UniBrain Trust » Travel

Canadian Grand Prix Day 4 Sunday, RACEDAY

Jim — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 12:47:07 +0000

It’s hard to describe a day so completely satisfying, exhausting, and fun. But, we’ll try.

We set out to get to the track well ahead of the noon start time. We were shooting to get off the metro at 10 am and beat that by half an hour. It’s a good half hour or so walk from the metro stop to our grandstand. We got there and camped out by our favorite shady tree. Since it was a sunny day we figured we should manage our sun exposure as much as the drivers would have to manage their tires. So we bopped up to the stands to watch the drivers parade and then bounced back for another 25 minutes of shade before the pit lane opened at 11:30. It was a nice touch having the drivers ride on the decks of vintage Austin Healys and the like, rather than the flatbed truck we’ve seen in pictures from some races.

When the pit lanes opened the cars were quickly fired up and taken to the grid. Mechanics had lots of gear on the starting grid. It seems even busier than when you see it on TV since on TV you typically see a car or two at a time, but we could see the packed field of 24 cars and all their attendants.

Just as the teams and drivers were doing their final prep, the crowd was too. Potty runs, hydration, camera checks: the crowd was happy and excited and the whine of the engines revved us up, too.

The first ten laps of the race were a wonderful collaborative chaos as we all tried to sort out the position changes, staring at the big TV, waiting to see who was in front as they came back around and watching the challenges on turn one. We called out questions and status changes and clapped for each pass, no matter who was doing the overtaking, though Webber, Alonso and Schumacher seemed to be crowd favorites.

Other memories: Hamilton and Alonso drag racing out of the pits right in front of us, Richard Branson enjoying a pit walk, Massa’s Ferrari chasing two Force India cars to no avail, Michael being Michael and pressing Massa into the wall, McLaren running to the wall to great Lewis, the podium, the champagne spray, the drop, and the Polish fans outside the Renault pit chanting for “Robert,Robert” long after the race was over.

You must go to an F1 race.

Canadian Grand Prix Day 3 Saturday

Jim — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 15:59:30 +0000

Got up and found a full breakfast before heading to the track. A very happy crowd in the metro and the police did a great job with crowd control. We never felt crushed or an issue with people not playing nice.

Got into the stands just in time to finish qualification for the spec 1600 series. Now a brief wait until F1 qualification. We find a place in the shade to rest.

30 minutes to qualification: The crowd is moving to the stands, a few engines start and rev only to be shutdown as the mechanics finish their checks.

Qualifying: Lotus Racing doesn’t make it out of Q1. No matter. Kanga keeps us updated on the split. Q2 gets more exciting as Michael Schumacher struggles and misses Q3 to start 13th. Nadya is happy that Rubens beats both Michael and his teammate, barely missing Q3 to start 11th. She squees when the Videotron shows him leaving the garage to cross to the timing booth, giving a resigned thumbs up to the crowd. Damn these great start/finish seats that keep us well away from the Williams pit halfway down the field!

Q3: Nothing happens. The teams wait. And wait. Suddenly everyone is out. Tires are the theme of the day. Some warm, others don’t. Hamilton sets a fast time, Alonso is 4 seconds off, Vettel is close and Webber is challenging. We lose track of who is on top. The ten minutes of Q3 seem more urgent here than they do on TV. You can see who’s putting cars out, who’s getting ready for a fresh set of tires, and the cars are coming across you at top speed, probably the fastest they’ll go all weekend. Especially for pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton who ran out of fuel half way through his triumphant in-lap and gracefully got out to push the car himself. The crowd roared. A man behind us said, “I don’t like him, but that’s cool.”

With the metal, the sun and the people the stands seem 10 degrees warmer than the 21 Celsius official temp. Next time we’l bring a floppy hat and those neck coolers

We had a late lunch after quali, by a little pond. Nadya’s view on her first poutine: “I like the cheese”

As we left people were working the crowd, trying to buy tickets for tomorrow. Our favorite scalper started with,
“Who’s selling tickets? It’s going to be thunder and lighting tomorrow.” Nice reverse marketing, but if it’s going to be that bad why is he buying?

Canadian Grand Prix Day 2 Friday

Jim — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 20:32:07 +0000

After a great dinner we crashed for 11 hours. Got up and tried the world famous Tim Hortons coffee. Eh. On the plus side our Ham sandwich combo meal came with a donut. Yes, we slept through first practice and breakfast. This vacation thing is working.

