Wölfischhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/2015-12-21T01:58:56+00:00Jörg's BlogUpdated Map2015-12-21T01:58:56+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/updated-map<p>Look, it's a shiny <em>new</em> map! And even with two more US states I've visited:</p>
<p><iframe height="480" src="https://yaina.de/static/gps/states.html?visited=AZCANVNJNYMAUTWYCOPAFLWAORMIINOHILWINMTXMTID" width="740"><a href="https://yaina.de/static/gps/states.html?visited=AZCANVNJNYCTMAUTWYCOPAFLWAORMIINOHILWINMTXMTID"><img height="720" src="https://yaina.de/static/gps/us-states.jpg" width="460"/></a></iframe><em><br/>23 states so far!</em></p>
<p>I'll probably add some interactions eventually, but now it's time for me to go to bed.</p>Roadtrip 2012: Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, Part 62012-10-22T17:56:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/roadtrip-2012-seattle-and-the-pacific-northwest-part-6<p>And this is the final part of my vacation report.<br/><h3>Thursday, 2012-10-11: Shopping Again, and CA-1</h3><br/>I didn't know Eureka had a large mall, even one with some independent stores, and the only I've ever seen with a Walmart as an anchor store. Mendra was looking for a game store, which apparently has moved, I actually found two CDs and a BD at f.y.e., and we almost had to use physical force to get Zefiro out of the store selling old arcade game machines. We drove downtown for a toy store, while the dragons were looking for a game console and dragon plushies I had the pleasure to have an excellent burger and shake at Fresh Freeze, a former drive-in restaurant on F Street, corner Harris Street.</p><p>The rest of the day was spent on the road, a scenic drive down the US-101 and the CA-1. The Northern part of the CA-1 is described as poorly maintained in travel guides, but the highway has been improved during the last years. It is quite narrow and winding through the coast mountains for the first 20 miles, and Kayjay had to take a break afterwards, but we obviously aren't the only ones using the turnout for that.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-whazzup.jpg"><p><img src="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-whazzup-lj.jpg"/></p></a><br/><em>Wazzup? Us!</em></p><p>We intended to spend the night at Gualala, but I missed that the campground is closed after Labor Day. So we moved on to Bodega Bay, driving the supposedly most scenic section of the CA-1 in the dark. Bodega Bay RV Park is greatly overpriced, but nobody had the nerve to look for another one, so we stayed there for the night.<br/><h3>Friday, 2012-10-12: Point Reyes Revisited</h3><br/>At least it is just a short distance from Bodega Bay to Point Reyes, but the street is quite narrow and bad, so I took over driving in Point Reyes Station. The good news about Sir Francis Drake Boulevard West of Inverness: they improved the road where I remembered it being very rough last time I was there. The bad news: every other stretch is now so rough it isn't really recommended to drive with large vehicle. The excellent point, however: this time, at last, the lighthouse was open. It's about 350 steps down the stairs from the former weather station to the lighthouse.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-ptreyeslight.jpg"><img src="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-ptreyeslight-lj.jpg"/></a><br/><em>Point Reyes Lighthouse</em></p><p>The ranger gave a detailed presentation about the it. It's apparently the only lighthouse in the US with the original lens and clockwork in the original building. The lamp of course was changed from oil to electricity at some point. The foghorn is automated these days, but still operating.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-ptrclockwork.jpg"><img src="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-ptrclockwork-lj.jpg"/></a><br/><em>Point Reyes Clockwork</em></p><p>Remembering that the CA-1 is very narrow between Muir Beach and Tamalpais, I stayed on the Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in Olema. Admittedly, it is wider, but they still haven't fixed the settling of the street at some point and it is extremely rough. Shortly before the Golden Gate Bridge we got into a traffic jam, but made it to the viewpoints West of the US-101 just before sunset. Surprisingly, the road is now completely rebuilt, the viewpoints signed and paved, they marked parking slots, and on the upper end they built a roundabout suitable for tour buses and large RVs. Of course, this makes the former virtually unknown views quite well known now, losing a bit of their exclusiveness. But the view is still great.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-ggb.jpg"><img src="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-ggb-lj.jpg"/></a><br/><em>The Bridge</em></p><p>The traffic jam was gone when we continued our way to the last campground of the trip. Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge is always an experience, especially in the dark, despite heavy traffic driving through San Francisco was as smooth as always, and ignoring my satnav I did not end up in downtown as usual this time... It's strange, I know San Fran better than my hometown by now.