friends means two things: Stupor Bowl and Super Boulder. There will be contention as to which is more fun or more enjoyable but for me it will always be the latter of the two. Sure it's fun to go race around the city on a bike for three hours in sub-zero temperatures (and granted this year it was only sub-zero celcius) but I have come to the realization that I am very susceptible to illness when riding a bicycle in temperatures below about 45°F. Evenso, I made it out to see my friends compete in Stupor Bowl, one of the largest bicycle alley cat races in the US, averaging around 300 competitors each year on the day before the Super Bowl. Photos from this years Stupor Bowl are here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/4273545

Super Bowl Sunday has become a wonderful excuse in my circle of friends to get together to drink beer, eat lots of food and, once the game finally gets interesting, watch some football. In the past two years this tradition has taken up residence in the West St. Paul International Climbing Facility, located a stone's throw from the infamous White Elephant. This exclusive bouldering gym boasts some of the most classic 30°-pitched indoor boulder problems in the Midwest. And if you thought that all you needed to make a great Sunday afternoon was food, drinks and climbing, you obviously forgot to include the deep-fat fryer that pumped out 15lbs. of wings and a ridiculous amount of cheese curds, onion rings and jalapeño poppers. As for the game, this year turned out to be one of the more enjoyable finishes with the Patriots sulking in their overblown ego-suits while the Giants pulled off the oh-so-perfect upset.

Giving me a rest from my regular duty as photographer, Eric Neumann was kind enough to shoot some photos of our antics at this years Super Boulder. You can see the gallery by clicking on this link: http://homepage.mac.com/eric.neumann/Superboulder/index.html

Day of Recovery

2007-10-12T23:12:00.001-05:00

I woke up feeling like death - really put a damper on the whole day. Mom flew home to Minneapolis today (happy birthday mom) to make it back in time for the wedding of my cousin Charlotte and her fiance Chet. Dad and I made our way down to Paddington Station to meet up with Michael for lunch. Michael had to go back to work soon thereafter so Dad and I went out for a walk around Hyde Park which certainly made me feel a little better but I was exhausted an needed to lie down. So we returned back to the flat and anticipated the reservation we had that evening.

The reservation was at Namo, a local Vietnamese restaurant located only about a 10 minute walk from the flat, and the weather was wonderful for an evening stroll. Arriving at the restaurant, we were able to get a table in their outside patio. While the service throughout the evening was a slightly sub-par, the food was quite possibly the best Asian meal I have experienced, period. Crispy duck, curried chicken, steamed stuffed squid, blackened, monkfish... everything was prepared immaculately and I could find nothing to complain about. While being way off the beaten path of most tourists making their way through London, I highly recommend making the effort to get over to this location.

Back to London

2007-10-11T22:15:00.001-05:00

Our stay with Brian and Liza came to an end today as we headed back to London for the final leg of our journey. We drove into Bristol to catch a bus and had enough time to wander around near the coach station a bit. While I only ended up shooting about two dozen photos in Bristol, I managed to mistakenly delete these before backing them up...

After arriving into Victoria at 3pm my Dad and I took all of the luggage to Michael and Mia's place while Mom went ahead to the South Bank of the Thames where we were planning on eating dinner this evening. Our reservation was at Canteen, below the Festival Hall, which was awarded "Best New Restaurant of 2007". Afterwards we meandered around outside the Festival Hall while Dad went to a concert inside.

Tytherington and Bath, England

2007-10-10T23:10:00.001-05:00

It turned out that Tytherington has been exactly the respite I have needed after all of the travel this past weekend. I managed to sleep about 11 hours the first night at Brian and Liza's home, The Pendricks House, a beautiful house built in 1661 with a wonderful front entrance area and garden to boot. Most of the day yesterday was spent relaxing around the house, however Brian, Amber (the dog), my Dad and I went on a walk around Tytherington Hill. The rain came and went during our walk, but it was never enough to become too bothersome. Towards the end the sun came bursting through and it remained quite beautiful for the rest of the day. In the evening, their son Adam arrived with his girlfriend and we enjoyed a fabulous dinner.

