Legacy, Day 2: Uncooperative Chickens

If there were a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Sequim, I suspect it would be very crowded about now.

After the second day of chicken training, a lot of the participants in this week's Discrimination workshop are thinking wicked thoughts about the Colonel's secret recipe and mashed potatoes. (And, because we're sick and twisted people... note the materials container on the table in the picture at right.)

I have one chicken who is very gentle and cooperative, but apparently narcoleptic -- she's nearly asleep every time I bring her out -- and another who is extremely fear-aggressive and attacks me every time I try to open her cage. (This is the one I'm training for shape discrimination.) I'm still considering names for each of them, and will entertain any suggestions from the peanut gallery...

The workshop so far has been fun, but intense. Bob Bailey is a great teacher, and keeps things moving, but -- as I've learned after several years attending ClickerExpo -- there is only so much behavior science one can cram into one's brain in a single day. I haven't reached my limit yet, but that's primarily because a certain amount of the information is review (overlapping with Kathy Sdao's Advanced Clicker Training seminar and the aforementioned ClickerExpos). The homework text reads like a college textbook on silica gel, but I think part of that can be attributed to mental fatigue at the end of the day. (I did not post yesterday because my brain was FRIED by the time I finished my reading assignment, and I was really longing to go to bed and dump information.)

Speaking of reading assignments... I still have one to do tonight, so this will be an abbreviated post.

Laura, the B. F. Skinner shirt you gave me last year was a big hit. I've had about six people ask me where they could get one. :)

At left: Bob uses a dog target stick (because Terry was still looking for a laser pointer) to explain a diagram of applied behavioral economics.

My standing with the tree slugs has increased by one point.

And now, it's time for another "Good Idea/Bad Idea."

Good idea: Hiking in Olympic National Park.

Bad idea: Hiking 5.5 miles in the mountains in 90% humidity when you're horribly out of shape.

Today we headed to the Elwha area to do some more hiking. We started with a short (.2 mile) walk up to a scenic waterfall (at left) on the way into the park, then checked out the hiking trails posted at the ranger station. Our ultimate goal was the Olympic Hot Springs (we didn't make it there, alas!), but before we hiked out to soak in the hot and smelly, we thought we'd do a few miles through the woods. We had gotten a local's recommendation to take a particular trail at Elwha; it was listed as "moderate" and ran about 2.7 miles each way, so we planned to do that trail and then hike up to the hot springs and soak for a bit.

This was a perfectly decent plan. However, it did not take into consideration the fact that I live in Indiana, at near-zero elevation (I think my area is officially 12 feet above sea level). I'm also completely out of shape, due to a respiratory infection that took me out of commission for several weeks earlier this year, so the five-plus miles of trail -- largely climbing up and down hills, which I am also unused to -- pretty much wiped me out. By the time we finished the first trail, my clothes were soaked through with sweat and my feet were starting to swell. Still hopeful, we checked the trail guide to see if the trail to the Olympic Hot Springs was any easier -- but learned that not only was it the same length as the one we'd just finished, but also had an even higher elevation increase. We decided to call it a day.

Still, we did get some pretty good hiking in with the first 5.5 miles. Apparently it is banana slug migration season here in Olympic, by which I mean every slug on one side of the trail has decided that it wants to be on the other side of the trail. I lost count of how many giant slugs I stepped over, guided Mark around, or scooped gently onto a leaf or piece of bark to get them out of the walking path, but it was at least a couple of dozen. There was also a cute little snake (at right) who tried to play dead across a sidewalk and almost got stepped on; I shooed him off into the grass.

As expected, there was also some nice scenery on our hike. The areas we hiked through alternated between Douglas fir and maple forest, and the undergrowth was mostly huge ferns. Very green, and very pretty! There weren't many spruce trees -- which was frustrating for me because before we started the hike, Mark pointed out a notice explaining the legal quantity of edible plants that hikers could collect from the park, and I really wanted to eat some spruce tips. Fortunately, I did find a single spruce tree later in the hike, so I got to munch a handful of tree bits. (They tasted better in Alaska, though... these were a little bitter.)

We also had to cross several streams and rivulets on the hike. Some had bridges, and some were fordable, but there was one crossing that did not instill me with confidence. It was the same type of bridge we'd crossed the day before, a cut log with a railing attached... except that in this case, one railing was missing, and right beside it was the old bridge -- identical in design, but broken in two (!) and lying partially in the river. Fortunately, the one-railed log (at left) held up just fine, and we crossed it twice without falling in.

There was only one real casualty from our hike, apart from the sore muscles I'm going to have for the next couple of days. While walking through the tall plants lining the trail, I managed to brush against a nasty weed with tiny little thorns that have some kind of burning toxin in them. Even now -- four hours later, and after a bath and a shower -- I still have stinging welts across the backs of my hands. Ouch.

