Reflections on Minneapolis

28 October 2009

I'm in Minnesota this week at the 28th Annual Conference of the American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR). The term "aerosol" means a suspension of particles in a gas. Aerosol science is remarkably challenging and has a surprisingly diverse array of applications. More than 700 papers will be presented this week on topics ranging from airborne infectious disease transmission to the contributions of forest fires to global warming and to the use of aerosol processing technologies to make improved solar photovoltaic cells.

The annual meeting sites are now in a three-city rotation, deliberately spread around the US. Last year we met in Orlando and next October we'll be meeting in Portland. I was just elected to a leadership position in the organization, which commits me to at least the next three meetings. Being in mid-sized cities like these is key to finding a good balance between locations that are pleasant and yet economical.

We're in a hotel just on the edge of downtown Minneapolis. My room looks out over the high-rise buildings of the city core and also the Metrodome where the Twins and Vikings play. A few miles further east is the Mississippi river.

I shot these photos yesterday. The sky was brilliantly blue and cloudless. I took off some time in the afternoon to wander through the downtown area and then walk down to the river at St. Anthony Falls, seen at the top of the post.

The visual characteristic of downtown Minneapolis that appeals most to me is the extensive use of reflective glass surfaces on the outer shell of the high-rise buildings. These photos illustrate some of the interesting reflections of buildings off of the surfaces of other buildings. In the photo at the bottom, I was looking at three elements: the reflective surfaces, the interesting shapes, and the pattern of illumination, which itself is the result of reflections of the sunlight from yet another building.

Today it is overcast and cold. There is a break in the technical program, so it is a good time to get caught up on some other work.

Shell Ridge Open Space

25 October 2009

Shell Ridge Open Space is in the southeastern corner of Walnut Creek, just west of the Diablo Foothills Regional Park. In combination with Mount Diablo State Park, these three public trusts preserve large tracts of land for hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, and as natural habitat. Last week, on our first hike in the Diablo Foothills Park, we were amazed by the beauty of the grass covered hills, punctuated by stately oaks and dramatic rock outcrops. The Shell Ridge Open Space is equally beautiful.



Usually, October is near the end of a long dry season. But this year, we've had heavy October rains, and so the grasses are already turning green. With warm weather for most of the past week, we could see much more life in the grasses this week than last.



We parked near the Borges Ranch, a historic cattle ranch complex established in 1899. We hiked past Bob Pond and then up to the Ridge Top Trail. Next we headed to the southwest, toward Sugarloaf Open Space, but the late afternoon light was fading too quickly, so we turned back a mile short of this destination.



In all, the city of Walnut Creek has four parcels of Open Space that total 2800 acres. Of these, Shell Ridge is the largest, with 20 miles of trails. These lands were acquired through a $6.75 million municipal bond passed in 1974. Good move!

Diablo Foothills Regional Park

18 October 2009

So, we discovered a new place to hike today. And, boy, what a great place!

Diablo Foothills is part of the East Bay Regional Park system. It sits on the western flank of Mount Diablo in Walnut Creek, less than a 30 minute drive from our house.



It seems unbelievable to me (and wonderful, too) that I could live in the East Bay for 30 years, be a devoted outdoors person for that whole time, and still find new places of great beauty so close to our home.



What is so great about this park? The trails wind along seasonal creeks and meander over rolling hills. Although the park is in the heart of Contra Costa county, most of the sight lines are of open space. Majestic oak trees are sprinkled among the grass-covered hills. Spectacular rock outcroppings appear along the trail.



We parked near the Castle Rock recreation area along the eastern edge of the park. Our route initially headed due south and eventually took us across the southern boundary into another open space. We then headed west and climbed up to the ridge line following the Briones-Diablo regional trail for a time before dropping back down to the eastern edge and returning to our car. In all, we covered about 6 miles in 2.5 hours and for most of the hike the scenery was terrific.



It helped that the weather was perfect. After the heavy rain earlier this week, the ground was soft and all the dust had been washed away. The sky was partly cloudy which kept the temperatures cool and added to the visual appeal.

If you are in the area, check it out! It's well worth a visit.

Sunset from Upper Rockridge

17 October 2009

October is a strange month.

The Bay Area has been "celebrating" this week the 20th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake (October 17, 1989 at 5:04 PM).

Two years later, we suffered the Oakland Firestorm of 1991, which destroyed almost 4000 dwelling units. There are still many vacant lots in our neighborhood created by the destruction from that fire. (October 20, 1991)



Earlier this week, we had an intense rainstorm. More than two inches dropped over the course of a day across the Bay Area. We're accustomed to heavy rains, but _never_ in October. The headline of the SF Chronicle read "Rainfall records fall in epic storm." Okay, "epic" is an exaggeration! (October 14, 2009)

October (and November) also produce some excellent morning fogs that can blanket the Bay and linger into the late morning.

On Saturday, we had a terrific sunset, the kind we only get to see here a few times a year. These photos were taken a few blocks from our house looking out over the bay.

Mount St. Helena

11 October 2009

At the north end of the Napa Valley stands Mt. Saint Helena, elevation 4342 ft. Much of it sits within the Robert Louis Stevenson State Park. Ingrid and I visited yesterday, hiking to the south summit, which is a bit lower than the north peak. The top photo looks north from just below the top of our hike. The photo below shows the view looking south from the midpoint of the climb.



Much of the hiking was on a well-graded dirt fire road, which was okay, but not as nice as a path through the forest. In addition to the views that were in sight for most of the hike, another nice feature was some huge rock outcroppings. The one shown here was one of the best. A few rock climbers were preparing to ascend as we hiked up.

Napa is an easy 40 mile drive from Oakland. From there to the trailhead was another 40 miles through the Napa Valley, passing the towns of Yountville, St. Helena, and Calistoga. The countryside is pretty, but it was slow going. Overall, driving required more than 2 h each direction. We didn't start hiking until about 12:45.

The weather surprised us. It was a cold, cloudy morning in Oakland and the overcast conditions didn't break up until close to noon. Although it was still cool in Napa Valley, the trail up the south facing slope of the mountain was sunny and warm, too warm for how we dressed. Fortunately, the last part of the hike up was in shade and by the time we headed down the sun's intensity weakened. One of the advertised attractions of the hike is the spectacular views; the hazy skies interfered.

Because he honeymooned here in 1880, the state park is named after the Scotsman Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), author of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and "Treasure Island." Nothing is left of the honeymoon cabin, but there is a memorial tablet at the site in the form of an open stone book on a concrete pedestal. The memorial was placed here in 1911 and it's visible to the left of Ingrid in the photo at right.



We also found a terrific spot to stop for lunch, on the back side of the outcrop shown above. On a flat spot, in the shade, we enjoyed some wonderful salads and bread we had picked up at Sunshine Foods, a high-end supermarket in St. Helena. In all, we hiked about 4 hours, covered 9 miles and climbed about 1200 feet.

UCLA at Stanford

3 October 2009

Today, four of us gathered for UCLA's football game at Stanford. Daniela came up by overnight bus from LA with the Spirit Squad. She worked pregame and the first half in "yell" and then as Joe Bruin for the second half.



Ingrid and I drove over from Oakland this morning and Rani came up from Monterey. (Alexis had to work at her internship in the De Young Museum in SF and couldn't join us.)

The game was disappointing. Stanford won 24-16. UCLA had a chance at the end to drive down the field for a tying touchdown, but fell short. For most of the game, Stanford dominated.

After the game ended, we had fun walking around the Stanford campus, especially the photogenic core with the extensive arched colonnades. The stones made for a nice contrast with Bruin blue!