Excellent travelogue, Erin, and see, you aren't missing your parents a bit! WQe have our own adventure stories, call us on Skype for those. Enjoy your week with Matt, and tell him I need to talk business with him when he gets back to StumpTown.

Meh. When the SA wizards with private access to all the servers can't even recover your lost posts (I've had about 3 go down the "memory hole" in the last year or so), and then you are advised to blog from an off-site text editor and then post to your Typepad blog (as the answer), I'm sorry, but I can't develop much enthusiasm for the new "tool"

Sounds like a good trip. The boat races seem to be a knock off of PYC's Tuesday night "Candebeer" race...start working up that backpacking weight. When you get to 30kg, let me know...that's what I started with when backpack-fishing the High Lakes in the Cascades, back in the mid-1960's, usually hiking 10-12km with a 500-700m climb in it somewhere. Today's packs look a lot easier on the body, though. I used a crude Freighter Frame pack back then, most of the weight was a WW2-surplus 4-man raft to fish from, without it, I barely humped 15kg.

OK, your "stinkboat" papa gets your drift, but I thought I'd told you that I grew up in sail. Aside from rowing clinker-built dories around the Serpentine in Hyde Park when I lived in London, my first days in sail were spent as crew on one of your Grandpa's war buddy's boats, a Danish Viking Sloop (32 feet) on the Chesapeake Bay. We sailed in the summer, we sailed in the winter, and when the boat froze in her moorings in Annapolis, we went down and chopped her out. We challenged everyone we could hail to impromptu races, and Heaven help the crew if we lost! I've been Master of a 41-foot Sabre motorsailer up in the San Juans, and logged more speed out of her semi-fractional rig than any charterer ever did (9.5 knots). So, when you buy that sailing yacht, I'll be here to teach her fine points of sail to you! Here's your homework assignment: find out what a Tacking Duel is, why they are done in racing (3 reasons), and how close you must be on the points of sail to make that tactic work. Ready About? HARD a-lee!

Schneider Weisse, eh? That translates to Tailor White, or Tailor's Light. Should have a pair of tailor's shears on the label...

Had any mutton curry yet? Should be standard fare in most any pub. All the locals should be happy to recommend what they feel is the best curry. Is the beer "cooled"? Or, is there still warm beer out in the countryside?