Summer off

Saturday (5/14) Susan and I toured the submarine at OMSI and Monday I ventured off to Brown's camp for some mountain biking. I also stopped on the Banks-Vernonia trail on my way home for some flat riding, ending up with about 14 miles and sore legs.

I stopped (purposely) on a descent to snap this picture in the middle this is looking down. (Somehow these pictures don't do justice to how steep these trails were to me). 

Bottom looking up 

The view from my bike (why doesn't this look steeper!?!) 

Technical terrain (It really is steeper in real life) 

Saturday we toured the USS Blueback that is docked at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. It is a submarine that was in the movie "The Hunt for Red October".  

A memorial to Submariners, this is how big the props are! 

The sub is powered by electric batteries; this way it's quiet. The batteries are charged at night using diesel engines like this one. There were four or five of these monsters to charge the batteries. 

These are the controls for the diesel engines. This sub was decomissioned in 1990 but was built in the '50s. 

Pipes and valves! 

Another shot of the mess hall. You can see the stereo and vcr along with what the tour guide said was the most important piece of equipment on the sub: the soft serve icecream machine! 

The mess hall. 4 meals a day for a crew of 77. 

These are the crews quarters. Three bunks high featuring a shoe box-sized shelf for all your personal belongings. (also pictured, part of the nice mexican family that was on the tour with us) 

This is where the torpedos are. You can see the tube at the end. These torpedos weigh about a ton each! The one on the left is sonar-guided. 

These are the Captain's quarters. He's the only one on the boat to get his own room, it's tiny.