</p><p>And I even got my In-N-Out burger on this trip, even though it meant driving in South San Francisco, which is something I clearly do not appreciate. The parking lot was overfilled, though, thus we parked at the nearby bank – we were short of cash anyway, because the gas station next to it doesn't take credit cards. As expected, the burger and fries were excellent. Also, on the same block there is a Krispy Kreme – is that place heaven or what?</p><p>But back on the road, for the last-but-one time, down the I-280 which I hate with my guts, even at night, but didn't miss the exit for a change, and to Candlestick Point RV Park. That place sure got expensive, the most expensive RV park on the whole trip. But there are only two commercial RV parks near enough to the rental station, the other one booked solid for months all year. The communal or state park campgrounds don't have warm showers, so Candlestick has a <em>de facto</em> monopoly in the region, and they know it.</p><p>We spent the night packing suitcases. Clean-up had to wait until the next day.<br/><h3>Saturday, 2012-10-13: It's All Over</h3><br/>Cleaning we did, after getting up at six and heaving a short breakfast consisting of the remaining donuts, bread and cheese. We managed to be at the rental station at half past nine, as there was virtually no traffic on the way. We amazed the staff at El Monte with a clean (on the inside) RV, filled up gas tank and emptied black and grey water tanks. Apparently not everyone does that, but it makes them overlook small scratches to the veneer and the few small things we inevitably broke during the trip.</p><p>Zlatko wasn't there, but got to the airport in time thanks to the driver whose name I unfortunately forgot. The flight home on United Airlines was uneventful, except that we had to wait almost an hour at the gate for some baggage of passengers having missed their connection being unloaded and getting a new start slot, but the pilot made up the time completely. The machine was an older 747 without in-seat entertainment and tight space, worsened by the arsehole in front of me forcefully lowering his backrest so I couldn't move anymore. The cabin crew, however, was very friendly and helpful.</p><p>The train home was diverted from the long distance station to the regional station and missing one section which got added in Frankfurt main station, causing me to change seats three times. On the other hand, a seat reservation in this situation would have been worthless anyway.</p><p>Arriving in Nuremberg tired, my vacation ended. Would I recommend traveling with seven adults in one motorhome? Only if everyone knows each other well enough and is able to compromise. It is quite tight, but it worked for us. The main issue however is that with this vehicle only the two passengers in the driver cabin are having a good view, which makes it a bit boring for the rest on scenic drive with addition programming. Also, it takes quite some additional time to get ready for and after a stop. Not to mention that everyone has different expectations and wishes for the programming, finding a good mix between shopping, scenic drives and hikes is a bit difficult with such a large crowd. What I can say I'm glad we did it with one vehicle instead of two, otherwise it wouldn't have worked at all. But, with exception to Mount Rainier, my impression is that this route works best with a small group in a car or small RV.</p>Roadtrip 2012: Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, Part 52012-10-21T23:46:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/roadtrip-2012-seattle-and-the-pacific-northwest-part-5<p>I didn't find the time to update my journal during the last week of the trip, but of course I took photos and notes.<br/><h3>Monday, 2012-10-08</h3><br/>We spent the night at the KOA campground in Otis, OR, beautifully located next to the antennas of KBCH, um, I mean, next to Devils Lake. Granted, we were not much interested in the lake, and it is one of the few KOAs that is not located directly at a major highway. Much more interesting were the Tanger Outlet Center nearby in Lincoln City. We didn't buy much, though. </p><p>Next on our tour we took the Otter Crest loop, a scenic byway of the US101, with great views of the ocean and strange rocks. For example Cape Foulweather or<br/>Devil's Punch Bowl. We took a lot of photos, though the light wasn't that good. I would have preferred a bit more fog, not just a cloudy sky.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-rockycreek.jpg"><img height="341" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-rockycreek-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Volcanic rocks at Rocky Creek</em></p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-capefoulweather.jpg"><img height="302" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-capefoulweather-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Cape Foulweather</em></p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-devilspunchbowl.jpg"><img height="341" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-devilspunchbowl-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Devil's Punch Bowl</em></p><p>We arrived just in time for the Yaquina lighthouse before closing for the day, or so we thought. So we paid the entrance fee, only to hear that they closed early due to the large number of visitors when we arrived. I know the tour guides are all volunteers, and I appreciate their effort, but this is not how you treat your guests. So we just took a couple of pictures from the outside and moved on disappointed.