Black Hills, SD

We camped in a USFS camp ground in the Black Hills where the camp hosts were from Texas. They told us they had decided to be the hosts with another couple, and the other couple copped out. They came May 10 and will stay until September 10 or so, work 6 1/2 days a week, often 10-12 hours per day cleaning the 58 campsites and the pit toilets. It's really hard work. Also at the campground we met this nice family from London, Ontario with two kids who could really throw Darwin's disc and were very enamoured with him. A match made in heaven. The lake had a sandy beach and Bob went swimming before dinner.

In the morning we decided to take a hike because I was finally over my cold and felt like I could take a serious walk. We went to Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park and took two walks. The first, 1.2 miles round trip was up to Little Devil's Tower. The area is granite and the view from the top (see photo at left) was wonderful. It was also finally a clear day. Darwin made it almost all the way to the top, but finally there was too big a step and we went on without him.


We then hiked a quarter mile over to Sylvan Lake and headed down Sunday Gulch. The lady at the Visitor's Center said that the first half of the hike went steeply down a canyon and the last half followed the road through the forest. We decided we would go only half way and return the same way. The trail had these metal guard rails (see photo at left) going down this very steep canyon. The water was quite high so in various places the concrete steps were covered with water. After going steeply down, the trail leveled out a little, then went down even more steeply. We finally turned around and came back up and went around the other side of Sylvan Lake to get a cold soda. It was about 2 p.m. and we were also hungry and the pizzas looked good, but we continued back to Snoopy, headed down the road to a picnic area and got out our lunch.

We have discovered that it is so easy to set Snoopy up, that instead of packing a lunch, we just stop and take everything out of the refrigerator and storage and make our lunch at a picnic table. Other than the few meals noted (from either "Road Food" or the "Road Tripping"), we've been cooking our meals. More on that later.
Sylvan Lake. This is a very popular place with paddle boats, kayaks, people fishing, peddle kayaks with outriggers, and people walking around the lake. The parking lot was packed. There's also a lodge nearby.

Courses I've Played II

I'd like to descrbe the last 3 courses I playe: The first as outside of Vernon, VC, was private, and was at the home of a very clever and congenial mana who constructed the course on his hillside home.  Some of the features I particularly enjoyed on this pay($5) to play course were: 27 holes of mostly short but sometimes very steep slope wooded disc golf course with a variety of targets including high propane tanks suspended from trees, a copper gong man he crafted and hung from another tree, and baskets and drain pipe and copper tonals.  All this was in the atmosphere of a local club where the businessmen and others  can come if they are invited, and out of towners are generally welcome.  The second day I played with them there was a tourrnament which occurs every Thursday after 4 PM.  Everybody pays 10 dollars and thereis prize money for the winners as well as a "player's pack of a shooter on the 18th (of 27) hole.  The night I played it was a cinnamon iquor of flavored whiskey and was very tasty.  My play was rushed and poor as i was held up by road construction on the long drive from our campsite on Lake Okenagon.

Saturday, June 28, 2 time zones to the east, I played in a one day tournament at St Paul, MN, the Kaposia Open, held at a course of same name, which i a 24 basket trip thru deeply cut forest near the mississippi River in S St Paul.  There were no other grand masters or senior grand masters in the am ranks for me to play with so I played with the pros of same age, and was a division of one, which I won with lousey scores, relatively speaking.  The course is very challenging and I met some interesting people including Richard Hasch, Chuck Kennedy, and Allen Hanson, who I expect to see in Kalamazoo for the ProAm Worlds in August.

The next day as we were going down the Mississippi Bluff highway to the Root River Valley town of Lanesboro, we went thru Winona, which has a lakeside course with water hazards, significant wind, many OB possibilities, and varied length holes.  I'm not playing up to the level I did last year and I suppose I may need to accept that, but for now, I'm designing remedial programs to spiff up my long shot accuracy and do a bit better with up shots as well.  I was so impressed with Gene Fackler's roller and then John Ross's roller, that I'm working with those shots.  Here in the midwest, the courses are more manicured and suitable for this shot.

Tomorrow we will go to Wisconsin and I'm going to try the La Crosse course which is well-regarded in my PDGA directory of courses, where incidentally, directions etc to these courses are available.

