We Saw

Blown-up on Top by the Wind
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

The wind on top of the mountain was howling. Gusts of over 60 mph. I’m guessing. But it felt like more at times. We crawled along the summit so we wouldn’t be knocked over. And we looked out over the Adirondacks. This is what all the fuss was about. Everyone kept telling us that we needed to see this area. We needed to experience this part of New York before we left. It’s impressive and rugged.

No one in this state has ever heard of a switchback. All the trails go straight up what must have been creek beds in another time. Each step takes you higher. As you climb, all around you the trees are green and stunted compared to the northwest. It’s obvious that they’ve lived hard lives; the winters pummeling them with ten Oregon winters in one month. These are hardy living beings.

It is beautiful, awe inspiring, and small all at the same time. Mountains top out at a little over 4,000 feet. But you still get wonderfully lost in the grandeur. You are in God’s country. The ground is a mix of decomposing plant matter and stones. Large stones. And as we continued to rise up to the top of Mt. Wright I couldn’t help but think about my parent’s house and the riverbed that it was built on. All the excavating of rocks that I had to do to help my parents build a garden in the back yard. Now I was walking on those rocks. Step by step we made our way to the top of the world. In New York. On this Memorial Day weekend. 2007.

See all the pictures here.

Hike Fuel

Hike Fuel
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

A hike provides you with many wonderful things. Fresh air, open space, beautiful views, time together, and cheese. Lots of wonderful, lovely, tasty, yummy cheese. If you put in 7-miles in the Shagunks, you’ve got to have a delightful handful of different types of cheeses and a baguette that you can rip apart. Place the cheese in the bread and enjoy. That’s what Michelle, Caitlin, and I did a few weeks ago. Oh yeah, and then we stopped at the brewery in New Paltz for a pint. And a growler full of beer for Caitlin. There are some things about New York that I’m going to miss.

See the rest of the hike here.

Not a Minute Faster

The Pathway Between Worlds
Originally uploaded by Foto Blitz Color.

500 miles-per-hour and not a minute faster. I’m launched through the atmosphere headed straight for home. Piercing clouds and floating over America and in a couple hours I’ll land in the place where I belong, Portland. But before I get there I’ll share a row with elderly gentlemen who takes his meds with wine, watch the in flight entertainment as it chronicles a large elephant flattening a very unfortunate red ball, consider if the band Silversun Pickups belongs in my playlist or on a compilation CD with Fred Durst, and try to figure out why that cabbie kicked me out of his car on the way to the airport.

“Where are you going?”

“Newark.”

I throw my bags into the trunk and get into the cab.

“Do you know how much it will cost?”

“$40, $45.”

“At least $60. You have to pay me $15 for tolls, $15 for going there and the meter.”

“Damn! Uhhh, just take me to Penn Station.”

The cab instantly stops.

“I’m not going across town. Get another cab.”

And then I found myself on the side of the street. Hailing another cab. Fighting the traffic to Penn Station. Fifty cars deep. A thousand card deep. A Ferrari. A bus. A woman walking across the street. And it all swirls around you when you first move to the city. But I’ve been here for over two years now and sometimes I just sit back and take it in. Like a movie. I’m not really here, I’m just watching.

“Stop right here. I can walk.”

Six dollars later and I’m out of the cab and on the sidewalk with people. Millions of people. It’s like the running of the salmon, before the dams, before fishing, before fish and chips. And they keep coming. At this point I’ve got a suitcase on my back, a computer bag slung over my shoulder, and another suitcase rolling behind me. This takes concentration. Now I know what Larry Bird must have felt like in the last seconds of game 7, down by 2 with the ball and two free throws staring him in the face. Navigating through this human stampede is both dangerous and exhilarating. Now all I need is my phone to ring. And a part of me would like to say that it did ring, and I picked it up, and I carried on an amazing conversation full of perfectly timed comedic one-liners and insightful observations as I weaved my way into the train station all the while carrying a small house full of luggage. But it didn’t ring. Which probably saved my life.

When navigating in New York City, you must remember one thing; they don’t give a shit. Yes they, meaning anyone who is moving in any way through the streets of New York City, definitely don’t give a shit. A car? You’re run over. A young couple in love? Splat. A mother and her stroller containing twins? Never saw you. So with this knowledge I slid and danced and probably ran over a few people on my way to Penn Station. But I got there. In one piece.

By the way, that dude on King of Queens could stand to drop a few pounds; like 80. He just popped up on the in flight entertainment.

