Looking Down

Let me start by telling you about me and looking down.

I. DON'T. DO. LOOKING. DOWN.

Well, the fact is that I do, but let me explain that it is the fact that in order to look down you have to go up that is the problem.

I do go up.

I would not be able to be a hiker if I didn't sometimes go up. Up is where the best hikes are.

~

When I was eight my sister was eighteen and a recent high school graduate. The family tradition was a graduation trip--the whole family. Our trip took us to Chicago, where we had a room on the seventeenth floor of the Conrad Hilton Hotel. Once we got moved in, my Dad took my sister and brother and headed down the hall. Being an obnoxious and curious eight year old, I followed. I think my Mother knew where they were going and had more sense.

Where he was taking them was to the fire escape so that they could look down. I realized what my mother knew already about herself and probably about me--WE. DON'T. DO. LOOKING. DOWN.

~

 

but

 

~

Knowing this, even for the past sixty years I continue to go up--and stand petrified as far from the edge as I can and look down.

Yes. I have, over the years, been to the top of the Washington Monument, the Empire State Building, the Space Needle, the roof of St. Peter's Basilica, the roof of St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, and who knows how many other UP places.

~

 

Let me tell you the story of going to the top of the dome of Santa Maria dei Fiori in Florence--the world famous Duomo.

 

I spent a college year at Gonzaga in Florence. Having made many weekend excursions to various parts of Italy, some classmates and I decided to do some local touristy stuff. To get to the cupola at the top you climb a stairway between the outer and inner shells of the dome. It is narrow and steep and winds around the dome to reach the top.

 

As we were going up, others were coming down. That included a small group of Franciscan Friars in their brown habits--one being a very diminutive older (to us) balding (or tonsured?) man whose voice we heard as we came nearer and continued as we went up and they continued down. What was he saying? Well, roughly translated from the Italian which I spoke quite adequately at the time: "If I ever--puff puff--get my hands--puff puff--on the idiot--puff puff--who talked me into--puff puff"...and the rest faded as we moved farther and farther apart.

 

 

 

So, as each opportunity to go UP comes along, I think of that little friar so many years ago, and the fire escape in Chicago, and I go UP  and stand back petrified and look down.

 

~

 sometimes
~

When I was in India in 2000, my group went out to the edge for a group picture.

You can see them here making their way to the edge of the cliff. You can see that they would be looking down on the valley. there they are on the edge.

 

without me.

When we traveled to Russia in 1998, we hiked in the Stolby National Park in Siberia. It is a famous place for rock climbing. I climbed to the top of one of the large boulders and my son or husband took my picture looking down.

They had to do that because otherwise the rest of the family back home would not believe I had done the climb. They know I don't do UP.

 

In fact, when the whole family went to Silverwood Theme Park a few years before that, hubby and I had ridden one of the larger roller coasters. When we regrouped for lunch the kids did not believe me, so we had to ride it again with them as witnesses.

 

In 2010, when we hiked in the Highlands of Scotland, we were climbing some of the Corbetts. The Corbetts are "mountains" that are between 2000 and 3000 feet in elevation. Munros are over 3000 feet. You can see here that we were looking down. Elizabeth is much closer to the edge than I am.





After Scotland we traveled to Wales, where we hiked with Liz and George and looked down on the sea.

 

 

and then to London, where we looked down on the Thames, the Houses of Parliament and the Embankment from the London Eye.



 In Seattle, we have looked down from Seattle's "Big Wheel" and from the Space Needle.

 

This Spring we looked down into the Grand Canyon at Phantom Ranch.

 

And a couple of years ago I looked down the stairway at Maryhill Museum at Sasha and Lisa.

On one of  our first snowshoeing treks we looked down from Nisqually Vista at the snowboarders below the glacier.

 

It was certainly not the only occasion at Mt. Rainier to look down.

White River

Road to Sunrise from Sourdough Ridge Trail.

Busy day at Sunrise.

 

But my favorite picture looking down is this one from a flight from Seattle to Phoenix about twelve or thirteen years ago.

 

 

 

 See if any of the other headbanger members are like me, not wanting to go up, but finding some way to take a picture looking down. Their links are in my sidebar near the top.

 



Starts with a "C"

I didn't have to go far to find some things that start with C for our header challenge this week. Our trip to Arizona a couple of weeks ago yielded quite a few, and as I had not been thinking about it till I saw Fishing Guy mention it on Facebook, I was glad I had a reminder. As I am the furthest west of the group and when I do not post ahead of time am usually offered a reminder when some of those east of me post, I am either the first or the last to post.

Then totally forgot again after some stress this morning.

So I was glad to find these possibilities and more in that recent file.

Starting with a CHICKEN with a bad hair day.

LOL--that chick was sooooooo funny,

Maybe not a funny looking as the javelina, but the javelina does not start with a C.

Some more from Bearizona--first, some actual CATS:

 Bobcats, that is. A lot of the animals at Bearizona started with B--bears, buffalo, bobcats, big horn sheep. The foxes start with F but here they are CAVORTING around the COMPOUND.