After leaving the park, we drove back to Sequim and stopped at the local Pizza Factory for a very late lunch (it was around 4:00 by the time we ate, and we'd had breakfast at 9:00). While we waited on our pizza, both of us had fun playing the Star Trek pinball machine (at right) that was in the restaurant's little arcade area. I've never really played pinball, but Mark tells me I did pretty well. I ended up with around 7,500,000 points, whatever that means... I don't understand pinball scoring. Anyway, the game design was fun, with lots of character quotes and images from the original series (complete with Uhura and Chapel in skimpy '60s outfits).


And, finally... I've been driving past this place on highway 101 for three days now, and today I had Mark snap a photo of it. I loved the sign, although I confess I don't know what a "dolphin room" is for...

Olympic National Park

For whatever reason, it seems that I only remember to update this blog when I'm in or around in Washington State. Oh, well. Since I happen to be staying in Sequim for a training seminar, I think it's time I resurrected it.

Our train ride out here, while... memorable, was not the most enjoyable experience I've had on Amtrak. Poor service, lower-quality meals in the dining car, and The Kid From Hell (an uncontrolled and squalling toddler whose parents I wanted to throttle), combined with my caffeine-ruined sleep schedule, conspired to make the trip fairly mediocre. Still, the scenery hasn't changed -- it's still pretty going through Glacier National Park -- and Mark (who is traveling with me) and I had a lot of fun playing old SNES and Sega Genesis games on my laptop and watching anime at double-speed to clear it off my hard drive. (Naruto Shippuden Gekijouban: Not worth watching, unless -- SPOILER -- you really want to see Naruto die. In that case, watch the first thirty seconds of the movie, and quit.) I verified that after 15 years I am still really bad at the water levels in Sonic 2, and that digital hedgehogs can't really swim...

We arrived in Seattle midmorning on Monday, which happened to be Memorial Day, and -- after a bit of trouble with the rental car company, which had not been answering their phones for the previous two days -- picked up our rental, a Chrysler HHR (a model with which I was not familiar; it looks kind of like the bastard offspring of a PT Cruiser and a Chinese take-out box). After hopping through a series of wireless networks until we could get to Google Maps to confirm our driving directions, we started for Sequim, which is on the Olympic peninsula.

After a half-hour ride on the Kingston-Edmonds ferry and a couple hours' creative highway driving, we finally made it to our hotel, the Sequim EconoLodge, which is notable for its overgrown (probably haunted) mini-golf course and rather sparse continental breakfast. It's located on the eastern edge of downtown Sequim -- a town that is only about two and a half miles from end to end -- and is adequate for our needs, if not stunning. (Truth be told, I made our reservations here largely because the motel offered free wi-fi, which is actually a rarity in much of Washington.)

We went to Applebee's for our one meal of the day (we missed breakfast on the train -- see above re: bad service), then hit the local Wal-Mart for junk food and beverages, as we learned at check-in that there were a refrigerator and microwave in each of our rooms at the EconoLodge. (Since Laura is currently 2,000 miles away and can't complain about the smell, Mark and I picked up a two pound package of Twizzlers for snacking...) We then stopped at a local drive-in for dessert, returned to the hotel to watch some Code Geass and the new episode of YuGiOh: The Abridged Series, and after that I finally got to SLEEP -- something I hadn't done much of since last Wednesday night.

Today we sampled the mediocre continental breakfast, then hopped in the HHR and drove out to Olympic National Park for some hiking. We stopped by the visitors' center, went on to Lake Crescent, took a short trail, then for lunch went to the Lake Crescent Lodge (at right -- and yes, Mom, I looked through all of the antique books in the case on the left side of the photo!), where we met an entertaining waiter named Timotheus who, in addition to being personable and funny, has read The Lord of the Rings trilogy at least ten times. Lunch was fish & chips -- you just can't get fresh fried halibut in Indiana! -- followed by blackberry honey lavender ice cream, which is made locally in Sequim. I hadn't expected the lavender flavor to be strong, but it was actually pretty potent, and made for a very interesting (and tasty) mix of flavors. Lunch at the lodge was particularly nice because we had a lovely view of Lake Crescent from the dining room (the view from our table is shown at left).

After lunch, we hiked about three miles to and from a waterfall (at right), and then drove through Port Angeles on the way back to our hotel.

On the two short hikes, I took almost 200 photos. I think I'm going to have a lot of sorting to do.

My seminar doesn't start until Thursday, so we have another day to go hiking, sightseeing, or whatever. It's kind of nice to be able to make up the vacation as you go...

Oh -- and Laura, Mark blames you for the cold he's developing.


ADDENDUM: My mother informs me that I need to have some photos of ME on this trip, so here's the one shot I have of me so far. I'm standing on a narrow bridge (a long log with a railing, more or less) over the lower cascade of the waterfall in the previous picture: