"Must be beautiful this time of year, with all that snow..."

Since the snow hasn't been exactly coming to us, we ventured out to it.

We spent a lovely weekend with LB who's hopes of biking and skiing were dashed by the rainy/icy weather and a renegade derailleur.

I couldn't believe the luck, we had just had a week of clear and dry days with sunshine- so clear that I could even see the snow covered mountains.

In lieu of these other activities, we opted to go out on the gorge and try our luck with some of the hiking trails and if there was any additional luck available, continue on to Hood River for lunch.

There were DOT warnings about the road conditions, so we skipped Hood River in favor of Edgefield and mercifully exited to our hiking area before chains were required.

We spent a few hours tramping around Elowah Falls and took a load of photos. There was just enough snow to make the short hike hard work and to make the surroundings beautiful.


We hiked down to the bottom of Elowah Falls which was almost completely snowed over and had coated the surrounding area in a thick layer of ice-

And we endured the somewhat frightening sound of falling icicles which echoed in the canyon, glancing around at each other and up to the cliff faces to see whether there was any true danger...it was a bit of a laugh.

We then tracked back and went to the top of the falls and encountered the most incredible icicles I've ever seen. We weren't able to go to the proper end of the trail because a small ice avalanche had taken out the guard rail and made the way impassable.






All in all it was a lovely day out of the house and ended with some good pints of beer and an early evening.




















Icicles:

End of trail...

Signed, Sealed and Delivered...

...or posted anyways.
Now I will patiently wait for the hammer to fall...or the other shoe to drop...or whatever.

...and on the lighter side of things

a friend from work queried:

20%

Not that I'm counting....

I'm a little preoccupied right now. 7 days and then I'll be relaxed.

Oh yeah...we were in Kauai this time last week...

...the only difference was it was 80 degrees and rainy.

As a surprise for my brother for his 25th birthday we went to Kauai. My mom hatched the plan, twisted our arms and made it all possible.

Of course, the garden isle is known for stupendous rainfall as well as red dirt. Put them together and you have red mud. Lots of red mud. Add the three of us and you have it tracked all over the island. We tried not to let the weather mess our plans about too much. We hiked four or five times and at his request, for Blake's birthday proper, we went horseback riding.

We had a marvelous time. Mai tai's flowed from the heavens, tropical fruit was abundant (we hit the farmers market twice while we were there) and the whole of the island was at our disposal (or so we thought). The incredibly rainy weather created an interesting turn of events for us. No snorkeling (which was lame), a power outage at the resort (playing cards by flashlight), an unsuccessful viewing of Waimea Canyon (see the mist? that's the canyon), and a whole lot of shit talking to see who would slip in the mud and fall on their ass while hiking first (just glorious...) There was the usual abundance of chickens, but this time we chanced upon some wild pigs on our hikes...and those fuckers move fast.

Out on the Wailua, Joe and Blake braved the waterfall, both swimming not only in the pool but into the falls itself. I hung out in mosquito bite hell to take pictures.

We actually had a few hours of sun for a couple of days...long enough to warrant sunscreen and some beach time and also to get pink noses while kayaking the Wailua River. The rain was rather welcome at times though, nightly, when sitting in the hot tub at the resort, and daily, when the sun shone through, however briefly, the rainbows were spectacular.

Joe and I packed our camping gear and stayed on a few days extra to hike the famed Kalalau Trail, much to my relief(...after 7 stormy days) it was closed by the state parks for having parts of the trail washed out and dangerous river crossings; a friendly ranger met us at the trail head to give us the news. We did hear the next day from some more intrepid hikers that they defied authority, making it to the first 'stream' crossing (about a mile in), they said it was flowing fast and the water had risen to past their chests. So we instead popped onto a boat and saw our trail destination from another point of view. The benefit of the boat ride was to get out into open water and snorkel (not so much) the debris and mud from the rain flow off the island was so profound that it made the surrounding waters murky. We did however have the great joy of seeing some humpback whales, albeit briefly, but seeing the whales fluke was enough for me. We also spied dolphins, a turtle and the astoundingly beautiful Na Pali coastline. We caught a glimpse of the beach at the end of the Kalalua trail and shortly thereafter turned back.

