weekend fun.

This weekend turned out to be a blast. After the staff meeting on friday, i bailed from school and met Darren on the coast. The weather was perfect. After suiting up, we saw that the sea lion dude was still around from thursday. Poor guy was either sick or injured. I thought that there would be someone to notify or something out here, but i guess the park rangers had already been notified... Just before we were about to jump in the water Nick rolled up. We all headed out, and it was fairly fun. I personally thought the swells were breaking cleaner on thursday, even though there was all that mess from the storm. Nick agreed that it wasn't that great, so we skimmed around for awhile, and just enjoyed the weather.

Saturday woke up around 9am, and rolled up to the beach around 10am. Nick had a laid back lesson to teach. Turns out one of the girls was originally working in NYC, and worked on some high level in the trade center towers. When sept 11 rolled around, she was 15 minutes late to work from being out too late the night before... crazy...
After the lesson, Nick and i headed out to the "outside". Waves were breaking super well. Darren ended up showing up out of nowhere joining us. He was susposed to be at vancouver all weekend. The swells ended up getting pretty big... Darren and i got broke off a couple times dropping in to some 7-8ft waves from the top, haha.
After being in and out of the water for about 4 hours, Nick and i decided we were going to take his canoe to a few of the inland lakes. We stopped at my place to grab a quick bite to eat, and talk to Kim about windsurfing. We went over to his place, and threw the canoe on top of his car. We were headed to "Island Lake" and "Lost Lake" as shown below:

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We cruised Island Lake to the northern end. Then stopped and walked through the woods to Lost Lake. It was super peaceful back there. Nothing but wildlife hanging out. Saw a bald eagle, and a redtailed hawk flying around. After surfing pretty much everyday for a week, my shoulders were killing me on the canoe trip. Nick wasn't in much better shape, haha. My feet have also been taking a beating. There are a bunch of blisters from Travis's size-too-small boots. The tops of my feet have been doing some kind of muscle thing where it's actually kind of hard to walk at times. It has something to do with all the surfing, but just hoping it goes away.

Looking North at Lost Lake


Tree.


Paddling south on Island Lake.


Today, Nick and i decided to take a road trip down to "Short Sands" in Oswald West State Park. It's just south of Cannon Beach and about an hour away. You park off of Hwy 101 and hike about a quarter mile to the beach. The beach is like Waikiki in that it's a cove protected from north and south winds. Immediately upon arriving i saw just how many people there were. It was definitely different than Long Beach. I'd say about 80% of the people there were there to surf. Most of the crowd was younger, and in general it was super laid back. It also helped that there were a bunch of surf babes, ha. The weather was spectacular. After suiting up and heading out i noticed how clear the water was, it was crazy compared to Long Beach. The waves were so clean and amazing, just super smooth and easy to catch. Even though i was intimidated at first with surfing around other surfers, and trying my best with proper etiquette, it turned out to be super chill, and more than enough space for everyone. It was interesting seeing the variety of surfers. From young to old, long boards, to short... There were some dudes that were shredding, including Nick. He let me borrow his 7'6" "hybrid short/long" board. It was amazing... catching waves super well, and having the maneuverability of a shorter board. The entire day was a great experience, and probably the best day I've had surfing yet.
On the way back we stopped in Cannon Beach, and Seaside to stop at a few of the shops and look at boards and other various equipment. Hit up Freddies in Astoria, and purchased all the "trail mix" supplies for my manufacturing class. Crossed the bridge, and headed back up to the peninsula. Good times.

Creek leading out to Short Sands.


People hanging out.


Overlooking Short Sands, cheesy photo, but thanks Nick.

sunsets and sea lions.

The week flew by, it's already friday... School has been getting easier, as far as planning goes. However, i was informed that classes are not semester long, like i thought they were, rather a whole year. I was planning my classes to be a semester long, so after talking with Marc, we came to a solution. Switch manufacturing and engineering up so that next year when i start and advanced level course, i'll have two classes worth of students to pull from. Having construction tech be a year long actually works to my advantage, so i plan on keeping that the way it is.

It was pretty miserable all day. Got a call from Michael that Waikiki was blown out again... Both him and Travis decided to take another day off. Darren and I decided to head out to Seaview approach anyways. We knew it was going to be huge, and probably impossible to make it to the outside. It was definitely pretty wild when we got out. Super choppy and random waves every direction. About half an hour later, the clouds were starting to somewhat break, and soon enough the sun came out. The conditions got way better, and the surf turned out to be a lot of fun. On the way in for a break we spotted a sea lion sleeping on the beach. We went it to take some photos and it scared the crap out of us when it woke up and started barking at us, ha.

Weekend should be fun...


Walking back out for round two. Thanks Darren.


Darren strapping up.


Sea lion dude taking a nap.

waikiki & sunrises.

