Whirlwind Trip for Household Goods

Monday, 11 March 2019
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Temps: 51F (11C) / 23F (-5C)

Four very busy days unpacking the household goods we moved from the Phaeton to the house.  Four sleeps in our brand new bed … in our brand new home.  Then it was time to hop on a plane — two … if you want to be precise — and head east to Virginia to bring the household goods we had in storage in Winchester back to Colorado. We're back now and it's time to tell the story of our mad-dash.

Ghost Crab A-Shimmer

Virginia Beach, Virginia (June 2013)

The caterpillar does all the work, but the butterfly gets all the publicity …

Clouded Sulphur – Arlington, Virginia (October 2011)

[quote attributed to George Carlin]

Holiday Cheer: Blue and Gold

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden – Richmond, Virginia (December 2011)

[click here for the words]

Corn and Wheat … War and Peace

Chapman’s Mill (Beverley Mill) – c. 1742
Thoroughfare Gap, Virginia (October 2011)

[click here for the words]

Unknown, but not Forgotten

Arlington National Cemetery – Arlington, Virginia (November 2010)

Who’s That Masked Bird?

Cedar Waxwing – Skyline Drive, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia (July 2008)

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies …

Monarch Butterfly – Arlington, Virginia (October 2011)

[author of quote: Unknown]

Oh “Deer!”

Skyline Drive – Shenandoah National Park, Virginia (July 2008)

Slowpoke

Bull Run Regional Park – Centreville, Virginia (September 2011)

A Son of the South

Groveton Confederate Cemetery
Manassas National Battlefield Park, Virginia (September 2011)

[click here for the words]

Gone to Seed

Milkweed – Skyline Drive, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia (November 2007)

Twins

Bull Run Regional Park – Centreville, Virginia (August 2011)

Stone Bridge

Stone Bridge (1825) - Manassas National Battlefield Park, Virginia (June 2011)

[click here for the words]

Shaken, Not Stirred

Tuesday, 23 August

At just before 2:00p today, the Washington DC area experienced something quite unusual. An EARTHQUAKE! Not just a little temblor, mind you; but a rather strong Magnitude 5.8 earthquake. I won’t use the word panic, but to say that fear ran rampant for a while would not be much of an exaggeration.

I was in a meeting at work when I sensed a slight movement. I didn’t give it much thought at first. Such movements are not unusual in our building, which seems to shudder a bit anytime a big rig goes by. In the next second, the movement seemed to gather a bit more momentum. Then, I heard it. The slow, deep rumbling that grows ever-louder as it travels from the underground in parallel with a quake. That’s when I knew for sure that we were in the midst of being shaken by an earthquake.

One of the worst aspects of being in an earthquake is the confusion. If you’ve not been in one before, you’re not sure what’s happening. It’s difficult to comprehend the movement and sound as being a force of nature. Having grown up in an earthquake-prone area, I had an advantage over others in the office. I knew what was happening. As the shaking grew steadier and stronger, I grabbed my co-worker and pulled her to stand under the door jamb with me. As others came out of neighboring offices — some more calmly than others — I told them to either stand under door jambs or crawl under desks.

[collage compiled from images from the USGS website]

I don’t know how long the quake lasted, but it seemed like an eternity. I’m not embarrassed to admit that by the time it was over, my hands and legs were shaking in a mini-quake of their own. Just because I’ve been in earthquakes before doesn’t mean that I’m used to them. Or that I wait them out calmly. Just ask my mother how I railed at Mother Nature, shouting “Enough already,” when a particularly strong quake we experienced when I was in high school was followed by what seemed like un-ending aftershocks.

Following today’s quake, we were evacuated briefly while the engineers checked to make sure the building was structurally sound. By 2:30p, the all clear was given. I returned to my 5th floor office to finish the last half-hour of my workday before heading home.

As I unlocked the door to the condo, I wasn’t sure what I would find. Would all the breakables be on the floor, shattered to bits? I had not used earthquake putty to secure them to the shelves on which they were displayed. Why would I? We weren’t living in an earthquake-prone area. A few minutes later, I had my answer. The damage was minimal. Yes there were items strewn about. Yes, some things had fallen off shelves and out of cabinets. But only one thing was broken — a pottery cookie jar that was a gift from my mother.

No; I'm not in the habit of leaving drawers and cabinets open!

Left: Good thing the soil was dry; easily cleaned up with the vacuum.
Right: Ouch! That knife could have done some damage.

the skewed and the fallen
one of the oddest sights to greet my eyes was the “evil eye” on the wall; somehow
it managed to flip itself over during the quake without falling to the floor.
(the inset shows the way the evil eye should have been hanging.)
and what about my Elephant candlestick leaning drunkenly on the mantel!

shattered to pieces, the cookie jar was with the other items on top of the cabinets,
some toppled over, while others remained upright.

In a not so pleasant coincidence, 26 years ago today, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit China, killing over 70 people, injuring 162, leaving 150,000 homeless, and destroying 85% of the buildings in the Wuqia-Shufu area.