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-yaquinalight.jpg"><img height="336" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-yaquinalight-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Yaquina Light</em></p><p>And the bad luck with lighthouses continues. I didn't expect the Heceta Head Lighthouse to be open when we arrived in the last light of the day, but the lighthouse was covered with a tarp due to reconstruction work. At least the beach is beautiful, as is the small creek running into the ocean and the viaduct of the US101. And they removed the pay station for the parking lot during renovation, which is a nice gesture. If only they'd posted some information about the renovation at the oversize vehicle parking I'd be perfectly fine with it.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-hecetabeach.jpg"><img height="284" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-hecetabeach-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Heceta Head</em></p><p>We arrived late at night at Ocean Side RV Park, Cape Arago, with free Wifi, but only for one device. But with a beautiful beach, as we discovered the next morning.<br/><h3>Tuesday, 2012-10-09: More Lighthouse Adventures</h3><br/>Another guest on the campground recommended Seven Devils State Recreation Site to watch birds. What he didn't tell us was that the direct way to it from the North turns into a winded gravel road not recommended for RVs at some point, so we stayed on the highway and approached the park from the South. The beach is really beautiful and long, but no other birds than a large flock of seagulls to be seen. A perfect place to relax nevertheless, at least at that time of year.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-sevendevils.jpg"><img height="281" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-sevendevils-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>7 Devils Beach</em></p><p>Not expecting much we continued our way to Cape Blanco. To our surprise, the really well preserved lighthouse was open and we got the tour to the lense. Cape Blanco Light is the oldest lighthouse in Oregon and still active. It doesn't have the original lens anymore, the current one was installed 1936 and had to be repaired after an act of vandalism. Opposed to the guides at Yaquina Light those at Cape Blanco (two former coast guards on that day) are highly motivated and share their knowledge about the history of Oregon lighthouses and the development of technology.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-capeblancolight.jpg"><img height="341" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-capeblancolight-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Cape Blanco Lighthouse</em></p><p>Still lots of time left, but we skipped Humbung Mountain as nobody was in the mood for a mountain hike. Instead we took a break at a beach on the way down South, the exact position sliped my mind, I have to check the GPS log for the exact position. All I remember it being windy and cold-ish and Mendra climbing rocks again...</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-mendraontherocks.jpg"><img height="440" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-mendraontherocks-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Mendra on the Rocks</em></p><p>Next stop: Dinner! We were looking for a fastfood joint, but didn't find any and ended up at a Chinese restaurant, Wing Wah, in Crescent City. The food there was a very positive surprise and quite different from what I'm used to. Half of the city seems to dine there, so it is safe to assume that it will be equally good on the next visit.</p><p>After quick visit to Home Depot for some more BBQ coal we went to our campground for the night, a KOA neatly located at the US101.<br/><h3>Wednesday, 2012-10-10: Redwood Hikes</h3><br/>Redwood National and State Parks is, as the name implies, not a single national park, but a collection of several federal and state parks. Unfortunately, the part with the famous big coastal sequoias is only accessible via a dirt road that is not recommended for RVs, so we went hiking at the less popular but equally beautiful Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. The Big Tree is big, at least for a coastal sequoia, but less spectacular than giant sequoias. However, it is a historic landmark, the starting point for the preservation of this incredible forest.</p><p>We hiked 8 kilometers along the Brown Creek/Rhododendron/South Fork trail loop. The description of the hikes was "easy, except for one short steep section". Well, the maximum height difference was 180 m according to my GPS, on very short distance. The trails are clearly marked, but not well maintained. We had to climb over or under fallen trees a couple of times that have been lying there for quite a while, apparently. Not much of an issue for us, but maybe one for less experienced hikers.