It was an interesting experience coming back three years later...but overall, a wonderful time. Unfortunately for us, time didn't stop while we were away and we came home to find the holiday season in full flush. Thankfully, our house and the kiddos were well looked after, and we even got the holiday cheer look from some christmas lights installed by Andy. :)

100 post mark...

and for this momentous occasion,
My cat plays fetch...

Harvest Century

...actually, we only did 3/4 of a century.
Absentee riders...you were missed!

10 Good things about the ride:

(1) Excellent temperature

(2) Pins for bibs

(3) No start line and a small crowd

(4) Apple cider, hot chocolate w/cookies and caramel apples

(5) Doing my single longest one-day ride EVER - 78.40 miles :)

(6) Beer and food being included in registration fees

(7) Beer...and extra beer tickets

(8) The rain starting to fall the moment after I sat down with my post ride beer in the tent, with the live music...

(9) Shammy Pants

(10) Excellent company, gorgeous scenery (the falling leaves...drift by my sunglasses)


10 Not so good things about the ride:

(1) Headwinds 60% of the time...ugh

(2) Having a sweet, curvy downhill turn sour

(3) The taste of pine needles and dirt

(4) Blackberry bushes

(5) Stinging nettles

(6) Finding out that your life really does not flash before your eyes

(7) Quick moving bean burritos

(8) Foot numbness

(9) Roadkill

(10) Pulling gravel and other debris out of my hair

My Good Company :)

The Canby Ferry Crossing

My sexy, over the handlebars and into the blackberry bushes look

Computer nerds? Time (left), Distance (right)

The deluge...all enjoyed from the comfort of the tent and with a pint

...and just for Mom...bike cupholders!

Trading busy for...busy

I spent the better part of 12 hours on Saturday finishing commiting my research to text to complete my internship with the OEC. I fielded a few e-mail questions that have piled up and did a little extra work and proofing this morning and have finished just in time to start my school homework/reading for the week.

My research was for a presentation on making the business case for environmental sustainabilty, I won't rehash it here, because my eyes will start to bleed. However, the bottom line is:
an environmentally sustainable business is economically sound, in fact sustainable businesses generally outperform the competition. See my yet unpublished work for details :)

A lament for Virginia Wineries

So once again with the prospect of a whole day at home without plans we scurried off to do something. This past Sunday it was checking out a few Lincoln wineries down near Salem. We did a small bit of looking about on the internet to see if any wineries boasted a tasting room with snacks. Most just boasted tremendous views, so we stopped at New Seasons and got some bread and cheese on our way south. I realize that after 3 wineries I can't generalize about the Willamette Valley Wine country...however, I can cry out a lament for my beloved Virginia wineries. I quite miss the excellent, detailed maps and signage, the multiple varietals and being able to order a hot baguette and some cheese at the tasting room and sit out with a bottle of wine. Or maybe I just need to find that place once...and frequent it.

Reflecting on B&W

This is one of my favorite shots from the B&W's that were taken with my camera. It was taken by LB and it is masterful in capturing the scene.

On the right you can see Joe and I walking towards the dance floor, scanning left the 'ladies in waiting" presumably watching the bride and groom, further left, a quiet moment as Carissa stands still long enough to have her hair blown by the wind while she talks with Christian, Ben and Therese approaching the conversation and the Freed's marvelling at a walking Ella.

End of an Era

As you will recall, at the end of July at the OBF gathering at our house our trusty digicam faltered. A trip to Hilary and being sent out to 'repair' confirmed that it was indeed dead. The chip was fried. I have to admit I was quite unprepared for this situation, I loved that camera and had no designs on replacing it, so I haven't kept up with the changing technology or new releases at all.

