There and back again.

Keeping it between the lines on the back highways.

Our niece's wedding is in October. This isn't much of a problem, but she lives in the Seattle area. My wife and I have a choice: Fly? Ride the Train? Drive?
If we fly, we'd take up little more than an extended weekend getting there, touring the area with my sister-in-law and her family and coming back. Rush. Rush. Rush.
If we take the train, it would definitely be an adventure. However, to do it properly would cost almost twice as much
as flying.
The third option is to drive. We'd bring the travel trailer and keep to the non-interstate highways. As a rule, they are far more interesting (like the views from the train). The truck would less stressed from avoiding the higher interstate speeds. Our mileage under tow is anywhere from 9-12 mpg at 55-60, depending on slopes and winds. Push it to 65 and that drops to 7-9 mpg. It does take longer, about five days out and five more back. But out of a 16 day vacation block, that leaves time to visit with family and a side trip or two to look up friends in Idaho and our first trip to Yellowstone National Park. It also would cost about the same as if we flew out to Seattle, rented a car and stayed in a hotel for a few nights.

You'll never know what you'll find on your
travels off the interstates. This dragon
made entirely of tires greeted
us off of US 18 in Iowa.

Another benefit to driving is that we won't need a puppy-sitter. The pooch can come with us just about everywhere except the wedding itself. We won't be able to eat at a lot of restaurants, but we like to do our own cooking in the
trailer, anyway.
Most times, the cost of a campsite with full hook-ups is far less than a hotel room (although we have been known to take advantage of a local hotel when there is a dearth of campsites).
We'll take separate routes out and back. We plan to follow US-2 from Minnesota all the way to Seattle. The plan is to follow I-90 as far as Livingston, Montana and then turn south for Yellowstone. From Yellowstone, the route will take us southeast to Cheyenne, Wyoming to pick up I-80 or parallel to it on US 30 for the return trip.
There are a bunch of interesting places on our routes. One is Deception Falls in Washington. It's a pretty place, but the falls themselves actually cross under US 2, making for a challenging picture like this one of Brownstone Falls in Wisconsin. We hope to be able to take in the Beartooth Highway on our way back if if it isn't closed due to snows when we get there.
I do look forward to the trip. Seeing my niece get married will be good, too.
Road picture: copyright 2013 W. Clinton Hotaling.
Dragon picture: copyright 2013 Mary A Hoffman, used with permission.

"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!" - Dorothy in "the Wizard of Oz"

Fish and Chips in Ireland.

First and foremost, I love visiting new (and sometimes very old) places, experiencing new things, and trying new foods. Getting there can be the headache. There are also sometimes some very unexpected things that will throw one off of stride. For instance:
TSA checks will require you to unsling your carefully positioned camera bag and computer case, empty the eleven pockets of your jacket, the seven pockets in your pants and the three in your shirt. Don't forget that they want you to remove your shoes, take off your knee braces and will still scrutinize your eyeglasses and wedding band. All this about a minute after you just did this for the Irish Garda. I was about in tears, because getting everything off without damaging the fragile takes time and the line behind me was getting longer. Lesson: aim for the balance between minimalist and every contingency in packing. Especially with the carry-on gear.

