Vacation: Part Last, the Video Journey

Ah, nonsensical videos from vacation, mostly devoid of people, so you can feel like you're sharing the grandeur of Colorado with me first person shooter style.  If you feel like looping, you can hang out in the windy mountains at 12,000 feet virtually forever, embedded in a New Age Scooter video.



Or spend 22 seconds watch a river in blackbox.  Watch for Jen's watch!


This is The Mist, coming to get you.  It just needs spooky music.  I should put spooky music behind all my vacation videos.  They'd be more interesting.


Moving camera and more river.  If you're easily nauseated, prepare for fast movement.


A river near Vail that's not as noisy as a river in the Rocky Mountains.


See, Rocky Mountain National Park rivers are noisier.  Do you have to pee now?

Flooding

We drove to downtown St. Paul today to take the car for an open air ride, see the flooding at the Mississippi, have stomach-churning amounts of ice cream at the new Nelson's in St. Paul on Snelling (we shared two child sizes between the three of us and still couldn't finish), and do a bit of antiquing at the nearby stores on Snelling.

The Mississippi was wild, particularly as we were at the Showboat only 8 days ago.  At that time, you could walk out to the steamboat.  Today there was at least a block of water between the shore and the boat and the ticket office was deep in water.  You can see where the walkway down to the shoreline is in this photo - those flags mark the top of the stairs.


The Mississippi was actually down a little from where it must have crested.  Hopefully it will go down a bit more before all the water from later today kicks in. It looked like someone was dumping a bucket of water on the neighborhood.


There's the Showboat and the tickethouse.  Understandable why the U of MN is putting Jekyll and Hyde off for a while.


The playground.  We could see the St. Paul Yacht Club on the way to the park and it was way out into the water.  That's not unusual as it tends to go under with even a little bit of flooding, but it seemed excessive even for their location.  I usually ride down into St. Paul along the cliffs which come out at the Club.  There must be a mile or more of water along the trail which would stop passage even if the trail wasn't closed because the cliffs were loose.


This is the picture they're showing on the news. Now it's on my blog too.  They have receptions there.  I hear they moved a lot of weddings and receptions to lower town St. Paul to sooth the tears of upset brides to be.


It's the apocalypse.  Wildlife reclaiming what was previously a human area.  I'm surprised lions didn't start chasing us like something out of Will Smith in I Am Legend.  Swimming lions.


Not our footprints.  Going in the water is a no-no.  These are the footprints of two people who were yelled at by the mounted police.  Eryn was excited to see the police on horses.  She had no sympathy for the barefoot waders.  We left after talking to Kuz's cousin for a while, who was undoubtedly taking much better pictures with his 7200 than I was with my iPhone, to go find ice cream and an antique cat key hanger.  We pulled into the garage just as the rain came down.  Good timing to a good afternoon outing.

Presents for Friends (real friends, not the bike this time)

I'm hoping Mean Mr. Mustard doesn't get all excited and think this is what I got him for his birthday when he notices the picture.  I have his birthday present, and he knows it, because I Facebooked the two-stage acquisition, but this isn't it.

My friend Steve from work, who I've worked with since I was contractor there almost 13 years ago, "picked up" cancer (the kind where they think it's more likely you'll be dead soon than alive) about the same time I was in the hospital.  Following his progress was one of the very first things I did as soon as I could pick up a smartphone with an internet connection, and I'd been thinking about getting him these posters as he's a huge Serenity/Firefly fan.  Unlike flowers or food, they imply you expect someone to live a very long time so they can enjoy them.

The hospital stay and confinement to the basement sort of derailed my intent, as I wanted to make sure they had frames and hangers.  Giving people gifts they have to work on to use is bull****.  And Goodwill, the source of odd frames that don't cost $80 a piece, didn't have much in the 1'x2' category. But my father in law ordered frames constructed for me, and my wife got the hardware installed, so I finally got to take them in last week.  Steve was very excited to find them in his cube.  And I know they're a good gift, because I'm a little jealous he has them and I don't.

Steve's numbers are looking good, and I just saw a Caring Bridge post that says they're even better this week.  He's going to make it and he will get to enjoy looking at Kaylee, Zoe, River, and Inara for a long time.  No Saffron though - these are only the "good" girls.

High Water

Before Chilifest, we went down to the Minnesota River (what the hell...I went on RAGBRAI and to Elroy Sparta last year? I was a bigger slacker this year than I imagined) to check out the high water. Either Pooteewheet or I cross it on 77 every day, so it was obvious it was running high as it was touching the bottom of the old train/bicycling bridge. We went down to the frontage road near Eryn's old school (now bankrupt) and ran into this sign. The water was higher than I thought.

The model boat club is serious about their boating area. The water starts before you even enter.

Remember to turn right. Turn left, and you'll end up in the river.

Eryn. Where the sidewalk ends. Or the road.

A bird house suitable for ducks. Or fish.