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Sarah and I were in Cleveland last weekend visiting her parents. We flew out to surprise her mother for her birthday. While we were there, we also took in the Cleveland Browns game.At the Browns game, there were some very enthusiastic Browns fans who were very deep into their cups. As the Browns were lining up for their first offensive play of the game, the fans behind us started yelling, “Throw the bomb! Throw the bomb, Butch!” (Butch Davis is the Browns’ coach, for those not in the know.)

The Browns did, in fact, throw the bomb on their first play from scrimmage. The play was a 99-yard touchdown completion.

As the Browns lined up for their first offensive play of their second offensive series, the fans behind us started yelling again. “Throw the bomb!” However, one particularly drunk fan decided to embellish that chant a bit. “Throw the bomb! Go for the juggler!” What he meant, of course, was “Go for the jugular!” However, that did not stop Sarah, her father, and myself from laughing hysterically at the idea of going for “the juggler.” I pictured some poor juggler down the field getting tackled out of his shoes by some middle linebacker with a running start.

As we were standing in the TSA-mandated insecurity line at Cleveland Hopkins airport, the large woman in front of me opened her purse to fish around for her photo ID. As she did so, I got a clear view of the purse’s contents which included both cigarettes and an asthma inhaler. That seemed like a good combination: overweight, asthmatic, and smoking.

Me, while waiting in the TSA-fictional-security line in Madison: “It’s probably illegal to discuss what you can’t discuss in an airport security line.”

Sarah pointed out how the TSA displays a picture of a bomb on its airport prohibited items display. Yes, I’m sure the terrorists will show up with bombs right out of Spy v. Spy, see the helpful “do not bring a bomb like this on board an aircraft” icon, and turn around to begin the journey home.

After knocking around Europe for a while, we’re back on American soil. Monday night, Sarah and I arrived back in Madison, after a long flight back across the Atlantic.It would be imprudent for me to even begin to detail our trip in this space. We saw so much, and did so much, that it would take the better part of a day write up even a partial summary of our trip. Regardless, I’ll include some bare bones information and if you want more information, don’t hesitate to contact me.

While our flight from the USA landed in Frankfurt, Germany, we were only there long enough to catch a fast train to Munich.

Munich, by chance and not by design, became our home base. We spent no less than six nights there at various hotels and at various times throughout the trip. We rented bikes and rode around the city; we visited gardens, palaces, parks, and churches. We drank liter after liter of really exceptional German beer in biergartens. Munich is a fabulous city.

After spending a few nights in Munich, we took a ride on Lufthansa to Athens, Greece to catch some of the Olympics. Literally, in the last hour before running out the door in Madison, we decided to see part of the Olympic games. So, we booked a flight on-line and a hotel room through a combination of telephone, fax, and e-mail.

Rather than describe the Olympic experience in Athens (which, again, would take entirely too much digital ink to do it justice), I will refer you to the 23 Aug 04 and 30 Aug 04 issues of Sports Illustrated magazine. In those issues, read the Air and Space column written by Steve Rushin. One is titled “Eat a Gyro, Be a Hero” while the other is titled “Ten the Hard Way”. Those two columns will give you just a hint of what the Olympic experience in Athens was like.

For those wondering what events we saw there, we attended the following events:

• Womens Volleyball – Brazil v. South Korea
• Womens Volleyball – USA v. Cuba
• Mens Basketball – USA v. Angola
• Softball (Gold Medal Match and Medal Ceremony) – USA v. Australia
• Womens Beach Volleyball (Bronze Medal Match, Gold Medal Match and Medal Ceremony) – USA v. Brazil and USA v. Australia
• Gymnastics Gala (not a competition; an exhibition)

After a return flight to Munich, we took a train to Berchtesgaden, where we spent two days seeing some of the local sights, including the Eagle’s Nest (Kehlsteinhaus) and the Königsee.

A long train ride took us back to Frankfurt, where we spent the night. The following day, we were on a packed 747 back to the USA.

If all has gone according to plan, Sarah and I are now on board an Air India 747 en route to Frankfurt, Germany.

For the next two weeks, we’ll be stumbling around German, Swiss, and Austrian cities and countrysides.

For the interim, you’re on your own. Try to keep the ruckus to a dull roar.

Information about our trip to Europe.Our trip starts with a bus ride from Madison to Chicago O’Hare on Van Galder Bus lines.

