Fun in the Northwest!

We have really enjoyed our time here in Hood River this summer. It has been nonstop adventure since we made the move. The summers here are just jam-packed with things to do and things going on. If you commit one day to do one thing, you feel like you missed out on five other things. So far we've gotten in a bunch of biking - road & mtn, kayaking, hiking, camping, parades, sternwheeler races, watched bike races, kiteboarding comps, windsurfing comps, wine tastings galore, bbq's, parties, "First Friday" celebrations, 4th of July parade/festivities, farmer's markets with the freshest fruits ever, play dates for Camden, more dates for Amy and I than all the time we were in UT, and visits with grandma and grandpa!! - and the list keeps going.

The problem is, with all these things going on so quickly we never seem to slow down enough to remember to charge the camcorder or buy batteries for the camera! We have been terrible when it comes to taking pictures and most have been with our phones.

Here are a few from some of our little adventures:

This is Amy and Camden standing on the bridge over Husum Falls on the White Salmon River on the WA side of the gorge. This is 10 miles from Hood River and my first kayaking run since we moved.

Here are a couple kayakers heading over the falls that I ran earlier - I hadn't been kayaking in a year and this was my first run. Just about crapped myself going over this, but made it!!
Camden and I paddling around the new Kids Beach on the Columbia River This is a shot of Couer d'Alene lake in the ID panhandle about 4 1/2 hrs away. I had to go to a tradeshow there so of course I took my mtn bike to get in a few rides.

Camden Enjoying Life in the Gorge!

I have not been very good about keeping up my blog so I am going to put a bunch of pictures in from our first couple months living in Hood River.

Camden has taken to his new home very well and seems to love it. We spend most of our days outdoors and he seems to tackle every adventure with gusto. We Camped up in the Blue Mountains two weeks ago and he had a ball - helping me keep the fire going, cooking hot dogs over the open flame and sleeping in our tent. He woke up the next morning and sat up saying "I wake up Dad!" and when I asked him to lay back down again he said "No - bears will get me!" Good thing I let him watch a special about grizzly bears on the Discovery Channel with me that week.

He has also turned in to quite the water-boy. He loves to swim and dives under water - at 2 1/2 yrs old! It's awesome to watch him show off his new skill when we have a play date with his friends at the beach. The other parents watch in amazement and try to use Camden as encouragement for their kids. He's been watching the Olympics with us and mimics the swimmers. In the bath he scoots to one end of the tub, puts his face under water, and "swims" to the other end where he tries to turn around keeping his face under water. It's hilarious to watch and water goes everywhere!!

Here a a few pics of Cam:

Check out how well he has started biking - I don't think the training wheels are going to last much longer. (Also check out the view behind him of the Columbia River from our street!)

He has his "Go Diego Go!" rescue pack on!
Turned in to quite the surfer boy these days. We have an old surf board that he tries to lay on and paddle around when we go to the little beach in town on the river.
Cam has made lots of friends since we moved - this is his weekend play group
He wants to be a paddler like daddy. I take the boats to the river and paddle him around in them with me.

4th of July

Here are some overdue pictures from the fourth of July. Camden's daycare got to be in the parade - pretty exciting for a 2 yr old!! We watched the fireworks from our front porch - which has some of the best views in town for the fireworks - and Camden fell asleep in my lap on the porch swing while they were going off. It was a big, long day for a 2 yr old!!!

This is Ms. Rachel and some of Cam's friends from daycare We got to throw candy to all the kids watching....
and we were close enough to the front that we could grab a spot on the curb to watch and enjoy some of that candy for ourselves!!
Then we got to go down to the river to watch some kite boarding - check out how high this guy was getting
We found the jump castles!!That is one of our neighbor's girls with Cam. They are twins - Josephine and Frances - and they love playing with Camden. We ran into them at the jump castles.
One of his many talents!!

Smile for the Camera!

The fourth was also "First Friday" On the first Friday of every month they shut down Oak St. to all traffic and all the shops, bars, etc. open their doors for a sort of street party.

Sternwheeler Races in the Gorge!!

This past weekend was "Sternwheeler Days" at Cascade Locks where they were scheduled to race two of the old steam sternwheelers up the gorge. The race did not happen though because one of them lost its steering and ended up destroying it's paddle wheel on some rocks. This was the same one that was used in the movie "Maverick" with Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster.

