Tag Archives: Linna Freeman

China Trip, October 2012

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This was my third and last trip to China this year and again I found myself flying the old worn Boeing 767 direct flight to Beijing. I truly believe in direct flights from Seattle, so I don’t have much choice from Delta when it comes to flying direct to China. The last few international flights I have flown I have been fortunate enough to get upgraded to first class; this makes a huge difference when you are on an 11 hour flight. Leaving customs with my one piece of luggage and heading out to the taxi line I got that familiar sniff of Beijing’s nasty polluted air.

Delta has one of the latest time-slots for landing at the Beijing Capital Airport, which usually lands around 11:00 p.m., but coming in late does have advantages…a short taxi line and considerable less traffic. The taxi line was maybe a 5 minute wait and when it was my turn, the airport taxi porter pointed me towards an unofficial taxi or a non-metered taxi. I quickly bellowed out bullshit and a few other 4 letter words; he got the message that I was only driving off in an official metered taxi! I am not your usual blue-eyed tourist and I wasn’t about to let these local yokels scam me. China is on a national holiday and if I was actually leaving the airport during the day, it would have taken me at least one hour to my downtown hotel, but…at 11:30 p.m. it was only a 15 minute cab ride.

The next day started off with a huge buffet breakfast and an hour workout at in the hotel gym. I was very surprised when I walked out for the first time to catch a taxi to the 798 Art District, the sky was actually blue and air smelled clean. When in Beijing, one must visit the 798 Art District www.798district.com. Linna (my beautiful wife) flew in on the same flight I did but just a day later; I took a taxi to meet her coming out of customs.

Since I had business in Xuzhou, Wuxi and Wujiang the following week we were off to Shanghai. After landing we started our day at the Yuyuan Market area for a little shopping, it’s part of the beautiful Yu Garden. I picked up two oil paintings and one of the paintings was a fake Van Gough, cheesy in a way…but vogue in my world. Linna picked up a bunch of silk scarfs for herself and for gifts. For all the times we have been in Shanghai Linna and I haven’t been up to the Pearl Tower together. The last time I was up in the Tower was 2003, during the SARS outbreak; they had heat monitors that you had to go walk through.

We finished the day off at a restaurant on the Bund with views to die for called New Heights, which is part of Three on the Bund restaurants www.threeonthebund.com It has a gorgeous terrace overlooking the river and the Pudong District. The food didn’t match the view though, it reminded me of a local restaurant in Seattle, Salty’s…great view but the food can be a hit or miss. The next night we had the opposite dining experience; food to die for and the view only so so. Lost Heaven www.lostheaven.com.cn is located in the Bund area and specializes in Yunnan dishes that are incredible. The dark, rich décor and romantic spotlighting provided the perfect atmosphere for a wonderful dinner; after dinner we headed to their cozy outdoor lounge for a nightcap.

Our last day in the Shanghai area was spent mainly in Wujiang, a city due west. After my business meeting we found ourselves exploring Tong Li; this beautiful water town is about an hour train ride due west of Shanghai.

The last full day was spent back in Beijing visiting Linna’s good friend Rebecca Liu. We had dinner at 1949, one of the best places to eat Beijing Duck.

Turtlehead Peak Hike, September 2012

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Turtlehead Peak
Date: September 27, 2011
Difficulty: 5 out of 10
Distance: 5 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 2,000 ft.
Time: 2 to 3 hours
Location: Red Rock Canyon, 30 Minutes West of Las Vegas
Users Group: Hikers Only
Permits: $7.00 Park Fee
Trail Conditions: Dry all the way to the summit.
Hiking with: Myself

When in Vegas, one needs a small hike to workout the excessive food and drink. Turtlehead Peak is a perfect hike to complete this task; it’s only a 30 minute drive due west of Vegas and it has a 360 view on the summit. I did this hike a year ago March with my wife Linna, but this time she decided to stay and shop with a close Vegas friend, Jie Liu.

By the time I started around 11:30 a.m. the temperature was in the mid 80’s and eventually warmed up to the low 90’s. The trail was empty and only saw 6 people on the trail all day. I was up and back in 2 1/2 hours and burned over 1,600 calories.

