Monthly Archives: February 2023

Feb28

A visit from back home – The Evergreen air museum!

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Sunday, 05-Feb-2023


My Mom and Steve came to visit!!

It’s been a hot minute since they’ve both been here to visit, explore, and catch up… 2019, if I’m remembering right, from when we went out to Seattle? Yeah… that sounds right, and sounds like long enough that we’ve got some adventuring to catch up on!



Our second day dawned bright and beautiful, if a bit cold and a bit overcast. So… not bright at all, in fact, but I’d be willing to make the argument that it was, in fact, beautiful!

I… don’t actually remember what I cooked up for breakfast, now that I think about it… We may have actually gone out, but I’m pretty sure I’d remember if we did. Maybe yogurt and eggs?

Hmm. Interesting.



If I had to hazard a guess as to why I can’t remember, it would be the excitement of the rest of the day.

See, I work in Aerospace, specifically commercial aviation. And, for one reason or another, Oregon has a few really good air museums. None of which I’ve been to before, which honestly seems like a bit of a crime now that I type that fact out.

We rectified that, a bit, on Sunday! A trip to the Evergreen Air and Space museum ensued, the home of the one and only Spruce Goose! Yep, that one – the Howard Hughes pet project, was the largest aircraft in the world until 2019, and carried a comparatively small payload against the cargo aircraft of today.

Made of wood, powered by propeller engines, and personally piloted by Howard Hughes…

Yeah, it was pretty cool to see, to say the least!


After breakfast we drove out, to be greeted by the massive hanger out in McMinnville!




What did we see while there? Well… let me tell you!

  • The Spruce Goose, of course!
  • A really cool Messerschmitt, the first jet-powered fighter in history
  • A real life SR-71 Blackbird! Fastest plane in history!
  • Tons of other planes… but let’s be honest, those three are really cool!


Some quick lunch on the way home kept us happy and fed, but aside from that… yeah! Great museum and great times!

Feb27

A visit from back home – Exploring the Art Museum

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Saturday, 04-Feb-2023



My Mom and Steve came to visit!!

It’s been a hot minute since they’ve both been here to visit, explore, and catch up… 2019, if I’m remembering right, from when we went out to Seattle? Yeah… that sounds right, and sounds like long enough that we’ve got some adventuring to catch up on!


The day started out, as every day would if I had my way, with an amazing breakfast. I tend to share breakfast pictures pretty regularly, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that my Mom was pretty adamant that I should make us a few good meals. This morning’s breakfast – Eggs benedict!

(Check out the recipe that I used below… I learned this years ago, and DANG if it isn’t amazing).




After breakfast, we started into the adventure of the day – heading into town for a bit of art culture, and maybe some city exploring!

We started at the Art museum – which was actually surprisingly lovely! The last time I’d been was right after my wisdom teeth were taken out, and I’ll be honest… I wasn’t too enthused. But going a second time, with family along, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit more! The main exhibit, called Dakota Modern, was quite good… quite a bit better than I remembered it being.

We explored, I saw with new eyes, and appreciated ourselves a bit of culture. Mm. Yes.



After the museum, we switched gears and went to REI – just a quick stop, to grab microspikes for a hike we had planned for Monday. Nothing big, and it was quickly followed up with a walk down to Powells for a snack and perusal of books, and then a stop at the climbing gym to show off some of the fun I get to have… and let my Mom and Steve meet my friends Bri and Lea who were climbing that evening!

Nicely tuckered out, we headed home. Flambé steak was cooked, presented, and readily devoured. Relaxation on the couch ensued, and a great evening was had relaxing by the fire.



Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBJjRYk0yC0

Feb21

The first climb of the year… at 18 Deg.F

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Sunday, 29-Jan-2023

How long has it been since I’ve climbed at Smith? Let’s see…

According to my photo record, It’s… been a really long time. We’re leaving it at that.


Jess and I left Bend early-ish… and by “early-ish” I mean “not even remotely early”. The dawn had broken over a solidly single-digit temperature, with thick snow and ice covering both the truck and the world around us. We slept in, relaxed, and took our time showering and getting packed up.

It wasn’t like the world would thaw before noon, anyways.




A quick breakfast in Terrebonne helped us rally and energize, and gave the world a little bit more time to dethaw and start warming up to more bearable temperatures. By the time we left the truck behind and began our descent into the gorge it was a (relatively) balmy 18 Deg.F by our thermometer.

The rock, of course, helped reflect the heat of the sun back into us. By the time we’d roped up and I’d started climbing, the rock face was legitimately warm – literally warm to the touch. I didn’t feel the need for a jacket, despite the cold, and even ended up rolling up my pant legs to help vent some of the heat that climbing generated.

What did we climb?
Five Gallon Buckets, 5.8, Sport, Lead then top rope.




Yep, just the one…

We got two runs of the climb in when we realized the danger – While the Sun wasn’t hitting the horizon for another two and a half hours, it didn’t need to hit the horizon. The Smith Rock cluster was in the path of the sun, and the shade was creeping up on us surprisingly quickly. There were only two other teams nearby, and of them only one was climbing… and that climbing team was rapidly packing up to avoid being plunged into darkness and cold.

(As a quick interesting note – there were three teams climbing this Sunday at Smith. Ourselves, climbing a 5.8. A team to the East, climbing a 5.12c and a 5.13a. And a third team of 12, re-bolting a handful of routes. Yep – we hang with super cool folks!)



With the shade fast approaching, I took a quick final run of the route to clean the anchors. We had warm gear with us, of course, but nothing that I’d be comfortable leading in… so instead of continuing the climbing, we started into the exploring. We hikes around, checked out Asterisk’s Pass, and got the chance to appreciate the sun dropping down lower.

We packed up our gear, and headed out. The desert passed, the trees grew, and we stopped to take pictures of a beautiful sunset.



We dined at a small restaurant in Rhododendron, and continued our way home. The snow gave way, then the trees followed suit. The city grew up in their place, and soon enough we were unpacking the truck once again after a very good weekend!