So I got on the train, got to the airport, just caught my plane and then waited to take off for over an hour. Lovely. So here I am. Somewhere over the Rockies caught in a small pocket of turbulence just and hour away from Portland. As god gently rocks me back and forth I wonder what will happen next. The Rocky Mountains are beautiful. 500 miles-per-hour and not a minute faster. I’m launched through the atmosphere headed straight for home.

Michelle Hula-ing

Michelle Hula-ing
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

Spring has come, finally. Last weekend we took a stroll through the flower covered trees, played frisbee (and hula-hoop at the same time), drank some wine and watched the Lakers. It seems like forever since the last spring in NYC. And I'm so happy that it's back. Spring, by far (followed by the fall) is the best time in the city. It's great here. You should come.

HELLO SAN FRANCISCO?

Since we've now spent two years in New York (Caspian celebrated 2 years on Sunday), and we've made a great new set of friends here, we're going to have to rename our blog so no one feels left out. So how about Hello San Francisco! ? Our future new home.

Anyway, here's a little tidbit I came across in Portland Monthly recently:

"Even in Portland, some neighborhoods are a little more waterlogged than others. "It's all directly tied into terrain and geography," says KGW chief meterorologist Matt Zaffino (who we, by the way, have shared a chairlift once at Mt.Hood Meadows - and seen hiking Ramona falls!) The downwind side of a mountain range -even a smaller one such as the West Hills - tends to lie in what weather guys call a "rain shadow", a relatively dry area. As you travel down and away from the hills, rainfall totals drop off, which means that PDX airport, where Portland's official rainfall totals are measured, derives an arid benefit from its location well removed from Council Crest.

But don't hang your laundry on the clothesline yet, Estacada (where I grew up and Caspian and I went to High School together) Portland's most easterly burgs are also influenced by their proximity to the Cascades; precipitation increases east of SE 82nd Ave as the clouds drop their moisture to clear that range. So just how wet is your plot? Consult these 30-year average annual rainfall amounts, and get splashing."

Portland: 37"
Hillsboro: 38"
Beaverton: 40"
McMinnville: 42"
Troutdale: 45"
St Helens: 45"
Oregon City: 46"
Vernonia: 49"
Estacada: 59"

Great Seats

Giambi Wiffs
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

Last Tuesday (4/17/2007) I found myself at Yankee stadium with some friends. We watched the Yankees pound the Cleveland Indians. After the game we walked over to a bowling alley and rolled a frame. I watched and took pictures as the bowlers blurred past me. My bowling game isn’t bad, but it’s not good either. I’d rather take pictures and share them with you. Enjoy.

Click here to see the whole set of pictures.

Movie Rain

Movie Rain
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

It doesn’t rain in New York, it waterfalls and people here don’t seem to understand that it’s not normal.

At Work:
“Caspian, you must like this rain. You feel like your at home, don’t you.”

“No, it doesn’t rain sideways in Oregon. This isn’t rain it’s soak.”

Its like god has a big fire hose and once in a while he breaks it out to blast unsuspecting New Yorkers as they go about their day. You are now wet. And pity the umbrella because it is going to die. One big gust and umbrella bones break, completely. Goodbye umbrella. It was nice knowing you. It doesn’t rain in New York. Ask Sadna and Colby the next time you see them. They now know what I’m talking about.

Scratch Meet the New Camera

Scratch in Black
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

DJ Scratch Talks
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.
An old camera for Colby. A new camera for me. Better pictures for you. Colby is now shooting a Nikon D200 so he let me use his Nikon D1x. It's a beautiful digital SLR and, lucky for me, all of my Nikon lenses work on it. It's a big boy toy and I'm really happy to be playing with it. So get ready, because next time I see you, I'm going to have a 100-300mm zoom lens on it and a hand full of trigger happy fingers.

Verkeerder Kill Falls Hike

Verkeerder Kill Falls Hike
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

Easter Sunday was spent in the wind and snow in upstate. We took Colby and Sadna on a long hike to Verkeerder Kill Falls. It almost felt like we were in the Columbia George, only different. This is what Easter should always be like. Check out the all the pictures here.

Colby and Sadna

Colby and Sadna
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

Last Saturday Colby and Sadna dropped into Brooklyn and stayed for about a week. It looks like they’re going to be moving here within the next 4 or 5 months. Sadna’s going to grad school just like Michelle (Columbia or NYU). Unfortunately Michelle’s school is across the country in San Francisco. We just missed each other.