Mt. Dickerman Hike, September 2012

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Mount Dickerman
Date: September 22, 2012
Difficulty: 6 out of 10
Distance: 8.6 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 3,875 Feet
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Near Verlot, Washington (Mountain Loop Highway)
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass
Trail Conditions: Dry all the way to the summit.
Hiking with: Linna Freeman, Garth Heuchert, Patricia Chow, Ben Baker & Macho the dog wonder.

Linna (my beautiful wife) wanted to hike Mt. Dickerman for a while now so she coordinated this excursion with a few friends. Linna gets bored of my I-90 hikes and has been starting to enjoy the Mountain Loop Highway trails located north of Highway 2 in Washington.

The Mountain Loop Highway connects the towns of Granite Falls, Verlot and Darrington, Washington. It is paved for 34 miles from Granite Falls to Barlow Pass (2349′) where the highway becomes unpaved for 13 miles and then paved again for the remaining 9 miles to Darrington. Portions of the unpaved section were closed for several years due to flood damage, the Mountain Loop officially reopened on June 25, 2008.

The 360 view on top of Dickerman is to die for and the forecast called for party sunny skies which was good enough for us. As you can tell from the pictures the forecast was wrong, the weather was like soup on top and there was no view to be had. Linna threw out a proclamation that we must come back to capture the beautiful views that Dickerman has to offer. For more details on the Mt. Dickerman hike click here bit.ly/OSSuyI.

Mount Pilchuck Hike, September 2012

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Mount Pilchuck
Date: September 1, 2012
Difficulty: 5 out of 10
Distance: 5.4 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 2,200 Feet
Time: 3 to 4 hours
Location: Near Verlot, Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Northwest Forest Pass
Trail Conditions: Dry all the way to the look-out tower.
Hiking with: Linna Freeman, Mike & Michelle Curry

Olive Huang organized this hike and the starting time was 11:00 a.m. at the trailhead. The only problem, we pretty much all showed up at different times. It all worked out though, we all met on top and enjoyed lunched together.

Lake Melakwa Hike, August 2012

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Denny Creek Trail to Melakwa Lake
Date: August 12, 2012
Difficulty: 5 out of 10
Distance: 9 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 2,300 Feet
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Near North Bend, Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass
Trail Conditions: Dry all the way to the Melakwa Lake.
Hiking with: Linna Freeman, Cathrine Howe, Beatrice He, Andreas Wieberneit and Macho the wonderdog.

I haven’t hiked up Denny Creek to Melakwa Lake this year and knowing that all the ice was gone from the lake it was time to gather a few friends to enjoy a body numbing experience. Linna (my wife) invited a couple that she recently met in Seattle, Andreas Wieberneit & Beatrice He. We all met up at exit 17, off of I-90 along with another friend, Cathrine Howe.

It was a sunny day with temperatures in the eighties, so by the time we got to the trailhead we had to park along the road due to the amount of people; I figured there would be many on a warm sunny Saturday. After the 4 1/2 mile hike up to lake I was more than ready for that body numbing experience! Yes, the water was ball shrinking freezing, maybe 36 to 40 degrees. After a nine mile hike on a hot day meant for a cold beer at the North Bend Bar & Grill.

Mt. Elbert Hike, July 2012

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Mt. Elbert
Date: July 12, 2012
Difficulty: 7 out of 10
Distance: 9 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 4,390 feet
Time: 5 to 7 hours
Location: Leadville, Colorado
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: None Required
Trail Conditions: Damp to Dry to the top.
Hiking With: Myself

I usually do something distinctive for my birthday and this year I decided to hike up the highest peak in Colorado, Mt. Elbert at 14,440 feet. This peak is the second highest peak in the lower 48 states behind Mt. Whitney, but is pretty much unknown beyond the state of Colorado. Elbert is a non-technical climb, but can be dangerous if you summit late and get caught in the afternoon thunderstorms.

