2019.1.27. A Doll's House, part 2

1/27. The young play-wright Lucas Hnath wrote a sequel to Ibsen's A Doll's House. Luan Schooler directed the play at Artists Rep. I enjoyed the play, which is set 15 years after Nora left home. Nora in this part 2 comes off as a self-centered, unlikable person, who fights for her independence. The other three characters: the nanny, the husband, the daughter are all pleasant, ready to help, makes one wonder why she walked out of this home 15 years ago.

2019.1.27. Multnomah Wahkeena Loop

1/27, Sunday. After picking up my phone from Sarah, Mary and I met at Gateway ~noon to take Columbia Gorge Express, first winter with daily runs. The 12:05pm express is non-stop, Multnomah Falls only. Very convenient. If you want to hike a longer trail, need to take the 9am bus. In 30 minutes we got off at the big parking lot across the highway. The whole site was shrouded in clouds.

Today, we did the easy Multnomah-Wahkeena loop. ~5 miles, 1600'. As usual, quite a lot of people. We were going at an interpretive speed. There's no hurry, the return bus is at 4:47pm. It's good to refresh some plant names from Mary. Apart from burned/down trees, the trail is in decent condition. Some loose rocks, but not bad at all. A lot of minor's lettuce and moss. I sure picked some to eat.

Around 3pm, I realized that we were only half way. It's good to have my phone, otherwise, I wouldn't know where we were. The fog above Columbia River never dissipated. Quite pretty.

The connection trail from Wahkeena to Multnomah is rather narrow. Sometimes you have to wait to let the opposite traffic pass. Got back to the lodge 15 minutes ahead of the bus, so I could use the restroom, and clean my pole.

Back in Portland on the same bus with the same driver. Portland was still foggy.

2019.1.26. Climb Mt. St. Helens

1/26, Saturday. Ungodly meeting time at 4:30am! Thankfully the organizer picked me up from home. Total 15 people (2 with skis), 1 dog, 4 cars. Very foggy. We arrived at Cougar store before 6am, when the store opens. Need to purchase sno-park pass. It was clear now. The stars were quite nice. Sunrise was ~7:45am.

Marble Mount Sno-park was already half full. Many people were taking advantage of the good weather. Trailhead has climbing passes, but each one has to fill his/her own, unlike previous years, one form per group. Simple enough, just name and date. Tie the permit on your pack. Plenty pens. I forgot to note down the time when we started hiking, in headlamps. Not cold. No snow in the parking lot. Packed, well trodden snow starting from the trailhead.

The first couple of miles are flat. A few gravel patches, mostly covered with snow. Saw the sun rose behind trees, never had a good look at it. When we reached Chocolate Falls, the mountain had a warm glow in the early morning light. We regrouped, and I took a few group photos. The post here says climbing permit required above 4800'. I put on crampons. Not a good idea: made my legs heavier. This winter has not been cold. The snow was soft enough. Only the top few hundred feet, the surface was more chunky. With many footsteps made by previous hikers, it's feasible to walk all the way to the rim without any traction device.

Winter is still winter. Very pretty. The frozen snow looks like shiny coral reef. The temperature was warm, spring like, except for some wind when I was ~6-8000' (I had to put my hat in my pack so it doesn't get blown away). The rim was calm. We spent over an hour here waiting for everyone to catch up. I wanted to go to the true summit (would have taken ~30 minutes), but was told no. So, this is the only climb (out of 5) that I didn't go to the true summit. Eventually we hiked down. Met up with two who gave up: one had a dizzy spell, one had muscle cramp. Oddly, I got cramp on my inner thigh once. Not sure why. I thought I was re-hydrated consistently. Maybe my running nose was losing too much water.

Once we got down to soft-ish snow, I packed up my crampons, and started to glissade. Half walked and half slid. Didn't put back on crampons. Fun as always. However, unbeknownst to me (until much later), I lost my phone (credit card and driver's license in the phone case), my keys, and god knows what else. Once the fun was over, I looked for my phone so to listen to podcast. Oops... I started going back up, asking everyone I met on the way, until the last person in my group, when I had to come back down. One lady informed me that she heard a snowboarder (on her way up) found a phone.

Back at the trailhead, I left a note on the board where we fill permits. I put down my email address, and the phone number of the driver. Nothing, ..., until ~10pm, I received a meetup message from another hike leader (not in today's outing), said a woman named Sarah found my phone and ID, and her phone#. So, I called her using Google Voice. We arranged to meet the next day at a coffee house near her home. -- happy ending.