We’re flying to Frankfurt and back on Air India out of Chicago O’Hare.

Mon, Aug 16-Tue, Aug 17:
  Air India Ltd., AI  0126
  From: 	Chicago O'Hare, IL (ORD)
  Departs: 	7:00pm
  To: 	        Frankfurt, German (FRA)
  Arrives: 	10:15am
  Flight Time: 	8  hours and  15  minutes
Mon, Aug 30:
  Air India Ltd., AI  0127
  From: 	Frankfurt, Germany (FRA)
  Departs: 	2:00pm
  To: 	        Chicago O'Hare, IL (ORD)
  Arrives: 	3:50pm
  Flight Time: 	8  hours and  50  minutes   	 	

At one time, we planned on staying one night in Frankfurt (17 Aug 04). Now, however, our plans call for us to immediately head for the train station. Once there, we’ll catch a train to Munich, where we’ll find lodging.

After that, no one knows where we’ll be or what we’ll be doing.

Yeah, we’ve been back for several days, and I’ve been meaning to post something about our Minneapolis trip, but I just haven’t gotten around to it until now.For the most part, we had a great time in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

We arrived there just short of 13:00 on Saturday, found parking in a surface lot near our destination, and walked the two blocks to complete the journey. Sarah and I met my parents at Zelo (831 Nicollet Mall), which is in downtown Minneapolis on a pedestrian corridor named the Nicollet Mall. While we had the option of sitting outdoors, the skies threathened rain, so we chose to sit indoors.

The restaurant itself is easy on the eye and the food to price ratio is generally reasonable. Sarah had a pizza, I had risotto with mushrooms and chicken (good), my father had a tomato basil soup and a grilled sandwich, while my mom had a salad of greens, meat, and the like. I’d steer clear of the chianti they sell by the glass. It is thoroughly average, and not worth $9.00/glass. If you find yourself with just a touch of space left in your belly after a meal, try their gelato sampler for a great end to the meal.

After lunch, we found accomodation at the Marriot downtown. We first tried the Radisson across the street, but the Red Sox were staying there, and all their other rooms were booked. We decided that the Red Sox were staying there because of the number of autograph seekers waiting outside of the hotel at all hours.

After a brief rest, it was off to the Metrodome where we saw Brad Radke and the Twins defeat Derek Lowe and Red Sox in a close game. Doug Mientkiewicz, the Twins first baseman, had been traded to the Red Sox earlier in the day, so he started at first base for the Red Sox. The Twins won the game after Jacque Jones hit a solo home run in the bottom of the eigth innning to break a tie.

After the game, my parents returned to South Dakota. Sarah and I wandered the Warehouse District for a while, looking for a light dinner (as it was already 21:30, we didn’t want to eat a whole meal).

Eventually, we found a table at a restaurant named Bellanotte which is located across from the Target Center. What a weird place. The restaurant has this very nice pation with wicker sofas, coffee tables, a fountain, a bar, and the usual tables and chairs. It was staffed by people wearing the expected black wardrobe and was populated by many people clearly out to see and be seen. Over all of this, however, was blasting completely incongrous music. Occasionally, seventies funk, sometimes bad jazz, othertimes music that defied categorization but that was still really bad.

We had a light dinner and drinks there but would never go back. The food and drinks are wildly overpriced. And, while the patio itself could be nice, the music ruins whatever ambiance would normally exist.

Sunday morning, I made the completely unsurprising discovery the downtown Minneapolis is dead, dead, dead. Nothing is really open and there aren’t many people out and about.

Sarah and I found ourselves at Hell’s Kitchen for breakfast. It was there that I had the best pancakes I’ve ever eaten. They were light, golden, ever so slightly crunchy, and wonderfully flavored. Clearly, some mystery ingredient goes into the batter, but I couldn’t decipher what it was. In addition, I had a bowl of the Mahnomin Porridge — native wild rice with blueberries, sweetened cranberries, roasted hazelnuts, maple syrup and fresh cream. Really, really good stuff.

Sarah had the bison sausage bread, which is a bread that has bison sausage, currents, nuts, cinnamon, and sugar baked into it. She said it also was really good.

If you go there, avoid the maple glazed bison sausage. They obviously make it in house and it was so awful that I couldn’t eat more than one bite. Maybe others who like really strong onion flavor and crunchy onion bits in their sausage will like it, but I found it disgusting.

