BD & Carrie's Wedding

This weekend Emily and I drove out to BD and Carrie’s wedding reception at Silver Falls.  They had a very small ceremony of just family and super close friends but opened up the campground to all their friends for a night of drinking, music, dancing, and camping overnight.  Emily and I always enjoy it when we have the occasion to spend time with all our Corvallis friends in one place.  The only Portland people that were at the reception were Ryan and Tim who have been long time friends with Brian.  

We spent the afternoon drinking great beer, playing washers that Colin had made for the new married couple and a very cool “big-sized” game involving pulling sticks out of a basket while trying not to let the balls above them fall down - no idea the name of it.  BD and Carrie had hired “Wild Hogs in the Woods” to play and they were amazing.  No surprise that Jen had a little too much to drink and passed out behind some bushes, and no surprise that after the band ended the party continued around a camp fire down by the stream late into the night.  Everyone seemed to have a great time and the food was amazing.  On Sunday Em and I left a little early to go spend the afternoon with Chris and Paris as it would be the last time we might see them in Corvallis with them moving to Moscow, ID.

Grand Ronde River Trip

This Memorial Day Emily, Leo and I went on a great Grand Ronde River rafting trip with Jason and his dog Arby, Adam, Slaughter, Josh, Alina and their dog Baya.  This was a 45 mile river trip from Minam, OR to Troy, OR that we would take 4 leisurely days to raft.  We had three boats, Josh & Alina with Baya and Jason and Arby on an oar boat and Emily, Brian and I on a rental boat from PSU.  Despite a little rain at the start we had a great trip.  Read on…

Saddle Mountain

It had come time for Emily and I to take a break for ourselves and do a hike that my mom couldn’t manage with us.  Emily came home early in the morning from Carrie’s bachelorette party at the Edgefield McMenamins and we packed up Leo and headed out to the Coast Range to climb Saddle Mountain again.  The first time we did it was a few years ago in the clouds with Jason, Jenn, Scott and Daniel so we were excited to see the views on a nice crisp, clear day.  Read on…

Wahclella Falls

Today Emily and I took my mom and Leo out to the Gorge for a hike up Wahclella Falls.  The whole hike is just over 2 miles round trip with less than 400 feet of gain so we thought it would be a good first step for my mom.  read on…

Advanced Inpho Training and Visiting Family

This week I headed to the Trimble office in Westminster, CO for an Advanced Inpho Training course.  At QSI I was recently promoted to lead up the Advanced Imaging Team in the Portland office and I felt it would serve the team well if I were to get some more advanced training in the software that we use to process the imagery.  There’s not much to say about the training except that I ate well, actually was able to feel snow fall on me this winter, and got to spend the weekend after hanging out with my totally awesome aunt and uncle Roger and Catherine and my cousins Cherie, Adam and Asia.  Always a fun time catching up with them!  Oh… and I got to see some bunny rabbits around the pretty cool hotel I stayed at - Drury Inn, which provided two drinks tickets for me each night of my stay.

Sauvie Island

Today Emily and I drove out to Sauvie Island to check it out.  This is an island created by the split of the Willamette River into the Multnomah Channel and it’s entrance into the Columbia River.  It’s small at about 26,000 acres and has only about 1200 residents but it is less than 10 miles from our house.  We had heard that the island contains a lot of wildlife, especially birds, so we decided to drive out in the winter when the leaves aren’t on the trees to obstruct our views.  Read on…

ASPRS Columbia Chapter Meeting

Emily and I went to the Annual Columbia Chapter of ASPRS meeting at the Bridgeport Brewery.   It was the first meeting I’ve attended and I thought it might be dry and just a bunch of industry talk but instead it was really great.  There were general announcements of office position changes but then we had an amazing presentation by a master brewer about the history of beer styles.  We got to sample some amazing beers and also get a walk-through of the entire brewery.  

Emily and I were able to meet a bunch of people in the remote sensing industry and had a great meal as well.  I definitely plan on getting more involved in the chapter going forward, especially since one of their main focuses will be the emerging drone acquisition market.  

