Nature - its all over me!

Our official hiking adventure began on Sunday night with a mandatory meeting with our trekking guides - Scott and Dean.  Scott is a Montanan who grew up in Missoula. Dean was born in Ireland, grew up in New York, now lives in Oregon and works in Montana - a true traveller.  Both seemed very knowledgeable and serious about the great outdoors.  They read us the riot act on dealing with bears - with which we had achieved expert status given our tourist jaunt to Bear Encounter Park.  

Speaking of riot act, do you know where that came from?  In 1715, Britain passed the Riot Act which wasn't repealed until 1967.  Huh, you would have thunk they would have needed the Act during the 1960's.  It enabled the British government to declare a group of 12 or more people as a riot during much civil unrest in the 1700's.  Luckily we have only 8 in our party so we had minimal threat of authority in Montana actually invoking this act. 

Back to the trek...let me share a few memorable quotes from members of our party -- it will give you a sense of what actually happened during the trek.  We will start with my 16 year old nephew, Kishan who had the quote of the trek that inspired the title of this blog.

"Nature!, it is all over me -- GET IT OFF!" - Kishan

"Stupid bugs" - Kishan

"We go to sleep when nature turns off?" - Amita

"Isn't there a downhill to this mountain?" - Ajay

"AHHHH! There is a spider in my tent.  Oh, it is on the outside." - Kishan

"You guys, these flies are like wild flies." - Amita

"Oh shit, I left the shovel where I went." - Ella

"Oh, I didn't know I was putting on a show." - Kelsey, when peeing in the woods with a hiker approaching. 

"I am trying to enjoy nature and you are talking to me." - Elena to Kishan

Now for a brief picture tour....

No, the picture below is NOT from the hike.  It is from the Bear Encounter park.  But given we only saw one wild bear from a good distance, I wanted to share a close up with you in case you have never seen a bear.  :-)  This by the way is Jake - as introduced in a prior blog. 

The trekkers all suited up and ready to go!  This is the morning of day one.  From left to right, Amita, Kiertan, Kishan, Ajay, Ella, Elena, Shailesh, and Kelsey.  Oh, by the way, Ajay was known as Dundee for the rest of the trek.  He confidently announced he was Crocodile Dundee and then asked for his whip.  To which, Elena or Kelsey replied that it is Indiana Jones that had the whip not Crocodile Dundee.  Crocodile Dundee had the knife. So the name stuck for Ajay and he proceeded both knife-less and whip-less.   The packs ranged from 30 to 40 pounds for the adults.  

Our humble abode for two nights.  Two to a tent.

 

Trekking, trekking, trekking.  The most beautiful views we have all ever seen.  We averaged about 5 miles per day for a total of 14-15 miles.  While the distance doesn't sound that great, it was through some great countryside, rolling hills, ridges, woods, and plateaus.  Carrying 30 to 40 pounds for 5 miles wears on you - trust me.  By the way, you can drive through all of the roads through Yellowstone and only see 2% of the land.  Only the greatest views and experiences are available by foot.  

Bear Encounter

Yes...we thought we would be skunked again in searching for wildlife. Okay, so they were not totally wild grizzly bears, but when we arrived at the Grizzly Encounter Park, the habitat looked empty and we were admittedly anticipating disappointment.  But Maggie and Jake did not disappoint. They were rescued from a wildlife park in Georgia and now spend their years entertaining tourists. To lure them out, the keeper tossed popcorn, grapes, cherries, plums, and watermelon around the habitat and opened the gate. 

Maggie is 7 and Jake is 8 years old - teenagers in bear years.  

Sheena, Lucy, and Brutus were scheduled to address the crowd later in the afternoon. Brutus, incidentally, is a famous actor. He has been in three movies and documentaries. 

Some bear facts: 

- They can run 35 to 40 miles per hour.  Don't let their lumbering gait fool you. 

- Only 11 people have been consumed by bears over the past 100 years.  People have consumed more people than bears during the same period!

- They are mostly herbivores but they do eat fish, ants, rodents, and even other animals.  

- Their sense of smell is 350 times more sensitive than that of a human. They can even smell your mood. They have over a over a billion receptors.  Take a look at the picture below. The tower is at a very long distance. Bears can smell a raisin placed on the that tower!