Today started much the same, however we had plans this evening to go see a performance of Shakespeare's Midsummer Nights Dream in the town of Bath, which is about a 45 minute drive from their home. We left mid-afternoon so we had time to wander around and see a little of the town and have dinner. My Dad and I headed off alone to visit a number of locations in the town, including the Roman Bath House, the Bath Abbey, the Circus and the Grand Rounds. We met up with Brian, Liza and my Mom at Strada, an Italian restaurant right next to the theater, for dinner.

The theater this evening was really quite a spectacle. We saw an interpreted performance of Midsummer Nights Dream done by a troupe from India who interjected Hindu and Sanskrit within the original English dialogue. They also created a vivid scene of color on stage which accentuated the acrobatics they performed as part of the show. It was at times a little difficult to understand the specifics due to my not understanding Sanskrit or Hindu, but I had seen my friend Robin perform this play back in Minneapolis not too long ago and still had a relatively good idea of the plot line.

Burford, England

2007-10-08T23:50:00.001-05:00

Photos from today can be seen here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/3665774

Waking up at 6am is not something I enjoy doing on vacation, but that's when we were awake this morning to get to the airport in time for our flight to London-Stanstead. Michael and Mia were going to head back into London for the week while my parents and I went to stay with Brian and Liza, who my parents have known for over three decades. Liza had offered to pick us up and drive us out to their home in Tytherington, located in the countryside near Bristol along the England/Wales border.

Along the way we stopped in Burford, the town they had lived in up until a few years ago. It's a very quaint town with a lovely bed and breakfast called The Lamb Inn, where we had tea and wandered through their gorgeous garden. The stop here was supposed to be a surprise for my dad who was celebrating his birthday today, but one thing my mom is horrible at is keeping a secret. Regardless, it was a really nice break from the extended drive. Arriving in Tytherington around 5:30pm, we spent the rest of the evening relaxing and enjoying a nice dinner.

Skanör/Falsterbo, Sweden

2007-10-07T22:37:00.001-05:00

Photos from today can be seen here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/3648134

We left Mölle around lunch today to drive back down along the coast past Malmö to a small town called Falsterbo where Mia's family lives. The whole family welcomed us and after a late lunch we were taken on a driving tour of the area by Mia and her father. We made stops at a number of places, including a grazing area for Scottish highland cattle, a couple churches, the beach and finally ended up at the family's horse stables. The horses were extremely friendly, as were the dozen or more cats that made their home inside the barn. A litter of kittens had just appeared recently as well so we got a chance to look at them.

Unfortunately we will be leaving here tomorrow morning to fly back to the UK, giving us less than 24 hours in Falsterbo. The constant moving from one place to another has begun to take its toll on me, but I have no reason to complain because it is allowing me to see some wonderful places all in a short period of time. Luckily there is some respite on the horizon...

Mölle, Sweden

2007-10-06T22:30:00.001-05:00

Photos from today can be seen here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/3636094

Woke up early to go on a walk with Art and Anna-Lisa this morning out on a large grazing pasture alongside the coastline south of the town. Following breakfast our plan was to head up to the Kullaberg lighthouse, on the northern tip of the peninsula that Mölle is located near. The hike was really wonderful, possibly the best weather we have had so far on this trip. At times the trail was a little bit muddy, it did not seem to deter any of us from enjoying ourselves.

Arriving back to the house around 4pm everyone seemed content to just lounge around until dinner which, apart from a quick walk down to the harbor to take photos of an amazing sunset (photo link), was my choice of activity. Another fantastic dinner (though this time I have no photos to show) and it's already time to pack in for the evening.

Germany -> Sweden

2007-10-05T17:04:00.002-05:00

I took notes throughout the day so the format of this post is different than before. Also, photos from today can be seen here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/3635013.

10:15 - As it turned out, our train was not be affected by the strike, mainly because the train was headed into another country and included the use of danish train drivers. Now we will spend the next hour chugging along the north German countryside until reaching Puttgarden where our train will drive onto the ferry that will bring us across to Denmark.

