This year Emily and I decided to host Thanksgiving. We had a new backyard and hot tub and nobody had made any secure plans yet so we invited the usual crew up to Portland to spend the day with us. Everyone arrived on Wednesday evening, bottles of booze in hand to start the festivities. We didn’t have dinner plans so we just ordered some Thai food and snacked on what was around. We had a full house of dogs for sure! Jason and Jen brought Alder, Scott and Danielle brought Fawn (they got Fawn after Arrow passed away this fall), Pos and Oliver, and we had Leo.
With Chris and Paris getting engaged over the summer and their wedding on January 7th we weren’t left with an ideal time of year for a bachelor party. It was the shoulder season when there might not be enough snow for skiing and possibly just too much for mountain biking. Many national parks and attractions we may have gone to were also beginning to close in early November and his brother didn’t have a passport to get into Canada. This left very few options for us. We were stuck between heading out to Anthony Lakes to ski in December or mountain bike in Bend in November. Upon getting hold of all his friends and brother the consensus looked like November was the best time for everyone so Bend was the best option. Read on…
Today we took a drive with Leo out to the coast. Although I had been to the coast a month ago with the Spaul Family and Leo it had been a while for Emily and she had the itch for the Pacific. Instead of heading straight west we chose to pass through Longview and her old work mill at Wauna. She had received a big promotion to the head of the Camas Mill the week I got laid off which cut her drive time from 1.5hr each way to 20min each way!
Today Emily and I decided we needed to get out of the house and go explore with Leo. I looked through my hiking guides for the area for a place we haven’t been close to Portland (getting fewer and fewer) and found Munra Point, a quick 2,100ft, 5mi scramble in the Gorge that we hadn’t been to yet. The pointed summit would also prove to be a perfect place to practice flying my Mavic as well. Read on.
Today I headed out to sauvie Island with Leo and the camera to practice some shots and fly the Mavic Pro around a bit for practice. It was a beautiful fall day and it had been a while since I really got Leo out of the house. I’d been unemployed for nearly a month as well. To my horror it cost $10 for the parking pass for the Island for the day. This certainly seemed like twice what I had paid last time. A year pass was $30 but only good for the calendar year so why would anyone ever buy one in November. I love coming here for the bird life but will make sure to buy a year pass in January instead.
This year Emily and I decided to host Thanksgiving. We had a new backyard and hot tub and nobody had made any secure plans yet so we invited the usual crew up to Portland to spend the day with us. Everyone arrived on Wednesday evening, bottles of booze in hand to start the festivities. We didn’t have dinner plans so we just ordered some Thai food and snacked on what was around. We had a full house of dogs for sure! Jason and Jen brought Alder, Scott and Danielle brought Fawn (they got Fawn after Arrow passed away this fall), Pos and Oliver, and we had Leo. 