While we're on travel to the Emerald Isle, it's useful to prepare by a bit of studying. We read and brought along copies of Rick Steve's Guide to Ireland. It proved a very useful source. Sometimes somethings aren't mentioned. The Irish do drink coffee. They drink a lot more tea. Coffee is sold by the cup. We are talking a consistent 200 ml (about 6.5 oz.) cup. When you are used to, nay addicted to, large mugs of coffee this can add up fast in the traveling expense column. The best way to get your caffeine fix is switch to tea. Tea is often sold by the pot or cup, and refills are often free. Tea is usually included with the meal.
Ireland is primarily temperate rain forest (The trees are slowly returning after centuries of over-harvesting.). There are usually some sunny days or even an hour or two of sunshine most days, but don't expect it. It's damp more often than not. Dress for it. We wore wool or microfiber and good rain shells. Our accommodations had towel warmers that made for dry towels after morning ablutions-more forethought.
Our travel arrangements included car rental. The car we got was almost as large as my 1/2 ton pickup truck! It was HUGE. It did have a lot of trunk (boot) space--we joked four bodies would fit in there with room to spare. So us Yanks had this huge car, with manual transmission and the steering on the other side from what we are used to across the Pond. Most Irish roads that aren't Motorways are pretty narrow. When we went over Conner Pass, it was down to one lane. It was a good thing the only things we met coming the other way was bicyclists. I'm glad we paid the damage waiver as a stone wall reached out to grab the car near Dingle. We did clip a few hedge branches and a construction barrier with our curb-side mirror. One big advantage was that the engine was diesel powered. Diesel fuel costs pretty much the same as gasoline (petrol) in Ireland, but we had a fantastic range. We drove the car 2000 kilometers (1200 miles) while there that week, and only filled the fuel tank twice.
Ireland was fun, and we'd go visit it again.
Even in the US, we have some adjustments to make when we travel. Our home state of Wisconsin is known as the "Dairy State" for a reason. Milk and cheese are the biggest agricultural products here. One of the special treats that can be found virtually anywhere is fresh cheddar cheese curds. We're talking so fresh that they squeak when you bite into them. Fresh cheese curds are uncommon to rare outside of Wisconsin. Note this as they make wonderful gifts for out of state friends! The cheese choices quickly dwindle down to American, Swiss and sometimes cheddar the further you go from our fair state.
The strong German heritage also has available a variety of sausages in Wisconsin. Ask for a bratwurst in Mississippi, and you'd get a blank stare with a "Whot dat?" Spicy andule sausage is popular close to the the Big Easy.While it looks and smells the same as keilbasa, it tastes very different!
The closest thing to tarter sauce-the staple condiment of the Friday Fish Fry-south of the Mason/Dixon Line is "sandwich spread" which is sweeter and pink.
Iced tea down south is made very sweet. If you want it unsugared, ask for "unsweet tea".
The joys of traveling often make the rewards that much better!

Thoughts on the new year and knee

It'll be a spectacular scar!

 

As most of my friends, family and Facebook fans know, I had my left knee replaced just before Thanksgiving. I tried putting it off by losing weight (I lost 70 pounds, and so far kept 50 from coming back.), physical therapy, braces on my legs, injections with various substances, changing shoes...the whole gamut my physician asked me to try before succumbing to the inevitable: My knees were in sad shape and needed serious repair.

My surgeon and I figure that if we do the worst side, the other--less bad--side can limp along a few years before it needed to be done as well. So far, I agree with that decision.

As it turned out. I am well ahead of the curve for recovery from this kind of surgery. My day job expects me to show up on time as the end of the month approaches. And my wife thought I'd be bored out of my skull by now! Hah!

Blizzard Drake and my holiday lights.

Suddenly, a whole bunch of projects I was hoping to do while recovering become shoe-horned in the last weeks of my convalescence. There were a bunch of little projects that are mostly taken care of (The last of these is the removal of the outside Christmas lights, but that always waits for a January thaw. Otherwise, I'd be fighting to remove rather delicate wires from ice-encasement.), and a milestone in my photography work has been accomplished: I had a portfolio review. (Thank you, Andy Manis!)

I needed this review so I can refine the photos that I will eventually post on a web site. I have a host provider picked out and their prices are reasonable. I just need to show my vision for those who would want to hire me to capture imagery. Cross fingers that I can get this done before the end of the month. It is a reasonable goal.

Another project is this blog post. Enough said.

My third project involves scanning a bunch of slides my brother-in-law has into digital format. I'll have to clean the dust as I go, because they were housed briefly in northern Arizona. The grit gets everywhere there. I haven't even looked a the scope of that project yet, but I will soon after I post this.

Last, but not least, is the organization of dances and music for dance ball to be held by my history club in May. It may seem a long way off, but the need to familiarize and practice some 20 new arrangements makes the intervening months all too short. Fortunately, I don't have to choreograph the dances, just select them and get the sheet music to the musicians. For this project, I am already late, but not too late to avoid the ire of my fellow players.

