Spring Has Arrived in OR!

(It's official!  Julie's Graduate Degree displayed prominently in our apartment with her puppets.)

Not a lot to say in this post.  I'll let the photos do most of the work.  Been working hard at Next and trying to get out and play hard on my few days off.  Julie had a great trip to Cali to visit some friends and is now back with her family in MD.  Her sisters wedding is two weeks away and her parents are really enjoying her being home.  She is going to stay in MD for the summer and teach windsurfing at Ultimate Watersports.

(Seagulls surfing the swell just north of Seaside on the OR coast.)

(It was fun driving right out onto the beach for miles and miles.)

(We rigged up right next to the car and a few feet from the water.)

(My new kite friend Dan enjoying the 25+ mph breeze on a 9m kite.  I had my hands full on my 12m kite!)

(Dan giving land boarding a try.)

(Dan again using a Mountain Board and his 7m kite to go quite fast!)

(Me giving the land boarding thing a try.)

(It was fun, but really easy to crash as well.  I think I'll stick to the water sports.)

(Took a really cool new demo kayak out for a spin as well.  Very fun boat in the surf!)

(Got a run on the Sandy River Gorge with Brian.  Check out his blog about this trip and the MANY photos he took of me.)

(The amazing places you can only get by kayak amaze me everyday.)

(Brian posing for a photo with a small waterfall falling into the gorge.)

(Brian charging the lip of a small boof.)

(One of the many "easy" but consequential rapids in the Sandy River Gorge.)

(Brian in the final rapid of the run.)

(Tony Zanetti having fun during the impromptu rodeo that I organized at Bob's Hole during the Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival this past weekend.)

(Luke dropping in on the ramp during competition.  This is the ramp that broke my back last year.  This year I was the head judge, and the ramp was smaller with less of a kicker at the bottom.)

(The ramp gave up plenty of air!)

(Me getting to give out sweet prizes for the winners of the kayak events.)

(Giving Luke a handshake instead of a prize, even though he did quite well in almost all the competitions.)

(Next sponsors a huge free BBQ at the festival and this year was no exception.)

(Deek, my boss, and his son, Carver, enjoying the BBQ.)