Northeast Parkways and Adia's Birthday

Emily and I had missed the North Portland Sunday Parkways earlier this summer as we were busy moving into our new house but this time we had the weekend free for our own neighborhood's Northeast Sunday Parkways.  Basically, it is when the neighborhood shuts down certain streets to create a bike corridor for bikers to move from one city park to another.  Along the way there are people giving out snacks and playing music and at each park there are booths setup from local vendors with free games and bike obstacle courses.  We really appreciate a town like Portland that really goes out of it's way to support the local biking community and we think it will be something my mom will really enjoy when she moves out here (more on that to come this fall).  Read on....

Surveyors Ridge Mountain Biking

On Sunday after a surprisingly peaceful sleep next to rumbling freight trains in our campground we got up late in the morning and headed into town for some breakfast at Egg River cafe.  It was pretty busy and we ended up eating at the bar in the back but the delicious food made up for it.  By the time we drove all the way to the trailhead for Surveyors Ridge it was early afternoon and I was little concerned about how long it would take us to ride the 20 miles back to the Prius we had parked at the lower trailhead, seeing that it had taken us nearly 8 hours to bike the 25 mile Mckenzie River trail just a few weekends prior.   Read on for more.

One Year Wedding Anniversary

This weekend Emily and I headed out to Hood River for our 1yr Wedding Anniversary!  It's hard to believe it has already been a year!  In the morning Emily gave me a wonderful anniversary gift.  It was an amazing house with heart balloons coming out of it but the house and balloons were map cut-outs of significance in our lives together.  The hearts were Saratoga Springs where we met, Hawaii where we got Engaged, and Hood River where we got married while the house was Portland, OR where we now have our first house together!  I didn't have anything to give her but I did inform her I had finished a well thought out wine box letter that we were supposed to put in there before our wedding!!! Shhhh don't tell anyone we didn't!  I think Em still needs to finish hers as I didn't see another one in there.... hehe.  Read on to hear about the rest of our anniversary.

Mckenzie River Weekend 2014

This weekend Emily and I joined Nicole, Ian, Coleen, Jake, Richard, ____ and Chris Harmon for a wonderful weekend on the Mckenzie River in central Oregon.  We left Leo with friends in Portland and headed south on Saturday morning to meet up with everyone else who had camped Friday night at the McKenzie Bridge Airfield in Blue River, OR.  We got an early start and met everyone around 10am at the upper trailhead for the Mckenzie River bike trail near Clear Lake.  They were a little late to arrive which was good as it took us a little bit to get our bikes put together from the back of the Prius.   Read on for all the details

Pizza Night at Arley and Katies

Tonight we had a wonderful night of wine and homemade pizza at Arley and Katie's.  Of course Ryan was there to teach us how to make everything correctly.  Anna also joined us for the good times.  This was special for Emily and I as it was the first time we had gotten out of our new home for a local get together.  We were so excited we put Leo on a leash and biked over to their place which was a little far for poor Leo who was out of shape and too hot in the summer heat.  He made it but looked pooped for the rest of the night and thankfully Ryan gave us a ride home in the Red Dragon.  We finished off the night with a great bonfire in the backyard.

Our New Home!

Our first home!  This past April, after about two months of looking, our wonderful realtors Karim and Jessica showed us a wonderful looking home in the Piedmont neighborhood of Portland.  We checked it out for about 20 minutes on a Friday after work with Karim.   We asked Karim if we should put an offer in... we were hesitant and worried about the chances of a better place coming up. He looked at us and simply said, "you two need to buy this house".  Well.. that was that and we put an offer in that night along with a nice letter about how amazing it would be to start a family there.   Read on for more photos.

Painting Jerry the Shed

This weekend Anna Li asked a bunch of friends to come over and help paint her shed which she affectionately named "Jerry".  She and a few friends sketched out an amazing scene and outlined it with markers.  All we had to do was fill in between the lines with paint.  It actually took a bit longer than we thought but by the time it began to get dark and Anna and other left for the Portland naked bike ride we had pretty much finished.  

This year there were 10,000 people who got on their bikes buck naked for the ride.... definitely not for me but super cool that that sort of thing happens in our wonderful city.  On Sunday they wrapped up the mural and the shed turned out amazing.  Very creative Anna Li!