We took in a spring training game while we were in the Phoenix area, so here is the CATCHER actually catching..

 

I have always said that it would be a lot shorter trip between Washington and Arizona if it weren't for that big hole in the ground.

So this time we went along it rather than totally around it--well, we went along it in order to go around it. The Grand CANYON.

 Here are some folks down in the Canyon enjoying the COLORADO River close up. The raft trip is a two week trip. The other options are to raft to this point and hike up to the rim--one week. Or hike down to the river and meet the group there and take the second half of the trip.

I wish I could have done that some time.

So what will I choose for my header? One of these or something totally different that comes to mind when I finish? What will the other headbangers do? We can find out by following the links in my sidebar.

Our Header theme for this week is recent pictures

I've had plenty of opportunity to for pictures this last week as we have been traveling. There are a lot that I have missed because I was the one driving most of the time. I do not encourage taking pictures while you are yourself behind the wheel. There were quite a few times when I would think, "oh, that would make a great picture!" So often then you have to emblazon it on your memory for your own gratification either because you must concentrate on the driving or else you were well past it before you could get the camera out.

We have had wonderful weather--almost too hot--and enjoyed the delight of presenters at our conference who had come from Chicago or other snowed in parts east. We followed that with a side trip to Arizona where our grandchildren were on Spring Break.

Here are some of these recent pictures--I must choose one for the header by the time I get to the end of the list.

Ranney was driving as we topped Satus Pass and saw Mt. Hood in the distance. Hood was not our only mountain view.

 Hi Neighbors. Two of the curious who peeked out when we stopped for gas.

 Lunchtime

 Looking down from the Convention Center balcony.

 Ears.

 More ears. We picnicked with the kids at the park for supper.

 Sunset ducks.

 Spring growth

 When we returned to the house I spotted the artwork at the new neighbors. The kids moved here in 2008 and much of the neighborhood remained vacant until another developer came in last year and filled in all the vacant lots.

Our theme this week was chosen to fill in Craver Vii's turn in naming the theme. We miss his participation in our challenge, as he added some wackiness each week. I hope that when his job responsibilities settle down, he will return to join us.

The other headbangers, in the meantime, are linked in my sidebar. Give them a visit.

Right Place--Right Time

Why is this the right place at the right time? Until this year we had never been to the Arizona desert in the Spring. Our usual trip is in November, and beautiful as it can be, the desert is not in bloom then. So our trip for our grandson's graduation was the right place and the right time to not only celebrate, but to see the blooms on the saguaro.

On the same trip we were in the right place and right time to see--WHAT? A COYOTE IN THE CITY PARK? That's right. Maybe a more conventional interpretation of right time right place.

Sporting events provide some exciting opportunities to get right time shots. We caught the "WAVE" when we went to a Mariners game this summer.

and the action at the goal at the Priests vs. Seminarians soccer game. Block it Fr. Jaime!!!!

And you had to get up in the middle of the night to be at the right place and right time for the eclipse--one of a few this year.

Finished

I am the one who came up with the theme "Finished" and now I am stuck trying to come up with a post and a header. What was I thinking.

At the time I was finished with a lot of work and was on the spot. I forgot it was my turn.

So I started thinking what might be finished.

I remembered crossing Hoover Dam and watching the construction of the bridge that now takes the pressure of traffic off the road there. (It once took us three hours to travel about twenty miles to cross from Arizona into Nevada.) Once the bridge was finished, we crossed the bridge and there was no place to stop for a picture.

So I thought again.

On another trip to the Southwest, we cheered on our son-in-law as he finished his Ironman race.

Here are some pictures from that day.


After a 2+ mile swim, the Ironman competitors bike 112 miles.

The bike segment is followed by a marathon run--26.1 miles.

It's a long day.

Wheelchair athletes also compete.

Here's Greg nearing the finish of his marathon run.

I wonder what the others finished this week on their headers. I will have to go take a look from the links in my sidebar when I finish posting myself. You can find them there, too.

Headbangers go underground this week

And so did we when we were in Arizona last month when we visited the Titan Missile Museum outside Tucson. It was pretty much ALL underground.

Here we are looking down at a genuine piece of America's cold war defense. There were several Titan Missile bases in the southeast Arizona area, and this one was preserved to show us the details of life and security in the cold war.

And down down down we go.

Through the corridors and double locks and super sealing doors to the control room where we saw the room sized computer space of the original system which was reduced in size through the years of the missile readiness. Another part of the readiness was something some of the younger members of the tour had never seen--a phone with  a rotary dial.

After a mock launch we returned to the silo--now looking up.

Now, you may be wondering exactly what the header image is. It is a view of the missile's first stage engine.  Now to be frank, it was not down in the silo but was on display on the grounds before we reached the silo, but it is by far too great a visual to pass by.

Did the others manage to go underground?

Check from their links in my sidebar to see how they managed.
Look back to previous posts to see how my search for underground went this week.