Iceland - September 2005

April: I never imagined in a million years that I would have an opportunity to explore Iceland! However, on September 23rd, I was on an airplane headed for the frigid Island. The view of the mountains and glaciers from the plane gave me chills. They looked so majestic.

Once we were on the ground we collected our wee little rental car and went immediately to the Blue Lagoon (this is the hot springs located next to a power plant that is often photographed and filmed for stories regarding Iceland). Let me first say that it is not a good idea to wear capri pants in September, while visiting Iceland! I was not sure if I was going to survive the walk from the parking lot to the hot springs entrance. Thankfully I did not freeze to death and we stayed for four hours, not wanting to leave!

After we left the Blue Lagoon, we drove along the coast towards our hostel. As a result of my amateur navigating skills, I missed a turn. In a nutshell – We were lost in Iceland at night – of course, this would not be the last time. Over the course of the weekend, we ate authentic Icelandic lamb soup, visited the Gullfoss waterfall and Stori-Geysir, soaked in a few geothermal hot springs, drove through rough terrain (Royce seriously dented a wheel and almost lost the hub cap), and enjoyed the amazing views. I have never seen so many glaciers in my life! Our little Toyota hatchback could not handle the snow, so we were not able to get as close as we would have liked to, but it was still awesome. One of the best parts was the fact that there are only 250,000 people in the entire country, so it was quiet and everywhere we went seemed remote. Iceland is the perfect holiday spot if you are seeking peace and solitude. I have to put it in my top 10!


Royce and I in front of the Blue Lagoon


The Blue Lagoon


Me trying to stay as warm as possible


Royce and I in the Blue Lagoon


Royce, enjoying the hotspots


Royce and his favorite river


Royce above the Gulfoss Waterfall


I was freezing in this photo!


Royce and I near the waterfall


This was our cute little Toyota - not the best offroad vehicle!


We shared the highway with horseback riders


I was standing in front of the Geysir here - It nearly gave me a heartattack just minutes before


This was the preferred tire choice by Icelanders


Me playing in the lava rocks


Royce looking at some cool ice


Royce enjoying the view next to the ocean


Random farm along our route back to Keflavik


Some of the rough terrain we saw


Royce took this picture of himself in front of a famous church. It was too cold, so I stayed in the car...

Cardiff, Wales - Rally Tragedy

Royce: One of the items on my ”life to-do list” was to attend a FIA World Rally Championship Series (http://www.wrc.com/) race. This trip appeared to offer some chances to do this in several places, but our timing just didn’t seem to work out with any of them. I have always been a fan of rally, but never really a follower. I love to watch it on TV but I have never learned that much about the structure of the teams, races or the cars. I really like it because it seems like such a pure form of car racing: they run production cars that are only lightly modified (compared to a NASCAR “stock car”), they run them on real roads with a variety of surfaces and real dangers, it is a truly global series, and they let spectators get in on the action, up close.

When this job in London came up suddenly I was pretty sure it would be my chance to see a race up close at the Wales Rally Great Britain in Cardiff, Wales. I had to drive to the SW of England for work at that same time and Cardiff wasn’t too far away. I bought tickets for the last day’s 4 stages and the first indoor rally stage ever held, the night before the last day.

The indoor stage was held in the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and was a great venue (http://www.millenniumstadium.com/197_211.php). The cars entered the stadium racing up an entrance ramp and jumped out onto the floor into a large “figure 8” style track. The consistent and smooth concrete floor resulted in incredibly fast laps for such a tight track and the cars were never traveling straight – always sliding. Each car was timed for 2 laps and we watched about 80 cars. There were some good crashes through the barricades and a lot of post finish tire smoking brodies!

The next morning we got up at about 3:30 AM and headed for the car park at the Margham Park Stage. The racing started at 8:00 AM and the car park opened at 5:00 AM, so there were a lot of people camped out at the entrance, trying to get a good spot. We got in fine and slept for a couple hours. The Margham Park Stage was to be run twice that day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, with another stage in between. Margham Park is an old country home estate of some rich family, so the course came out of the mountains and into the valley where it finished on the grounds of the castle.

We decided to watch the first stage away from the crowds, at a remote point that could only be accessed by a steep hike. When we found our place, we were warned by the safety officers that we were crossing their barricades and that we were taking our lives in our own hands. Then they waved us through! Gotta love European racing. We smashed down some blackberries on the outside (yes – outside) of a fast corner of a gravel road and waited with about 50 other fans. Not too long after the safety helicopter came through clearing the course and they forced us back about 50 feet. As soon as he left we repositioned ourselves next to the course. Our local “safety” officer then warned us that another safety crew was coming through in a truck and that we better hide. So, we all ducked down in the bushes while they went by. It was classic, hiding in the bushes with 50 people, everyone giggling and popping off to each other. As soon as he passed our safety officer gave us the all clear and we all popped up like prairie dogs.