In addition, if you go, make sure to get an order of toast. They make their own peanut butter and jams. I didn’t like the peanut butter very much (their secret is to add cinnamon sugar), but the jams were really, really, really good.

The staff at Hell’s Kitchen is funky, to say the least. They serve breakfast in their PJ’s and many of the staff have more interesting hair styles than waitstaff normally do in Midwestern restaurants.

After breakfast, we waddled over to the Twins game where we met our friends Sheri, Bryan, and Josh. There, we watched the Twins, behind Johan Santana, beat the Red Sox and Pedro Martinez in yet another close, exciting game where the deciding run was scored in the bottom of the eigth.

After the game, we visited Josh’s home to see his new dog, Carmen. No one knows exactly what sort of breeds make up Carmen, but our guess was that she is golden retriever and greyhound.

After a couple of hours there, it was time to hit the road and get back to Madison.

We left early this morning to see the Minnesota Twins play the Boston Red Sox at the Metrodome.We’re taking in Saturday’s game with my parents. My Mom is an avid Twins fan, and is really looking forward to the game.

On Sunday, we’re sitting with some friends of ours who also live in Madison. They are originally from New England, and they are die hard Red Sox fans.

Dalla is spending the weekend at Aunt B’s Pet Resort and Spa. They were one of the few kennels that had space on short notice, and that weren’t in the opposite direction of travel from ours. We’re very interested to see what it looks like.

We’re really looking forward to this trip. Hopefully, we’ll get some good pictures to post.

After our marraige last September, Sarah and I just never quite got around to taking our honeymoon. We always had some scheme in mind, but we never found a way to make it work for reasons of schedule, money, timing, or a combination of the above.However, we are finally taking off this summer for our honeymoon. For two weeks in August we’ll be traveling around Europe, taking in the sights.

Our current itinerary calls for us to travel Air India from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany. Once we hit the ground in Germany, we’ll probably spend the night in Frankfurt before moving on to other destinations. We haven’t decided yet exactly how much of our travel to plan, but most likely we will travel casually, holding to little or no schedule.

Sarah and I are both looking forward to trip. Last summer, we never really left Madison because we were so busy planning for our wedding and dealing with our newly purchased house and newly adopted dog. This summer, we’ve been able to take more time for ourselves, and a long trip out of the country will fit into that scheme just fine.

Sarah is basing her Master’s thesis work around a wetland located inside Effigy Mounds National Monument. Tuesday, I went there with her to help with some preliminary data collection.Effigy Mounds is approximately two hours from Madison, in northeastern Iowa. The park itself is right on the Mississippi River.

My duties on our mission were to help paddle, portage, and stabilize the canoe while Sarah performed her data collection. We put the canoe into the Yellow River (which was anything but yellow) about a 1/3 mile west of the pond and paddled downstream. Just before the river emptied into the Mississippi, we pulled the canoe out of the river, and up a small slope onto a strip of land that separated the river from the pond. A portage of roughly thirty yards later, we put the canoe into the pond.

The pond itself was relatively shallow, probably less than ten feet deep at its deepest location. Beavers built a lodge near the center of the lake and numerous wetlands surrounded the pond proper. On top of the beaver lodge were a handful of duck eggs.

We paddled around the pond while Sarah measured the depth of the silt on the pond’s bottom using a series of fiberglass rods. A stiff breeze came up occasionally, but for the most part, we had clear skies, temperatures in the high fifties, and flat water.

In the distance, three bald eagles circled, while nearby several groups of ducks quacked at us. Red-winged blackbirds were numerous; a woodpecker could be heard working away at trees the beavers had girdled; a few dragonflies skimmed the water’s surface; swallows swooped and dove in the air above the dragonflies. All in all, it was a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

Sarah and I traveled south of the Mason-Dixon Line last weekend on a little vacation.We left Madison on Thursday morning, bound for Mammoth Cave National Park. Our route took us through Illinois and Indiana on our way to Kentucky. Conventional wisdom says that Kansas is flat and borning to drive through. Having now driven through both Kansas (east to west) and Illinois (west to east and north to south), I can safely say that Kansas has nothing on Illinois. Illinois ought to bill itself as the natural remedy for insomnia. If mile after mind-numbing mile of flat, treeless, agricultural sameness sounds good to you, I’m sure that the state of Illinois would love to make your acquaintance.

