Shannon the Adventure Girl discusses Yellowstone
Jul 212010
Apr 222010
Also known as “farting around with Camtasia and a video camera”.
Sep 052009
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
We went shopping on the 21st for some new hiking boots for my nephew. He’s in Cub Scouts and is a Webelos II and should have a need for some good boots and socks.
I’m used to being able to pick between REI, Adventure 16, Sport Chalet, and others for selection price and knowledgeable sales staff. So I figured that since we’re in one of the most outdoor-inclined states that the task would be simple – just go to Dicks (about like a Sport Chalet) and start the task from there. Wrong. Both selection and knowledge was lacking and no recommendation as to where to look. LL Bean would have been a good bet if we weren’t 200 miles North of Freeport – outside of Freeport, Bean only has outlets, impressive outlets, but without a full Boot Department.
The guy at Foot Locker recommended Epic Sports in Bangor. On a lark we found some Columbia’s that fit the bill on clearance at Olympia Sports. Being both an outdoor wonk and a business wonk, in no situation should Olympia out-do Dicks in this area, but that’s just my opinion. We did wind up visiting Epic after the purchase and found it very Adventure 16-ish (a compliment in my opinion).
There is an market up here that isn’t being serviced very well and I’m cogitating upon the subject.
Jul 202009
On day 7/20 (day 6) we hit Baxter State Park – home of Mount Katahdin – for an easy (if a little long) hike for the kids. Both Shannon and Sean went as well as our nephew.
John & Tiffany at the trail head
Some of the hike was on the Appalachian Trail and took us by Grassy Pond, Tracy Pond, and Elbow Pond. The hike was 3.7 miles and took about three hours.
The trip had numerous water crossings – this is the first, the outlet for Grassy Pond.
When going on a hike, even a short one, it is important to take trail food to keep up your energy,
keep yourself well hydrated,
and it doesn’t hurt to have a good day pack to keep everything in.
There is a wide variety of flora on this hike. In school, Tiffany did a science fair project where she collected a bunch of different mosses and identified them (I think she said she tied for first). Can anyone identify this mushroom?
It is nice to be able to take a nap when you get tired and yet still keep moving…
As I said, there were several water crossings. This one was probably 200 yards long and was interesting on these little balance beams.
You know…. these are the best times with our kids and I cherish the time to spend with them before it becomes unfashionable to spend time with dad.
It tells me I’m doing something right if they’re still smiling at the end.
At the end of the fourth day we made the trek from the coast to Lincoln, ME. We got in, got our room and journeyed out to my mother-in-law’s camp on Combolasse Pond. It may be a pond by Maine standards, but definitely a lake by California standards.
I say this every year, but I could really do with a place up here. This is my ideal – an adirondack chair on a floating platform that I could swim out to and nobody could get to me.
Two weeks later I could swim in and be at peace with the world. That, of course, isn’t reality. What I did do was pull Shannon and a neice in their boat behind a kayak while they were tormented by a nephew in a kayak.
It was a good day. Tiffany flipped a kayak coming out to join us and then we went later again and I flipped – it just wouldn’t be kayaking if you didn’t get your hair wet once.
Jul 182009
Hey Everyone! I continue to be remiss in my blogging. We’re now a week into the trip and enjoying life.
Day 1 was an adventure in itself. We were in line so long at LAX that the cut-off for checked luggage happened in between my golf clubs and the clothing which required a supervisor to approve (taking another ten minutes), or we could re-book the flight. We got the luggage checked finally and did an OJ through the airport (think Hertz rather than Ginsu) and were the last to board the plane. The Avis bus was almost at capacity by the time we got out of the airport in Boston. Sean kept doing laps between Tiffany and I and was really excited to be on a bus. We had about a two hour drive to the Fairfield Inn in Manchester, NH and thus ends the first day.
The second day was going to originally be a golf day for me and Tiffany was going to see other baby wearers in Dover, NH. I have a muscle in spasm or something in my lower back, so I didn’t golf and went with Tiffany. The meeting migrated to a local pizzaria and the kids did laps through the pizza place. That afternoon we meandered over to Nashua, NH which has been on the list of best places to live a few times and has piqued our interest. We had dinner at an Irish pub called Then Fiddler’s Daughter. Good food, good service, good location and the best kethup on the planet.
Day three had us out of NH and in to Southern Maine. We stopped by a store called Butterfly Baby in Portland and then to Whole Foods, also in Portland. From ther we headed to Belfast and the Belfast Harbor Inn. We first went to Belfast last year so Tiffany could go to The Green Store and we went this time for the Celtic Festival happening the next day. We ate at the Dockside restaurant – excellent food and quite kid tollerent. We spent a couple hours in the harbor area until it started getting a little chilly. They have a great skate park in Belfast though. In the harbor parking lot with the water as a back drop and featuring a half pipe that was about 8 feet, or so, deep.
Day four started with the Celtic Festival parade. and we set off for Acadia National Park. We did a quick naturn walk type hike on the Ship Harbor Nature Trail. It was nice and easy for the kids.