2019.1.20. Buyer and Cellar at PCS

1/20, Sunday. Rain. One man show Buyer and Cellar opened today at Portland Center Stage. 90 minutes, no intermission. Playwright Johnathan Tolins inspired by Barbra Streisand's 2004 coffee table book My Passion for Design. In this production, Nick Cearley plays Alex Moore, who worked as a shop keeper in Streisand's basement. He also played 3 other characters without putting on different costumes: the manager, the boyfriend, and Barbra herself. Stage is simple and well done: silhouettes of shop shelves, a couch, a desk. Very funny. Entertaining.

I got out of the theatre around 9:15pm. Unable to find the moon. Total lunar eclipse tonight (~8:30-9:40pm), and supermoon at 9:17pm. A few train stops later, I was able to see the last end of eclipse, sill in a veil of clouds. One full hour after the eclipse, the sky was more of less clear, and the moon was bright and large.

2019.1.13. Sense and Sensibility at Portland Center Stage

1/13, Sunday, 7:30pm. A modern and comic adaptation of Sense and Sensibility at PCS. I didn't care for the costume design (still 1800s, but much simpler) nor the stage design (very simple with a long table messy like a dressy room). Actors sit on the chairs and move them all the time, most of those times don't make much sense. All actors yelling at the audience at the beginning of the show makes no sense. Mrs. Jennings talking off trail sometimes is a bit too long to be funny. The rendering of Marianne feeling dizzy, riding of horses, sleeping on a vertical bed are very good. Overall, it was entertaining, and innovative.

2019.1.13. Tom Dick & Harry from Ski Bowl West

1/13 Sunday. Weather has been prefect this weekend. Sunny, but not too cold. A bit windy today.

Wasted a couple of hours due to Google Map's error. For the past few months, Google Map's public transport routing algorithm has gone down in quality. I updated Google Map again in Jan 2019, it still sucks. On top of that, its schedule of SAM is old (last year). There were only 2 passengers on SAM. 2 others were waiting, but they gave up after the bus didn't show up at Google's predicted time. Mt Hood Express was ~60% full. I got off at Ski Bowl West a little after 10:10. There's a shuttle in the Ski Bowl parking lot which ferries people between Ski Bowl West and East (including picking up/dropping off at Government Camp).

The newly constructed Mirror Lake TH has a large parking lot at the west end of the Ski Bowl West parking lot, equipped with restroom (maybe dry). The trail goes down to Camp Creek, and then more of less flat, with some elevation gain later. I counted 9 brand new bridges sometimes over small ditches easy to hop over. Plenty snow on the trail, but very compacted that you can walk with just boots. I put micro-spikes on. The trail is in the woods. Some people brought sliding disc in here. I'm not sure why. It's not a worthwhile hike if you don't get to the lake (2 miles in). Right before you see the lake, the trail split in two. You can hike a loop around the lake. Take the right one to continue. 5 minutes after you see the lake, you'll see a well trodden trail up to Tom Dick and Harry Mt. I put my snowshoes on at the lake, but quickly took them off after seeing people coming down carrying their snowshoes. Put micro-spikes back on. The trail gets quite narrow at times, so it's easier to pass someone going the opposite direction without snowshoes. After going up for 30 minutes, it leveled up, and turned left. Soon reached a steep but very short steep to the top. All the way clear tracks with plenty hikers. Great view of St. Helen, Adams, Hood and Jefferson. Very windy on the top. Difficult to stand still. So couldn't linger.

Back at the lake, had lunch by the lake. Warm, not too windy. Many people and dogs here. You can probably walk across the lake now, but I didn't. Looped back, and went down to the parking lot to waited for my return bus at the ski base. Read my book at a picnic table here.

The link above shows 7.7 miles. My phone only registered ~15K steps, so cannot be more than 6 miles.

I boarded Mt Hood Express ~3:10pm, standing room only. One lady had about 6-7 bags (not snow related) piled up on the floor too. With these many people with gears in the trailer, the bus arrived 20 minutes behind the schedule. SAM waited for us. I was back in downtown ~5:30pm.

2019.1.11-12 1-day WeCode Hackerthon by Nike + Puppet

1/11, Friday 6-10pm, event kick off. Desert (cookies, cupcakes, baklava), wine & beer, delivered by Portland Peddle Power. Two non-profit present what they want in terms of software help. Teams of 5-6 were formed by the hackerthon organizer. Total 18 teams. We were each assigned a room to form ideas to help these two non-profits.

1/12, Saturday 9-4 coding. Submission is set at 4pm, the deadline. 4-5:30 presentation by each team. Then awards (including one audience award) from the 3 judges. First place gets $1200. The runners up get a small backpack with stuff inside. In 1 day, not much can be done. Most teams present wire frames or story books. UI is most important.

