When I made the trip to Fort Wayne this year for Ellie's birthday I was very much surprised to lay first sight on my daughter in the back of a police car! It was a wonderful trip but Emily’s parents were also visiting at the time and I feel bad I wasn’t able to spend more time with them. We did have a great Italian dinner together and some drinks at a Whiskey Bar on Alberta before I was dropped off for the flight though! Read on to see how my trip to visit Ellie went…
This weekend Emily, Leo and I found ourselves smack dab in the middle of a Cascade Volcano Trifecta! We decided to take Leo on a day hike up Strawberry Mountain to the north of Mount St. Helens. It turned out to be a colorful hike with amazing views and Leo seemed to really enjoy himself in the sunshine. Read on…
We had been waiting years for a camping trip in the Enchantments. In 2013 I won best area of the lottery, the Core Zone, only to have a forest fire in the vicinity cancel the trip. In 2014 nobody won the lottery but this year I was able to secure a spot for 8 of us at Colchuck Lake for what turned out to be a beautiful weekend in the mountains with close friends whom Emily and I don't get to see enough. Read on for some amazing scenery and wildlife photos...
Conrad and I just got back from our first conference since we started with Cardno in July. This one was in Reno and was sponsored by the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) which I have been a member of for several years and through which I got my Professional certifications a year ago. Being newcomers to the UAV commercial industry it was really great to hear all the talks and see the live UAS flying demonstration. Although I really enjoyed the both the conference and hanging out with my buddy Conrad, the city of Reno itself had clearly taken a drastic downturn since I visited Matt there in 2005. Read on....
This evening we all got together at Layne and Rob's for a nice BBQ Tully, Jess, Colin and Amanda, and Doug and Amanda all drove up for the visit to see Rob who has been going through some health issues. Even though the QSI lawsuit was still in full swing against us it was great to see everyone and the food of course was delicious! Ruby really hit if off with Leo as well which was super cute!
After a fun weekend in Corvallis with friends Emily, Conrad and I hit up the Timbers vs. Red Bulls game on Sunday afternoon. Eleanor Hodak and her husband James were also at the game but in different seats so we met them for a quick drink at the Spirit of 77 after and then got talked into biking over to Mac Barr and Sarah's place to watch the Seahawk's game and meet his children whom I'd never met. It had been years since Mac and Eleanor left Corvallis and it was really great to see them again. Jed was also at Mac's hanging out for the game. We ordered some pizzas and wings and caught up with each other for a while before Sat night's drinking caught up with my stomach and we headed home for the night!
We hadn’t been to Goat Rocks in quite some time so Emily and I decided to grab McNeill and try a new way into the mountains to check out Conrad Basin and perhaps even run up Mount Curtis Gilbert, the highpoint, if we had time. We didn’t want to take too much time off of work with Africa coming up so it had to be a quick overnight. Well, what I had planned as an easy loop overnight turned into quite the journey… read on…
This Labor Day weekend Emily and I decided to head out to the Wallowas in Eastern Oregon. A year ago I had done an amazing loop hike with Anna and Nate but Emily couldn’t go because she couldn’t get the time off for that longer hike. This time we chose a shorter out and back hike up to Ice Lake and convinced Conrad and Jason W. to meet us up there. The trip turned out to be one of the most beautiful I’d been on in a long time and was a great introduction for Emily to the “Alps of Oregon”. Read on….
Lindsay got a job studying sea birds in Mexico on the Pacific Coast for a year so we drove down to Corvallis to say goodbye to her temporarily with a party at Scott and Danielle's. It was a great party and we also got to see Garrett and Cassie who were visiting with their new adorable son Felix. After Garrett's defense they had moved to Vermont to live. Cassie still works for QSI so she was in town for a work meeting. Great to see them, sad to say goodby to Lindsay, and great to totally beat the shit out of a piñata of Donald Trump that Scott made :)
This weekend Emily I decided to not lose any more time of the summer due to the lawsuit and decided to venture out of cell phone reach of the lawyers to do a hike around the north side of Mount Hood with Leo. We decided on an out and back from the Top Spur Trailhead to Elk Cove for the night. Read on...
