Mountain Biking in Moab, Utah

My friend from high school, Chad Staker, emailed me last month inquiring about a possible mountain biking trip to Moab, Utah. I had long dreamed about riding the world famous Slickrock Trail in Moab, so it did not take much convincing for me to say yes.
Flying with a bike and camping gear seemed to be a big hassle, so I decided to make it a road trip. It was pretty easy to get Kern and Sean (a friend from work) to join the trip. We set out on a Wednesday after work and roadtripped 1,100 miles straight through the night from Portland to Moab in my old 4Runner. Chad woke up the next day and left from Denver to meet us there early Thursday afternoon.

We got a short ride in Thursday before the sun went down:

riding the famous Slickrock Trail in Moab

We were lucky to snag the last available campsite (out of over a hundred sites, only one left!)

our campsite, located about 0.25 mile from the trailhead

We woke up early on Friday to ride the full 12 mile Slickrock Loop.

Kern, Sean, Chad, and I

Sean hits an endo for the camera

The trail lies precariously close to the edge of a canyon down to the Colorado River. My Ray Bans broke, so I had to bust out my Old Skool Oakley wraparounds from the 90's. :)

Sean powers up a hill that proved too steep for the Jeep crew below.....we all (barely) made it up this torturous climb, causing the Jeep crowd to actually cheer for us! It is amazing how much traction you can get on the sandstone; you are limited in what you can climb only by endurance and strength.

Sean poses for a panoramic shot

We finished the trail in the early afternoon and were exhausted, but not ready to call it a day. We decided to take Chad's Tacoma out for some 4X4 action. I was too paranoid to take my old 4Runner out....mainly for fear that if it breaks down, it is a LONG ride back to Portland.

the view from the cab as Chad drives up Hell's Revenge...there's not much room for error

driving down a fin at Hell's Revenge

getting vertical - the back tires are barely touching the ground

up to the doors in water....Chad at his best :)

random lizard on our firewood at the campsite

At night, we donned headlamps and did a quick night ride on the Slickrock. It was probably not the smartest or safest thing I have ever done.
I took a break and let the others disappear into the night. I laid alone, with my back on the sandstone, which was still warm from the day's sun. As I stared up at the stars, I had a surreal experience akin to nirvana. Just me and nature...at one....in peace and harmony. Utter silence and indescribable natural beauty all around me. I contemplated spending the entire night there on the rock.

On Saturday, we rode the Porcupine Rim trail for some technical, rocky singletrack. The trail starts with a 4 mile climb, gaining 1000 ft elevation.

This climb reminded me how seriously out of shape I am!!

Chad and Sean enjoying the view at the top of the climb

the view at the top

Our efforts during the long climb were more than rewarded with a 12 mile descent into the canyon. This is definitely the best trail I have ever ridden....it has lots of tough sections and plenty of places to get the adrenaline flowing strong.

Kern cautiously navigates a turn...no worries, the canyon two feet to his right is ONLY a 2000 ft drop straight down to the Colorado River.

this would be your last view if you miss a turn on the Porcupine Rim Trail

Chad found just the right spot to setup for a photo....he figured one of us would biff....and he was right. It was me. This pic is about 0.1 seconds before I went flying over the handlebars.

OK, now I am managing to keep 2 wheels on the ground

The trail dumped us out in the valley below. We had a few miles of light cruising through the valley with stunning views before having to ride back uphill to the campsite.

Kern and I ran out of water and severe fatigue was setting in. The last several miles were a steep uphill climb and we were seriously hurting. We had covered a total of 26 miles of terrain and just wanted to make it back to the campsite. Luckily, Chad was a true friend and picked us up in the 4runner about 0.5 mile from the campsite before I almost had a heat stroke.
We had originally planned to stay another night, but instead decided that Moab had already done enough damage to our bodies so we packed up our gear and started the trip home. We left Moab Saturday evening, drove through the night again, and returned to Portland around noon on Sunday. With 3 days of riding and 4 days without a shower or running water, it felt good to be home.

