Memorial Day Weekend

Summer is finally getting closer! After a brief hot spell earlier in May, it got pretty cool again for the last two weeks. That wasn't all bad: it turned out to be great in terms of wind in the gorge and I have been in Rowena every weekend for three weeks in a row.

On May 10th we had a solar storm strong enough to drive the northern lights all the way down to Oregon - unfortunately we slept through that one blissfully unaware. We were supposed to have an encore show the next night and we did stay up late for that one, alas, it was not to be... Haven't crossed that off our bucket list just yet. 

For Memorial Day weekend I took the Friday off as well, which made for a nice 4 day weekend. We started out with a walk in Champoeg on Friday, enjoying a calm morning with very little traffic in the park (except a large class of school children at the very end which utterly destroyed the serenity of the moment - but we were on our way back out at that point 😁).

Saturday was another windsurfing day for me: characteristically gusty this early in the year, the water and air both still equally cold (~14C/58F). But still a lot of fun and some were already in great shape this early in the season:

We went to the coast on Sunday for the first time in about half a year, visiting Lost Creek State Park just south of Newport and enjoyed an uncannily nice day there with no wind and lot's of sunshine.

Photonics West 2024

 It is this time of year again: Photonics West in San Francisco. Rob & Kristen were kind enough to invite me to stay with them, though Rob had to fly to south east Asia on short notice once again. It was fun nevertheless, of course - and my first chance to visit their new home as well as to see Weston.

Photonics West felt like it finally recovered from the pandemic perturbations, both in terms of the quality of the technical talks as well as the number of attendees. The exhibition was as lively as ever, too, running into countless old friends, colleagues, and acquaintances.

Best of all, I didn't catch Covid or any other respiratory virus during my trip and was very happy to return home to Michaela and the furries.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It's a wrap for 2023! After what felt like a long, long year, we enjoyed the calm and quiet of our Christmas break, starting out with a traditional Fondue, followed by unwrapping of the presents and taking our family photo. After that it was just rest and relaxation for a few blissful days. 😁

Good times playing with our new games & toys!

And - while the snow season in the west has been poor - warmest winter in 40 years so far -, Mt. Hood's Timberline is still high enough to have enough snow for some New Year's Day fun:

Happy New Year!

Christmas is almost upon us

Well, let's see what happened in the final two months before Christmas ...

I had taken off the week of Thanksgiving, so we had time to visit the Silverton Christmas market on Nov. 20th, which between a Viennese baker, 'authentic German sausages' and Gingerbread hearts directly imported from Germany was closer to 'the real thing' than expected.

And after a cozy Thanksgiving 'Dinner for two' on Thursday, we made a trip to the coast the next day and visited 'Hug Point' just south of Astoria for the first time:

One week later we were off to the next Christmas market, this time organized by the German-American Society and just for one short Saturday - it was correspondingly crowded with the line to getting in easily extending a full block. While we scored some Christmas cookies (though we passed on the $5 per (!) cookie offerings of the first stand), we skipped the German sausage lunch option, as the line moved at a pace that suggested we may be getting dinner instead...

Michaela got us a very fun buildable advent calendar, which - naturally - is almost complete at this point:

And here is the full size Christmas tree. Merry Christmas!

Roadtrip!

 A little while ago we took our (still) new(ish) ID 4 on a full-day road trip. Yes, driving was the main event of the day :). But we made sure that we picked a scenic route:

Our first stop: Hood River, where we loaded up on coffee and baked goods and charged up the car. Yummy!

Next, we briefly stopped at Jan's favorite wind surfing spot

before heading a little further east and then driving south toward Bend. Eastern Oregon is a whole different beast, much more like Idaho. 

On the way, we stopped at a small park (and waterfall) to stretch our legs.

We briefly charged up again in Madras (juuuust a little, to get us over the hump to Bend) and headed to Bend for some late lunch. 

The last stretch was to Salem and from there, the car essentially knew how to get back home!

All in all, we were on the road for more than 12 hours. I was a bit nervous before the trip because it was the first long trip with a fully electric car, and you kinda depend on the charger network (and on the chargers actually working, which isn't always the case). We did have a small hiccup in Madras (different network), but eventually figured things out. It's nice to be forced to take a break every few hours, although not all chargers are located in scenic locations (think: Parking lot of a Walmart or Safeway...). At least there was no shortage of bathroom breaks :). 

Kitty was also a trooper (alone all day) - snuggle time after we got back home.

And even though this photo is from a different day, I didn't know where else to put it. This is what happens when I get up to go to the bathroom. Privacy, anyone? (Just kidding, I love when they follow me around!)

My trip to Germany

It's been a while since I was in Germany. Originally, we had planned to fly to Ireland in 2020 (and spend a few days in Germany as well), but the pandemic canceled those plans. So, given that I am currently taking a leave of absence and thus didn't have to prep for the Fall semester, I figured this is a great time to spend a week with my Mom and Wiebke. Jan and I decided that I fly alone, so that he can stay with the dogs. Since they're both getting older we just don't want to leave them all alone with a sitter anymore. I think that's a fair compromise at this point. 

On my way to the plane. I packed lightly (just a backpack and a bag) to avoid the check-in. Worked quite well (especially since it was just for a week). 

And guess what - the seat next to me stayed empty! Not only did I have a bit more legroom since I had booked economy plus, no! I had EXTRA legroom with that empty seat next to me. Overall, this was probably the best flight experience I've had so far. 

The plane was a bit delayed (well, about 2 hours delayed) due to a confluence of circumstances. To add to this, the train from Frankfurt to Bebra was also delayed, which means I missed my connection. I ended up in FRA Main Station where I eventually secured another train an hour later. It was hot and humid. I was tired and miserable. And there were so many people there! Not a good start...

Things got better, though, and after a good night's sleep and a cup of coffee I was ready to face the day!

Mom and I went for a walk, went shopping, had some coffee/ice cream at the local cafe, and to top things off, she made one of my favorite meals (spaghetti/ground beef casserole):

I had brought one of my old laptops with me (it's not that old -- just not the most recent I'm using), and we got her set up and comfortable using it. The only downside - it has the American keyboard, naturally, which is slightly different from the German layout. Mom got used to it quickly, though. By now she's a pro and loves the flexibility and speed of that laptop :).

Wiebke joined us on Friday for lunch and Jesus Christ Superstar (one of this year's shows in the Bad Hersfeld Stiftsruine). Great show! We ended the evening with dinner and a murder mystery game (which we solved like the pros we are, lol). 

Saturday morning Wiebke and I drove up to Hamburg. Lots of chatting on the road, which was great (and long overdue!). And I got to see her kids again (the last time was in 2019 - boy, have they grown!!!). 

They had also just adopted a cute little puppy -- Karlsson. 

The next day I took the train back to Bebra (after we spend some time in the Harry Potter store at the Hamburg Main Station). 

Mom and I took the train to Frankfurt together (on Monday afternoon), spend the evening in a fantastic hotel (b'mine -- I highly recommend it!), and ended the week with a breakfast (and view!) before I headed back home. (Side note - I AGAIN had an empty seat next to me. The universe is spoiling me :). )

While it was a short and busy trip, and while I'm not a big fan of flying, I'm very glad I did it. Great memories were made :).