One thing that has changed over the course of the last couple months is my set of priorities. Part of that is temporal: Seasonal items, like school projects and home decorations for the Holidays. A big priority was and is recovery from my surgery. That includes daily exercise and weight lifting activities. I have close to 30 routines--just remembering to do them all is an exercise!

Now, the priorities shift to where I want to grow as a photographer, hence the portfolio review and preparation for a website. Part of what I also need to do is just get ready for the day-to-day grind of my day job, a new semester of school and getting a business presence so my customers can find me.

I also have to cook for myself this winter. My wife got a generous allowance from our HMO to take part in a boot-camp workout and dietary food program over the next three months. She goes in before work five days a week for an intense hour of weights and exercises. For two months, they provide all her meals, and the last month she gets home-sourced food on the weekends--she still gets their food on weekdays. It's been fun so far to match the suppers they give her with what we have on hand, so she doesn't feel like I'm eating radically different food than what she's getting. It's been reminding me to keep on my eating plan as well.

It's not that I can't cook--my parents made sure I knew how--I'm just a lazy cook. I'd much rather have ready-to-eat goodies out of the refrigerator than spend hours preparing something spectacular, at least most of the time. I have to remind myself that if I want bread I have to slice it! My wife did freeze ahead a bunch of entrees for use when I went back to work. I'm supposed to eat them for my lunches while I'm convalescing, too. I do. It is a little hard when faced with a dozen tubs of pea soup to keep picking from that pile. I just have to keep on, then.

Crystal Still Life at Poynette Antique Market

The biggest priorities are my lovely bride and our families. My brother has new digs that he'll need help moving to, and our other siblings and their children are so interesting that electronic scorecards are needed to keep track of them all. Life really is a lot of fun (especially with my family) when you look at it as an adventure to experience, rather than drudgery to endure.

Out and about

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Red Palisades, Badlands National Park
Copyright W. Clinton Hotaling

I will be the first to admit that I've been remiss in blogging this past few weeks. I have an explanation. Several in fact:

I travelled to the Black Hills area of South Dakota, including stops in Wall and the Badlands National Park. It rained A LOT during our trip. One benefit was that the Badlands greened up more than I ever saw it before. Photographing in the rain even enriched the color bands in the rocks.

My Mac CPU officially became a boat anchor. We found a new notebook at a bargain price, so I've been spending necessary time setting it up.

Our travel trailer just came back from the repair shop. Originally, we were just replacing the awning. The timing was fortunate, because we found some new roof leaks during our trip that the shop fixed for us while it was there.

All the wet weather speeds up the garden preparations. Plantings and cultivation cannot wait long before the mess gets away from us.



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Rapier scenario at White Lake Resort, Montello, Wisconsin
Copyright W. Clinton Hotaling

I've had two living history events this last month, one of them in the Black Hills, another in Montello. There was plenty of fencing to go around, in between the raindrops.

One thing that finally sunk into my brain: It really is the art of defence. I found that if I keep focused on preventing my opponent's blade from reaching me, I am suddenly a better fencer. People have noticed.

One of the good things I found out these past few weeks is the DeForest Photographers Group sponsored by the DeForest Library. Their next meeting is next week. I excited and a little apprehensive about meeting other photographers "in my back yard". That's almost literal, as the library is two blocks from my house. (Location! Location! Location!)

Oak Chair, Dragon Art Fair
W. Clinton Hotaling photo

I found this out at the Dragon Art Fair, also sponsored by the Library. Among the exhibitors was a wood carver that made this beautiful chair. It also had a beautiful price: $3000. As nice as it was, few people I know could afford it.

My wife and I found a great alternative to traditional bratwurst: chicken smoked sausage. High nutrition with little fat and plenty of flavor and texture. Yum! It also doesn't hurt that these are precooked and just need to be reheated.

Our community supported agriculture shares also started up this last month. Lots of veggies for the summer to supplement our garden.

I think the biggest lesson I've learned during this absence is the one of finding (or to refine) my vision and use that as I sort through my photographs to create my portfolios.  That will happen soon. Stay tuned.