A Powerful Movie

This week I am going to go to the BCR Board of Trustees meeting so I took Cely back to visit her Mom this weekend. Cely was going to stay here but I had already booked a flight to the Quad Cities next weekend. People must not be travelling much this weekend. We had great luck getting to the Quad Cities even though there was a big snowstorm and cancelled flights on Thursday. It was just like flying normally in each direction.

The biggest thing was the movie we saw this weekend. Cely heard about this musical that is playing on Broadway called Grey Gardens. It seemed really odd because it is based on these two eccentric women called "Big Edie" and "Little Edie" they were Jackie Kennedy's aunt and cousin respectively. The musical is based on a documentary done in 1975 by Albert and David Maysles
titled Grey Gardens. IMDB does a better job at providing a description of the movie than I can. This documentary was so funny yet deeply disturbing all because of the two women, Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edith "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale. The Maysles brothers put together a film that shows truth can be stranger, and sometimes more powerful, than fiction.
The women live on their slowly disintagrating mansion in the Hamptons along with a spectacularly overgrown garden, racoons in the attic, cats aplenty, a mother daughter relationhip that takes disfunctional to new levels of madness. Cely, June and I watched it together at June's and we could not stop talking about it. It had as much drama and depth as a Tennessee Williams play. In fact, aspects of the relationship between the two women reminded me of the Glass Menagerie. This gets my recommendation as a must see movie. There will be plenty of opportunities to see the women's story as there is now the Broadway musical, the 1975 movie, a recent release of outtakes from the documentary, The Beales of Grey Gardens and a fictional version now in production staring Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore.

Last Trips to the Midwest

Over the past month it seems like I have been in the Midwest for about 3 of the last 4 weekends. Cely has just been back in Corvallis for the last two weeks. We spent a really nice and quiet Thanksgiving.

Before that, though, we spent some time in the QC with everyone together and one weekend with Alexis in Milwaukee. Here are some pictures.

This picture of Alexis is after she streaked her hair. When we arrived in Milwaukee at her apartment I thought it was one of her roommates answering the door. I really experienced doing a double take. We were in Milwaukee it was November 19, Alexis' birthday. We took her out for a brunch at a great restaurant on Water Street, the Trocadero. The food was just yummy and French. Cely and I shared a Bloody Mary that had something going on flavorish that I couldn't place but it was good. I recommend this place to anyone who travels to Milwaukee. It is another on our list of great places to visit there.

Something New

I was reading a colleague's blog today and she had a map showing all the states she had visited. Whenever we went on family trips we would try and count up all the states we had been through so this was right up my alley. Here is my map.




create your own visited states map
I'm not crazy about how all the states I visited are red. I would have preferred blue. Now I think that in my family I would win the states competition (we are very competitive) but in the countries visited I am at a disadvantage, everyone in the family can top me I think but it is fun to have a map



create your own visited countries map

I love being able to have Panama and Ecuador on the map. Even though we just had a flight layover in Panama, I am still going to count it.

OSU Libraries Video

Today I learned that the promotional video that we had done for the Valley Library just went live. It turned out pretty good. The company that did it is run by an OSU grad and library donor. They also do some pretty hip travel videos that focus in on sections of cities around the world. The videos are at Turnhere.com.

Menucha

I just got off a Google Chat with Steve Ostrem and realized how not into IM/Chat I am. It is tiring. But in the conversation I realized that I had not said anything about the Oregon/Washington ACRL conference on this blog. I did give a rundown on it in my library blog, http://blogs.library.oregonstate.edu/jpollitz In that blog I am trying to do what Jonathan Miller has done, use a blog as a communication device with people he works with, http://rollins-olin-library.blogspot.com/. I was really impressed with what he had done with his blog.

So anyway, on October 26, and 27 the Oregon and Washington Chapters of ACRL met at the Menucha retreat on the bluffs over the Columbia Gorge. It was a beautiful place.

