Mt. Rainier, Liberty Ridge

Jim and Dave saw this mother black bear and her two cubs cross the White River and head off into the woods!




Mama bear and cub crossing river.


Other cub crossing river.




Skiers going over and around crevasses, on the Emmons Glacier, near Camp Schurman.


Glacier Basin.




House sized seracs on the Winthrop Glacier.




Doug, the Willis Wall, Liberty Ridge and Ptarmigan Ridge as seen from Curtis Ridge.



Liberty Ridge.






The Carbon Glacier and North side of Rainier.







A tilted serac on the Carbon Glacier.






Alpenglow on Liberty Ridge.








Sunset the first night.










Mark at our bivy site on the Carbon Glacier.










Mark starting up Liberty Ridge.











Sunrise on Liberty Ridge.













Mark watching the sunrise.












Mark climbing above Thumb Rock.













Mark high on Liberty Ridge with Willis Wall in background.



















Doug below the Black Pyramid.














Mark beside the Black Pyraimid.













Nearing the icy section at the top of Liberty Ridge.















Crevasse at 14,000'.

















A decade of snowfall layers exposed in the Liberty Cap Glacier.













Doug crossing the bergschrund.
















Mark leading up the steep icy section at the top of Liberty Ridge.














Climbing into a cloud!
















Doug following up the steep ice.















Mark on Liberty Cap.
















Doug on Liberty Cap.
















Doug heading toward the Emmons Glacier.















Doug dropping into a hidden crevasse right by Camp Schurman.














Doug and Mark down at Camp Schurman, with Jim and Dave, for our second night on the mountain.













Sunrise at Camp Schurman.
















Mark, Dave, Jim (and Doug) at Glacier Basin heading out. Meanwhile a storm is brewing high up on the mountain. We had to shorten this climb by one day to beat the storm. It was another awesome climb, with good friends, enjoying God's beautiful creation!

There Are Fifty States But There Should Be Fifty-One by Lynn Thorp

In honor of my big birthday, here are 50 thank-you notes and random thoughts about Planet DC and its satellites:

1. I feel like I am really home in DC when I am at Ben’s Chili Bowl.
2. When we were buying our house in Mt. Rainier, we were also spending every night protesting the first Gulf War at the White House, so 2 year old Nicole thought we were buying the White House.
3. May 1993 – got arrested right there while handcuffed to Martin Sheen. Before he was President.
4. The pedestrian thing is okay, but I miss driving by the White House.
5. If it weren’t for one of DC’s homegrown industries, there would be no West Wing- television as an art form.
6. Thank you for MacArthur Boulevard.
7. Thank you for Fletcher’s Boat House.
8. I could drive MacArthur Boulevard with my eyes closed.
9. Newcomers can’t really understand what the Boulevard was like 30 years ago. But the spirits are very loud if you listen for them.
10. The squatters just can’t get the Marion Barry thing.
11. The Awakening belongs to DC, but at least my adopted county has it.
12. I can’t find anybody who remembers Hamilton Arms in Georgetown, but I am 95% sure it’s not a Brigadoon-type thing that I imagined.
13. The first time U2 came here they opened for the Slickee Boys. Three months later they were famous, and Slickees opened for them.
14. The first time the Clash played here, opening act Bo Didley asked me to introduce him to some girls.
15. Thank you for Garrett’s.
16. Thank you for DC rock and roll.
17. Thank you for The Raven.
18. In the days of DC Space, people were scared to go down to what is now the Gallery Place “whatever it is.”
19. Thank you for Lyn1.
20. Lots of people don’t know that the guy who wrote the piano solo for Layla is a DC guy who was in Nils Lofgren’s first band, even before Grin, and he has a bit of a sordid history. Look it up.
21. You could learn all you need to know about life at the People’s Drug Store lunch counters.
22. Sitting in DuPont circle with a coffee and a book is one of my favorite things.
23. I was taught to drive on the Beltway because there was so little traffic on it.
24. Because they grew up around here, my kids don’t see color, and they can spot b.s. a mile away.
25. Thievery Corporation could only come from DC.
26. The sign at the Wisconsin Ave. Little Tavern said “Buy ‘em [chunk of sign busted off] the Bag.”
27. My cat Kyoko and I used to share a roast beef sandwich across the street at the Georgetown Roy Rogers on pay day.
28. My sister Maude built Washington Harbor.
29. One year the Bullets won the championship, and the Kinks played. ( I thought the hollering and hoopla in the streets was for the Kinks.)
30. Sky King was jealous of me because he wanted my old friend Dan all to himself.
31. Thank you for all the local bands and the guitar heroes.
32. The best 4th of July fireworks are the ones rescheduled due to storms. Rare but priceless.
33. Piggy really did jump off Key Bridge and survive it.
34. Mom and her women friends lived above Duke Ziebert’s downtown in the last year of WWII. They would go on group dates with the few men left in town, and someone would stay behind to pocket the excessive tip for spending money for the week.
35. During WWII many women who were liberated ahead of their time came to DC and did all the jobs usually reserved for men, most of who were off in the military. These became some of our local and national heroes and paved the way.
36. My mom had an apartment at 14th and Harvard in the late 1940’s. Dad lived his teenage years at 16th and Harvard. My parents lived together at 18th and Kalorama in the 50s. They lived in McLean next to Robert Kennedy’s estate in the late 50s.
37. Thanks from a grateful nation for Chuck Brown.
38. If Congress would stop meddling with DC, it would have more enlightened laws than many.
39. My friend Dan never stopped considering NJ his home, but he loved DC as much as any native.
40. Half smokes are our thing.
41. Streets that are called “Roads” are the old farm routes used to deliver food to various parts of the area. MacArthur Blvd. was Conduit Road. There are still Canal Road, Loughboro Road, etc.
42. Baltimore has Mencken but we have Pelecanos.
43. Bistro du Coin is not a bad thing to inhabit the space of Food for Thought, karma-wise.
    
