Memorial Day Weekend.....

[Kitergal]

Whose doing what?? Need to start fishing for some ideas here!! Soo many options...so little time.

 

Can anyone suggest a kick ass place to go, camp, hike, climb, etc. where the crowds WILL NOT BE?? Anywhere in the US or Canada is game at this point.....

 

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

[J_Kirby]

I'm hoping City of Rocks will be nice as that's where I'll be hangin.

[Squid]

Idaho's probably a pretty good bet. There's so much space and so few people.

 

I'm considering Chimney Rock or something in the Sawtooths

[Alex]

Swiftsure on my own boat for the first time.

[DirtyHarry]

Bowling tournament. Then Star Trek convention.

[glacier]

Lighting fireworks out of my ass

[catbirdseat]

Swiftsure on my own boat for the first time.

Lordy, Swiftsure on an Olson 30? You are a glutton for punishment. Well, you are a climber, so what else is new? Good luck. I hope you win. Pray for light air.

[Alex]

you know what they say, "recreational sailing is neither.."

[Ratboy]

Damn, this thread made me think i had a 3 day weekend coming up soon. The end of May might as well be December right now.

[Off_White]

I spent a great Memorial Day weekend climbing at Banks Lake one year in the mid 90's, we actually saw another party climbing, perhaps a first for the area at that time. We rented a boat to go play in the really cool aquatic dome stuff. There were a lot of fast bass boats buzzing about with the stately beer bellied Men of Banks Lake at the helm. I thought it was funny that they all seemed to have the same brand outboard, "Contest" printed on a fluorescent green band. Silly me, there was a fishing contest and this was a stretchy band the contestants used to identify themselves. If I were to go this Memorial Day weekend, I'd take a rowboat and put one of those bands on a hat to wear while I was powering it.

 

Here's a bouldering shot, note the life preserver self belay.

 

[DirtyHarry]

How's the potential for "deep water soloing" at Banks?

[Off_White]

I think there would be some, those formations continue to drop at the same angle below the water. You do have to watch out for the slabby stuff, bouncing, rolling, and bellyflopping are poor form in the deepwater solo game.

[Kitergal]

k. seriously people...I need to purchase airline tickets soon if I'm going somewhere!! any other suggestions?? No crowds is the key, and camping, hiking, climbing, kind of stuff is mandatory!!

-M

[Bill_Simpkins]

I think that time of year our own back yard is about the best place to be.

Squamish Marie ....... Squamish.

Use your plane money and get a pimped out room in Whistler.

[Kitergal]

hmm..squamish could be fun! And it's canadian so it shouldn't be totally over crowded..right?! good idea!!

[Bill_Simpkins]

Some areas can get a little crowded, but it's still nice. There are always places there to rid of the crowds.

I would hate to offer this advice though and have it rain that weekend.

[tivoli_mike]

hmm..squamish could be fun! And it's canadian so it shouldn't be totally over crowded..right?! good idea!!

 

Heck continue north to Fort McMurray for some of the largest sulfur tailing piles known to man

[Kitergal]

wtf is a sulfur tailing pile?

[Squid]

Alex, I'll take "Yellow, Toxic, & Smells like Eggs" for $500.

[Kitergal]

k. so why are they piling it up?? and what is it for?

[K_Y_L_E]

why are they bleeding?

thats just spooky!

[rbw1966]

They are a by-product of strip mining, no?

[ScottP]

Memorial Day Weekend

Ski to Sea relay race

Mt Baker Ski Area to Bellingham Bay

 

Something to think about avoiding like the plague.

[murraysovereign]

They are a by-product of strip mining, no?

 

Sulphur is a by-product of petroleum refining. The bitumin "tar sands" of northern Alberta have higher sulphur content than most conventional crude oil deposits, so the stuff piles up faster in Fort McMurray than it does in most other places. Eventually it gets shipped by rail to North Vancouver among other places - next time you cross the Lions Gate bridge heading north look over to your right and you'll see a couple of huge piles of the stuff waiting to be loaded onto bulk freighters. It gets used for a myriad of things, from making matches to pharmaceuticals to fertilizers to, I dunno, making rotten eggs smell bad so people won't accidentally eat them and get sick. Stuff like that.

 

I don't know why the piles in the photo are bleeding - maybe they're devoutly catholic sulphur piles that have developed stigmata through mourning the death of John Paul II?

[AaronB]

What Is Memorial Day?

by

LT Bobby Ross

 

My years whirl past me. Swirling. Dry, broken grass hovering in a

spring breeze. Can I remember my experiences in war? Hardly. Fighting

for my country, my youth invested, seems such a long time ago, and so

unimportant. The calendar this year marks Memorial Day on the 29th of

May,2000. Have I lost something? The traditional Memorial Day, also known

as Decoration Day, is on the 30th of May. This observed Memorial Day on May

29th coincidentally allows for a national three day holiday. Such is

commercialism's capitalistic American display. But why do I feel so

stricken, like I have abandoned old friends from long ago? Their ghosts

consort with my floating years, and their spirits coast around my presence.

Another three day holiday! Memorial Day! Maybe me and the kids can go

camping? Or, to the beach? Memorial Day is fun! This is the

inconsiderate, thoughtless approach to this meaningful, and consecrated

moment representing one three hundred and sixty-fifth of our year. What is

the meaning of Memorial Day? Is it merely a three day escape from our

worldly duties? Or, is it the official beginning of summer? Is selling

more hot dogs at the ballpark the overriding clarification? Many souls,

sacrificed in war, in duty to America, are wandering. They drift in a

heavenly place, minus their future here upon earth. Tomorrows were forfeited.

