Loving Life on the Range

While Ryan is hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) this summer, I am going to come out and visit him along the trail in California, Oregon and Washington. He is hiking from the Mexican Border to the Canadian Border, over 2,500 miles and he will be away from home for about 6 months.



He has a blog devoted to his adventures along the trail:

http://www.anotherlongwalk.com/

This month, I got to meet with Ryan at Warners Springs, CA.




http://www.warnersprings.com/





There is a resort there and not much else, but what a resort! You don't need anything else.


About an hour and a half drive outside of San Diego in rolling hills, the resort was once a stagecoach stop between New Mexico and Los Angeles. Because of the hot springs here, there have been settlements at this spot for hundreds of years. Kit Carson even lived here for a while.



Now there is a Spa, horseback riding, golf, tennis, hiking, cycling and sky sailing. We had our own cabana on the property and it had a fireplace! Especially nice when those temperatures drop at night here in the desert.

The cantina was super cute with these wonderful murals on the walls of cowboys and dance hall girls. One corner had an image from the folk song, The Preacher and the Bear!

The pools are fed with water from the hot springs. The "Hot" pool was around 104 degrees and the "cool" pool was 87 degrees. There is a bit of that sulfury rotten eggs smell, but the water feels so delightful, you can overlook that.




The first day I was here, I dropped Ryan off for a bit of hiking. We call it "slack-packing". This is when he hikes the trail with only a day pack and doesn't carry his fully loaded PCT pack. He hiked about 10 miles on this day, while I went to the Spa and generally enjoyed myself around the resort!


The next day, Ryan took a "zero day". A zero day is a day when a thru-hiker takes a break and doesn't hike at all. Zero miles are logged on a zero day. But what Ryan lost in hiking miles, he made up in air miles. We decided to go on a Glider Ride!

http://www.skysailing.com/



It was a perfect day, not a cloud in the sky and we had a terrific time in the air. Well, I had a terrific time. Ryan enjoyed the view, but the turbulence of riding the thermals was a bit much for his stomach. He started throwing up about 5 minutes into the flight and he didn't get any relief until his feet were back on the ground. What a trooper! Instead of going down early (we had already paid for a full flight), he stuck it out and we stayed in the air the full amount of time to enjoy the view of the PCT from the air!!

Ryan's appetite was better that evening. After a dip in the pools fed by hot springs water, we had a wonderful dinner at the lodge. I wish every time I came out to meet Ryan on the PCT, we could have adventures like these!

Volcanic Ash Cloud Grounds Aircraft!

You've got to be kidding me. I totally thought it was a joke. I had had a uneventful layover in Manchester, UK and I woke up that morning and was getting ready to leave when I noticed a plain white sheet of paper had been placed underneath my hotel room door. It said that "Due to a Volcanic Ash Cloud, my flight to Philadelphia had been cancelled until further notice." I thought my other crew members where trying to play a trick on me. What a great April Fool's joke that would have been!! Only it was true! I turned on the TV and there on BBC and CNN were the news anchors showing all the airports in the UK, closed!

That first day, I stayed glued to the TV, hearing all the reports about the volcanic eruption in Iceland and the dangers of flying thru an ash cloud.

The BBC played a documentary about the British Airways flight in 1982 that encountered an ash cloud over the Pacific and lost all four engines!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9

I had known about the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland. It had first erupted in March and while flying back and forth across the Atlantic we had hoped that we would be able to see the glow of the eruption. (our flight path to Europe from Philadelphia often takes us across Iceland)






Each day we would watch the local news in England, hoping that the travel ban would be lifted. The weather played a key role. As long as the winds were blowing the ash plume over Europe, we would be grounded. We had no idea how long this could last and were just waiting day by day to see what would happen next.





At home things were going along as normal with only the International Flights to Europe being disrupted. But here in the UK, the whole country was stranded. England is an island and the only contact with the rest of the world was now thru ferries to mainland Europe and the Eurostar train thru the Chunnel (Channel Tunnel) linking the United Kingdom with France.















We were "humanity adrift on the sea of life" like this statue, Adrift, by John Cassidy in front of the Library in Manchester.















The weather in Manchester was gorgeous. I believe only one day out of the nine days I was stranded was even overcast. Every morning the sun rose bright and shiny in clear skies! We did not see any evidence of ash, although there were reports that in areas of Scotland and northern England a dusting of ash could be seen.























After several days of waiting and watching, I finally decided to get out of Manchester and see more of the countryside. I took a train to the town of Chester.







http://www.chester360.co.uk/index.htm








Chester was a Roman Fort in the year 79! and a medieval walled city. Roman remains can still be found in the basements of some buildings and in the lower parts of some of the cities walls. There is also a Roman amphitheater just outside the walls. Many of the black and white buildings in the center of the city are actually Victorian reproductions. The walls of the city can be walked and it is a 2 mile circuit. The location on the River Dee made it a key port during the industrial revolution. Chester was a transportation hub for the railway and for a canal system. It is really a super cute little city with wonderful history, shopping and restaurants.






On another day, one of the other flight attendants and I decided to tour the BBC studios in Manchester.









http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/manchester/hi/









The studios are very close to our layover hotel and we made arrangements to take a tour. It was much like the tours I have taken of NBC studios in New York City and the Warners Brothers and Universal movie studios in California.





Finally after nine days in Manchester, the travel ban was lifted and the Manchester airport was opened. The flight from Philadelphia was on it's way and we would be working the flight back to the United States the next day! It was great to be back in the air again!

Stalking Julia Child?