I picked up my wife Linna at the Denver airport the day before my hike and we drove over to Leadville, it’s the nearest city to the Mt. Elbert north trailhead. We stayed at Motel 8, not a great place but it was only 10 miles away from the trailhead. Leadville is an old mining town that has a certain cool factor to it. It had been raining and lightening all the way into town and I was a little worried about the weather for my summit bid. By the time I woke up at 4:00 a.m. there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

Linna wasn’t hiking with me so we decided that it would be better if she dropped me off at the trailhead and pick me up when I finished so she could keep the car to check out the small historical city during my death march. I got started at the trailhead at 5:30 a.m. and started off with my headlamp until it lightened up some. I must admit I was a little spooked at first being by myself in the dark on a new trail for me. When I was asking people at the hotel about the recommended time to start, I was getting all kinds of answers; it ranged from 4:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m.. If you start by daylight you will be fine. The trail started off fairly easy but got much steeper after ½ mile in. I live at 300 foot elevation in Seattle, so my body wasn’t acclimated to the altitude and I could feel it affecting my body some as I was picking up elevation. The north trailhead where I started is at 10,050 feet and summit is 14,440 feet…so you already start in the clouds.

It was a steady steep climb and I made it to the summit less than 3 hours. There were two people already on the summit so I had one of them use my iPhone to snap the official summit picture. I called Linna to let her know I had summited safely and I would be back in three hours. I also called the office group back in Seattle and they all wished me a happy birthday over the speakerphone. On the descent I called Linna about ½ hour before I was at the bottom for pick-up. She was waiting there for me with a large Americano from the local coffee house.

After changing my sweating clothes at the trailhead, we headed for Aspen where I would spend the rest of my birthday.

China Trip, May 2012

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To travel to China during a national holiday is either brave or just plain stupid. Linna and I decided to visit her family during Golden Week or also called Labor Day holiday which starts May 1st of every year. We took a direct flight from Seattle to Beijing and landed at 10:30 p.m. Even though we flew coach, we were both lucky enough to have our own three row seat. By the time we got to the hotel and I did a few emails, it was about 1:00 a.m. when I hit the sack. Only slept 5 hours, must have been the jet-lag or the 6 hour nap I had on the plane…so I decided to head to the gym for some treadmill action.

Our first day out we headed to the Temple of Heaven which I have never been to. After many pictures, we ventured out to the 798 Art Zone, www.798district.com this was totally cool and I plan on going back when I am in town again and highly recommend this for young and old. I was told there was a huge car exhibition in town, but according to one of our taxi drivers the lines were so long just to get tickets and the traffic to get there was horrendous. I was a little disappointed to skip this, especially when I am in the market for a new car.

Again I woke up early on the second day and decided to head to the gym again; this might be a first for me going to a hotel gym in two consecutive days! We got an earlier start on our taxi ride into the city center and got to Tiananmen Square by 8:30 a.m. We were not the only ones with this idea; about a million other Chinese people were thinking the same thing. The Square was filled with a sea of black round hair tops. This might have been my sixth or seventh visit at the Square, but for some reason I had many young kids and their parents wanted to take a picture with me on this visit. Could it have been country people that came in for the national holiday and have never seen a foreigner before? At first we decided that the numerous lines into the Forbidden City which is directly across the 8 lane street was so long we decided to forgo it, but I wanted somewhere high enough to get a great shot of the amount of people in the square….so we braved it and actually got into the temple in about 30 minutes. After a bunch of photos and touring the Forbidden City for my fourth time, we headed to the Jing Shan Park on hill, this provided a great view of the whole Forbidden City compound; it would have been a much better view if it wasn’t for the damn smog. It was another nasty day for the smog, which was the same on my last visit in October when I was visiting with my friend Rick Massie. I got on the US Embassy’s website goo.gl/GtRpn and checked out the smog index for Beijing and of course there was no surprise here, the alert level was at hazardous.

Our third day we flew to Xian to visit Linna’s parents and her two brothers, a two hour flight from Beijing. The whole family was waiting for us when we landed; it’s always a treat to see all of the hands flying when you come around the corner into baggage claim. The rented van we had was old and beat-up, but there wasn’t a lot to choose from. Linna’s brother Lin Bo was our driver through-out our stay in Xian, it took me a little while to get use to his driving. It took us about 45 minutes to arrive at Linna’s parents’ house via a well maintained highway; most all new highways have tolls and they are expensive in Chinese terms and even quite high for us Americans. We ended up paying out nearly $250 in tolls throughout our stay in Xian.