About half-way through the state, we bailed, and headed east towards Indiana. Just across the border from Illinois, Indiana State Highway 63 and US Highway 41 offer a pleasant alternative to interstate travel. Four lane highways, with a grass median (but not controlled access), both IN-63 and US-41 offer a much more interesting and less crowded path south to Kentucky. Along the way, you can view such interesting sights as the Newport Chemical Depot (where almost 1300 tons of the nerve agent VX are sitting in storage), and the Vigo County Courthouse in Terre Haute, IN (which is very impressive, but unfortunately located–next to a busy highway).

We arrived in Evansville, IN about dinnertime. We ate dinner at the (unfortunately named) Little Cheers Restaurant and Bar. If you find yourself in Evansville, IN for lunch or dinner, I can wholeheartedly recommend the Red Beans and Rice at Little Cheers. It’s everything you might expect from a Cajun-inspired, homemade red beans and rice dish.

Running on all cylinders after a good meal, we headed south into Kentucky. About 11 PM we arrived at the Mammoth Cave Hotel in Kentucky. After setting our alarms, we crashed.

Friday morning saw us up early to eat breakfast before our 09:30 Historic Tour of Mammoth Cave.

Before I talk about the cave, I need to reveal that once you’ve been on a spelunking tour of a cave, everything else is just so-much Disney. Crawling around the cave on your hands and knees, inching through spaces just ten inches tall, dangling over pits, all while using only the light from headlamps–this is good stuff. Walking around a cave with electric lights, walkways, bridges, railings, and the like–this is boring.

Having said that, we found ourselves on exactly the sort of tour that makes the whole experience seem so canned. My knees have been acting up of late, and I didn’t want to find myself one hour into a three-six hour crawling tour with cranky knees. So, even as I started on the Historic tour, with an entertaining and informed guide, I was feeling ripped off.

Anyway, after the tour, we checked out of the hotel, took the Green River Ferry, and drove a bit deeper into the park. Our mountain bikes were on top of the car because we were planning on riding some of the trails in the park. Once we got to the trailhead, we unloaded the bikes, and took off down the trail.

We couldn’t have asked for a better day to mountain bike. The trails were completely deserted. We didn’t see another soul on the trails the whole time we were out. The weather was mid-sixties and sunny. The trails were a bit wet in some locations, but otherwise in really good shape. We had to carry the bikes over or around some fallen lumber, but otherwise, we were able to ride the whole way. The riding we did on Friday was probably our favorite part of the whole trip.

Once we got the bikes loaded back on the car, we took off for Nashville, TN. On the way, we stopped in Bowling Green to eat at that quintessential Southern institution, Waffle House.

We finally arrived in Nashville about 20:00. Before I write anything else about Nashville, let me issue a warning to anyone thinking about visiting the city in the relatively near future (i.e., the next five thousand years). Every road in the metro area is under construction, all simultaneously. Numerous signs asking people to turn off two-way radios and cell phones dot the highways as blasting zones abound. Helpful navigational signs have been removed and replaced with Nothing. As such, almost any time we went anywhere in or around Nashville, we left ourselves plenty of time to both get lost and get found again. Of course, this is all because Nashville has real traffic issues. The city is so car oriented, many (most?) roads do not have sidewalks. I didn’t see a bus the whole time we were in the metro area, though I did see one token bus shelter.

Once we get settled in to our hotel, we headed out to find the legendary Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack. Anyone who knows me will testify that I love hot food and Prince’s is supposedly as hot as chicken comes. There are four flavors mild (eat somewhere else, you’ll feel like a wimp ordering mild here), medium (probably as hot as most people would enjoy), hot (for the adventurous soul), and extra hot (for the heat elite). Sarah ordered medium; I went for the extra hot. Before I describe the food, let me explain that Prince’s is not necessarily located in the upscale portion of Nashville. All sorts of used car lots, adult bookstores, and discount liquor stores rub shoulders with the nondescript strip mall housing Prince’s. So, if you want that white tablecloth, linen napkin experience, go somewhere else. The chicken is served in quarters, halves, and wholes. We each ordered a quarter. The chicken is fried in pans of grease (lard?) on a stove top until it is cooked, slapped on top of two slices of bread (to absorb the grease), wrapped in one piece of wax paper, and dropped in a paper sack. Fancy presentation is not included in the price, obviously.

