OMFG!

I am so happy right now.

Reason #1
The guy at work who was threatening to send me back to New Mexico for the whole month of January just lost the bid on this NM project so I dont have to go!!! Hooray!!!

Reason #2
Col and I put in a second bid at asking price last night on the house and this one should go through. In a few days we will have a house! On the agenda is a large house party once we get partially moved in, so stay in touch. Jan 31 is the move in date.

Nu Haus

Col and I have been semi-joking about owning our own place for a while now. Every other month or so I will see a IE window open on Col's computer with house listings around here, as if to say "Look, I want a house. You should too. Here is what is available this month." So I pretend like I didnt see the price and say "that sounds like a great idea!"
Up until this month, that had been enough to stave off her "nest building" instincts. Then I caved and said "lets go look at this one!" So now we have an offer on a house. If you would like to see it, it is here. I am stoked on two things in particular. Ok, three things. One, is the monstrosity of a back yard; garden potential is endless! Two, Colleen ceded that the garage would be my man-cave and it will have a boulder wall, the likes of which the world has never seen. Three is the hot tub, 'nuff said. And one more addition is a riding lawnmower that we included in the bid that I can get wasted and ride around on. (Can they give DUI for lawnmower riding?)
Now I will tell you where it is, but you have to promise not to ridicule us. It is in NORTH Albany. Emphasis on "North." For those of you reading who dont know Oregon, Albany is a little trashy in places. There is a paper mill nearby that makes the whole town smell like farts when there is a South wind, and the people in Albany worship Walmart. North Albany is the nice side of town, on the more exclusive side of the river. We have a round-a-bout instead of a stoplight and we shop online instead of Walmart. You cant make fun of us for living there, nosiree! We'll see how the bid goes. It isn't ours yet...

Whoa and Awww

I am in Arizona for a conference and couldn't come up with anything creative to blog about, so here is this.



How? I dont know.



Awww.

Ahhhh its great to be home >:(

My mom asks me why I think she is insane. Now (as if this is a first) I have a concrete example that I can show her :)
First a little background: several years ago, my mom started getting really paranoid that someone was stalking her. Here is the evidence she had to support her theory; rocks in the front yard landscaping were being turned over in the middle of the night ( ooOH!), scratches in the furniture were appearing while she was out (I can remember putting one of those in as a child, but she wont listen), bolts holding things together in the house were being loosened (god forbid that should happen after 15 years of structural neglect!), a bike also disappeared out of the front yard (again obviously the stalker) and the list has gone on for the last 5 or so years.
In response to this threat she has this house wired up like Fort Fucking Knox!!!! There is a motion sensor in every room, all the doors are alarmed, there are video cameras everywhere (mission impossible style in the smoke alarms too), and for several months, she would sneak my brothers out of the house after dark so the evil doer wouldn't see, and a retired policeman/PI would come and sit in the house all night waiting for said evildoer to come and loosen more screws (there werent any left to loosen in my moms head though). All the while I am sitting back enjoying the show whenever I come to visit.
I woke up this morning to the house alarm. Yes all 50,000 watts of screaming highpitched siren. Apparently when my mom left this morning she forgot I was here and reset the alarm. Isnt that safe of her! When I rolled over in bed, that triggered the motion sensor. The security company calls but because I am not on the approved security list (she wont put me on because she isnt entirely convinced I am not the stalker) they cant deactivate the alarm. Apparently they were able to get ahold of her at the school eventually. She told them I was ok, and to reset the alarm. So they did. It stopped for 3 seconds, just enough time for me to take out my earplugs, and then started again! They reset it, but didnt turn it off. By this point the neighbors are coming by to see what is up; I just shake my head, they nod, and walk away. Mom wont give me her passowrd (remember I might still be the one turning over rocks in the night) and insists she is driving the 30 min home to deactivate it herself. Awesome. Earplugs in, knife in hand, I went about "deactivating" the alarms by cutting wires until I was either shocked or the thing shut up. All but the outside alarm are now "deactivated" as I sit and wait for psycho lady to get home.
Oh, whatddaya know! the alarm turned off again! Now I get to sit perfectly still while typing until she gets home so I dont trip the motion sensor again.
Welcome to my life!
I want to get back to Oregon.

