Clare and I headed up to Olympic National Park for the Memorial Day weekend to camp and hike among the big trees. We had a great time up there! Clare had never been there and it had been years since I had visited that area so it was pretty exciting just to be there. The Hoh Rain Forest was the highlight for sure. That's where we got our hug on with this Mammoth Hemlock.
I headed up to Hood River Oregon today to watch the third day of the Rally-America, Oregon Trail Rally. It is an on road/off road car race that is being held up in the mountains near Mt. Hood. The racing was exciting and the crowds were into it. Car rallying is now an X-games sport so it is pretty popular. Most teams seem to be sponsored by some sort of energy drink! No surprise I guess. 
The cars are pretty incredible. They are mostly Subaru's and Mitsubishi's, with the occasional Ford Focus (don't ask me why), and all are modified with roll cages, beefed up suspensions etc. The cool thing about these cars though is that they all must be street legal (lights, signals, even license plates!).
Shooting pics of these flashy cars was loads of fun. There was dust flying everywhere though so tonight I'm hanging out at home, cleaning my camera!
More images from the Oregon Trail Rally...
Sliding sideways into the turn!
Almost seems too clean for a rally car! 
Clare and I headed out of town this weekend and went camping near Sisters Oregon, on the Metolious River. Despite some persistent drizzly rain we had a great time, and the tent kept us nice and dry. We took a nice hike at Smith Rock State Park, and another hike along the river.
Clare and I had a mellow weekend, staying in town and taking it easy. We spent Sunday afternoon at one of my places in the city; the Portland Chinese Garden. Many of the plants are flowering now and the whole garden was beautiful!
Tonight I'm in Honolulu on my way out to Midway for a week of fieldwork. I'm holed up on the 11th floor of a hotel on Waikiki Beach. The scene is pretty surreal, with pale, sandal shod tourists all over the place. I'm sharing the hotel with a high school band from California that is here for a competition. I hope they don't decide to practice their trombones tonight.
Clare and I just got back from a great weekend over in Sunriver Oregon. We headed down there with Stuart, Emily, Karl and Ann and had a blast. I rented a great house for us, complete with hot tub, vaulted ceilings, and a great kitchen. I was fighting a head cold all week so I took it easy for most of the weekend, but I enjoyed the hot tub to the fullest! We cooked some great food as well and generally had a blast.
I headed down to Coos Bay this weekend to visit Bryan and Bitting and the girls. Socko was in town as well to weld up a few bikes for kicks. They ended up building two bikes; a chopper made from an old Schwinn frame flipped upside down (above) and a two frame, full suspension tall bike (below). We went out for a ride on the town in Coos Bay and got plenty of comments from people all over town.
Well my new bike is already showing it's stuff on American soil, albeit under some other rider. The other guy is Rinaldo Nocentini of the French Pro Tour team AG2R-La Mondiale. Nocentini won the seventh stage of the Amgen tour of California today, beating the likes of such notable riders as Ivan Basso and Lance Armstrong. Nocentini and the rest of his team ride the same frame I just bought; not some similarly painted job but the exact same frame. Mine of course doesn't have all of the super expensive additional parts (high-end derailleurs, wheels, etc.), I opted for a more reasonably priced group of components for my ride. This is a big win for AG2R though and great for BH publicity in this country. A write up of the bike can be found at: http://www.velonews.com/article/88449/spanish-conquest---bh-bicycles-take-the-stage-in-california
OK, there is no getting around it, I'm in love! Clare, don't get jealous! It happened immediately actually, the first time I laid my eyes on the new G4 from BH cycles. And so, after several dreamy test rides and with no regrets whatsoever I took the plunge and threw down the credit card for my brand new road bike. BH bikes (short for Beistegui Hermanos or Beistegui Brothers) are relatively unknown in this country, despite the fact that they've been making bikes for 100 years. They were first imported into the US last year, and as far as anyone can tell me, mine is the first sold here in Portland - so it's been a common occurance to have to explain to friends what it is that I bought. As would be expected from a company with that much history, they have their fair share of Grand Tour winners and cycling legends that have raced on BH bikes. My hope is in some small way to add to that pedigree!! Here is a link to their site: http://www.bhbikes-us.com/bikes.php