Naughty Boy

I hear the thing about blogging (if that's what you would call this) is that you need to put stuff up if you want people to visit. I haven't been very good about that lately. But. . .i'm back with a vengence. . .okay, maybe not such a vengence but at least i return bearing pictures. Enough to keep me up to the wee hours of the night loading on to this new post.

When i left my homeland for the far reaches of the Pacific Northwest there are many things i could have become; homeless (creating off smelling summer puddles), mascarading as a homeless man (accepting gourmet pizzas from unsuspecting nice folk [bastard]), a nike employee, or. . .as the history channel has recently revealed. . .an "AxMan." I became none of the above. What i have become in my "senior" twenties is something i never saw coming; the voice of reason. I don't know what has happened to my deviantly minded old self but i think i may have lost him. A companion of mine, knowing my historical. . .let's call it "moral flexibility. . .has been pushing her limits. The other day on a camping trip she attempted to steal newspaper from the wood guy and me, of all people, said, "no, let's just play by the rules (or something lame like that)." You could have possibly convinced me i would become one of the things listed about but the "voice of reason" i never would have believed you. Getting old sucks. What's next? A rascal scooter or a Craft-matic adjustable bed?

Oh. . .and i became one of these too.

I have been pretty busy the last few weeks/month. I've gotten a year older, co-hosted a cooking lesson (really i just pay rent and my roommate did all the work), nearly rear-ended an SUV on my bike, and got a tan (maybe not such a big deal for those in my sunny locals but here in the NW it's unheard of [at least natural tans are]). Instead of writing your eyes loose, i'll just post some pics.

Dan, my well liked roommate from the north country, has a friend who is a cook at a resturaunt that has been rated Resturaunt of the Year for 2007 by both the Willamette Week and Portland Monthly. She kindly volunteered to come into our cramped little kitchen and teach several of us how to cook just like her (aka have us watch her cook delicous food). Now for those of you who haven't visited Portland, our food scene is out of this world! Words do it no justice, so to have such a distinguished chef in the house was quite an honor. Here are a few shots from that night.

Dan is supervises the kitchen operations.
Bria scopes out the menu for the evening. As you can see. . .bachelors don't really keep wine glasses handy.
I have no idea what the hell this leafy green is but it was damn tastey.

A stovetop full of goodies.

Dan's drunk and i'm sober. . .go figure :)

For those of you who may have not known. . .i had a birthday recently. Being the pooper i always am, i didn't really do much. The weekend prior to the big day i decided to get away and head to the coast. As you can see in this video it was a perfect weekend to lay on the beach and catch what the Pac NW is best known for this time of year, some liquid (frozen solid) sunshine.

No March trip to the coast is right without a snow covered trip through the costal range

Even my beloved Toyota felt the nip in the air.

The video above was brought to you by this little off-shore storm.

Fiona eat your heart out.
I took a four day weekend this past week; a chance to get away from the office and enjoy myself. I had planned on a backpacking trip in the Olympics or something in the less snow ridden, eastern Oregon. Instead i ended up in Salem, my state's fine capitol. All-in-all a gross, hideous sight; a puss filled zit on the chin of a young girl getting ready for prom, if you will. Who ever would have though that this same hideous town is so close to one of Oregon's many gems. Instead of venturing off, on battered feet, into the wilderness, i parked my truck about 30 yards from my tent (and my f'ing neighbors), pulled out the ol' Coleman 2-burner, and a cooler full of delicousness. Yes. . .i car camped. A friend and I went to Silver Falls state park for our little weekend getaway. Silver Falls is Oregon's largest state park and just as majestic as it is massive. The Canyon Trail is a 7 mile loop that follows a meandering creek. The low-flowing creek provides it's guests with 10 waterfalls. Pictures say a thousand words (not that i haven't already used more than that by now, but i'll save you another thousand).

Every good camp trip needs a good chef. Bria prepares our feast for the first night, halibut with lemon zest (done via pocket knife) dill and vegan butter. Dinner is served. A side of brown basmati rice and salad pulls the meal together. Oh and a little Henry McKenna to wet the palate
And for dessert. . .what else but S'mores

A fireside jam session completed the night.

And in the morning. . .toast, potatoes, and a delicious smoked salmon egg scramble. . .
. . .and tea. . .
. . .and sunshine, glorious sunshine.
I think the phrase "pictures don't do it justice" is over played so. . .for perspective. . .those little white things you see to the left are specators

Safety first. This was taken as we made our way behind the first falls.

. . .and for lunch. . .water and mojo bars (actually we had a delicous turkey, avacado, tomato and spicy mustard sandwhich, not pictured)

This was the last waterfall before the trail turned into the woods. Hopefully you can get a feel for how deep the overhang is. The defined line that arcs from left to right is the trail as it sweeps behind the falls.

With lots of moisture comes a lot of moss, green, fuzzy moss. These were the stairs taking us out of the canyon and back up to the Rim Trail.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. It's not just rouding midnight and i have people to micro manage tomorrow and a soccer game to cry over. If you made it this far. . .i hope all is well.