Global Warming

I love Oregon

I think Sid the ferret is the perfect pet for me. The similarities are uncanny. The little bugger likes to play in the dirt, so do I. He likes to sleep away the day, so do I. I like entertainment, and he is definitely entertainment. A dog sounds fun too though. :)

On the home front, my old guy roommate moved out. Good news right? Not when it means an older, creepier guy moves in. This guy is an inescapable talker! And he is one of those old guys who doesn't care what folks think of him so he just speaks his mind. Colleen was over the other night and he made several sexist/sexual comments at her and the women he was watching on TV at the time. Col finally started laying into him a bit when he would say shit like that and I had to seperate them. The good news about this is I talked to my boss and he is releasing me from my "training" which allows me to move down to Ctown. That'll probably happen some time later this winter. Depends on how soon this guy gets on my nerves.

It is also great to be back in Oregon with sane, mostly normal people. Mormonland and little mexico were too much. Colleen and I did enjoy ourselves in Zion though. WWe spent several days slot canyoning and hiking around before driving back. We rented wetsuits, she brought climbing gear and we did Pine Creek Canyon (right under the long tunnel) and Keyhole Canyon. Col and I climbed to the top of Angels Landing in under an hour (3-4 hrs round trip in book). Oh yea!

The Virgin R. Narrows

The Virgin R. NarrowsColleen horizontally chimneyed over hundreds of feet of the water because she didn't want to get wet!Gotta love the swims!After Keyhole canyon.Col on a freehanging rappel.Desert Gambel Oak.

some math

October 4 = Last time I slept in my own bed,
28 = # of days I have worked in the last 31 days,
12 = aprox. average hours worked per work day(probably higher),
3167 = monthly salary,
28 X 12 = 336 hrs worked in a month,
$3167 / 336 = $9.42 per hr.
I made more than that per hr my sophmore year of highschool. I just hope that between having a good portion of time off during winter and not having to pay for gas I am averaging more than $9.42 per hour over the year.
And what has that $9.42 gotten me? Today I spent the day hiking and conversing with a Baptist Minister/Priest/Rabbi/Whatever from Texas. I got to learn about how the beautiful rock layers exposed in Zion are actually the product of one cataclysmic flood caused by God just several thousand years ago (the flood and sediment came from the mid atlantic ridge). Oh, and the slot canyons around the area are cracks where the biblical flood rushed up from under the continents. Yea, thats what I said. And just to really fit the stereotype, he started one story with "I really like little boys" (verbatim!) Oh, and apparently womens' best way to express their love to their husbands by doing dishes and taking care of kids because it is the man's responsibility to earn money, take care of finances... Again, you get the idea.
Another interesting thing about this hike is that there are 2-3 large felines in the immediate vicinity of our trail. One of us has been hiking into the burned area we are spraying every day to be a ground spotter for the helicopter. The "trail" is a sandy ridge that we bushwack into the boonies for 4.3 miles. Each day for the last several days new cougar tracks have been appearing, paralleling our footprints. There are 3 distinct tracks, one large and two smaller cats (one may be a large bobcat). So we have started hiking in pairs now. Isn't that sketchy?!?
So lets see what else... My boss choked me yesterday, I have made a name for myself with a rather Keeganesque comment yesterday that apparently is funny enough to tell EVERYONE currently residing within a 20 mile radius of the park, I now have a webcam, so I can talk to you on skype face to face, I wake up at 4:30 to get to work before the sun rises, and the glimmering light at the end of the tunnel is that Thursday is the tentative date for completion of this project. Colleen is coming out here to visit me and we are going to hike some slot canyons together.
And my profound though of the day is: Whenever I hear someone say "slot canyon" I secretly replace "slot" with "slut" and giggle to myself. Yup, welcome to the world of Ian

I climbed a mountain next to Checkerboard Mesa and got to watch sunrise near the top.



My truck is the little one off my right shoulder :)











In the park.

Holy crap!

Apparently the canadians take huge shits. Well, when 10,000 people shit at the same time at least, this is what happens (instigated by a radio dj apparently)

Skype

I am on skype now. Search my name or roth.ian and we can talk over the interweb like the techno geeks we are.

Big Pimpin in Mormon land

How much do you like your boss? Would you live with him? And work with him? All in the same day? Basically, this is the next two weeks of my life; chillin with the boss man 24/7. I hope I don't go insane. But it is probably going to be hard to go insane living an a castle! UAP got us a house just outside Zion NP that is a palace really. I am watching TV in front of the biggest non-theater screen I have ever seen. My bed has 11 pillows for god sakes! If that isn't a sign of luxury, I dont know what is. I'll put more pictures up soon, because Colleen, I know this house is pretty much your dream house.

Oh, and if you haven't already, I highly recommend statcounter. It lets you see all sorts of cool stuff about who is looking at your blog. I got over 30 hits on Tuesday fyi, with a number of them coming from New Zealand (Jake's friends I assume). Just random little factoids like that. And it is easier to put onto your blog now that the template function in blogger has been streamlined.

Photos from Nowhere, NM

Road Trippin












Apparently this is the place to be if you are a buzzard. There were a hundred or so.
















Here is what I get to watch all day. Kinda fun! I turned down the chance to ride in the hopper on the plane though.



These guys just roamed free around the airport.









Old style windmills are still very commonly used across the landscape.





We had to use a county road as a landing strip for a few days.

Hot New Mexico Nights

Dude, NM seriously sucks. I am going insane. There is no one to socialize with except for 8 smelly alcoholics who I work with on this project. Sorry guys, I really dont want to go to the secret society sausage fest that is the "Moose Lodge" (apparently some member only fraternal org). So, I sit here and bitch. I can't wait to get back to OR. First thing I am going to do is go on a several day climbing adventure (weather permitting) and hike in the oh so glorious trees. The weird thing about NM is that if there is a tree around, chances are it was planted by a human. Trees just dont grow here. How depressing for someone who majored in forestry. I just dont fit in here. 24 more hours and then at least I'll be in Zion NP where trees do grow.
Oh yea, last thing I have to do for this project is Monday I am meeting with a General in the US Army at white sands missile range. The pilots have to fly over the range for several of the BLM units and we have to go talk him into giving us permission. I dont think I have ever met a general before. How cool. NM still sucks. Maybe not Taos tho.

Espionage

Today, Colleen bought her wedding dress. And I know that it is customary that the groom doesn’t see the bride in the gown until wedding day, but you know me. I gotta see it. I have been plotting for weeks on how to get a peek at the dress, and I have been very forthcoming to Colleen about my desires to glimpse the dress. But I hadn’t yet figured out a way. Tailing her to the dress fitting shops wouldn’t work because they certainly wouldn’t let a man in there even if I was able to successfully follow her and Alyssa to a place.

So she calls me today to tell me that she just ordered the dress, and that she sent pictures of it to her mom and sis. Well, what is the easiest way to send photographs these days? EMAIL! ...And I have her login info. This was too easy! She buys the dress and I get to see the same day. And better yet, she is wearing it! But as I am weighing the options, the thought occurs to me that this was way too easy. Hardly even sporting. I didn’t have to work to get the coveted prewedding glance at all. She practically spoon fed me the dress pics. (which was a flag in itself that she might be throwing me a red herring) So over the phone I informed her of my plan and had her believing for a short while that I had indeed seen her wearing it. To my surprise, she really didn’t even seem to mad about it. Just surprised that my supposed coup had occurred so quickly and flawlessly. I eventually let her know that I would indeed see it, but under far more sporting circumstances. This was just too easy and I felt bad not having to fight tooth and nail for a glimpse of it. I’ll see it. Just you wait. *shit eating grin*

Damn dogs

I decided I would try running again because it is the easiest way to get out the energy that I have pent up which I cant get out at work. I ran down a street that we drive sometimes. Kinda rural, but it looked ok. Oh yea, and it was dark too. There were a few sets of scary dogs behind too short fences but just when I was coming back a dog found its way through a gate it's owner was trying to close and chased me. I got a nice little chomp on the calf by a PITBULL! I love dogs and all, but come on people!
Speaking of people, in Utah, Texas, and now New Mexico noone shops anywhere but WalMart. In all three states I have asked around patiently trying to find someone who knows of a non walmart grocery store, but no one does! "I think theres a walmart nearby" is all I got. Just being immersed in the culture of white trashiness down here makes me treasure the northwest so much. Even the trashy folks in Oregon are way cooler than trashy people down south. Oh, and the standard question when you order ANY food down here is "Do ya want da white gravy or da brown gavy?" I got asked if I wanted gravy for my halibut steak! WTF PEOPLE!

Roadtrip to no where

I have officially decided that Utah is one of my new favorite places. On the trip south I spent a lot of time on less traveled highways and random roads. The high country of southern utah is just amazing and I have to go back to explore it. All the diversity in that state and some of Arizona made the drive on Friday far more pleasureable than most endurance drives I have been on.
Along the way I noticed a funny little phemomenon. So you have seen the movie Super Troopers right? Ok, in the beginning one guy has a dummy in his squad car parked o the highway shoulder. Well, several towns in UT actually employ this tactic. Is that a little weird? Once I saw it was a dummy, I had to turn around and get a picture. Then I saw 3 more in the subsequent small towns along the highway.
Oh yea, and another weird thing about UT is that it seems that the cool thing to do is put the first letter of your town (or any random letter) in 100 ft tall white lettering on a hillside nearby. I tried to spot the whole alphabet, but only saw about half the letters.

The weather out in UT was classic desert thunderstorms while I was there and it gave me quite a show at every viewpoint. The pic left is of a massive rain, wind and cloud front swallowing a 1500 ft tall cliff band.

I managed to make it out to Hueco Tanks, TX today for a few hours of bouldering at the agreed upon "best" bouldering area in the world. The features are similar to Smith actually, but the rock

quality is much more uniform and solid. I didnt have much time to take pics but I snagged on e on this V3 that I worked for a while. I got it after a while, but I missed the pad from a ways up on one fall and sketched myself a bit. When bouldering, spotters are good to have around. I found some eventually who were local and hung out with them for a bit on a fun cave problem.

A good idea

I have started hording the little shampoo bottles from the hotels I stay in. This might sound a little weird at first, but I swear there is method to the madness. No it is not so I can accumulate a lifetime supply of free shampoo, it really has nothing to do with the shampoo. The little 1 oz. bottles are perfect for camping. Ever wanted to bring that meal that required oil or butter but didnt want to bring a jug of olive oil along? Well, now that I have 50,000 one oz. plastic bottles, I can bring along 50,000 oz. of whatever! They also make good light weight spice holders, can be refilled for travel shampoo holders, pill bottles, I mean, what cant you use them for really? They are so useful! I am a genious!

Work Stress

I now know what work stress is all about. I went to sleep last night a little curious as to why my daily seeding records were a little wonky, but didnt think about it too much. When I got to the warehouse to pick the seed for the day, I found that there was 62 bags of seed left. I was expecting 38. 62-38= a surplus of 24. each bag of seed being several thousand dollars, that is an expensive fucking mistake! So I promptly began to freak out and try to figure out what went wrong. Now I am no math whiz, but I was fairly confidant in the basic addition and subtraction and multiplication that the job had required so far. After spending 2 hours recalulating EVERYTHING I had done on EVERY day the last week and a half, I couldnt find the error. I felt like I was taking crazy pills! So I started trying to figure out a way to explain this to my boss and the people who were paying for this all. In a really basic little calculation, I found the error I had been hunting for; and it wasn't even my fault! Hurrah!!! My boss had given us some wrong percentages on the first day in plan for the while project. It was his $30,000 mistake! Hah! So now I get to call my new boss nad let him know he FUCKED UP (though probably in slightly more diplomatic terms).
What a day. I need a drink. PBR, you mah only friend!

PS, Greg finally jumped on the bandwagon and got a blog.

What I find on shoulders

I have been in Idaho this week (and will be next week too) working on a UAP roadside reseeding project. Unfortunately, the roadside is 4 lanes of 75+ mph traffic along I-84 east of Boise. Lovely. I have only had one near death experience so far, and am only half way through the 2 week project. I have found that truckers are generally the most considerate drivers on the road, while the general public can't follow construction signs at all. While working extensively on the shoulders I have found a porno, numerous soda bottles of urine (that pop when the seed drills run over them), some hand tools, but the most disturbing thing by far is the number of bolts, and other small yet important parts of the vehicles we drive every day. With the amount of fastening devices lost by the motoring public, it is a wonder engines don't just drop out of cars more frequently.
Living out of a hotel room all by oneself is quite lonely really. I am not in any one place long enough to find a groove that fits me, so I just hang out and try to not get fat by doing situps. I feel like I am in fight club, with all the single serving crap around me. Anyway, I'll be back for a while and then I am off to New Mexico for a month. Not quite sure where in NM but I'll let you know. Oh, and if you want to go climb Epinephrine in Red Rocks, I have to drop off a trailer in Vegas on the way down and am looking for a climbing partner around the 7th or 8th of october.

To

Today I died a little inside. On my first day of work in Hood River I watched my boss report a grow operation we found in a persons front yard while going house to house. We were telling neighbors not to worry about the helicopter that would be flying around their houses next week and the first house we started at had several healthy plants growing in a nice little garden with other veggies. I had to play dumb and then laugh at the pothead jokes for the next hour. Granted I can understand why he hates pot farmers (he was shot at several years ago after stumbling on another larger grow) but was it really necessary to call this personal use stash in? I am at serious odds with my boss, but he doesn't know it yet... Other than that, I found out i am going to Idaho this saturday for 2 weeks, then to Zion for a week, then straight to New Mexico for 3 weeks. Hopefully tat will be all the travel until spring; then it starts up again. I am realizing this job is going to give me lots of $ but no time to spend it. Quite the little catch-22.

The best of the cascades

For those of you who remember that hilarious moment in Sunriver several years ago; I found this recently in a Bend newspaper.
"QUIT STARING AT MY BACKFAT!"

So yea, responsibility just smacked me upside the head this week. I am engaged, deep in the throes of planning a wedding(no bridezilla yet!), got a real job that pays really well, stopped smoking herb, don't have internet or TV at home, and have a new pet ferret. My only fear about these changes is how it will affect my climbing schedule...Holy Hell!
Speaking of the wedding, the official date is June 21st 2008(summer solstice). It will be outside of Redmond (sounds like a weird place for a wedding, I know, but it is a nice place, Really!) Besides, if it is in Redmond, you can come to the wedding and then climb at Smith the next day! You should be stoked we are so considerate of our guests! For those who don't climb, we are going to have a bunch of other fun stuff to do for the day before and after. I feel like such a dork, wanting to tell everyone about wedding stuff, but then I have to remind myself that that is just chick stuff and no one really cared how easy it was to get the location or how great the event is going to be. That is all chick stuff anyway right? Ok, I will try to keep a lid on it, unless you ask. Don't tell anyone I am geeking out about a wedding, k?
My summer out here is drawing to a close and I figured that since I have seen some of the most incredible terrain that Oregon has to offer I should share it with the rest of you. Hikes to add to the "To Do List":

Spring:
Metolius River East and West; Two trails travel from where the river emerges out of the ground from under Black Butte through INCREDIBLE wildflowers from may to July.
Park Meadow; a long day emerges into a large perfect meadow with views of all the Sisters and Broken Top.
3 Finger Jack/PCT; See the B&B Fire rejuvenate itself and get excellent views in every direction as you climb the ridge to the base of 3FJ.

Summer:
Lava Camp Lake to Scott Pass; Hike a steep trail through massive old growth western hemlock and emerge amidst two alpine lakes nestled in the craters of several geologically recent lava flows. Overlooks EVERYTHING! (Mary's Peak to the Ochocos, Mt Jefferson to Mt. Thielsen)
Tam Macarthur Rim; Start at a large alpine lake and gradually hike up a rim trail that puts you atop a thousand feet wall directly above where you started. Continue on to the base of Broken Top's jagged peaks to add another 2 miles.
Green Lakes to Soda Creek Trail; If you can survive the crowds on Green Lakes trail, continue on 1/3 of the way around the base of Broken Top through alpine meadows and drop back down to the parking lot on Soda Creek Trail. This trail is unique for its flower diversity and longevity because numerous springs emerge along the trail allowing wildflowers which arent usually found in the area to grow in giant colorful fields. One of my absolute favorites!

Mountain Biking:
Deschutes River Trail: Offers easy riding in a gorgeous setting.
Mt. Bachelor to Lava Lake: Winding trails allow a lot of fast riding.
Mrazic Trail: The "best" according to the locals. 3,000ft + elev. loss
Bachelor To Bend: Some of the most varied riding I have ever done. 3,000ft elev. loss

Oh, and if you are cooped up in a big city, or weather has got you down, or are drunk want to get a workout, try "Table Traversing!" This was introduced to me by Logan and some friends of his. What you do is lay on top of the table and traverse over under and back over the long ways of the table without touching the ground. It is Intense! I highly recommend trying it at home.

It rained on Mt Rainier

Well, snowed really at the higher elevations. Several of us tried to summit Sat night but got turned back by gnarly winds and several inches of snow. Greg and Kalin were the only ones sane enough to stay in their tents while we went out in the storm. We woke up at 11pm to start the climb from camp Muir, left at midnight and were back in bed by 4:30 am. My body has no clue what happened. Maybe it was all just a bad dream. Well, we did eat pretty well. We had 6 boxes of Annies andI think there was nearly 7 lbs of 4 different types of cheese for the 7 of us to mix into the various meals. Yum!

