Rocky mountain high

Last week I had the pleasure of hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park in an area called Wild Basin. I was accompanied by the Browns as we tackled the Bluebird Lake Trail (10-12 miles rt). The mountains here are so big and so beautiful. The scale and elevation here is not anything like what I've hiked in the Cascades. Just the approach trail I hiked on was higher than a lot of summits I've bagged in Oregon!

These pics are from a friend's camera (Chelle has all the gear with her at Bass Lake) so the pictures are ho-hum. Umm, hello! Take some pictures of the mountains! Anyhow, here's a few from the trip:


Ouzel Falls


Native Colorado Cutthroat Trout were everywhere!
(note to self, bring pole next time)


Candice laughed at this sign, while I reminisced. "Here kitty, kitty..."

Life-line(s) restored

Chelle and Xander came out and stayed with me for about a week. It was great to spend time with my family. Xander was pretty sick (cold + pinkeye) but the meds had him feeling pretty good by the time they left. Chelle is going to finish out her tour-of-duty at St. Chucks with a grueling six straight days marathon. After that, they will drive back here via the Reno - Bass Lake - Palm Springs - Tucson route. What, haven't heard of that?

You know how tv junkies can't live without the boob-tube, or how crackberry addicts would die without their phones? Yeah, I'm like that with my 'net connection. Face it, the internet has proliferated our lives. Need directions? Net. Looking for auto repair shops? Net. Keeping in touch with family and friends. Net. I have this interesting personality dichotomy; I want to live out in the remote mountains in my log home with a OC-192 connection. Someday.

While I may have the net now, we're still waiting for the movers to come. Latest estimate will have them here on Monday. I can't wait - besides having our stuff, I'm anxious to diminish the "cave effect" in our house (large, open rooms with vauled ceilings and hardward floors, not a strand of carpet to be found). Until then, I'll read some more. =)

The eclectic list of books I read during the "Great disconnect of 2008":

• The Circle Trilogy (Black, Red, White)
• Thr3e
• Lone Survivor
• On The Ridge Between Life And Death
• Blasphemy
• Skin
• Death By Black Hole And Other Cosmic Quandaries
• Saint
• The Ultimate Guide To Video Game Writing And Design

Unplugged

I am currently sans Internet (and tv, and furniture, etc) at the new house so I'm writing this post from my work puter. Not much to report, I'm just holding down the fort until Rochelle and Xander get here on Saturday. I think I'll head over to B&N and grab some books for the downtime. =)

A low-key weekend

It was a pretty low-key weekend around here for me. On Saturday, I went down to a Littleton MINI dealership and test-drove a MINI Cooper Clubman S. Man, what a fun little car to drive! I had a blast rippin around the city, and all their hype is generally substantiated. I often wondered if I would fit into one, but there was a ton of room on the inside. I couldn't even slide the seat all the way back and still work the peddals. Lucky for Rochelle, a couple things prevented me from buying one right there on the spot: first, there's a 3 month wait list with a $1000 (non-refundable) deposit required (yes, they're that popular). Second, they we're going to really screw me on the trade in. I can't even write the value, it's that laughable. Anyhow, as my mom would say, I told them to "pack sand". =)

Today I was blessed to meet up with old friends Dave and Debbie Brown and attend their church's morning service. It was a great service and it really struck me how much I've missed good old Baptist preaching. There weren't 40 alter calls, so I think I can talk Rochelle into going back. ;) Afterwards, I hung out with the Browns for breakfast and a tour of their home. It amazes me how easy it is to get around this area. The roads, parkways, and interstates all seemed designed to get people from point a to b quickly with minimal traffic. I swear I went 20 miles to the other side of Denver in less time than it would take me to go from my old house to Redmond!

In other news, we found a house! I move-in (read: dwell in empty house with aero-bed till the movers show up) tomorrow, so we're pretty excited. It's a really sweet house and location. We are blessed to have recieved it.

Back to work

As the title says, I'm back to work. I took a designer position for the Boulder area studio Idol Minds. I can't say enough good things about the studio; the people here are talented, fun-loving, and refreshingly team oriented. Just the kind of creative combination needed to make a game like PAIN, which I will begin working on soon. Until then, I will be getting familiarized with their tools n' technology and taking cover from the occational outburst of incoming missles. =)

Thank you all for your support and prayers, we appreciate them greatly. Now all we have to do is find a house, and we'll be set. Well, sorta... I still need wifey and Xander to get out here! Much love to you all, miss you guys.

Arrival

Well, I've finally made it to Boulder, but it wasn't easy. I originally planned to stop in Ogden, but was making such good time I decided to push on and make it to Rock Springs, WY. It's funny, but the only driving / car issues I've ever had have been in Wyoming. This, coincidently, is also one of the worst places in the entire U.S.A. to have issues (read: long deserted streches of interstate through lunar-like terrain).

Anyhow, about 10 miles from my destination, I see a piece of road debris get kicked up by the vehicle ahead. At first, I thought it was a piece of wood - until a second later when it smashed into my windshield with an emphatic "whack". Wrong, not wood rather a big piece of lug with attached nuts. It scared the crap out of me! Luckly, the Lord was watching out for me as I can't believe the windshield didn't cave in. Here's a pic of the carnage:



After my heart-rate returned to normal, I started limping in to Rock Springs. Literally, about a mile from the exit, I get pulled over by a sheriff. Appearing at my window he enquires if I know why he pulled me over. I gesture to the spidered windshield and take a guess. He replied "nope" without a hint of further inquirery. "I pulled you over because your tags are expired." Doh. I could rant about the DMV not sending me the paperwork, but I should have bothered checking it before I left (my license plate holder partially obscures the tags, so it's difficult to tell).

Anyhow, long story but I made it to Rock Springs in about 12hrs and 60 dollars poorer (citation). Big thanks to MoMa & PoPa for the hotel room, it was actually really nice. Cold Stone was located in the adjacent building, random placement but they got my $$$ too. Today I finished off the rest of the drive, which was around 5hrs into Boulder. Tomorrow, off to work... =)

Happy Father's Day!

10 days on the John Day River

I just finished 10 days on the John Day River and man was it fun!

The first 6 days Rochelle, Xander, and I spent with our family doing day floats, camping, and hanging out in the very unpredictable weather. The river was pretty high, muddy, and fast, but we made the best of it and all had a good time. Here's Xander hanging out with his cousins:



For more pictures of the trip (including Cynthia catching a fish, and the Painted Hills), click here.

The last 4 days I spent with my buddies, who also do an annual float trip. The river started dropping and the weather improved. This definitely helped the fishing as you see below...



At the risk of drawing ire from those that fished with me this past week and a half, I won't post pictures of the other hogs I caught. Let's just say the numbers:

Fish 1 - 5.5 lbs.
Fish 2 - 6.5 lbs.
Fish 3 - 5.0 lbs.

It was a good week. =)