From Arches to Capitol Reef, by way of Goblin Valley

We woke up early for our walk through the Fiery Furnace, hoping to check out the Windows site within Arches National Park on the way.  But first we stopped for breakfast at the nearby Jailhouse Café, a place that serves ONLY breakfast, and so named because the building was the town’s original courthouse and jail rolled into one.  We were sorry we had not had breakfast there every day! the venue offered pleasant outdoor seating and a good menu – Nancy liked the whole wheat waffle and I was especially taken by the ginger pancakes with apple butter, which was so good and served in such plentiful quantity that I was having leftovers for lunch the following day.  The wait staff repeated a phrase which I have come to identify with Utah – instead of telling me that she would take my bill and credit card whenever I was ready (rather than my having to take my check up to the cash register), she told me, “I’ll be your cashier.”

Then we drove into Arches, stopping first at the Windows. 

Window in Arches National Park

But we had lingered so long over breakfast that we could not visit them all, not to speak of checking out the arches across the road, but rather hurried up to the Fiery Furnace so that we would not be late for our ranger-led tour.  And what a tour it was, easily one of the highlights of the entire vacation.  The Fiery Furnace is a medium sized maze of formations including arches, fins, spires and other features, and bears its name not because of high temperatures — in fact, the hike moves in and out of a cooling shade – but because, our ranger guide told us, some of the rocks in the formation glow a fiery red at sunset.  Entry requires either reservation for the ranger-led tour or acquisition of a special permit.  It was not clear to me how groups entering the maze would have found their way through some of the exceptionally narrow spaces

Arches National Park, Canyonlands and more!

The temperatures can get beastly hot in southern Utah during the summer time, even as early as the second week of June, when we were visiting, so we were anxious to get an early start.  A breakfast place called Love Muffin was right next to our Moab motel, but it did not open until 7 AM, so we headed down the street to the Pancake Haus where we were able to order a filling breakfast. 

Then we drove into the park and stopped at the Visitor Center, hoping against hope that there might have been a cancellation for the one ranger-led activity that I had really been hoping to try – a tour of the Fiery Furnace.  When I first started making reservations for this trip, two months before, there had been tickets available for Friday, June 7, but it was five dollars less per person if we could provide the number of an interagency senior pass, so I put off making the reservation until Nancy and I could obtain those.  Penny-wise and pound foolish, all tickets were gone by the time a I checked again six weeks before our trip; and I had been kicking myself ever since. 

Miraculously, though, I found at the Visitors Center that an extra tour had been created for Saturday morning, June 8, so I quickly signed us up.  Our plan had been to start driving toward Capitol Reef National Park in Saturday morning, but this opportunity seemed too good to pass up. (More about that in the post about Saturday’s hikes). We learned later that the Fiery Furnace guided ranger hikes were booked up all the way into October – so, a word to the wise, reserve this tour early!

We then headed out for our secondary choice for the day, a hike through the Devils Garden.  After a relatively easy walk –largely flat, although the ample sand made the going a bit rougher –   we arrived at our first destination, Landscape Arch (a second arch that we would see late in the hike, Partition Arch, can be seen on the far right side of the photo)

Landscape Arch

Fin on the Double O Arch Trail

At this point, the hiking got harder.   We were determined to make it up to the Double O Arch, if not further, but we were nervous about hiking over the first fin on our path, so we opted to work our way up the slot on the side – big mistake.  I almost got stuck on the way up and as I tried to turn around to pull Nancy after me (on the way back down, it was apparent that it would have been easier just to haul ourselves up the fin).  The walk to Double O Arch required us to cross more fins, but they were a yard wide and only about 25 to 30 feet above the surrounding areas, so it was not at all intimidating.

