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Montreal!

Last weekend Sarah and I had the great pleasure of traveling to Quebec to stay with our friends at their condominium at Mont Tremblant. This is the highest-rated east coast ski area, and while it suffers from the stereotypical East coast ice (which is really an artifact of artificial snow anywhere), it was actually quite fun. Not only was the nightlife in town very decent (as seems to be the case in most Intrawest resorts) but the skiing was good. Though I'm told the snow levels were somewhat below normal (and honestly, an extra foot to bury the occasional rock wouldn't have hurt), I did manage to find sufficiently challenging terrain.

The GPS indicated 40.5 miles skied on Day 1, and 43.9 miles skied on Day 2. I will try and post the GPS track soon. In the meantime, browse the photos.


And then on Sunday night, Sarah and I had the great misfortune of traveling internationally to the United States. We got dropped off at the airport 5 hours before our flight as that's how the travel schedule for everyone involved worked out, but at least we didn't stress too much. Sadly, the entire process was one miscommunication after another. The Delta check in clerk told us no carry ons were allowed except a camera, a bare laptop, and a woman's purse. I showed a different Delta agent my camera bag, and they said it would be okay, but when it finally came time to check in, the first agent said the camera must be around my neck and the bag would need to be checked. We also had to argue to get our formerly free carry-on rollerboards checked for free. She also told us our neck pillows wouldn't be allowed, but acquiescedto allow us to ask security -- who felt up the pillows but said they would be allowed.

After an hour or two of packing and re-packing, we checked our four bags -- one ski bag with accompanying (but free) boot bag, and our two rollerboards (including one with both the laptop and the camera lenses inside protected by a dinky lock -- more on that later). We proceeded to the security screening where they promptly told us Sarah's "purse" was too big. I say "purse" because we had taken a small bag and put her real purse inside it, along with some other small things (like books and magazines). Of course it was very subjective and personally distasteful as women with ginormous bags got through just fine -- as long as it looked like a purse it was okay, but if it was small but not a stereotypical purse it was bad. Seriously, some of the purses could have held my rollerboard.

Fortunately we had coats, and despite size, as long as everything could be pocketed, it was okay so we didn't actually have to re-check anything. At x-ray Sarah's heated boot caused much interest. Sadly not because it had wires and batteries inside the lining, but because all the Canadian security staff wanted to know where they could buy one. Whatever, at least that wasn't too much hassle. Then onto US customers (in Montreal?!) which had a bona-fide US CBP guy who looked at us sternly but didn't really say much. Then we thought we were through when we got dumped into the duty free store just like you get dumped into the museum gift shop on the way out of a museum. But no! A secondary screening (tertiary, perhaps?) consisted of 8 tables of 6 security people each. They proceeded to rifle through everything even opening the lipstick. But the seal of approval was a highlighter X written on your boarding pass. Then to leave the screening area you had to show another guard your X'd pass. Of course, despite their diligent checking, the security folks X'd both of my boarding passes and neither of Sarah's (they had failed to actually look at the departure airport on the passes). We went back, got the requisite X, then went on to eat and browse for 3 hours before our flight.

The flight itself was fine, and at least we got to move around and read if we wanted to. A flight to New York was told they wouldn't be able to get up at all. However, if you have a chance, please write your elected officials and let them know how idiotic these new travel restrictions are.

International Travel

Last weekend Sarah and I had the great pleasure of traveling to Quebec to stay with our friends at their condominium at Mont Tremblant. This is the highest-rated east coast ski area, and while it suffers from the stereotypical East coast ice (which is really an artifact of artificial snow anywhere), it was actually quite fun. Not only was the nightlife in town very decent (as seems to be the case in most Intrawest resorts) but the skiing was good. Though I'm told the snow levels were somewhat below normal (and honestly, an extra foot to bury the occasional rock wouldn't have hurt), I did manage to find sufficiently challenging terrain.

The GPS indicated 40.5 miles skied on Day 1, and 43.9 miles skied on Day 2.