We are fortunate enough to have friends in various industries and before I knew it a loaner camera was made available (thank you Andy) so I didn't go mad without one for the last month. It was important to me to have one for Toph & Jess's wedding too. But the time for returning it has come and gone and in the interim I did some research on the new cameras coming out.

I wish I could say that I spent hours comparing the spectrum of brands, but I didn't. I had a pretty good experience with the Sony that I had on loan, but it just didn't produce the shots that I had with my old Canon, I checked out the Olympus camera that John has because he only has good things to say about it...but I kept drifting back to the Canon's. I loved the S230 and I felt comfortable with the functions in the Canon digital elph series.

We descended upon Hilary at her work this Friday and beyond answering all of our questions and letting us play with all the Canon powershots, she patiently steered us in the best direction. Hilary you are a Goddess. We are now the proud owners of the Canon Powershot SD870 IS and damn is it sexy. We took it out to St. Johns Cathedral Park to play around with it yesterday. Oh yeah.

And let me just digress a bit and talk about price. Back in 2002 I purchased the S230 for the same price as we paid today for the SD870 but somehow in my mind I remembered paying a higher total price, that is, more for extra memory. Over the years I had kept the receipt in the manual for the S230 - in 2002 I paid $70.00 for a 128MB CF card. On Friday we bought a 1G SD card for $15.00. My goodness.

Cheers to the S230. My Elements library boasts close to 10,000 photos, all taken with that camera. It was a good 5 years.

Catch thinks he's a parrot...and other things about this week

Catch thinks he's a parrot-he climbs up onto your shoulder and sits there while you go about your morning routine. For me there's the added benefit of having my ponytail batted around. He's so light and funny perched up there-I just hope the other cats don't get any ideas, Quasi might actually bowl me over if he leaped from the counter top on to my shoulder.

Or perhaps a penguin...the fridge is exciting and mysterious to all of the cats, but Catch doesn't back away when the door shuts, he jumps right in. Seconds later you may reopen the door to find him nestled among the beers at the back of the fridge and you have to drag him out.

In other news the 40 hour work week is kicking my ass. The adjustment between it and my former life has not yet occurred. Time goes by with a rapidity I cannot fathom because I find myself pleasantly and continuously busy. But when I get home, I'm exhausted. Joe's been pretty good about not making fun of me when I want to fall asleep after dinner-especially considering his 10 hour day. I made it until 10pm last night :) I might be doubly exhausted next week because I'm going to try biking. Well half way that is. I was planning on using the school shuttle as I did during spring term, but they've cancelled that route for fall term-Andy says the official line is "because of the construction," but I think they're secretly thwarting my plans on purpose! In any event, I can still take the Max and then bike from the last stop up to work and then bike all the way home weather and gumption permitting. I was just hoping for a nice free ride and now I'll be paying for the Max, but I got a sweet discount for being a PSU student so my complaining ends thus.

Otherwise I'm reading a few books slouching around and enjoying the weekends. Last weekend we finally officially finished the picnic table by adding the strips to the side and staining and sealing them. We also planted some fall/late season veggies-turnips, kale, mustard greens and chard. I'm anxious to try for garlic again, but our tomatoes and peppers are still going strong so I'll leave them until they give up. Meanwhile, fall is sneaking up on us...

The (no) labor day weekend

So after many otherwise promised away weekends...finally Joe got a camping trip. We're trying out our 'hiking in' skills, since we're planning at least one more of those before the year is out and on a substantially harder trail. We restricted ourselves to cold foods when planning at the grocery store-since that's how we'll be hiking our trail in December. And Saturday morning we packed up the goods, including tent, thermarest pads (a blessing), a change of clothes and enough water to float home on and set out early in our new hiking boots (sexy sexy)--my pack weighed about 32 pounds and Joe's went up to 36 before causing our food scale to blink in error.