And the view afforded from the top of the fins was excellent

Our first day in Arches National Park

Nancy and I flew to Salt Lake City yesterday, and drove down straight down to to Moab Utah.  We stopped for lunch in Price, eating at the only adequate Farlaino’s Café – despite an Italian flag in the door, it was a generic American  restaurant with a smattering of Mexican dishes (I had a burrito, which was fine) and Italian dishes (Nancy had a sandwich with homemade sausage which was also OK). 

We arrived in Moab, a generic town consisting of a highway turned into Main Street as it went through town, although the red-rock walls towering high over the edge of town were nice to look at.  

We had reservations at the Bowen Motel, good value for very little money compared to the other places I had checked when making reservations.   But after four-and-a-half hours in the plane and four hours in a car, we were anxious to do some walking, so we unloaded into the hotel, put on our hiking boots and headed into Arches National Park.


Our ultimate destination for the day was to hike to Delicate Arch to see the sunset, but sunset was more than four hours away so we worked ourselves up to that by taking two flat walks.   Park Avenue is the first hike after the park entrance – a walk about a mile long surrounded by enormous “fins” (huge thin walls, such as this one)

24 hours in Cleveland -- a fine meal plus immersion in rock-and-roll nostalgia

I traveled to Cleveland early last week to do a CLE talk about practical considerations in litigating online free speech cases.  The crowd was fairly small but putting together the talk was a useful exercise in thinking more systematically about the tactical and strategic issues I face every day in selecting the cases that will make a difference in the legal protections for speech, and then helping my clients prevail both in court and in the marketplace of ideas.

I flew in Monday night and met my brother-in-law Eric and his friend for dinner – they took me to Crop Bistro, a nouvelle American cuisine restaurant in a giant serving room with 37 foot high ceilings and large murals at either end — it used to be a bank.  I had a delicious “cherry bomb” appetizer: a plum tomato stuffed with chorizo and cheese, encased in a wonton skin, then fried.  

Cherry Bomb at Crop Bistro

Two nice salads were the roasted beets (red and yellow) and an asparagus salad

My grilled Tasmanian salmon was cooked just right and served with quinoa good, but the desserts particularly stood out:  “fire and ice” was sweet white chocolate but served in a sauce flecked with red pepper, one of my favorite combinations.

After the talk ended the next day, I headed over to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; my hosts were kind enough to pay for my ticket, explaining that they were glad to show off their city. But Cleveland’s main claim to rock and role fame is mainly that Alan Freed, one of the original rock-promoting DJ’s who was eventually drummed out of his profession as a result of the payola scandal, got his career started in Cleveland (at first I was annoyed by the lack of acknowledgment of how his career had ended, but if you got all the way to the final exhibits, where there was a section entirely devoted to Freed, the museum was ultimately fairly candid about how his career ended, even if full of excuses for what he did). 

The museum is housed in a striking I.M. Pei building along Lake Erie

although most of the exhibits are below ground level.  I had been in the Hall of Fame fairly soon after it opened as I recall, when I was attending a TDU convention in Cleveland in the mid-1990's.  It compared well when I visited Seattle's Experimental Music Project on a work trip about ten years ago.   But I remembered little from my first visit, and I gathered that the main exhibit area had recently been renovated.  

Motown display case at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The museum has a fine collection of memorabilia (clothing, guitars and other instruments, handwritten lyrics and musician contracts -- even some of the wreckage from the plane in which Otis Redding went down), organized sometimes by artist or genre, sometimes by recording company; some of the bigger names had their own display cases, or even multiple cases.

There were several banks of interactive terminals that let you compare musicians with their influences and the like, but I had relatively little time for the museum so I spent next to no time checking them out.  The highlight of the museum has to be the audio clips and video of performances and interviews.   The collection begins with the many roots of rock and roll in jazz, blues, gospel and country (for me, the roots collections were best part, as well as a pointer toward more music to which I should be listening) but also continues close to the present. 

