09:26 AM Wed Jan 21, 2004 EST
As I left Seattle, I stopped for dinner with an old friend from Lincoln, NH who lives out here now: Nancy Dumont. She took me to a great Afghani restaurant (called Kahbul), where the waiter, Ahman, was a riot. I love it when the folks who wait in you have a sense of humor, and will banter with the customers. In that same light, I ought to mention Tom, our waiter down near the Pike Street Market, at Etta’s Seafood. Both he and Ahman steered us toward the better dishes on the menu, even though they weren’t the most expensive. I imagine folks like these often hear criticism about the food or service, so I hope this praise gets back to these purveyors of good tidings, too.
And while heaping praise, I can’t forget the woman who cut my hair. Since I have been on the road for nearly a month already, you can imagine my mop was getting a tad shaggy. But you never know whose scissors you’re going to run into in a strange land. I usually don’t consider a haircut a big deal, but when you have to perform programs in front of lots of people, and look as respectable as you can, you really don’t want to suffer a hack job. But not to worry, the woman at Cherry Hair Design on Aurora Ave. in North Seattle, did a fantastic job (I look more respectable than I have in years!). And it was only ‘leven bucks!
I stopped off to see another friend, Rene Stoops, and her partner Chris (and I am totally spacing on his last name—so sorry!). They showed me all around Portland, Oregon the night of January 18th, and before I left the next day, we all enjoyed some fresh Krispy Kreme doughnuts, hot off the presses. For those of you who are like me who are used to (and quite happy with) Dunkin Donuts, or Honey Bee, or Tim Horton’s (now I’m getting all hungry again), the lure of Krispy Kreme is that you get to observe the whole beautiful process, and at the end they stuff a dripping fresh doughnut into your maw (well, they just hand it to you; I did the actual stuffing). Ack! I have to talk about something beside food (remember—I’m still at Berkeley waiting for supper; class is already ½ hour long).
Yesterday, I did a program in the Science Museum in Arcata, CA, for a group of home-schoolers, one of whom had a pretty interesting weather observation story to tell. That, too, coming up on The Weather Notebook. The museum is really neat—they have managed to pack in incredible about into a very small space, and yet, it doesn’t feel crowded in the least. The museum, from what I understand, is run by Humboldt State University, on whose radio station (KHSU) airs our show, and with whom I had done a fun interview the previous day.
My goal was to be in or near San Francisco that evening, but I knew it was going to be a late night, as there was a very special place I had to visit.
Twice in my life have I been so awestruck by things in the natural world, that my best intellectual response was to gape and giggle uncontrollably. The first was in 1991, on my first cross-country trip. As I entered Utah’s Arches National Park, red sandstone walls hundreds of feet high—sheer faces accentuated by the setting sun—rose to my left at I drove to the campsite. It was amazing.
The other time was in 1998, as I led a bicycle trip for high school students, from Seattle to San Francisco. On the north coast of California, the rains and fogs seem constant to the locals. But all that precipitation allows a tiny seed to sprout, a seed that takes the searing heat of a forest fire to burst into the world. That seed can live for two thousand years, and grow to 300 feet tall, with a base girth of perhaps 50 feet. This is the home of the redwoods.
These giants—the tallest life forms on earth—lost none of their inspiration in the years I have been away. The pictures I took will not begin to show how big these beings are, as I could not fit a whole tree into the frame, even at the widest angle. The photo I chose to represent the redwoods shows the Subaru for scale. Pretty big, huh. Needless to say, I got into the Bay Area very, very late.
Tomorrow, I am off to the home of our great tour sponsor, Davis Instruments, just down the road in Hayward, CA. I’ll tell you all about that soon. Take care.
Bryan
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Dec. 23, North Conway, NH - WMWV interview
Dec. 28, Rochester, NY - 1pm PUBLIC PRESENTATION Rochester Museum of Science
Dec. 29, Buffalo, NY - 11am PUBLIC PRESENTATION Buffalo Museum of Science, WBFO
interview
Jan. 3, Madison, WI - 10-noon PUBLIC PRESENTATION Madison Children's Museum
Jan. 5, New Town, ND - KMHA interview
Jan. 6-7, Bozeman, MT
Jan. 8-9, Missoula, MT:
***Jan. 8, 8-11:30 am Hawthorne School
***Jan. 8, 12:30-3 pm Paxson School
***Jan. 8, 3:30-5 pm Montana Public Radio
***Jan. 8, 6-6:30 pm live on KECI-TV
***Jan. 8, 7-8:30 pm PUBLIC PRESENTATION at Missoula Public Library
***Jan. 9, 9-11:30 a.m. Lowell School
Jan. 10-16, Seattle, WA - WeatherFest and American Meteorological Society Annual
Meeting
Jan. 15, Seattle Country Day School, 1:30-2:30 pm
Jan. 17-18, Portland, OR
Jan. 19, Arcata, CA - 1 pm interview KHSU
Jan. 20, Arcata, CA - 11:30 am program for home-school students, Humboldt State U.
Natural History
Jan. 21 -22, Bay Area, CA
Jan. 21, Berkley, CA - 10:55 am-2:45 pm, Longfellow Magnet Middle School
Jan. 22, Hayward, CA - 11 am-3 pm Davis Instruments
Jan. 23, Reno, NV
Jan. 24, Tahoe/Elko
Jan. 25-27, Salt Lake City
Jan. 26, Program at Indian Hills Sch. SLC 9:15-10:15 First grade
Jan. 26, Logan, UT - 1 pm interview at Utah Public Radio
Jan. 27, Program for U. of Utah Meteorology Dept. 3:30 p.m.
Jan. 28, Program at Indian Hills Sch. SLC 9:15-10:15 Fourth Grade
Jan. 27, LA - 12 pm Central Time, remote interview w/ Red River Radio
Jan. 28-29, Boulder, CO
Jan. 29, Nederland (CO) Elementary School, 12:30-1:45 pm
Jan. 29, Nederland, CO - 4 pm, PUBLIC PRESENTATION, Wild Bear Center for Nature
Discovery
Jan. 30, Lincoln/Omaha
Jan. 31, Jefferson City, MO - 2 pm, PUBLIC PRESENTATION, Missouri State Museum
Feb. 2, Fort Wayne, IN - 4 pm interview WBNI
Feb. 3-4, Marietta, OH - WMRT and WMOA interviews
Feb. 4, Marietta, OH - 4:30 pm, PUBLIC PRESENTATION, McDonough Center, Marietta
College
Feb. 6, 1 pm Haviland Ave. School, Audubon, NJ
Feb. 7-9, Philadelphia/Cherry Hill, NJ - Misc. area schools & museums, Subaru of
America
Feb. 7&8, Philadelphia - 11 am PUBLIC PRESENTATION Philadelphia Academy of Natural
Sciences
Feb. 11, Conway, NH - 3:30pm - Welcome Home reception and PUBLIC
PRESENTATION at Profile
Subaru
Feb. 12-13, Mount Washington, NH - Program atop the northeast's highest peak!
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