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Sunday, July 21, 2013

 
8:31 PM: stub stewart star party [#] [1]

i took the brompton all the way to the end of the hillsboro max line and set out to camp at stub stewart state park. there was an omsi star party that night and i've always wanted to go to one!

from the max station i biked through hillsboro to banks. i have become suddenly acquainted with and enamoured of the iphone’s panorama option.

after a brief stop at thriftway for a sausage and soda refill, i rode a little over 10 miles on the banks vernonia trail, a separated rails-to-trails path that goes all the way to vernonia. it is lovely, but it’s also slightly uphill: no matter how gentle the grade, going steadily uphill for 10 miles is eventually going to wear me out.

i camped across from another bike camp!

after dinner i hiked up the trail for the star party. lucky for us, jul20 was the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969! though it was still pretty light at 9p, first venus appeared, then arcturus & saturn, then the summer triangle, then the big dipper. by the time scorpio was visible, the moon was up, so there was no chance to see the milky way. i was charmed that even the bathroom lights were filtered red to preserve our night vision. 

based on my experience at this star party (and the trip sven & I took to craters of the moon), my advice to astronomy educators:

1. don't tell people about stars they cannot see. if you tell them about a constellation, tell them where to see it right now or they'll see it wherever they are looking.
2. pronounce the names of the constellations correctly! “arcturus” isn’t “arcturius” and “bootes” isn’t “booties” (though it did make all the kids crack up).

the way home was pretty much all downhill and wonderful. i almost ran over a bird in the middle of the path, though. when I circled around it wouldn't move, so i put my bike between it and the path to keep others from hitting it. i grabbed a handkerchief and tried to escort it away from the path when it burst from my hands and flew away -- at which point the entire robin kingdom was suddenly furious with me.

[heading home]

[sketchnotes]

Thursday, July 18, 2013

 
11:11 PM: elevation gain [#] [0]

i'm not generally someone who likes to ride gravel or hills. but i had some time after one of my jobs down in lebanon and when i saw the "vineyard mountain traverse" ride was considered "flat," i thought it might be fun.

well, i definitely wouldn't have called it flat. but it was more fun than i would have expected! some of the short side roads dead ended in some wonderful places: a sheltered spot that smelled like olive oil warmed in the sun, a magnificent vista of far-off corvallis, and a volcanic cove with hundreds of tiny golden fish and dozens of salamanders. i felt like i had discovered something magic.

Sunday, July 07, 2013

 
11:34 PM: the other side [#] [0]

i biked to vancouver, the first time i have ever biked myself across a state line! it took 3 hours for me to reach vancouver lake to pick raspberries at serin's brother's house.

i enjoyed the trip (and the raspberries) but my favorite part was seeing this sign on the 205 bridge on the way home.

Thursday, July 04, 2013

 
11:03 PM: above it all [#] [0]

Sven & Cecilia & me at Rocky Butte on 4th of July.