161030 Tidal Bore, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada

During our September 2015 trip to NE U.S. and SE Canada, we visited several sites along the Bay of Fundy--famous for its _world's greatest tidal range_--including Moncton, New Brunswick.  That town, roughly 30 miles up the Petitcodiac River, is famous for its tidal bore.

In general, a tidal bore is a wave that runs UP-river because the rising tide (or other surge) at the mouth has overwhelmed the river's flow, rising past the normal surface level of the river.  It is not so unusual for the lower reaches of rivers to be tidal, but when the difference in level is significant (large and sudden) the wave forms and the river appears to flow backward for a time behind the bore, following the wave upstream for miles.  The event will have ended when the water level has equalized and normal river flow re-established.

There are several of these around the world; the Bay of Fundy's tidal swing is enormous--the world's largest, at 40 feet or so--but the bore on the Petitcodiac River at Moncton is not the biggest.  (That might be an annual high-tide, sun-and-moon alignment, Chinese bore, which kills people every year.  See the Youtube video[s].)

Even so, Moncton's is an impressive and wonderful thing as it hisses and foams along its way upstream, moving past the town at about a swift walking pace.  It's such an important tourist attraction that they built a viewing area complete with bleachers.  I made a pretty good video from there, but the file size is extremely large; it is (for the time being) trapped on my computer.  In place of that, here are links to information, explanations, and videos:

• Tidal Bore
• Bay of Fundy
• Petitcodiac River: "Before the construction of a causeway in 1968, the river had one of the world's largest tidal bores, which ranged from 1 to 2 metres (3.3–6.6 ft) in height and moved at 5 to 13 kilometres per hour (3.1–8.1 mph). With the opening of the causeway gates in April 2010, the river is flushing itself of ocean silts, and the Bore is returning to its former glory." (Wikipedia)
• New Brunswick Tourism
• Moncton vids @ Youtube
• Other (all) Youtube examples

All pretty amazing.


Mark_
30 October 2016

131005 Missouri Trip Pictures 2013

In 2013 we traveled to Missouri, where we took some pictures.  Because Google's online image service does not support "sharing" access to multiple "albums", here is a list.

The 6-digit numbers are the dates of the albums: YYMMDD.

• 131005 Our multi-legged Missouri friends <https://goo.gl/photos/iz4ZnXbRZAybz1kG6>
• 131021 Forest Park, St. Louis, MO <https://goo.gl/photos/kW2iuae7xstzjuaP6>
• 131021 Gateway Arch, St. Louis, MO <https://goo.gl/photos/dS9oc1VwevGtZ2L18>
• 131021 Historic Courthouse <https://goo.gl/photos/yfvw4DuC9HZHBHJf8>
• 131020 Southbound along the Mississippi, from Hannibal <https://goo.gl/photos/pxMthmhvD4DHMurv5>
• 131019 Hannibal, MO <https://goo.gl/photos/W2NmcPcQo2hBPoYN6>
• 131012 Knob Noster, MO, SP camping <https://goo.gl/photos/Gj1WUgn2achFhJ9LA>
• 131011 Jazz @ 18th & Vine, KC, MO <https://goo.gl/photos/rGVxKXjPkoJDVt2d8>
• 131007 Walking along the Little Blue River <https://goo.gl/photos/Tve3ScJrxbv4FjVb6>

Mark_
26 October 2016

Heatproof Glass Risk

In a thrift store a couple of days ago, a pretty large and heavy piece of glass broke a couple of aisles over from where I was browsing.  It was loud, and the resulting fragments were oddly small (in the bin after cleanup).  

Apparently, a patron reported that it had broken (in the aisle where she was standing) for no apparent reason; nothing else was happening at the time--nobody had touched it, nor had it somehow fallen from the shelf.  It had just exploded.

It was a large glass baking pan.

This reminded me of stories I had begun hearing a few years back of problems with heatproof kitchen glassware (cookware) after a switch from borosilicate to [some other glass formulation].  

It has made me wonder about the glassware we have here.  A Snopes article has caused me to worry that I would not be able tell with certainty which of two kinds of glass kind we have, and therefore to consider doing away with it all.  (White Corning stuff is a different material; I may keep that.)

• <http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/pyrex.asp> 

• <http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2011/january/home-garden/glass-cookware/glass-cookware/index.htm>

• <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyhdMa1ikKM>  Very interesting.

• <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh6Ww6RreT4>

Apparently there are several (many?) such vids @ YouTube.