There was so much there that although I had close to three hours before I had to head back to the airport to catch my plane home, I felt I had had to rush through particularly at the end.  I am not sure I could have spent a whole day there to take the collection in all at once; by the time I left I was feeling overwhelmed, but there was easily a day full of things worth seeing. One criticism – the various exhibits are packed so close together that the sound from one set of clips was often clearly audible in adjacent viewing areas.

NCAA Tournament Trivia Contest

For those who think that public interest lawyers never have any real fun during the day, I provide this exchange between two of my colleagues

One of my colleagues, Scott Nelson, sent out this contest last nght.  If's cheating if you look at the answers before completing the quiz yourself.

Tournament Trivia Time! (Round one.)

1. What is FGCU?  What happens if you order it in a sushi restaurant?

2. What tournament competitor (men's) is based in the worst city?

3. Which school is better--Bucknell, Butler, or Belmont? Are they actually different schools?

4. Which team's mascot shares the same first name as the mascot of a defunct toothpaste commonly found in NYT crosswords?

5. What is a billiken?  And what does an iPad's spell-checker substitute for the word "billiken"?

6. which two teams are the Gaels? Why?

7. Which team is named after a car?

8. would it be possible to have a final four consisting entirely of Aggies and wildcats?

9. which team has the best name? the worst?

10. Do you think anyone went to Northwestern State thinking it was Northwestern? Or vice versa? Can you pronounce the name of the city where Northwestern State is located? how about its sister city? How about the town where Northwestern is located?

Bonus question: Harvard? Wtf?

A weekend in New York — Pink Cow Palace in Harrison and Kazan’s in Port Washington

We traveled to New York this weekend to visit my father; we chose this weekend in particular because DC United was playing its first game of the season at Red Bull Arena in Harrison New Jersey, a stadium place nicknamed Pink Cow Palace by DC United fans to express their disdain for the dysfunctional soccer team formerly known as the New York Metro Stars.

During my last trip to Pink Cow Palace last November, the Screaming Eagles, Barra Brava and DC Ultra’s were the majority of the fans as the locals failed to turn out in major snowstorm; after we stood in the stands for hours, watching the MLS brass casually trying to shovel off the field, the game was called off and rescheduled for the following day (after which DC United unceremoniously dumped the Pink Cows from the playoffs).  These events were plainly on the minds of both sets of supporters – just before the beginning of the game, while the smoke was hovering over the field after a fireworks display, we could see banners unfurled behind the supporters on the other end of the stadium reading “Revenge Is Here.”  

And at half time, as the snow began to fall heavily, the two hundred or so DC United supporters were chanting, “Where Are the Shovels.” Throughout the game, we were louder than any of the New York fans at our end of the stadium.  Bringing flags with poles turned out to be particularly inspired, because apart from our chanting and singing, the banging of pole ends on the floor in unison made a particularly impressive sound. I was pleased that none of the thuggish individual taunting that I had seen on DC United roadtrips to Seattle and Portland in the past couple of years was in evidence.

The stadium is a lovely one; we can only hope that DC United’s own soccer-specific stadium, if we ever get one, is equally nice

(just so long as our team doesn’t get to be as consistently bad as New York’s team has been over the years).  The Pink Cows' management had fireworks and skydivers on hand to enhance the pre-game experience; it is too bad there were so many empty seats at their home opener – the announced attendance was 22,000 out of a capacity of 25,000, but I’d be surprised if there weren’t several thousand empty seats.

Although United began well, the team was unable to sustain possession and managed only one shot on goal that was well-saved.  I found myself worrying where our goals are going to come from this season.  Meanwhile, the Pink Cows were peppered our goal with shots, bouncing two shots off the cross bar and making goalkeeper Bill Hamid easily out man of the match.


Here is Thierry Henry waiting to take a corner kick directly below us.

