Spook Country

Just finished William Gibson's latest, Spook Country, and I loved it. Seriously, probably my favorite of his. His previous book, Pattern Recognition, I also enjoyed a lot, but it almost seemed too normal. In Sppok Country, Gibson returns to a weird, nebulous feel more like his earlier books, but still writing within the framework of the real world. Don't think I'll even try to summarize - if you've liked Gibson in the past, I think you'll love this. If you've never read him, I probably won't get you to pick this one up anyway.

Book 58

First Grader

Well, that's it - Julien has started first grade. Monday was his first day, and he seems to like things pretty well. Likes his teacher, and has already made at least one little friend. Here's a few shots of him packing up his new backpack, and on the playground.

Oh, and a bonus picture of Sofia's silly hair...

Mt. Rose

First blog entry in a little while here; I've felt bad about not finishing up the Oregon vacation posts and haven't got to anything else. At any rate, on last Saturday I decided to do the hike up Mt. Rose - hadn't done it yet this year, with the TRT stuff happening. It also fit nicely into a training schedule I've set up for the Lake Tahoe Marathon at the end of September. The Rose trail is just under 5 miles up, and I ran about half of it on the way up, just until it gets steep. It was SUPER windy at the top, even at 7 AM. So windy that it 1) almost blew my hat off, 2) almost blew ME off at one point, and 3) seemed to blow the breath out of my mouth when I tried to breathe. So, didn't spend a lot of time at the top, just about 5 minutes to sign the register and eat a power gel. It was hazy from fires, too, so the views weren't all that great. Trotted back down, being careful to avoid falling and the fate that my friend Amber suffered last week up there. Made it down safe, having to go around all sorts of people on their way up. Total time, up, down and break at the top, was 2:20 - pretty good since I felt like I barely made it at the top.

Hunting Pirate Heaven

I was hoping for a little more humor in Hunting Pirate Heaven - there was some there, but I had pictured a Bryson-esque travelogue. (Hmmm, mentioned Bill Bryson again. Wonder if he's writing anything.) Anyway, Kevin Rushby travels the east coast of Africa and Madagascar searching for remnants of pirate havens. He does find a few, but this is mostly the story of his trip and some of the people he met along the way. Enjoyable book, but not quite what I expected.

Book 57

A Blistered Kind Of Love

Not sure what spurred me to pick this book up - I had just dropped my parents off to do a section of the PCT in Oregon, but I honestly can't remember if I sought this book out or if I just happened to see it. Anyway, this is the story of a couple who decide to thru-hike the PCT from Mexico to Canada. They realize that it's going to be a test of their relationship, and that's part of the reason they do it. They weather it well; apparently they married not long after the trip. Neither of them had a huge amount of hiking experience, which made this a bit like Bill Bryson's A Walk In The Woods - he set out with not much more training than a visit to the outdoor store. They, at least, did their homework and took a couple practice hikes first. Definitely not "purists", though, they took a weekend off for a wedding, hiked alternate routes when the PCT didn't suit them, and even skipped a section near the end to meet their deadline. This was fun to read, and I'm glad they were out there doing it, but the non-purist thing made me cringe a little.

Book 56

OR Vacation - Golf

One of the things we made a point of doing on our recent vacation was get in a few rounds of golf. It was kind of cool the way it worked out; we started small and worked our way up.

The first place we played was the Pub Course at Edgefield, where we stayed Sunday night. It's a 17-hole pitch and putt course - the longest hole was 90 yards, but most were more like 60. All you need is a wedge, a putter, and a few balls. Here's the clubhouse:



Here's the view from the tee box on one of the holes on the back 9 - as you can see, you hit off the mats:



It was a pretty squelchy day, and wet grass is kind of a phobia of Mich's. I thought it was hilarious when her ball got stuck under this tree, and with every swing, she got sprinkled on. Nice guy, I know...



Anyway, we played OK, and had fun with it. Sure wish there was a short course like that here in Reno.

The next place we played was near McMinnville, at the Bayou Golf Club. It's an OK course, pretty cheap green fees, which we were happy for later in the week. Kind of winds through some swampy area, hence the name "Bayou" I think. Didn't get any pictures of it - we both played pretty bad, and didn't feel like taking any. I think I shot a 96 - it's been awhile since I haven't broken 95. I'm usually right around 90, hopefully just under.

The golf finale was in Sunriver, at the course where I worked for 7 summers in the 90's, the Woodlands. Course is the same, but it's changed a bit since I worked there - much more up-market. For one thing, when I worked there, the public green fee was $65 - Now it's $135. Sure, it's ten years later, but that seems quite a jump. That said, everything was much nicer - someone came out to clean your clubs, the range balls were free and waiting for you at the range, and the course was in REALLY good shape. New restrooms on the course as well. I guess I was inspired, because I shot a 40 on the front 9, and bogeyed 7,8 and 9 to do that. Best 9 I've played in a long time. Totally lost my rhythm on the back 9 and shot a 52. Mich did the opposite - improved by 12 strokes on the back 9. The only picture I took on the course was from the 6th tee:



Kind of a boring picture, but makes me proud - I cleared that bunker with my drive and had about 180 left on the par 5. Chuffed the approach shot, though, and ended up making par.

So we had some fun playing golf - wish we had more time to do it at home. Mich is pretty fun to play with; she has a good attitude about the game. Out for fun - not too serious, but enjoys hitting good shots.

OR Vacation - Friends

It was really nice to see some friends when we were up in Oregon. Mostly just the first couple of days; we took off by ourselves after that. The first night, we went to Karl and Brandi's Biergarten party, then stayed the night at their place. Here's Karl, manning the grill:



And Karl in the middle, Brandi on the right, and other friend Rachel on the left:



Rachel's husband, Matt, was playing some darts in the garage:



With another friend and fellow Boyz-tripper Ashley:



Absenting themselves from the party games, on the back porch were Mich, Brandi and Rachel:



Things got a little fuzzy after that...



But the next day we took the kids over to Matt and Rachel's for their son Nathan's first birthday party. Here's Nathan with his cupcake:



Sofia posing with her cupcake:



And Julien and Marin (Nathan's older sister) having some lunch.



Also met up with friends from Reno: Chris, Abby, their daughter Hannah and their friend Aaron were at the half-marathon outside of Bend. Didn't have my camera there, though...