Skinning up the Palmer with Leo

Chris Holm had come up the night before to hang out with us and catch up.  We were all excited about doing a bit of skiing on Sunday and were planning on heading to Cooper Spur to skin up and ski some of the Eliot glacier on the North side of the mountain where we figured there might be some snow.  Read on…

4T Trail without the Tram

I had encouraged Emily throughout the week to plan something for the weekend.  She came up with us trying out the 4T trail in Portland.  Working downtown I see a lot of the city but with her out at Clatskanie she doesn’t get to explore the city much so we thought it would be a fun day.  Unfortunately, because the loop requires riding a Train, Trolley, Tram, Leo couldn’t join us, although we saw a lot of dogs on the Trail portion of the 4T.  Read on…

Smith Rock and Biking in Bend

This weekend was supposed to be our Annual Maiden Hut backcountry ski weekend but with this winter being one of the worst snow seasons in Oregon’s history it wasn’t possible.  In fact we could have hiked in to the hut but where’s the fun in that?  So far this year Ski Bowl only opened for about a week and Willamette Pass and Hoodoo haven’t opened (they would never open this season - I wrote this in July :).  So yeah, I had pretty much written off any snow activity for the year.  Read on….

Syncline - Up Maui to Hidden Valley Down - Mountain Biking the Gorge

This Sunday Conrad joined Emily and I with his new mountain bike for our first venture to the Syncline Trail system around Coyote Wall on the Washington side of the Gorge.  This area is incredibly beautiful and popular with hikers but we didn't know until recently that it was also an amazing biking area just east of the Cascade Crest that usually gets decent weather while its pouring in Portland.  Read on...

Herman Creek on a Rainy Day

 After taking a the first weekend of the year to catch up on "life things" around the house we decided to get away this weekend for something.  The original plan had been to head to Bend to visit Aaron Hartz but unfortunately that got cancelled and the weather didn't appear to pleasant for skiing anyway.  Instead, we headed off into the Gorge on a rainy Sunday to check out the Herman Creek to Casey Creek trail.  Read on...

New Years Eve 2014

Danielle, Scott, Tim, Lindsay and Colin drove up from Corvallis to join us for New Years in Portland.  I was a bit burnt out from 3 days of work straight off a late flight home on Sunday so I wasn't too pumped up to organize anything for anyone.  We started the night off with pizza and a bunch of shots and then headed to Alberta Street Pub with Tim behind the wheel (sober).  Unfortunately, Tim, not being used to medians all over Portland drove the Prius over a huge curb, blowing the front tire.  He felt pretty bad about it but it gave Emily and I a good excuse to put her winter studded tires on later that weekend.  Read on...

Christmas 2014

I'll be honest, I was not looking forward to going to Upstate NY for Christmas.  I had promised my mom to help her downsize her home but I was not prepared for what I encountered.  I'm not going to write a lot about it except that her house is now 6,000 pounds lighter of what my mom's therapist and I call "static" and it is now ready for contractors to work on.   Read on...

Certifications

This year was a big year for me at my job.  2014 was pretty much dedicated to boosting my career and position at Quantum Spatial.  From the start of the year I took on massive projects, the size of which our group hadn't seen before.  I worked long hours over the spring after our honeymoon, often staying till 8pm and during a few crunch weeks as late as 11pm for multiple nights.  I remoted in almost daily to keep processes running and often worked from home over the weekends.  By working in this manner I was able to save the company nearly $500,000 in budget savings.   Read on...

Thanksgiving 2014

This year Emily and I joined Scott and Danielle for Thanksgiving in the San Juan Islands of Washington.  We stayed in a wonderful rental home on Lummi Island and enjoyed wonderful food, eagle and owl sightings, and great company for 5 days.  Read on to find out more...

SCUBA Diving, Mushrooms, Clams and Coastal Good Times

This weekend Emily and I spent a terrific weekend on the coast with Holm, Paris, and some friends from work including Drew, Lennie, and even Chris Miwa along with a bunch of others.  We were invited along the weekend before by Chris and Paris.  We stayed with James Lawonn at his place in Netards.  James took over Lindsay Marcella's job on the coast when she left and we had met him before at an Easter Party at their place earlier in the year.  I definitely recognized him as soon as we saw him.  We spent the weekend SCUBA diving, raking clams, mushroom picking and clamming and feasted on all that we successfully hunted and gathered.  Read on for more photos.

