Wild Turkey Regatta 2023

It was a great day to be on the river for the Willamette Sailing Club's annual Wild Turkey Regatta. Click here for photos. This fan-favorite, no-rules, un-regatta is all about collecting ducks, balls and pumpkins that have been tossed in the water, while fending off plunderers. Sturdy nets, long arms, pirate gear, and occasional bribery are key if you're going for the win. 

We've been attending this regatta off and on over the years since 2009.  Below is a photo from 2009.

Weekend on the Olympic Peninsula

We spent a long weekend exploring Puget Sound. Click here for photos from stops that included Gig Harbor, Poulsbo, Bainbridge Island, Port Townsend and Tacoma. We met up with Jake who was in the Seattle area to celebrate the birth of Theo, Elli's new nephew. Congratulations to Elli's sister and Theo's parents, Mary Morgan and Tim!

Pictured above is Pia the Peacemaker, another of Thomas Dambo's trolls, whom we visited on Bainbridge Island.  Pictured below is an especially scenic spot at Finn River Farm and Cidery, just south of Port Townsend, where we just need Emily & Coleman to visit to complete our photo-set.

While in Port Townsend, we happened upon a crazy rescue effort for a sail boat that ran aground on some shallow rocks.  It took much of the day to get it unstuck and keep it from sinking.  There are lots of photos and a time-lapse video in the album linked above. 

The album also includes photos from Tacoma's Point Defiance Park and the Tacoma Art Museum, which has a great collection of Chihuly Glass; and a video of Pat and Jake doing karaoke at the Slippery Pig in Poulsbo, where Saturday evening was One-Hit-Wonders Night.

Happy Halloween

Click here for photos from Halloween week, including Emily's pumpkin carving party and trip to the pumpkin patch.  Jake and Elli spent Halloween at Holden Village where they got to see the first snowfall in the North Cascades... so much snow in fact, they built a snowman!

And here are a few photos from Emily's recent trip to Boston to see her friend Anna. 

Cannon Beach, Kinetic Parades, and Camping Trips

We had not spent time at Cannon Beach for a while, so we took advantage of an unusually warm and sunny October weekend and visited Haystack Rock. Click here for photos. The album also includes photos from the Port Townsend Bay Kinetic Sculpture Race, which Jake and Elli got to experience this weekend; our recent visit with Jake and Elli to see Ole Bolle, the troll sculpture created by artist Thomas Dambo that now lives at Portland's Nordic Center NW; Emily and Coleman's camping adventure near Mt. Hood; and more. 

Glacier National Park

We're just back from a week in Whitefish, Montana, and Glacier National Park, where we saw bighorn sheep, a mountain goat, a grizzly bear (from a safe distance) and more. Click here for photos.  

And here are a few photos from a wedding Jake and Elli recently attended with Elli's family in Seattle as they headed back to Portland from their summer in Holden Village. 

Revisiting Bandon

While we've made regular visits to the Oregon Coast over the years, it's been a long time since we've visited the southern - and most scenic - part of the coast. Click here for photos from our long weekend in Bandon, which included a side trip along the Samuel Boardman State Scenic Corridor to see the Natural Bridges pictured below. 

And while Pat and I were enjoying the westernmost part of Oregon, Drew, Grace, Emily, Coleman and friends spent the weekend camping in Eastern Oregon, and Jake and Elli were enjoying their final weekend, for now, in Holden Village. Click here for lots of photos from the month of August, including the one below from Emily's recent bike-packing trip near Banks; and here are photos from Jake's epic Cloudy Pass hike.  It's been a summer of beautiful scenery all around. 

Since it was the first day of school for many this week, here is a throw-back album to some of our first days. 

Into the Woods...

 

It took some effort - a 6 hour drive, a 2.5 hour ferry ride up Lake Chelan, and a 40 minute drive along a winding mountain road on a retired school bus - but the trip to Holden Village was worth it for a long weekend visit with Jake and Elli at their home for the summer. Click here for photos.  

We hiked in the Glacier Peak Wilderness to Lake Holden and 10 Mile Falls; got to see Jake at work restoring porches on chalets that used to be part of a remote copper mining village turned Lutheran retreat center; and got a little more up close and personal than we were expecting with a family of bears and other wildlife. 

Meanwhile back in Portland, the rest of the crew attended a white wedding - congrats to Danny and Maris - and Drew finished 11th out of 90+ boats at Thistle Nationals on Flathead Lake, MT.  That's him below, leaning out of boat #69.

Oh... and the Barbie movie!  Fig agrees it's totally worth the hype.