We learned that bears become aggressive to:

- Protect their cubs

- Defend their food source

- React when you startle them

- Chase you when you run away

- Make sure you are not a threat

So what do you do when a bear has an interest in you? Drop to the ground.  Put your face down and place your hands on head.  Then use your elbows and feet to keep the bear from rolling you over.  The goal is to protect your rib area from the 1,200 pounds of biting force. There, I have performed my public health and safety obligation. 

Here is an appropro joke I heard from a guy on the plane ride here...

Two married couples arrived in Montana and one of the husband asks the other husband "how are we going to protect ourselves from a bear attack?"

The other guy responds by pulling out a nine millimeter hand gun to which the questioner says "You can't stop a bear with that pea shooter. You need at least a .44 magnum."  The gun holder laughs and says "This is not to shoot the bear, it is to shoot my wife in the knee. That way I can out run her and leave her for the bear."

The picture below shows bear spray that we will all carry.  It is a pepper spray that provides a sensory overload for the bear's olfactory system. 

Kelsey posing with the now dead Christie the bear.  

Wimbledon Breakfast - Montana Style

So on the way to Montana, I sat next to a very nice NASA education and outreach consultant.  Her job is to travel to wonderful places and educate people on NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory - not a bad gig.  How cool would it be to go travel to great outdoor places and talk to people about a job you love and get paid to do it? Need to make this happen...put it on the list...

During the conversation, I was introduced to the term Glamping - Glamorous Camping.  Now that would be an experience!  Check out http://www.mtundercanvas.com if you want to learn about this alternative to pooping in the woods in Montana. For those of you with dumb phones (ahem..I won't mention any names other than an initial...SB...to provide proof that people like this exist) here is the first line from this website:  

"Imagine waking up to the sights, sounds and smells of nature in one of the most spectacular places on earth, whilst relaxing in your luxurious Safari tent."

'nuff said. 

We are in pseudo luxury mode this morning. Breakfast and Wimbledon at the sports bar of the hotel because it is the only place to watch Wimbledon finals.  The hotel's EPSN channel only showed CNN - ugh.  Ajay pulled the "hotel owner card" but that only got him a conversation with some young kid who refused to let him into the media room.  But he did manage to have them open the normally closed sports bar so the eight of us can watch. We'll take what we can get. 

Today's plan is to go visit the Grizzly Bear Encounter park and drive around some scenic loops. Hmmm...is it the Grizzly bear that is afraid of noise or the one you play dead to avoid becoming lunch?

Off to Bozeman!

We are off!  What would make this first day of vacation even more exciting is the prospect of actually driving to Montana.  I miss car trips.  Maybe what I miss the most of car trips are the vending machines at rest areas that sold those cheap games and prizes.  I'm not sure why I woke up this morning with this nostalgic but incorrect memory -- when in reality my parents were too cheap to give me any money to buy anything.  Smile.  I know what it is...it is the thought of dealing with airports and TSA agents in badly fitting uniforms that centered my mind on car trips.

Nevertheless, we are on the way to Bozeman, Montana to see what the tour of Heart Lake and Mount Sheridan is all about.  Our tour guides are certainly excited.  One of them texted Ella confirming his excitement.  Funny how he worked out we were just talking about the tip we should leave the guides!

Heart Lake is one of Yellowstone's biggest backcountry lakes.  We are going to start our 3 -day hiking adventure on Monday.  Starting at Heart Lake Trailhead, we'll hike past hot springs and along a creek whose water measures in at over 800 degrees Fahrenheit! We'll see wildlife, trout, awesome views, and geysers.  Hmphf...we always get skunked at the promise of seeing real wildlife so we shall see if we run into anything beyond America's forest rodent -- deer. What? I can't get excited at seeing an animal I come close to hitting with my car every day.  

Anyway, we'll be hiking a total of 24 miles and through beautiful country up Mount Sheridan which is the tallest mountain in the Red Mountain Range at 10,308 feet. The altitude fills us with anxiety given our last trip to these heights resulted in altitude sickness for Ella.  But we are prepared!  We dutifully followed our tour guide's order to drink lots of water during this past week.  What filling your body with water has to do with solving altitude sickness is a mystery.  All I know is that I have to pee. 

