Category: Uncategorized

I had the chance to head down to southern California and spend the weekend with some of the greatest ladies I know last weekend.  Three of my friends just happen to have been born in succession, Jan 6th (Ramona), 7th (Lauren), and 8th (Erin).  They let a couple of Emilys join them for a weekend of backpacking and shenanigans.

We met up in LA on Thursday and explore Redondo Beach.  I am not going to brag, but I may have schooled Erin Kelly in some Skee ball that day.  We combined our skee ball tickets to acquire the purple snake, Lucille.

Ramona’s sister, Raquel, and Raquel’s partner, Tom, were kind enough to let us crash at their house Thursday night.  They also had a delicious cake to kick off the birthday celebrations!

Birthday #1, Ramona

We jumped on the ferry to Santa Catalina Island on Friday morning.  Ramona wears the ceremonial purple snake, Lucille.

We arrived at Two Harbors, after a two hour ferry ride, ready to put on our packs and get going.  Did I mention that this was a backpacking trip?

Our hike on the Trans Catalina Trail started out steep and muddy, but quickly offered some amazing views!

and Bison!!!

It turns out, some bison were brought to Santa Catalina Island in the 1920s to create some ambiance for a western film.  They left 14 when they finished filming and now there is a population of about 140 that graze across the island.

Our campsite was on the beach at Little Harbor.

Birthday #2, Lauren

We woke up Saturday morning to the sounds of the 17-mile aid station for a 50 mile trail run across Santa Catalina island.  The race had started at 5am and runners were still looking pretty strong!

We hiked back up into the mountains to the airport in the sky, where we stopped for a midday beer.

We made it to camp early enough to hike a couple more miles to an ironwood grove.  On the way back, we caught a nice sunset.

and we found a tire swing!

Birthday #3, Erin

The next day was our longest day on the trail and it gave us so many  beautiful vistas!  Beware of the prickly pear.

We arrived in Avalon that afternoon and explored the town a bit and grabbed some dinner and beers.

Final Day, no more birthdays 🙁

We woke up to a rainy day morning and packed things up one last time before jumping on the ferry back to LA.

We had enough time to shower back in Redondo Beach before hoping on our flights and scattering back to our respective homes.

Thanks ladies for an amazing weekend!  It was so nice to escape the cold weather for a couple days and hang out with such a fun group!

For the holidays this year we went back to Rhode Island and New York.

First stop was Newport and Lyn and Peggy’s lovely home.  I took a timelapse from their backyard.

We had a great time on Christmas with the Duncan’s.  Thanks Santa for the fish eye camera lens for my phone!

Next was on to Comfort Christmas.  Sunny and Dana were great hosts and fun was had by all.

Next was Cousins dinner.  Thanks again to Drew and Cat for hosting.  What a great time (no photos).  Got to walk around Sharon and Andrews property which was quite a treat.

Sleepy Hollow to watch some high intensity family paddle and enjoyed the awesome view of the Hudson from there.

American Yacht Club where Emily spent her childhood summers.  What a cool spot!

Next was on to New York City which was so much fun exploring and eating great food!

Grand Central Station is such a cool building!

Natural History museum to get some culture!

Couple of arty shots from in the city.

A sculpture exhibit in the Garment District.

And finally a run through Central Park

[iframe src="http://bretandemily.com/maps/NYC_run_2016.html" width="100%" height="500"]

Then back to Newport for New Years!  What an exhausting but very fun trip!

We took 6 days and 6 nights to do a backpacking trip around the three Sisters in the Three Sisters Wilderness in central Oregon.

[iframe src="http://bretandemily.com/maps/sistersBackpackingMap.html" width="100%" height="500"]

Reese lake and South Sister

South Sister and Moraine lake.

Pole Creek fire

Unnamed lake just after the Pole Creek fire

 

 

Cribbage!

