Burnham Beech Memoirs

More often than not, I've looked forward to the New Year's Eve while forgetting the wonderful New Year's day that is guaranteed to follow.  For instance, this year we were with family in London!  Like other years, there were wonderful people (family and new friends), good food (a yummy 7 courses), fun games (we created a "draw your resolutions from a hat" game), good music (starting off the decade right by playing guitar into the night), and, of course, counting down - this year, we counted down while watching fireworks flying from the London Eye (see image below) and listening to Big Ben - very different from the ball-dropping traditions of Times Square, NY!

Yes, New Year's Eve was wonderful and familiar, but New Year's day was fresh and new!  We set off with the family for Burnham Beeches (I thought we were heading to a beach, but no...beeches) to perambulate around the forests which evoke images and feelings of a rich, royal history, stealing from the rich to give to the poor, and a delicacy that is not generally as present in the Pacific Northwest.  As mentioned in previous blog posts (like this one on east coast woods), I'm amazed by the difference in sensations, smells, and sights of different woods.  Having grown up with woods as a key character in my childhood play time, I had no idea how much I was affected by the variety of forests that one can encounter in this world.  It makes me excited to explore more.  Burnham Beeches was packed with everyone and their dog soaking up the chilly, yet sunny New Year's day.  Frozen ponds and bogs were scattered throughout the forests and plaques at the bases of trees shared a history of inspiration (i.e., specific locations amongst the beeches inspired Mendelssohn to write certain movements in "A Midsummer Night's Dream").  The trees themselves, gnarled with stories in each of their branches, were reminiscent of the thousands of years that this land has been occupied, captured, fought over, shared, owned, and worked.  As much as Steve and I have been in awe of the architecture and man-made history of this town, who knew the forests could share so much?

After a stop off at a "proper country pub" (right) for a warm up, we returned to a lazy evening of movies, knitting, emailing, Bananagrams, and hanging out with the fam.  A great start to a new year and a new decade.  Happy New Year, all, from the forests of yonder year across the pond!  

Faces in the crowded V & A

We had a wonderful lazy morning trying to sleep off the jet lag before heading out to see Laura and Peter's new flat in Little Venice, which is the area of London with canals. (who knew? canals in London!) It was a very cute area, with houseboats lining the canals and cafes on most of the corners. The apartment has a garden in the back, with a gap in the hedges that leads onto a massive park that is hidden from view of the streets and only accessible through the apartments that line it. Amazing little niches in this city.

Afterward, we headed to the Victoria and Albert Museum (V & A), which is one of those stunningly massive, twisting museums one can get lost in quite easily and happily. The museum seems to focus on melding the antiquated with the modern (which seems to me to be a London thing) and the melting is quite beautiful. The picture opposite is in the lobby where a 40-foot twisting glass sculpture hangs over the information desk, in front of a large ornate wooden panel you can see in the background. The mix of old and new happens in the juxtaposition of the artwork as well as in the architecture of the building, which is a mash up of a number of styles. As we headed towards the costumes exhibit, (a favorite of Sarah's) we walked by this amazing room with absolutely massive Greek carved columns. It was difficult to capture the scale but as you can see from the picture, Sarah and I were on the balcony and it extended from the ground floor to well above our heads. Off the other side of the balcony we could see into the restoration room, which was quite fascinating as well.

 

When we finally arrived in the costume exhibit, a number of the pieces were not on display, but the remaining ones were quite stunning. The one on the left is a funny one - Elton John's bicycle outfit, complete with a bell, reflectors, and streamers. Impressive. I do not think I could pull that outfit off, but then again it was the 60s, maybe that was just what everyone was wearing then.

My daddy was a miller, and I'm a miller's son...