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-redwood.jpg"><img height="512" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-redwood-lj.jpg" width="343"/></a><br/><em>Not the Big Tree, it's boring.</em></p><p>My friends were impressed how silent this primeval forest is — I already had that experience at Sequoia Nat'l Park so it wasn't new to me, I found it more interesting what you can hear despite what we consider silence. Many wrens being slightly annoyed by our presence, for example. Banana slugs are silent of course, but found very often in these woods. The vegetation is quite what I expected, yet the atmosphere is surely unique. I think it was Lynard who quite appropriately compared it with Fangorn. We didn't see any trees moving from their position, though.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-prairiecreekpark.jpg"><img height="341" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/coast-prairiecreekpark-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park</em></p><p>It was a very refreshing hike. The trekking toe-shoes are very good on forest trails, as long as you take care to not walk into your own hiking poles (ow!), step on roots with the midfood (ouch!), or along sharp rocks above the rubber sole of the shoe (Ow-ow-OW!) On the other hand (or foot?) walking grades is way less strenuous to the knees and hip as normal shoes.</p><p>The night was spent at a KOA North of Eureka, neatly located (who would have guessed) next to the US-101...</p>Roadtrip 2012: Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, Part 42012-10-08T17:50:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/roadtrip-2012-seattle-and-the-pacific-northwest-part-4<p><h3>Thursday, 2012-10-04: Bay and Waterfall</h3><br/>We spent the night at Crescent Bay RV Park and Beach, a small recreational area near Port Angeles directly at the Strait of Juan De Fuca. The RV park is a bit overpriced, at least for off-season, but the people running the place are very nice and warm-hearted, the park clean and well maintained, and the best thing: it has a long private beach just across the street. On clear days like this it is possible to see Canada across the strait. We spent the whole morning at the beach, taking photos and chatting.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/crescent-island.jpg"><img height="320" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/crescent-island-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Tongue Point from Crescent Beach</em></p><p>Later that day we went hiking in the mountains again, but only the short trail up to Marymere Falls. I used the Vibram Fivefingers hiking "shoes" for that. While I wouldn't recommend this kind of footwear for alpine hikes like the one at Mount Rainier, I found them very comfortable for mountain forests. Stepping on sharp stones doesn't hurt more than with traditional shoes. You just don't twist your ankles, no knee issues, less strain on leg muscles, no blisters, much more control about movement. The only downside is a larger strain on the tensions and joints of the toes, but it gets better after using them for a while.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/olympic-marymere.jpg"><img height="512" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/olympic-marymere-lj.jpg" width="341"/></a><br/><em>Merymere Falls</em><br/><h3>Friday, 2012-10-05: Hoh</h3><br/>Located at the Quaillayute River, the rather primitive Mora campground is lovely and shady, and most of all: quiet. In the morning, we drove down the street to Rialoto Beach. It is good to be at the sea again.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/olympic-rialto.jpg"><img height="247" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/olympic-rialto-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Rialto Beach</em></p><p>We continued our way back into the mountains to the Hoh area. It is a cold rain forrest, at least that's what the brochure says. However, that day it was a warm and dry day... The vegetation indeed is that of a rainforest: mosses and lichen growing on the branches of the trees, mostly firs, spruces and maples. Many trees are growing on so called nurselogs, dead and fallen trees. This is mostly due to the thin layer of soil on the rock, which is even covered with ferns and shrubs that don't allow the trees to grow directly on the ground. We hiked the two short trails there, one meeting the Hoh River, before we continued to look for a campground for the night.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/olympic-hoh.jpg"><img height="310" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/olympic-hoh-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Hoh River</em></p><p>I intended to spend the night in Kalaloch near the ocean beach, but it was full. So we drove to Ocean City and chose the first campground we saw. The landlady was a bit strange. The dialog on arrival was this:</p><p>Me: Good evening, do you have space for this 31 ft RV?<br/>She: Sure, how many people?<br/>Me: Seven.<br/>She: No.<br/>Me (baffled): ... What, "no"?<br/>She: What yer gonna do? Setup a tent?<br/>Me (deadpan): This thing sleeps up to eight people.<br/>She (looks doubtful): Come in.