On my layover in Paris this past week, I decided to follow in Julia Child's footsteps around Paris. I had read My Life in France, Julia's autobiography about her adventures in Europe and how she started writing Mastering the Art of French Cooking. And I wanted to see the area where she lived, where she shopped and where she ate!

This website was very helpful by giving me the addresses for some of the Restaurants where Julia and her husband Paul would sample French cuisine. Unfortunately this link no longer works.

http://www.parisiensalon.com/2009/08/julia-childs-paris/

My first stop was E. Dehillerin, the store where Julia bought her pots and pans and other cooking paraphernalia. It is located at 18-20 rue Coquilliere near the Les Halles metro stop.

Next I took the Metro to St. Germain des Pres, were two restaurants that Julia used to go to are located. Les Deux Magots and just across the street, Brasserie Lipp. Les Deux Magots sounds like a questionable name for a restaurant, but it translates as,'two nest eggs'. It took its name 'Les Deux Magots' from a play, 'The Two Magots of China' that was popular at the time. Two wooden statues of Chinese mandarins decorate the interior of the restaurant. This is where Julia and Paul went on their first Saturday in Paris and ordered café complet. Supposedly they would eat oysters across the street at Brasserie Lipp. (Johnny Depp was recently spotted at Lipp, so it is still a happening joint).




Next I walked along the rue de l'Universite (or "Roo de Loo" as Julia and Paul called it) where they had an apartment at number 81. Julia and her husband, Paul, lived in the top two floors of this building. Julia's kitchen was on the third floor, connected to the dining room by a dumb-waiter, and it was dominated by an immense stove that required five tons of coal to heat. On top of this was a little two-burner hot plate type thing and a box-oven that could barely warm plates. A huge sink that had no hot water and its pipes would freeze in the winter, and no garbage bins made this a challenging kitchen to cook in.

While living there, Julia wrote: “I didn’t mind living in primitive conditions with my in-laws at their hand-built cabin in the Maine woods, but I saw no sense in being even more primitive while living in the supposed ‘cultural center of the world’ in Paris.”

She made the best of a bad situation, by setting a tub of water over a gas flame, buying garbage cans, and hanging up a can-opener on the wall.

My last stop of the day was at La Closerie des Lilas, a restaurant near the Vavin Metro stop. A favorite haunt of Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and Henry Miller and many, many other artists and writers, the Closerie des Lilas in Montparnasse is a good place to stop for a drink, Julia and Paul would have sandwiches and beer here. Be sure to notice the copper plaques with the names of the famous people who have frequented the Closerie over the years. You can even sit at Hemingway's favorite bar stool!

when in rome...

I got to spend a day in Rome this past week on a layover. Christmas in Rome is all about the Nativity. There are Nativity scenes set up in all the major plazas and in front of the churches around town. In December Piazza Navona, is transformed into a huge Christmas market. A large nativity scene is in the square. Stalls sell all kinds of Christmas nativity figures, decorations, candy and gifts. There's a merry-go-round and Babbo Natale, Santa Claus is also there. The lady with him is not Mrs. Claus, she is La Befana. La Befana is who delivers presents to children in Italy on Epiphany, much like our Santa Claus. In Piazza Navona, you could get your photo taken with Babbo Natale and La Befana. Christian legend has it that The Magi asked La Befana where the baby Jesus was, but she did not know. She provided them with shelter for a night. They invited her to join them on the journey to find the baby Jesus, but she declined, stating she was too busy with her housework. Later, La Befana had a change of heart,and went looking for the baby Jesus. Befana still searches today, on Epiphany, Befana comes to a house where there is a child and leaves a gift. Befana looks like a witch. And like for Santa, the italian children leave a snack for Befana! The child's family typically leaves a small glass of wine and a plate with a few morsels of food.

The Piazza Navonna was filled with places to purchase nativity stuff. Like furnishing dollhouses or building a model train layout. There were all sorts of things to put together to build your own nativity.







I also walked around town to see my favorite tourist attractions in Rome. The mouth of truth, La Bocca della Verità, is my favorite. Anyone who had seen Roman Holiday with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn is familiar with this sculpture.

Bocca della Verita

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire! Why don't I see this in the USA more? I can't resist roasted chestnuts! So yummy, hot and served in a paper cone.








I also walked by the forum, where I saw this bride and groom getting their wedding photos taken!

Christmas in West Seattle

I love spending Christmas at home and luckily we have Seattle layovers during the holidays, so I can combine work with pleasure! Last week I was supposed to work a flight to Paris, but the Seattle to Philadelphia flight had a mechanical and I was forced to stay home. I made lemons out of lemonade by going down to Alki Beach to see the Christmas Ships. Onboard the ships, they have choirs singing Christmas Carols and on the shore there is a bonfire and often the local Starbucks will be providing hot drinks. You can pay to ride on the ships and even have dinner. Or if you have your own boat, you can put lights all over it and come along, making it a lighted boat parade! It is great fun to go out and see the lighted ships come up to shore and hear the music.

This week, I was home on a layover and I was supposed to work the flight back to Philadelphia overnight. However, the major snow storms on the east coast forced the airline to cancel our flight and I got to spend another evening at home. Again in an effort to make lemons out of lemonade, I took an evening stroll around my neighborhood to see the Christmas Lights!

My neighborhood is always full of lights during the holidays, almost every house is covered in colored lights and the yard displays are wonderfully fun!

There is lots of variety.

This year there is also a house that has one of those systems that matches the lights to music. You can watch the lights flash around to Christmas Songs. Here are a couple of videos of that house!

Some of my favorite house displays have more retro decorations.

I love this Santa with his sleigh and reindeer!

And these cute little snowmen.