Mt Rainier Trip

On Wednesday of this past week I headed with my friend Bill up to Mt Rainier for a motorcycle trip.  We left early and headed North up towards Trout Lake, get a few miles past there and find out that the road that we needed is closed and we need to find another option.  Long story short, lots of driving on forest roads, AKA roads that aren't in that great of condition and lots of drips and places where there isn't a road, just some gravel and mud.  We keep riding and made it up near the entrance  of the park and to say the least this area is amazing.

I am sure that I have never taken so many curves on my bike, there was little straight stretches and by the time that we had gotten to camp I was tired.  I think that Bill had a great ride on his bike, first trip on it and I am sure that he loves it more and more everyday.

Once we got camp set up I went for a trail run,  incredible views of the river but everything was straight up and then back down.  I slept good that night.  Speaking of sleeping, we set up the tent just decided to sleep out under the stars instead.

Thursday AM we got up early, broke camp and then headed back up into the park to get to see the summit of the mountain and grab a few photos before we headed back down and the East over to Yakima and then home.

It was a great trip and look forward to taking another one soon...

Our Wedding

So last Friday, 8/8/08 Stacie and I got married! Yeah you read that right, we got married... We have been engaged for about 4 months, we wanted a small wedding and nothing fancy. It took place outside at an area called Catherine Creek, I have spent a lot of time in this area trail running and it just fit to have the wedding there. It was a small wedding, my mom, Stacie's parents and brother and Stacie's aunt and uncle. We had a friend of ours marry us as the sun was going down and it was a great day!

To be honest I never thought that it would happen. I had asked mom is she would go for a motorcycle ride with me and she really didn't think that it was a good idea. I asked then if I could just get a picture of her sitting on the bike with me, she said yes and then something must have clicked, she decided that she did want to go for a ride... It was a short ride, we just followed the river a ways and then turned around and came home.... I think that she enjoyed it! At least I hope that she did!

Mom's Visit to the Pacific Northwest

So Mom came out for about a week, she came for a very special event and we had the best time. We headed down to Bend for a night and then came back to the Hood River area for the remainder of her stay..... I think that she really liked it out here, it was great having her here that is for certain.

Stacie is back on the water!

Wednesday Stacie and I went out to the wall for some windsurfing, it was going to be Stacie's first day back out there since she broke her leg windsurfing at the end of last summer. We had come out to the wall last week to sail but the wind wasn't all that great and although I got to sail Stacie decided that she was just fine not getting out there.
We get to the launch area and it is just packed with people, I have never seen that many people before at this spot. Neither one of us were glad to see that I can assure you but we get a parking spot and say hello to a few people and start to rig....
I rig 4.7, Stacie gets her 4.2 out and before you know it we were both on the water. I was hanging close to watch Stacie the first few reaches and I have to say that it was great to have her back out there again..... She was smiling ear to ear!!!
Stacie got in two sessions and I got in one long one and then we called it a day, I am not sure that i have ever had a better day on the water than that day, great to see her out there....
Oh yeah, I forgot my camera at the house when we left so that is the reason there are no pictures of Stacie's first day back on the water.

Fires and More Fires

So last week I decided to go out on the motorcycle and see from the top of Dalles Mountain what the fires looked like up there. Mt Adams has a huge fire going on that is burning east and consuming many acres of land. The view from this top is incredible for sure and you can really tell just how big the fires are. Hard to believe that we had such a wet winter and spring and we are so DRY right now!

Siskiyou Out and Back 50K Trail Run

Weekend before last I headed to southern Oregon to do a trail run called the Siskiyou Out and Back on the Pacific Crest Trail. Must say that it was a tough race but one that I enjoyed very much all but the last 6 miles.

I left on Thursday went down to Stacie's parents house in Grants Pass and had some great food and stayed the night there then headed over to Ashland on Friday afternoon. The race started at Mount Ashland Ski resort and I just slept in the back of the car and was up early to race that Saturday at 7AM.

I would say that the run up till the marathon distance was just fine but after that I started to struggle, I had been eating along the way just not sure that I was eating enough. After one of the last rest stops there was a three mile climb back out of the gap up to the top of the mountain, I have never seen such a long three miles in my life.

Well I can say that I finished and the time was a respectful 5 hours 35 minutes.... I will be back there next year to do it all over again!