I think we all agreed the trip was epic; Moab definitely deserves many more visits.

More pics of the kittens

I wish we had a good camera where we could capture how quickly the kittens are growing - every time we wake up in the morning, they look a little different! Below are some additional pics of them lounging and getting into trouble.

They are lap cats! After playing around, they like to lounge in our laps together (they're hardly apart).
They enjoy sitting on our Lovesac - a BIG memory foam bean bag chair (that can fit 4 people). They've turned it somewhat into their bed. It's funny to see how tiny they are in it.
They're always following us around the house seeing what we're up to. Emptying out the dishwasher and doing laundry takes more time because they like to investigate.
Rolo being a snuggler and giving us a good headshot
After a long day of playing
Brad in the Lovesac with the kittens - this can give you a good idea of how big the Lovesac is and how small the kittens look when they take a cat nap in it

NU Club of the Year

We finally received the pic of us receiving the Club of the Year award from Northwestern. Left to right we have Charles (President of the Northwestern Alumni Association), Chris (Portland Club President), me (Northwestern Alumni Association Regional Director for Region 8 - Portland, San Fran, and Seattle), Brad (Membership Chair), and Cathy (Executive Director at Northwestern). This is actually the 2nd Club of the Year award that I've been a part of - the Chicago Club won Club of the Year when I was Chair of the Young Alumni. The Portland Club did a great job this year, and I'm proud of what we have been able to accomplish.

Our New Kittens

With Jas passing away, the house felt really quiet and lonely. She made our house feel like home and truly created a void that was felt after she passed away. We wanted to fill that void and discussed the potential of getting another cat. We have always wanted Bengals (a cross of a domestic cat and the Asian Leopard Cat) and had also decided that if we were to get another cat that we would get a pair of siblings because then they'd have someone to play with. With Jas, we never could get her a play buddy because of her FIV.

We found a breeder in Washington who pretty much had the ideal match for what we were looking for. She had 2 kittens (sisters), one was rosetted and one was marbled. You'll see the difference in the coloring in the following pictures. We wanted one of each coloring to show the beauty of the Bengal breed.

The following 2 pictures were of our kittens at 4 weeks old. The top picture is of our rosetted kitten (markings similar to a leopard) and the bottom one is the marbled. It's interesting to see the transformation of the coloring to what they look like now.

They acclimated in our household pretty quickly - all it took were some standard cat toys! We have never had a cat in the kitten stage before, so it's fun to watch all the energy they have. With that energy, they also wear themselves out really quickly. It's hard to catch a picture of them when they're up since they're running around. We'll post some video soon of them playing. But in the mean time, you can enjoy some pictures of them sleeping. BTW - we named the marbled one Rolo for the caramel and chocolate candy she somewhat resembles. We haven't thought of a name for the rosetted one yet, so if you think of something, please post a comment and let us know!

It's nice that they have both the playful and lap cat side in both of them. With siblings, they also enjoy cuddling with each other when they sleep.
Play time!
And sleep time again :)

NU Alumni, Chicago Visit

Recently, we both took a 4 day trip to Chicago. We were at Northwestern University on Sept 23 and 24 to attend the NU Alumni Annual Leadership Conference. Since Emily and I are both Board Members (and Em is the Regional Director), they picked up the tab for this trip. Of course they didn't have to twist our arms too hard to accept the offer! The Conference was great; we met lots of new people and gathered some great ideas on how to better run our local clubs. On Friday, we had a nice lunch with the Board of Directors and Morty Shapiro, the President of the University. The best part of the Conference was that the NU Club of Portland won Club of the Year (out of 69 Clubs nationwide). Our claim to fame can be attributed to our increasing membership by 50% as well as a fundraiser and silent auction for Susan G Komen Foundation that netted $58,000! It was nice to be able to be present at the Conference to receive the award in person.
I would be lying if I said this trip was all business. We definitely took advantage of the opportunity to visit family and friends and stayed the weekend to do so. We also had a list of our old favorite Chicago restaurants that we had to hit while we were in town.
Thursday morning, I took a nostalgic walk around campus before our NU Alumni meetings started, and I dropped by the lab to visit my old cronies. It seems like a lot has changed in the two short years that I have been gone. It was great to see old friends and checkout the new lab space in Silverman Hall. The rest of the day Thursday and Friday were booked with NU meetings.....then finally we were able to meet up with Mike, Amanda, and Pauline at Giordano's for some real Chicago style deep dish pizza! I had forgotten how good it is!!