Even though we were only doing 7.5 miles in, we wanted to get an early start for cooler temps and because of the popularity of the trail. We hit the trail head around 9am, but parked further back at the "fewer break-ins" area and started our journey about a 3/4 mile from the trail head. I'm quite glad we had that moment because we saw this guy on our way in, which was pretty cool.Although we've hiked this trail a few times now, we've never gone past the high bridge-primarily because in our hiking guide it says this is trails end. The last time we hiked it we asked a few people who were carrying overnight gear where they might be headed and found out just how much more the trail extends. Our original and ambitious plan had been to hike up to Wahtum Lake, however, further inspection showed that this area was a popular drive in location, so we opted to stop before reaching that point at the creatively named 7.5 mile camp. The trail, as it extends past our original stopping point only grows more interesting, with curious rock outcroppings, rockfall and more waterfalls, the most incredible of which was Tunnel Falls, just a mile shy of our stopping point. The tunnel that was created to pass the falls was dripping with runoff and provided a respite from the heat. Just lovely.

We camped in an unmarked spot (rebels that we are) just before the less attractive 7.5 mile camp (we turned back after seeing it's offerings). The site we chose had access to the creek and we dipped our hot feet in the freezing (so cold it burns) water and then set up camp. We dined on bread and cheese and a bottle of Windy Point Red (acquired on my birthday wine touring extravaganza) and followed it with our one goofy ration of freeze dried ice cream sandwiches (I highly recommend them-artificial flavor and all). Most of our evening was spent creek side eating and playing chess with a small magnetic chessboard that I thought was worth the weight. The part of the forest that we camped in was burned in the early 1900's and was mostly new growth, we camped next to two gigantic trees that in stepping back and observing, Joe noticed were old growth and remnants of the fire.

Our early arrival meant a lot of time to kill, so we got in a few games of chess and then back in the tent some crouched rummy. Later, laying in our bags looking up we saw a large bug dragging a spider away to eat, through some encouraged flicking from the inside of the tent we persuaded it to not dine on our rooftop.

We were lulled to sleep by the creek running over its rocky bed and while not having had the benefit of a full nights sleep, given the varying comfort of tent sleeping, we didn't rise until 8:30am on Sunday.

The return hike was spent in isolation for the first couple of hours and then surged to parade/crowd traffic in the last one. Eagle Creek was packed to the gills, with cars parked on every available surface; we should have sold our space (in the shade and everything). People were stalking us from the moment we stepped onto the asphalt. When we reached the car I snaked out of my boots slowly and into my sandals as people salivated over our spot-I fully expected to see bruises on my hips and shoulders from where the weight of my pack was, but there were none (they still smart but have yet to show any of the glories of black and blue they deserve). Eventually, we promised our spot away to a very smiley family and glided from the scene-hot, tired and (deliriously) happy.

The weekend itself left me with a great grin on my face...and had I not wanted to get home and see the kids and take a shower I might have been tempted out to Hood River for some Double Mountain Brew (a pint of their chipotle...oh wait, stout, er...Porter)...eh, next time.

Eclipsed snoozing

Did you see the lunar eclipse this morning? I had read about it in the paper and told Joe that it would be happening on his way to work this morning-so I was gently roused out of bed around 4:30am and scuffled in my socks out to the driveway to gaze up at the mostly eclipsed moon. It was the first lunar eclipse I can remember seeing, pretty cool.

Something old, something new...

Part I

I had my last day at the bookstore on Friday...I finished my shift and crept through the door without a backward glance. So no more bookstore banter. The previous Thursday I interviewed and was offered a position in a law firm training to be a paralegal. It will be a nice chance to use the gray matter for more than the alphabet song. Yeah! The joy of the new job is doubled by the fact that the possibility of having it was created by a good friend and that I will get to work along side her once I have a handle on what I'm doing (or slightly before as she likes to joke...er I hope).