Given up so our nation would invigorate free souls, aspire them to

freedom, and justly allow their lives lived as they prefer. Raising

offspring above restrictions, as they desire. Those lost lives giving we,

the living, what we want freely. Those are the souls we respect on Memorial

Day. This means it is a sacred day. Without retrospect, sacrifice is

mute. Old Glory does not wave by accident. It flutters in the spring air

revealing honor. The color red represents the blood bloom from those who

fell, those who clawed, those who cried in horrible pain. Those who died

fast. And, those who died ever so slowly. They did their duty. When I see

Old Glory waving on a sunny, end of May day, the pigment red gushes from

millions of souls, floating, not with us, anymore. They are amongst our

heroes, cajoling with angels with their champions, conquerors and

commanders. Friends and loved ones gather, over the rave, witness to those

who gave more than anyone should be required to relinquish. They did not

want to yield. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and when the

moment harshly struck them their fatal blow, they cried for their mother, or

their friend. Then there

were those, many of those, who knew exactly what they were giving. They

moved forward knowingly. They lost their lives so their mission would be

accomplished. Fools! Some intellects can say that. One would have to be

an imbecile to give up life, no matter what the cause. For a flag? Futile!

For a country! More pointless! For freedom! What freedom is there in

mortality? Yes, fools they may have been, but their numbers add up in an

awesome display of American loss! Veterans' Cemeteries, white badges

sailing row after row after row upon green grass, almost never ending,

creeping onto the horizon. Constant reminders of the devastation of our

human treasure. Mothers' tears, enough to fill an ocean to overflow.

Sweethearts, broken hearted, reading telegrams. Sons and daughters, many

unborn, wakening at birth to a devastated family suffering from a victim of

war there no more. And what does all this macabre math equal? Memorial Day

is the correct answer. Few Americans know a person who died in war.

Their family trees have lost some leaves, falling as they fought in one of

America's wars, or discarded in the peacetime military. We are a busy

people. We have business to capture. Our kids are in school. We have

chores. Mundane, or surrealistic. We are a spirited society, seeking

applications to improve ourselves and our communities. We are a helpful

populace, always there when the going gets tough to help those who have

suffered the tragedies of nature, whether a hurricane or a famine.

Americans are always the first on the scene worldwide bearing their gifts of

human spirit and abundance. This is why it is so puzzling that the meaning

of Memorial Day seems to lack substance to many of our own people. Even

with the day itself. Put back to accommodate a holiday schedule fixed by

some organism no one knows, yet powerful enough to do so, the day itself

lacks consequence to too many. Many who never knew a person who died in

service to America are wrought with the invisible pain of not feeling for

those who do. Americans take things for granted. We have so much. So

very much. Endless choices. These options are not available worldwide. Our

shelves are full. Unlike many in other nations of the world. So many are

empty or offer very limited selections. Those American fighting men and

women killed in battle whose souls are floating actually made available

these wondrous choices we have every day of our American lives. Yet, most

of our youngsters have no idea whatsoever what this means. They don't learn

this in school. We must teach them. For without knowledge, they may end up

thinking, or believing, all these marvelous selections came without

circumstance. Minus anything. Equaling no meaning.

Our nation needs to halt and perceive the flags and flowers on our

Veterans graves on this consecrated holiday. We need to lift a common

voice of adoration to those floating spirits of our onetime American

Warriors, and extol them with a salutation. We have not come that far with

our technological miracles of this millennium to become crass. We still

need respect. Our backs can not turn from formality. Our eyes can not look

away from custom. Our voices must not resonate in silence against honor and

glory. To do so will leave us hollow, only to fill us with that which is

desolate and lacking potential. This is not the true meaning of Memorial

Day. The heartfelt significance requires reminding. Story telling. Wisdom

being passed on from our Veterans to our younger generations. An

interpretation certified by those who remember the horrors of war. Without

this core, our society can not remain genuine. It becomes contemptible. It

rots from within. These floating souls of our lost American Warriors are a

powerful force, for they live within our hearts. They constantly seek

justification for their contributions, and they are real within us. Such is

what our American substance stands for, where character is developed,

individually is guaranteed, and a community, a nation, survives.

America enters the 21st Century as the most powerful entity

humankind has ever experienced. America permeates this next century with

vast responsibilities. Our children must bear this promise. We can not

turn our backs on these bygone descendants, nor can we do so upon

ourselves. Memorial Day offers us the opportunity to express a moment of

solitude where each of us can personify in our own way what we feel. I

only speak for my myself, as one who has bared his soul to the dread of

war. So my father did, and his father's father before him, and their souls

float amongst the multitudes. My mother and her mother held their Veterans

after they returned from war, tears streaming down their cheeks in gratitude

for their safe return. And there were those in my ancestry who did not

return from war. And their mothers' tears soaked the pillows on beds for

generations to sleep upon. Their souls are the dreams that drift amongst

the floating, gathering at the end of May in the breeze of summer's coming,

in the cool glass of lemonade at the child's street side stand, in the

cheers at the ball game from the crowd rooting their team to victory and

enjoying the best hot dogs in the world. Let us all stop for a moment,

whether it is on the traditional day, or the observed Memorial Day, or even

at the end of May, and reach for those floating souls. Let us reveal to

them how much we cherish their sacrifice for our free people. Let these

memories harvest our recognition of the meaning of Memorial Day in a very

simple word. And let that word, simply stated be: Thanks.

 

I guess you could just honor memorial day.