Here is a picture of the room I shared with one of our catalogers, Richard Sapon-White. We had to share a bathroom in the hall but it was no problem. I realize I didn't take a picture of the outside of the buildings. The buildings were not the type that knocked your socks off but they were cozy and it was a nice place for a retreat/conference. I didn't get a picture of the inside of the lodge where the meetings were. They didn't turn out well but that was an impressive space. Richard told me about the history of Menucha. It was the country lodge for the second Jewish governor of Oregon (1930-1934) and the name Menucha is Hebrew meaning "ever-changing stillness". The name fits well. We had plenty of time to walk around the grounds and it was very peaceful and the fog was always changing.

The best thing about the meeting was that it was only 20 minutes outside of Portland and this happened to work out great for me. About half way through the first afternoon my cell phone started to vibrate in my pocket. (I was a good conference goer and set it to vibrate rather than ring.) So I went outside to take the call. It was Adrienne telling me that she was flying to Portland that night and would be in town at around 9pm. Now that was right when the socializing for the conference was planned. I wanted to schmooze so I told her, "what a shame but I can't make it." Can you believe what a jerk? Well, Cely could and when I told her what I had done, she set me straight. So I called Adrienne and told her I would meet her and buy her some dinner. That night I hopped in the car and drove to her hotel and we got to spend an hour together at least. It was the best thing about the conference. Thank goodness Cely has some sense.

Halloween in the OSU Libraries

It was Halloween on Tuesday and the staff from the IT department and the OSU Libraries celebrated during lunch. The Clue Club won and I won for funniest costume.

Back in the QC

Right after the conference ended I drove to the airport and hopped a plane to Denver then on to Moline. For once I was able to get into the Quad Cities on Friday night instead of Saturday morning. When I was in Denver I went up to the gate desk and asked how packed the plane to Moline was. I was worried because the day before they cancelled about 91 flights because of a snow storm and I was afraid that they would be over booked. The gate attendant told me that the plane was full and there were two people ahead of me but she said she would call them and then see what she could do for me. She called and the two people did not come immediately up to the desk so she called me up and gave me a ticket to first class. When I was boarding there was a pilot and a woman with a small child in her arms. He was asking that the woman and child get on with only one seat. The desk attendant asked him if he wanted to get on this flight also. He said, "Yeah, I'm the pilot! I'm flying this plane. This is my wife and daughter." I heard his name and the wife and child were the people that the desk attendant had called when I was waiting to see if I could get on. The good news is that they got on the plane but until I saw them board I was afraid that I was going to get pulled off the plane.

The reason I went back this weekend is that June had just had her knee replacement. She was released from the hospital on Saturday. I had rented a car so Cely and I were able to take her home. She still has a way to go but is getting better. It was really hard for her to get into the car because her knee was still very tender. She will be starting physical therapy this week. Cely will be helping her out around the house for the next couple of weeks. On Saturday we were able to get some groceries but she won't have a car when I am gone.

Now I start the adventure of standby flying. The flights look like each one has open seats so I am hopeful that I will get back to Corvallis with no big drama. I have the Miata waiting for me at the airport so it should be a fun ride home. I just checked the weather, though, and it looks like rain. Go figure. It looks like the weather was good yesterday. CNN was showing highlights from the football game yesterday. The Beavers beat number 3 rated USC so they made big news! Go Beavs!

Menucha

Today and Friday I will be at an Oregon/Washington ACRL joint conference at the Menucha retreat center in Corbett, OR on a bluff above the Columbia River. So far the site is beautiful. I will be adding pictures later. I need to remember to bring along the camera connector. At least I remembered to bring the camera.

Menucha is a Hebrew word meaning rest. The site once belonged to the owner of the Meier and Frank department stores in Oregon. He was the second Jewish governor of Oregon. Now it is owned by a Portland Presbyterian church. Funny how things go around.

Access 2006, Ottawa Ontario Canada

Early this morning, 1:30 am I got home from Ottawa. It was a meeting sponsored by the Canadian Library Association Emerging Technologies section so it was heavy on the technology. It was very exciting to see some really innovative new library applications. These people are really brilliant. I decided to blog it on another blog where I will be writing about library issues. If you want to read about the conference go to http://blogs.library.oregonstate.edu/jpollitz.