For the union song-lovers of the world, you know those aren't the actual lyrics to the song, "Which side are you on?" but having spent a large chunk of yesterday at the Bale Grist Mill in St. Helena, CA, the song comes to mind.  We set out with several family members on a hike and outing to check out the old mill that dates back to 1846.  After a lovely walk through hanging vines and token Napa forests (photo below), we arrived just in time for a tour hosted by a retired 2nd grade teacher.  He told us all about the story of the the old mill and how it changed hands from the original owner (Dr. E.T. Bale) to his wife after he passed away, leaving her in a bit of a debt mess and a beautifully-functioning piece of amazing machinery.  With perseverance and a little help from some published guides dating back to the 18th century (which are still referred to!), she kept it up and running making it one of the gathering spots of the town.

I enjoyed this part of the story, as it gave you a real sense of what the old Napa-ites (Napanions?) experienced as a community.  After collecting corn and wheat for a couple of weeks, the residents in the area would gather to share a meal, catch-up with neighbors, and wait patiently for their chance to grind their goods into flour and the like.
Our guide was wonderful (with children, for sure, including Sophie as his assistant in many of his explanations [see below]), while sharing a real passion for the mill.  He took us step-by-step through the process of grinding as well as the parts of the machine that made it possible to turn corn and wheat in flour or meal.  From pointing out the different paths that the water must take to make its way to the large wheel that turned the whole system (below)...

...to the gears and cogs (and various materials there of) to use as the inner-workings (below with Soph)...

 ...to the technicolor explanation of how a grindstone works and why a miller must keep his (or her!) "nose to the grindstone."  As you can see from the photo at the right, the black and red lines represent the groves in the quartzite grindstone that work together to grind up the corn or wheat.  If the grindstones fall off balance or larger pieces of grain are stuck in there, a smell of rubbing rocks will be emitted instead of the rich aroma of the flour.  It is for this reason that the miller must keep a close watch (and nose) on how the grindstones are working so that the grindstone does not wear down too much (I imagine), but also so that the whole complex machine runs as efficiently as possible.

It was a wonderful day with family, new discoveries, a kid-friendly outing, all ending with pizza and wine and games (see photo of chef Sophie)! We're off to Londontown this evening - sadly leaving the California family with promises of "see you real soon, right?", but before reaching SFO airport, there will be some crucial stop-offs in the city to show Sophie the sights (more blogging to come, I'm sure.)

If you're ever in St. Helena, CA (smack in the mid-to-north end of the Napa Valley) and are in need of a non-oenophile experience, head on over to the Bale Grist Mill...

 

...they might even let you take the kernels off of some ears of corn!

 

Cali Adventures - Mount Diablo

After a long painful delay in Vancouver and a 2am arrival in Cali, Sarah, Sophie and I have arrived in sunny California. On our first day, we did one of my favorite California activities - driving to the top of Mount Diablo. As 3849' its the highest point in the Bay Area and from the summit you can see the Sierra Nevada peaks (Hi Gabe and Megan!). That 150-mile stretch is the second farthest distance you can see from anywhere in the world, shorter than only the view from the top of Kilimanjaro.

The drive up to the summit winds through rolling hills and oak trees, and we had to take it a little slowly so as not to make a certain nine-year-old in the back seat car sick. It was nice to take our time though, winding up the hairpin turns and rocky outcroppings. We stopped a couple of times along the way to take some shots and enjoy the view.

Mount Diablo was actually named based on a mistranslation from an old Spanish story. In 1805, a Spanish military expedition visited the area searching for a group of Native Americans who had run away from one of the local missions. They surrounded them in a thicket, but as night fell, all of the Native Americans were able to escape undetected. The military group called the thicket "Monte del Diablo" of "Thicket of the Devil." Later, English-speaking newcomers mistook the name "Monte" on the map for meaning mountain and thus the mountain became Mount Diablo.

Along the way up, we ran into a few Cultus Pines, which are one of the few indigenous species that only live on Mount Diablo.

Though it was quite mild and warm on the way up, the wind picked way up around the summit so we broke out the coats and braced ourselves against the wind to climb the tower to the observation post. It had rained recently and was clear so the view was incredibly clear. We could see  San Francisco, the extent of the bay, the Delta, Mount Tamalpais, and the Sierra Nevada range with the naked eye and Sophie got a few more details with a couple of quarters into the telescope.