And then on Sunday night, Sarah and I had the great misfortune of traveling internationally to the United States. We got dropped off at the airport 5 hours before our flight as that's how the travel schedule for everyone involved worked out, but at least we didn't stress too much. Sadly, the entire process was one miscommunication after another. The Delta check in clerk told us no carry ons were allowed except a camera, a bare laptop, and a woman's purse. I showed a different Delta agent my camera bag, and they said it would be okay, but when it finally came time to check in, the first agent said the camera must be around my neck and the bag would need to be checked. We also had to argue to get our formerly free carry-on rollerboards checked for free. She also told us our neck pillows wouldn't be allowed, but acquiesced to allow us to ask security -- who felt up the pillows but said they would be allowed.

After an hour or two of packing and re-packing, we checked our four bags -- one ski bag with accompanying (but free) boot bag, and our two rollerboards (including one with both the laptop and the camera lenses inside protected by a dinky lock -- more on that later). We proceeded to the security screening where they promptly told us Sarah's "purse" was too big. I say "purse" because we had taken a small bag and put her real purse inside it, along with some other small things (like books and magazines). Of course it was very subjective and personally distasteful as women with ginormous bags got through just fine -- as long as it looked like a purse it was okay, but if it was small but not a stereotypical purse it was bad. Seriously, some of the purses could have held my rollerboard.

Fortunately we had coats, and despite size, as long as everything could be pocketed, it was okay so we didn't actually have to re-check anything. At x-ray Sarah's heated boot caused much interest. Sadly not because it had wires and batteries inside the lining, but because all the Canadian security staff wanted to know where they could buy one. Whatever, at least that wasn't too much hassle. Then onto US customers (in Montreal?!) which had a bona-fide US CBP guy who looked at us sternly but didn't really say much. Then we thought we were through when we got dumped into the duty free store just like you get dumped into the museum gift shop on the way out of a museum. But no! A secondary screening (tertiary, perhaps?) consisted of 8 tables of 6 security people each. They proceeded to rifle through everything even opening the lipstick. But the seal of approval was a highlighter X written on your boarding pass. Then to leave the screening area you had to show another guard your X'd pass. Of course, despite their diligent checking, the security folks X'd both of my boarding passes and neither of Sarah's (they had failed to actually look at the departure airport on the passes). We went back, got the requisite X, then went on to eat and browse for 3 hours before our flight.

The flight itself was fine, and at least we got to move around and read if we wanted to. A flight

Now that's compact

Only in Seattle: 1 parking space, 3 vehicles. Technically, 1 car space and 1 motorcycle space, but filled with a mini, a smart car, and our scooter.

Waiting for light rail

I am taking light rail to the airport for the first time. Despite just missing both the train and the temporary airport shuttle, it still rocks.

Awesome wedding Kelly and Bill!

You can tell it was a good wedding because we're waiting at the light rail station to go one stop home after the festivities, despite the fact that we are now the proud owners of the pictures scooter. We only eliminated part of the walk with this strategy, but luckily it was the entire uphill portion.
Oh, and it was hot on Saturday (high 80's?) so the scooter was an awesome ride to both the ceremony and the reception.

Light Rail: The Bad and The Ugly

Although the light rail is far and away the best thing to happen to the Seattle public transportation scene in decades, there are some glaring downsides which just make me wonder if Sound Transit hired a bunch of monkeys to design it rather than transportation experts from around the world. Here are some of them:

Elevators in the Beacon Hill Station. Carpeted elevators at that. First, there's a reason that almost all underground mass transit systems the world over have escalator access. Drunk guys who like to pee in secluded corners. Guess what an elevator is? It's going to reek of piss for weeks afterwards. Assuming it only happens once in a while. Additionally, escalators break down into a staircase. An elevator breaks down into a cage, as demonstrated by this video. And even if people don't pee in them, guess what? It rains in Seattle. People coming into the station need to get on the elevators. They're going to take their wet feet with them, because the elevators open into the outside. Who in the world thought carpet was a good idea for this?!