The game ended in a scoreless draw.  Better for us than for New York -- teams that tie when traveling and consistently win at home can count on making the playoffs.  But still worrisome, because DC United have scored only one goal in the first three games of the season.  Still, we were able to enjoy regaling the departing New York fans with one of our favorite songs when United play New York, reminding them that they have not won a single MLS Cup, Open Cup or Supporters Shield over the sixteen years since MLS began:

"How many trophies have you won?
Not a fucking one.
Not a  fucking one, not a fucking one.
How many trophies have you won?
Not a fucking one."

Not that United have won any trophies in recent years, either -- the Open Cup in 2008 was the last win, and even that was a dim light in an otherwise disappointing season.

As the disgruntled New York fans began to leave, DC United players came over to our end of the stadium to express their appreciation for our support

After that, we had to stand around for about a half hour before the security guards would let us leave the stadium, supposedly to protect us from the possible hostility of the home fans.  I rather preferred the approach that Boca Juniors took when I attended a match at the Bombonera last April – the visiting fans were allowed to leave first while the home fans had to hang around so that they would not beat up on the visitors. 

Even though we had been detained in the stadium for so long, there was still a huge line of home fans waiting to take the PATH train as we walked toward the lot where we had parked our car, and the line of cars trying to leave the area was still almost immobile.  Happily, one of Sam’s college friends, who lives in Harrison, had come to cheer DC United with us, and he showed us how to go out the back way by cutting through a parking lot, then use the back streets to get onto the highway toward New York.

Eating at Kazan in Port Washington, New York

That evening, we went to an Uzbek restaurant in downtown Port Washington, the Kazan on Main Street opposite the Long Island Railroad station.  The room was lovely, with carpeting on the walls and fascinating wooden structures hanging from the mirrored ceiling. 

The service was excellent, and the food was varied but, in the end, a bit of a mixed bag.

Most of us had beer to drink — there were some excellent local beers on tap including a delicious Greenport Porter, pictured here with Boyjon, a baked eggplant spread.

We started with several appetizers, including these falafels and pelmeni (a dumpling that I remember from my visit to the old Soviet Union back in 1981).

Samsa, a large pastry with meat inside, was the best of the appetizers, although I found the large meat chunks inside to be a bit chewy.

Samsa at Kazan Restaurant, Port Washington, New York

For my main course, I ordered Chicken Tabaka, which made a lovely sight on my plate when it arrived, reminiscent of the flattened chickens I had purchased at night markets in Thailand.  I found the meat to be a bit dry, though, and the flavoring on the meat was by no means striking. The chicken came with very nice twice-cooked fried potatoes.   Others in our party ordered the whole red snapper, steamed with a delicious ginger sauce, and Osh-Toki, stuffed grape leaves which I felt was the best of the main course.

Chicken Tabaka

Whole fish with spicy ginger sauce

Stuffed grape leaves at Kazan Restaurant

Another nice main dish was Uzbek Plov, a slow cooked meat that was a bit dry but very flavorful.  The vegetables and rice that came with it were excellent.

Uzbek Plov at Kazan Restaurant

We all felt too full for dessert, but when one person after another opted for coffee, I decided to ask what was available for dessert, and opted for the Meringue Delight – no sooner had I chosen than the others began to hope for extra spoons so that they could have a share.  Our waiter treated the table to four meringues, and it was a good thing because they were excellent – the meringue was mixed with what seemed to be finely chopped nuts that kept the meringue from being too chewy.  Each meringue was stuffed with a light custard and dribbled with raspberry sauce.  An excellent end to our meal.

Meringue Delight

A quick trip to Detroit -- fine dining at Habib's Cuisine

This past Monday I flew to Detroit and back to argue a motion to vacate a prior restraint barring a Dearborn man from using a community Facebook page to criticize the proposed settlement of a class action against McDonald’s over the sale of non-halal meat that had been advertised as halal.  It was a tough travel day, beginning with a 5 AM awakening to get to BWI Airport and ending after midnight on Tuesday after driving back from BWI, but I was rewarded by the judge’s somewhat grudging decision to vacate the prior restraint, as well as a truly outstanding meal.

