Looking Through the Filter of Perfection

Portland turns into paradise just about this time every year. The flowers have all blossomed and the birds are out chirping. It's almost like a Disney flick, minus the cutesy little fury things (unless you put hippies in that category). I have been trying to take full advantage of the weather by spending as much time away from the television and outside of the house as i can. That may mean i'm chilling on the front porch with Riley, riding my bike up the volcano to catch a last glimpse of the sun before it hides behind the Portland skyline, hiking some of the local and not-so-local trails, or. . .what else but playing football (i'm on a mission to convert the sport's name back to the proper term, please join me). I could probably go on but it would start to get boring (for both of us).

This is the view of Mt Hood from the backside of Mt Tabor. Not a bad view for a Thursday afternoon.

The weekend before this past weekend was my boy Trip's birthday. He turned the big 2-5, talk about old. He celebrated with a weekend long party, if you will. The weekend started off with a night of vicious beer pong. I don't think i've played beer pong in over 5 years and it showed. Not to mention i was surrounded by kids. Trip was the oldest person in the room, next to my geriatric ass. There was no shortage of old man/medicare jokes. I didn't even think kids that age knew about medicare; shows how much i know. Saturday started late and we ended up going to watch the mighty Portland Timbers play Juventes Jr team. I can't remember the final score, on account of the 16 oz beers they were serving, but i think we won, 1-0. After the game we "maxed" (subway, metro, call it whatever you would like) back to "Thrillsborritto" for another wild and crazy (read Scott drank too much cheap beer) night. While we were downtown we had the fortunate experience of catching (far too much of) a glimpse of the Naked Bike Ride. This is a protest of some sort. Portlanders undress and ride their way around town. It is quite the sight to see. If anyone wants to join us next year, let me know.

This past weekend i spent a little time (not as much as i would have liked) in the woods. I took a trip up to Mt Hood for some peace and quiet. I chose to tryout the Ramona Falls loop, located just outside of Zig Zag, Oregon. The trail was pretty quiet on Saturday. Overall the trip wasn't too tough, minus the sketchy river crossing. The Muddy Branch of the Sandy River is fed by the never ending (this doesn't mean global warming isn't real you freaks) supply of glacial melt. This time of year the river is only about 30 feet across but the log "supplied" to cross the river was flimsy, greasy and dangling over rushing, ice cold, dirty, frothing water. It's funny how just a little thrashing water below your feet make something that, over dry land, would be otherwise harmless. Although the river was only 30 or so feet wide the river bed and carnage the river has brought over the years is close to an 1/8th of a mile. I wasn't expecting many more challenges on my trip but the snow"pack" still existed at 3500 feet. There were sections of the trail that disappeared under the remaining snow. This left to some back country meandering but after finding a creek i made my way to a clearer path. The falls, as you have probably already read, are of the cascading, stair step type. I stopped for a few peaceful bites of my Fallafel wrap, sink my teeth into my apple and headed back to the truck. The trip back took me along the banks of the Muddy Branch, which provided me with some good shots of the "hill." The time out in the back country kind of reminded me of the good ol' days with the family running around the wilderness of the Appalachian Mountains or Shenandoah National Forest. Expecting good weather on Sunday i had made plans with Trip and his lady to conquer Saddleback Mountain. I can't tell you how disappointed i was when i woke to grey skies and winter-like showers.

This was the view from my truck as i tried to find Forest Road 1825. I don't mind looking at something like this when i'm driving around lost.

I guess this is what the Forest Service calls a foot bridge here in Oregon.

The river knows no friends. It pretty much takes down whatever it wants in it's path to the mighty Columbia, including old growth forest.

After a short scramble over the downed trees the willing are treated to a view worth writing home about.

I guess this is why the trail was empty on Saturday. Everyone was lost.

Thankfully the trees parted enough to resemble something trail like. I never thought i would need my snowshoes in June.

The wet kicks and tired calves are well worth the trek when you find a lunch spot like this.

Another look at the falls and footbridge that is more up to code.

On my way back to the truck i scrambled back down to the river bed to snap a couple more shots of the mountain, this time i got the man in it too.

Not too much else to say. A week from Thursday Willy will be out here enjoying what Oregon has to offer. Our agenda includes a trip to Crater Lake and a two day raft trip on the North Umpqua river. I'm looking forward to a break from work and some q.t. with the Ol' Man. I'm sure there will be no shortage of antics and pictures that come out of our adventures. Until then. . .

The first step to recover starts with. . .

I'll start this post off with an adventure i wasn't even a part of. But since i'm family i can tell the story. While i was "busy" in Southern Oregon winning over the heart of a promicuous cougar, my very own Riley was having an adventure of his own. Uncle Dan being the draft, fresh breeze loving individual that he is, left a window cracked one afternoon. Before he knew it, Riley was out of the house and no where to be found (at least that's the story). I believe his offical escape was on Thursday, time uknown, and returned early Sunday morning. Apparently, Riley sat outside of Dan's bedroom window and screamed until he was let into the house. He ran straight to his food bowl, devoured it's contents and headed to the bedroom for a day long rest. Since his little weekend adventure in the quiet streets of southeast Portland, Riley has been venturing outside daily. He comes home every night for dinner and then again shortly after dark to cuddle up in a nice warm bed. In the morning, he's off again. So far he's managed to keep out of trouble but he's an Everline through and through, it's bound to happen sometime.