Out of the Rockies

We left BC and got as far as Hungry Horse, east of Glacier National Park. There we camped at Lost Johnny USFS campsite and woke up the next morning having to get all the way to Billings. We ate breakfast at Blackberry Patch in Hungry Horse (recommended in the Road Tripping Across America guide), initially concerned because there wasn't a soul in the restaurant. Despite our initial impressions, the food was excellent. As we headed up US 2 across the south end of Glacier National Park, we ended up in the middle of an Airstream caravan. The views were awesome and whetted our appetite to come back without a dog and go back packing. The route follows the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad (more on that later) through the lowest pass in the Rockies at a mere 5,200 feet. Coming out of Glacier we started down US 89 down the east side of the Rockies. For miles and miles you see the snow-covered Rockies over rolling green pasture.
In Great Falls we stopped at the USFS Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. Great Falls was where Lewis and Clark had to make an 18 mile portage around five water falls. The interpretive center was really wonderful. It had lots of interactive exhibits so that you could determine what you would have done in the same situation. It also had a lot of material on the Native Americans encountered along the way. Just down the Missouri River is Giant Springs State Park, which you can walk to along the sides of the Missouri. There are swallows nesting in the rocks, people fishing for rainbow trout, Canada Geese and cool breezes off the river.

Giant Springs is located right next to the Missouri River and Lewis and Clark noted it in their writings. It flows at 150 million gallons/day. The water enters from the Little Belt Mountains, quite a distance away and after 50 years emerges at the Giant Springs. It is clear (see the view of the plants growing in about 7 feet of water below, cold (54 degrees) and there are very large rainbow trout swimming around in it. The water is 400 feet underground at this point, but because it is under so much pressure, it forces its way up through the rocks.

We then headed on to Billings, stopping to have the oil changed and tires rotated (so we keep our warranty). The next morning we tried our first "Road Food" restaurant, Stella's (famous for enormous cinnamon rolls and plate sized pancakes). We didn't try the cinnamon rolls, but the pancakes were great. I get the feeling that Jean and Michael Stern, the authors really go in for pies, pancakes and cinnamon rolls and other sweets.

Tues June 17,2008. 7:52 AM

Sitting here on a picnic table in our Manning Provincial Park campground is a cool but lovely place to greet the world.  We've come up from Vancouver Island, at sea level to 3200 feet or so and the air is bright and crisp.  I've got to eat breakfast right now, but I'll be right back.

     OK, now I'm back with granola and homemade rhubarb sauce, nuts and seeds etc in my tummy and feeling even better.

Since leaving the confines of Corvallis, I've been able to play disc golf in a few places.  I hd two intensive days in the rain with John Ross at Milo McGiver, in Estacada, and then a day at Pier Park in Portland, all while Wendy was becoming mor erudite about folk and classical music at Reed College.  

     Then as we traveled north to the Olympic Penninsula, I hit a course just south of Port Townsend which was only 8 baskets, but growing and very pleasant and technical, albeit with rather short fairways, at HJ Carroll Pk in Chimacum.

     After arriving at sister Helen and bor-in-law Bill's place in Maple Bay, near Duncan on Vancouver Island, I played the Malahat course north of Victoria once, and found it to be rough, hilly, and neglected.  I talked to the proprietress of the establishment, who told me that she couldn't compete with the free courses and planned to sell the place and move back to Victoria from the mountain location.  I don't think there will be a Malahat course much longer.

Much more positive was my experience in Nanaimo, north of Duncan, where I played 36 holes each on two separate days.  This course at the Bowen Sport Complex on a large tract of wooded, hill, mowed land was a great combination of technical challenge and the occasional longer hole.  No hole was a simple straight shot, with trees in play to challenge the skills of all.  Some would fault it for having too many shorter holes, but of course, I'm not one of those.

I'm planning to play in a one day tournament in St Paul, MN, the Kaposia Open, on June 28th and there is a course in Vernon BC that I expect to take in tomorrow.  Overall, it is a lot of fun trying the different courses andseeing how I can do on each of them.  I haven't lost a disc yet, although there have been some searches required.

I'll give you an update on my disc adventures after the 28th.

Hotel Ymir & an Amazing Art Collection

On Sunday morning in Nelson, after raining hard all night, it continued to rain. Bob and I had looked at the distance we had to travel to get to St. Paul for his disc golf tournament the following Saturday. Unless we wanted to simply drive like heck, we decided we should leave a day early. We had planned to do a serious hike in Kootenai Glacier Provincial Park, but a check of the website revealed that it was still snowed in.

We decided to provision ourselves for the next week and headed off to the local Safeway. When we returned we met Helen and Bill driving off in the opposite direction. We discovered that Helen had left her tennis shoes in our car, so after we hooked up Snoopy we went looking for them. We thought they might have gone to mass, so went past the Catholic Church in Nelson. They weren't there. So, we headed off.

As we were driving south on BC Highway 3, we saw a sign from Ymir (pronounced Eemir) and remembered that Helen and Bill wanted to look at an old hotel there. We turned off, found the hotel and saw their rig parked across the street.