Glacier Peak Summit Ski Descent - Most Remote Volcano in US

I had been planning a ski descent of Glacier Peak for 2 years and this past weekend I was finally able to accomplish that goal in an undertaking that proved to be the biggest mountain ascent of my life thus far.  I had met Brayden a few months before on our ski descent of Mt. Hood and he luckily had the flexibility in his schedule between job and school to join me on the adventure.  With 50-60lb packs we traveled 32 miles over 4 mountain passes, 4 glaciers, and ascended over 10,000 feet all so I could ski from the summit of my last US volcano in perfect weather.  Click the title to read more about our adventure to the most remote Cascade Volcano in the United States… Make sure to scroll to the bottom for the video as well.

Rafting the North Fork of the John Day River

This past weekend Jason, his fiancé Lindsay and their friends Adam and Mark joined me on a drive out to Eastern Oregon for a weekend rafting the North Fork of the John Day river from Dale to Monument, OR with Dennis Feeney and friends whom I hadn’t seen in a long time, some for years.  It was a great trip through beautiful terrain over mild rapids.  Except for the afternoon of the first day it was sunny and pleasant weather throughout.  Click the title to read on….

Lake Wahtum and Mount Chinidrine

Today, we had a great day hiking on the Northwest side of Mt. Hood with Eric and Adia, and the dogs Milo and Leo.  The weather was great, the views were pretty good despite some clouds and we even got to see a bear on the way to a wonderful dinner and drinks in Hood River.  Click the title to read on…

Flipping on the White Salmon

This weekend Emily and I got our first rafting trip in with friends from work.  Susan, a co-worker and guide at Wet Planet on the White Salmon River in Washington took us for an quick afternoon run down the very fast flowing river.  It was a beautiful, warm day and we had a bit more excitement than was planned…. click the title to read more…

Larson Wedding

This Saturday our friends Sarah and Adam got married at the “Grange Dance Hall” (Cody and Nicole’s Barn next to their house in Shedd, OR).  We drove down in the afternoon after we had a semi-successful tag sale in our driveway in the morning trying to get rid of as much as we could before our move to Portland.  Their wedding was at 7 so we had time to meet up with Chris and Paris before hand to check out their new house on Kings Ave and also get some food at Cafe Yum in downtown Corvallis before heading over in the Prius.  

Their wedding was very beautiful in a barn that was protected from the rain that evening and was lit by literally hundreds of candles.  The ceremony was very nice and lasted about 20 minutes with a lot of emotions.  Out of the wedding party I knew Adams friend Bill and out of the Bridesmaides I knew Stacy and Nicole Younger.  We saw Ben and Tiah and their boys as well as Ian, Colleen, Martin, Brian Carrington and of course Cody with Jesse who was an amazing host as was Nicole.  They had about 5 long tables of deserts for after the wedding and a yummy shrimp gumbo that I helped myself too.  I was a bit hungover from Josh’s backyard party the night before in Portland so it was great to get a bunch of good food in me.  

Throughout the evening there were musicians on stage playing guitar and singing, including a few Chris Holm classics and I finally got to see the Grange Hall Drifters play (Adam’s band with Bill).  They were really amazing and their songs were a lot of fun.  I set up the DSLR to record video from a table below so I could send Sarah and Adam the video later as a surprise as I think I was the only one recording.  Adam is an amazing performer and song writer (as is Holm) and I hope to see them play again someday.  We were both so happy for the two of them as they make a great couple and I have no doubt their marriage will last and little ones will be on the way soon I bet!

A Bosses Birthday

Just a post with a few photos of what we all did for our boss’s birthday at work.  It certainly took a while but it seemed like everyone contributed to blowing up a few balloons.  Matt was certainly surprised when he got to the office.  Watching him push his way through them to his desk was pretty fun.  They stayed there for a few more days until he began blowing them into the office with a fan.  

Ryan put tacks in a cardboard poster tube (his “boom stick”) and made quick work of killing them at our end of the office.  But this was after he made “balloon angels” in Matt’s room and I swam through a wall of them myself.  Pretty fun, and cool that we work in an office where this kind of stuff is not only ok, but sometimes encouraged….

Easter 2014

This Easter Emily and I traveled down to Corvallis to have dinner and drinks with friends at Tim and Lindsay’s new home in South Corvallis.  They have a great place with a big backyard and plenty of garage space for all their gear.  They were graciously continuing on the tradition that Kev and Alexa had started years ago and the majority of us all came dressed in our Sunday best.  Unfortunately, due to work obligations we were missing Scooter and Jason and Danielle was in California on vacation.  

