Sunriver

On Saturday we we met Dave and Vicki in Sunriver, Oregon. In addition to breakfasting at the Trout House and playing Seattle Mariners Uno, we logged 50 miles on our mountain bikes--including a 22 mile trek to the Inn of the Seventh Mountain. It was a great time as usual!




























Mount Bachelor over the Deschutes
































Grabbing a burger at the Deschutes Brewery














This was the first road trip for our new Honda Element. I finally have my own version of the General Lee...

Jaime's Bachelorette Party in San Francisco

I spent this weekend in San Francisco celebrating my college roommate Jaime's final month as an unmarried woman and her upcoming marriage in Seattle on August 18th. Three of our Northwestern friends, two of Jaime's cousins, and a bunch of Jaime's law school friends all had a great time enjoying delicious San Francisco cuisine, watching the Mariners beat the Athletics, dancing, and generally catching up or getting to know each other.










Here's Jaime (with the tiara) enjoying some Humboldt Fog cheese. Her cousin, Brieann (holding the tiara) hosted a BBQ at her flat on Friday night. Another cousin, Nicole (on the left), looks on.










My college friend Erin, who lives in Chicago, and I are excited to be sitting together on the BART Saturday morning.










Here's the beginning of another win for the Mariners, against the Oakland Athletics. All of us went to the game on Saturday and enjoyed hot dogs, garlic fries, and microbrews in the sunny bleachers.













Another college friend who lives in San Francisco, Susannah, charming me with her beautiful smile and great sense of humor at Andalu, the exceptionally yummy tapas restaurant we dined at on Saturday night. Believe it or not, we did not plan the dress coordination. Great minds...

Mountain Biking Banner Ridge

This weekend my college roommate Brandon and I did some mountain biking near Idaho City. Last night we camped at Ten Mile Campground (between Idaho City and Mores Creek Summit), then rode a 12 mile loop starting from the Banner Ridge Park-N-Ski Area.

The trails are well maintained and it was great to beat the heat--it was 107F hen we left Boise last night and it was 52F when we started biking this morning.














Ten Mile Campground














The trail head at the Banner Ridge Parn-N-Ski


















Pulling a couple miles of steep, dare I say, extreme double track











































































Banner Ridge Yurt














Steeds at the hitching post

Attempting to Summit McGown Peak

On the 4th we tried to climb McGown Peak. We camped at Stanley Lake the night before then rode our bikes to the wilderness boundary and hiked the Alpine Way Trail. My friend Kevin summited the peak the previous weekend and provided us with some pictures and instructions. We knew that we had to leave the trail after a few miles and bushwhack our way up a ridge to the base of the peak. We bushwhacked up a ridge, but it turned out to be the wrong one and from that vantage point we couldn't see any skyline profile that matched the pictures we got from Kevin.

After four hours we turned back (it was 90 degrees by then) and returned contented with our exercise. After talking to Kevin on our return, it seems that we probably didn't go far enough up the trail before leaving it. This was a good exploration trip which should make it easier to attempt again.














McGown Peak from the bike trail.














Stephanie with helmet over expedition hat on the (cold) biking leg of our journey.


















Along Alpine Way Trail














Stephanie adjusts her trekking poles for descending after we ascertain that this ridge won't lead us to the bowl we're looking for.