We stayed in a Chinese hotel in Linna’s hometown of Yao; it was probably the best hotel we have stayed in so far in this smaller city which is just North of Xian. Linna’s brother Lin Tao bought me some lovely Vietnamese ground coffee knowing that Chinese hotels never have coffee in the rooms. Next day I put this coffee to use, but I didn’t have any filters to strain the ground coffee so I used one of Linna’s hose stockings, it worked quite well. After coffee and breakfast, we took off to see family out in the countryside.

The trip to the countryside is part of every visit when we visit Linna’s parents. This is really a treat, because when you visit anyone out in the country, you know you will be treated with a homemade meal with fresh hand-picked vegetables and handmade noodles. During our visit there was a three day wake going on for a local villager that passed away a couple days ago; we walked about five minutes to another household where the deceased was at. People were chatting, some were preparing food and others were kneeling down around a small memorial crying. Of course when I walked in, people were staring…for good reason, what was a blue eyed foreigner doing here in the countryside of China? We finished the day off with Chun Bing at a local restaurant in Yao. Chun Bing is almost like a huge crepe that you get to fill with pork, vegetables and noodles. The next day we took our piece of shit rental caravan and drove over 200 miles north to go see the Hukou waterfalls. This is part of the Yellow river and the exceptional beauty was worth the trip.

Bend Trip, April 2012

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Jim and Ione Darmiento was nice enough to invite Linna and I for a three day weekend in Bend, Oregon with their daughter and her husband. Bend is home to one of many microbreweries and to Mirror Pond which where our four bedroom rented house was located, right on the Deschutes river. We drove down on Thursday which was around 6 hours of driving from Seattle. They were barbecuing up chicken and hamburgers when we showed up.

Friday was mainly checking out the city starting with breakfast at a local cafe. I stopped at REI to get some local hiking maps and get the inside scoop on snowshoe trails and where dogs are allowed. After spending money at REI we headed for the local Safeway, Linna wanted to cook a huge pot of chicken thighs and vegetables that night for everyone. After Linna marinated the chicken, we decided to adventure out some and check out the snowshoe trailheads and determine if there was enough quality snow or not. After checking out three snow-parks, I was leaning toward this summer trail next to a snow-park which was directly across the highway from Mt. Bachelor. It had good snow and elevation, but it didn’t allow dogs. Jim and family went skiing as Linna and I were exploring, but we both made it back about the same time. Jim and I checked out the neighborhood micro-brewery before dinner, 10 Barrel Brewing www.10barrel.com that had outdoor seating…we didn’t have much time but we able to down two powerful pilsners before dinner was served.

Next day was snowshoe day and I decided to snowshoe up the summer trail on Tumalo Mountain even though dogs were not allowed. As we were getting our equipment on, a sheriff in a large Dodge Ram pick-up pulled in and parked for about 10 minutes, by the time we were ready to go he took off. We quickly got Macho out of the kennel and headed up. The climb was steady and straight up….almost perfect conditions for snowshoeing. The higher we got, the less trees there were to take cover from the warm sun. The whole weekend was in the mid-seventies and sunny, so waterproof sunscreen was a must. We made it to the top in about 1 1/2 hours and spent about a hour on top having our peanut-butter sandwich and taking pictures. That night we all went out to Chris’s Grill www.gregsgrill.com for dinner.

Buenos Aires Trip, March 2012

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This trip was solely based on Linna’s 40th birthday on February 28th; we wanted to celebrate her special day in a warm country and a new place we have never been before.  I flew in from Sao Paulo on Friday and Linna flew in the next day, February 25th.  I warned Linna about a $140 entry fee for first time foreigners; this payment is like a Visa expense, but you pay it right before you step in-line to customs.  We both had to take a taxi from airport to Hilton and I waited for Linna outside the hotel for her to show up.  What are the chances for Linna and I to have the same taxi driver on two separate days…well it happened.  She was charged 180 pesos and I was charged 170 pesos.

First day out we headed to the world’s widest avenue “Avenida 9 de Julio” with 18 automobile lanes.  At the center of the avenue is a mini Washington Monument called “Obelisco”.  Still on foot we headed to the outdoor market in Recoleta and purchased a few items.  We wanted to visit the Recoleta Cemetery which was in the same area, but….it was closed by the time we got there.  We stopped by a couple of outdoor cafés before we made it home that night. 