12:53 - Our train landed safely on Danish soil and are already well on our way to Copenhagen. We are scheduled to arrive into Copenhagen around 2:30pm where we will transfer to a regional train headed for Malmö. The passing landscapes have been quite interesting at times, but not spectacular. However, I will say that traveling by train is one of the most pleasant ways to travel.

13:40 - Finally got around to listening to the new Band of Horses album. I acquired it before leaving Minneapolis and it has been a great compliment to this train-ride.

16:00 - Arrived in Copenhangen train station around 2:40pm where we waited until 3:20 to board the next train to Malmö via Copenhagen Airport. While we were waiting I decided to walk out and around the train station to get a brief glimpse of the city which I hand't seen since 1998. While I only ended up seeing the main post office and the outside of Tivoli, it was still nice to move around for a bit after the long train journey. Only 30 minutes after boarding our train we have arrived and will be renting a car to make the 90+ minute journey along the coast to Mölle.

17:35 - We decided to make a detour from our planned destination to stop in a quaint university town called Lund. The main attraction here is the cathedral, which dates back to the 12th century. It really is beautiful, both inside and outside, and even has a crypt with old burial stones. The weather this afternoon has been quite comfortable despite the horizon looking decidedly dismal. Hopefully the remainder of our drive will be as enjoyable as the drive here.

22:15 - While driving north along the coast towards Mölle we were accompanied by the most spectacular sunset I have ever seen. Unfortunately being the driver I was unable to watch this undisturbed without endangering the lives of my parents and myself. We arrived here around 6:30pm and were greeted by Art, Anna-Lisa and Siri who were putting the finishing touches on what has turned out to be a delicious grilled salmon with oven-roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli.

Photos from today can be seen here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/3635013.

Hamburg: Day 5

2007-10-04T15:12:00.001-05:00

Yes, I know. The weather couldn't stay wonderful forever. So naturally on my last day in Hamburg it returned back to its normal meterological pattern of a thick overcast and showers throughout the day. Evenso, it still was an enjoyable day starting out with a nice lunch with our old neighbors, the Conrads. Afterwards I met up with Michael and his friend Sarah down near the Rathaus for a drink at Cafe Paris before heading over to meet the parents at the Fischerhaus, an old establishment down by the harbor that serves traditional fish specialties.

Unfortunately the overcast weather hasn't been the only cloud over us today. The German National Train service has a number of train conductors who will be going on strike tomorrow for three hours (9am - noon) which of course happens to be the exact time when my family and I were scheduled to leave by train for Malmö, Sweden. As of right now (10:30pm) we still don't know if our train will be running and probably won't find out until early tomorrow morning, so we have to get to the train station early and be prepared for a possible alternate plan. This "Plan B" would require driving to Oldenburg, taking a taxi from there to Puttgarden where we would board the ferry that takes us across to Denmark and from there continuing by danish train to Malmö. Even considering this option on my own would be quite exhausting, but factor in a family of four each with luggage and a wheelchair and it could be a ridiculous fiasco.

Hamburg: Day 4

2007-10-03T22:46:00.001-05:00

In celebration of Tag der deutschen Einheit, known in English as German Unity Day (link), my parents had organized a small gathering of old friends from years ago when we lived here. It was at first a little overwhelming to see so many people at once with whom I have had little or no contact in quite sometime and they as a result had quite a lot of questions for me, but it was nevertheless still really wonderful to see so many familiar faces from the past. The big surprise visitor of the day for me was my 5th grade teacher, Mike Meston, who was a major influence on my life and seeing him brought back fond memories from almost 15 years ago. Another person who I really enjoyed seeing again was Larry, the husband of my former violin teacher Sophie and stepfather of David, one of my best friends while I was still in Hamburg. He had for a long time been an avid large-format photographer who has done some amazing black and white landscape photography. We were both interested in learning more about our respective equipment, but I am quite certain that there is still a lot that I can learn from him when it comes to composition, a skill that hasn't changed since the digital age.

Despite having another day with beautiful weather I was quite content with staying at home in the evening where I ended up watching some champions league soccer and making myself a little something to eat.

