Heaven and Hell

An absolutely gorgeous weekend steelhead fishing. Sunny and warm, this is February? Tom and I caught some fish. Battling another sinus infection sucks grandly. Oh well.

A Fan

O.K., so now I'm a Shaun White fan.

After living in the valley of the yupsters for ten years, it's become tough to hold back the gag reflex when it comes to the whole yo-yo skiing and snowboarding "scene." The self-absorbed, mutual admiration club became too much, and I had to get the hell out of there. But I gotta admit, watching Shaun White launch off the half-pipe and seeing his genuine joy of the competition made me want to dust off the old Nitro and head up to Baker. His interview with Bob Costas seemed to reveal a genuinely humble and enthusiastic young man. Way to go, dude!

Olympics, eh!

Even after all of these years, the Olympics still manage to be the best sporting event, period. When I lived in Idaho I thought Salt Lake was close. But these Vancouver games, even though I'm not going to see any of it like I was able to in Park city, really have me watching and rooting. It's strange to think those skating events in Richmond are only a half hour away from work.

It's great to see the events held on ski runs I've skied on, especially the cross country events. It's nice to see hockey played on an NHL rink. It was cool to hear the familiar chants of "LUUUU!" when Luango made a save. It was also fun to root for Pronger for a change. It will also be kinda fun to cheer against the Sedin twins. Hope it's USA vs Canada for gold, but those Russians look tough to beat. Hopefully the smaller rink will work against the Swedes, and they'll play soft like they do in the NHL.

Looking forward to more of it. No border line-ups. What were they thinking?

The Lemon Squeezed

The annual dessert climbing trip came and went way too fast again this year.
It started out with a trip to Chucky Cheese with Carew and Cutter and went dramatically uphill from there. After picking up Rodly at the Tucson airport, the three middle-aged adventurers first explored the local western steak house, downing Big Cowboy Cut steaks and prickly pear margaritas.

Many drinks and great meals around the campfire were briefly interrupted by rock climbs and hikes along the flanks of Mount Lemon, north of Tucson. We really lucked out with the weather, getting bright, sunny days and cool, clear nights. The campfire talks ran the usual wide range of topics from bathroom humor to educational philosophy. Oh, ya we managed to talk about The Book and make up new lyrics to Grateful Dead songs, as well.

We even managed to spend a little time back at the ranch with Dawni, Cutter, and Shamus. As icing to the cake, I was able to spend some time with Mick and the gang on both ends of the trip. I'm lucky to have such fantastic friends.

Swingin' with Hannah

Got a rare invitation, recently, to fish a day on the Skagit River with Hannah from Flyfishergirl.com. We didn't catch any fish, but it was good day on the river. Hannah definitely knows her stuff and was fun to fish with. She even spent a little time helping me to improve my two-handed casting skills.

Hannah and her mom own and operate a flyfishing lodge in northern B.C. She patiently answered all the questions I had about living and fishing in the B.C. wilderness.
The gal is definitely as independent as they come. It was refreshing to spend some time with Hannah and her friend Mia, knowing that there are cool women out there who love time outdoors even when the weather isn't perfect.