I had never been to Ottawa before and found it to be a great city. It is the national capital of Canada and our conference was in a hotel close to Parliment.









This is the Rideau Canal which runs through Ottawa. It was designed to allow freight transport away from the threatening armies of the United States.







On Friday morning I skipped out on a couple of presentations to take advantage of the momentary good weather to sightsee. One of the more interesting things was the Parliment complex. The architecture had a distinct European flavor you don't see much in the US. Parliment is located on a hill overlooking the Rideau River and the provincial boundary between Ontario and Quebec. As I was walking around the buildings I came across this little complex of what looked to be doll houses. As I approached them for a closer look I saw that they were small houses designed for stray cats that inhabit the grounds. There is a "catman of the hill" who takes care of the cats. Now the government gives a small amount to keep the cats healthy and visitors donate money and food for the cats. People also come by and feed the cats.

Friday night we went out to dinner with a group of people from around the US and Canada to a nearby restaurant called the Blackthorne. The food was great and the restaurant was not flustered by our request for separate checks. The two guys in the front are from Vancouver BC and had attended the Code4Lib conference in Corvallis last year. Going down the left are Jane, Jeremy and Anne-Marie from OSU. Then way in the back, at the head of the table, is Dan Chudnov, from Yale, who has been helping Jeremy and Terry on LibraryFind. Next to him is Terry then Roy Tennant from the California Digital Library.

Ottawa and Access 2006

It is interesting to be in Canada and experience the little/big differences with the US. Last night I smelled reefer on the corner of the street. This morning read a newspaper article about how the Canadian government had stopped funding research for the government run medical marijuana growing project in Manitoba. People were complaining that without the research, government marijuana would remain hard to light and not very potent. The smaller difference has to do with about (we all know about that) but also project which is pronounced with a long o. I have been hearing it a lot.

Ottawa

Yesterday I flew to Ottawa for the Access 2006 conference for Canadian librarians. It has been attracting some US librarians also and has a reputation of being a great conference around technological themes.

Ottawa looks pretty cool but I don't know how much of it I will get to see. The weather is cool and rainy. I guess I will be getting a touch of Oregon winter early here.

Hero Street USA

Hero Street in Silvis, IL got its name from the 8 Mexican-American young men who lost their lives in WWII and the Korean War. Someone figured out that this was more lost soldiers per capita for any street in the country. Through the years this small Mexican-American community has sent over 100 sons and daughters to the military. Cely grew up here and two of her three brothers went into the Army. The dead-end street, not even a ¼ mile long wasn’t even paved until the early 1970’s. Around that time the city of Silvis built a park to commemorate the eight soldiers from Hero Street with a commemorative grotto, basketball court, cement slides down the hilly slope, playground and picnic benches. Yesterday they had a rededication of the park commemorating the recent, much needed renovation of the park’s facilities. I walked down the street from my Mother-in-law’s house to hear the speeches and see who showed up. There were the usual American Legion contingents, the parents of people in the military, the Vietnam Vets and neighbors from the street. They also had a contingent of the Patriot Guard Riders. Recently this group has been formed to provide a barrier at the funerals of people killed in Iraq between the mourning families and protesters from the Christian religious group from Kansas who have chosen that venue to spew their anti-gay venom. The rededication was particularly relevant to me since some of the political races in Oregon have taken on a mean spirited, anti-immigrant tone recently. The families on Hero Street came from Mexico looking for work on the Rock Island Lines as a way to make a better life for their children. You can still see a couple of houses that began as boxcars and were moved from the nearby train yards. The commitment that these families on Hero Street made to this country is a great example of how immigration works here. It was a great way to spend a fall Saturday morning in the Quad Cities. The neighborhood is still predominantly Mexican-American but has become much more heterogeneous with a smattering of Anglo and African-American families. You could see it in the faces of the people in the crowd listening to the speeches Saturday.

