Our Honeymoon - Day 13 - Serrano Glacier to Natales Boat Trip and back to Punta Arenas

Today we finished our kayak trip with a boat ride from the Serrano Glacier back to Puerto Natales.  On the way we were treated to both whiskey with glacial ice from the glacier we had just paddled to as well as an amazing traditional Chilean lamb feast.  From Puerto Natales we then traveled by bus back to Punta Arenas for a New Years celebration at the bottom of the world.  Click the title to read on... 

Our Honeymoon - Day 12 - Tyndall Lake to the sea and the Serrano Glacier

Today we left our remote camp at Lake Tyndall and cruised the Tyndall River back to the Serrano River where we continued onward to the sea and the Serrano Glacier.  We entered the Bernard O'Higgin's National Park and had plenty of time to kayak up to the face of the massive glacier before a relaxing night with more of Rob's delicious cooking.  Click the title to read on....

Our Honeymoon - Day 11 - Leaving Paine Grande and start of Serrano River Kayaking

Today we started our amazing kayaking trip from Torres Del Paine National Park to the sea via the Serrano River.  Our guide Rob was super cool and the views from the river were amazing.  The wind was calm enough that we were even able to make it up the Tyndall River and get close to the very remote Tyndall Glacier.  Experiencing the remote regions of Patagonia far from others was a lifelong goal for me and we were able to experience that on this trip.   Click to the title to read on....

Our Honeymoon - Day 10 - Refugio Cuernos up the Valley Frances then out to Paine Grande

Today we ran out of luck with the weather on our trip.  From when we got up all the way till we reached our final campsite the mountains remained cloudy and it was raining off and on.  We ended up skipping the French Valley which ended up working out as we were exhausted.  We were able to relax at our final campsite at Paine Grande with a nice meal and pisco sours from the bar there.  Click the title to read on.... 

Our Honeymoon - Day 9 - Campamento Torres to Mirador Torres to Refugio Torres

Today we had amazing views of the towers in the morning after climbing through fresh snow.  We then continued our trek with beautiful weather all day.  It was certainly a very long day and by the time we reached our second campsite we were exhausted.  Click the title to read on and see some of the most amazing photos from our trip.  

Our Honeymoon - Day 8 - El Calafate to Puerto Natales to Torres Del Paine

Today was mostly a travel day from El Calafate, through Puerto Natales to Torres Del Paine for more Trekking.  We had time  for a quick lunch after dropping off our stuff with Dittmar and the rental car before we had to catch the afternoon bus up to the park.  It was a beautiful bus ride as it had just recently snowed on all the surrounding peaks.  Click the title to read on.....

Our Honeymoon - Day 7 - El Chalten to El Calafate Day of Rest

Merry Christmas.  After 3 hard days of trekking it was nice to have a relaxing day off.  The weather was terrible so we just headed back to Calafate where it was better and had a relaxing afternoon.  We called family and had a wonderful dinner in town.  Click the title to read on....

Our Honeymoon - Day 6 - Camp De Agostini back to Camp Poincenot and out to Chalten

Today we totally lucked out on the weather.  We had great views of Cerro Torre with clearing clouds and by the time we trekked back over to Mt. Fitzroy it was under blue skies.  After we got back to town we found our amazing bed and breakfast and celebrated Christmas Eve in town eating some delicious pizza and local beer.   Click the title to read on......

Our Honeymoon - Day 5 - Camp Poincenot to Laguna de les tres to Camp De Agostini - Mt. Fitzroy Loop

Today we woke up to pouring rain at our campsite below Mt. Fitzroy.  We didn't get lucky with the views of Mt. Fitzroy today, even after waiting until 1pm to leave our campsite when the rain stopped. But, we ended up with some great views into the Cerro Torre Valley later in the evening as we made our way to our 2nd campsite.  Click the title to read on.....

Our Honeymoon - Day 4 - Calafate to Chalten and start of Mt. Fitzroy Loop

Today we had a long drive from Calafate across the vast Patagonia Plateau to the very cute town of El Chalten beneath the immense Mt. Fitzory.  We stopped at the ranger station to check out the weather forecast and learn about the area before driving to the edge of town to start our 6 mile hike in to our first campsite.  Click the title to read on....

