Work, Work, Surf, Work, Sick, Work, Run, Work, Sick...

There are no excuses for not keeping this up.  Life just seems to get in the way of documenting life.  A Skook video will happen, it just hasn't happened yet.  The big news is that the paddlesports dept, my dept, at Next Adventure has now moved into a separate building and will be run a bit more like a full service kayak specialty shop now, instead of a dept. within an outdoor store.  Between the new shop location, preseason order writing, events, and our big biannual sale I've been in the shop over 60 hrs. every week.  It is an exciting time, but there is a lot to get done and little time to do it.  The last few weeks I've been a bit of a mess as well with one of these flu viruses getting me quite good.  Today is actually day 5 of basically not leaving the apartment.  I'm feeling a touch better and will try to get a few hours in at work this afternoon.  Between work and being sick I haven't had much time to work out or recreate too much.  I've been to the coast a few times surf kayaking, which I'm really getting into, and I ran the Portland Marathon on Oct. 4th.  I managed a 3:50:05, a PR, while being sick.  Julie has also been crazy busy with grad school.  Between her classes and her student teaching she is busy most of the day and then she gets home and starts writing papers and lesson plans into the wee hours of the night.  She actually stays up as late as I do:)  She really enjoys school most days, but the piles of work get old fast and "busy" work is never fun, but always seems to be part of school.

(Next booth at the PDX Dragon Boat Races.)

(Julie's team doing quite well at the PDX race.)

(I taught Ross Island Kayak Tours every Sunday all summer and always seemed to have great students and amazing weather.  This was the last class of the summer with another perfect day.)

(This is a photo of my largest Skagen account at Washington Square Mall.  I've done merchandising for Skagen in HI and OR now and this month put in my resignation.  I just ran out of hours in the day to have a second job right now.)

(This is Cape Kiwanda in Pacific City, OR.  I had a fun little kayak surf session here and will be back sometime for sure.)

(This is the front of the new Next Adventure Paddlesports Center, during our big sale.)

(This is the inside of the shop during the sale, after having the building for only about 5 days!!!)

(We closed down a street outside the shop for our big sale and to help benefit the Surfrider Foundation and Portland Mountain Rescue.)

(I call this shot the "Tools of the Trade".  This is Indian Beach and my normal kayak surf beach.  This day was 9.5ft at 11 sec.)

(This shot gives you some perspective.  That paddler is Joe in a Fluid Element on the inside, smaller, break.  We both surfed the outside break for over an hour with some amazing rides.)

(Indian Beach, looking south, showing a serene this place is even with huge surf.)

(This shot is by: byronwillphotography.com, a photographer that just happened to be out shooting the day I went sea kayak cave hopping with my boss, Deek, and a few amazing local sea kayakers. It was truly an amazing day out on the water and a very cool way to experience the Oregon coast.) 

Hopefully work will settle down for both Julie and I and we will get out and enjoy all that Oregon has to offer.  Ski season is upon us and I'm excited for the snow.  The rain has started to fall as well and the rivers and creeks will be back to paddleable levels soon.

Big (Very Late) Post

I know this post is very late and that a lot has happened since the last entry.  Life has been busy with trips, guests, and the busy time of year at work.  There are big things happening, all good, at Next Adventure and I'm working hard to grow the paddlesports dept. and try to have a good time along the way:)  At the end of July I spent a week in Salt Lake City at the Outdoor Retailer show as a buyer for Next.  I've now been to the show as a prospective distributor, distributor, job seeker, and now a buyer.  A total of 6 shows in 7 years.  The other big trip was a long weekend up in BC with Joe and Julie surfing the famous Skookumchuck Tidal Rapids.  It was a great trip and Joe and I had the wave to ourselves for two days.  I'll let the photos below do the talking about this trip:)  Julie and I have also had a lot of guests in town lately.  First Bobby "The Dogg" Miller came through town, an old paddling friend of mine and a member of the Fluid kayak team.  Then Justin and Sarah came threw for a few nights.  We even had a really fun kite/windsurf session in the Gorge with Justin, Julie, and myself.  Julie flew into Monterey, CA and drove up the coast with her friend Liz, from HI, for the past week.  I got Liz out rock climbing for her first time last night, as Julie was off to the Seattle Dragon Boat races.  Today her team qualified for worlds in Macau in 2010!  Life is busy and Julie and I are both working on our goals in life right now.  Julie is working hard to get her masters in teaching and I'm working hard to find my place in this world and get in shape.  My birthday gift to myself was a road bike.  I got a crazy deal on Ebay on a bike that is way nicer than I need, but really nice to have:)  I've just gotten it all set up and I'm already racking up the mileage and thinking about some endurance cycling events in the near future.

(I still teach a basic intro to kayaking class/tour almost every Sunday.  It is really great getting people out on the water and stoked about kayaking.  I do miss my whitewater teaching days.)

(Myself, Josh (the Confluence Rep.), and Deek (Next Adventure Owner/my boss), in the Confluence Watersports booth at OR.  It was a good show this year with lots of good buys.  Attendance was down, but the people that were there were doing business.)

(Ethan and the new Stohlquist rescue PFD.  I will have one shortly.  Riot also showed up with the new Ninja Surf kayak, another toy that I will have as soon as it is in production.)

(This shot of Mt. Hood was taken with a GoPro Wide Helmet Camera out the window of the plane on the return trip from Salt Lake City.  The skies where so clear you could see everything, including the forest fires in Eastern OR.)