Part II

Some three years after I first met Jessica and slightly a year since I was awoken by the phone ringing with Chris exuberantly explaining that he had just proposed, Chris and Jess were married last weekend in a beautiful ceremony up at Semiahmoo. It was an absolutely incredible experience to be at their side as they exchanged vows, half a lifetime of memories flooding my brain as my dearest friend expressed his overwhelming love to another of my friends. At the reception I gave a slightly muddled version of a speech I had long prepared...in any event here's to Toph and Jess and to friendships that last a lifetime.

Part III

Toph didn't "pretend" to forget my birthday this year, but he and Jess certainly outdid themselves, rolling my birthday and groomsman gift into one adorable, fluffy and heartwarming package. We've decided to call him Catch...like the little demon he is. His energy is unmatched (despite the calmness in the photo) and the pleasure of having a kitten in the house is shared with us by Quasi alone, although I imagine after a few years, Risa will come around. :)

Pedaling away...

This was our first weekend home without plans....

So we quickly ‘planned’ to hang out with out of towners’ on Saturday and participate in the P-town bridge pedal on Sunday. Hanging out with good friends and good food on Saturday was only marred by having to leave prematurely to work an "overnight" shift-on a side note, I love being in biking/walking distance of the aforementioned. :)

The stupidity of accepting this extra evening shift was magnified by the alarm this morning and knowing that I was committed to a 25 mile bike ride, starting at 7:30am. Not wanting to rely on the Max to get us downtown to the start line we opted for the downhill into town and to our respective start lines (note to self, barreling down Greeley is as good as a cold shower if you need to wake up). I started to feel a tickle of anticipation when we approached the top of Greeley and found that it was already closed to traffic at 6:45am and then (with the permission of the gatekeeper) I went flying down the hill at all possible speed. Joe and I got one extra bridge in to arrive and then split off at the respective start lines (Joe opted for the 10 bridge which was over 30 miles and I took the 8 bridge offering 24 miles- we figured given our different levels of skill this would work out to get us to the finish around the same time.

So wearing John’s jersey for luck, I took off around 7:45 with a horde of other 8 bridge hopefuls and meandered through the closed off streets of downtown trying to see where I could break out of the pack. I tooled around to an excellent set of music predetermined by myself for just this occasion, so, soon after setting off at a quiet 10 to 12 miles an hour I was zipping along to Zebrahead over the first of my 8 bridges. There was a few minute delay at the second bridge as we merged into a smaller streamlined biking cohort over the jelly mass we had been on the first bridge and I used the opportunity to remove my cold resistant gear-- mainly some thigh high leggings that the Freed's gifted a while back and which have been lovely for the both of us on those colder days. Pretty much after that it was smooth sailing.

With the delay at bridge two, barely 8 miles and an hour already down, I smiled benignly and chugged along fueled solely by my ipod and the serving of oatmeal that Joe bestowed upon my sleepy haze an hour or so prior.... And then they let us loose on the Marquam Bridge, holy shit, if you ever want to get my attention just set me loose on a freeway with my bicycle. How fucking cool is it to have the entirety of a mile or so stretch of I-5 North out of Downtown available for you to bike on...and across the Willamette River besides. I achieved my top speed of 32.5 pressed against my handlebars with streaming eyes and elation that cannot possibly be matched. Rejuvenated I headed through the remainder of the trail with great enthusiasm and more energy than I thought I would muster after my late night and rather careless sleeping.