I knew the cars would seem fast on this little road, but I had no idea that they would be going as fast as they were. I would guess they were going 75 mph on a single lane gravel road in a corner with a big drop on one side and us on the other. Amazing. Also very painful, we were both hit with rocks flying out behind the tires. These guys are crazy, some of the cars were all tore up and dragging body panels behind them and they were still driving like maniacs. At one point we were all standing there waiting for the next car and a driver came running up the course towards us. He had passed us and wrecked in a section with no safety marshals and no spectators. He was stuck in the track and was afraid the next car would t-bone him. He wanted help and a bunch of guys headed down the track to pull his car out. This is racing straight out of “Dukes of Hazzard”.

Another couple cars passed and then all of a sudden the racing seemed to stop, with no explanation. There was a lot of helicopter activity but little information other than a bad wreck up the course from us. We waited for about 45 minutes and then they announced that the stage was cancelled and the second stage would be run in the afternoon. We went back to our car to get lunch and then they announced that Michael Park, co driver for Peugeot’s Markko Martin was killed in what was a very bad crash. They cancelled the rest of the whole rally and drivers’ would take their times form the previous stage. I was very disappointed that my rally experience was already over, but it was hard not feel that it was the right decision, especially given that Michael Park was a local and his whole family was probably on hand for the event. His team with Markko Martin and Peugeot was very successful and they were in the top 5 in the standings.

With sadness we packed up and left Margham Park and headed for Bude, England.
















Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales


The action in the Stadium


Tire smoking sliding


Safety helicopter waving us off the course


My point of view, about 3 feet from the road

They brought in the castle that is required at all British events

Wales and SW England – September 2005, Cross Country Trip

April: Royce had to work in Plymouth, England for a couple of days this week, so we took advantage of the opportunity. We packed up the rental car, said goodbye to London, and ventured out into the English countryside for a road trip. Conveniently, we happened to be in the vicinity of the Wales Car Rally that was taking place over the weekend. So we headed to Cardiff, Wales first to enjoy the race, and then back to England and down the coast.

Although the roads were narrow and winding, the views of the Atlantic were spectacular, making it all worthwhile. We toured the Eden Project bio domes, saw Stonehenge, and drove through the Dartmoor National Park in the fog. We stayed in cute bed and breakfasts, ate great English food for once, and enjoyed beautiful sunsets. I learned how to navigate, and Royce learned how to drive on the left side of the road…what else could we ask for?!


Royce in Front of the B&B, Where We Stayed the First Night


Royce in Front of an Old Castle Near the Wales/England Border


Me in Front of Same Old Castle


Me in Front of the River that Divides Wales and England


Royce Hiking Through The Ferns and Blackberry Bushes in Search of an Ideal Rally Race View


Royce Getting Thicker into the Bushes...Rally Fan Style


Royce Relaxing Before Dinner in Bune, England


Royce - Probably Thinking About Bridges or Something


Royce and I Watching Surfers and Enjoying the Fresh Sea Air


Me Watching the Sunset


Next Stop NY...


Royce and I watching the Sunset and Taking a Stroll Just Outside Our B&B


This Was the View From Our B&B Window


Another Shot From Our Window


Here is a Picture of Me in the Tropical Bio Dome at the Eden Project - It was Hot and Humid!


Royce in the Tropical Bio Dome...He was Trying to Postpone Work as Long as Possible on this Trip


Royce Outside of the Bio Domes

Downtown London Weekend

Royce: We end up in downtown London fairly frequently for work and on our way to particular sights but we really have not spent much time doing the tourist sights since our first visit to London in June. We decided to just spend the weekend in London checking some things out. Our first stop was the "Gherkin Tower" and the Tower Bridge. The bridge really is beautiful. The neighborhood around Tower Bridge has a lot of antique shops and great Thames riverfront property. We toured some antique shops and had Starbucks and then rode the Underground system to the Millenium Eye.

The ride on the Eye http://www.londoneye.com/ really helped my understanding of the city better. London is very confusing from street level but a 30 minute ride on a 450 ft ferris wheel cleared things up for me. We spent the rest of the day touring some "boot sales" (swap meets basically) and hitting the classic sights along the Thames like Big Ben and the Parliament Building, Westminster Abbey, and James Bond's office at MI6. We finished the day with yet another great Indian meal in London.
















Peering out of the "Eye"
















April trying to not look like a tourist

Us on the Eye

Me across the Thames from MI6

Pub night in London

Living In London Suddenly

Royce: How did we come to be living in London so suddenly?

