Nordic Barbie!

Introducing... Nordic Barbie! Complete with skis, poles and mad skills.

Olympic gold medal, white Volvo and blond pigtails sold separately.

Lazy done up right

I really can't even remember how many plans we threw out for the weekend:

-- weekend in Seattle

-- weekend in San Francisco

-- skiing at Anthony Lakes

-- weekend skiing in Salt Lake City

-- weekend at the Oregon coast

-- camping/hiking in the Painted Hills

-- weekend skiing in Bend

ALL of these ideas were abandoned for various reasons-- too far to drive, too expensive, too far to drive-- but the main reason was that it was forecasted to rain all weekend, up and down the west coast. Rain in Portland, Seattle and San Fran and wintry mixes at the ski resorts. Ick.

So, we spent the 4-day weekend making "lazy" live up to her name. In between sleeping late, reading and lounging around, we did manage to watch a couple of movies, attend happy hour, have a sushi date night, finish up a long-over due sewing project and go cross-country skiing.

Hmmm, what to do next weekend...

Kristina and I posing outside of The Observatory in SE Portland.

B and I on the trails at Teacup XC skiing park.

Hey Nebraska, give us the snow back!

While it dumps, blows and blizzards snow on the Plains, we here in the Pacific Northwest are wondering what happened to winter. It started out great, but since then, zip, zero, nada. Sure, we're getting precipitation alright, just not enough of the white variety.

B and I headed for the ski slopes again today and were met with gray skies and crappy snow. So, what do you do when the slopes are chopped up and the out-of-bounds territory is an ice sheet? You jump stuff.

Well, I didn't say big stuff, just stuff. We spent a couple of hours in the parks today, basking in the 40 degree temps and the serious lack of anyone else on the mountain. Crappy snow aside, we had a pretty good time.

Resolution Solution

A new start. A fresh perspective, a fresh look. A new year, a new you. Blah, blah, blah.

I'm not good at New Year's Resolutions. It's not that I can't keep them, it's that I start to cheat right from the get-go: I set resolutions I know I will absolutely achieve without even trying.

Big, fat, cheaty mccheater.

So, this year, I have decided (very resolutely I might add) to actually set some goals that might actually be a challenge.

One of my 2010 goals is to spend more time in my kitchen. B usually does the cooking around our house and since he's rather exceptional at it, I really don't protest and let him take care of it. (I wash A LOT of dishes.) For some reason, I'm a little uptight in the kitchen. I get intimidated about trying new methods and if I don't have a recipe, I won't even attempt it. My goal this year will not only be to spend more time in the kitchen, but to spend more time experimenting in the kitchen. Finding what tastes will work well together, what ingredients can I substitute for other ingredients, finding a couple of recipes I can whip up from what we have in our pantry and mainly, trying to get B to say "wow, this is really good" when he takes a bite.

So to that end, 2010 is off to a great start! I'm proud to say that I've already made some resolute progress in this area. New Year's Eve? I made this. It was positively scrumptious. Tonight? I made this. But because I tried to combine it with another Asian inspired recipe, it was...meh. Guess that is two recipes down, only about a thousand to go.

Reflection

The year 2009 by the numbers:

Out of state trips taken: 6 (Denver, Kauai, Zion, Belle Plaine, Pullman, the Redwoods)

New states visited: 1 (California)

Days spent on skis: probably 25

Miles biked: around 350

Miles hiked: 50-ish

Days spent snorkeling: 3

Days spent rafting: 2

Nights spent in a tent: very surprising, only 3

Volcanoes circled by bike: 1 (Crater Lake)

Days spent at the coast: 10

Miles put on the Jeep: 28,372

Mountain summits reached: 1 (Mt.St. Helens)

Days spent together on an adventure, driving, flying, skiing, biking, hiking: 365

Rules of the Road

The rules Oregon drivers seem to follow during inclement weather:

1. If your car spins out and you can't go anywhere, DO NOT pull over to the side of the road. Just abandon your car in the middle of the freeway and walk to the nearest exit/bar.

2. If you get in a small fender-bender, DO NOT pull over to the side of the road. Simply stop in the lane, get out and inspect the damage with the other driver.

3. If you are lucky enough to have tire chains in your trunk and think you need to put them on because it has snowed approximately two inches, DO NOT pull over to the side of the road. Stop in the lane, get out and take the next 45 minutes to put on your chains.

4. If there is a sudden, glorious break in the traffic, DO NOT gradually accelerate so you can be ready to stop again. Speed up as fast as you can and then slam on your brakes to stop behind the other car in front of you. If need be, swerve to the side, spin out and then abandon your car.