The food was amazing and we all had a great time catching up over drinks.  It was really great to see BD & Carrie, a rare appearance by Doug an Pete, and others whom we hadn’t seen in almost half a year.  After dinner we continued our night over at the Maple Lounge (BD & Carrie’s decked-out garage) with Jenn who was super tired from being up crazy early planting trees in Eugene for her new full time job.  She was a trooper and we ended up heading back to their place around 1am I think.  

In the morning I awoke to both girls laughing at me.  Apparently, as I usually do at Jason’s, I got up for the bathroom and ended up heading into the wrong bedroom and climbing into bed with the wrong woman!  ha!  As Jen tells it, “Jon climbed into bed and I said, “Ellinger??”, and he said, “Krebs??” and then started chuckling to himself”….. That’s when I climbed slowly out of bed and wandered back to the right room and correct wife all while Jenn was giggling behind me.  In the morning I woke up and had no recollection of the event at all!  When Jason got home a few hours later after we had taken the dogs for a nice walk in the park he got a kick out of the story as well… :)  It was a great weekend with friends for sure with a story I’m sure will be remembered….

Mount Hood Summit Ski Descent

This past week Matt and Mike D from the office invited me to join them on a climb of Mt. Hood with a hopefully ski descent from the top.  The weather looked amazing for the weekend and I didn’t have any other plans so I was happy to join, yet scared about how out of shape I currently am.  Matt also wanted to get up at 4am which both Mike and I thought was a tad bit early but because Emily and made an offer on a house in North Portland I was hoping that I might be able to get down in time to go see the open house with Emily.  The climb and the views were epic even though the ski descent was terrible and dangerous.  Click the title to read on…

Yakima Canyon Weekend

This weekend the forecast for Seattle down to San Francisco called for heavy rain so Emily and I did the only logical thing we could come up with and went East over the Cascades to the high desert of Washington in search of sunshine.  I had been put in over 60 hours of work the previous week and was nearing 40 hours by Thursday so after I got my delivery out Friday I left work early so that we could pack up and take off.  Click the title to read on….

Hamilton Mountain & Beacon Rock with Leo

After a very rainy Saturday spent looking at a few houses and touring neighborhoods Emily and I were ready to take Leo out for a hike on Sunday.  The weather cleared a bit with only a few showers and we ended up hiking a loop trail that proved to be one of my favorites in the Portland area.  We saw some great waterfalls, our first spring flowers, a ton of great views from some crazy terrain and even had time to finally run up Beacon Rock for some views of the Columbia River and surprising elk herd in the Gorge below.  Click the title to read on…

Lazy weekend of Sun and Drinks

Well, not completely lazy as I did get out for about 6 miles of walking with Leo during the sunshine on Saturday…. On Friday Em and I joined Layne and Rob at Fire on the Mountain for some yummy wings.  On Saturday I ended up driving out to Troutdale with Leo to explore some urban parks.  Saturday night was a shit show of a bar crawl for Eric and Anna Li’s dual birthday and Sunday was spent recovering… click the title to read the quick details if you care…

Klickitat Trail & Swale Canyon Bike Ride

On Saturday Emily and I decided to make the best of the nice warm weather and headed out past Hood River for some high desert mountain biking on the Washington side of the Columbia River.  We shuttled cars and biked a 31 mile “Rail-to-Trail” loop down Swale Canyon and then the Klickitat River to Lyle, WA.  It was a beautiful day and we saw lots of wildlife.  Click the title to read on….

Roller Derby Night with Friends

On Saturday after interviewing a Real Estate agent and stocking up on groceries, Emily and I joined Katie, Arley and Ryan for a night at the Roller Derby.  We met them first at the Oaks Bottom Public House in Southeast Portland for some Totchos (Tots with Nacho toppings) good beer, and great clam chowder.  I had wings which I hadn’t had in a long time and the mess was worth it!  After a few pints we headed over to the Oaks Bottom Fairgrounds for the Roller derby.  To our surprise it was mostly girls that seemed no older than Jr. High… Apparently this was the finals for them, which is why the tickets were $20 each.  The rules of Roller Derby are pretty unique and it was certainly “interesting” watching the young girls push each other around and knock each other over on old school roller-skates.  The tall boy cans of PBR and Girl Scout cookies for sale there helped.

