Cannon Beach, Cove Beach, and Oswald West State Park

 This weekend Emily and I decided we wanted to get out of the city and see the Pacific Ocean again.  We also wanted to get Leo out in the sunshine for some adventure.  So, on Saturday after a late rollout from bed we headed towards Cannon Beach.  It was cloudy in Portland but once we got over the Coast Range we found ourselves in beautiful warm weather on the beach with lots of other people out and about with us.  Read on...  

Chapman School Swifts

Today after work Emily and I joined Annie, Thomas, Jon and others at the Chapman School in Northwest Portland for our first time watching the swifts there.  According to Nate, whose birthday it also was, there weren't as many this year as previous years because of the dry summer or something.  Still, it was pretty cool to see them circle around in a huge twisting mass trying to find a way down into the school's chimney for a night.  Unfortunately for them, there was a small hawk perched on the rim just waiting to pick off the first few that tried.  A brave swift sacrificed itself and got nabbed by hawk allowing all the others to swirl down like a cloud of smoke re-entering the chimney for the night.  It took about 20 minutes for the hundreds and hundreds of swifts to all finally get into the chimney.  It was pretty cool to see and definitely something we plan on taking my mom to when she moves out here.

Race for the Cure

This Saturday Emily and I woke up early to run in the 5k Race for the Cure to raise money for Breast Cancer research.  Emily had signed us up a month before and I was a little nervous as I hadn't been running in weeks.  But, as it turns out the 5k really wasn't that hard and I had a really fun time running it.  There were a ton of people and I got the same feeling as tree skiing darting in and out of them trying to make my way further up in the pack.... Perhaps I'd actually like running more races!  

We were part of team GP who had a booth set up there but Emily and I got there too late for the team photo.  After the run we grabbed some free food and water and hung out for a bit before jumping back on our bikes and biking home.  We had run with Amy written on our number tags and one of Emily's relatives who also had a form of cancer.  Hopefully, science will find a cure soon!  We got back home by the time we'd usually get up on a lazy Saturday anyway! 

Septembeerfest in Corvallis

This weekend Emily and I drove down to Corvallis with Leo and our bikes in the truck to go to both Amy Jo's baby shower as well as Garrett's after-defense party in Avery Park.  We stayed with Tim and Lindsay in their new place so we drove there first so I could drop off Emily at Amy Jo's, park at Tim's and then jump on my bike to ride the short distance to Avery Park.  Leo stayed with Emily at Amy Jo's.

After work in Peninsula Park

Tonight after work Emily and I joined Arley, Katie and Ryan for a nice little picnic in Peninsula Park near our new home.  We stopped at New Seasons and picked up a bunch of yummy meats and cheeses and Emily also brought over a box of wine with Mr. Leo.  We ended up staying there until nearly 10pm eating, drinking, and enjoying some great conversation and the occasional swing on the swing set nearby.  Great evening with friends.

Gunsight Ridge to Dog River Trail

This weekend Eric Porter joined Emily and I for great day of biking down Gunsight Ridge on the flanks of Mt. Hood.  Gunsight ridge is pretty much the northern section of the same ridge that Surveyor's Ridge is on that we had done earlier in the summer but it is a bit more technical in places.  We decided to take both the truck and Prius again to do a shuttle so we could ride down the fabulous Dog River Trail at the end. 

Eagle Cap Wilderness Lakes Basin

This Labor Day I was able to go on an amazing backpacking trip with Anna and her boyfriend Nate to the Lakes Basin are of the Eagle Cap Wilderness in far Eastern Oregon.  We had at first planned a very ambitious 40 mile loop but instead cut out one pass and a lake to make it a more relaxing 30 mile loop over 4 days.  I decided to climb up Eagle Cap one early afternoon so I totaled out at 34.5 miles for the trip.  We didn’t see too many animals but I agree with everyone else that has been to the Wallowas, that it might be the most beautiful place in all of Oregon.  Read on to see more photos and details.