Broken Escalators. Tukwila's station had both escalators broken when I was there on Saturday, and everyone had to walk down the steps, wait in line, then walk back up. At least they were working on it. And Westlake had one broken escalator on Sunday which was roped off, but no one was working on it. Newsflash for Sound Transit: a broken escalator becomes a set of stairs. Let people use it.

Readerboards. Each station has an LED message board which says "Sound Transit". What I expected is for it to say "Next Train: 5 minutes" then "Next Train: 4 minutes", and so on. I asked a number of Sound Transit employees and got a variety of explanations, but everyone agreed that it wasn't going to display the ETA for the next train. Most of the reasons centered around the argument that the headways are so short, it doesn't matter when the next train is coming. That's completely dumb. If I just missed a train and need to wait 14 minutes for the next one, I want to know that. Even if the next train is coming in 5 minutes, I want to know that. It's really useful to know how much time I have to kill.

Another Sound Transit employee told me that the technology to do the tracking was brand new and hadn't been designed into the trains. And that buses were starting to get it, but because it's GPS-based it wouldn't make sense for the light rail. Again, I call your bluff. Sound Transit please tell your employees not to make wild-ass guesses when they don't know. The light rail goes through the downtown transit tunnel alongside these same GPS-enabled buses. Either the solution works for both, or it doesn't work for both. And it's absolutely unacceptable to have a brand new system with brand new trains without this capability. Sydney has it. Melbourne has it. Frankfurt has it. Brussels has it. Amsterdam has it. It's not a new or unusual technology. Surely Seattle has it too -- obviously the trains need to know where they are to avoid hitting each other.

I emailed Sound Transit about this issue. Their response? The readerboards are actually owned by King County metro, so they'll forward my request. In the downtown tunnel shared with buses? Maybe. Along the rest of the light rail route? Those are definitively owned by Sound Transit.

I eventually found this post on Twitter by Sound Transit which indicates that realtime arrival information is coming in the next two months. At least it's coming, though no one seems to know about it.

Swaying. When the train sways back and forth, that indicates the track was poorly installed. This problem is particularly apparent in the 5 mile elevated stretch between Rainier Beach and Tukwila. There's no reason that this problem shouldn't have been uncovered in the weeks of testing and fixed before launch.

Light Rail: The Good

The Light Rail opened this weekend. Well, it was open to the public for the first time this weekend -- from 10 to 6 or 8pm both days. Lots of opening day festivities, so it's not really useful as regular transportation until Monday when it starts its normal schedule. Sarah and I rode it twice -- on Saturday down to Tukwila then back up to Othello, then from Othello we took the shuttle back to Beacon Hill -- and on Sunday up to Westlake, then took the shuttle back. Sunday definitely seemed to be the busier day. Here's the really good, really cool awesomeness of light rail (and why we need to build more of it in the region):

Platforms are level with the train, allow disabled riders to board with ease. This is really important for the schedule. When a wheel chair pulls up to a bus, you know you'll be at the bus stop for 5 more minutes while the platform extends, lowers, the person rolls onto it, the platform rises, the person boards the bus and gets strapped in by the driver, the platform lowers and hides again. That's not so on the light rail. Wheel chair users roll right on, with no delay.

Payment is at the station, not at the driver's door. Also really important to the schedule. On a bus, if you have ten people waiting to get on, all ten people line up at the driver's door and pay one by one. I personally can't stand the person who's paying with pennies and dimes, but somehow failed to dig through her purse beforehand. On the light rail, come and go through any door. All ten people board simultaneously, allowing the train to get going sooner.

Stations are further apart. On my bus route, there's a stop about 100 feet south, and one about 10 feet north of where I live. What usually happens is I'm at the north bus stop, and someone else is at the south bus stop. Guess what? The bus stops twice within the 110 foot distance. Everyone on board wastes time, and at the same time gets motion sick if they're trying to read from all the stop-and-go traffic. I want to go as far as I can, without having to stop every other block to let someone else on. With the light rail, the riders are consolidated at fewer stations, so it takes less time to get to the station you want. With the light rail stations an average of one mile apart, the furthest you ever have to walk is a half mile and on average you need only walk a quarter mile to the nearest station. Yes, it's longer than walking a half block to the nearest bus stop, but the advantage is once you get on, you get there faster and with less stop-and-go.