Back to the QC

Its 10:20 pm. and Cely and I are in the Portland airport waiting to see if we can get on the 11:15 flight out to Chicago where we will have to wait for two hours and then hope we can catch a flight to Moline. If all works out we will get into the Quad Cities at 8:30 tomorrow morning. The flights seem to have some open seats so I am confident. Usually they are over booked and the wait can be nerve wracking. The elation of getting on the flight almost makes it all worthwhile. Well, I guess flying for free makes it all worthwhile.

The Portland airport is really a great airport. Everyone should go through it at least once. That means that they would be visiting us. The free wifi is terrific. I just spent 45 minutes playing the LA Times crossword. And now I can write on this blog. We are getting close to loading time so its time to close up the computer. More from the Moline airport which also has free wireless access. O'Hare is a bummer because they have wireless but you have to pay 10 bucks to use it.

Gorditas

Its Sunday and that must mean that I am in an airplane or trying to get on an airplane. After the BCR meeting in Denver I flew to Moline in order to pick Cely up and bring her back to Corvallis. My flight was delayed because we were waiting for a plane from Chicago and there were thunderstorms and hints of tornados in the Midwest. I didn’t get into Moline until 12:35 in the morning. Since Alexis is in Milwaukee and no longer in Iowa City she couldn’t come to pick me up. Everyone else that we know in the Quad Cities is like us and 12:30 is way past our bedtime. So I ended up taking a cab and it cost $32.00. It killed me to have to pay those big city rates in the Quad Cities. The nice thing about this trip was that I got to see Tony Cardoso. I hadn’t visited with him in quite a while. He has been busy exploring a new medium for his creative talents lately and has really hit on something. He has been painting gourds. Any description I write does not do justice to how beautiful his pieces are. I hope that he will provide me with some pictures that I can use here. He has a piece in a gallery in Atlanta and three pieces in the Bucktown Galleries in Davenport.

Today Cely and I had a hard time getting out of Moline, which was really stressful but once we got out to Chicago things went really well and we got on the first available flight to Portland. I am writing this on the plane to be loaded later so I don’t know if our luck will hold out in Portland. We have to catch a plane to Eugene because I flew out of there to go to the BCR meeting in Denver. I don’t think I will be doing that again. Its hard enough getting back to Portland let alone adding another leg to our travels.

Denver and BCR

Today I was in Denver for the BCR Board of Trustee orientation meeting. Tomorrow is the full board meeting and promises to be pretty interesting. I don't have much to say about it just that Denver still holds a special place for me. As I was working in my hotel room this afternoon I was able to look out the window and see these spectacular clouds form and dissapate leaving Mt. Evans to appear and disappear in the mists. The Rockies are truly spectacular. They don't have that in your face quality of the Alps and the Cascades have a different, individualism based on their volcanic ancestry but the Rocky Mountains are just so vast and continuing.

In terms of library stuff, it will be interesting to be on the board because I will need to keep in mind how I can use this activity to benefit OSU. First off, I think it will be in finding out what kind of training they can help us with as we move into new areas and need to train staff as their assignments evolve. Serving on the BCR Board now will be interesting because the issue of how OCLC interacts with the networks is still up in the air. Brenda Bailey-Hainer seems to have a smart outlook on the entire issue and knows that they will need to be looking towards developing new revenue sources in case OCLC drastically alters its relationship with the networks. This promises to be a challenge for the future.

Colbert on Oregon

One of the librarians here sent everyone a link to the Colbert Report on Wikipedia. Another of his reports was an interview with Darlene Hooley of Oregon's 5th legislative district. She's not from my district but once again Colbert digs deep and provides a concise picture of what it is like here in Oregon. So if you know about where we live and our representatives in D.C. are up to, watch Colbert.

Guilty Pleasure

I didn't think I was capable of it. I didn't think it could happen but it did. I'm a little embarassed to admit it but I found a middle aged man running around in his underpants funny. What's worse I thought it was just as funny the second time he did it. Yes, this weekend Cely and I went to see Taladaga Nights: the ballad of Ricky Bobby and we liked it. I want to share some of the shame with my sister Linda. We went to it on her advice. She told us she would pay for the tickets if we walked out but I guess she is off the hook. This is definitely a guilty pleasure, its a funny movie with a lot of laugh out lot moments. I think the reason it was so funny was that Will Ferrell shared the screen with a capable cast.

