Homecoming in Pullman

Kaitlin and I had been trying to come up with a weekend to go over to Pullman and watch some football.  We all agreed that this weekend would work plus it was homecoming.  The night before we left, I got a bunch of stuff together and packed some warm clothes...it was October you know, a bit chilly over in eastern Washington this time of year.

I worked in the morning at the dentist office, went home and packed my stuff in the car.  I left around 11:30, got on the freeway and headed to Federal Way to meet up at Katlin's house.  I got there just after noon, talked to her mom and dad and packed my stuff inside her car.  Dre was dropped off several minutes later by one of her friends.  We packed her stuff and away we went.  We stopped at the store for a few things before we left town for good.  This included the liquor store.

We jumped onto Hwy 18 and merged onto I-90 east.  We chatted about a few things, I sat in the front with Kaitlin and Dre made herself at home in the back seat.  She even started drinking way before we got to Pullman.

We got into Pullman around 6:30, found Ashley's brother Ryan's place, unloaded our stuff into the room we would be sleeping in and went to My Office for dinner and beer.  We talked to Jackie, one of our friends who still works there.

Of course we drank a little too much.  I ended up wandering around campus and talking to Brad on the phone.  I went and hung out with Ashley Atkins for a while in Community.  I wandered back to Ryan's place and I got the floor.  That night I was so cold it was hard to sleep and I was even in a sleeping bag.  I knew I needed to find another blanket or something for the next night. 

This is how cold it got last night.

We got up the next morning, ate breakfast and drove down to the blue parking lot across from the stadium to do some tailgating with some people my friends knew.  This was the first time I got to tailgate at WSU before a game.  We had a lot of fun.  People offered drinks, food, a seat, some of the RV's had TV's, other games playing on the TV's, laughter, jokes and an all-around good time because everyone was a Coug fan.  Jackie ended up scoring some free tickets into the game.  I was the only one without a ticket so she handed me mine and told me have fun.

It was almost time for Cougar football so we wandered over to the student section gate and waited in line.  The first couple thousand fans received Cougar bandanas.  I ended up with one.  We all found a seat and tried to stay warm.

It was a fun time but unfortunately we lost to Arizona State 27-14.  This was the era of win or lose we drink more booze!  We lost a lot of games over the course of the 2009 season.

After the game I met up with Ashley Atkins and her family.  They invited me out to dinner at the Mexican restaurant in Pullman.  We went to Walmart and did a little shopping.  I made sure to buy an extra blanket so I wouldn't be so cold on the floor of where I was staying for the weekend.  I found a good price on a twin sized cougar fleece blanket that had a stuffed Butch attached to it.  I think I paid $20 for it but it was worth it.  I hung out with Ashley and her roommate Tori for a bit. 

I made my way back to Ryan's house and re-made my bed.  I was so much warmer than the night before. 

We got up the next morning, packed our stuff and had breakfast at My Office before we left.  We said our goodbyes and made our way back over to the west side.  We got back to Kaitlin's house around 6:00 that evening.  Dre's ride didn't want to drive all the way to Federal Way so she hopped in my car and I took her to the Starbucks in Dupont.  We had perfect timing.  Her friend got there just as we did.  I went home, unpacked the car and relaxed before I went to bed.

Next Adventure:  TBA

Milo McIver Disc Golf and Mason

While I was dating Brad, he got me interested in Disc Golf.  Exactly what it sounds like, you throw a Frisbee at a goal.  If you wanted to be PC, a disc at a pin.  Brad and a bunch of his friends had planned this epic weekend at Milo McIver State Park in Oregon.  I was invited but I couldn't spend the night because I had to work in the morning.

I drove down the day before.

We got up, got everything packed into our cars, I had to follow his Jeep over to Estacada because I had to leave that night, and took off.  We didn't encounter any traffic on the way over.  We got onto the Sunset Hwy onto I-5, then the 205 and got off at Clackamas onto the 224 and then to Springwater, which took us right to the park.

I didn't realize it at the time but we had to pay to get in and he didn't let me know before hand.  He had the exact amount in his Jeep for his vehicle and I barely had enough in my car to get in.  It must have been a sign.  I was suppose to go have a good time at Milo.

We got in and drove to our campsite area.  First, we pulled over along the side of the road and took in the awesome view of Mount Hood with the Clakamas River down below.

Just then I got a phone call from someone in the place of Megan.  She introduced herself and told me I was on a list of people to call when Megan had her baby.  He, Mason, was born about an  hour ago and he was healthy.  I told her to tell Megan and Matt congrats.  She said thank you and that she would.  She had  a bunch more phone calls to make.

We arrived and met everyone in the parking lot down by the disc golf course.  We saw that a bunch of Civil War soldiers were going to reenact the war nearby.  Luckily they weren't going to be in our way and we won't be in theirs.  We played the 18-hole course.  Joel brought his video camera and Steve took pictures.  I almost got a hole in one.

We drove to our campsite and everyone put up their tents.

I did a little putting in the pin someone brought and set up in camp.  We all piled into Steve's car and drove out to Estacada in search of some food and beer.  We found a little hole in the wall place called Fearless Brewing--Brewed from the magical waters of the Clackamas River.

http://www.fearless1.com/

We all found a place to sit and ordered food and beer.  I got a burger and a soda.  I had a long drive ahead of me in a little bit so I opted not to have beer even though I wanted to try some of their selection.  We talked about an array of stuff including Aaron's thoughts on the Techno Viking...a youtube sensation.  (http://youtu.be/wv6hz6NCL5M)  After food, we drove to the Timber Park Disc Golf course just to check it out.  It was getting dark so we headed back to the campground.

We hung out, listened to music and did some crazy trick putting.  It was about 9 p.m. and it was time to drive the 2.5 hours home.  Since there wasn't any traffic it didn't take as long.  I rolled into my driveway about 11:30.  I took a shower and got ready for work the next day.

Next Adventure:  TBA

The ramp is gone!!

When we moved here back in the summer of 1996, the front yard has always been dominated by the ramp. I hate that ramp. I've fallen on it, gotten hurt on it and it's just a god awful eye sore. Mowing the lawn was even difficult. My grandparents hate it and always worried about falling on it in the wintertime in the snow and ice. We've always planned to get rid of it, always talked about it but never actually did anything about it. Every summer, "let's get rid of the ramp..."

This summer we finally got rid of the ramp.

View of the ramp leaving the front door.

Doug taking apart the railings.



Almost gone!

Goodbye ramp!!