The rails are grade separated for the most part, and get signal priority where they aren't. This means the light rail doesn't get stuck in traffic and there's less stop-and-go making the ride more pleasant. The train only runs at-grade through the Rainier Valley along MLK, but traffic lights detect the train and try to let it through faster.

Quiet. If you've been on the back of a diesel bus, you know why this is important. Light rail trains are very quiet.

No openable windows. No more issues with some drunk idiot getting on the bus in winter and opening all the windows making everyone else freeze just because he got hot running after the bus. No more issues with some crazy homeless guy opening the windows during the summer and letting out all the air conditioning.

Smooth. That's the advantage of running over metal rails. Blacktop distorts from the weight of busses at bus stops, making bumps. And buses are just as subject to pot holes as cars are. Seattle doesn't have the best roads, we all know this. Light rail doesn't suffer the same problem. And a smoother ride means less motion sickness.

Who loves light rail?

Opening day of the new transit system and rides are free today!

Bend and Beyond

We drove down to Bend, OR (see Sarah's pics) with the trailer last weekend to see Carrie and do a bit of exploring. We didn't end up spending much time in Bend(see Michal's photos) itself, except for breakfast on Friday morning before hitting the slopes. (We highly recommend the Ocean Roll for tasty goodness.) Michal and Carrie hit the slopes of Mt. Bachelor while I relaxed with a book in the lodge. Then we packed up and hit the road for another two hours to Umpqua National Forest, just north of Crater Lake. We went in search of hot springs, but found several other things as well: snow in the pass, an awesome campground, a fun canal and an incredible waterfall. After spending the better part of Saturday in the hot spring quest and enjoyment, we drove back towards Bend.
The combination of snow conditions (in April!) and the Beetle kept us from both the lava casts and tube, so we detoured to the High Desert Museum for a couple of hours. They had a desertarium, which made it way cooler than most natural history museums. We then spent some time on the loop around the visitor center (which was still closed for the season) of Lava Lands National Monument.
To wrap up our trip, we made one final stop on the return ride at the Crooked River Bridge not too far north of Bend. At the gorge there, three bridges cross the river: one old highway bridge that's now visitor friendly, one new highway bridge, and one railroad bridge.
Not bad for a long weekend. Thanks for hosting, Carrie!

New Pop-Up Tent Trailer

Last weekend we purchased a new pop-up tent camper. It's a 1980 Coleman model which had a broken lift that I had to repair this past week. (It was really just 20 feet of 1/8" wire, but it took so many different tools, almost all of which I already owned!) This past Saturday night we took the trailer to Dash Point State Park, near Federal Way, located about 20 miles south of Seattle. This was intended as a test trip, to see how waterproof the old canvas is (the body itself is in great shape, but the canvas is showing its age). The thinking was that if it was absolutely miserable we'd be able to pack up in the middle of the night and come home in under an hour. Well, it turns out there are a few tiny leaks which need to be plugged, but it makes a wonderful home away from home. It packs down and tows very nicely, but expands to have two double beds and a table and is quite roomy. An added bonus is that with the electricity hookup at the camp ground, we were able to get a space heater to keep the temperature almost near 60 while it was freezing outside.

Sarah has the photos at her Smugmug site.

Train Schedules

Wow! Too many options to sort through. Some travel times:

Berlin -> Gdansk is 8.5 hours and has 3 connections.
Berlin -> Warsaw is 7 hours and is direct.
Warsaw -> Gdansk is 4.5 hours and is direct.
Warsaw -> Lublin is 2 hours and is direct.
Lublin -> Rzeszow is 4-6 hours and has 2-3 connections.
Krakow -> Prague is 7 hours and is direct.
Prague -> Frankfurt is 7.5 hours and has 1 connection.