The Museum of Glass

Last weekend Cely and I took a drive up to the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. It was a great day for day for a drive. The museum was smaller than we expected to see more glass. They had one great show Absence Adorned there by a glass artist named Karen La Monte. Her life sized glass dresses were really incredible. These pieces were worth the price of admission. The cone shown in the picture here forms the heat vent for the hot shop in the museum where the work gets done. We watched while the artisans worked on goblets for some new La Monte pieces; nothing as spectacular as her dresses. The museum was set up by the city of Tacoma and Dale Chihuly. The picture also show his Bridge of Glass which has a lot of his pieces in large shadow box wall designed so that the light can come through the pieces. As you walk across the bridge you also pass under a ceiling of glass pieces that look like sea shells. Here is another photo of the bridge that shows the passage with the sea shell ceiling and two other very large installations.

The High Cost of Textbooks

The article on textbook prices and academic libraries that Anne Christie and I wrote has just come out in E-JASL: The Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship.

Trip to DC and Milwaukee

WashingtonDCMilwaukee 017
Originally uploaded by jpollitz.

I'm behind the times again. A couple of weeks ago Adrienne had some days off so we went out to visit her and do some touristy stuff. Fortunately Lin could get some time off on Wednesday and she took us in her boat on the Severn river all the way up to Annapolis. The next day we went to the Mall in DC and went to the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian and the National Gallery. When we left the gallery we saw this car that the local pigeons must have thought made a great toilet. They chose this car and none of the others around it.


I didn't realize how fantastic the National Gallery is. We kept running into paintings that we recognized. They had a wonderful traveling exhibit of Bellini, Giorgione, Titian and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting. It was very impressive. On Friday we went to visit Mount Vernon, ate at Zed's Ethopian restaurant. They had pictures on the wall of Hilary Clinton, Clint Eastwood, and others. This is the only place where I have eaten Ethopian food but would recommend it to anyone visiting DC.

On Saturday we flew to Chicago on the plane Adrienne was working. It was so much fun to see her in action. Then we took a short trip to Milwaukee to visit Lex for the day. It happened that the Mexican Fiesta was going on that weekend so we went downtown to get some food, hear some music and listen to the grito contest. In the evening we went to see Little Miss Sunshine at the Oriental Theater. The movie was very charming and the theater, a renovated 1927 old building was fantastic, complete with six huge buddhas with lighted jewels in their navels and set into the walls around the main seating area. Here is a picture of Lex at the grito contest.

Google Book Search

There was an interesting article in the Sunday August 13 Washington Post, Search Me? about the Google Book Search project and copyright issues. There is a little on how the book scanning project first came to be, which I had not read before. The discussion of the suit between publishers and Google captures some of the issues but does not address the truly significant problem of "orphaned" works. Those books, out of print, possibly in the public domain, possibly not, represent a huge obstacle to all digitization projects. These books represent around 70% of the books which could be scanned but finding who might control the copyright for any of these books is often quite impossible.

Jill and Izzy get Married

A couple of weeks ago, Friday July 28, my niece Jill married Ismael Hernandez. It was really great fun. They had a really talented mariachi band that played all of the old classics while we were eating. Then they had a DJ that played everything from Ranchero music to hip hop to Frank Sinatra. What a "multicultural" musical experience! Cely and I even got out on the floor for a norteño polka medley. It went so long that we couldn't even make it through the entire thing. It was really fun though. I kept it up and tried a cumbia with my younger sister, Nancy. I learned that I really don't know how to cumbia. But here is a picture of me with Jill during the dollar dance. That's their cute little son Ritchie. He was the ring bearer.

Tonight Cely and I went to see Sketches of Frank Gehry by Sydney Pollack. It was surprisingly good. Jeremy and Erika Frumkin invited us to go. Gehry is the architect who designed the laser building at the University of Iowa. Alexis took this picture of that building. He also designed the bandstand at Millenium Park in Chicago.




