Sunday, February 26, 2012

No Thank You.

Not only was it miserably cold, there was some of that glorious sideways rain we are all so fond of. This fellow thought it a perfect day to go kiteboarding. In the Pacific Ocean.

I say, no thank you sir.

If I can just get my feet into the footbrace...

I'll be off to Japan in a matter of minutes!
If you squint a little, it might be California. Except not really.

I can see the pull. ;)

Friday, February 24, 2012

Seafoam

My in-laws trucked down to the coast to see us during our weekend jaunt! They are long-term pacific northwesters, and travel with rain pants in their trunk. Good thinkin'.
There was a lot of weird sea foam. Seafoam. But it wasn't the green that comes to mind when you think of a seafoam green bridesmaid's dress.
It was everywhere.
It was mostly pretty miserable at the beach that day. Unlike some of the calm, sunny days we had when I was there in December.
I liked this couple hugging on the beach, though at this size it looks like just one person.
Even tho it was mostly miserable out, the ocean cheered my husband. :)

If I Had Boat...


Dad bought a boat! He's talked about it for years now, and finally found the boat for him. We walked up to visit it!
He bought it from a friend who lives on the other side of the bridge. Who will continue to store it for a while.
He's pretty good with visitation thus far. ;) It's swanky, huh!?! Doesn't have quite the sunbathing deck i'd hoped for, but we probably have different needs from a boat. Kiss my ass, I bought a boat, I'm going out to sea.
Abbey Road? Nope. Bridge Lane. I like this photo, but upon snapping it, thought women would never walk in this manner.
Not quite the tropical locale I sometimes dream of, but it sure is green. And this coat hasn't likely been wet since...last time I was here.
It's a good place to breathe tho. :)

To the River!

President's Day Weekend. What to do...what to do... Let's hop in that big new truck and go to the coast!
Survey the height of the mighty North Fork of the Nehalem...
Let our skin soak up some of that mold dew...
Get hailed on a bit...
You can't beat a little river in your diet!

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Snowmobilling! The Return Trip!

This was my view for most of the 4 hours we rode. No!
 The scenery was simply spectacular.
And I even captured some of those snow sparkles I love so much.
We played around "off track" for a while on the way back.
Uhm...no... We totally didn't let the under-18 crowd drive...Nosirree, not us...
Annnnnnd here's where my camera began to not enjoy the near-zero degree weather we were experiencing. Nikon just introduced a shockproof, waterproof, and freezeproof model. I might have to add it to the family camera cabinet.
Erika experienced some mild return-trip motion sickness...the girls and I agreed, being on the back on the return trip was bumpy and jiggly. Other than that, the only injury sustained was this papercut I got trying to get that low-grade, retro GPS out of my pocket on the trail.
And as the sun went down, it got colder and colder, and we headed back to the trailhead. SUCH FUN! Thanks for the invite and the great time, friends! Thanks for the winter carnival, McCall!

Snowmobiling! Burgdorf Hot Springs!

We made it safely to our snowmachining destination...Burgdorf Hot Springs! It was about 20 miles from the trailhead, and we made it without incident. Unless it is your opinion that two riders going up on one rail and bailing off their machine into a snowbank is an incident. We're just the get up, dust off the snow, and keep on ridin' sorta gang tho.
My husband is an excellent driver, and I navigated us safely through the snow.
We stayed for about 45 minutes, enjoying treats and refreshments...and of course that glorious sunshine!
We didn't, however, go for a dip. One woman unzipped her snowsuit to reveal a bikini underneath. Trying to climb back into that snowsuit post-dip with steamy wet hair, not so much.
I'm not even really a big fan of snow down my neck. I am a big fan of reckless abandon, however.
See? That's a Grade-A Snow Angel
My husband said I snowmachine like I kayak...usually recumbent and enjoying the sunshine. No helmet with the kayak tho.

 And then we were back on our rides and hit the track!

Snowmobiling! Training Session...

The six of us decided to live on the edge and go snowmobiling! We thought we'd take on more family pic before heading out, in case my husband's new medical skills weren't enough and we had to leave a man behind. NO!

We geared up and headed to our snowmachine training session. We all had full-face helmets except Erika, who's old school red helmet I could not stop coveting. I had a white one just like it when I was a three-wheel rider at about this same age.

We looked kinda bad-ass in our gear.
I love the wee folk sitting on the ground like they were the offspring of a motorcycle gang...
This one wasn't so sure about the "replace the drive belt" part of the training.
 We got 3 two-seaters. "Bombardier"? They don't apparently make snowmachines named "leather recliner."
I got to ride with this guy. Me-ow.

Winter Carnival!

Through absolutely no smarts or planning of my own, we were invited to trek up to McCall for the Winter Carnival! Carnival is the annual event where everyone who lives in Boise treks up to McCall to wander around and survey the ice sculptures, shop, and wear garments trimmed in fur. McCall is on the edge of the Payette Lake, here covered in snow.Click for the panorama.

So winter cabiny! And it featured a ton of snow and these rather scary icicles...
...and this mountainy living room for the leisurating for the menfolk.
Paula and her oldest, a rather formidableYahtzee! adversary...

Paula and her youngest, a keen crafter of snow angels... 
And even a short short order cook! Such skills!