I… Wow. I don’t know how long it’s been since I last went kayaking. Like… seriously, I used to go at least once or twice a week when I was in Boston, and that was only… yeah okay that was 9 years ago. I’ve probably gone a half-handful of times since. Wow.
Okay anyways I went kayaking with my Mommy! It was awesome! I only got a little seasick!
It was really fun, but also quite a bit more challenging than I expected, to be fully truthful. I hadn’t put on a full slathering of sunscreen, first off, which added a bit of anxiety into the mix… but the main challenge was that the Mediterranean isn’t quite as placid as the Charles River in Boston.
Who knew, right? Well… almost everyone knew. Probably. But that’s fine – we had a blast! We spent a quick hour or so on the water; trying to coordinate paddling, dodging yachts, and exploring around a neat spit that went near the Cassis Harbor. It was really fun, and I’d absolutely have loved to try it again if we’d had enough time (and sunscreen) ((and Dramamine)) (((And maybe a more comfortable seat))). But for now, I’ll put the adventure into my back pocket of options we can try out for the next time.
I started this post out by just creating a list of all the adventures that I went on in 2021. But… I realized pretty quickly that wasn’t particularly interesting – While it was informative, it was pretty dry, and the list didn’t really capture the feeling of the year.
Instead, I think I’ll just post my favorite pictures, along with a quick summary of the sort of the major adventures of the year:
The winter brought lots of backpacking and snow hiking – It’s still strange to me how much I’ve grown to know Oregon in the last year and a half… or, more accurately, how little of Oregon I really met in the preceding four years.
I visited friends in Sacramento in the spring; had amazing catch-up time, and saw some stunning views of Lake Tahoe
In the late spring, I visited one of the most photographed lakes in the Pacific North West – Colchuck Lake! I even summitted Asgard’s Pass with a friend… though the blood-price for that trip was steep. I injured my knee again, which put me out of hiking condition for nearly two months afterward.
The summer saw the death of my Grandmother, a blow to the entire family that we’ll never truly move on from. I was brought unexpectedly face-to-face with just how much of my personality came from her. Her passing brought an unexpected gift, though, in the form of nearly two weeks visiting family and friends back in New England.
The early fall brought my first dedicated rock climbing trip in quite some time – along with summitting what is probably the most iconic climbing route I’ve ever done. Devil’s Tower, in the bag!
The late fall brought friendship and comradery in amounts I haven’t seen in years. A backpacking trip with friends, and a huge event in my friend group – My friend Dillon’s bachelor party, and my role as best man in his wedding!
The winter is still coming in to Oregon, but the end of 2021 brought the return of beautifully snowy conditions up on Mt. Hood, and a reminder of just how glorious the Oregon Coast really can be…
**As always, if anyone would like a copy of any of these photos, please let me know. I have many of them already printed, but can always re-print anything that anyone would like.
It’s been ages since my friends and I’ve had a good old fashioned get together.
COVID, living on the West Coast, tons of little things have delayed or denied getting to get together and catch up. But now, we’ve got a good reason to get together – one of the best reasons of all, in fact! A wedding! And what comes before a wedding? The bachelor party, of course!
Dillon had asked me to be his Best Man for the wedding in November, which of course meant planning and throwing the bachelor party itself – with much help from many people, a plan was crafted and a timeline put in place. A location chosen, a guest list compiled, and a date chosen.
Plane tickets were bought, rentals secured, and reservations called in. Now, all that remained was the best part of the process – sitting back and having an amazing weekend!!!
Saturday, 02-October-2021
Saturday dawned early… And if I’m being frank here, far earlier that I really thought would be possible for someone who just flew across the country, and doesn’t like waking up early on the best of days.
But you know what? Nothing helps me out of bed like the prospect of a day of friends and fun – and that goes double when I’m in a new place… Like, for example, an awesome new cabin by an absolutely gorgeous lake!
Which is all to say – I woke up early, met up with the other early risers, and got breakfast started with enough rest-time to step out onto the lake and greet the beautifully cool East Coast morning that I’ve missed so much. I don’t really know how to describe it, but… there’s something about the smell of the air on the East Coast that miss. It’s… more crisp? Maybe?
Anyways, It was lovely, and breakfast was absolutely delicious. Eggs, Bacon, Muffins, coffee… all of those critical things, up to and including good cheer and excitement.
The plan for the day was to get a short hike in, do a bit of kayaking, and then head into town for a bit of a bar crawl. Nothing crazy, of course, since we’re all old men at this point, but enough that we could relive a bit of glory days while also satiating our refined taste palettes. Yes. Fancy adults. Mmhmm.
Our hike started us off down a small side street, then took us across the highway on a lovely little highway overpass pedestrian bridge… before starting basically straight upward for 1.5 miles. Prospect Mountain was the name, with a nice distance of 3miles round trip, covering roughly 1,500ft of elevation gain. You know, nice and simple… roughly the same steepness of Mt. Hood, just at a lower elevation.
Yeah.
It was a steep hike, man.
But you know what? When we got to the top and were able to look out over the entire valley, feeling the wind at our backs and knowing we’d earned the views? It wasn’t so bad. Not at all bad.
The descent was marked by ever-increasing talk of lunch – we’d declined to pack snacks, since it was such a short hike, but… the heavy elevation had overcome our breakfast, and the thought of making some sandwiches back at the cabin was creeping more and more insistently into our collective conciousness.
We drove quickly, and pulled out all the fixings just as quickly.
If I may be proud, I’m pretty sure I knocked it out of the park with my own sandwich – heated in the oven, roast beef, cheese, lettuce added in right at the end… mm. We’re talking some good stuff, especially when combined with the various sides that we’d saved, and the leftovers from the night before. Some ribs, some mac and cheese… yeah. The hike had left us all hungry, and we absolutely ate well!
Once we’d finished gorging on our various delicious creations, we relaxed for a bit before heading out onto the lake – the rental cabin had a few kayaks squirreled away near the shore, ready and waiting for us to jump in and pilot them to their next adventure. Chris held down the fort at home, but the rest of us did a beautiful circumnavigation of the lake – Lake Luzerne, if I haven’t mentioned yet.
Our paddling was glorious. Beautiful skies, calm waters, and interesting views were had, and we even landed the kayaks at one point to explore a small tributary that led off the end of the lake… leading to what we learned was (I believe) the oldest paper pulp mill in the United States!
And a huge spider!
In short – the kayaking was excellent, relaxing, and a great post-lunch event.
From the water, we headed inland – after getting ourselves cleaned up, we heeded the call of the town and headed into Lake George to see what kind of trouble we could get into…
A distillery and an excellent restaurant, it turns out – Lake George Distillery and The Boathouse, specifically.
The distillery was definitely an interesting chance to try out some new spirits… but if I’m being candid here, I didn’t particularly click with any of the options that they had on the list. They weren’t bad, by any means, and their straight whisky was pretty solid, but nothing really stood out, you know? They’re good, but… I’m realizing that I really do just like the basics. Simple and clean is starting to be better than unique and experimental, you know?
Dinner, on the other hand, was absolutely excellent. We’d found a solid restaurant that hit the targets of being both affordable and high class, with a great beer menu and a solid dinner menu. Drinks, food, and laughter kept us going well into the evening, priming the way for us to head back to the cabin to keep the party train going until the whisky had been drank, and more than a few creative moves had been made in the various board games that people had brought along.