Oh, I'm sorry, I might need to explain my tone: we had a surprise afternoon snowstorm on Tuesday. It took me almost 4 hours to cover my normal 40 minute commute. Arrgh.

Hoybook Holiday Tradition #2

Skiing with the Lodges on Christmas Eve.

Ahem, make that skiing with one Lodge on Christmas Eve. Julia is busy growing two babies so she stayed home from the hill this year. She still joined us for dinner though, so the tradition continues. However, apparently, the boys decided this would be the perfect opportunity to drag Gayle into Heather Canyon, double black diamond territory.

Well, as it turns out, diamonds really are a girl's best friend.

Wishing you all the merriest Christmas and the happiest New Year! May the snow gods bless a slope near you soon.

A note about confidence

I've been thinking a lot about the recent events on Mt. Hood. For the second time in three years, a trio of climbers has gone missing on the upper reaches of the mountain in cold December weather. Both trios started up in light and quick alpine styles on gorgeous sunny days with decent weather windows. Both groups didn't return. As with the well-publicized incident in 2006, rescuers were able to recover one body, but two remain missing. Early this week, weather moved in and now both remaining climbers are presumed dead. Both groups were experienced, had a decent amount of climbing under their belts-- one of the climbers in the most recent group had reached the Mt. Hood summit six other times.

So, why is this still on my mind? Well, for starters, I've been up there. Twice. Once when I was super naive as to what the mountain could do and then again with Scott when he made the summit in 2008. I think to myself, how can you get lost up there? The weather was gorgeous, what went wrong? How come I've been up and down safely without even a hint of impending danger?

I've decided that it all boils down to confidence. All of these climbers were experienced, confident in their skills. But something happened. Something happened to shake that confidence and that's all it took. One little thing goes wrong with the plan and things just start to pile up and bear down. I was thinking about confidence on Friday as B and I were headed up Mt. Hood on the Cascade lift at Meadows. We saw this in front of us:

And that's all it took. I was done, my confidence deflated. I had been skiing well all morning and as we picked our way down in the foggy soup, I got more nervous and scared with each turn. I couldn't see and didn't know where to carve, and if I had fallen on my way down, things would have piled up quickly and we would have had the longest ski run imaginable. But, I talked myself into it and we finished the day lower on the mountain.

I think that your confidence can be shaken at any moment. I've just been blessed and lucky enough to have those shaky moments lower and safer on the mountain. I pray for the families who lost loved ones on the mountain last week. May they feel comfort in knowing they were doing what they loved and out there living it!

Portland Holiday Tradition #2

Tuba Christmas, Pioneer Square, downtown Portland.

Nothing says Christmas like 200 tubas playing carols in the middle of downtown Portland. It was delightful. Absolutely, delightful.

Hoybook Holiday Tradition #1

Cutting down our own Christmas tree.

It's just not Christmastime without tromping out to the countryside to cut down our own Christmas tree. Oh, and then having it up in the living room for five days before I decorate it. Whoops.

Fresh Tracks

Finally! B and I got out on the ski slopes for the first time yesterday. It seems we've been really busy so far this winter and couldn't find a day off to go skiing together. We finally made it happen yesterday and headed up to Meadows on what was easily the coldest day so far this year. We had checked the weather on Tuesday night, saw the predicted -7 wind chill and called Geoff to say we were sleeping in instead. But, he called bright and early and talked us into it. That guy is always making us do ridiculous things.

I'm not going to lie, it was COLD. Living in the Northwest, I've skied in all kinds of weather-- sleet, rain, heavy snow, snow squalls, snow showers, drizzle, sun, etc. However, this was the first time I've spent the day on the slopes in my down jacket with every inch of my skin covered.

Even though it was freezing and the snow wasn't stellar, we had a great day. We literally had the place to ourselves and really, it's not often that we get to ski in sun on Mt. Hood in December. It's going to be a great season.

You may have noticed the curious absence of Julia on this ski trip. Usually, where there is a Bryan, there is a Gayle. Where there is a Geoff, there is a Julia. Well, Julia has been working on a fresh new project of her own and we are so excited. Click here for the juicy details.

Portland Holiday Tradition #1

The Holiday Ale Festival

Gather your friends and join us downtown under a heated tent for a few tasters of some extremely strong, Oregon micro-brewed, Holiday beers.  It's just not Christmastime without getting a little tipsy off a beer called the "Tannen Bomb."