Apr 262009
Here we are at that time of year again – planning our annual trip to Maine!
Actually, I’m REALLY late on this considering the stuff I want to do. We’re going earlier this year – July instead of August.
On the agenda is a motorcycle ride from Augusta, to Quebec, across Maine to New Brunswick, and down the coast to Machias or Bar Harbor and then back to Augusta. I’m thinking three to four days – it could be shorter, but we have things that happen along the way. We’ll be stopping and taking the Katahdin on Moosehead lake, having blueberry pie at Helens in Machias, probably having lobster in Bar Harbor, possibly taking the cat ferry to Nova Scotia, and taking a lot of pictures along the way. I have several friends who have expressed interest in doing the ride with me, but with only three months for a heads-up, I might be solo. This is the route I’m looking at:
Also looking at climbing Mount Katahdin – had a friend interested in this one as well and I’ll bet a dollar that I can get him to go on a canoe ride with me as well.
My wife wants to find the perfect lobster roll (think lobster hot-dog). I’ll give that a shot. Last year we found this cool place on the coast that was popular with the kayakers and I’m sure we’ll pay them another visit.
I have a tradition of playing golf at Jato Highlands, so that is a must-do event.
Finally, looking at buying some real estate up there, but I’m uncommitted. We’ll look at the stuff we find online to get a better feel than we get from 3000 or so miles away.
Anyone else want to go? Lets make it a party!
- John
Well… My crystal ball has been right and wrong in following the ongoing soap opera that is the American Economy.
With talk of (at least partial) nationalization of BofA and Citi, I think I was misguided in my assesment of their strength. My logic was that financially strapped organizations wouldn’t be acquiring large companies who would only make the cash situation worse – I was apparently wrong. I also understated my swag on the size of the eventual bail out by about 100% as well, although it could come down significantly unless they natioanalize AIG, BofA and/or Citi.
I don’t think I put it in a prior post, but I have a mental threashold of 12% unemployment to trigger the word, “depression”. It was recently announced that California is at 10% – painfully close. My portfolio of strong stocks has taken a beating in the last couple weeks that I didn’t think possible.
We’ll see where it goes.
– John
Well… Let’s see…. Fiscal incompetence? Yes, that’s it. Post over… You still reading? I said it was over…. Oh, OK!
Is it the fault of the Governator? Is it the fault of those evil, right-wing Republicans who want to give tax breaks to the rich? Is it because of the idiotic, left-wing Democrats who always try to spend triple the tax revenue? All of the above.
Although I can’t fault the current elected officials and exclude their predecessors. Fiscal incompetence has been around and even rampant for decades. If you, as many individuals and families do, get to a point where you are spending more than you are earning, you have to figure out what you are going to eliminate so that you can survive. In the world of government, both Sacramento and Washington DC, they figure how much they want and they take it. If they can’t take enough from you, they will borrow against the earnings of your grand children to be able to spend it today. Don’t you wish you could do that – if your personal budget isn’t balanced, just take another 15 or 20% from your employer? Not only is it incompetence, it is arrogance. On both sides of the aisle.
The 2007 budget deficit was (only?) $162 billion (source: 2009 Federal Budget, table 1.1) and according to the Congressional Budget Office, federal revenue will take a dip this year and rebound to just above 2008 levels in 2010, but yet the deficit will be more than $200 billion greater than in 2008. Why is that? It is because our elected representatives have an inability to balance the check book.
There have been years where our household income didn’t increase. That only means that my spending for that year has to remain at previous year’s levels. If we went out to eat once a week and inflation made the cost of doing that more expensive, I might have to skip a week here and there. It happens – and not just in my house. This isn’t an action that I’m illustrating – it is a principle, and one that has been missed by our elected officials for decades.
Whose fault is this? Mostly ours, because we’re the nimrods who vote these dip sticks into office. When we hear of scandals – Clinton/Lewinski, Duke Cunningham, Tom Daschle, etc… we’re surprised and appalled. Why? It takes a unique breed of person to want to run for an office like that as a career. They are highly overconfident which can’t happen without arrogance. Being successful to the point of thinking you can get away with the stupid crap (most never get caught) only breeds more arrogance. So what we are left with in office are arrogant, self absorbed people who think that they are above the rules. If there are any Mr. Smiths in Washington, you could probably count them on one hand and have fingers left over.
Who is the top finance person in your state? Normally it’s the State Treasurer and/or State Controller. I’ll bet dollars to donuts that it’s an attorney. That’s like hiring a hotel manager to be a mechanical engineer – the hotel manager might be a brilliant guy, but he/she probably doesn’t have the skill set to be a decent engineer. We consistently put square pegs into round holes because they are from the right party or because they are the political up-and-comer without regard as to whether they are qualified to do the job.
So, in a nut shell, we are putting people in office who are unqualified and fiscally irresponsible. Until we get executives and legislatures who take a stand to not spend what they don’t have, we will continue to wallow in the mire and wonder why it’s happening.
- John