</p><p>Her husband directed us to the campsite, we set up shop, put out BBQ and had dinner.<br/><h3>Saturday, 2012-10-06: On the Road</h3><br/>The campground has direct access to the beach, where we spent the morning, and on checkout to our surprise the landlady was really nice.</p><p>We decided against driving back to Olympic Nat'l Park, instead did some groceries, filled up the tank and drove enjoyed the landscape on our trip to Cape Disappointment. We saw a lot of deer on the campground there which wasn't concerned about the campers at all.<br/><h3>Sunday, 2012-10-07: Cape Disappointment, Astoria and Cape Meares</h3><br/>I'm developing a bad cold and slept quite uneasy. Unfortunately, I woke up too late, too, and we had a very late start that morning. The only disappointing aspect of Cape Disappointment is Waikiki Beach (but then again, it's Washington and not Hawaii). The hike to the southern lighthouse across the hills is quite nice, and the lighthouse itself is a must-see, though you can do that only from the outside.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/capedis-lighthouse.jpg"><img height="512" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/capedis-lighthouse-lj.jpg" width="323"/></a><br/><em>Cape Disappointment Light</em></p><p>Next we visited Astoria, a formerly wealthy city at the Columbia River. Unfortunately, after a short revival as a tourist attraction, many of the old buildings are decaying again. The trolley line is fun, though. A vintage tram car pulling a diesel generator for the motor commuting along the riverside...</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/astoria-tram.jpg"><img height="341" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/astoria-tram-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Astoria Tram</em></p><p>Next we went to Cape Meares for a very nice sunset, but we had to skip Cape Lookout as it was way too dark. And what maniac is responsible for the road maintenance of the Three Capes Loop? The Lonely Planet describes the highway as "rough", and that's an euphemism. But regardless of that, the route is very scenic, indeed.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/capemeares-bay.jpg"><img height="341" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/capemeares-bay-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Cape Meares</em></p>Roadtrip 2012: Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, Part 32012-10-04T17:42:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/roadtrip-2012-seattle-and-the-pacific-northwest-part-3<p><h3>Monday, 2012-10-01: Picking up the RV</h3><br/>We rented a 31 ft motorhome suitable for 8 passengers from El Monte. I wouldn't recommend to occupy it with 7 adults like we do, unless everyone involved can cope with the limited space and privacy. So far (after one day, I have to admit) it works out very smoothly and with way less hassle than with coordinating two RVs.</p><p>The only downer is that there are two rental stations in the Seattle area: one is in Seatac (the airport area between Seattle and Tacoma), the other one is in Ferndale, actually closer to Vancouver and a hundred miles away from Seattle. You can only book the later from a German travel agency. So we rented a large van, Lynard drove us to the RV rental station, we picked up the RV, Lynard and Kayjay brought back the van to Bellingham airport, and we picked them up again.</p><p>First shopping took way too long, some time last year Walmart apparently changed the layout of its stores. I never really liked them, but running around the shop for two hours trying to guess where the f... even the most basic articles are really pissed me off.</p><p>We arrived at Cougar Rock Campground, Mt Rainier National Park, at half past eleven in the night, properly stored our luggage and groceries, and set up the beds.<br/><h3>Tuesday, 2012-01-02: Paradise, Mount Rainier</h3><br/>Mount Rainier, apparently pronounced "mount rainy-er", is with 4300 meters the highest mountain South of the Canadian border. This pronunciation is appropriate: we took the hike to Panaroma Point in dense fog and only when we arrived at the highest point of the Skyline Trail the sun came out and we had a wonderful view at the peak of Mt Rainier, the glaciers and the valleys.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/rainier-fog.jpg"><img height="309" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/rainier-fog-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Peak of Mount Rainier</em></p><p>Though it was cold and wet (or maybe because of it) we saw deer, squirrels, marmots, grouse, and various songbirds.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/rainier-marmot.jpg"><img height="326" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/rainier-marmot-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Marmot in the Fog</em></p><p>The hike is listed as strenuous, with an elevation difference of 530 meters, but was fairly easy for us to handle.<br/><h3>Wednesday, 2012-01-03: Longmire, Mount Rainier</h3><br/>After a cold night, as we forgot to turn the heating on, we started relatively late for an easy forest hike along the Paradise River to Madcap Falls.