Our Honeymoon - Day 3 - El Calafate, Argentina & the Perito Morino Glacier

Today we crossed the border from Chile into Argentina with our

rental car and visited the Perito Moreno Glacier just outside of El Calafate where we would spend the night at our Bed & Breakfast Casa De Grillos.  Today we saw a ton of wildlife and the biggest glacier we had ever seen.  Click the title to read on....

Our Honeymoon - Day 2 - Santiago to Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales

Today was yet another travel day from Santiago down to Punta Arenas.  From there we caught a bus that Laura Dittmar had arranged for us to Puerto Natales where she picked us up from the bus top and took us to our first hostel of our trip.  So great to be at the bottom of the world with a long honeymoon of adventure ahead of us!  Click the title to read on...

Our Honeymoon - Day 1 - Travel to Santiago, Chile

Just some quick notes for this entry as it was a travel day.

• Taxi Magic picked us up right on time at 9am and we made it to the airport with no problem despite some ice on the road. 
• Easy through TSA leaving socks and jackets on in pre-screened line.
• Earlier 10:15 flight crashed on the tarmac into the towing vehicle.  Guy jumped out and broke his arm.  They had to re-route all the passengers from that flight but our flight was ok.
• Got breakfast at Gustavs in the airport - em started off with two Bloody Marys while I had an Irish coffee.  
• Watched Lord of the Rings Extended on our flight to Dalles.
• slight scare when emily couldn't find our passports right before our flight to Santiago

Dog Mountain with Amy Jo and Loomis

Today Emily, Leo and I joined Amy Jo, Loomis and Addy for a very cold hike up Dog Mountain in the Columbia Gorge.  It was a steep, quick hike with lots of snow at the top and some good views of Mt. Hood, Adams and Mt. St. Helens.  On the way home we all were hungry so we stopped at a delicious brewery in Stevenson, Wa.  It was great to hang out with Amy Jo and Loomis and to get out with the best dog ever one more time before we had to leave him to go on our honeymoon.  Click the title to read all about our hike....

Snowy Days & A Quantum Christmas Party

This past week has been frigid in the Northwest and on Friday we received about 3 inches of snow in Ridgefield.  This of course caused a complete mess with traffic.  So much so, that our bus driver on Friday announced it would take nearly 3 hours to go the 18 miles to downtown Portland.  Thankfully, he pulled off at Delta Park and I was able to jump on the Max but I still arrived at work at 10am.  Corvallis got 8-10 inches of snow and later I saw that people were towing skiers down roads and backcountry skiing Chip Ross Park!  Leo certainly loved all the snow though!  

Friday night was also our Holiday Party for work.  WSI has been merged into Quantum Spatial and the two offices decided to have separate parties this year.  I haven’t even heard that CVO has a party planned yet, and that it might be in January if they have one.  Our party was at Bar XV downtown and of course there was food (yummy meatballs) and an open bar.  Eric and I hadn’t planned on getting too drunk but of course we did.  Emily got a ride with Caitlin and her friends to the party and left Leo and the Prius at Eric’s.  I tried to stay out of sight most of the night just hanging out with Arley, Ryan, Eric, Katie, and Emily but I did get to have some fun conversations with the new tech Conrad as well as Ingrid.  I had a bit of fun late in the night slipping edamame into the pockets of my unsuspecting friends but the night was ultimately cut short when I looked over at Eric who was clearly ready to go home.  It took us a little time to get a hold of a cab but ended getting to Eric’s just before midnight.  I later got a good laugh from all the disposable camera photos that were taken throughout the night.  Great party and a great release of stress for most of the office.

Thanksgiving 2013

Once again Emily and I joined Scott, Danielle, Jason and Jen in Sunriver for the long Thanksgiving weekend.  This year Jen and Jason found the house and it was perfect, complete with a hot tub and fireplace that was so big we could climb it!  We ate a huge dinner of deep fried turkey and sides and went on a great hike and visited the High Desert Museum.  I also conjured up a little adventure for everyone when I sneaked out late night... Click the title to read on...