44. Pizza and bagels are a shortcoming, I have to admit.
45. It’s too bad you can’t sleep on the beach in Dewey anymore.
46. Someone must have a photo of the old House of Wig on F Street that I can buy.
47. Adams Morgan on weekend nights is like Time Square on New Year’s Eve. Rather frightening, not my thing but worth trying out now and then.
48. The hullaballoo over snow days is a deliberate way to get a mental health day. Don’t knock it, join it.
49. Until there was widespread AC, tons of people slept in West Potomac Park.
50. Flying into National (don’t call it the other name), is awesome every single time.
51. NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION. THE TIME IS COMING.

All Happy Bicycles Are Alike?...

According to the Anna Karenina principle, it might be said that all happy bicycles are alike and every unhappy bicycle is unhappy in its own way.

Jacqueline - a vintage Steyr Waffenrad that has become my "Austrian bike" - is happy. She has a relationship with a human who loves her. She has an idyllic work commute along the Danube Canal.

She has beautiful heirloom jewelry in silver and gold.

She feels useful and fulfilled, responsible for the safety and well-being of the people in her life.

Back in Boston, Eustacia (my Pashley Princess) has recently reached a similar state of happiness - interestingly, after the addition of some of the same components, such as the rear folding baskets and the speedy cream tires. It seems that bicycle happiness is indeed, at least to some extent, formulaic. When all the factors come together just right, it works. When something is off, it doesn't.

This brings the question of whether happy bicycles inspire being written about. When everything feels just right, there is nothing to say really. The sun is shining, my bicycle is running smoothly, my folding basket fits my briefcase snugly, my shoes don't slip on the pedals, the route to work is safe and beautiful, and it took me less time to arrive at my office than had I taken the subway. That pretty much describes my commute this morning, and it sounds rather uninteresting.

As I said to Anna from Cycling is Good for You the other evening - If I lived in Vienna and had Jacqueline to begin with, I doubt that I would have ever started a cycling blog despite loving bicycles. Maybe an image gallery, but not a blog. There would have been nothing to discuss.

