Just posting a few nighttime pictures around the resort from my walk out for dinner. I didn't do much besides work on the presentation all day. I did get a nice 3 1/2 mile run in the evening before it got dark. Even though it wasn't all that hot, the air is so dry.
I'm speaking at the EEBA conference tomorrow about energy saving strategies and modeling techniques for the wild west of the efficiency world: lighting, appliances, and miscellaneous electric loads. I'm co-presenting with one of the partners of our company, but really that means that I create the whole presentation, and he gets to present it with me. The part that is going to be fun to watch is how Brad is comfortable standing in front of 75 people and talking to them as if they were in the parlour at his house. I'm not that experienced of a presenter to be at that point. However, this presentation is about as unscripted as I've ever had it, as I probably know the material more than any other and have written much less than any other. It is going to be conversational no matter what, because I have gotten all wrapped up in modeling and the conundra involved in that side of things that I have very few slides actually prepared. It'll be interesting...
Each building has two pools in the courtyards. Here is the view from the door to my room at 8 this morning.
This is where I've spent most of my time here so far.
They even left me a teddy bear on the bed! Yay! Now I have something to cuddle up with and not miss my family as much. :)
Here is the reception area. You drive in under these chandeliers and park to check in. The valet takes the car away, and they drive you to your building and room in a golf cart. Kinda silly. Anyway, these two fixtures have something like 50 lamps in them each. That's 100 bulbs! At least these are all compact fluorescent candleabra bulbs. So, 100 times 7 watts each is 700 watts of installed lighting. That's more than all the lighting in our house. If they were incandescent bulbs, it'd be around 2,800 watts! The electric water heater that Bethany uses to boil water for tea draws 1,500 watts.
He was sure mad about having to wear a PFD. He did calm down quickly, though, as canoeing is a peaceful sort of activity. I'm so happy we could share the love of the outdoors and the beauty of canoeing with him.
Guthrie would much rather be running around on shore than sitting sedentarily in the canoe.
No, not posed. Something was rustling around in the forest. We were hoping to catch sight of some wildlife. Me to enjoy it. Guthrie to bark furiously at it. We were both let down this time.
I'm not sure Bethany was terribly disappointed in getting shuttled around in the canoe on a day like this.
Some camp food porn. The first image is frypan bread (Cache Lake)
Breakfast on the griddle. Yes, it weighs like 50 pounds, but damn it, you can cook a whole meal for a family on it at one time. It was sort of sloped, so the eggs ran a little.
Bacon. Nothing better when camping. When I was a vegetarian (more or less), I always thought it would be the bacon that brought me back to the dark side. Turns out it was a cute girl and a basil-bleu burger, but that story has already been told.
Breakfast is served. Guthrie got his camp-kibble. Of course it's no different than what he eats at every other meal, but isn't all food eating when camping the best you've ever had?
Silas was happy as hell to get out of the city!
The tent was cozy. It turns out the big air mattress is not good at insulating again the cold of the ground. Otherwise, it was super comfy.
Guthrie, of course, didn't know it was colder than his sleeping pad and kept looking longingly at it. He ended up on it at our feet about halfway through the night. We were ok with that.
Making coffee. It was cold. Supposedly, the low was 47 F overnight.
Morning picture with the family, sans Bethany.
Oh the happy view from a car with a canoe on top heading out into the wilderness.
New car, old canoe, covering new ground
We camped at Trough Creek State Park on the far side of Raystown Lake, about 3 hours from Pittsburgh.
Raystown Lake is an impounded river (the Juniata) and looks like a swollen snake, or maybe a biliopancreatic limb. You can choose.
The blue GPS coordinates are our canoe route on Monday. The green points are a short hike we did after breaking camp that morning.
Western PA is gorgeous this time of year.
Guthrie was such a nutcase on the way out, that going home, Bethany sat in back to keep him quiet and to attend to Silas.
Along the road that leads the way
We travel as it will
Itself a guidepost good enough
To find both dale and hill.
Our hearts are light, our courage high,
The way is good and broad.
Give a cheer, give a cheer, give a cheer, Rah!
Hurrah for the open road!
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