We went looking for them, but couldn't find them. Finally, they appeared out of the bottom of this hotel. Helen knew the man who owned the hotel (he used to own a nursery near Duncan, B.C.). HansWilking, 76, from near Bremen Germany is a very serious art collector. He bought the hotel because he was looking for a large house in which to display his collection. The hotel is crammed with art on every surface, all original. No smoking allowed and it is protected by all sorts of video cameras. Every room has art on all the walls, the dining room is filled with art from the Polynesian islands. It turns out that he is an expert on Hawaiian art, and has served as an expert witness in various forged art trials. His taste is really good and his pictures are loaned to major museums all over the US. He has met all sorts of famous folks, including Jaqueline Onnasis who was a real fan of Richard Priest (Hans has the largest collection of Richard Priest paintings in the world, over 250). After we looked at the collection in the hotel, we were admiring a black and white picture by a modern NY painter (he collected a lot of modern art) and Hans commented that he had three more paintings by the same artist in Salmo.

Off we went to Salmo to see the rest of his collection. He bought the Knights of Pithias Hall there and it is filled with his painting, even on the ceiling. The three large black paintings on the left wall in this painting are of from that artist. The wall is covered with Richard Priest paintings. Hans is the white-haired gentleman in the red and black coat in the foreground. In and amongst the paintings are floor lamps, chairs, and bedspreads from the hotel. However, the place is all climate controlled and protected by the same kind of security. The collection is apparently worth millions and he's also a very wealthy man, though a real curmudgeon (very few people like him). He's hard of hearing, but a real character. He likes to talk and it was difficult to get away.

If you are ever in southern BC, you should go to the Hotel Ymir (rooms with shared bath $29/night, $39/night for rooms with a private bath). Ymir itself was a mining town and is along a river with great trout fishing.

The top painting is the original of the mural in Chemainus. The bottom photo was simply of a painting I liked, sitting on the floor. An amazing place.

Okanagan Wine Tour

Helen and I took off one day while Bob played disc golf and Bill fished and relaxed. We visited three wineries and an artisinal goat cheese manufacturer. The top two photos are Mission Hill Family Estate. We took a tour here. The owner made his money from inventing Mike's Hard Cider and invested $35M in building this winery. Interestingly, in Kelowna the wineries are in the midst of subdivisions (or vice versa). The cellar is dug into the volcanic rock and kept at a constant 80% humidity by misters spraying the walls. There is also a bell tower open to the sky with the above circular drain for the water that comes in. After that tour we headed to Quail's Gate because they had a Marachel Foche made from 40 year old vines. We tasted that and had lunch in their restaurant over-looking the lake. It was called Old Vines and was delicious. Later I noticed that the cover of the Kelowna tourist guide had that restaurant and our waitress on it. I had a panini with chicken and goat cheese and pesto made with pine nuts. We then continued across the lake to the east side in search of more wine and goat cheese.

Camilla's Artisinal Goat cheese south of Kelowna is amazing. It sits in the midst of an area that was burned about 5 years ago. When we got there the goats were clambering on the rocks and the logs. They make about 20 different kinds of goat cheese. We tasted them all - from soft chevre types with various flavorings to soft brie-like flavored cheeses to hard cheeses soaked in pinot noir, goatganzola and a goat gruyere. They were all delicious. The proprietors are from Israel and came five years ago, though the place has existed for many more years. They spent ten years travelling around Europe learning to make cheese. They also make goat milk gelato, but we were too full to try it.

This is the view from the goat cheese place towards Kelowna. We finally visited Summerfield Pyramid winery, the largest organic winery in North America. It has delicious wines (compared with other organic wines I've tasted). They are cellared in a white pyramid and there is some new-age sort of beliefs related to the energy of the pyramid. They are known for their sparking wines and their ice wines.

Fortified with various selections of wines, we ended our day back at the campsite.

Travels with Helen and Bill

Helen and Bill Schuckel live in Maple Bay on Vancouver Island. One day friends of theirs took us out on their 35' boat in its shakedown cruise of the year. That's it in the top photo at the end of Musgrave Landing. We motored from Maple Bay through the narrows to Cowichan Bay and tied up at the public wharf at Musgrave Landing. After a short walk we returned to the boat for lunch and a leisurely motor home past this island with the seals sunning themselves on the rocks.