The past few days have been a blast. Darren, Micheal, Travis, and myself have started making a habit to meet a certain time afterschool and go surfing. Nick hasn't been out because things have been super busy down at the refuge. It's awesome that we've gotten a crew together to push each other. Travis gave me a pair of his old boots, and it makes such a difference in the water. He's also been letting me ride his old 7'6" which is a ton of fun.
Today a storm rolled in around lunch time, and as predicted brought 30+mph winds. Thus, making the surf huuuuge. The normal Seaview beach approach was probably unsurfable with 15+ foot waves. However, when the winds and tides are just right, a cove called Waikiki becomes surfable. Because it's a cove, the waves push at a constant rate and most barrel perfectly. This is all what i've heard... After Michael got off work at the ranger office, he checked it out, and said the winds were too much and was washing Waikiki out. Darren and I decided to head down anyways to check it out. The winds were so strong it made walking hard, along with the sand blowing into our eyes. We snapped a few pictures and decided to take the day off and rest up because tomorrow is sussposed to be perfect.

If only the tide was a little higher and the winds more NW...


Cape Dissapointment lighthouse in the background.



Yesterday we had a new teachers meeting in the morning. I woke up a little early, and decided to be proactive and take some shots of what sunrise looks like in the morning. Today the Denford CNC Router came in. Should be fun playing with that thing once we get it all set up.

Various photos from the sunrise.

weekends.

The weekend turned out to be a real good time. Friday after school came back and just hung out at my place. Was thinking about checking out the game up at the high school to "show support" but realized at 8pm that the game started at 7pm, oh well.
Saturday got a wake up call from Jules to come out and surf. It was at 9am and i totally couldn't wake up for some reason. It's cool though because there were plans of an afternoon session. I casually woke up ate some breakfast, and headed to the shop to hang out. Once we got out, we realized the waves were sooo sick. On the "outside" (where the waves start to form) some of the swells were pushing double overhead or about ten-twelve feet. Getting past these waves to the outside proved to be a challenge, but once we were out we had a chance to take a break. Once we were out there saw a bunch (or maybe the same) of seals, and a dolphin dude jump out of the water. Catching the waves from the outside as big as they were was somewhat of a challenge. My success rate was probably 50% but there was one i stood up on from the top that felt amazing. After being out for close to three hours we were all beat. The kind of beat after a good snowboarding session. Jules, Nick, and myself went to the local thai food restaurant, and got the "super sized" dishes.
It was Jules last night in town before heading back up to Victoria, BC for the winter. Before locking up the shop, he gave me a shirt, and pretty much let me have one of the softtop boards for the winter. Just needed to throw a couple fins on the bottom and it's good to go. I can't thank Jules enough for all the help he's given me oer the past few weeks. Without him there'd be no way i would have gotten out half as much, and learn as much as i have. I plan on heading up to Victoria for a weekend, and going up to Whistler with Jules sometime this winter.
Today, i went across the river to Seaside to pick up the fins i needed from Cleanline. I would have stopped in Astoria for their sunday market, but it was raining a bit. Picked up some groceries and headed back up to the peninsula. Made dinner, and took the canoe out.

It was super calm out on the bay.


Random funny picture i took on the roadtrip out here...

Pickleball/Bungee boarding round two.

Last night i was pretty tired from rowing out to Long Island, but decided to go out with Kim to Steve's barn to play some pickle ball. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickleball Steve's barn is pretty amazing, the downstairs woodshop's got everything... the upstairs has a full pickle ball court, basketball hoop, jam space with a drum set, guitars, etc. I guess way back in the day Steve used to have a 6ft miniramp, then his barn burnt down. But he says he wants to rebuild a ramp, and he's got more than enough space to make it happen.

Today school was good as usual, things are starting to get a lot easier. Also got an email with tracking numbers for the CNC Mill that's on its way. Randy Bloom stopped in to my room first thing in the morning rambling on about how he's been in town for so and so many years and he never made the paper, but i've been here two weeks... ha. There was a full front page article in Chinook Observer's Life section about the whole bungee surfing thing, with a bunch of photos.

Talked to Chris at pickle ball about going out today, so got a call just as school was getting out. Jules, Nick, and Darren were across the river. But Chris and i went out regardless, Steve joined us a little later. The waves were pretty big today, and it was high tide when we went out. Initially the challenge was making it over a few short waves to get to a big break, then do a slasher, or launch off the wave. We were all getting tossed left and right, especially Steve. He went head over heels a few times, ha. I managed to get a real good BS slash on this wave that was pretty far out. Steve took off, so Chris and i kept at it, experimenting with different angles/directions. Chris was going out just as normal when he took a spill that didn't look any worse than others... When he got up he was holding his hand. After a few minutes of trying to figure out what was wrong, i went out to grab the anchor, and we brought everything in. He's pretty sure he broke his hand, and went to go get it checked out. Sketchy...