Adventure Family

I've lived in Oregon for a little over six years and in that time, my parents have visited four times. While this is fantastic and we love to see them, when they announced they were coming for Thanksgiving, I got a little nervous. See, B and I are running out of things to do with them. They have visited the Japanese Garden, Powell's, Hood River, Timberline Lodge, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Hood, Smith Rock, the Capitol building in Salem, the Canby dahlia fields, Cannon Beach, Astoria, Newport, the Newport Aquarium, Multnomah Falls and the Gorge. How were we going to entertain them this time?

Simple. Drive six hours south.

My dad actually suggested the trip during one of our phone calls: "How far away are the Redwoods?" "Well, only about six hours, do you want to go?" "Yeah, let's do it."

So, they flew in on Sunday night and Monday morning, we took off for Crescent City.

Redwood National Park surrounds Crescent City in the northwest corner of California. Redwood trees used to cover much of northern California and southern Oregon, but these were saved from being logged in the early 1920's and thank goodness. They are amazing sights to see.

I got us rooms at the uber-retro Curly Redwood Lodge, built from one single curly Redwood tree, and the woman at the front desk was nice enough to point us toward one of the best sights: the area where they filmed "Return of the Jedi." We got up early on Tuesday morning and took off for a day of photos and highway pullouts.

We finished the day at Patrick's Point State Park, where we hunted for agates on the beach and did a little whale watching.

Wednesday was the drive home and we decided to head up Highway 101 on the Oregon coast. We made stops at Cape Blanco, the western-most point of the 48 states, the Oregon Sand Dunes and Cape Perpetua for the sunset.

After spending almost twelve hours on the road on Wednesday, we didn't want to go anywhere on Thursday, so what luck! Thursday was Thanksgiving. Nothing to do but eat and watch sports. Which we did. A lot.

So, now, my parents have officially seen everything Oregon has to offer. Well, except for the John Day Fossil Beds, the Wallowas, Crater Lake, the Three Sisters, the Steens, the Alvord Desert, the Willamette Valley wine country, the Pacific City dune and Mt. Bachelor. Guess we have to live here just a bit longer.

Precipitation 101

In Alaska, the Eskimos have 300 words for snow.  In Hawaii, they have just as many words for waves.  Here in Oregon, I feel like we have about that many words to describe precipitation.  

Here is a quick primer:

drizzle:  that annoying constant mist.  no need for a rain coat.

showers:  actual decent size water drops, occasionally falling through the day.  still no need for a rain coat.

rain:  constant rain throughout the day.  waterproof jacket needed.

heavy rain:  rain you can actually hear on the roof.  break Oregon code and bring an umbrella.

showers and sun breaks:  see showers above, but add in moments of sun in between the showers.  give up on the jacket halfway through the day.

freezing rain:  ice on EVERYTHING and the city will refuse to salt the roads and just wait for it to melt.

fog: when you can see about 40 feet in front of you.

freezing fog:  a weather phenomenon that causes slick roads.  for real, this happens.

the marine layer:  a layer of fog that comes in along the river from the coast.  this won't lift until around 2pm and it will feel like you've been in a bowl of soup all morning.

snow:  white rain.

snow showers:  occasional white rain.

heavy snow:  what closes the freeway in the mountain passes.

snow squalls:  sudden bursts of windy snow followed by blue skies.

wintry mix:  white rain mixed with normal rain.  this causes the schools to close.

Pineapple Express:  the remnants of typhoons in the Pacific ocean.  warm, warm rain that melts the snow.  i.e. a skier's nightmare.

Not a complete loss

We did see this on our central Oregon tour. Not too shabby.

The Hoybook Alpine Start

In the mountaineering world, you have to get up super early (like in the middle of the night early) to start climbing. It's called "getting an alpine start" and it involves rolling out of your tent anywhere between 12am-ish and 4am-ish (give or take a couple of hours), shivering into your gore-tex and scarfing down a power bar for breakfast. Usually, it means you get to climb on solid snow the whole time and the trip is much safer, not to mention enjoyable. So, in theory, it would make sense that this tactic should be applied to all trips and adventures.

Well, apparently, we have decided to adopt the Hoybook Alpine Start. This does not involve rolling out of the tent between the hours of 12 and 4am. In fact, it involves rolling out of a nice warm bed around 9:15am, making waffles, surfing the web, taking a shower and then heading out the door around 11:30am. Hmmm, I detect a discrepancy.

The original adventure plan for today included a stop at the John Day Fossil Beds, Painted Hills Unit in central Oregon. Are you aware of how far it is from Portland? Well, it's so far away that you'll get about 75 miles away and then realize you are quickly running out of daylight so you'll just say "screw it" and watch the sun set over the Cascades before you finish the day with Mexican food in Madras. Then you'll say "screw it" again and just drive home.

