The End

Well it's time to sign off -- after all, we are back in Maine and settled in. No more traveling for a while. Next  major sit is in Annapolis MD in Feb.

I always like to end the blog with the picture that I liked the most. I like the way the pile is in color and in the foreground with a mirror image, while the boats are grey being in the fog. The colors pop out at  you.

Here it is: >click it to see it full screen<

The bouy pile

Tour of the Halls of Fame

So, as this summer adventure was coming to an end, we did indeed tour the major Halls of Fame --- after all, that is the name of this blog.

We visited Rock and Roll HOF in Cleveland, the Football HOF in Canton ( 1hour from Cleveland), the Baseball HOF in Cooperstown NY and the Basketball HOF in Springfield MA

The one thing that we did discover was that each is located in the spot where the origin of the sport occurred - either by way of establishing the formal contract - Football, or where the originator Doubleday (baseball) or Naismith(Basketball) lived. R&R was where the first broadcaster stated that this new music was "rock and roll".

Each followed much of the same theme: trace the concept from the early origins to the present. Introduce participants along the way. I was happy to see the R&R started with Robert Johnson (from the 1920's), who was covered by Led Zeppelin, The Stones, the Beatles and more. Basketball started with Naismith and the peach basket and the origin of the sport.

In many ways, the sports, in the past, were all disorganized, or semi-organized and seemed to be played for the fun of it. What was notable was how even "way back then" the best players would get a ton of money to play for a season or a game or whatever.

We concluded that they were all about the same: interesting but not WOW! We agreed that Baseball was a bit better of the four and football really over did it with holograms and rotating seats ( Football went wiz bang - or Disney - and it failed.)  Cooperstown is this crazy little one street town, with a dignified HOF. It was not overstated.

Ratings: R&R - a C. Football, a C or C- Baseball a C+ or B- and Basketball, a C  - in short, interesting but not crazy over the top.

Along the way we did miss the South Dakota HOF in Chamberlain SD and the Volleyball HOF in Holyoke MA

Red Shoes

I guess someone lost a nice pair of shoes -- albeit one without the bow -- they ended up in the trash with all the cig butts. I thought it was an "interesting" photo

Maybe they could get me to Kansas.

more "fishing" - the best catch

Yup, I was involved in the best catch of the day -- but it wasn't what you might think

Big Net -- interesting "fish"

Yup, it is my hat, which blew off --- and Jake, our guide, chased it down,
And is presenting it as if it was indeed the "catch of the day"
That is why I take 2-3 extra hats!

Don't Forget -- oh I Forgot

Kinda Right? one right, one wrong - no budget to get it fixed?

Some Fishing Part 4 --- Alicia Kills it

Every year we break the piggy bank and pay up for a guided drift boat trip looking to catch lots of big fish.  A trip lasts all day and tends to cover about 8-10 miles of a river - This one the Lower Madison or is it the Upper Madison -- I forget!

The drift boat.

Her rod is bent!

Yup FISH ON

Happy girl

Not again?

Yup Happy Girl

Guess what happened next?

When you are not fishing, you are looking at some beautiful scenery

After a full day of fishing, we close out with a view of the harvest moon over Montana fields.

some fishing Part 3

The bitterroot valley is south of Missoula and offers potentially great fishing on the Bitterroot River. I say potentially since I was pretty much unable to catch anything --- sheesh.

So we when into the backcountry to try our luck on Blodgett Creek to catch the little guys -- anywhere from 6-10"

The Canyon was beautiful with many world class climbing routes on stunning walls.

A few Buttresses in Blodgett -- 5-8 pitches with LOTS of lines

Some classic lines on these walls

Lunch

The fishing - I actually caught a few !

 A relaxing way to fish

Can't get enough pictures of these walls

Some fishing Part 2

This was a day of mostly standing in the water

Some fishing Part 1

We did fish, but the fishing this year was not so good. But we still tried. Not sure why the fishing was not great, but it could be a combination of the overall conditions, the hot weather, cold weather, low water in some places, our chosen time of day of fishing, piss poor experience of the angler, etc,

But the thing to know is that whenever we both went out together, Alicia always caught more than me, -- so that might be one reason why I wasn't posting... killed by a lady!

This day on the Madison was rainy and cold (mid 40's)
But Alicia was game and she still caught fish!

Happy to be out

 This pose, with the bent rod up, says "I just caught a fish.. in this case ANOTHER fish"

After a bit, the weather improved and Alicia could take her wool hat off. 

Out of hibernation

This blog has had a recent long period of no posts .  I guess I got a little lax as a combination of fires, weather, poor fishing, and ennui due to all that, put me in a slow mode.

The next few posts will hopefully bring you up to speed.

Hike up to Windy Ridge with Bev and Whitey.

"I'm here!"

A beautiful view -- since it includes TEBA

The ladies

Everyone but me

The bushwhack down --- most of the flowers have passed.

What does a girl want for her 44th wedding anniversary

To go fishing of course!

At the ever challenging Henry's Fork

A rather long quiet time

After we completed our impromptu tour of the Pacific NW, we arrived in Victor ID for a 2 week house sit.

The weather was hot, the fires created an everlasting overcast of smoke, there was no rain to wash things down..... so.........

We actually didn't do much. Hiking was taking a chance on getting black lung disease, but we did get out.  The fish were unwilling to play in the heat, although we did try. And the steady days of sun didn't offer up too much in the way to take "interesting" photos (neither did having a background all washed out by smoke!). On one trip over Teton Pass, the smoke was so thick, it blocked out the sun.

So here is the set of photos taken of all "exciting" things we did.

= = = = = = = = = = = = =

Yup, an empty portfolio.  --- I could have gone back to previous times in Teton Valley and stolen some photos, but that would be unfair.

Although there was this!

Digital Detox

On the Washington Coast we were so far off the digital grid that, if we needed to communicate, we would have needed to go analog --- and use this thing!  Yup, they actually work.

Rialto Beach Washington Coast

Rialto is an ocean element of the Olympic National Park (the park consists of mountain terrain, rain forests and ocean side wilderness.) We just stopped off at Rialto, but found out that one can hike along the coast and not see any development at all for 20+ miles north from Rialto.

We just stopped, walked around and took some pictures. The same "haystacks" that you see on the Oregon coast are found at Rialto, along with pounding surf and riptides (not need to go swimming!)

The primary reason for heading to Rialto was that Alicia had to stand in the Pacific Ocean and thus connect the Atlantic and Pacific on this trip.

Moonscape