Ajay, Amita, Kishan, and Kiertan are joining Ella, Kelsey, Elena, and I on this adventure.  Ajay has worked on his six pack to prepare for this trip and we are all worried.  It may have been multiple six packs - he sounded drunk every time we talked to him on the phone.  We drew short straws on who will carry his backpack -- I think Kelsey wins!  

Oh, did I mention that we have to eat twice as much as normal since we will be burning a lot of calories!  That is a huge bonus.  Unfortunately, we started the eating before actually hiking -- so much for that plan...

So...follow us on this adventure...the posts from the hike will be up after we come back to civilization.  Apparently there won't be any WIFI, cable, or satellite available to us for three days...oh boy...

Here is a map of where we will be...

Italian Excursion Anyone?

With only five days in Rome, each day's agenda was well designed to pack in every square inch of Rome. But plans are sometimes only fun if they are ignored and there is something refreshing in being spontaneous. Cinzia Cortese's infectious love for Italy convinced us to squeeze in a visit to Ostia Antica and Lido Centro. Cinzia was our tour guide yesterday as we discovered the Vatican and other parts of Rome. Ostia is about 1/2 hour train ride south of Rome and Lido Centro is two stops further south. Feeling adventurous the next morning, we queued up at the train station for 45 minutes (or was it an hour?) to buy Italian rail tickets only to find out we needed only to jump on the metro. This was an indication of how our day on Italian public transport would transpire.

Despite this inauspicious start, we successfully navigated the underground metro to the above ground metro at Pyramide to arrive at Ostia. We even knew which stop was ours. We felt a bit strange and initially lonely when the train departed leaving us on an almost deserted station holding our Camel Baks. We shrugged our collective shoulders and meandered into town trying to recall exactly what Cinzia said we should go and see.

We had Pompeii in mind as that is how Cinzia described Ostia. She mentioned that Ostia is quaint and beautiful city and that it is, but the Pompeii part remains elusive. Our goal was to find some kind of port or other historic site. While looking lost at a busy intersection a helpful driver honked his horn and pointed to his right. Fortunately, his right was also our right so our future direction was not vague. Just to be certain, I questioningly pointed right and he confirmed by vigorously nodding his head yes. We smiled and waved confirmation and happily went towards the recommended direction. Now, we didn't think about it at the time but we should have wondered how he knew we were looking for a port or a historic site. Well...he didn't. We continued our long hot walk only to arrive...wait for it...full circle at the train station. It did look oddly familiar as we approached it from a different direction. Ready to admit defeat we decided to continue our journey towards Lido and act as if we meant to do that all along.

One interesting thing about Rome is that you never have to buy bottled water. The Roman aqueduct system delivers cool, crisp, and clean water at fountains throughout Rome and its surrounding area. Here are the girls at of one of these fountains.

After arriving in Lido our independent streak unwisely kept us from following the people on the train with beach gear. How hard can it be to find a beach, right? We studied the bus routes and jumped on Bus 5B towards Mare Russo. "Mare" means ocean so we were rather proud of our achievement if only briefly. It does pay to be nice in life. While on Bus 5B an old man got on with two bags of melons in plastic grocery bags. He set the bags down near Kelsey and I to free his hands to grab a handle. As the bus jerked at a stop, he started to lose his balance as he tried to gather the melons that rolled out of his bags. I reached out to help but he managed to grab the handle on his own but gave a kindly glance. About this point I also started worrying we may not be on the correct bus so I leaned over to Kelsey and whispered how I wished I could speak Italian so we can ask the old man if this is the correct bus. He couldn't have heard me but after a few moments he asked "where you go?" Surprised and not having fully understood his broken english I just smiled and said "I don't understand Italian." To which he said in a bit clearer english "you don't understand me?" Now fully understanding him, I rapidly threw out words like "mare", "lido", and "beach" in case his understanding of english somehow had a time limit. He just shook his head side to side and said "wrong bus" and then he gestured we had to go exactly the opposite direction we were heading. We thanked him profusely as he graced us with toothless laughter and jumped off at the next stop and looked for the bus going the other way -- which by the way is Bus 5. Who knew adding a "B" at the end of the bus number meant it goes the opposite direction from where you would want to go?

Here is a picture of the bus before the old man arrived.

