summer?

(more pictures will come, we might have taken over 200 images in 4 days ... lots to sift!)

Is it really summer already? Wow! Well there is no way to fully catch you up on the past week but with the patience and time I have I will try my best. So Friday hits, last final of the year at 8 a.m. - Jason (a friend from GFU) flies in to Portland, dinner with friends in Portland, back to Eugene, one last BBQ with my "family" in Eugene, Smith Rock for 4 days, Cannon Beach as of yesterday, surf, and the first bonfire of the summer.

Okay so that's the skinny on the crazy fun week. To highlight the Smith trip because well it's probably more of what people have been asking me about -- not so much my finals :) Smith was great the first day it was just Jason and I, catching up on old times. We became friends my freshman year, then he graduated moved to Alaska and I went to Eugene and since then I've seen him once on his drive through town a year ago. I have a slight.. okay legit fear of heights and this trip was all about trust - what a great trip to piggy back the last "post". The first clip in at the Basalt cliffs and the trip had started. After the first day we moved over to another part of the park and we met up with another George Fox friend ( Jason's best friend Matt). We all had a great time but it was sad Matt was around for only two days. Jason and I managed to make friends with some camp site mates and the next day we headed out with them. They were great, to be honest everyone we met was great - "climbers" are a very laid back community. It's crazy how everyone we met we would manage to see the same people each day and you would think we had all known each other for years - it was pretty cool. Well the last day (Wednesday) of climbing was the best, that was the day we met up with our camp site friends (Sam, Mike and Veronica). We were over at this place called Koala Rock. From the car it was a 45min hike (straight up hill) to the base of the first climb, then once we decided our route it was a 10min short death hike to the other side. Death hike because it was a crumbled cliff of sheer rock and loose clay (uhg!). We climbed there for a bit with our new found buddies, then Jason insisted we climb the face of Koala Rock to get this view he kept talking about. I was pretty uncertain about this because we had to multi-pitch -- which means you climb one belay route, clip in, clip off, switch the rope and climb the second section. We have to cut the route into two climbs because the 70 meter rope wasn't long enough! I swear the whole way up I was praying I wouldn't slip. We finally got to the top, I flipped around and WOAH! The view was intense, it was another 80 degree day, totally clear, completely tuckered out but --- the view! You could see the 3 sisters, Hood, Jefferson, and if I have my landmarks right, 3 Fingered Jack, Mt. Washington and Broken Top. Not to mention the entire Smith Rock park. We then had to scramble our way over to the backside of the rock, belay ourselves down and start the trek back. The last belay was great, Jason warned me but I still didn't realize what I was getting myself into. And that would be a mid air belay... half way down the decent the rock face turned in and there I was mid air. I was glad once I finally hit solid ground. I managed to get that far without any major injuries.. some good bruises and minor bumps... then as I was sliding down the loose rock my foot/toe shaved through a boulder.

Well now I'm back home and am so stoked to welcome the summer. Yesterday I came home to a perfectly put together room, all of the crap from Eugene had been hung, sorted and my room was more than perfect.. my Dad is beyond amazing. The second we walked in the house it was shower time, 5 days with no shower, 80+ weather and climbing = more than I can handle! I met up with some friends and we played tourist for a few hours with Jason. I bought a slack line and we set it up and dinked on that for a few, walked home and my dad had just got off work and was amping for some salt water. So we suited up surfed for a little -- oh my the sea lions are out already and they are HUGE! The water was warm and it was a good welcome home. Dad has totally finished the back yard, equipped with a hot shower - so I took advantage of that (so great) and then we headed to our favorite pub, shared a brew (dad, jason, and brendan) and came home and had my Mom's special enchiladas (yum!). After dinner we had the first bonfire of the summer with some friends and then called it a night. I think that was a legit catch up, who knows when I'll have time to blog again so I figured I would squeeze much of it out now. 6am wake up call and ready to give the first lesson of the summer at 8. Hopefully this rain doesn't scare the clients :)