(Bobby "The Dogg" Miller came out for a visit and had an action packed week kayaking and mountain biking.  I caught up with him for a run on the Truss and had a great time E.L.F. (extremely low flow) boating with the Dogg as usual.  Bobby styled the whole run, except Big Brother as seen in this shot.  Two runs and two times upside down in the cave at the bottom.  This is the first time I ever walked Big Brother, after running it more than 20 times, as my back was sore and the water was LOW.)

(Julie with her tutering student.  She is now done with her first semester of grad school and got straight A's!!!  She'll be back in school and starting student teaching in a week.)

(The middle of nowhere tiny little town, no gas station or traffic light, where you access the famous Skookumchuck Tidal Rapids.)

(Julie looking cute as usual.)

(Julie and I hangin' out while Joe surfs the wave as it builds.)

(Julie paddling one of my boats into the wave for me and enjoying all the tidal animals along the way.)

(Julie got these great shots while checking out all the tide pools around the rapids.)

(Julie enjoying a morning tea at the Back Eddy Marina where we camped.  Joe and I hiking into the wave totally loaded down with camera gear.  We left our boats in the woods near the wave each day.)

(Joe surfing the wave in his glass surf boat as the wave begins to form.  He stayed on the wave for about 45 minutes!)

(Joe and I had a blast tandem surfing as often as the wave would allow.)

(Joe filming with his Go Pro Helmet camera while I see how much water I can spray at the camera.)

(Joe got some silly air.  He even almost stuck a few clean initiated C-1 Helix.)

(Joe throwing the almost clean, just a fist, C-1 left air blunt.)

(Joe was carving so hard in his Mega Maurader!)

(Setting up for a big blunt in the Element.  This boat actually releases well for big blunts.)

(I did spend a little time in my Nemesis throwing some nasty air.  I prefer the long carvy rides in the Element all day long though.)

(With the tide racing at over 13 knots it was easy to launch huge ollies down the wave face, even in the Element.)

(Carving in a surf kayak on a fast steep wave is SO much fun!!!)

(Joe taking the "Tour" in the huge waves and whirlpools in the runout of the main surf wave.  I worked hard all weekend and never made the tour, voluntarily or otherwise.)

All photos taken by Julie and myself.  A sweet video from Skook is coming soon.  Stay well and please do keep in touch.  Peace........

Recovery, Family, & Challenges

(Debbie, Ray, and Julie enjoying a day in the Columbia River Gorge.)

I have to apologize again for not writing more often. Life has just been really busy lately. The big news is that about a month after breaking my back the doctor has released me to resume life as usual. I should have no long term damage and the bones have healed way better than expected actually. Julie's parents came for a week long visit and we showed them all over Northern Oregon. They got to see a lot of Portland, the Oregon Coast, and many of the cool sites in the Columbia River Gorge. We all also got to sample some great food and drinks around Portland, as well as some not so good food. After Debbie and Ray headed back to MD Julie started Grad school. She is enjoying being back in school, but the work is quickly stacking up and keeping her really busy. She also started teaching a few windsurf classes in the Gorge on the weekends. I am now officially the watersports buyer for Next Adventure and business has been booming. Besides the crazy busy shop the big trade shows are coming up real soon. On the 4th Julie and I both took on the challenge of the Sauvie Island 1/2 and full marathon. We also went out paddling with the Next Adventure crew to see the fireworks from the water. Needless to say life is busy and good. July is going to keep us both extremely busy.

(Multnoma Falls, the big one in the gorge and right off the highway.)

(This is the old rest stop along the old gorge highway. This shot is looking East.)

(The Borsetti's love the animals, especially cute furry ones like these Alpaca.)

(Julie looking cute in one of the many vineyards that we visited along the "Fruit Loop" in and around Hood River.)

(Debbie and Ray enjoying some wine fresh from the barrel at the Wyeast Vineyard.)

(The Borsetti's enjoying the Hood River wine tour.)

(Julie took her parents for a day at the coast, while I was at work, and they explored Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock.)

(Ray enjoying the huge variety of good micro brew beers available in PDX. We both had a sampler this night at the Rogue brewery in the Pearl District while enjoying Kobe beef burgers with fresh Tillamook cheddar cheese.)

(We all got to spend a day exploring the Portland Zoo. It was quite a little expedition with a ton of walking.)

(Debbie loved the Lorikeet exhibit where you were able to feed the MANY birds in this large cage.)

(Julie liked the birds as well, and they liked her as well.)

(On July 4th Julie ran her first 1/2 Marathon on Sauvie Island just outside Portland. She did absolutely amazing, doing way better than expected.)

(Julie got this shot of me suffering to finish the Sauvie Island Marathon. I made it 23+ miles at a sub 9 min/mile pace, and then my legs gave up! Between the lack of training and the extremely hot temperatures my muscles just gave up. I did still finish at under 10 min/mile pace though!)

(On the evening of July 4th a big group of Next Adventure employees took out our demo fleet and paddled from Sellwood Riverfront Park into downtown to watch the fireworks. It was a great group of people, great weather, and just good times had by all!)

(Julie enjoying the evening paddle.)

(Our rest/snack break at the top of Ross Island just before dark. The city is a cool site from the river.)

(We all rafted up as close as we could get to the action. The boat traffic was intense and we where shore to have as many lights and glow sticks on us and our kayaks as possible.)

(Julie had fun taking some cool fireworks photos. They were launched from a barge right in front of us! The falling debris didn't feel so good in the eyes though:) )