Considering the destructive power of this force of nature, our earthquake experience today was just a little shake, rattle, and roll. Something for which to be grateful.

Pink & Gold

Bull Run Regional Park – Centreville, Virginia (August 2011)

Sunflower

Meadowlark Botanical Gardens – Vienna, Virginia (September 2010)

We’re Home

Saturday, 16 July
Latitude at departure from Oslo: 60°19’42” N
Latitude at arrival in DC: 38°56’50” N

Hard to believe that our two-week trip to the Norwegian Arctic is over. Our days were filled with adventure, exploration, and fun. That’s probably why they whizzed by at the speed of light. I’m ready to re-pack the bags and go right back. Since that’s not possible, however, I’ll just wrap the trip up with one last post to bring us from Norway back to the US.

Up at 5:30a, we were ready to go down to breakfast an hour later. The post-cruise package I had booked at the Radisson Blu Scandinavia included breakfast. Not your ordinary buffet with a limited selection of offerings as we found out yesterday morning, but a really extensive one offering many different kinds of cereals, cheeses, meats, breads, pastries, fruits, juices, local specialties, and hot dishes. A real smorgasbord to start the day out right.

Our original plan had been to take the train to the airport, but as luck would have it, maintenance got in the way of that idea. No problem; we found out about it before we left the US and I booked an open reservation for a time of our choosing on the Flybussen instead. (Discounted from NOK140/person to NOK115 [$25 vs $20], including tax, when purchased online.) The best part — the shuttle bus left from our hotel! Can’t beat that for convenience.

We made ourselves comfortable on the 7:30a shuttle and were soon on our way to the airport. The bus made two stops en route to pick up passengers — one at the bus depot downtown; and another one at a parking lot somewhere on the freeway. Even with that, the ride to the airport was under an hour. Having little to no traffic early on a Saturday morning helped I am sure.

The airport was crowded, with a long queue for check-in. While Mui waited in line, I attempted to use one of the self-check kiosks, but I simply couldn’t get it to recognize any of the requested information as being valid. So, we had to do things the old-fashioned way by waiting our turn to talk to a desk agent. 30 minutes later we were checked-in and on our way to the security checkpoint. Though this line snaked around, it moved fast and we made it to Gate 53 without further ado.

The gate area was much too small for the number of passengers waiting to board the plane; there was quite a crush of people milling about. Boarding was quite messy since it wasn’t done by calling rows. In any event, we were in our seats by 10:45a. SK Flight 907 was wheels up at 11:20a, winging us back to the US. In our two-together seats, we enjoyed the amazing scenery of mountains, and glaciers, and fjords until the Airbus 330 climbed above the cloud deck, leaving us with just a view of a puffy white sea stretching out to the horizon.

Farvel Oslo!

Clouds and mountains from 36,000 feet (11,000 m) in the air.

(I decided to process the photos I took out of the porthole in B&W because the Plexiglas was scratched up and “foggy” :-( … oh well; I like them better this way anyway.)

Once we reached cruising altitude, lunch was served — a small salad of field greens; medallions of pork and potatoes in a creamy sauce; crème brûlée (more a vanilla pudding really). Quite reasonable for airline food.

Afterwards, Mui did what he usually does on a long-haul flight — surf the entertainment channels before settling in for a snooze. I did a bit of surfing of my own, but the audio was really bad, so I gave up on watching anything. Instead, I reviewed my Oslo photographs to weed out the really bad ones and took some notes for the blog.

With the laptop put away, I took out Cold Recall, the book I had purchased at the Fram Museum. I was soon lost in the words, imagining myself right there with Amundsen and his men as they made the trek to the South Pole. I have to say that the book is a good quick-read with images from the lantern slides Amundsen used during his lecture tour following the expedition. I’ve read other books on the subject, and sometimes they get a bit heavy, if you know what I mean. But because this book is based on the manuscript of the lecture, the words are simpler, more succinct, and easier to follow.

I had the in-seat screen set to the moving map. When that map showed that we were over Greenland, I turned to the porthole to see what I could see. Beautiful; we actually had breaks in the clouds and were able to catch glimpses of glaciers and icebergs peeking through. Now my interest in visiting this ice-blanketed land has really been whetted. But I have to find the right itinerary first!

Once past Greenland, the clouds moved back in below us, dashing any hopes of seeing bits and pieces of Newfoundland and Labrador. So I focused on finishing my book before it was time to land. We were wheels down at Newark International at 12:45p and through passport control 20 minutes later.

Luggage in tow, we went through customs, re-checked our bags, and continued on to the Continental counter to get boarding passes for the final hop home. Here we got caught in the Continental-United post-merger net while the agent tried to figure out which flight we were booked on. Luckily, our reservation was intact; the problem was determining what the new flight number was. After about 10 minutes, boarding passes for the flight operated by Colgan Air clutched in our hands, we were on our way to the last security checkpoint of our travel day.

Welcome to the US — Newark International.