With the lawsuit in full swing against us and a lot of stress in my life Emily and I decided we needed to get out of the house with Leo so we headed to the dog park at the Sandy River Delta to take Leo for a long walk. I had literally been living at home ready to answer any needs the lawyers had for a while and I needed to get out. We walked far out onto the delta and actually waded out through some shallow water to an island on the Columbia River. Leo of course had a great time and Emily was as supportive as ever for me. Both her and her parents realized what I couldn't at the time - the lawsuit was a bunch of horse shit and would eventually go away. The night before was a low point in my life but thankfully my friends and future co-workers were incredibly supportive of me and I felt better about things in the morning.
This week Kevin and Alexa made it back to Oregon for Kevin's PhD defense and everyone was super excited to see them and Ronan. When they got to Portland they stayed with us for a night before heading down to Corvallis. Their visit was right in the middle of the ugly QSI lawsuit against us which was super unfortunate but it didn't stop us from having a good time with them and our friends in Corvallis who still work for that horrid company. Read on
Today Emily and I decided to float the Sandy River from Oxbow Park to the Lewis and Clark State Park on the Columbia. I guess the entire 7.5 mile float would take about 5 hours and with us getting to Oxbow at 2pm I new it would be cutting it close to float the river and then drive back to Oxbow to pick up the other Prius by the 8:40 sunset gate closure. The water was super low and very slow. We barely felt like we were moving at all! It was a beautiful day though and we saw lots of wildlife including eagles, tons of ospreys fishing, a deer and plenty of ducks.
When we passed Dabney Park at around 7 I new we still had about an hour and half left so I needed to speed things up. This involved me pushing Emily along on the inflatable mattress she was riding, running my feet along the river bottom to keep us moving in the slow current, as well as kicking and breast-stroke kicking us along the way. It was exhausting and I got very tired, and… very chaffed. When we got to the takeout it was 8:25pm and I sprinted to get the Prius and raced down the road to Oxbow Park. We got to the park at 8:50pm and thankfully, they let us in to get the car which also thankfully didn’t have a citation! I think next time we’ll plan a full 8 hour day for this float to play it safe!
Today was our 2 year wedding anniversary. As usual we wanted to head out to Hood River to pick some berries and get some dinner but this year we invited Eric along. We chose not to tell him it was our special day because we knew he wouldn’t go! On the way we stopped to explore Oneonta Gorge as well. Read on…
Today Tom, Banjo, and Eric joined us for a hike up Hamilton Mountain. Tom had been on the hike before but not Eric so we thought it was a great place close by to check out and get some sunshine and exercise the dogs. Read on…
After an exhausting and hot hike up Elks and Kings Mountains in the Tillamook Forest of the Coast Range Emily and I were absolutely starving so we were super excited to get to Tillamook and find the Old Oregon Smokehouse along 101 just north of the city. We had a great dinner of clam chowder and an oyster po’boy sandwich. The owners even closed up and left for drinks while we were still there! From there it was an hour drive down the coast to our secret beach location where we would camp for the next two wonderful nights. Read on…
With Fourth of July weekend upon us and temperatures predicted to reach 100 degrees in Portland once again, we decided it was time to head to the coast with Leo to stay cool and enjoy the ocean breezes. We also wanted to get some exercise in so we planned a 10 mile loop hike over Elk Mountain and Kings Mountain in the Tillamook Forest of the Coast Range. It turned out nearly to be too much for poor Leo. Read on…
When I made the trip to Fort Wayne this year for Ellie's birthday I was very much surprised to lay first sight on my daughter in the back of a police car! It was a wonderful trip but Emily’s parents were also visiting at the time and I feel bad I wasn’t able to spend more time with them. We did have a great Italian dinner together and some drinks at a Whiskey Bar on Alberta before I was dropped off for the flight though! Read on to see how my trip to visit Ellie went…
On Friday night Emily and I headed over to Jason and Lindsay's baby shower party. We didn't know too many people and the party was at one of their friends houses. The backyard had a cool fire pit, a portable outdoor bar and the biggest dam dog I'd seen in a long time. There was even an arcade-style basketball shooting game that I embarrassed myself at playing against Conrad. Fun times and it will be great to meet baby Van Warmerdam when he/she is ready for the world.
On Saturday night we headed over to Anna Li's for a party. It was a welcome back slideshow/chicken naming party. They had a great photo slide show up of their recent bike trip and a bunch of QSI employees showed up whom we hadn't seen since we left the office. There was an absolutely beautiful sunset that night and the really fun night would have been much better topped off if the chicken had been named "Brian Slaughter" as most hoped it would be. 