Success! We arrived at the beach and enjoyed the view of the Mediterranean. We had a nice relaxing lunch on the beach as we watched people that should not be wearing what they were.

Even with our transportation challenges, it was a fun day discovering two new towns. Half the fun is in trying to figure out where to go and what to do. We just rolled with it and enjoyed the experience. We returned to Rome, took a nap, and strolled out to find a hidden ristorante and enjoy the evening. This was a pattern we followed every night.

It Is Now or Never...

Today we met our Vatican tour guide, Cinzia. She is bubbly, fun, and very knowledgeable of all things Rome. Well, all things Rome except for Grom - a very creamy Gelato store recommended by several friends and family members. But we didn't hold that against her -- it is a somewhat new store. It was a great time discovering Rome and learning all about the Vatican from Cinzia.

Here is Cinzia and the girls...

One of the first things we learned from Cinzia is the Italian technique for crossing a busy street. You basically pray/say "it's now or never" and take the first step. It works! Cars, scooters, buses, trucks, and bicycles all slow down or stop for you to cross. The thing to remember is be firm, commited, and never change your pace or you throw everything off and could get run over.

From Cinzia we also learned many interesting and amazing things. Here are a few:

- There are four Basilica's throughout Rome and although they look like other Catholic churches, they belong to the Vatican. Meaning that when you step into them, you are not in Rome anymore, you are in the Vatican.

- The Colosseum had a capacity of 70,000 and the grounds are huge; however, it was preceded by a man-made lake that Emperor Nero had built. Talk about a guy that had issues -- Nero virtually burned down Rome to make room for his home which covered four large hills around the current Colosseum. Just one of the hills was large enough for some 200 rooms.

- Mussolini signed the Vatican treaty in 1929 and granted 102 acres -- probably more than sufficient for a single guy. The Vatican consists of its own rail station, Radio Maria, TV station, and two hospitals -- after all it is a city-state that is totally independent of Italy. Radio Maria is boring according to Cinzia!

- The Japanese gave $4.2M in 1964 to the Vatican to clean the Sistine Chapel for royalty rights for postcards, prints, tourist stuff, and later CDs and DVDs. That was smart.

Cinzia made it a fun and enjoyable experience to walk 10 miles through Rome and the Vatican. We learned so many things from her and can't wait to come back and tour other parts of Italy with her guidance. BTW, go to www.roman-gateway.com if you would like to learn about her -- we highly recommend her tours!

One sad observation I must share is my deep disappointment in Italian men. I can see why the Italian soccer team has turned into wusses and constantly dive when merely touched by an opposing player. Yes, it is a rather broad brush I am painting but they definitely threw away the man card here. I mean come on...in the land of gladiators, Ducati, and Ferrari...they wear man bags and capris. I expected Italian leather wearing guys on red Ducati's zipping through the streets stopping at cafes with women at their elbows. What a let down. Take a look at this picture -- these man bags are everywhere!

Italian women on the other hand...gorgeous. There, maybe Cinzia and Morgan won't be too unhappy with me now...

Here are a few pictures of our adventure. The tower below is an actual home today of one of Cinzia's friend. Nobles in the past lived in these towers and there are four of them in Rome today. The design was such to make it easy to defend; each window is a floor with a room. The kitchen is the lowest room.

Here is shot of the inside of the dome in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. The entire church is amazing and the size of the building, sculptures, and paintings is unimaginable.

To give you a perspective of the size of the St Peters Basilica, look at the letters forming the ring of the dome. Cinzia informed us that each letter is six feet tall and we didn't believe it. But look closer at the picture and notice the people that are along the railing above the letters...compare the height of the people with the letters!

During the day, we took a lunch break and discovered buffalo mozzarella - made from water buffalo milk. Wow - this was amazing. With Cinzia's help we ordered a great lunch consisting of buffalo mazzarella, tomatoes, bread, olive oil, melon, and proscuitto. She even made sure they brought lots of ice for our "light" Cokes (i.e., no "Diet" Coke).

We ended the day with a treat from Cinzia with a tour of Chiesa Di St. Ignazio a Jesuit church. This church was designed by the Jesuit architect Orazio Grassi and built from 1626 to 1685. What is unique about it is the use of perspective in the paintings on the ceiling. Instead of being domed, the ceiling is actually flat but the paintings make it look domed. The arches also change perspective as you walk across the church -- very neat.