The H.A.S. gets us every time.

De-bunking theories

So far this year, the Huskers had only lost two games-- Virginia Tech and Texas Tech. Coincidentally, the only two games I've been able to watch. So, naturally, I thought it was me.

Well, Saturday didn't go so well and I had to work so I didn't see the game. Nebraska 7. Iowa State 9. Ouch. But, on the bright side, it's not me right?

Oregoniversary

Last Wednesday was the six year anniversary of the day I first set foot in Portland. Kristina and I celebrated with Thai cuisine at Pok Pok, which got me thinking....

Before I moved here, I had never eaten Thai food before. As a matter of fact, there are a lot of things I didn't do before I moved here. Like climb mountains and kayak rivers and grow my own garden and ride my bike to work and drink chai tea and ski black diamonds and eat brussels sprouts and actually like them. When I look back at the past six years, it is easy to reflect on the big, wonderful things that have happened to me. Like all of my new Oregon friends and my great job and of-course, Bryan. But, it's the little things that matter and make a place a home and I now feel like that's what Oregon is. Home.

Happy 6 years Kristina! This whole moving to Oregon thing? Totally your idea.

Let loose on the Palouse

Palouse. n. pl. Palouse or Pa·louses

1. A Sahaptin-speaking Native American people formerly inhabiting an area of southeast Washington and northwest Idaho, with present-day descendants in northeast Washington.

2. A major wheat producing agricultural region of the Northwestern United States.

Top 10 Best Things about our weekend on the Palouse

1. The temperature reading on the thermometer on Saturday morning: 12 degrees!

2. The Moscow Farmer's market. Bin after bin of apples and potatoes and boxes of every variety of pepper you can think of.

3. The smell of our peppers roasting for free at the market.

4. Hearing Grandpa say, "Now tell me, what is this tweeter thing?"

5. Hiking Kamiak Butte with our personal P-town tour guide, Claire-- felt like we could see the entire palouse.

6. Video-chatting with Craig and Bridget.

7. Dinner on Saturday night-- good food, even better company.

8. Playing Cantelope the way it deserves to be played: uber fast and competitive.

9. The beautiful curve of the golden wheat fields. Strange but interesting lack of trees.

10. Listening to my grandparents tell story after story and soaking it all in, trying to remember every detail.

A small dose of crack

Every once in awhile, the vendors that supply REI with goods like to kiss up. They want to show off the new stuff they have coming out so we are more inclined to sell said stuff to our customers. Usually, they like to schedule a time to come in, bring the staff donuts and coffee and sit down to discuss their new wares. Sometimes though, they set up demo days and let the staff come out and actually use the products. One such day was just this past week and Marmot was our host.

I wasn't planning on going, but realized I had Friday off so I said "what the heck" and talked B into it. "You could take photos of something..." really was all it took and he was game. So, after rolling out of bed just a bit late, we headed east, bound for Trout Creek, a climbing area in central Oregon.

With directions that included the phrases "if you've hit the railroad tracks, you've missed the turn" and "go under the trestle, then through the tunnel" and "the road dead ends at the river", Trout Creek is a haul and a half to get to. We rolled in right around noon and started looking for the climbing. And really, all we saw was the Deschutes river. Hmmmm. Lucky for us, two fellow REI employees came walking into the campground.

"Hey," I said, "how do we get to the climbing area?"

"Oh," they replied, "it's up there. It will probably take you about an hour to hike in. Have fun!"

"Up there" meant the columnar basalt at the top of this hill:

Yikes.

After a mile down a gravel access road, we stumbled upon the trail up to the climbing. Yes, that's right, I said up. Trails made by climbers tend to be very... direct. One thing I have learned about climbers is that they don't like to waste time, they just get there. However, the real treat was at the top, where we climbed over, around and through a boulder field to get to the wall.

That's when I realized that all the climbing to be had here was crack climbing. Ugh. I really don't like crack climbing. You have to cram your hands, elbows, shoulders, knees, feet into anything that will hold you and sort of boost yourself up the wall. It hurts and it's super tiring. And, after the boulder field, I was done. So, no climbing for me.

But, the view was spectacular and B had a great time shooting landscapes and some of the climbers. That's Tommy Caldwell up on the wall. He's pretty much the Kobe Bryant of rock climbing. He's good, real good.

When it comes down to it, technically, we drove four hours round trip to hike to the top of a rock outcropping and sit around for two hours. Aren't demo days the best?