Sunday, November 25, 2007

Getting Fat with Strangers (to most of you)

I hope this thanksgiving found all of you spending time with the people you care about most. Although i did not make it back east for turkey day, i was fortunate enough to be invited to Stu and Katherine's for a thanksgiving feast with their family. I wish i had some pics of the festivities but i left the shutter at home. Stu fired up "mr twister" a home made (from the guts of a rock tumbler and some freshly welded cogs) rotisserie. Three hours and several libations later Stu presented the group the most gorgeous turkey in all of Oregon (so we claim). Katherine threw together some, soon to be, world -famous stuffing, not designed for the herbivores of the world. All-in-all i was grateful to spend time around a loving family, even if it wasn't my own. I felt quite welcome and just about at home.

Despite a chill in the air most of the weekend was spent outside the confines of the craftsman bungalow. After a late wake-up call on Friday (too many Brandy Alexanders) some of the G-clan, Katie, Bray, Cousin Steve, the new roomie and I all went out to Pier Park for a heated (actually pretty chilly) round of disc golf. When the Frisbees were done flying Dan and i tied for 1st with the rest of the field just a few strokes behind.

Here's Stu letting one fly on the the 3rd hole. Don't let that pink hat fool you, he's a fierce competitor. He was even wearing golf shoes.

Dave hucks one on the classic Pier Park 6th hole. A challenging, downhill dog leg right that leaves you searching for your disc under a large stand of Doug Firs.


Dan lets one rip on the 10th, wishing he had a pair of shades. That's what i call a tight fairway.



The 8-some heads toward the light to find the stray discs floating about. Follow the light and you will find the way. Dan busts out with his Canadian L.L Cool J impression (Yea B-oy)



Saturday morning, feeling fresh and not hung-over, Dan and i went into the gorge to attempt the infamous Eagle Creek Trail. Upon getting to the trail head we were heeded to not forge ahead by pink tape strung across the trail. Since when has some flimsy caution tape stopped an everline? Survey says. . .never. We ducked under the tape to only have our path impeded again. This time the park service had hung a 10 foot section of chain link fence across the path. In my old age and profound wisdom i have learned that somethings just aren't worth pushing. We turned back and headed for a new trail. I was a little disappointed because i've been aching to do that trail. Instead we took a less scenic uphill jaunt to Wauna Point (or something like that).

Eagle Creek Rec Area is the home of a fish hatchery. This time of year the salmon are still swimming home. Unfortunately, when they get there they swim to their deaths. Crossing the footbridge over Eagle Creek we saw several hundred salmon mindlessly swimming. These weren't small fish. Most of them were close to 2 1/2 feet long.


A view looking back toward Portland via Columbia River Gorge. The weather was cool and obviously a little overcast. Not the best day for taking vista photos. I hope you get the picture.


In an attempt to make someone jealous i snapped a few photos (2) of my daily views. The first is a picture of my ride across the Hawthorne bridge. I was hoping for a rainy day so people would feel sorry for me.

Instead it looked like this. . .

The good thing about it not raining in the morning (other than not getting soaked on my ride to work) is that i get to snap pictures like this from my window. Ahhh, life is rough.

I hope this post finds you all well. Enough for now. More to come.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Getting Moist in a Wet Place

Sorry for the new blog but for those who don't know there have been some changes here in PDX. I promise to keep up with this one a little better than the last. Life here is beginning to settle down a little bit. That may have something to do the start of the rain for the season. The fall has been pretty dry up until this last weekend. It looks like the rains are here to stay, minus a daybreak here and there. It serves me right. I've been complaining about how nice my bike commutes have been.

Speaking of bike commutes during my time in the saddle i've seen a few car/biker altercations, hell i've even started a few myself, both as a driver and a biker. Bikers in the city are feeling pretty sassy because a well known loved cyclist was killed when a dump truck took too wide a turn and crushed him under the rear wheels. This was only two weeks after another biker was killed in just about the same fashion. Needless to say bikers are on high alert. I am a different story. I've never been a reckless rider (in my opinion) but i guess fellow rider (it pains me to say that because he was commuting in his spandex and fancy racing jersey [douche]) took exception to my riding. We were sitting at an intersection and the light turned red, in all four directions, as it often does and after looking both ways several times, i rode through the intersection. A biker behind me yelled, "the light's red, the light's red." Knowing this already i kindly thanked him for the information. I guess my appreciation wasn't enough so he rode up next to me at the next light and told me, "i don't appreciate you riding like that. We all have to deal with the fallout of your actions." Okay? I thought. The only fallout of my running a red light would be ME getting hit by a speeding car but maybe i'm missing something. After his brief lecture he tore off ahead of me. I took full advantage of his draft and kept him in my sights and enjoying the free ride to work. So captain bike safety decides, instead of merging, to jump a 2 foot curb into traffic and cut across three lanes. Going in the same direction i, the reckless, fallout creating rider i am, signal and blend into traffic to get to the outside lane. We merge onto the next street and the bike Nazi jumps onto the sidewalk to speed around a delivery truck taking up a lane in the roadway. I ride up next to him and kindly suggest there may be some fallout from his actions. I guess the spandex was a little too tight because he just stared blankly. Moral of the story. . .don't wear spandex if you are going to lecture people about bicycle safety.

Feeling outdoorsy and having plenty of time on my hands, i decided to take a hike this weekend. I think i partially did to remind myself that life goes on, even in a downpour. I have just gotten a new pair of hiking boots and wanted to keep the trip relatively short to avoid blisters. I drove about 40 minutes into the gorge (Columbia River Gorge, that is) and stopped off at Wachlella Falls It's a pretty nice hike on any given day. It was a perfect Pacific Northwest day for a hike but not so good for taking pictures. I thought i would be the only one on the trail that day but i actually saw a few people out. In typical NW form, i even saw a lady packing a baby in on her fancy kiddie backpack.


Here i am standing on one of the many bridges that cross Tanner Creek. It doesn't the the falls any justice but the lower section is about 80 feet and from where i was standing you could feel the wind rushing from the flow of the water.

I stopped off under a little overhang to grab a snack and get some break from the rain. I snapped this photo of some ferns that were growing on the ceiling of the cave.




I think that's about all the energy i have for now. I hope you enjoyed the pics and i'll try to keep up with this. I plan on spending a fair amount of time outside of the house this winter. Hell. . .you may even see the official release of BRODY, boy-stud turned professional winter sport athlete (if you're lucky).

I hope everyone is well and wish you all a good t-day, even you veggies and your tofurky.