Back on the plane

 Yesterday was the first time on a plane since we went to Hawaii for Christmas 2018. Some of that was unrelated to the pandemic. We'd been to Peru in 2017 and New Zealand in 2018 and didn't imagine that taking a summer off from traveling in 2019 would extend another two years, but here we are in 2021 and finally on a plane again. But not internationally. I'm not ready for that yet. The pandemic isn't over. 

But life is full of opportunities to weigh one's options and domestic travel feels safe enough. So we revamped our plans from a trip cancelled last year because of covid, packed our masks and hand sanitizer and took the leap. Here goes...

Salt Lake City. It's hard to believe that it's been nearly 45 years since I lived here. I really am that old. So much of what I've seen driving around the city, Holladay and Big Cottonwood Canyon looks unfamiliar. I think it's because I haven't had any interim moments to remind me of my life here. Anyway, I'm glad to have the chance to see it again.

Today we drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon to do some hiking. Keeping in mind that we are out of shape and a day earlier had been essentially at sea level, we chose a boardwalk hike around Silver Lake.

One mile boardwalk around the lake

We decided pretty early on that we could handle more and took a side trail to Lake Solitude. It was about 4 miles with an elevation gain of about 500 feet, starting from 8700 feet. We did okay for a couple of old, out of shape New Englanders. And boy, was it worth it. Beautiful.

The wildflowers were stunning.

We did not see any flying bikers. 

But we did see a sweet little family of ducks.

This little bird landed on a nearby branch and sang us a tune.
I'm on a quest to identify it.

We thought about doing another hike near the Brighton ski resort but decided we weren't up for more high altitude work so headed back to the valley. We drove through Holladay and saw my old house on Wildwood Road.

Then we went by my old junior high and high schools. They didn't seem all that familiar but it was cool to see them anyway. Plus we found a nice coffee shop in town with a pretty fabulous view of Mount Olympus.

The temperature is hovering in the high 90's with a relative humidity of 15% so we're spending a big chunk of the rest of the day lounging on the couch in our air conditioned Airbnb.

One more DC day

 On Sunday we skipped the bikes and hopped in the car instead. First stop was the George Washington distillery and grist mill. Touring both of the buildings was fascinating. I don't find myself drawn to studying history much but I certainly enjoy learning the things I come across on trips like this. We visited Mount Vernon a year and a half ago and I now know more about George Washington than I ever thought I'd be interested in. He was actually a pretty interesting guy.

We also made a stop at a park with lovely gardens and a pond and lots of cicadas.

A day outside DC

 On Saturday the weather cleared so we piled the bikes in and on the car and headed to the Mount Vernon bike trail. We parked next to the Teddy Roosevelt Island in the Potomac and headed south towards Alexandria. We parked there so we'd have the option of a post-bike hike if we felt like it. I was pretty wiped out by the time we got back to the car so no hike for me but I did take a picture.

We had nice views of the Lincoln and Washington Monuments, the Capital building and the runway at Reagan Airport.

One of my favorite parts was going underneath the roadway where there was play space - bike trail, basketball courts, picnic areas. It reminded me of Taiwan.

We biked past Alexandria before turning around and managed a very nice 22 mile ride.

In the evening we took a chance on an outdoor stand up comedy show in someone's backyard in the Mount Pleasant part of Washington. It was a lot of fun.

Manassas

 Today was a pouring down, all-day, flash flood warning, rainy kind of day. So no biking. But walking is fine so we visited Manassas, site of two major Civil War battles. The visitors' center had an informative but brutal video about the battles and we listened to a park ranger give a detailed overview of the second Manassas battle. I learned more than I'd ever known about the specifics of what the war was like. What an amazing loss of life.

Our walk around the area belied the brutality of what happened here 160 years ago. It was beautiful and it was peaceful.

For dinner we went back to our son's apartment and made lumpia, a traditional Filipino dish that involved a lot of vegetable chopping. Delicious.

Chopping veggies

Rolling the lumpia

Deep fried goodness

Back on the road again...

 It's not post-covid quite yet but it feels like it's time to venture out again. Not a plane yet - but soon! - and certainly not overseas - more thoughts on that another time - but in the car to see a son we haven't seen in a year in a half, that we can do. So we're off to the Washington, D.C. area, Falls Church to be exact.

 We loaded the car with our bikes so we can explore the bike paths of the greater DC area. Covid-19 laid me up for the better part of a year but I'm ready to be back in the saddle. We've done a little bit of hilly road riding but flat bike paths are more manageable. In fact, we did 18 miles the other day and I still had energy to get some things done later in the day. Definitely turned the recovery corner.

I am quite pleased that we didn't miss the Brood X cicadas. I thought we might be too late, but even through the closed car windows we could hear the noise. We've only just checked into our hotel so haven't been out to explore yet but there were plenty of dead critters in the parking lot to take a photo. I believe this lovely beast completed its life cycle as it had been destined to do and its offspring will reappear in 2038. Although the New York Times had some recipes I think I'll forgo the taste test. Unless someone offers me a hot plate of crisp, deep fired bugs with Thai basil and plenty of salt. That sounds good.

Inca Trail Day 1

Up early, picked up by our tour company (Peru Treks), bus trip to Ollantaytambo and beyond to Kilometer 82, the starting off point of our trek.

We had a lovely group of 16 hikers, 2 guides and 21 porters. The Peruvian government has done an admirable job of regulating the safety and working conditions of the porters, but man, do they work hard. They carried virtually everything - tents, tables, chairs, kitchen supplies, food, etc, etc - so that we only carried about 10 pounds in our day packs (water, snacks, extra layers, a rain poncho I never used).

The path is well used and well maintained. Day one was mostly on dirt and gravel paths in open brush. It was dry, dry, dry. We followed the Urubamba River for awhile then veered off into a smaller canyon up into the mountains. It was a relatively easy hike, beginning around 8000 feet and gaining about 2000 by days end. All uphill but not very steep.

This part of the trail is on the edge of the national park area so there are small villages and settlements so we could buy water and snacks and pay our one soles for the use of the bathrooms.

7-11, of the Inca Trail variety

The views of the Andes peaks were breathtaking.

By late afternoon we arrived at our campsite, a small flat area at the edge of a cluster of farm houses. We were well fed then trundled off to bed where we spent a chilly night (unsuccessfully) relearning how to sleep on the ground.

We went to Chinchero this morning. The Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco was magical, for weavers (me!) and non-weavers (Lee) alike. They sat us down on a bench and walked us through each step of the process, from wool straight from the sheep and alpaca, to washing the wool, spinning, and plying. Then we were shown all the different natural sources of the dyes - leaves, sticks, berries, cochineal beetles taken off the cactus. We got to stir the wool around in the cochineal dye as our guide added different minerals to set the dyes. Lee's pot turned orange and mine was a deep red. Very cool.

Cochineal beetles live on the cactus and when crushed make the most beautiful colored dyes.

We used cochineal to dye wool crimson and orange.

We also saw how they warped and wove on their backstrap looms, including the addition of a woven trim that's added to the edges of many of the fabrics. I could have sat and watched that step for quite awhile, as that's new for me. But they were ready for us to move onto the showrooms, where we were happy to spend a bit of money.

On our trip back to Cusco our driver stopped so we could take some pictures of the nearby mountains. I'm looking forward to seeing more of them tomorrow when we start our hike.