Corning cookware @ Wikipedias:

• <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyroceram>

• <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CorningWare>

We have some white Corning cookware: Some is over 40 years old, and is marked "for range and microwave"; one piece is newer and lacks the "range" marking.  We use these pieces in the microwave oven only.

• We have this tableware (in plain white): <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corelle>.  Apparently its composition is largely unchanged.  (We have broken one piece, but others have been dropped and smacked without damage.)

• We also have one of these Visions glass saucepans: <http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f89/stovetop-cooking-with-pyrex-visions-cookware-3174.html>.  Although we have used it on the stovetop without incident, it may not be so safe, either.  We use it frequently in the microwave oven.

We have several pieces of clear glass bakeware, which I will examine for clues about whether they are suitable for use: big and small cake pans, loaf pans, etc.

Researching this has been (will be) kind of a lot of work, but if it keeps even one pan of brownies from being wasted (or one eye from being put out)....

And more reading is needed.

Mark_ 

14 October 2016

ARCADIA Departs

Friday, 19 June 2015, we sold Arcadia to a very nice man who wished to experiment with some travel-trailering.  He had several very reasonable questions, and I promised to answer more as they arose.  The transaction resulted in smiles all around.

The neighbors are likely to be pleased, as well; the Casita's departure means that I can look into the issue of putting its replacement into my yard instead of taking up 9' X 25' of precious pavement in the street in front of my house.

Arcadia was great, and we used it in the course of quite a number of really great big trips (cruises) and many excellent weekenders (rendezvous).  It had virtually everything we needed to be fairly comfortable for weeks at a time.  Even so, when we began discussing and then actually planning a months-long cruise to the U.S. NE and Canadian Maritimes, we realized that we were going to need more comfort than any 17' trailer was likely to be able to afford us.  The 25' Bigfoot Serenity promises to be the platform we need for extended cruising: nice seating, a pleasant galley, and a walk-around queen bed in its own space--all protected by real 4-season insulation.

We are very pleased.

Mark_

TripPix: Along Oregon Highways with Guides

TripPix: Two Oregon trips this year

• 130329 Spring Break in Oregon- Beach & Trees <https://goo.gl/photos/dZ8coBtGfk2qnhdPA>

• 130908 Volcanic Observatory; Belknap Hot Springs; Clear Lake <https://goo.gl/photos/irfGgLsNXPSjFfie9>
• 130909 Lava Butte and Big Obsidian Flow <https://goo.gl/photos/LKV9tMBZaU4gX1V88>
• 130910 Metolius River, etc. <https://goo.gl/photos/coXdo7Czv3o1jgNV6>
• 130911 Redmond Caves; Mt. Bachelor; Elk Lake; High Desert Museum <https://goo.gl/photos/AXW7zciVkx1zKgY89>
• 130913 Lower Canyon Creek campground <https://goo.gl/photos/QpDqVnvjReva7sQ89>

Oregon is a very beautiful state--and we are determined to do more exploring there.  Thanks, Henry & Miriam!

Mark_ 
21 November 2016

The service I have been using to host my online pictures has changed its interface: I cannot share all of my albums at once; they must be shared individually.  This is how I solve that.  (Those numbers are YYMMDD dates.)

SoCalCruise15: Our "Cruise" to San Diego

Out intentions are to drive _Arcadia_ toward sun & heat in southern California, stopping for sightseeing along the way.

If I can remember to do it, I shall post here and in my Picasa images album.

I can promise nothing, except to try doing better at this than I ever have in the past.


Mark_

Hiking to Delicate Arch

Today's activity was a 3-mile hike to one of the Moab area's signature features. An important part of this was a good steep climb up a sandstone slickrock face. (Cindy thinks a quarter-mile; I might have gone for a _third_. It was long, and it was steep.)

The arch itself is almost unbelievable. On the one hand, it's a large freestanding structure that looks like it should not exist at all--and may not forever, anyway. On the other hand, its setting is such that abundant magical scenery is in the view beyond it.

The hike is pretty strenuous, made more so by winds that came up, threatening to toss us off the rocky ledge that was the last push to the arch. It wasn't really quite dangerous as such, but did tend to enforce a certain awareness. It was in our faces on the way back down--and we ate a fair amount of the same sand responsible for the arches and the other fanciful contours of the surrounding scenery.

It felt like 40+ m.p.h. with gusts to quite a bit more. My Tilley hat's double leashes got a real workout--and I never worried about it.

All excellent!


Mark_
_Arcadia_, Moab, UT.