Hamburg: Day 3

2007-10-02T23:59:00.001-05:00

Photos from today can be seen here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/3584010

It was another gorgeous day here in Hamburg. Spent the morning in the old neighborhood walking around the street market that has been there as long as I can remember. Located under an elevated section of the subway, it can sometimes be noisy but the shelter has been useful in the past when it rained (which it often does in Hamburg). Being there with my mother meant that we inevitably ran into acquaintances from almost ten years ago. Even some of the people who ran the food stands remembered my mother. There was a magnificent array of delicious food to choose from, yet for some reason my brother decided to punish himself by finding the world-famous german delicacy, Currywurst. In the photo you may notice the mayonaisse that accompanies the fries - which truly rounds out a healthy, balanced meal. My brothers discomfort came right on cue as he polished off the last slice of the wurst.

The afternoon was spent wandering around downtown again, shopping and sightseeing once again. We ended up back by the Rathaus (City Hall) where I discovered an atrium that I had never been in before and which I found to be quite beautiful. There was an amazing fountain that stood in the center with a variety of sculptures sending water in all directions. My brother had to stop by a few clothing stores which really wasn't high on my list of things to do.

Because of the terrific weather I decided that I wanted to try and get back up in the HighFlyer to get some aerial photos around sunset, so we headed down to the Deichtorhallen. I was one of the last people to get on this evening because the winds were starting to pick up, so I took advantage and managed to get some fantastic shots which made it very worth my time. I also brought along my wide angle lens this time around to capture the expanse of this great city even better.

The day ended with my brother and I cooking dinner for John and Richard and the four of us wandering down to an Italian ice creamshop afterwards for a nightcap. I sure could get used to this kind of lifestyle...

Hamburg: Day 2

2007-10-01T18:14:00.001-05:00

Photos from today can be seen here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/3573529

I woke up to sunshine and warmer weather this morning which came as a pleasant surprise (even though it only lasted a few hours). John and Richard made a really nice pancake breakfast to fill us up before we all headed out into downtown for the day. We met up with my mom and went out for coffee right around the corner from where I grew up and then had a chance to peek into the building where I spent the first 14 years of my life. I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to feel when seeing it, but now looking back I realize that the place where I lived was a really great place and I don't think I appreciated that enough while I lived there.

The majority of the day was spent tooling around the Speicherstadt (link), the old shipping warehouse district, and downtown near the Hauptbahnhof. There is some really amazing development occuring along the river as well, which was quite a sight to see. The pavillion along the river also has new brick walls that were a veritable climbing gym for me. Too bad a policeman had to bike by and tell me to get down...

As we were leaving the Harbor area I brought up again something that had come to my attention when I woke up this morning - I had noticed a large balloon on the horizon and asked if this was something we might be able to do. As it turned out, the balloon I saw was actually a helium balloon called the Hamburg HighFlyer (link) that was tethered to the ground and only went up and down to bring people up 450ft in the air to get a birds-eye view of the city. Richard was also very keen on going up in it so we found our way over to there and went up for a ride. Needless to say the view was spectacular and well worth our time.

Today I came to the realization that this is the first time I have found myself in one city for at least three consecutive days since over a week ago. The constant traveling was fun, but I am thoroughly enjoying being able to discover new things and be able to come back to them to explore them properly.

Again, photos from today can be see in the following gallery: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/3573529

Hamburg: Day 1

2007-09-30T12:21:00.002-05:00

UPDATED: Added a couple photos to the post. Photos from today can be seen here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/3632549.

We arrived yesterday evening in Hamburg and went directly to our old next-door neighbors for dinner. My brother had suggested that we go out afterwards to get back into the nightlife of the city we once lived in, but we quickly realized that most of the clubs from the days when we lived in town were no longer there. Somehow we ended up in a rock-a-billy club called 20 Flight Rock (link) which had a german swing band performing on what I believe is the worlds smallest stage. Most of the patrons were dressed in the typical swing attire with the matching hair styles, but my brother and Sasa pointed out that the look wasn't exactly appropriate for Germans. We managed to eat our way to the upper end of the Reeperbahn (link), going through mini-pizzas and crepes before getting a taxi home.