The documentary was better than many of the mainstream movies we have been to lately. Both Cely and I give it thumbs up.

Now it is back to the Tour de France. Floyd Landis had an amazing day today winning stage 17 and bringing himself back from an 8 minute deficit.

ALA Saturday morning

It is Saturday morning at ALA in New Orleans. There was a great crowd at this presentation. Ruth Vondracek and Maureen Kelly from the OSU Libraries are talking about our program to put library resources into the classroom.

This one is mostly for Alexis and Adrienne. Last night Cupcake discovered the television for the first time. We were watching a PBS show, The Birds of Oregon during another of the many pledge drives they have out here. Cely and I had never seen Cupcake react to the television but the sounds of the birds chirping really changed that. Old cats do learn new tricks.

Seattle

Yesterday Cely and I drove up to the Ikea just outside of Seattle. It was a great day. Cely has been missing the quiches that we used to get at Ikea in Schaumburg and missing the cool and cheap home stuff. So we hopped into the car for a drive. Not very smart with how the price of gas has been lately but being smart has not stopped us ever in the past. We got up there at about 3pm after stopping at the IHOP in Salem for breakfast and a 3 and a half hour drive from there. When we got up there we discovered that they weren't making the quiches in Seattle. Maybe they have changed there menu all over. It has been awhile since we made an Ikea visit. Of course we ended up buying some Swedish sweets and cheese, a couple of cheap throw rugs and a table top grill. You cannot go into that place without spending some money. This Ikea was really different from the one in Schuamburg. I think what they did was just take over a couple of existing warehouses. That made it less attractive to shop in. I wonder if this was one of the first Ikea's in the US or if it is just a temporary store. It is even placed in an area zoned for light industry and warehousing rather than shopping.

I didn't take any pictures on this trip so here is a picture of some the beautiful rhododendrons that grow around here. They are starting to fade but when they are in their full glory they are spectacular.

Alexis' Commencement

I haven't written in this for almost two months. That does not make for a very interesting blog. But then, I don't think much about this blog will be very interesting. I just need to keep writing.

On Mother's day weekend Cely and I went back to the Quad Cities for Alexis' graduation. It was a perfect weekend because Adrienne's birthday was on the 12th, Alexis graduated on May 13, and Mother's day was May 14. Adrienne flew in on Friday night so the whole family was there and we were all at June's house.

So, Cely and I took the red eye on Wednesday night and got into the QC on Thursday morning. That night we went to Iowa City for an awards banquet at the University. Alexis got the College of Arts and Science Dean's Academic Achievement award. It was very cool.

A funny thing happened at the banquet. I ran into a guy I knew from Arlington High School, John Keller. He is the Dean of the Graduate School and was there to give the award to one of his students. It was fun, John and I caught up on what had happened to us since high school. Alexis had a great night. Cely and I were really proud.

On Saturday Adrienne, Cely, and I picked up Alexis for commencement. It was fun to see Lex cross the stage but it was a really long ceremony. Afterwards we went out for dinner at Biaggi's in Davenport. Afterward June had the family over for dessert. Vincent, Jutta and Jordan were there. So was John with his kids Jake and Kate. Ernie and Debbie were there too. It was really fun. Vincent entertained everyone with his tales of his new job as a letter carrier. He could be a stand up comedian.

Here is a picture of the girls. We had a birthday cake for Adrienne and a graduation cake for Alexis. Cely and I stayed until Tuesday but the girls had to go back on Sunday. Lex went back to start moving to a new apartment and Adrienne flew back home so she would be ready to be on call. Cely and I were able to spend some time with June.

Easter Weekend

Last week Cely and I were finally able to fly again so we went back to the Quad Cities for Easter.