A great start to vacation, up to Napa tomorrow to continue the tour! Happy holidays everyone.

Featured in Travelogged!

Travel the Long Way Round was featured in this month's edition of Travelogged, an online-publication highlighting travel writing from around the web!

http://www.travelogged.com/travelogged/2009/12/the-lucky-13th-edition-of-the-anywhere-everywhere-travel-blog-carnival.html

Great to hear from Travelogged right before we head of to California and London. Gives us a bit of a kick to keep writing and keep exploring.

Happy holidays!

Choices, choices, choices

Last night Sarah and I had dinner with our friends Rob and Gloria who had some friends in from Australia (Roger and Kylie). They were starting a West Coast roadtrip to SF and LA then are catching a flight to New York (very jealous!) so we had lots of fun circling our favorites in their guidebook, suggesting good restaurants or scenic vistas. They had a couple of guidebooks, including a Lonely Planet USA West Coast, which got me to thinking about my experiences with guidebooks. Here is our random collection of guides that we have picked up over the years for different trips, at used book stores or garage sales, and ones that have been graciously gifted to us. So here's my question - which brands are the best? I'm going to run through my impressions of some brands I've used and hopefully people will let us know if you agree or have better suggestions.


Lonely Planet -  http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ - Roger and Kylie's guidebook for the West Coast seemed to have a lot of quirky spots (cafes, interesting restaurants, etc) as well as lots of detail on the low- mid-range options for housing/travel. It had Fig Cafe in Healdsburg, a favorite of my dad's, as well as Ikeda's in Auburn, a favorite of mine. They also have an option to build your own custom book out of chapters from other books, which Sarah and I are thinking of doing for the world trip, as well as a travel forum called Thorntree where I've gotten some helpful advice from in the past.

Will, Gabe and I used the Iceland Lonely Planet (brought by Will I think) when we were there a few years ago and I remember the same type of focus in that book. Lonely Planet seems to capture the age 20-40 traveler well, with a focus on authentic experiences over tourist traps. One particular adventure left me enamored with Lonely Planet. We were driving around the Ring Road that circles the island (there are no roads throught the middle) and on the northwest coast, started exploring the fjord north of the town of Hofstadhir. The book noted a natural hot spring called Gudrun´s Bath and we decided to take the couple hours to get up there. We had to open and close many fences so farmer's herds wouldn't escape and just when the road was about to peter out and we were convinced we were hopelessly lost, we found this tiny geothermal hot spring on the edge of the fjord overlooking the ocean towards the North Pole. As the book explained, the tiny island off the coast was where Gudrun, one of the heroes of the Icelandic Sagas, swam out to steal fire from a hermit (god? maybe? I'm dim on the details). When he finally managed to make it back to shore he found this spring and it saved him from hypothermia and allowed him to bring fire to the people. Will read it out loud as we sat in the spring and looked out over the wind-ravaged stone island sticking out the water. It's moments like that when I appreciate guide books the most, when they can connect you to the history of a place.

Fodors Travel Guides - But then again, there are lots of others that I have used over the years, including Fodors. Sarah and I used Fodors when we did our Southwest trip a couple years back, but it struck us as generally filled with activities and places that were out of our price range. It's recommendations seemed to favor exclusivity and cushyness to authenticity and experience. Though we did find a hike up Angel's Landing in Zion National Park, which ranks as one of my five top hikes. That's Sarah about to traverse the pencil thin ridge line and scramble to the final plateau.

Moon Travel Guides - I don't have much experience with Moon, but I hear they are from Australia and take a similar tack to Lonely Planet. On their website, they "ensure that travelers have an uncommon and entirely satisfying experience." Wonder if anyone has found them useful, I might try to pick up one at some point and give it a go. Maybe when we get to London next week.

Frommers Travel Guides - Frommers seems to walk the line between the upscale Fodors and the cash-conscious but experience-minded Lonely Planet. Though in my opinion it basically tried to do Fodors but cheap, without focusing on experience and instead just looking for getting the most bang for your buck.