Next day was off to another market, Feria de Mataderos….Linna thought there would be a small parade and a huge market, but we had the wrong date.  It was pretty much empty streets with a few low scale vendors; we ended up having lunch in the neighborhood at cute outdoor café “Los Campeones”.  Since we missed the Recoleta Cemetery, we taxied back and looked for the famous Eva Perón tomb.  We probably walked around 45 minutes before we decided to head to the entrance and look at the map for Eva; even after looking at the map it still took us 10 minutes to find her tomb.  That night Linna booked us a tango show at El Viejo Almacen, I recommend at least seeing one show….now that I have, I am good for a while.

Fourth Day: Like most people, Linna and I decided to take one day excursion to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay via a speedy ferry boat which took one hour. This is more of a tourist town then anything, but…still worth the visit. We decided to walk through-out the city and we really regret not renting a car or even a golf-cart that are available. We were so tired of walking in the heat….it took all the fun out of the day (now we know!). Within a short walk you can check out some really old architect in the historic quarter like the city gate and wooden drawbridge and lighthouse nearby. The Basilica of the Holy Sacrament is really cool, it was built by stone in 1808 by the Portuguese. After a few more historical sites we stopped for lunch before we decided to walk to the Plaza de toros Real de San Carlos. It was built in 1909 for bullfighting, but it only had 8 fights before the country banned bullfighting in 1912. The building is fenced in due to the decomposing structure, but Linna and I found a hole in the fence and checked it out. It was this attraction that we walked over two miles in the hot sun to see that did us in for the day. The ferry ride back was up in the VIP seating which I highly recommend. The seats are much bigger and they start you off with a complimentary glass of Champagne.

Fifth Day: After a few days in Buenos Aires, we wanted to adventure out to the countryside, so we found an Estancia (large ranch) about 60 miles outside of Buenos Aires in the Pampa’s region called La Bamba www.labambadeareco.com Linna and I took a taxi back to the airport to pick up a rental car from Avis. I find that you really can’t explore a city or country without driving through it. Of course, without navigation it would be almost impossible so I always get a TomTom or Garmin to help me along. From the airport we winded through neighborhoods before we finally hit a highway. The road from the highway to the estancia was a dirt road, but…since it had rained days before, it was a mud road.

Winthrop Ski Trip, January 2012

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Jim Darmiento, Rick Massie, my wife and I planned a trip to Winthrop, Washington for some cross-country skiing. Much of Washington didn’t have the normal snow fall for this time of year and our ski trip wasn’t looking good. This all changed a couple days before our departure from Seattle, we received a major snowstorm that hit the whole state. Luckily Jim drove his F-250 4-wheel drive truck over with 500 pounds of sandbags in back. After two mountain passes and numerous white-outs we made it to our cabin after 4 hours of driving.

Since our cabin was just across the river from Winthrop, we had dinner in the small village our first night at the Old School House Brewery www.oldschoolhousebrewery.com. This place is a local favorite and also attracts all the tourist too. The second night was Chinese hotpot that Linna Wei put together, after our first day of skiing nearly ten miles, spicy hotpot was the answer. Before we went out the second day, Linna and I cooked up some fluffy pancakes and thick bacon. We headed right out after breakfast and skied nine miles. After another great day out in the winter wonderland, Linna and I headed back to the cabin for a nap and other activities. For dinner, we headed back into Wintrop and hit the Old School House Brewery again, this time there were two guys playing music, Tim Snider and Redwood Son www.bit.ly/z2E4TP. I didn’t record this video, but found it on You Tube and it was the night we were there…I remember the lady dancing in front of us.

Sunday, was pack up and head back to Seattle. Since it was still snowing and the passes would be nasty, we decided to drive one pass via Stevens Pass versus Blewett and Snoqualmie. It was slow going over Stevens, but as we descended….snow become rain and then we just had wet roads home. After unpacking and taking a quick shower, Linna and I ended our evening at the Paramount Theater seeing David Garrett www.david-garrett.com.