While we were there we went to Iowa City to see a show that Alexis and her friend Danielle had in a room over a bar across the street from Prairie Lights. Alexis had two sets of photographs up, highway pictures and ossuary. When we were getting ready to take the red-eye out of Portland to go home Alexis called us and told us that a tornado had hit Iowa City. When we were up there with her we saw some of the damage. It was really shocking. She had been downtown on her bike just a little while before the tornado hit. It destroyed one of the Catholic churches downtown. Father Rudy Juarez who used to be in Davenport is the priest there.









This picture shows an apartment building with broken windows and the entire cinderblock facade blown off.



The weather seemed ok when we were there but it wreaked havoc on our trip back. We were planning to leave for home on Monday but since we fly standby, I was getting nervous about making it back since most of the flights looked full or overbooked. We decided we could get out easier if we left Sunday afternoon. It was a good idea in theory but didn't work in practice. We got on the plane in Moline an hour late around 5pm. They taxied out to the runway to await clearance from Chicago to fly in. After about 15 minutes the pilot came on the intercom and said that the flight was cancelled but that they could put us on a chartered bus to O'Hare. By the time we got to O'Hare the last plane to Portland had already left. As we were standing in a long line at the customer service stand we decided that we better do whatever we could to get out of Chicago that night because our chances of getting a standby seat on Monday morning would be minimal. We had only two choices San Francisco or Las Vegas. The Las Vegas plane had the most open seats so we jumped at that one and finally got out of O'Hare at 11:30pm. We arrived in Las Vegas at about 1:30 and had to wait until 6am to begin our next leg towards Portland. The Las Vegas airport is pretty weird, full of ads for shows and slot machines. I thought it might be fates that brought us there so we headed for the slots. But it was not to be. After plugging a few bucks into the machines it became clear that we weren't going to be instant millionaires off the quarter machines. So in the morning, since there were no direct flights to Portland, we caught a flight to Denver. After a couple of hours laying over in Denver we made it on the first flight out. We finally made it home at around 4pm, about 26 hours after we began our return trip. I hope our next trip works out better. 

Whale Watching Week

Lincoln City Beach



March 25 - April 1 marks the Spring whale watch week on the coast here in Oregon. Cely and I had not been to the coast for a while so we decided to make a short trip. We drove over to Newport then swung up to Lincoln City. Cely wanted to see what Lincoln City was like. We had driven through but never really stopped. The day was gray and always on the verge of raining. We didn't actually get hit by the rain. It wasn't actually cold but on the whole not a cheery day. Lincoln City was not such a great tourist stop. We parked the car in a public lot and tried to visit some shops but the shops were so spread out and away from the coast we did not persevere too long. We stopped and walked along the beach there for a little bit. The beach was more rocky that others we have visited so far. This was also beach cleanup weekend so there were a lot of people who were doing the good work of picking up litter on the beach. Cely and I did our part by picking up a couple of cool rocks from the beach. I don't think they will miss them. Some of the rocks have holes in them like they were drilled into. We could not figure out how they came about.

Lincoln City Beach

After our short stop we jumped back in the car and headed back in the direction of Depoe Bay. We stopped just north of Depoe Bay at a sighting stop at Boiler Bay . It is a beautiful spot where coast is very rocky. As we walked to the rail to look out for whales, Cely and I were crossing some wet rather muddy grass and all of a sudden Cely's feet swept out from under her. She went down, knocking my feet sideways, and I went down on top of her. She got pretty muddy and wet. Fortunately it wasn't that cold so we did stick around to see if we could any whales. We didn't but I guess others saw about 11 whales that day. The visibility was great even though it was so gray and cloudy out so we could see a vast expanse of ocean.

Boiler Bay














As you can see the coast is just beautiful here. So beautiful that you can even stay out here and look at it even when you are muddy and wet. The only wild life we saw were these gulls that Cely photographed. As we drove back to Corvallis it began to rain so all in all we timed it right.

We are thinking about going to see Inside Man as a matinee today but that is the only movie we have planned for the weekend. Yesterday night and Friday night was devoted to our latest addiction, DVDs of the cancelled television series, Angel. We are into the fourth season and are in between discs now. There is only one more season to watch. It should keep us busy for a couple of weeks but we are already planning to watch the Buffy the Vampire series when we finish this one!