There were some great names on the naming bracket like Kung Pow, Sam Peckinpaw, Nugget, and Marty McFly (because the day Marty came to the future had just passed). I actually don't remember which was chosen but Anna definitely vetoed the winner and just chose her own anyway, despite Everett even choosing Brian Slaughter! It was great to reconnect with everyone from QSI and let everyone know that what they were told happened by management couldn't have been farther from reality and the truth. It was clear that we all had their support.
This weekend Emily, Leo and I found ourselves smack dab in the middle of a Cascade Volcano Trifecta! We decided to take Leo on a day hike up Strawberry Mountain to the north of Mount St. Helens. It turned out to be a colorful hike with amazing views and Leo seemed to really enjoy himself in the sunshine. Read on…
We had been waiting years for a camping trip in the Enchantments. In 2013 I won best area of the lottery, the Core Zone, only to have a forest fire in the vicinity cancel the trip. In 2014 nobody won the lottery but this year I was able to secure a spot for 8 of us at Colchuck Lake for what turned out to be a beautiful weekend in the mountains with close friends whom Emily and I don't get to see enough. Read on for some amazing scenery and wildlife photos...
Conrad and I just got back from our first conference since we started with Cardno in July. This one was in Reno and was sponsored by the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) which I have been a member of for several years and through which I got my Professional certifications a year ago. Being newcomers to the UAV commercial industry it was really great to hear all the talks and see the live UAS flying demonstration. Although I really enjoyed the both the conference and hanging out with my buddy Conrad, the city of Reno itself had clearly taken a drastic downturn since I visited Matt there in 2005. Read on....
This evening we all got together at Layne and Rob's for a nice BBQ Tully, Jess, Colin and Amanda, and Doug and Amanda all drove up for the visit to see Rob who has been going through some health issues. Even though the QSI lawsuit was still in full swing against us it was great to see everyone and the food of course was delicious! Ruby really hit if off with Leo as well which was super cute!
After a fun weekend in Corvallis with friends Emily, Conrad and I hit up the Timbers vs. Red Bulls game on Sunday afternoon. Eleanor Hodak and her husband James were also at the game but in different seats so we met them for a quick drink at the Spirit of 77 after and then got talked into biking over to Mac Barr and Sarah's place to watch the Seahawk's game and meet his children whom I'd never met. It had been years since Mac and Eleanor left Corvallis and it was really great to see them again. Jed was also at Mac's hanging out for the game. We ordered some pizzas and wings and caught up with each other for a while before Sat night's drinking caught up with my stomach and we headed home for the night!
On Saturday morning we headed down to Corvallis to hit up the Beaver Tailgate with Doug and others. Although we didn't have tickets for the game it was always good to see Shiloh and others at the tailgate and of course there would be a delicious BBQ meat of some type for us to eat! I'm writing this several months later so I can't remember if the Beavers lost or won that game..
Later that night Danielle and Scott threw a party for Jen's 30th birthday complete with cake and balloons. Pretty much all of our Corvallis friends showed up and Jen had a wonderful time. Colin of course brought over a bunch or marinated salmon that Tim had caught as well for some late night BBQ action as he is known for! Great party, and the video of BD dancing I got is simply priceless.
We hadn’t been to Goat Rocks in quite some time so Emily and I decided to grab McNeill and try a new way into the mountains to check out Conrad Basin and perhaps even run up Mount Curtis Gilbert, the highpoint, if we had time. We didn’t want to take too much time off of work with Africa coming up so it had to be a quick overnight. Well, what I had planned as an easy loop overnight turned into quite the journey… read on…
This Labor Day weekend Emily and I decided to head out to the Wallowas in Eastern Oregon. A year ago I had done an amazing loop hike with Anna and Nate but Emily couldn’t go because she couldn’t get the time off for that longer hike. This time we chose a shorter out and back hike up to Ice Lake and convinced Conrad and Jason W. to meet us up there. The trip turned out to be one of the most beautiful I’d been on in a long time and was a great introduction for Emily to the “Alps of Oregon”. Read on….