2018.12.30 - 2019.1.1 New Year at White River, Wenatchee

12/30, Sunday. Sunshine is forecast-ed after 10am. However, a lot of rain on Hwy-2 towards Stevens Pass.

First stop, Wallace Falls State Park. Rain, pour, hail. Despite of the bad weather, met at least 30 hikers, some in jeans and sneakers. The waterfalls were fabulous with a lot of force. Didn't try the 1.6 mile trail up to Wallace Lake, seems to be good fishing in spring and fall.

Stopped by Deception Falls, right by the highway. The parking lot was closed. Plenty of snow here. The rest of the drive was a bit snowy, until Stevens Pass. All parking lots were full, still snowing here. Sunny to the east.

3rd stop, Wenatchee Lake's YMCA camp, near the state park. Didn't see anyone here. At the south end of the lake, the view is quite nice. Many homes on the east and west side of the long lake.

The driveway to the cabin-for-rent was snowy/icy and a bit steep. A nice log house with owners upstairs. Barbara gave us a map of Plat and some snowshoe suggestions. My phone has only 1 bar, unable to get on the Internet. Wifi is good. Hung clothes/socks to dry, and warmed up in the jacuzzi.

Drove to Leavenworth to see Christmas Lights. That was a good idea. A lot of lights, people and selfie sticks. Very festively. Had bratwurst, beer, and sauerkraut. The potato soup has more sausage chucks in it than potato.

12/31, Monday. Sunny. Drove to the end of the plowed road, Tall Timber Ranch - a Presbyterian church camp, surrounded by mountain ranges, next to Napeequa River as it flows into White River. I couldn't believe that I'd never been here before, after living in Seattle for over 20 years. Such a beautiful setting. A large groomed flat meadow, a line of cabins, people of all ages in cross-country skis, snowshoes.

The groomed trail is nice, but boring. We snowshoed into the woods following some orange ribbons. A family told us that there's a waterfall ahead. The trail goes along the river more or less. Glimpse of the Chiwawa Ridge to the east. The so-called waterfall is a disappointment, or maybe there's another one. The ribbon ends here. We then scaled the slope heading further east. Snowshoeing over boulders is quite fun, but not through bushes. The higher, the better the view. If we continued east, we could get to Napeequa Valley to the north, or Twin Lakes to the south. However, without a GPS map, without a trail, we turned around. I took a high route to avoid bushes, got myself almost stuck above a steep gully. Had to threw down snowshoes and poles so I could grab on the rocks while inching down, with aid below.

On the way back, we parked at the road junction with Sears Creek USFS-6404, with other 4 cars. One guy just returned on skis. Crossing a bridge with good views north and south of White River. But the road is too flat, we gave up after about a mile. Stopped at the red house for sunset. It's serene and beautiful here, with no one around. Wenatchee Ridge to the west, and Dirty Face to the east (a hike to do in early summer, late spring). Could see Mt David, and maybe Glacier Peak in the distance to the north. The house looks abandoned. Walked to the river over what seems to be swamp, now covered with compact snow.

Back at the cabin, I worked until dinner. Dinner was bolete soup, lamb shank with spinach and potatoes. Upstairs was having a party. Once awhile someone dragged a chair around, creating scratching noise. I was dozing off waiting for midnight. Pinot Noir to cheer the new year.

2019/1/1, partly sunny - overcast. Little Wenatchee River Road was only plowed for the first mile or so. Drove back the same way we came via Lake Wenatchee Hwy (207). Parked at Stevens Pass near PCT, ~4000'. Snowshoe-ed up Skyline Lake. Quite a lot of people. Half on skis, some just boots. The slope is somewhat steep for snowshoe, worked up a sweat. Met a couple hiking out after spending New Year's Eve at the lake. They said that the ski resort's lights were too bright to see a good starry sky. At a junction towards the top, turn left for the lake. At ~5000', it was covered with deep snow. To the west is Heather Ridge, but the view is not as good as on the way here. Saw one tent on the lake, another one was being erected. Grey jays were hopping around stealing lunch.
Back at the junction, we continued north to the 2nd T-Mobile tower. A group of skiers were preparing to go down. We headed up along the ridge (county line between King and Chelan), zigzagging, very steep at times. Thanks to the soft snow, we got to the top without trouble. Some one marked a chunk of yellow snow here - disgusting. View is quite good, despite of the low dark clouds. A little bit blocked by trees to the north.

The rain didn't drop. Traffic at Gold Bar, causing significant delay. Not sure why, since most business was closed. Returned to Seattle before sun down. Packed for bus tomorrow morning (all sold out this evening). Thus concluded a fun and relaxing New Year's holiday weekend.