We managed to take a ride on one of them for a 2 hour tour of part of the Gorge. We all had a great time. These pics are from my phone - I wish we had remembered the camera because there were some guys playing on kite boards in the wake and were pretty amazing to watch.

Both Sternwheelers side by side - notice the damaged wheel on the one to the right.

This is the one from the movie "Maverick"

A couple shots from on the water of the gorge.

Bye again - for now!!

Hiking in the Gorge

The other day we hiked up to Rowena Crest. This is about 10-12 miles from our house and is a great road ride destination. We hiked out to the cliffs with Camden to take in the views. For those of you that don't know - Hood River sits in the Columbia River Gorge on the Eastern edge of the Cascade Mountains. If you go 5 miles west into the Cascades more, the terrain turns very green from all the rain. 5 miles east takes you into more of a desert climate. That is why it looks so brown in some of these pics as we are just East of Hood River in the Gorge.


This is a very scenic overlook for the gorge. Camden walked the entire 1 1/2 miles out to the cliffs - throwing rocks along the way:

He was sooo much fun. Just amazed at all the big birds (we tried to tell him one was a hawk so after that he called every bird a hawk - except it came out "cock". "Where's my cock" and "That's a big cock" kept us in stitches through the whole hike!!!)I don't think there could be anything better in life than days like these with my family. We have so much fun and there is always another adventure waiting around the next corner for us!!
Goodbye for now!!

Exploring Hood River

The biking in Hood River is absolutely amazing - Road and Mountain.
Here are a couple shots from the bike while mountain biking in Post Canyon. (I can ride my bike here from the house)
The mtn biking has alot more shade from huge trees that I am not used to from UT. Even when it's really hot the shade keeps it cool and GREEN!

These next pics are of some of the crazy ramps they build here for mtn biking. So far these are the most technical ones I've ridden. Some are barely wider than my tires and have huge drops - I'm not ready for those yet!


Yesterday, Amy, Cam and I rode 20 miles on a loop from Hood River, up East Side Rd. and through the town of Odell. I think we saw more bikes than cars. The ride was mostly gently sloping hills (except one short steep that really taxed me with the trailer) We had great views of Mt. Hood and Adams through the whole ride that went through orchard after orchard on glass, smooth roads without a car in sight. It was one of the best family rides we've ever done!!

We Made The Move!!!

Well, we finally made the move. My brother, Keith, came up Friday and helped us pack the truck. Actually - when he took me to the rental place we discovered that my license had expired and I had to go renew it to get the truck. things were getting off to a slow start!! When we finally got to the house around 1 o'clock we found Amy at home with Camden who had a 104 degree temperature. Now things were starting to look gloomy.
Keith helped us load all the big stuff we could on the truck that afternoon. Camden tried to help the best he could but from the picture below, you can see how tiring moving is when you're sick.
We got all the big stuff loaded that afternoon with Keith and then Amy, Cam and I camped out on the last mattress in our house that night for our official last night in Utah together!!!

It took Amy and I the entire next day to get all the rest of the little stuff packed and loaded while Camden slept off his fever most of the day - poor guy slept almost all day!

We finally had everything we could fit (literally squeezed in every nook and cranny of truck and both cars) loaded by around 6 in the evening Saturday and were on the road after saying goodbyes by around 7. Check out Cam crammed into the back of Amy's car with his "Reading Bear" (where we read books every night)
By Saturday night Camden was doing much better and his fever was gone. We maid it to Twin Falls, ID that night. The next morning we fueled up and hit the road early to make it to Hood river that night.

We got to Hood River about 5 pm on Sunday. Amy's parents came down to help us unload. Her dad was a real workhorse and flexed the biceps a few time to get the truck unloaded. We probably got about 2/3 of it unloaded into the house that night. As it was getting late, I convinced Amy to take Cam to her parents and let me stay to set up our bedrooms and put some things together. That night I was able to get ours and Cam's bedrooms put together and at least make the place somewhat livable.

We are renting a small cottage that is right downtown - walk to shops/bars - for 6 months while we wait on our home in UT to sell. It is much smaller than our other house, so we still have at least another truckload in UT that we will need to move when it sells.

Here are a couple shots of our temporary home and of the great views it has:



Camden has been quick to make it feel like home. There is a children's park at the end of our street that we take his bike to almost every day: