It's Been a Long Time

I shouldn't have left you. Yeah, what kind of blogger am I!? Biggest snowfalls of the year and I'm neither telling you about it nor taking pictures of it. Bummer. Here's the hot cheddar, I get back from Baldface and am greeted by the plague. Whooping cough and sore throat for two weeks. I tried to ride through it (like I said, epic pow, brah), but it just made things worse. Doctor said it was bronchitis and gave me antibiotics. Told me to take it easy for a spell. Not so bad. Caught up on some reading. Read Hayduke Lives by Edward Abbey. Follow-up to the acclaimed The Monkey Wrench Gang. Good stuff. Same barbed wire-sharp wit and ironic humor that I loved from the first. He tends to ramble a little more than I like. Maybe I should take that as a cue for my own writing. Next time I find myself rattling off a list of a dozen or so items, I'll try to whittle off a few. Just for you.

Health returned just in time for me to host a couple friend from the Midwest. I've known Shanna for about as long as I've been snowboarding and she just picked up the habit this year. Got herself out about 20 days, which I think is admirable for a first year. Hell, it's admirable for any year in my book. She even took trips to several different states. That one's a real traveler anyway. She might write a guest blog here about the first few days strapped to a plank. Anyway, she brought her friend, Ben, who needed three more for his first 100-day season. They get here and I'm in Spokane watching Conan O'Brien the night they got to town. That's another post. Energy drinks and truck stop roller-dogs (cheddar-wurst is always the right choice) got me home just past 4am. They ended up riding a few hours later with another friend from town. Some friend. I made it up with them the next two days to finish off Ben's century. We took all the requisite mountain shots. Stopped for Playboy energy drink at some Boring strip club. Drank brewpub beer every night, smoked good weed, tossed some disc golf, drove across bridges, you know, things we do in Portland.

Now I'm probably just a few days away from the end of my season. Weddings and camping are filling my coming weekends. Timberline closes for us spring pass holders on May 31. My last trip with the Snowdays Foundation was today. Great group of kids and a great sunny day. So much fun. Soon I'll be mountain biking, hiking, paddling, surfing, sunburning and just straight enjoying the outdoors. Just with less snow. And maybe I'll sneak in a trip up to the glacier or Argentina, you know, to keep things fresh.

Summer is finally crawling out from the gutter. The sun is making its presence felt. The trees and flowers are full and proper. The farmers markets are going off. Couldn't ask for much more. Those of you who have time left to shred, go hard while you still have it. Best believe I'll be givin' it these last few before I surrender to the beers and barbecue summer madness.