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/rainier-madcapfalls.jpg"><img height="512" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/rainier-madcapfalls-lj.jpg" width="352"/></a><br/><em>Madcap Falls</em></p><p>Afterwards, we hiked along Kautz Creek trail up to the point where the trail crosses the creek, or whatever is left of it after the river rerouted due to a landslide a couple of years back. A very nice and relaxing hike nevertheless.</p><p>But enough of the Cascades, off to the coast at last!</p>Roadtrip 2012: Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, Part 22012-10-01T04:30:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/roadtrip-2012-seattle-and-the-pacific-northwest-part-2<p><h3>Thursday, 2012-09-27: Wolfhaven</h3><br/>Located South of Olympia, <a href="http://www.wolfhaven.org/">Wolfhaven</a> is one of the oldest wolf sanctuaries in the US. Their tour mainly features some of their rescues from irresponsible owners. The enclosures are large and and they only keep two wolves in each. I guess trying to compose packs of individuals who didn't grow up with each other or aren't even properly socialized wouldn't work anyway. They are also part of a breeding program for highly endangered Red Wolves. They are quite shy though, and I didn't get any pictures of them. Unfortunately, due to the fences it is quite hard to photograph the wolves anyway.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/whaven-doest.jpg"><img height="320" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/whaven-doest-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Lazy Wolf</em></p><p><h3>Thursday, 2012-09-27 to Sunday, 2012-09-30: Rainfurrest</h3><br/>Rainfurrest is a fast growing furry convention in the American Northwest. It takes place at the Hilton Seattle Airport and Convention Center. The hotel is nice, even though it seems to be roughly the same distance from our room to the ballroom as from the Westin to the DLCC at Anthrocon. Lots of <em>very</em> young attendees, and I have to admit having asked myself whether I ended up at a gay fetish rave instead of a furry convention — nothing wrong with that, but not quite what I expected, and not my cup of tea to be honest. But the atmosphere of the convention is excellent, the dances very good (even though I didn't feel like dancing), lots of self-made fursuits I haven't seen before, and fortunately also some friends at my age attending so I found enough people to chat with. I'll likely attend again, but we already have other plans for next year. It was an interesting experience and it is a good thing to get to know this side of the fandom a bit better, too.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/rf-fursuits.jpg"><img height="354" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/rf-fursuits-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Fursuits</em></p>Roadtrip 2012: Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, Part 12012-09-29T21:29:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/roadtrip-2012-seattle-and-the-pacific-northwest-part-1<p>Having skipped Further Confusion this year allows us to visit a different furry convention in the US. We are: Kayjay, Lynard and me spending a couple of days in Seattle, joined by Furvan, Tioh, Mendra and Zefiro at Rainfurrest.<br/><h3>Saturday, 2012-09-22: Missing Connection</h3><br/>I took the first tram of the day to get from my flat to the station hopped on ICE 822 to Frankfurt Airport. Lynard arrived shortly after me, followed by Kayjay. We got aboard LH402 to Newark and took off in time. The Boeing 747 was quite new, but the seat distance in cattle class got even smaller. I was able to live with the fact that my in-seat entertainment system offered only one Bollywood movie, as I refuse to watch movies on the tiny screen anyway. Everyone else hat a large collection of movies to choose from. The flight itself was calm, we landed almost on time in Newark, but it took the usual 15 minutes to get to the gate. Immigration was crowded, partly due to some technical problems with the fingerprint database. Even though we were offered to jump the line due to our short layover time, I arrived at the baggage claim three minutes after boarding of our connection started. Kayjay arrived shortly after me, but Lynard had to wait what seemed to be an eternity in Second Inspection. Not much of a problem as we missed our connection anyway. We got rebooked to the first flight to Seattle for the next day and checked in at the Best Western Newark West. At least the bar had Yuengling Lager, which made the evening acceptable.<br/><h3>Sunday, 2012-09-23: Seattle, At Last</h3><br/>After getting up at an ungodly hour we went to the airport, checked in and got aboard a United flight to Seattle. A six hour flight that required extra payment for the entertainment system (WTF?), and the cabin crew going through only twice with beverages... At least it was a mostly calm flight. We arrived in Seattle on time, got our luggage and picked up the rental car. Since we were way too early to check in we started with some shopping. Best Buy have reduced both their selection and stock even more, Fry's has a lot of empty shelves and none of what I wanted to purchase. We eventually made it to the hotel, after swearing at the GPS and the large amount of construction work in Seattle.