The first half of today was spent with the family and an old family friend who hired my father for the position at Deutsche Grammaphon (link) that brought my parents to Hamburg in the late 1970's. We went out for lunch to an amzing chinese restaurant and afterwards took a driving tour around town.

Michael and I were dropped off down next the Hauptbahnhof to meet up with his friend Sasa and Fiona with whom we spent the afternoon wandering around near the Rathaus and Jungfernstieg. I haven't had an opportunity to get photos off of my camera yet, but I'll post those hopefully within the next day.

A Day in London

2007-09-28T17:27:00.001-05:00

Photos from today can be seen here: http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/3555205

It's been a long but enjoyable day in London... My brother had to head off to work for the better part of the day because he will be coming with us to Hamburg next week and needed to tie up some loose ends. The rest of us bussed into the Holborn area around 10am to visit the neighborhood where my parents worked when they lived here 30 years ago. While Mia, my sister-in-law, went off for a job interview at 12foot6 (link) my parents took me to see the John Soane House (link) which was far more interesting than I what I was expecting. Soane was a prominent architect in London during the 19th century and his house has been preserved impeccably. Mia returned from a successful interview and the two of us and split off from the parents to go out for lunch at the Mary Ward Centre. I have to admit that I normally don't get over-excited for an all-vegetarian eatery but for some reason this place sounded really appealing and it definitely didn't disappoint.

Having a little time to kill we decided to head over to the British Museum which currently has an exhibition of the Terracotta Army from the Chinese First Dynasty. Unfortunately at £12 it was not something that we were going to have enough time to take in properly so I'll have to try and take that in when I return from the rest of the traveling I'm doing in the next couple weeks. Instead we used our time to see the fantastic collection of Egyptian, Roman, Syrian and Korean artifacts that I saw back in 2003 when I was last here but I never get tired of seeing these.

Two pubs and a few pints later we headed home to relax a bit before meeting with some friends of my parents for dinner at a really cool restaurant in Islington called Cantina Italia (link). My dad and I both agreed it was one of the best Italian meals we have ever experienced. Home-made gnocchi, carpaccio, seafood spaghetti - it was all mind-blowing.

So tomorrow it's off to Hamburg. Not too sure what my internet situation will be like so I might not have an update until the beginning of next week.

My trip thus far...

2007-09-28T02:56:00.002-05:00

I figured this was going to be the easiest way to fill everyone in on my trip, but I can't say I have ever been good at writing journals, blog or anything for that matter. but here it goes anyway...

So most of you already know the whole story regarding my passport, but there is a new twist to that story which i'll get to... In a nutshell, I realized last Saturday, the day I was supposed to leave for Europe, that my passport was nowhere to be found. After hunting for it for quite sometime we came to the realization that it was probably amongst my family's expired passports which my brother had. So I had to cancel my flight and instead fly to Chicago on Monday to get a new passport (hence the Chicago photos I had posted).

I returned to Minneapolis Wednesday morning around 10:30am and was scheduled to leave for Europe that evening, flying to London via Iceland. I was extremely lucky with my flight to Iceland in that no one sat in my row for the duration of the flight so I was able to stretch out over three seats and sleep the entire time.

While for some people the prospect of a ten hour layover might not sound appealing, I was actually quite looking forward to having a full day in Iceland. My last time there was a brief layover where I was able to visit the Blue Lagoon, but with so much time available to me this time I figured it would be nice to get in to the capital city, Reykjavik. Unfortunately the weather was ridiculously horrible, with winds gusting at 50-55mph and rain coming down in sheets. This severly hampered my enjoyment of the city, but I did still manage to see some cool stuff...

I am now at my brothers place in East London, arriving here almost two hours after landing at Heathrow, but I'm happy to be done with traveling for a bit. Actually I'm only here in London until Saturday when I'll be flying to Hamburg so I won't have much of a breather.

As for the twist in the passport story, it turns out that my expired passport that was at my brothers place was valid from 94 to 99, so theoretically I should still have a valid passport through 2009...the question is where is it?

Photos can be found by clicking here: http://exposure.evidon.net/Travel/385098