After all, most posts are written about challenges, questions, restorations, the search for new components or better routes, and so on. But is bicycle happiness newsworthy?

Sunset Sky Flames

I stepped outside for just a moment the other evening, not expecting to see a colorful sky since it was so cloudy. However when I got out in the yard and looked to the west the sky just above the horizon was on fire! The clouds just above the trees had this amazing pink glow from the setting sun. It sure was a nice surprise!

Records from the Joslin Family Bible

It is not known who has the Lysander Joslin family Bible. Or even if it still exists. Thankfully, on February 7, 1895 the family information was written down by Andy Joslin. And sent to my 2nd Great Grandmother Malissa Joslin Brubaker.

There are two sets of transcriptions. I believe that the first two pages were written by Andy. And the last three appear to be written by Malissa. But I'm not sure. Compare the writing to that in this post and see what you think. The first transcription may have included a page of marriages but, if so, it is now missing.

Page 1

Malissa you will see that you got some of the names misplaced but you can see the dates are all right
Elcy died before Mary Jane
Ester died before Lilian

Page 2

Lysander P Joslin was born May first 1825
Lydia Joslin October 10, 1825
Ann E Joslin was born November 8, 1844
Mary Jane Joslin was born July 20, 1846
Elsy E Joslin was born August 5, 1847
Malissa M Joslin was born June 24, 1849
Luther M. Joslin was born January 2, 1852
Roxie A. Joslin was born April 4, 1853
John L Joslin was born November 30, 1855
Esther Joslin was born September 3, 1857
Minerva F. Joslin was born January 7, 1859
Andrew H. Joslin was born May 30, 1860
Lillian A. Joslin was born April 20, 1862
Ida Blanch Joslin was born July 11, 1863
Mandella Joslin was born December 9, 1866
Elmer & Elmus Joslin was born June 4, 1868
Mary Jane died March 21, 1850
Elsy Ellen died March 9, 1850
Lillian A died September 20, 1863
Ester died November 5, 158 [sic - 1858]
Elmer died June 30, 1868

In this second transcription, which I believe was written by Malissa, some middle names are included. There is one more name in the list of deaths: Ann Eliza Klingaman died July 28 1885 and the second page is a list of marriages.

Lysander Joslin & Lydia Robison were married Aug 23. 1843
Anna Eliza Joslin & Wm Klingaman was married Oct 12th 1865
Malissa Joslin & Wm Brubaker was married April 20 1871
Roxie Joslin & Jacob Parkison was married May 30, 1874
Luther Joslin & Dorothy Elliot was married Feb 1876
Minerva Joslin & Wm Knight was married March 1876
Ida Blanch & John E. Dressler was married. 1882
Della Joslin and Downa Quillen was married July 1883.
Andrew Joslin & Minnie Himes June 1st 1891
Elmus Joslin & Katie Kelly was married May 1892

In the middle of the third page that lists the deaths is the notation:
"This is the record of Father's family taken from the family bible Febyary 7, 1895 by Andy Joslin."

And, upside-down at the bottom of that page is another marriage:
John L. Joslin & Mattie --- was married September 29 1890

For additional information on this family, please see the following posts:

• Lysander and Lydia Robison Joslin
• Children of Lysander and Lydia Joslin
  

Pioneer Park Days in Zolfo Springs, FL

Every year since we have been wintering at Peace River TT's, we have heard people talk about Pioneer Park Days at the park across the street. And every year we have somehow missed getting over there to check it out. So we made sure to do it this year.





So what is this event, that has been happening here for 43 years? Well, it is part flea market and part celebration of pioneer living. There are many demonstrations that show how the pioneers lived such as dutch oven cooking, basket weaving and other 1800's activities. Then there are rows and rows of stuff. Stuff to browse and stuff to buy.



Then there are tractors, tractors and more tractors. Real ones and toy ones. Over 400 exhibits of them.



Lots of cool cars.



Lots of hit and miss steam engines which I find fascinating.



Really cool RV's.



Opinions.



Yummy food.



And fun!





We had a great time here and now we know that it is something we will be sure to want to visit each time we are here!