Flight 3262 was delayed over an hour. But once we were finally airborne at 4:00p, the 40-minute hop aboard the Dash-8 Q-400 was uneventful and reasonably comfortable. Things went smoothly after we deplaned at Dulles. Our bags were on the carousel by the time we negotiated the maze through the airport, and getting a cab was easy as usual. Even the traffic cooperated. By 6:00p, faced with an empty larder at home, we were having dinner at Sweetwater Tavern, one of our favorite restaurants.

Wheels down at Dulles International.

When I post this blog entry, the adventure that took us from 38° North to 80° North and back will be officially over. No wonder I’m having a difficult time clicking the “Publish” button. I don’t want to let go. But like all good things, this one must come to an end. There will be other adventures. So for now … farewell, and as the Immigration officials say to returning US residents, Welcome Back Home!

Stone Bridge at Manassas National Battlefield Park

Saturday, 4 June

After a run of "it-feels-like-105F (41C)" hot and humid days, we simply could not let today’s beautiful, late-spring weather go to waste. After breakfast, we jumped in the car, ran a few quick errands, and then headed to the Stone Bridge, one of several Civil War landmarks on the grounds of the Manassas National Battlefield Park (MNBP) [map to the left].

This wasn’t our first visit to the park, which was the site of two Civil War battles — First and Second Manassas (aka First and Second Bull Run) — fought in 1861 and 1862, respectively. Located about 20 minutes from where we live, this is a favorite place for a stroll that takes us back into history even as we get some exercise. Usually, we start at the Visitor Center, stop off at Henry House, and make our way to Stone House. With now-silent guns that once spewed death and destruction placed throughout the grounds, there is more to see in that area of the park. (Click here for photos from a previous visit.)

This time, we decided to wander around the Stone Bridge area. There were quite a few cars in the parking lot when we arrived at 9:30a, and a few small groups of people were loitering on the bridge, but we had the trail to ourselves ... no complaints in the too-many-people department. The temperature was just past the 70F (21C) mark, there was no humidity, the sky was blue, a light breeze rustled the leaves of the trees that had greened out nicely to provide shade on the trail ... no complaints in the weather department either.

For those interested, here’s a bit of information about the Stone Bridge (from the National Park Service website):

The Fauquier and Alexandria Turnpike bridge over Bull Run, known simply as "the Stone Bridge," was originally built in 1825. Its ability to carry traffic across the steep sided stream even at times of high water gave the Stone Bridge a key role in the Civil War. Both sides recognized its strategic importance.

The first shots of the First Battle of Manassas, fired by Union artillery on the ridge to the east, flew over the bridge but there was little more than heavy skirmishing in its vicinity on July 21, 1861. The Union Army made only a diversionary attack here. It had been rumored (falsely) that the Confederates had mined the bridge so Union forces chose to cross Bull Run at fords farther upstream. The approaches to the bridge were cleared of obstacles in time for the Union retreat but the vast majority of Union refugees used the upstream fords they were more familiar with.

The Stone Bridge served the needs of the Confederate Army through 1861. On March 9, 1862, the Confederates evacuated their winter camps in Centreville and Manassas in anticipation of fighting closer to Richmond. On orders from General Joseph E. Johnston, the Confederate rear guard blew up the Stone Bridge to prevent its use by the Union forces that soon occupied the area.

Union Army engineers eventually constructed a temporary wooden span across Bull Run using the remaining bridge abutments. This bridge served Union General John Pope's army at Second Manassas, August 28-30, 1862. After suffering another costly defeat, Union forces used the Warrenton Turnpike bridge as their primary line of retreat. In the early hours of August 31, the bridge was again destroyed, this time by the Union rear guard.

from signage near the Stone Bridge;
the wooden span built by the Union Army engineers is visible to the right.

By 1884, the Stone Bridge was fully rebuilt. The new bridge, very similar to the original bridge, remained open to traffic until 1926. In that year the road was realigned and a modern highway bridge constructed just downstream. The National park Service acquired the Stone Bridge in 1959.

[You can see a bit of the modern highway bridge in the background of the first bridge picture above; it's nowhere near as aesthetically pleasing.]

Once we left the immediate area around the Stone Bridge, the trail had little entertainment value — that is, no scenery. The relatively level path wound its way through the woods. Butterflies flitted about and we saw two tortoises ponderously making their way to the stream running far below the path. We came across some wildflowers here and there that prompted me to stop and click the shutter, but there wasn’t much color left this late in the season.

All in all, we had a pleasant spring day outing. We assuaged any guilt we felt for playing hooky from the last of the move-related chores — namely, hanging my cross-stitch art — by returning home after our picnic lunch and taking care of business. Now that we’re fully settled into the condo, we can start playing again — assuming the weather cooperates. The weather forecast today was hinting at some unseasonably hot and humid days heading our way (again), so I guess we’ll just have to play it by ear.

You Did What ?!???

Friday, 13 May

We’ve been crazy busy since we returned from our motorhome vacation to North Carolina’s Outer Banks three weeks ago.  Since the project that is taking up every spare moment (and more) of our time is directly related to our post-retirement plans to travel around North America, I’ve opted to blog about it in Two to Travel’s Phaeton Journeys.  Click here to read the post.