Metro to the track. Jim’s bright idea for the day is to walk around the track the long way. We have almost 2 hours until second practice so it shouldn’t be a problem. There are people everywhere. We first agree on a meeting place in case we get separated in the crowd. There are a lot more people than we expected for practice: more than we remember seeing on TV. We suspect it has to do with Canadian enthusiasm for F1.

We get around to turn 22 and hit a wall. There’s a security blockade and we, along with many others, are sent to retrack our steps. We got to our seats with 10 minutes to spare. It’s a long track.

We run across the Kangaroo.tv stand and rent a device for the weekend. More on kanga later.

We are delighted to see that our seats have a rare Tequila stand at one end and an even rarer set of real restrooms at the other. It’s like Bernie knew we were coming.

Free practice 2: Oh my it’s loud. Earplugs in and it’s still loud. Not painful but loud. I heard someone say, “It made my jaw shake”

Sights, sounds and smells that are overwhelming. We end up in the wrong seats, move, try to talk yelling towards each other, hand signs are all that work, can barely hear the commentator on kanga. Need to bring water, Trulli isn’t out of the pits because of a bad gearbox, pit action, look at the helicopter, we must tell everyone we are at start finish about half way up, there goes three world champions in the same flash, Trulli is out and 90 minutes of free practice is over.

Canadian GP Day 1 Thursday

Jim — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:39:56 +0000

After too little sleep, too little coffee and neither of us understanding “do you have it” we find the metro. Like the metro/tube/subways I’ve been in it is easy to follow the colored signs and map that leads to our walk. What walk? The walk down the F1 pit lane!

Nadya gave her camera to one of the guys at the Lotus Racing pit and he walked throughout the garage snapping pictures. What great hospitality.

Ferrari started their car first. The sound is surprisingly like you hear on TV only turned up to 11.

We spotted a pallet of live lobsters being brought in for the paddock club. The rich like lobsters.

An afternoon stop at a wonderful noodle shop for some food followed by a well needed nap. I think I was asleep before we go to the room.

Awake, we we headed out for coffee and found cupcakes. Oh wonderful cupcakes.

Walking by a posh hotel we spotted three Ferraris with New Jersey manufacturer plates. Loaners for Ferrari drivers?

Off to the Canadian Grand Prix

Jim — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:36:31 +0000

We are off to the Canadian Grand Prix. As a gauge to our excitement, we only left the house 30 minutes a before we planned. Nadya was a little worried about our supplies, insisted on the big bag and cross packed knitting patterns. I cross packed the charging devices and am happy we have the big bag. Rogue Spruce Gin martini + Coffee People double espresso = perfect Portland buzz Related posts:Coffee Pots Newport, Oregon Walking in the rain Related posts:

Coffee Shop Discovery

Nadya — Wed, 05 May 2010 03:22:51 +0000

At Thump Coffeeshop in Bend, Jim happened to sit down next to an early iPad prototype. No doubt it was left by some Apple engineer in town on a ski trip.

P.S. We love Thump. Great coffee and marionberry scones. And, yes, free wifi.

Weekend in Theaterland

Jim — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:11:09 +0000

We just got back from our mostly-annual trip to Ashland for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. This years plays were Henry VIII, Macbeth, Equivocation and Much Ado about Nothing.

The disappointment of the weekend was Henry VIII. The production was first rate and the company didn’t have much to work with. This is just a bad play.

We’ve already started to pick plays for next year. Any suggestions on what to see?

Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen ; adapted for the stage by Joseph Hanreddy and J.R. Sullivan
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams
She Loves Me, Music by Jerry Bock; l
Throne of Blood Adaptation by Ping Chong based on the film directed by Akira Kurosawa World Premiere
Well by Lisa Kron
Ruined by Lynn Nottage
American Night by Richard Montoya and Culture Clash World Premiere
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Henry IV, Part One by William Shakespeare
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare June

A Weekend in New York

Jim — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:31:27 +0000

For my mother’s 70th birthday we went to New York City. How do you get more than 20 must-dos done in less than 60 hours?

