Crater Lake!

This post is a bit belated, but Mary and I decided to finally make the trip down to Crater Lake National Park in Southern Oregon over Fourth of July weekend. We've been living in the Pacific Northwest for almost three years, but had never visited until now. We stayed two nights at Diamond Lake, about 30 minutes away from Crater Lake and then a third night in Sunriver, Ore with our friends Nick and Anne. It was a great birthday weekend and we wanted to share some of the magnificent pictures from the deepest lake in US.

Our lodge at Diamond Lake

Diamond Peak

Crater Lake - Wizard's Island

Ryan and Mary at Crater Lake

Nick and Anne's Cabin on the Deschutes River

If you would like to see more photos of Crater Lake and Diamond Lake, click here: Crater Lake Album

On the River Again

Mary and I made another attempt at kayaking on Willamette River this weekend, this time making sure we had the kayak facing the right direction (after our first trip we both felt like idiots). As you might expect, it was a much smoother trip. We decided to continue where we left off after our last trip, sailing about 4 miles from Wilsonville to Canby. As you can see from the picture below, we could see the top of Mount Hood from our kayak.

Willamette River near Canby, Ore
Mt. Hood in the distance

While we were on the river, we decided to make it our goal this summer to sail from Champoeg State Park (8 miles west of Wilsonville) to North Portland (near the University of Portland). We will break it up into 5 or 6 trips, totaling 40 miles from start to finish. For experienced kayakers, this trip wouldn't be a big deal, but for us it'll be a pretty cool accomplishment. Below is the starting and ending point of our journey.

Champoeg State Park to North Portland

We will take pictures along the way and post updates here. Next week Mary and I are going to Crater Lake National Park for my birthday. We will be sure to post pictures when we get back. I posted a few pictures I took on the kayak and posted them here: Willamette River

Visiting Seattle

Phillies vs Mariners - June 18, 2011

Mary and I took Friday off and made the trip up to Seattle. We stayed with Brett and his family and Kyle, Jordan and Tony also came to visit. Earlier today we went to the Fremont Solstice Parade and we're currently at a Phillies v Mariners game with Felix Hernandez on the mound.

*Update: The Mariners lost 5 -1 to the Phillies, and our cab ride back to Brett's place was pretty crazy.

Kayaking on the Willamette River



Kayaking on the Willamette River near Champoeg State Park



Not as easy as it looks.

*Update: We realized after getting the Kayak out of the water that we had the ship backwards for the entire trip. We felt like idiots, but are looking forward to our next voyage.

Sorry About the Hiatus

Well, its been awhile and we apologize. Our jobs keep us quite busy (Mary and I have both been promoted since we last spoke. Mary is now a Senior Account Executive and I am a Senior Financial Analyst).

A lot has happened between our last post in March 2009 to now. Here's a quick breakdown of the last 26 months:

March 2009: Our roommate Lance decided to move back to Michigan and then eventually Wyoming. We still miss him :(

Lance and Me Overlooking Cannon Beach

May 2009: Mary's Mom and Brother Chris visited us in Portland. They had a great time and were amazed by Oregon's beauty!

Anne, Mary and Chris at Vista House

July 2009: My 24th birthday was one that I will always remember. Portland Bar Golf with Brett, John and Mary.

Mary, Me, John and Brett

August 2009: We moved south of Portland to a suburb called Wilsonville. It's a nice and peacefully little town.

Our New Neighborhood in Wilsonville

September 2009: My Parents pay us a visit in Oregon. We make the trip out to Newport on the coast and stayed on Yaquina Bay. We also got our cat, Izzy. She's named in honor of Tom Izzo and she is half Siamese.

December 2009: We make the trip back to Michigan for Christmas. This was the first time I had been back since we left for Oregon.

Christmas in Michigan

May 2010: My sister, Erin, gets married to Jonah Barnes. Mary and I made the trip back and enjoyed some great Michigan weather.

Erin and Jonah's Wedding Party

August 2010: I joined a group from work and completed Hood to Coast, a 197 mile relay race from Mt. Hood to the Oregon coast (Seaside, Ore.)

Hood to Coast Finish Line in Seaside

September 2010: My parents drove the RV across the country and stayed for two weeks. While they were here we made our first trip up to Seattle.

Bainbridge Island / Seattle

2010-2011: Mary begins her business travels both domestically and internationally. San Francisco (September 2010), Munich (December 2010), Las Vegas (January 2011), Hannover, Germany (March 2011), Amsterdam (March 2011), Beijing (April 2011), Boston (May 2011) and Taipei, Taiwan (June 2011).

Hannover, Germany

January 2011: Mary had a business trip in Vegas, and I met up with her. It was our first time in Vegas and it was pretty cool.

The Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas

April 2011: Our first non-Michigan vacation since we moved to Oregon. We spent a week in Maui and got engaged! We are planning on having the wedding September 8th, 2012.We are planning a Michigan wedding from Oregon, so we tried to give ourselves plenty of time (hopefully).

Halaekala National Park, just before the Proposal

We are going to try and be better about updating this thing from now on. We have started putting together a Wedding website and we will be sure to fill you all in when we have it up and running.

If you want to see more photos from the last 26 months of our lives, click this link.