The ferocious Riley sneaking back into the house.

I've heard, usually jokingly, that the first step to confronting addction is admitting that you have a problem. Well. . .i'm an addict. I have a problem and i'm not in any rush to turn my back on myself now. Trish, Willy, Shawn and Todd. . .it's all your fault. Ever since i was told to "walk it off," when i broke my leg playing soccer, i've been hooked. The weekend following Memorial Day i was asked to participate in the PSU 5-a-side tournament, a prestigous tournament that brings some of the best Portland has to offer in football. I cautiously accepted, seeing as i've been playing coed and haven't felt a heavy tackle in nearly two years. The tourney started on Saturday at 9.30 with our first game. We walked away with a pretty simple victory and continued winning throughout the day. It has been a long time since i've been involved in a soccer tournament. I forget how much i love being surrounded by soccer. There is always a good vibe and plenty of hooliganism going on. We entered the knockout round top seed for our group. Our first game was pretty easy but the second game of the day looked like it was going to be a blood bath. The team we were set to play had just punished the 2nd place team in Group B 15-2. Anxiously awaiting a challenge we got behind early to start the game. We slowly got our feet under us and by the final whistle we had the advantage 6-2. The team was poised for the finals. Our competition was the Concordia University's Men's team. The kids were no slouches. To start. . .they were kids, quick, fit, physical, kids. Fortunately, the team i was playing for was the Condordia University's Alumni team. In the end youth won out over experience 6-4.

I don't know if anyone is counting here but that's 6 games for the weekend so far. But it's not over. Like a meth addict who just scored a new box of Sudafed, i had more football in front of me. I ran to Pizzacatto to refuel and head off for my coed indoor double header. I thought to myself. . .about the only good thing that can come out if this is me still standing with no sprains, strains, or broken bones. I was just about there, only two more games to go. What i didn't realize is that playing those young bucks make the coed circuit seem like the game was in slow motion. Even though i was exhausted i was still holding my own. We won our first game 17-1, by the end of the game our opponents had two extra players on the field. The second game proved to be a little more of a challenge but we still came out victorious, 9-4. By the time the whistle blew for the second game i had weathered 8 games over the course of two days. I won't throw in the mix the 3 other games i was scheduled to play in before week's end. All-in-all i walked away with nothing more than a great sense of pride that my old, joint creaking body, managed 8 matches in two days, a 2nd place finish in a difficult tournament, my first goal via header (i had two that weekend and another off my boot) and back to back hatricks in indoor. Not bad for a junkie.

Soccer-holics. Finally there is a place to meet.

So back to Memorial Day weekend. I didn't really do too much for my extended weekend. Spring was in the air so Dan and i did some minor "improvements" around the house/yard. Optomisitic (but terribly wrong) that the nice weather would hold, we decided to work on the lighting (or lack there of) situation in the backyard. We settled on large christmas like bulbs to string over the span of our brick patio. After looking over the logistics we opted more for the classic tree stringing effect. After a game of twister in the tree it was time to plant some veggies and herbs. Plenty of tomatoes, some peppers (which i hear don't grow in Oregon) and a few standard herbs. To break away from homely duties, Dan, the Newlyweds, myself and a couple other friends went spectating at the Timbers game. It was a highly contested match but in the end Portland walked away with their first loss of the season. After the game we went out for some drinks at one of the many McMenamin Brother's joints around the city. The McMenamin's have built a an entire empire of funky bars, hotels, and movie theaters all over the Pacific Northwest, including our beloved neighborhood movie theater, the Bagdad. They took a funeral parlour and turned it into a bar and an old elemtary school into several bars, movie theater, resturaunt and hotel. They've done it all. I took a break from drinking, housekeeping and more drinking to take a hike through Portland jewel Forest Park. The trails were essentially empty so Michelle and i enjoyed the quiet wilderness and fog filled treetops.

Here i am playing a game of tree top twister trying to string up some backyard lighting. I know. . .it's not nearly as impressive as topping a dead hickory tree but i'm trying here.

I wish i could say the backyard is always this light and bright all Spring but i'd be lying. I'll take what i can get though.

Here's captain ferocious holding down the fort.

Nothing like a friendly game of snooker after a football match and a flask of whiskey.

This is just and example of some of the quirky artwork the McMenamin Brothers put in their establishments. This was done in chalk on a 12 foot wide chalkboard.

The Timber Army taunting in full effect.

The fog filled canopy of Forest Park.

As we get futher into the "spring" here in the Pacific Northwest the rain continues to fall. We scored a nice day this past Sunday but i was running on two whole hours of sleep so some of it was spent napping. The rest of it i was. . .believe it or not. . .playing soccer. I hope this finds you all in good health, good spirits and good weather. Don't let a little rain scare you, we like it wet here, so should you.