Buy the time we got back to the hotel (after buying a bottle of wine at one of the discount liquor stores), the grease had soaked through the paper bag and left a grease and spice stain on the floor mat of our car. We called that spot “Revenge of Chicken Shack” for the rest of the trip because nothing we tried could take the grease and spice stain out of the mat and anything set on the stain quickly obtained a patina of spicy chicken grease.

Back at the hotel we unwrapped our chicken grease bombs and set to work. Sarah’s chicken looked like standard fried chicken, but with a slightly reddish tinge. My chicken looked like it had been dipped in honey, set outside during a viscious sand storm, and then painted red. The chicken’s skin was completely obscured by the 1/8″ thick coating of cayenne pepper that was deep fried to the skin. Sarah declared her chicken very good and mine completely inedible. I thought mine was really good. I can see why hot chicken is such a popular food.

Saturday morning, we headed out to ride part of the Natchez Trace Parkway on our bikes. About four miles in to the ride, Sarah’s handlebars came loose. I tried to tighten them with a hex wrench, but no amount of tightening seemed to do much good. So, I had to ride back to the car and drive it to where she was waiting to pick her up. We drove down the parkway for a while longer, visiting Franklin, Leiper’s Fork, Fly, and Shady Grove before heading back to Nashville in a pouring rain.

Tennesee gets very rural, very quickly. Fly and Shady Grove appear as towns on the map, but to call them towns is generous. Fly consisted of one general store, with plenty of Confederate flags flying out front. Shady Grove was a bit more metropolitan, but only because made-to-order pizza was available at the general store in addition to beer and bait.

Saturday night we ate at Bound’ry on Nashville’s west side. We chose to eat off the tapas menu, and had an interesting and filling meal.

Sunday, we decided to head back towards Madison because we were at least twelve hours away from home and we wanted to break the drive up over two days. On the way out of Nashville, we stopped at the Opryland Hotel to see their indoor gardens. They have several acres of gardens inside the hotel with waterfalls, boat rides, little islands, and the like. It is all very pleasant and relaxing, but it is clear that the gardeners there aren’t trying too hard. It seems they found ten-fifteen species of hardy tropical plants to grow and just kept planting them over and over with a few annuals sprinkled in for color.

Sunday night we stopped in Chicago. We stayed at a hotel downtown, and ate dinner at the Chicago branch of Sushi Samba Rio. The atmosphere was cool, the drinks were good, and the food was alright. However, for the price, the sushi at Sapporo Sushi Boat in Alameda was much better.

After dinner, we took a cab to The Backroom to catch some live jazz. The band playing that night was alright, but nothing special. The 2004 Housewares trade show was in Chicago, and the bar was filled with all sorts of folks from around the world who were all Housewares show attendees. There were people from Britain, South Africa, Belgium, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and the like all present. It was a fun scene.

Monday morning saw us getting back in to the car and heading back to Madison. We got home Monday afternoon tired, but happy with the trip.

For those who don’t know, Sarah and I drove her Saturn SW2 wagon from Alameda, CA to Madison, WI between 28 Jun 02 and 01 Aug 02. We drove north through CA, through Oregon and Washington. We caught the Idaho panhandle on our way to Glacier National Park. From Glacier we drove to central Montana before heading out Yellowstone National Park. From Yellowstone we drove south to Grand Teton National Park and Jackson, WY before driving north again to Cody, WY. From Cody, we drove east to the Black Hills of South Dakota. From the Black Hills, we drove to Watertown, SD, and then to St. Paul, MN. From St. Paul, it was a short jaunt to Madison, WI

On this page, as I have time, I’ll post little bits about our trip.In that time, we ate at a large number of restaurants, and cooked a large number of meals ourselves at various campgrounds. However, the best food we had on the trip was found on the Blackfoot Reservation in Montana, in the town of Browning. The restaurant was named "Tres Hermanas" and was run, coincidentally enough, by a man who grew up on the reservation but now lived in Riverside, CA. The food was Mexican and just fabulous. If we’d lived closer, we would have purchased some of the salsa to take with us. We made a point of not dining at chain restaurants when possible, and the food at Tres Hermanas made that strategy seem really, really smart. Even better, was that the proprietor of the restaurant noticed that our car had CA license plates and struck up a conversation with us. We told him where we were going and he told us how to save an hour on the drive! Great food, friendly people, and local knowledge. What else could we ask for?