Tag Archives: Drone

Oct29

Not backpacking in the Wallowas, and instead flying a drone in Wilsonville!

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Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – 28, 29, 30, and 31-Sept-2023


Well dang.

My plan for this fall was to do a whole series of backpacking trips – starting with McNeil Point, and culminating in a four-day adventure out in the Wallowas.

I was going to drive out to Joseph, Oregon, on Wednesday after work and stay at a motel near the trailhead. Then, I’d grab as many pancakes as I could eat, then backpack in to Ice Lake! I’d use Ice Lake as a basecamp, summitting The Matterhorn (not the one in Switzerland, that would be too far) and Sacajawea Peak… then trek out and stay overnight again at the same motel before driving back home on Sunday.

It was going to be amazing and I was super psyched…

But then the rain happened.

See, if it was just rain then I’d have been okay. Heck, I’d have been fine if it was snow! But it wasn’t either – it was freezing rain, with the temperatures hovering right in the low to mid 30s. That’s what I call “hypothermia weather”. Or, more simply put, “dying in the backcountry weather”.

Not part of my plans, to say the least, and I ended up cancelling the trip once the weather was clearly not going to change.



Disappointing, to be sure, but that’s part of the adventure of the outdoors, right? “The mountain doesn’t care about you” is the refrain I keep in mind… it’s not that I’m challenging the mountains, or that I’m conquering them. I’m just experiencing them, and making decisions that will let me keep experiencing them for as long as possible.

So I stayed home.

I made delicious meals, went for long walks, and flew the drone around the Willamette river.

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Aug2

A trip down to California

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Friday, 23-June-2023, through Sunday, 25-June-2023


The Summer Solstice behind me, I drove South.

Green Lakes, and its barrier mountains, receded behind me. Shasta loomed ahead, then passed beside me. Huge spillways loomed around me, and I ate a burrito as I entered Sacramento itself.

The drive was long, but I enjoyed it and appreciated the stillness and solitude. I continued my mental wanderings from my earlier backpacking trip, and took notes (speech to text, of course) as insights popped up.

It was lovely – I’ve learned to appreciate, and even seek out, long drives in the past few years. They’re a form of meditation for me, and they keep my hands busy while allowing my brain to wander… forcing it to wander, in essence, since I don’t have the limitless distractions that I have available at home.




I arrived in the evening, after being gifted a stunning sunset and equally stunning views of Shasta. We caught up, relaxed, and frankly headed to bed earlier than I normally would… but later than Mike and Michelle probably would have liked – impact of having a young one around.


The next morning we hit up an excellent brunch spot that Mike had recommended the last time I was down, and then kicked around town on the bikes – all four of us, excitingly, as this was James’ first chance to ride in his baby carrier, attached to Michelle’s bike!

We rode, checked on the setup frequently, and played around. We relaxed, flew the drone a bit, and enjoyed the sun and surprisingly moderate weather. In short – it was chill, and I adored it.

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Sunday was my driving day… but not before another bike ride to breakfast where I was introduced to Acai bowls – for the first time, if you can believe it! I don’t know how I’ve lived in Portland so long and not tried them before… but damn if they weren’t amazing! Crunchy, fruity… all the good things!

Then the sadness of departure, and another gloriously long and meditative drive home – with my traditional stop at In n’ Out for dinner, of course. A drone flight or two, a leg stretch, and I was home before I knew it.

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Jul7

My friends come to visit – A day at the coast!

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Saturday and Sunday, 20-May-2023 and 21-May-2023

Ohh man… it’s been a while since I’ve gotten to hang out with Dave! I think the last time was when I was still living in Hood River… and all I really remember was that we had a fire on the porch, wrapped Dave up in a sheepskin rug, and had him pose with a dwarven sword and a battle axe.

Those’re the kind of things we remember.

Anyways, Dave and his wife Lakay came to visit in May!


Sunday, 21-May-2023

Twilight isn’t an ocean movie… but it did have a scene shot at Ecola Beach (supposedly), so there we found our destination for the day!

Breakfast was found… out? Somewhere? Huh. I can’t actually quite recall what we did for breakfast… maybe we did something quick at home? Interesting. We did something, at least, I’m pretty sure.

Anyways we went to the beach. Heck yeah!


We started the day off at Cannon, since that’s an absolutely eponymous Oregon landmark. Haystack rock, yo!

We walked, I flew the drone a safe distance from the birdys, we chatted, and we found a whole slew of gorgeous roses floating in the surf. I rocked the photography, Lakay got to dip her toes in a new Ocean, and it was an amazing adventure.

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It even included crepes!




From Cannon, we headed to Ecola – supposedly the spot where they shot a few scenes from Twilight, but we weren’t quite sure… a few movie details didn’t quite add up, but you know what? Who cares – we had a blast, we got to explore and experience a glorious day… what more could you want?

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After the adventures, we did a fun light dinner with Jess, before enjoying our last few hours before having to head back to the airport for a Sunday-night red-eye. We caught up, ate great food, and I couldn’t have been more thankful for the excellent weekend.