Helen and Bill always have lots of activities planned. We took a walk out to an estuary in Cowichan Bay with Victoria and Oscar (our niece and her son). After the walk we went into Cowichan for lunch at the Rock Cod Cafe (excellent), followed by ice cream at the Udder Guy (truely outstanding). It has all sorts of natural flavors including rum raisin (where the raisins are soaked in rum), mandarin chocolate (orange ice cream with Belgian dark chocolate flakes), fresh cherry and ginger. We also went to Jena Gogo's birthday brunch in Victoria where all Helen and Bill's children were present for a quick visit. Bob played disc golf in Nanaimo twice.

On Monday June 16 we got up early to catch the 7:45 a.m. ferry from Nanaimo to Tswassin. As we headed off I realized I had left my purse at Helen and Bill's and we couldn't catch their attention ahead of us. Finally we turned around, went back knowing that they hadn't locked their garage and retrieved it. We made it to the ferry on time. Snoopy is very handy as he fits on the car deck instead of the oversize truck deck. Helen and Bill were the second-to-last to get on.

We started driving east on Canada 1 through lots of construction, eventually making it to Hope for lunch (mediocre), but a delightful side trip to the Othello Quintette tunnels. There was a race to build a railroad to keep Jim Hill of Northern Pacific fame from continuing his domination of railroads in Canada. The problem was that there was a canyon. The Kettle River Railroad hired an engineer who figured he could blast four tunnels through the granite by lowering people on ladders where they set the charges and then scampered back up. The top photo shows the tunnels, all in a line. The railroad is no longer as it was heavily destroyed in floods and landslides in the 60's and it is now a trail. After walking the line, we continued on to Pinticton where the above steam boat is a museum.

It was built in 1914 and sailed until 1936. It has a huge steam boiler which powered a large paddle wheel. The boat was very grand inside (teak and mahogony). At the stern end was the men's lounge with spittoons, while in the bow the women had their lounge. In between was a beautiful dining room. The wheel is so large that in bad weather, of which there is quite a bit, two men had to hold it. The timbers sticking up through the roof are the stabilizing system for the boat.

We continued on to Bear Creek Provincial Park opposite Kelowna. Unfortunately it was quite cool and windy.

More Crabbing

Here are two photos of the crabs we caught on Joe's boat (plus a comparison shot of the crabs and prawns we caught on Bill's boat. No complaints as to quantity, as we ate them all.

Foraging for Food

We went out with Bill Schuckel (our brother-in-law) in his small boat to go crabbing and prawn trapping. Setting out from Croftin, we first dropped two crab pots in about 35' of water and then crossed the bay to Salt Spring Island where we dropped 3 prawn traps in about 250' of water. The crab pots are baited with chicken parts; the prawn traps with some kind of pellets that the prawns can't even get at, though they can smell it. The traps need to stay down for about two hours, so we motored over to Vesuvius to eat lunch in the restaurant and while away the time. While there the clouds began to thin and it got warmer. We had put on three layers of clothes (long johns, clothes, and gore tex) to stay warm and dry. When we went back to pull up the pots we got 19 prawns and 1 large red rock crab.

That night Bill cooked up the prawns and crab and fried the oysters that Bob had bought in Quilicine. We ate them with a large salad. Yum!

The next day Joe (our nephew) invited us to go crabbing out of Genoa Bay. He has a larger boat with a more powerful motor. We drove over to Genoa Bay and waited. Genoa Bay has a marina, several interesting floating homes and some large pieces of art hung on boat houses and for sale. We motored over to where Joe dropped 4 crab pots. His boat is all set up with a spool to wind and unwind the rope, a device to pull the rope over as you pull up the pots and wind the rope onto the spool, etc. After dropping the pots we went across the bay to wait.

Joe knew a beach where the boat could be moored. There was a wonderful tree house made out of driftwood in a big madrone tree. Markus and Calder and Beren should take note.

When we returned to pull up the crab traps, three of them held crabs. Some were female and some were too small, but we kept 9-10 of them.

That night we went to Joe and Jane's B & B (Cobblestone Farm B & B) for dinner. They have remodeled the old farm house to create a B & B suite on the top floor with wonderful views, a huge bathroom and quiet. The farm is a working farm and Jane owns three horses (Pesto, Dijon and ?) and trains and competes with them. They also have three pigs they raise for slaughter, Oprah the large pot-bellied pig, laying hens and two dogs (Phoebe and Niles, the 3-legged whippet).

Joe fixed a fabulous dinner (asparagus wrapped in proscuitto, bread with a tapenade of sun-dried tomatoes and basil, crab risotto, salad, green beans with cherry tomatoes in a sauce with anchovies and oranges sliced with kalamata olives and sprinkled with dried roasted garlic and olive oil).

Anyone looking for a great place to stay on the island with really good food should check out their B & B. It's next door to a bistro and winery with really good food also.