Right now I am in Middle of No Where, Oregon. Actually, I’m at Lake Billy Chinook but it is definitely in the middle of no where. Close to an indian reservation and a 3.5 hour drive from home. Beautiful though.
I’m gone for just about 24 hours to help the set up for the 2nd session of Houseboat Camp. It is the summer camp for the high school ministry at Sunset. Check out the views!
Now and then I like to take Rose to places that she really enjoys. Usually we don’t have the time or the money to do so. Today I thought I would let those last two things go and take her to her favorite places in Portland: 23rd Street and the International Rose Test Garden.
Crazy to think that both of these incredible spots are only 10 to 15 minutes from our place. Not to make any of you jealous, but today it was 74, partly cloudy, and 45% humidity (which is high for here) 
After record heat last weekend this was a nice change. I love Oregon summers!
Positive Post Tuesday and Watercooler Wednesdays at Ethos.
Today was another busy but awesome day. More and more I see why God allowed me to be here. A lot of what Ross talked about this morning hit home for what I care about most. It was cool to hear Tim Stevens speak as well. Tonight was our night downtown. Jay, Janet, and I went to the part of Chicago worth taking pictures of. It is so late and I have to get up early again so I’ll post more on today’s sessions another time. Here is a sneak peak at our night.
This is downtown Chicago from Navy Pier.
And here is “The Bean”. This thing is AWESOME.
Watercooler Wednesdays @ Ethos.
Wow today was a long day. Got up at 5:30am to drive to Seattle, to then fly to Minneapolis, and then fly to Chicago.
Here was the view in Seattle. It rained most of the way there. So needless to say I wasn’t too sad to leave that crap.
It was my first time back on Minnesota soil in 8 years. It was a short lived hour and half though. I feel like we bonded Minnesota…it had been too long.
It was great too because on the flight from Minneapolis to Chicago I sat right in front of the Dalai Lama. I am totally not joking. Here is him ordering some food at the airport restaurant by our gate. Full body orange robe, weird orange hat, and even weirder bag. It had to be him.
So, we made it to the house we are staying at, in time to watch the 2nd half of game 3 of the NBA Finals. Not only did we get to watch the 2nd half, but we got to watch it on the wholesome goodness that is HD. It is even better than being at home because this is a 37 inch lcd screen.
So that is day 1 of the Willow Creek trip. Tomorrow the conference begins at 7:30am. Ouch! I’ll be posting on Robbie Seay, Brian McLaren, and Gilles Ste-Croix (a high up guy for Cirque du Soleil). Oh and just an FYI, it is supposed to be 82 and sunny here tomorrow. I’m pretty sure that beats the weather in Portland
Now that I’ve hung out with the Dalai Lama…who is a famous person you have met?
One year ago today Rose and I were in Hana, a small city on the edge of a rain forest on Maui. It is the craziest 25 mile, 2.5 hour drive I have ever been on, but very worth it. We spent two of our honeymoon days there. It is a totally different place than the rest of Maui because there is nothing to do tourist wise. The only decent hotel there costs over $450 a night (obviously we didn’t stay there). It was a nice relaxing escape from the rest of the island. I went body surfing here because the waves were much bigger than where we had stayed before. If you ever go to Maui and really want to escape from it all, look online for condos in Hana. I found our place using this site. Enjoy the pictures.
Thanks to both my parents and Rose’s parents, Rose and I were able to go on a two day adventure up to the mountains for our anniversary. I spent hours looking for the perfect place to stay that would also allow us to get up into the snow. I found an awesome BnB in Parkdale and thought we could just go tubing after our night stay there.
Parkdale is about 20 minutes south of Hood River, towards Mt. Hood. At about 2100 feet, Mary (our host) said they have snow almost throughout all of December through spring break. Old Parkdale Inn was a great place. We went on a walk in the snow, walked to dinner across the street, and watched 2 movies. 
We had made plans to go to Skibowl and go tubing on their “upper and extreme hills.” Snowboarding was too expensive since we didn’t have any gear and tubing is always fun. About 20 minutes from Government Camp we hit the “chains required” sign and pulled off to put them on. I had borrowed some from my dad. Well dumb me thought they would work just fine…my dad did too. But……….they didn’t. They were too small. I even took two links off and they were still too small. On to plan B. 
I knew that Cooper Spur wasn’t too far from where we were chaining up. So we turned around and went up there. I knew they had tubing there, but little did I know how lame it would be. Sure if you have five year olds that you want to take skiiing or tubing, Cooper Spur is a great place. But for Rose and I it was a waste of $20 to go on probably 10 tube runs on their “extreme” hill that was basically a joke. At least it was snowing the whole time. 
From there we trekked back down to Hood River and got coffee and candy for the ride home. As you can see I was dressed for the occasion and quite happy about our awesome tubing time.
We came home and went to Red Lobster for dinner. Thanks to my Minnesota grandparents for that one :).
And then we shared in one of the weirdest traditions I had never heard of until I got married. Eating one year old cake. It had been frozen for a year and thawing in the fridge for a week….and it actually tasted pretty good. Good job April.
All in all, a great weekend. First time away from home we had, outside of holidays, since August. Rose really needed the RnR at the BnB and of course the snow was AMAZING.
How was your weekend?
Today is a special day. Rose and I have been married for one year. It has been a pretty standard year I guess. Full of change, financial struggles, and uncertainty.
Some memories of our first year:
-The wedding. Everything went perfectly.
-10 days in Maui. My first tropical vacation, perfect weather, two days in a rain forest.
-3 weeks in Alaska. After I quit my business job and Rose graduated, we took off to her parents’ place for 3 weeks. Looking back I can’t believe we stayed for that long, but I sure fished a lot.
-Deciding to serve at Sunset.
-Rose graduating from college.
-Spending Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s with my family. 
-Me getting through my first semester of seminary without any C’s.
-Anonymous gifts during times of need.
-3 days in Canada with my mom’s side of the family.
-Growing up together.
I got the World Series I wanted. Colorado v. Boston. It will be great.
Rose and I spent some of the day at Multnomah Falls. It was a pretty decent day. It even got sunny….I know amazing isn’t it? Anyways, it was good to get out of town (45 minute drive at least) and spend the day together. Hope you all had a good weekend. Time for bed.
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