 

Mt Washington, Three Fingered Jack, and Mt Jefferson

Mt Washington

Matthieu Lake

Fantastic trip, highly recommend it!

We headed over to Bend, OR this weekend for a relay race called the Bend Beer Chase.  Emily got us started at 6:20am.

First beers ~6:45

Despite the heat, fun was had by all, with plenty of cold beverages keeping us cool.

Lots of great views during the run.

Thanks to all the runners, friends, designated drivers, and volunteers for such an awesome weekend.  Special thanks to Emily for organizing everything and making it happen!  Our team, cascadia drinking alliance, got 51st out of 167 teams!

Went for a long weekend to Minneapolis to see the family there.  Had a great time and packed a lot into the weekend.  Went to a Minnesota Twins baseball game and although it was cold and they lost it was still a good time!

We got to pay our respects to Prince by going out to Paisley Park.  Quite a showing of people and tributes there.

We also went to the Bakken Museum which explores the mysteries of our electrical world.  They had a bunch of cool exhibits in a pretty cool building.  One of my favorites is this machine that essentially would shock you for a penny (now it is included with the price of admission).

Emily and I took an evening and walked around downtown Minneapolis for a bit.  Saw lots of interesting things along Hennepin Avenue and along the Mississippi river including this Bob Dylan mural and dam.

We also went bowling where my Mom beat me in the first game!

We got a couple of jogs in while we were there and we might have taken a break in the coolest playground I can remember with real chutes and ladders!

After a real fun weekend it was back to Oregon on Monday.  Mt. Hood was looking good on approach.

 

I got to have nice long visit with my family in Charleston a couple weeks ago.  My first visit to my folks new home in the south.

Brian, Dad, and I went fishing out on the oyster flats in the rain the day I arrived.

Brian took care of the fly fishing.

Dad and I took care of the actually catching fish.

The weather felt familiar for the first few days (cold and rainy), but we got some nicer days towards the end of the week.  We made it out to Capers Island for a picnic.  A different sort of snag forest than I am used too.

 

We had a guest appearance from our good friends, Diana and James.  I dragged them down from North Carolina to run a 10k with Kim and me.  Here is our before shot.

 

A couple shots from the run over the cooper river.

worst selfie ever (but kind of hilarious).

after shot at Minero’s for post race lunch.

My folks and Rocky were nice enough to pick us up in Charleston by boat, so we would not have to take the bus home (the bridge into Charleston was closed for the run).

After the weekend, the crowds cleared out at the Comfort Inn, and Kim, Rocky, my Mom, and I got to go see the Angel live oak.  Pictures do not do justice to what a massive and pretty tree this is.

It was a great trip and I was very sad to say farewell, but it was nice to get home to these two.

Thanks for holding down the fort and taking care of our growing posse of ladies, Bret!

Happy Valentine’s Day all.  We had a great weekend.  We got to see lots of friends and family, we went for a nice hike in Tillamook State Forest, and I ran a 25km run.

Oregon is really green and lovely after all the rain we’ve been getting.

Oval loved the hike, she would have enjoyed the run to if she could have joined me.

 

The mud run run really lived up to its name.  I didn’t get any after pictures, but I was definitely pretty caked in mud.  I never fell on my butt, but there were some real slippery spots, so it was slow going a lot of the time.  I worked off the chocolate cover strawberries Bret greeted me at the end with for sure 🙂

I can’t believe it has been a whole year since we picked this sweet puppy up from a van in the best buy parking lot in Eugene.  It was love at first sight for sure and we love having this crazy, sweet, and very energetic puppy in our little family.

The progression of giant ears

and today!

Love this little monkey.

Before shot…  all geared up and ready to zipline!

a couple of other shots

relaxing with these folks

monkeys and butterflies

the trees don’t love the monkeys so much

Lots of time at the beautiful beaches

We got back and went down to California for a visit with Bret’s Dad.  We got some beautiful, but cold weather.

Then we got to spend a day with these two before heading back to Oregon.