Well, that's all I got for now, I'm interested to see if anyone has any thoughts on guide books, stories to share, etc. Or are we just better reading a history book to get a sense of place and winging the rest? I'm sure Sarah and I will be doing plenty of that as the trip unfolds. So bon voyage for now, it's off to California tomorrow then London on the 27th. It's tough to leave the new place overlooking the mountains so soon after moving in, but we look forward to filling you in about our adventures with the the nine-year old as they progress.

Have a great trip Roger and Kylie!

Leaving on a jet plane part duex

Steve here - I heard from a number of people requesting more how, why, and wheres concerning round-the-world-ticket techniques from our previous posting. So I'm back to fill in a few of the details and  practicalities of booking. If you're here to read about the travel adventures, we'll be back to that soon, this is going to be a nitty-gritty article.

Step #1 - Figure out where you want to go. And be flexible.

It's a big place, the world that is, so when planning to see it you must make a list. Sarah and I started years ago cutting articles out of magazines, saving links to a Google Group, emailing them to each other and tagging the emails for future reference. One of our best resources has been the advice of friends who have been to many various locales and can recommend some great spots.

Dream wide and far but when you put your list together though, don't let yourself be fixated on too many locations. Pick three or four that are absolutes and put the rest in the awesome-if-we-can-make-it-happen category. You might find out that Bali costs 600 RT to get to while Bangkok costs 75. If you're planning on spending 5-7 days in each area, this is a huge price difference. A lot of adventures can happen for those $525 extra dollars.

Step #2 - Find a travel agent you trust.

Going into the trip, I figured I could do this all myself, book the flights, find some deals, etc. I mean how hard can it seriously be with expedia, travelocity, and the rest of the internet to help? I was thinking this right up until halfway through our meeting with Allison when she was able to pull up airline hubs, detail variable pricing through different partner airlines and destinations, and let us know she was already holding flights through her contacts at different airlines in some of our key locations for prices that were far lower than those I'd researched. Wow. Travel agents have the inside edge and the 35-50 they are gonna charge you per flight - extremely worth it. If you're going to NY for the weekend, listen to William Shatner and book your own flight. If you're traveling around the world, go with the experts. If you are in Vancouver, we recommend Allison Reshef from Travelmasters.

Step #3 Think circles, not straight lines

As we found out, the cheapest way to travel is to locate a hub of a major airline that is roughly in the geographical center of your travels in one area, then fly in and out of that city. In our case it is Hong Kong (Cathay Pacific has flights to Sydney, Bali, Thailand, Katmandu, and India, then off to Rome) and Istanbul (Turkish Airways flies to Rome, Cairo, Tel-Aviv, Greece, Casablanca). Because the airline doesn't have to deal with partners, they can give you quite low fares. In our case, the round trips ranged from $75 to $600, which each RT dumping us in a new locale. A few hints for picking your hubs:
- Look at the most difficult places to get to on your trip. For us it was Katmandu and Tel-aviv.
- Find the airlines that fly there.
- Go on that airline's website and look at the other places they fly. See how many destinations match up with where you want to go.
- Create a short list which you can go to your travel agent, who will be able to tell you the hubs and price out different options for you.

The shortest distance between two points is a line, but the cheapest is most definitely not.


Step #4 - Be creative about your traveling methods

For the most part, a plane is a plane is a plane. Some have smoking in the back, some have chickens, but mostly they are just big metal tubes. The real traveling is what we do outside of the tube. There are lots of inventive ways to get around besides the plane and I highly recommend researching some of these options, or, just leaving it up to what you find along the way. We decided for instance, that we'd like to visit Tunisia, but we looked at it on the map and decided it would be much easier to take a boat across the Mediterranean then it would be to fly. And the boat you don't have to book in advance, you just show up with a backpack, hop on, and all the sudden you're in Northern Africa. At least in my experience growing up on the west coast of the US, the distances were so large that planes were the only way to go, so I have to try hard to keep distances in mind and remind myself to get out of the metal tube whenever possible.

That's it for now, happy traveling!