Left pdx at 6am and arrived at Laguardia 4:25
Crying started at 4:15 when we first saw Manhatten. So what are those cool bridges and what neighborhoods did we fly over?
Dinner at a Carnegie Deil. Meat poisoning
Sat. Up too early. A quick breakfast then the subway to Battery Park. Nadya and Edis didn’t want to explore the battery. Somehow they were more interested in the statue.
Wall of Honor. Mom walked upto the panel and immediatly found the family name. Just as quickly she lost it!
Wild cab ride to rock center then to the roof. Wow!
Back to the hotel for a drink and nap.
Out again to comix and cheesecake and walking to times square. Lots of people
Sleep. Eight hours and wanted more
Up for a walk in central park, breakfast at Tavern on the Green then to shop.
Fao and a live ugly doll.
Dropped Nadya and Edis off at Bergdorf Goodman. Promptly found a watch Jaquet Droz. Grand hour. $24k
Coffee and more shopping. Sent Nadya into Bloomingdale’s with my water.
Back for a nap and booze
Dinner at Craft
More sleep
Another wild cab ride to the airport.

A Pleasantly Terrifying Way to Spend a Morning

Nadya — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 16:14:49 +0000

The last morning of our weekend trip to Southern Oregon, Jim told that me while I’m usually low maintenance, I do occasionally inexplicably and abruptly switch to extreme maintenance. This was after I’d had to change my shirt AND my pants due to breakfast malfunctions. Well, the shirt may have already been stained, we’re not really sure.

It was a good thing I had on nominally clean clothes since we were about to take a detour that led us into the mouth of hell. You can’t meet your certain and terrifying death in dirty clothes.

This particular hellmouth is known as Lava River Cave. And sure, it’s been 100,000 years since molten lava flowed in Lava River Cave, but it must have been very hellish at the time. Let’s say it’s now in a low maintenance phase. Now it’s a one mile self-guided trail, that 3 year old children cheerfully gallop through. For me, though, it was a pit of despair.

Jim was eagerly anticipating the cave walk. Ever since we moved to Oregon he’s had his eye on the lava tubes around these parts. I, however, was terrified in that way that no rational argument can dissuade.

I have learned in these situations that the best path is to accept my fear and complain loudly. Pretending I’m not scared just lets the fear expand inside me. If I babble on and on, loudly and with feeble attempts at humor, some fear leaks out and I can jolly myself into doing the foolish thing, whether it’s a tetanus shot, a walk across a swaying bridge, or leaving blue skies to enter the pit of doom.

Approaching the cave, I accepted I was terrified, lamented loudly about my imminent demise, and made Jim constantly praise my bravery. I pointed out to Jim that just as people questioned the sanity of skydivers jumping out of perfectly good buildings, I questioned the intelligence of people who wanted to leave a sunny Oregon summer day for a sunless tunnel. He just giggled and said, “come on!”

When we got to the ranger station I asked for two lanterns.

“Two?” said the ranger.

“I’m an engineer, I always have a safety margin,” I explained.

Having paid, we walked around back to pick up the lanterns. The second ranger handed us a single lantern.

“We’re getting two,” I said.

“Two?” she asked.

“Engineer!” shouted the first ranger.

“Good idea,” said ranger number two. ”One light source in a cave? No way!”

Ha! I was completely vindicated when a swarm of bats extinguished Jim’s lantern. Yeah, not really. But it did work out much better for the photography to have two lanterns as we could strategically place them. Jim does say that next time he’d want three lights and a tripod.

A half mile into the cave I was even willing to temporarily let go of mine. I spent most of the walk torn between sheer terror and the thrill of exploration. But I did get comfortable enough to read the signs, and help Jim with his attempts to photograph the difficult subject. Ever the California girl, I started worrying about earthquakes, until it occurred to me that the 100,000 year old tube had already seen it’s fair share and made it through alright. On the way back, I wasn’t so scared, as it was now familiar territory, but I did move right along.

Leaving I said, “That was a pleasantly terrifying way to spend a morning.” It had been delicious blend of adrenaline, endorphins from the uphill walk, and the thrill of seeing something rare and special.

On this trip we also went to Crater Lake. It’s darn pretty and not scary at all. You should check it out.

Crater Lake and Beyond

Jim — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 02:09:26 +0000

Nadya and I just returned from a trip to Crater Lake. More writing to follow but first a few pictures