I was incredibly impressed with the enormous amount of volunteers that were waiting to direct us through the many twists and turns of the route and with the amount of streets that were closed or mostly given over to the bicyclists. Having the bridges to ourselves was more than amazing ...it should be noted that hitherto at least half of these bridges were mostly ‘un-crossable’ on a bike (at least the way that we were able to cross them today). For instance the steel bridge is generally crossed at river level below car traffic, however, today; volunteers had laid plywood over the steel girded vehicle passage to allow for a fret-free crossing, I-5 was open to us, and I-405. As Freed pointed out from his first recommendation that we register for this opportunity, ‘the top level of the Freemont Bridge (I-405, which I approached in sleazy truck commercial style blaring “Wicked Garden”) is open to bicyclists only,’ that’s reason enough. I was spectacularly amazed that people crowded 5 lane highways with their bikes, stopping and staring or having a bite and sip, forgetting that some of us were still passing through…there were live bands and snacks and drinks at the major bridges and I was hard pressed to get through without having to dismount. I was less amazed by the variety of bicyclists (tandem, unicycles, recumbent) because of the tales of STP I heard, I wasn’t, however, prepared for the unpredictability of the child cyclists though. They meandered about without any thought of who/what was approaching. I have learned, simply by riding with Joe, the importance of being predictable as a bicyclist. I did not realize how conscientious I had become of the blind spots, pointing to abstract objects that line the path, keeping speed, announcing passes, until I encountered these miniature bikers. With energy levels significantly higher than mine, they were still all over the place… I realized that it takes several shouts of “on your left” to a half-sized cyclist to gain recognition and then they’ll move left thinking it’s a command rather than a notice…hmmmm

Where are my stunning photos of this rare opportunity? They are simply snapshots of the mind for this adventure was sat out by our digi which will more than likely need to be replaced before the week is out. I felt a little naked without it, but then realized that even trying to capture the moment within it would not have done it justice. The barely risen sun shooting beams through the uplifting clouds, the darkened pyramided shadow of Mt Hood looming at each crossing, the slight dribbles of rain bringing splashes of relief on the longest straightaway of the day, the jocular and friendly manner of my fellow riders, the sense of accomplishment and elation that I held as I crossed my first official finish line…the air rent with sweat and jubilation.

On the road again

I got back on my bike for a 20 mile jaunt on parts of the 40 mile trail on Monday, Joe had the day off so we had a quick lunch when I got home and then headed towards the Eastbank esplanade. It was my first time going down the Greeley hill and I was disappointed to have only achieved a top coasting speed of 27- it was in all other aspects exhilarating, especially with the knowledge that I wasn't riding back up it. We took the esplanade to the springwater corridor trail and while on this nice stretch I decided to try my hand at dragging and Joe sensing this tried to keep his speed and movement predictable...so now I understand what all the fuss is about. We crossed the river and coursed back on the other side using the bottom of the steel bridge (my first time) to cross back, then taking my favored route home, the flatter Williams St. It was a chillier sort of day and perfect for riding, the 20 miles was just about right and the only aches and pains a couple of days later are from my upper back and neck-which is not wholly unsurprising, but I would have expected my legs and knees to hurt instead. Later that evening, we kicked back with an unconventional black& tan (tribute to our last weekend in the 'ham) and had dinner outside.

In other news our faithful digi cam seems to have cracked up a bit-taking purple stripe photos with no evidence of the actual image underneath. We're taking it in to our friendly expert this week, but I'm really not prepared to part with it, it better just be faking it.

Beervana

I now have two OBF's under my belt and the difference in my ability to maneuver though lines and to have a healthy buzz in between this year and last year was akin to being jumped ahead from Kindergarten to High School. We arrived via light rail and just about the time that the taps opened for business - claimed a couple of umbrella tables (sweet!) and had at least two samples under our belts before most others had even figured out what was going on.
I managed to taste everything I wanted to and to intersperse it with some local eats (I think the Horn of Africa will soon be a permanent fixture at OBF for me) the most notable beers being:

• Ninkasi's 'Believer' - double Red,
• 4+'s Wildfire - Organic Extra pale,
• Russian River's Pliny the Elder (again) - double IPA
• HUB's Organic IPA - I cannot wait for this Brewery to open for business
  

All in all it was good times with a good group-we had a pretty good show of people at our house pre and post festival and all beer drinking aside, is it okay that my proudest moment was this?:

On a side note, I think It's finally dawned on me that we are adults, really really. Something about getting together with people that you've known for about ten years has a tendency to trespass time. This past weekend though, our age and habits showed through as we were all up either by way of internal alarm clock, little critters or toddlers by 7am'ish.

A big thanks to everyone who came down to hang out with us :) Here's to next year!