Lindsay got a job studying sea birds in Mexico on the Pacific Coast for a year so we drove down to Corvallis to say goodbye to her temporarily with a party at Scott and Danielle's. It was a great party and we also got to see Garrett and Cassie who were visiting with their new adorable son Felix. After Garrett's defense they had moved to Vermont to live. Cassie still works for QSI so she was in town for a work meeting. Great to see them, sad to say goodby to Lindsay, and great to totally beat the shit out of a piñata of Donald Trump that Scott made :)
This weekend Emily I decided to not lose any more time of the summer due to the lawsuit and decided to venture out of cell phone reach of the lawyers to do a hike around the north side of Mount Hood with Leo. We decided on an out and back from the Top Spur Trailhead to Elk Cove for the night. Read on...
With the lawsuit in full swing against us and a lot of stress in my life Emily and I decided we needed to get out of the house with Leo so we headed to the dog park at the Sandy River Delta to take Leo for a long walk. I had literally been living at home ready to answer any needs the lawyers had for a while and I needed to get out. We walked far out onto the delta and actually waded out through some shallow water to an island on the Columbia River. Leo of course had a great time and Emily was as supportive as ever for me. Both her and her parents realized what I couldn't at the time - the lawsuit was a bunch of horse shit and would eventually go away. The night before was a low point in my life but thankfully my friends and future co-workers were incredibly supportive of me and I felt better about things in the morning.
This week Kevin and Alexa made it back to Oregon for Kevin's PhD defense and everyone was super excited to see them and Ronan. When they got to Portland they stayed with us for a night before heading down to Corvallis. Their visit was right in the middle of the ugly QSI lawsuit against us which was super unfortunate but it didn't stop us from having a good time with them and our friends in Corvallis who still work for that horrid company. Read on
Today Emily and I decided to float the Sandy River from Oxbow Park to the Lewis and Clark State Park on the Columbia. I guess the entire 7.5 mile float would take about 5 hours and with us getting to Oxbow at 2pm I new it would be cutting it close to float the river and then drive back to Oxbow to pick up the other Prius by the 8:40 sunset gate closure. The water was super low and very slow. We barely felt like we were moving at all! It was a beautiful day though and we saw lots of wildlife including eagles, tons of ospreys fishing, a deer and plenty of ducks. 
When we passed Dabney Park at around 7 I new we still had about an hour and half left so I needed to speed things up. This involved me pushing Emily along on the inflatable mattress she was riding, running my feet along the river bottom to keep us moving in the slow current, as well as kicking and breast-stroke kicking us along the way. It was exhausting and I got very tired, and… very chaffed. When we got to the takeout it was 8:25pm and I sprinted to get the Prius and raced down the road to Oxbow Park. We got to the park at 8:50pm and thankfully, they let us in to get the car which also thankfully didn’t have a citation! I think next time we’ll plan a full 8 hour day for this float to play it safe!
My wonderful wife helped me pick up a new lens for me for my 36th birthday this past week. For all those photographers out there, it’s a 150-600mm lens. This full-frame lens on my ASP-C size sensor means an amazing 800mm zoom with my Nikon D7000 DSLR. To test it out we headed to find some birds on Sauvie Island. 
Despite a brief patch of hard rain we were able to find many test subjects and I had a great time testing it out. Not much to write about here so I’ll add just a couple good photos. For the rest check out my Facebook album. Thanks love, can’t wait to use this during our upcoming Africa Safari!
Today was our 2 year wedding anniversary. As usual we wanted to head out to Hood River to pick some berries and get some dinner but this year we invited Eric along. We chose not to tell him it was our special day because we knew he wouldn’t go! On the way we stopped to explore Oneonta Gorge as well. Read on…
Today Tom, Banjo, and Eric joined us for a hike up Hamilton Mountain. Tom had been on the hike before but not Eric so we thought it was a great place close by to check out and get some sunshine and exercise the dogs. Read on…
After an exhausting and hot hike up Elks and Kings Mountains in the Tillamook Forest of the Coast Range Emily and I were absolutely starving so we were super excited to get to Tillamook and find the Old Oregon Smokehouse along 101 just north of the city. We had a great dinner of clam chowder and an oyster po’boy sandwich. The owners even closed up and left for drinks while we were still there! From there it was an hour drive down the coast to our secret beach location where we would camp for the next two wonderful nights. Read on…
With Fourth of July weekend upon us and temperatures predicted to reach 100 degrees in Portland once again, we decided it was time to head to the coast with Leo to stay cool and enjoy the ocean breezes. We also wanted to get some exercise in so we planned a 10 mile loop hike over Elk Mountain and Kings Mountain in the Tillamook Forest of the Coast Range. It turned out nearly to be too much for poor Leo. Read on…