This is Roma...

Oh my...a short two hour Alitalia flight and we were drenched in the Italian sun and accosted by the wonderfully blended aroma of scooter exhaust, pasta, sweat, and coffee.  The flight itself was mercifully uneventful given the rather worn looking Airbus aircraft. The pre-travel research proved handy as we immediately found the Leonardo Express train to Stazione Termini which is only a few blocks from Giovy Bed and Breakfast.  As an anchor for the remaining five days in Rome, it was perfect.  Giovanna and her nieces are amazing hostesses as they settled us in our second floor suite.  Baggage up the stairs? No problem with a neat little one person elevator with a folding door.   


Here is the picture of Leonardo Express at the train station...I love trains...

Our immediate goal for day one was to establish situational awareness and explore the area so we can validate our attack plan each day.  But food is always a priority and we took Giovanna's recommendation to go see Ciro at a pizzeria a few blocks from the B&B.  The pizza was unreal and not surprisingly way better than, oddly enough, the Ciro's restaurant in our neighborhood in Clifton, Virginia. You have to understand, the Virginia Ciro's sets a fairly high bar but it paled in comparison. Two pies later, we continued our day one adventure.

We wandered perhaps a bit further than expected to the Colosseum via a series of cobblestone side streets, moss covered apartments, and an engineering college.  Admittedly a bit lost and disoriented, we turned looking for the Colosseum and there it was filling the frames of our eyes.  Thousands of years of history majestically waiting as it always has for the gladiators and tourists alike. It was an amazing sight to behold and pictures or web site tours before arriving do not prepare you adequately. We resisted the temptation of purchasing tickets and decided to simply walk the grounds of the Colosseum, Palatine, and the Roman Forum -- after all it was only day one. 

Here are a few shots of the Colosseum during this exploration tour...the first picture is from a small bridge we stumbled upon.  

This second is taken as we got closer and tried to figure out how to get down to the lower street where the entrance to the grounds is located.

Being so close to the Vatican, Catholic, Jesuit, Fransiscan churches are on almost every corner. There are some very beautiful locations with intricate details, paintings, and sculptures. I'll talk a bit more about this in my next blog. Here is a photo of one of the churches -- we had to be quick since we weren't very well dressed for churches. Meaning, we had shorts on and the girls had shoulders uncovered -- we dressed better the next day...

The evening snuck up on us quickly but the heat (oh God the heat) mandated a break to the B&B. Re-energized a few hours later we headed for Trevi Fountain for an evening photo tour and dinner. It is said singles will meet the Roman of their dreams with a simple toss of the coin into the fountain and if husbands drink from the fountain they will love their wives forever. Well...there were lots of singles hanging around the fountain that was overflowing with Euros and the husbands were no where to be seen. There were a lot of bars and cafes around Trevi fountain and the water must be disgusting from all the money...I'm just saying...

We avoided the mainstream cafes and restaurants located right on a tourist site and found an alleyway with just enought light to have a sidewalk cafe and restaurant. We wanted local color and we got it in spades. The pasta dinner was amazing in a neverhaditbeforekindofway...really. We must have looked like homeless people that found a Euro because the food lasted oh about 30 seconds. Slowly we came to realize that is not the Italian way. We were supposed to order antipasta, relax, sip wine, eat a bit of bread if they gave it, sip wine, order the main course, relax, sip more wine, order the cappuccino and dessert, relax, ask for the bill (not "check"), and then pay and leave.
We instead, sat, ordered the pasta, became impatient when the bread didn't arrive in time, inhaled the pasta, asked for the bill, became impatient when the bill didn't arrive pronto, paid, annoyed the waiter didn't come to get the money so we walked it inside the restaurant, then left. I can still hear/imagine what was being said as we left..."stupid Americans." But we left with a skip and a smile having eaten the best pasta of our lives and wondering why Italians are not fatter. I think I have a clue as to why...tourist eat all the calories...the pre-travel research also paid off in finding awesome gelato at San Crispino! It too was unlike anything we have had before. To wrap up the food segment of our day...best pizza, pasta, and gelato. This week in Rome is off to a great start...