Over the years we have kept in contact with people we used to work with at NEPCO. NEPCO was the company that we both went to work for right out of college and they were responsible for our residing in several southern US states. During the Enron bankruptcy, NEPCO was sold by Enron to SNC-Lavalin (there is no connection besides coincidence that I worked for SNC - Sierra Nevada Construction - in Reno, NV), a huge Canadian engineering and construction firm. The NEPCO division was renamed SNCL Thermal and continues to be involved with the development, design, finance, procurement, construction, and operation of power plant projects worldwide.

During the final stages of getting ready to depart on this trip I was contacted by SNCL Thermal to see if I was interested in returning to work for them. I let them know I was interested in overseas work and asked that they contact me if there was a good slot open. As we were leaving Scandinavia in early August they contacted me again with a potential opportunity in London that would last 2 months. I again told them that I was interested and to contact me when they had something firm. A few weeks passed and we were getting geared up for 3 weeks of backpacking trips in the Alps when they contacted me with the firm offer. I quickly accepted and we headed for Paris to do some shopping for work clothes. Cancelling the backpacking was probably a good thing because the whole region was devastated by flooding caused by the heaviest rain in 100 years.

We are now living in southern London in a suburb called Croydon. Croydon is really not all that interesting itself, but it is in London and it gives good access to plenty of things to do. It easy to connect to all points in Europe fairly cheap and we plan on not only seeing England as much as possible, but maybe going to Chamonix, France and Iceland.

The project I am working on is the development of a proposal for a 1000 Megawatt gas turbine power plant located in Plymouth, England, about 4 hours SW of London. The project developer has requested proposals from design/construction firms to provide them with a turnkey power plant on their site. My job, as the only team member in England, is to liase with consultants and contractors to develop a group of qualified subcontractors who will, in turn, provide us with proposals to complete the various "packages" of contruction. My other duties involve some company marketing, identifying cultural issues, and providing in country coordination between our design group in Seattle and the contractors that I have identified. It is interesting to be involved with a project of this size at such an early stage. My actual office is borrowed space in a SNC Lavalin office that specializes in the design of off-shore oil and gas facilities.

The company has been kind enough to put us in a good apartment in downtown Croydon. It is a quick walk to work, shopping and the train station. We make good use of the train system and rarely use taxis to get around. The ride into downtown London takes about 15 minutes and is quite painless. Once in downtown, we have access to the whole city on the double decker buses and the London Underground system. Our only car trip was when I needed to go to Plymouth to do a jobsite investigation. Driving in Plymouth is one thing - with all the narrow roads and on the left side, but London is terrible. The signage is confusing and the streets are next to impossible to figure out.

April is not currently working, but she is keeping very busy taking care of loose ends for the trip, catalouging our pictures, working on this blog, making my going back to work painless in terms of food and clothing, and running errands to try and catch us up before we leave again. She has also taken up knitting again and is learning Italian. I suppose she may be more busy than me.

From here we intend to go to the Egypt, Jordan and Israel for 3-4 weeks before meeting Tyler and Nicki and Ben in Milan, Italy for Thanksgiving and a tour of Northern Italy and Southern France. After that is still very much up in the air. Our original plan was to get an apartment in Chamonix, France for the ski season, but now SNC Lavalin is considering sending us to Konin, Poland on the construction of a power plant. Could be interesting too. Living in London has been a great experience, but we are really both looking forward to moving on to other places where the "travel" is a little bit more challeging. I expect we will be here until the end of October.


Bomb bus passing by my office. I'm on the second floor from the top, 3 windows to the right

Austria – August 2005, The Great Flood

April: We stayed in Vienna for a couple of days, where we went to the cinema, and avoided tourist attractions at all cost. It was raining the entire time, so we read a lot, looked into booking a trip to the South of France, as well as investigated hut to hut hiking in Austria. We then traveled to Innsbruck, where the floodwaters were rising. It had not rained that hard in 35 years, and the Eastern European countries were really taking a hit. Once in Innsbruck, we checked our email and discovered that our plans had changed slightly. Royce was needed to start a project in London, so we postponed our Austrian hike and trip to Marsielle, FR. and headed for the UK.


View of Floodwaters from Train near Innsbruck, Austria

Czech Republic – August 2005

April: Our first attempt at getting to Prague was an adventure; we missed the stop and ended up staying in the small town of Kolin. Luckily we found a B&B and were able to stay there for the night. Things in the Czech are inexpensive, so we decided to have a nice dinner, where we met a group of Americans who were in the Czech on business. They bought us desert and unlimited beer and champagne, so needless to say the next day did not go so well for me.

While in Prague, we splurged on Thai massages (not something we would recommend for the modest), and then ventured to the Castle and Cathedral for a look. It was extremely crowded with tourists, so we cut things short and headed to the city Centrum for lunch. Royce had arranged for us to meet the Editor of the OSU Barometer, Kirsten Martin, who is working and living in Prague for 6-9 months. It was fun to reminisce about OSU, Corvallis, and Clodfelters.


Me in the Cathedral Tower in Prague