Lessons from a Trailmaster...

Our hiking crew (L to R: Peter, TMP, Jake, Lou (the dog) and Mary) set out to explore a newly establish trail up Table Mountain...the top of Table Mountain has arguably the best views on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge...so our goal was to summit the 3,500 foot peak covering 11 miles...little did we know that the trail markings (or lack thereof) and Mother Nature would be obstacles...

The views from the trail were spectacular...the heavenly sun shined on the Columbia River Gorge and the reflection off the pure white snow was sublime. We hiked up and down the double wide trail, traversed snow-covered rock slides and sat at the foot of an un-named waterfall...I know the drama is killing you, so I'll give you the punchline...we didn't make it to the summit, but we learned some valuable lessons...1) follow the signs, 2) sometimes the solution is staring you right in the face and 3) exploration can be its own reward...we hiked in snow at times that was knee, thigh or waist deep and it was fuuuuuun! I mean, when its 60+ degrees out, so quiet you can hear a pin drop and you have awe-inspiring views of the Columbia River Gorge, what more could one ask for!?!?!?!?

Sucking the Marrow out of Life...

Call it "sucking the marrow out of life" or "taking a big bite out of of life and letting the juices flow down your chin"...this past weekend was a foray into the largest cathedral on earth...the great outdoors. New friends and old friends came together to snow shoe, bike and snowboard during, what turned out to be, a weekend blessed by Mother Nature with clear, blue skies, moderate tempuratures and sun, sun sun! You know, your typical kind of dayz during February in the Pacific Northwest :P Rather than blab about it, you can see for yourself...the links below illustrate the majestic beauty of Mt Hood - from the perspective of a snow shoer and snowboarder. What's the difference you say? Well, snow shoeing is like hiking in the snow, whereas snowboarding is like, well, falling down a moutain head over feet over and over again. I guess that's my version of snowboarding, but it was FUN nonetheless...my teachers were very patient and taught me a thing or two about falling gracefully :)

Many of you know that I have used Kodak Gallery religiously over the last several years, but I am trying to evolve my picture sharing passion with my audience in mind...PicasaWeb is where its at for now...Don't worry, I still have the same witty and humorous captions :) I guess, you can be the judge of that...

Mirror Lake Snow Shoe Adventure

http://picasaweb.google.com/steve.papp/SnowShoeingMirrorLake

Timberline Snowboarding Romp
http://picasaweb.google.com/steve.papp/SnowboardingTimberlineLodgeMtHood

A visit to Oaktown...

Many of you know this, but I lived in San Jose, CA from 8/00 to 1/02...during this time I developed some friendships with some really cool people...who, all have some connection to the MidWest ;) ...go figure! I aim to make an annual presence to the Bay Area to catch some sun, hang out with friends and get a taste of the finer things in life. One of the main "attractions" during this visit was meeting Arjun (Amar and Ami's 6 month old son). Arjun is a beautiful boy who is teething...so, that means if he can grab it, it goes straight to the mouth...drooling ensues. Pictured here is Arjun (AJ) and this video is of Amar (the dad) playing some new game - Enjoy! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFnu3vxNI4A)

The adults had fun too...Amar, Jeff and I went to Iron Works (a rock climbing gym in Oakland) to do our best spider-man imitations...we came, we saw, we climbed...Jeff is a certified balayer (sp?), so he instructed Amar and I in the finer points of keeping each other from bouncing off the ground should we fall off the wall. The first climb was an adrenaline rush and blood flooded our forearms...we all felt like Popeye the Sailor! To soothe our throbbing muscles, we grabbed some footlong subs at Subway and headed out to City Beer in San Francisco...(editors note: we were moving quite slowly after showering up b/c the fatigue finally set in...we're not kids anymore)...what would normally be a several hour journey of tasting all the libations one could handle, turned out to be a different type of workout...just lifting the glass of beer to our lips took more effort than normal...but we did it!!! YIPPEEE!!! (editors note: we got home at like 9:30pm..even after stopping for dinner at a Pakistani restaurant for some "spicy" fare). Sad...very sad.

On Sunday, our Bay Area clan went out for brunch at Universal Cafe in San Fran...we waited like 2 hours for a table, but it was totally worth it! We took one look at the brunch menu and we said "Yes!" Everything sounded so delicious...it was hard to pick just one thing. Kristen and I had the bright idea of sharing several dishes to maximize our culinary desires. We had a tuna melt on sourdough with freshly made potatoe chips, dungeness crabs cakes covered with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce AND granola with fresh yogurt...AND we each had a papaya, prickly pear and banana fruit shake...then I helped Jenny with her salad :-) Oh ya, the weather was in the 60s and 70s all weekend, so after brunch we headed to a local city park to play aerobie (a disc-like frisbee)...a perfect way to end the weekend.

It was a fun weekend...not because of the things we did, but because of the people I shared it with...okay, it was the weather!

I would normally end it there, but I have to add something about what happened at the beginning of my weekend at the Portland International Airport (PDX). After checking my bag and going through the security check point, I walked to my gate still unwinding from my work week...I finally looked up and noticed some amazing artwork along the wall leading into the seating area...I got so engrossed in each piece, I just had to take a few pictures...all of the artwork was created by elementary and highschool kids in Oregon. Truly amazing. The lesson: Beauty is all around you...all you need to do is pay attention. Take time to enjoy the little things...Ciao for now.