The hike up was pleasant.
The whiteout hit us just before camp muir.At camp gearing up the afternoon before the summit attempt.we consoled ourselves by climbing in crevasses on Sunday.I don't know if we could have timed the wildflowers any better.CMFs! (charismatic mega fauna)

Col survived

yea, she is ok, as we all knew she would be. It is just relieving to hear it for sure. I will let her tell everyone about it when she gets home, TOMORROW! Woo hoo!
*Ian does a little dance around the computer*

major Peruvian earthquake

Peru just experienced a 7.5 quake today(huge). It was centered off the coast of Lima and seems to have shaken that city pretty badly. I wanted to let folks reading this know that after doing some figuring, Colleen is probably out of harms way for now. She was six(?) hundred miles southeast near lake titicaca and I am hoping that that is far enough away from the epicenter. Keep your fingers crossed that we will hear from her soon.

Holy Hell! I got a ferret. Is that really the pet that you imagined me getting as a first pet? No. But the little guy needed a home because his original owner decided ferrets weren't her thing. My roommate had Sid (I added "Vicious" for a last name) for a while but I saw what was going on there and that ferret was going to end up dead or lost by the end of the month if Vanessa kept him. So I took over the little bugger. I really like him. Yes, he likes to get in trouble ("Trouble" is his nickname). The first night I let him stay in my room out of the cage, he tipped over a full glass of water onto my head at about one in the morning. It was all I could do not to strangle him. And living up to the ferret reputation he likes to hide things. His favorite items seem to be my crocs, a baggie of change, the kitten's hemp mouse, and best of all, my dayplanner. I love the little guy though.

I am finally getting a little burnt out on hiking. I was wondering how long I would make it this summer. I still haven't started the new job. This hiring process is getting a little too drawn out. I have verbal confirmation that I am the guy, but havent signed anything yet. I met my new boss last night for dinner when he was passing through Bend and that was nice to connect up with him again at least. I am going to be busy this winter though; I have a 400 question test that I have to take to get my herbicide consultants license and the study materials came in a big box. I thought I left school so I could make fun of Colleen for having to do work at home. Now I am getting it. Although, I guess I am going to be working from home part of the time. *big smile*
(wow, I managed to start almost every sentence of that last paragraph with "I")

On Friday Logan, Dev, myself and some others are heading to WA to attempt Emmons Glacier route on Mt. Rainier. I'll let you know how that goes. Thats all for now. I have more pictures but cant post them from the work computer. They'll get up eventually, I just had to post something so you wouldn't think I was dead.

china hat burns

So, um if you were planning on going caving any time in the next week or so out on China Hat Rd.; don't. someone just lit a fire out there today and it is growing in a hurry. I went up to Lava Butte this evening and watched it burn over Bessie butt and continue southward got some sweet pictures of the planes dropping retardant on it too.
If anyone is ever in the Bend area and wanting to go backpacking or hiking or just find some really sweet places to check out for an afternoon, give me a call. I think what I haven't made in social contacts out here, I have made up for in mother nature contact. I have gotten so much "local" knowledge of the mountains around here after such a short time it is incredible. And I am getting paid to hike! I rule.

The biggest step

I suspect that many of you have already heard, but to make it official, I shall tell you all about my engagement to Colleen. :)
First off, I had to pick up the ring that morning and the only way I could think of escaping from Colleen for a few moments was to say I got a call from work to go in and fill out a time sheet. Once I had the ring I had to make sure that this was a total surprise, (by the 20 or so "Oh My GAWD!"s that Colleen let out, I think I accomplished that objective) but without a backpack for the hike we were going on I had nowhere to really hide the ring. The logical spot? -Colleen's backpack! She unknowingly carried it with her the whole hike up ;) We hiked up to a small alpine lake near South Sister in the Oregon Cascades and enjoyed a nice swim in the roasting heat first off. We managed to borrow my roommates dog for the afternoon so that was also a good source of entertainment. After the swim we were having a really mushy conversation and she gave me the perfect segue so I decided to go for it, did the whole kneely thing and proposed!
Man, I thought there would be a several day/week grace period before wedding talk started up, but damn! She was right at it within 5 minutes! Look out for next spring as a possible date... Whoa, I am engaged. Weird, I dont feel different... yet I somehow know that I am, well We are.
I also suggest reading Colleens Blog to get the real details because she will give much more in depthe info I am sure.

The pictures (finally)

South Sister (and my current desktop image)

The Fam.

Darrell surfing on the Deschutes.

Deschutes River antics.
yes, thats 5 people in a 2 man IK
I hiked the right side ridge for a solo evening jaunt (no one else wanted to go with me) and had a wonderfully introspective time. The view was incredible from the top too.

A rap into a cave near Arnold Ice Cave.

Fireworks on Pilot Butte (note the fires on the side)

Giardia! Learn about it.