Anyways, here's some random pictures i've taken.

Cool sunset colors from my backyard, looking east.


Cool sunset colors from my backyard, looking north.


Foggy morning with some birds in my backyard. Tide heading out, or coming in?


Took this when i rode my bike up to the northern end of the peninsula.


The bay, about 5 miles north of my house. Oysterville harbor to the left.


Not sure what lighthouse this is. Leadbetter State Park.


Sandollarz...

Canoe + Bungee/Banshee Boarding

I came back from school today, and the tide had peaked about an hour prior. The winds were only 8mph out of the SW. Decided to take the canoe out and try to make it out to Long Island. I was able to get into a good rhythm there and back. I think it was about a 5 mile roundtrip?
Took some photos with my phone from about halfway out...

Looking back towards my place.


Looking towards Long Island.


Cruising...



So last tuesday when i met Jules and Nick at this mexican place that has all you can eat tuesday nights, i learned of this new "sport". Thursday after we got done surfing, Chris pulled up with the system in the back of his car. So basically it's this system comprised of a super long braided bungee cord attached to a boat anchor. You wade out in the ocean till you're about waist deep and plant the boat anchor in the sand. Then two people walk/stretch the bungee system towards the shore. It actually gets real hard to pull the cord in after awhile. The further you pull it, the faster you get going. So someone holds the short handle, and anchors themself in the sand while you put down the skimboard and get your footing right. You say when, and the person holding the anchor handle lets go. Initially there's not as huge a pull as you might think. But then about a quarter way out, you get launched. They say speeds around 30mph? You get going pretty fast... maybe faster than 30... So when you're getting launched this fast you have to make sure you have your weight just right or you end up hitting a wave wrong, and it straight launches you... I'm sure without the wetsuits, we'd have some pretty bad sand burn. Overall, it's a super good time, especially when you get a session going.

All of the photos were taken from Damien's blog @ http://damianmulinix.blogspot.com/

Stretching the cable with Chris.


Little further...


Jacob getting straight jacked.


Good times...

Intro

So i decided to start one of these things to allow friends and family a chance to check out what's going on out here in the NW. I'll try to update this thing frequently with photos and stories. I'm sure i'll get lazy about it, but when something cool happens, or i take a good photo, i'll be sure to throw it up on here.
So as most of you know i moved out to SW Washington.
I technically live in Long Beach, WA and teach at the southern end of the peninsula in Ilwaco, WA.

To give you an idea as to the whereabouts of said location...

View Larger Map

So yeah,
This past weekend was pretty cool. Saturday i decided to head down to Astoria and then up to Fort Stevens State Park. Before crossing the bridge, i stopped in Chinook to drop off some recyclables and saw a few photo to be had.

Kids don't float.


Looking towards Ilwaco harbor...


Bird dudes hanging out.


I made my way across the bridge and towards Fort Stevens. It's definitely one of the cooler parks i've been to out these ways.

An old shipwreck that's lodged into the beach.


Ship heading out to sea from the Columbia River.


Looking at Astoria, and the bridge from the bay side of Fort Stevens.


View of the ocean off of the North Jetty. I hear it's a pretty solid place to surf, if the wind breaks off the jetty just right. While i was here i saw a kite-boarder launch his kite, and cruise out.



After Fort Stevens, i cruised around Astoria and stopped at a pretty low key coffee shop. From what i hear Astoria has a pretty good art and music scene. I'll have to spend some time to get to know the area better. Don't get me wrong Long Beach is amazing. But as far as meeting lady folk go everyone says the best bet is to "import", ha.

Anyways, picked up some groceries and headed back home. Grilled some tuna, and made a salad after picking lettuce from the garden. Afterwards, went for a drive on the beach, as it was lowtide. Attempted to watch the sunset, but the crazy fog on the beach was in full effect. Perfectly sunny and not a cloud in the sky, in town, but as soon as you cross onto the beach you are engulfed by heavy fog.

My backyard as the moon rises over Willapa Bay at low tide.


Even later at night, still low tide.



Today i woke up to Jules calling me asking if i wanted to go surf. I grabbed a quick bite to eat, and met him and Nick at the shop. We rode our bikes to the beach, suited up, and headed out. I took the longboard out today to mellow it out a little. It helped with paddling out to the "outside" (past where the waves break, where the surf is the best, which takes some work to get out past the bigger waves). Upon reaching the "outside" i saw something out of the corner of my eye. A wave washed over top, then it surfaced again. This seal dude was looking at me like "what are you doing here", and i thought the same back at him. We had our moment, and he disappeared under a wave. I was stoked to catch a legit wave from the "outside" and ride it all the way in. After a few hours we headed in. Good times.

I'll post some photos from weeks past sometime this week.