We watched a match and a half and Emily and I kept losing to Katie who seemed to be good at guessing the winning team (I owed her a beer on the way out).  Since it was still pretty early and there was a Timbers game on TV we headed into town to watch the Timbers pull off an amazing last second game tying goal before heading to Life of Pie for some late night pizza.  The Margharetta  pizza was the best I’d had in a long time.  Although it was an odd night watching young roller derby girls I did get a roll-by high five from “Jill the Ripper” and it was a lot of fun hanging out with Arley, Katie and Ryan as usual.

Maiden Peak Backcountry Ski Trip

This weekend Emily and I wanted to get out of dodge so we joined Colleen and others for a backcountry ski tour around the backside of Willamette Pass Ski Area.  Because we were passing Corvallis on the way through we also used the opportunity to stop for dinner with Holm, Paris, Jason and Jen and then stayed over with Jen and Jason.  It was a long tour so we left Leo for a little vacation with Aunt Anna Li before heading south.  To read more and see more photos click the title to read on….

Tom Dick Backcountry Skiing with Leo

Today Emily and I had a great day of backcountry skiing with Leo in the Tom Dick backcountry.  It was great to be back on the same trails as last year when we first introduced him to chasing us on skis. We had great views of Mt. Hood and got a few quick turns in on some very heavy, wet snow before tearing down the trails with Leo at the tails of my skis.  He was thoroughly exhausted and slept soundly all evening.  Click the title to read on....

Clam Chowder Blind Tasting Test

When I woke up I didn’t have any plans for us for the day but since Emily had Friday off she had done some thinking and suggested we go check out a clam chowder competition.  This pleased me in two ways - 1. Emily never really puts any effort into suggesting weekend activities for us although I often suggest she think about it, and 2. I love clam chowder!  So, we headed down to the Lompoc Brewery and got in line at about 1pm.  The event was supposed to last until 4pm but when we arrived they had already run out of one of the 12 chowders there.  By the time we were done enjoying and rating our 11 small cups of chowder the even was closed because they had run out!  We were happy to have arrived when we did.  We each voted for our favorite chowder and handed in our ballots before leaving happy with full stomachs. 

Ryan Over To Cook Us Dinner

Tonight Ryan Anderson finally made the long journey up to our place to cook dinner for us.  He made the same delicious pasta meal with fresh slipper bread that I had eaten with him at his place earlier in the fall.  Arley and Katie also joined us for dinner.  Because of traffic and where we live nobody arrived at our place until nearly 8pm so our planned World War Z movie didn’t happen but it was great to have an amazing freshly prepared dinner with our new Portland friends!

Mount Hood Meadows

Today Emily and ventured to Mt. Hood Meadows for the first time in about 7 years!  The last time either of us had been there was when she came to visit me before moving out here.  For all the years of bashing Meadows for the number of people there, we actually had a great day of skiing and despite it being the first Saturday in months with fresh snow and ton of people the lift lines moved fast and we got a lot of runs in.  

Unfortunately, most of the really good terrain was still closed due to lack of cover and we found ourselves skiing the same trails over and over again, not having knowledge of where the sweet spots where like we do at SkiBowl.  We also learned our lesson that you can’t wax your skis the night before and expect to scrape the wax off the next day in the cold weather at the resort.. it was awful… had to re-wax them again….

Superbowl 2014 - Seattle Wins!

Today Emily and I invited a bunch of people over to our place to watch the Superbowl with us but as usual because of where we live not many showed up.  Eric bailed because of a family member health scare but Arley and Katie came over with some delicious football shaped brownies.  Emily and I had bought plenty of drinks and we also had some wings and chips to share.  The game itself was a blowout as Seattle crushed Denver who looked like a High School team in comparison.  It was nice to hang out with Arley and Katie and we appreciated them making the drive to spend the afternoon with us. 

Romona Falls with Leo

Today Emily and I ventured to Mount Hood with Leo for an afternoon of hiking.  We had intended on climbing a small peak out of Lolo Pass but there was too much snow.  Instead we found ourselves hiking along the Sandy River towards Romona Falls in just under a foot of fresh snow.  We had an interesting stream crossing with Leo and got to see a very cool waterfall.  Leo was beat tired at the end of the hike and so were we actually... Need to get in shape... Click the title to read about our hike...