Amanda and Em at the lagoon on the lakefill (NU campus)

Amanda, Pauline, Em at Giordano's

We stayed with Mike and Amanda Friday night; their condo is pretty sweet and made me miss living in the city. Saturday morning, we walked around our old neighborhood in Lincoln Park with Pauline and had brunch at our fav spot, Nookies.

This is why Nookies rules for brunch: you always gotta get the trio special...it never disappoints!

We headed down to the South side Saturday night to spend the rest of our weekend with Kristy, Pat, and Elliot. He just started walking so it was a real treat to see him starting to accomplish this major milestone. He is the happiest baby and lights up the room with his Gerber-baby smile. We had a great time hanging out and convinced them to let a few of our friends come over for dinner too. We ordered takeout from our favorite spot in Chinatown, Chi Cafe.

Liz and Joe - we will be heading back to Chicago in March 2011 for their wedding :)

On Sunday, we took Elliot to the park to play. On our way to the park, there were several other swing sets and play grounds. He gave a little whimper and fuss as we pushed the stroller past each one. It was cute that he knew where every possible playground in the city is! We finally reached the much awaited destination with the cool slide.

Elliot showing off as he goes head-first down the slide!!

We had just enough time before our flight to take a walk out to The Point to see Lake Michigan while waiting on our Giordano's order (yes, second time for Chicago pizza in one weekend).

Em and the Papczuns pose for a shot next to Lake Michigan, with the Chicago skyline on the horizon

Wow, this picture stuff with Elliot doesn't seem too hard. How about Uncle Brad gives it a go with the little guy? The result:

OK, Em is fixing her hair, Kristy is wiping Elliot's nose, and I am looking at Elliot instead of the camera...

Let's try it again:

I guess 3 out of 4 is the best we'll do :)

We want to give a special thanks to Amanda and Mike for letting us stay in their new condo on Friday night. And we need to thank Kristy, Pat, and Elliot for letting us crash on Saturday night and for providing taxi service to the airport. Pauline also gave us a couple clutch rides around town. It was a great weekend, but went by all too fast. We can't wait to do it again soon!!

Kerseys Visit Portland

My high school friend, Paul Kersey, and his new wife Leeanna came to visit a few weekends back. I had told them to be sure to come before October so that they would miss the rainy season. They came mid-September, but unfortunately it DID rain that weekend (but, by Murphy's Law, it has been sunny ever since). Oh well, they probably get tired of all that sunshine they have been getting since they moved to Phoenix! :)
We took them on a whirlwind tour of the "Best Of" Portland.
On Friday, we started off with Happy Hour at Portland City Grill to catch the skyline view. Then we headed home to get settled in and meet up with Em, who was just returning from a business trip to Carlsbad, CA. We went for dinner at Jake's (Happy Hour, round 2), dessert at VooDoo Doughnut, and some local brew at Kennedy School before calling it a night. The next morning, we hit the Saturday Market downtown then drove out to the Columbia River Gorge to see the waterfalls. We wrapped up the weekend with brunch at home on Sunday and some football. We made one last stop at the Adidas Employee Store (we won 50% off employee prices in a raffle) before heading to the airport to send them on their way back to sunshine. It was a great weekend, but it definitely flew by too fast. We look forward to heading down to visit them for some sunshine and warm weather during the winter months (as soon as we find some cheap tix). :)

Tom McCall Waterfront Park, downtown Portland

Columbia River Gorge

Waterfall Pics:

Multnomah Falls

The Newlyweds at the Vista House (Built 1916-1918)