On arrival at Detroit’s Metro airport I rented a car – why does the home of US auto manufacturing have the very highest domestic car rental rates? — and drove to the office of Michigan’s ACLU, which filed an amicus brief in support of my client and kindly offered me an office in which to finish my preparation for the 2 PM argument.  The ACLU recently acquired its own building on Woodward Avenue, about a mile from the courthouse in downtown Detroit.  I ate lunch with a couple of ACLU lawyers at the Atlas Global Bistro across the street from their office – as best as I could see, it was the only restaurant nearby.   It was adequate, nothing more.  The most interesting dish on the menu was orecchiette with fennel sausage and radicchio – they were out of the fennel sausage, but it was available with chicken instead.  Maybe it would have been really good with the fennel sausage, but it was boring with chicken. 

On the  drive downtown, my eyes were drawn to a huge mural on the side of a downtown building reading Outsource to Detroit.

After the argument was over, I took the advice of my client, a lawyer named Majed Moughni, who had identified Habib’s Cuisine as the place to eat in Dearborn.  I don’t often give restaurant’s a five-star rating, but this place had it all – nice dining room, fine and very friendly service, and top-notch food.  I ate with long-time friends Barbara Harvey and Michael Friedman, both lawyers in Detroit.   

Eating at Habib's Cuisine with Barbara Harvey

I was disappointed that they did not serve liquor – I assume for religious reasons — but I started with a delicious fresh mango juice flavored with lime.  We ordered several appetizers, figuring that they would be small-ish dishes, as well as two main courses; the main courses also came with a choice of soup or salad: I chose the soup, a greenish soup called freekeh, which had many  shreds of chicken.

Freekeh

The appetizers began with a lovely plate of hummus and small rounds of bread,

Hummus

and a salad called zaatar.  I have always thought of zaatar as a spice blend, but this was a mixture of lettuce leaves, fresh oregano, scallions and tomatoes as well as spices

Zaatar below, hummus above

Then there was the Majadara Hamra (pronounces Mah-ZHED-ruh), a combination of brown lentils, cracked wheat and spices, topped with browned and caramelized shreds of onion

Majadara Hamra

Yet another appetizer was hindbee, a dish of sauteed dandelion greens with onions, flavored with lemon juice and served on a bed of greens (in the front center of the photo below), as well as labne (pronounced LEB-nah), which resembled Greek yogurt but even more dense (upper central in the photo below)       

By the time I was done with the freekeh and into the appetizers, I was almost too full for my main course.  But I had to eat at least some of that — I had ordered tawook, a dish of grilled marinated chicken that was tender and tasty (right-hand side at the bottom of the photo above).  The main dish came with very tasty roasted vegetables, and a choice of potato balls or rice – I chose potato balls (the reddish globes served with the tawook), which the consistency of tater tots, but nicely spicy.  I was so stuffed that I did not even ask for a taste of Michael’s main dish, sauteed shrimp with mango sauce.

We couldn’t come close to finishing what we were served, so we got take-away containers, and there was no way we could think of ordering dessert.  But I had two hours still until my plane, and the company was good, so we ordered coffee and tea (the only disappointment of the night – the tea choices were Lipton black tea or green tea in a bag; only American coffee was available, but Barbara and Mike reported that the coffee was properly strong without being bitter).

With the coffee came a “surprise” – a platter containing three bowls of nice rice pudding. Sitting amid the bowls were three strawberries, each artily cut from the top and sitting in a mound of delicately light whipped cream, and decorated nouvelle style with a lime-based concoction.

We couldn’t insult our waiter, who had brought us this extra, so we slowly ate the delicious rice pudding and every last piece of strawberry and bit of whipped cream.  Delicious.

Despite portions, the prices were very reasonable – we came away with a bill of a bit more than $100 for the three of us, including a substantial tip.  For some reason, the menu on the restaurant's web site is not the same as the menu from which we ate; at my request, Habib's sent me their menu, which is linked here.