</p><p>We stayed at the Best Western Executive Inn one block away from the Space Needle and got a room with a view of it.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/sea-roomwithaview.jpg"><img height="512" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/sea-roomwithaview-lj.jpg" width="232"/></a><br/><em>The View from the Hotel Room</em></p><p>The rest of the day was spent riding the monorail and exploring Pikes Market and the waterfront. Pikes Market is a mix of Farmer's Market, tourist traps and small speciality shops. Similar to what Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco used to be years ago, but larger and more colorful.<br/><h3>Monday, 2012-09-24: More Shopping, more Seattle</h3><br/>I just had to buy another pay of toe shoes... So we went to REI, a large outdoor shop very much like the German Globetrotter chain. Their Seattle store even has a small park in front of the building so you don't realize it at first. Since it was nearby, we drove to the Japanese Tea Garden in the Arboretum park, swearing a lot again about the detours caused by road construction on the way. This tea garden seems to be more authentic than the one in San Francisco and has a more organic feeling. Very much worth the visit.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/sea-japanesegarden.jpg"><img height="341" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/sea-japanesegarden-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Japanese Tea Garden</em></p><p>And since we were already there we took a short hike at the Arboretum with its countless different species of trees, where I had the chance to use the toe shoes on a more natural ground.</p><p>The shoes stayed on, we went back to the hotel, took the monorail downtown, and got a T-Mobile SIM with a prepaid plan so we can have mobile Internet access. Then we explored Downtown Seattle even more until dinner at Red Robin. Having had our burger on the patio at the waterfront, we drove back and went to the Space Needle. The view at night from up there is simply breathtaking.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/sea-downtownfromspaceneedle.jpg"><img height="241" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/sea-downtownfromspaceneedle-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Downtown Seattle</em></p><p><h3>Tuesday, 2012-09-24: A Day at the Zoo</h3><br/>Woodland Park Zoo is a bit North of Seattle. It is relatively large, has several aviaries, but they propably overdo it with the vegetation. It is sometimes really hard do get a good view of the animals. The staff is very nice though and gives demonstrations at various places throughout the zoo.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/sea-falkner.jpg"><img height="317" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/sea-falkner-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Falconer at the zoo</em></p><p>After a small detour into University district for a coffee, we drove to Kerry Park for a couple of photos.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/sea-fromkerrypark.jpg"><img height="299" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/sea-fromkerrypark-lj.jpg" width="512"/></a><br/><em>Seattle from Kerry Park</em></p><p>Back to the hotel to park the car, another ride with the monorail, confusion about the underground bus system, and then Occidental Park with its sculptures. Unfortunately, the light wasn't really good for photography, so we just wandered around Pioneer district, visited China Town (and made a mental note to try the restaurants there next time), back to Pioneer Park, and finally dinner at Cafe Bengodi.<br/><h3>Wednesday, 2012-09-25: EMP and walks</h3><br/>The EMP is a large museum for music and pop culture next to the Space Needle. Their guitar collection gives a great overview about how guitars changes over time, especially the electric guitar. Both the exhibition about Jimmy Hendrix and Nirvana are great to learn more about how both have influence rock and pop music and pop culture in general, while showing from where the artists were coming. There are two great exhibitions in the basement, one about horror movies with exhibits like the original "Slaughtered Lamb" pub sign of An American Werewolf in London, an Alien costume, or a Critters hand-puppet. The other is about Science Fiction in general, with several original costumes and props from Star Trek, a Stargate mask, Neo's coat from The Matrix, and much more. Quite impressive, but I was missing information about the designer, builder and building materials.</p><p>Afterwards we walked to the sculpture park near Pier 70 and then North on the Elliott-Bay-Trail along the waterfront to Centennial Park and Kinnear Park. On the way back we had dinner at Roti Cuisine, an Indian restaurant which was great. Even got a couple of used CDs for cheap at Easy Street Records. Finally, when we got back to the hotel I wrote this report and started to pack my bags, as the next step on our journey will be Rainfurrest.</p><p><a href="http://img.woelfisch.de/sea-spaceneedle.jpg"><img height="512" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/sea-spaceneedle-lj.jpg" width="310"/></a><br/><em>Space Needle, from other side</em></p>