Sunday, March 29, 2009

My Next Adventure

Life is crazy sometimes.  Rite now I'm in the middle of working 12+ hr days; working some big events at Next Adventure, merchandising for Skagen, and moving into a new apartment.

Julie was in town last week for a few days looking at apartment with me.  We ended up with a 750 sq. ft. apt. in a four-plex built in 1929 very close in to the city.  The exterior is all new and looks nice, but the interior is showing its age.  The hardwood floors are nice and the layout isn't bad.  I'll let Julie complain about the kitchen later:)  There is a large storage unit in the basement and we have a garage!!!  I'm very excited to have a place to put all my toys, otherwise we would have to live with 7+ kayaks in our living room:)

So obviously the big move is the big news.  Julie is still working on her plans in Portland, but she knows she has some time to find something that she will enjoy and my full support to do so.  I'm taking the red eye on the 8th back to Baltimore in order to spend a few days with the family and friends before driving cross country with our things on the 13th.  Big adventures lie ahead.  Please stay in touch.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Big Travel Weekends

(My empty car basking in the sun along the North shoreline of Lake Tahoe.)
(The shaka even works with gloves on!)

The past two weekends have been nuts.  I've been putting in lots of hours at Next Adventure during the week and "working" hard on the weekends as well.  I drove overnight on Thur. the 5th after work to get down to Alpine Meadows for a half day of snowboarding in the deep powder.  They got something like 74 inches of snow over that week!  On Saturday I met up with Stephen Wright and a big crew of boaters from Reno to paddle the S. Fork of the Yuba, 49 to Bridgeport section.  It turned out to be an amazing 57 degree sunny day in Cali.  It was a great group, over 11 guys, and about 7.5 miles of quality class 4-5 whitewater.  After paddling I attended to the purpose of my big Cali drive and picked up 11 Fluid kayaks from a shop that had not paid for the boats in almost 2yrs.  It was a long trip home with the car loaded down!
(Ready to drop into some steep stuff on the fringes of the resorts boundaries.)
(Who knew that a Volvo wagon could hold 11 WW kayaks!  The cars computer did not like all that extra weight and air resistance.  I had the car set on cruise control at 55 all the way home, some 500+ miles!!!)

This past weekend I went on a work trip to Canoecopia in Madison, WI.  It is a "tradesumer" show that sets a good barometer for the year ahead in the paddlesports industry.  It was good to get to know my coworkers outside of the shop and Madison had some great food and beer!

Julie turned the big 29 on Monday the 9th.  She got to spent that weekend in Colorado skiing with some of her old HI friends.  The snow was good, but she ended up fighting a cold for the whole trip.  She is wrapping up work and HI fun and scheduled to be in PDX for a few days next week, and then a few weeks back in MD.  I also just bought my ticket to get back to MD on the 10th so that we can drive our stuff out to Oregon starting Monday April 13th.  I'm looking forward to time with Julie and the opportunity to build a life together in Oregon.  I'm also looking forward to catching up with Family and friends for a few days in MD around Easter.  

Gotta run, still working hard to find a place for Julie and I to live, as I need to move out of my current place by April 1st.

-A big thanks to Erin Higgins for the great snow photos.-

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

More Next

I've been settling into work for the past few weeks and trying to shake this lingering cold.  I haven't run at all and haven't been out kayaking.  I did get two days in the snow, and this last Wednesday I got to ride my powder board in over 34" of fresh snow.  It was wet and heavy, but it was still fresh snow:)  I've done a little side work for Skagen and will not be working for Google any more.  I'm working hard to figure out the logistics for Julie and my move to Portland.  The priority right now is finding us a place to live out here, as I have to be out of my apartment by the end of the month.  I've got a full schedule of weekend work events and work until Easter time when I head back east to catch up with family, pack my things, and drive Julie and I back out to Portland.  Please stay well and stay in touch.  Peace.....