Halloween 2014

I’ve been so burnt out at work with a big project that I wasn’t too stoked to worry about dressing up for Halloween.  Thankfully, my terrific wife helped me out by picking out a costume for me, well, mostly just a wig as I used my own beard to make a mustache.  I didn’t dress up for work this year but when we got home I did get dressed up Scott’s Party in Corvallis that we drove down for.  Emily fashioned herself into a terrific scarecrow while I did my best Ron Swanson Impression.  Read on...

Ellie's 8th Birthday

I just had a wonderful weekend with my daughter for her 8th birthday.  Last year I made a promise to her that I would visit her on her birthday each year.  Finally, without graduate school and with a steady job and can now afford the trips and get her a nice present each year.  She really is growing up fast!  Let’s see, highlights… she can cartwheel with the best of them, she is getting pretty good at violin, and she’s quite the climber and gymnast!

Larch Mountain

Today Emily and I took Leo out to Larch Mountain for an afternoon hike.  It’s not too far from Portland and we hadn’t been up it before.  We started our hike at the base of the mountain to create a loop up and around the crater of the ancient volcano.  For the most part it was pretty uninteresting until we got to the top.  We did get to see a lot of mushrooms and it seemed like everyone around us was walking out with bags of Chanterelles but of course we didn’t have any luck finding any!  

Cape Horn

Today Emily and I headed out to Cape Horn on the Washington side of the Columbia River.  This area is closed in the spring due to Falcons nesting along the cliffs so for a beautiful fall day it was the perfect hike nearby for us to check out.  We got there early afternoon and it turned out to be a pretty hot day for October.  Read on...

Base Camp Brewing Octoberfest

Today, Arley, Katie and Ryan invited Emily and I out to the Base Camp Brewing Octoberfest.  We had expected Nicole and Jesse James to come up for an afternoon hike and stay over with us but although she said she’d be here by noon we hadn’t heard a word from her.  We waited until 2pm and then decided to just go to the Briefest and meet up with her later if they actually came up.  Read on...

Sushi and Godzilla

Tonight Emily and I had our 2nd movie night in Portland.  Our first movie night was a week ago where we ordered pizza and watched Old School which Arley hadn't seen before.  This week we  invited Conrad, Ryan, Arley, Katie, and Anna over to roll some Sushi and watch the new Godzilla movie.  Ryan of course brought his amazing cooking skills and helped teach the half of us who had never done it before how to do it.  Emily and I had done it with Jason and Jen before but I think Ryan knew how to cook the rice better this time.  We made a bunch of rolls and ended up having too much to eat.  

Godzilla was of course amazing despite Ryan falling into a food coma during the 2nd half of it.  Not sure how many movie nights we will have as we all have busy lives but this one was certainly a success.  Plus, its just so damn fun making sushi!

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.

Deschutes River 2014

Once again this year Emily and I joined Nicole and Cody on the annual Deschutes River Rafting trip!  This year Martin and Shannon, Ian and Colleen, and Sarah and Adam joined us as well making it officially a couples trip this time!  After some debate we decided to leave early on Saturday morning to make it to the Warm Springs put in by 11am on Saturday.  Read on for more photos and details.

Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS

Just a quick post to say that Emily accepted an ice bucket challenge from her friends.  This has become super popular lately on the interwebs.  You either have to donate $100 to a charity for ALS or dump a bucket on your head, learn about the disease and challenge your friends as well.  I think it is a worthy cause but I fear that too many people just take it as a silly social experiment and dare rather than actually donate money to the cause... But, in any case Emily accepted the challenge and took a bucket of ice water over her head with Leo and I watching!  She challenged me, but I never did end up taking a bucket myself.  I do still need to donate some money though!

Quantum Acquisition Flight

On Sunday I finally, after 6 years, got to go up for an acquisition flight in one of our company's Cessna Caravan's with our UltraCam Eagle camera.  We were acquiring 3 inch resolution imagery for the entire Portland Metro area and I will be the project lead for the data when it is all acquired.  That, and the fact that it is now the city we live in and our house will be imaged with both LiDAR and hi-res photos, made this flight even more special.